Tommy Boyd's page

I will try to remember to post in here if there has not been any prompt for me to post in gameplay for a week. I might make Sundays the day I post if I have not posted in discussion or gameplay since the previous Sunday, so you know I am still around.

And we are using the Original 5e materials?

Yes we are. We are not using D&D 2024.

We are also allowed to make use of character options (still restricted to dwarf, gnome and halfling for race) from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar's Guide to Everything.

We have 3 PCs, Critz.

Malinor (Gloin Forgefire) - not done up as 3rd level 5E gestalt PC yet

Grumbaki (Bharaz Silverhelm) - mountain dwarf (devotion) paladin/(celestial) warlock

GM_Drake (Tommy Boyd) - stout halfling (plains cirlcle) druid/(beastmaster) ranger (Tibetan mastiff beast companion)

There are currently 2 dwarves, 1 halfling and 0 gnomes in the PC group.

I still need to adjust my 5E profile page to 3rd level and buy the rest of his starting gear.

@Malinor:

In addition to background starting gear and your choice of the starting gear of one of your two gestalt classes, you also have:

250 gold to spend on mounts/gear/etc. (Any leftover money from this 250 gold is not kept.)

You also have an addtional 1d10 x 125 silver (You keep any of this money that is left over.)

Tommy's beast companion (The adult dog, not the pup.)

@Gloin:

Tommy is a (plains cirlcle) druid/(beastmaster) ranger (Tibetan mastiff beast companion)

Bharaz is a (devotion) paladin/(celestial) warlock.

Tommy is proficient with brewing supplies and herbalism kits.

Bhraraz is profcient with smith's, tinker's and thief's tools.

Other useful tools (for making a homestead) that are not covered yet are:

carpenter's tools (wooden buildings)
leatherworking tools (rugs, insulation for buildings and clothing)
mason's tools (brick buildings)
weaver's tools (linen and clothes)
woodcarver's tools (fence posts)

with the following tools also being useful for pioneers:

cartographer's tools
navigator's tools

@Bharaz: Your tinker's tools and smith's tools can be stored in Tommy's wagon (so the 20 lbs of weight do not count against your encumbrance) or your mount's (if you do decide not to keep them in the saddlebags of your mount).

I think you want to have your thieving tools kept on your person (being very useful adventuring gear).

In case anyone missed the math for the extrapolated PC wealth by table I did up:

To determine how much additional lump sum and 1d10 random roll multiplier, I took the different between the first level in a tier and the first level in the next highest tier, then divided those numbers by the number of levels it takes to reach the lowest level of the higher tier from the lowest level of the lower tier, and adding the fraction of wealth difference for each level so it scales up at the same rate between the two lowest levels of the the two tiers.

I worked with the intent of the table from the DMG as the lump sum being used to represent gear (including mounts, vehicles) a character has, with the 1d10 roll being the actual coin they have. This is is why any money left over from the lump sum is not kept (unless you are at least 5th level, in which case you can keep up to the amount listed in the DMG for the lump sum of that level if you do not spend it all). That is if there is no wording in the DMG that money from the lump sum amount is not kept if not spent. (I did not read the full section in the DMG. I just used the table to extrapolate from).

As for Tommy's 1d10 x 125 silver roll...

1d10 ⇒ 10 x 125 silver = 1,250 silver = 125 gold

Tommy has an additional 375 gold to spend.

He will include some of the pioneering artisan's tools with the supplies he will have in his wagon.

carpenter's tools (8 gold, 6 lbs)
(maybe*) cartographer's tools (15 gold, 6 lbs)
cook's utensils (1 gold, 8 lbs)
leatherworking tools (5 gold, 5 lbs)
mason's tools (10 gold, 8 lbs)
(maybe*) potter's tools (10 gold, 3 lbs)
(maybe*) smith's tools (20 gold, 10 lbs)
(maybe*) tinker's tools (50 gold, 10 lbs)
(maybe*) weaver's tools (1 gold, 5 lbs)
woodcarver's tools (1 gold, 5 lbs)
(maybe*) navigator's tools (25 gold, 2 lbs)

* Possibly, if enough after animals (including livestock and at least a week of feed for his animals) and vehicles are purchased).

Priority: In addition to vehicle and draft animals to pull it, livestock and the tools he will use on his future farm.

next level of priority: Explorer's tools (cartographer's and navigator's) and artisan tools needed for the new community (that Tommy is not proficient in).

3rd: standard character creation plus 250 gold plus 1d10 x 12.5 gold

1d10

So...250+1250

Spending 1500 gold on plate armor.

That is incorrect, Grumbaki.

