[5e] Descent into Avernus (Inactive)

Game Master mishima

You guys are fine. I mean Id like to see more RP personally but that might not be the kind of game you were wanting, and that's ok. This first chapter is rather linear.

I think the group was a little on edge during the rest, but I intend to do a little more RP after the mission is done... At least that is why I haven't RPed much up until now...

Post in next hour or two, finally finished some work.

Will get a post up tonight (roughly 4 hours). Sorry for delay, passed out early last night.

All good

Agreed.

Greetings all. Unfortunately I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that it is time for me to step away from these boards for a while. Life keeps throwing darts, and I don't have the concentration or motivation to continue at this time. Thanks for the opportunity, and I apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. Hopefully if like settles down I can return someday... but if not Happy Gaming to you all and best wishes.

Sorry to hear it scranford, but I can certainly understand. Its nice to get a breather from the post checking routine. Hope to game again with you sometime! :)

I'm sorry. Forgot to say. I'm on vacation to celebrate mine and my grandpa's birthdays (18 and 16th respectively)from yesterday to Sunday. My labtop is broken so I wont have much access time to make posts. I'll see if I can make a post or two from my phone. But feel free to bot.

As mentioned in our other game, take care, Scran!

Tibs, Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday mate

Are we in initiative yet?

cheers

Now with Donals action yes. In general I wait for an overtly hostile action before rolling.

Sorry, Donal is not one to stand on ceremony... ;)

BTW, I will be taking a 3-day weekend starting tomorrow, so posting will be sparse for me until Monday.

Sorry, Donal is not one to stand on ceremony... ;)

BTW, I will be taking a 3-day weekend starting tomorrow, so posting will be sparse for me until Monday.

Beseems this is the time to have the fun before winter starts. I too will be out of town until Monday with, O, rare opportunity to be online.

Enjoy your trip! Hope it is enjoyable!

Traveling on business until Thursday. Posting will be disrupted.

cheers

Cool

back with a bang it seems.

Cool... looking forward to it

Once we see that there is more to go, I think that we might have to be more tactical. Maybe moving in a clearing pattern, like SWAT clearing an area...

It's a massive, fairly difficult dungeon to crack for sure. There is more than one encounter that seems, on paper as written, to be TPK for a 2nd level group. Some other things that may or may not occur to your characters:

Scout. Get as much info on what's ahead that you can, and plan accordingly.

Deceive. The outfits of cultists could be worn and perhaps aid in penetrating deeper.

Lure. Lay an ambush and draw the attention of nearby groups.

Learn. You might take a different tact altogether and try to learn who owns the bathhouse or how this group came to be so entrenched here.

Ally. Although the real Fist are busy with the paladins of Elturel, there may be other factions interested in clearing a murder cult's headquarters.

Demolish. The dungeon is clearly quite fragile and just now you've discovered an explosive gas...some lasting damage could probably done.

I guess the question is whether we think that this is a matter of urgency or not. My impression was that this was a small cell, but it is starting to appear that it is worse than we originally thought. If they are this entrenched, perhaps they will not be able to leave as quickly either...

Anybody else have any thoughts?

First thing. We need to start coordinating like a team.

We should create a standard operating procedure on how to tackle doors. Listen. Search for traps. Pick the lock. Who opens? Who enters?

Then, we create an SOP for scouting: Mal and anyone with a +5 Stealth & Darkvision can scout ahead, and bring back the layout.

Mal will have a tough time to impersonate using one these medium-size uniforms, but there's no reason that others cannot put one on. It might be worth gaining a surprise round.

Players need to be judicious with their dailies and only use them if we hit a TPK room. We keep short resting after each battle if necessary.

My two coppers to dungeon-crawling in PBP

cheers

As a fighter, I am a short rest guy, but it won't help the casters much. We could leave someone to watch the place (like an informant or something) and rest, or we could press on.

If Mal is willing to scout ahead, I think the only other one with darkvision and Dexterity is Myl.

