NielsenE wrote:
I'm a little confused as to how the numbers of spectators at the kick-off event are supposed to work.
Page 9, says there 40 spectators aside from the PCs and councilors/Warbal.
Page 10: Says 20 of the 40 get out on their own; while 20 need help
The town councilors rescue 20 spectators if left to their own devices. (But possibly only 15, their last rescue is on the turn spectators fall unconscious, so depending if town councilors go before the hazard's initiative. We're not given initiative modifiers for them though...)
It also says it takes 15 spectators to setup the bucket brigade, but we already have 20 non-endangered spectators that got out immediately?
So one reading says that the PCs are free to completely focus on the fire/fire mephit and that all the spectators will be saved w/o them doing anything. Which seems a little odd to award the 5xp per saved spectator when its nothing they have to do.
I'm not a fan of making things harder for the PCs especially not in the first encounter of the scenario, so I'm happy to run it in what feels like easy mode, but wanted to double check these numbers. I thought it should be an encounter that has the PCs trying to keep the fire away from the rescuee's and working to clear the more endangered side of the room, possibly while engaging the mephit. Felt like it would be very cinematic and fluid. But it almost sounds like the PCs actions won't matter.
If I recall correctly, the bucket brigade doesn't work properly unless someone is guiding them. So the councillors can save other citizens OR they can help run the bucket brigade, but I don't think they're capable of both. The players should need to pick up the remaining slack.