I think Donal would have some reservations if it is Mal by himself, but having one other would make him feel much better.

If you guys want to keep using Myl I'll probably convert her into a warrior sidekick under player control. Her backstory is interesting enough to keep her around for later. Alternatively you could send her off and get some other type of sidekick.

I am cool with keeping her a sidekick, it's kind of fun having an npc to be boss, it helps you keep us on track...

Yeah, I don't mind voicing her if you want, that's fun. I just don't want to roll for her and declare round actions in a fight.

Here's her as a high elf warrior sidekick evolved from the guard stat block. Changed her cantrip from Truestrike to Minor Illusion for a little more utility (scran was just doing that for eldritch knight later). Her double-bladed scimitar is just a +3 d8+1 but she gets the Defender ability (reaction to grant disadvantage). Keeps Second Wind but loses Action Surge.

-----
Mylivanni (Sidekick)
AC 16 (chain)
hp 17 (3d8+2)

13.14.12.11.11.10

High Elf: Darkvision 60, Fey Ancestry, Trance, Cantrip(Minor Illusion)

Proficiencies: Str Save, Perception, Acrobatics, Survival

Attack: Scimitar (2handed) +3 1d8+1 slashing

Martial Role (Defender): The sidekick can use its reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll of a creature within 5 feet of it whose target isn’t the sidekick, provided the sidekick can see the attacker.

Second Wind: bonus action, 1d10+2, 1 per rest
-----

If someone is really game to play it let me know.

I guess another option would be for me to just keep voicing her but not have her do anything in combat for unexplained reasons.

I am fine with you voicing her, and someone else assigned to controlling her in combat.

I'll bot her in combat... I'll throw the stat block in my character

Thanks Helaman!

And thanks Donal for voicing her

I can do that, if GM Infinity does not want to. I just feel like Myl can be an avenue to guide us where we need to go...

the Fisters

Nice party name, lol.

No worries, Grim! I figured that the Acolyte background (and proficiency in Religion) would give me enough of a cursory knowledge of Kelemvor, and assuming we have been working together for a while, Donal would be sensitive to these sorts of things.

It would be similar if someone insulted Gorn's cooking or something. I am hoping that Donal can be the glue that holds us together and helps to make the party work together well...

Mission accomplished

Ah the ol' disturbing tombs debate, classic.

Its funny from my perspective because I think you by chance smashed the only sarcophagus in the entire dungeon that didn't have loot. XD

Ah the ol' disturbing tombs debate, classic.

Its funny from my perspective because I think you by chance smashed the only sarcophagus in the entire dungeon that didn't have loot. XD

That is funny.

Looting items from those we kill is no different from looting random graves. Change my mind.

Well, it should be more up to your character, not the player. I would assume most players would give 2 craps where loot comes from in a pretend game.

But for example as a Doomguide of Kelemvor, Grim's character has a certain set of beliefs that are hard to negotiate. Reverence of the dead is a main tenet of that religion, and they get names like 'Keeper of the Crypts' etc. It would be sort of a break of character for Grim to not react, even if Helaman in real life could care less.

Hopefully no one is (in real life) getting bent out of shape because of something so trivial, and a gentle reminder you are all going to hell (in game) anyways. XD

I find that although I didn't have a firm grip on Gorn's personality, he is starting to really grow and, kinda, surprise me. He is drawing strength from surprising sources.

Bonus points if you can spot the line that I blatantly ripped off was inspired by. Again, I hadn't really intended to go there, but Gorn took his leads and charged ahead.

Lol...

And no, as a player, couldn't care less. If I had another character I'd have a crowbar in hand and Jimmying the ones Gorn couldn't get to.

As a priest of Kelemvor I can't not act, or at the least sermonise. Some DMs are "gods are cosmetic, do whatever you want" and others are quick to slam the priest like they'd slam a 2nd edition Paladin and cut off powers etc. In playing clerics I tend towards using the god as another pillar of RP. Sometimes this leads to less than optimal situations. That's part of the baggage that comes with it.

I've gone to a fair whack of RP effort to play as a devout member of the faith. While I won't do interparty combat (and I believe Gorn would s~%& all over me in any case) depending on how things shake out, RP will follow RP. He's got bigger fish to fry right now - the cultists trump any short term grave robbing.

Same here. Donal only brought it up because it directly violates Kelemvor's edict. It is one thing to overlook for Donal, despite his religious background.

Indeed, excellent RP all around. Kudos to all.

While I won't do interparty combat

I've thought about this a good deal, and I think I'm solid to say that the WarCleric is the most effective class for levels 1&2, and at least near the top for 3&4. Access to all armor and weapons is always going to give a class a boost to the top, but access to the 2nd attack before that's a thing for almost everyone else is what makes this class real top contender. At 3rd that ability starts to diminish with Spiritual Weapon, but it still means you almost always have 2 attacks when still everyone only has 1. Combine that with the full-caster spell list and it's an eternal favorite.

The barbarian class actually strikes me as underwhelming...except when they use the Rage, and they then become a tank like nothing else. I think I'm still getting used to when to rage and when not to. (I keep thinking that a dip for Fighter 1 or LifeCleric 1 would go so well, but then I keep second-guessing myself.)

tl;dr: If Grim waits until Gorn is out of rages, he might could f+*+ him up a bit. XD

Oh, also, for as much as I admire a principled stance, especially when it means sacrifice, if the loot from grave-robbing gets to be significant, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable leaving half the party out of sharing it. We can wait and see, of course, but after a certain point I might have to find a reason to give the Doomguard faction more of the non-ransacked loot just to keep things fair.

On the other hand, this is an official published 5e adventure. You guys will be swimming in more wealth than you know what to do with quite soon. :)

Yes, thats right...MORE THAN YOULL KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH.

That is a challenge, sirs.

Indeed, excellent RP all around. Kudos to all.

Helaman wrote:

While I won't do interparty combat

I've thought about this a good deal, and I think I'm solid to say that the WarCleric is the most effective class for levels 1&2, and at least near the top for 3&4. Access to all armor and weapons is always going to give a class a boost to the top, but access to the 2nd attack before that's a thing for almost everyone else is what makes this class real top contender. At 3rd that ability starts to diminish with Spiritual Weapon, but it still means you almost always have 2 attacks when still everyone only has 1. Combine that with the full-caster spell list and it's an eternal favorite.

The barbarian class actually strikes me as underwhelming...except when they use the Rage, and they then become a tank like nothing else. I think I'm still getting used to when to rage and when not to. (I keep thinking that a dip for Fighter 1 or LifeCleric 1 would go so well, but then I keep second-guessing myself.)

tl;dr: If Grim waits until Gorn is out of rages, he might could f$!@ him up a bit. XD

Regarding cleric, Tempest Domain has long been a favorite (Thor clerics used to be my jam back in 1st/2nd edition).

As for Barbarian, there are some nice Barbarians in Xanathar's and Tasha's expansions. Though, I DO like totem barbarians, but want to do a Wolf totem one rather than a Bear one that everyone takes...

Oh, also, for as much as I admire a principled stance, especially when it means sacrifice, if the loot from grave-robbing gets to be significant, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable leaving half the party out of sharing it. We can wait and see, of course, but after a certain point I might have to find a reason to give the Doomguard faction more of the non-ransacked loot just to keep things fair.

As a DM, I often reward PCs for not grave robbing, by having a grateful benefactor bestow gifts of gratitude upon them. I know that is unlikely in Baldur's Gate, but there are ways around it... ;)

More wealth than I know what to do with? I like the sound of that...

We are building better worlds...

So me and mine gotta lay down and die, so you can live in your better world?

I'm not going to live there. There is no place for me there... I'm a monster... --Serenity (2005)

Kelemvor is a patient god ;)

Son's birthday tonight, might be a bit delayed with update.

Happy Birthday to your son!

Thanks, was 12 years so he finally could get vaccine. That is certainly a load off the mind.