Your 1d10 roll is multiplied by 12.5 gold (125 silver), not 125 gold. You ignored the decimal point placement in 12.5 gold.

There is no way to afford plate armor armor at 3rd level, as the potential maximum gold from the 250 + 1d10 x 12.5 gold is 375 gold.

FYI: The earliest level a PC could afford plate mail (using default wealth by level from the DMG) is 11th level (when they get 5,000 gold plus 1d10 x 250 gold.

With the extrapolated scaled wealth by level table I came up with, the earliest level a PC could afford plate armor is 6th level (if they roll at least a 3 on the 1d10 'pocket change' roll). At 7th level, the lump sum (2,000 gold) covers the the cost of plate mail.

*

Also keep in mind that we will need mounts, draft animals and vehicles to carry our pioneering supplies in.

Our draft animals and vehicles will be 'parked' for considerable parts of the campaign, as when we have a base camp set up (the quarry), we will be using our riding mounts to explore abroad/other locations, without dragging our full pioneering migration gear with us from where we set up our base of operations.

So be sure to include a mount (and relevant gear - saddle, bit and bridle, saddlebags) for Bharaz.

*

If you decide to take a flat lump sum for 1st level gear (instead of taking the combined starting equipment packages of your background and one of your two gestalt classes), you would roll using the higher of your two gestalt classes from the following (page 143 in the Player's Handbook):

Your 3rd level budget is the following:

250 gold (to purchase items, any money not spent from this 250 gold is not kept).
Your 1d10 x 12.5 (with a rolled 10) gives you 125 gold 'pocket change', not 1250 'pocket change'.

Your initial 1st level starting gear is one of the three following options:

- Your background equipment package PLUS the paladin equipment package.

or

- Your background equipment package PLUS the sorcerer equipment package

or

- Instead of gaining the equipment packages from your background and classes, you roll the better random lump sum roll between your two classes, which are:

- paladin (5d4 x 10 gold) OR warlock (4d4 x 10 gold) ==> which is the 5d4 x10 gold.

Critz opened up Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar's Guide to Everything for character options (excluding race, which are locked in as dwarf, gnome or halfling).

He did not include Eberron - Rising from the Last War as one of the sourcebooks we can use options from, which the House Agent background is from. Also, from a story perspective, we will be far away from our clans and family (as we traveled far from home to search for new lands to claim for our brethen).

Back to your 1st level starting equipment, if choosing background package and one of your two gestalt class starting packages:

The total value from the paladin starting package is:

minimum value (93 gold and 1 silver) (with least expensive simple melee weapon (club), explorer's pack, no shield, no javelins and two least expensive martial weapons (net and whip)

maximum value (220 gold) (with priest's pack, no shield, most expensive simple melee weapon (handaxe or mace) and two most expensive martial weapons (greatsword and hand crossbow)

Minimum paladin lump sum roll is 50 gold.
Maximum paladin lump sum roll is 200 gold.

If you roll for 1st level starting gold, you do NOT get the background package gear, so you get considerably more 'for your coin' using the combined class and background starting gear packages.

The suggested starting wealth in the DMG for different tiers is on page 38.

As extra gold for each tier is the same for all three types of campaigns (low magic, standard, high magic) at the same tier, I have expanded the extra gold from each tier to extra gold by level, that you might want to use, Critz.

It will make it so a 3rd level PC can have a riding horse, two draft horses and a wagon (and saddle and saddle bags for riding horse and bits and bridle for all three horses, and some days of feed for the horses) - with less than 10 gold left over from the lump sum of 250 gold (which they do not keep if not spent), with 1d10 x 12.5 gold roll for 'pocket change' that they do keep if not spent.

From Table in page 38 of DMG:

Character Levels 1st to 4th: no extra gold
Character levels 5th to 10th: 500 gold plus 1d10 x 25 gold
Character levels 11th to 16th: 5,000 gold plus 1d10 x 250 gold
Character levels 17th to 20th: 20,000 gold plus 1d10 x 250 gold

Using the expanded PC Wealth by Level 'table': PCs would retain any unspent gold they gained from the 1d10 roll, but not any of the flat bulk amount gained at the level (unless their level is the 5th level or higher, in which case they keep a maximum of the unspent money from the lump sum equal to the lump sum they gained for being at the earliest level of a tier they are in: 5th level (500 gold), 11th level (5,000 gold) or 17th level (20,000 gold).

Critz, have you decided which level our characters will be starting at?

Tommy is.

Just to clarify, with you stating core only in your last post, we can still make use of the Xanathar's and Tasha's books, correct?

@Critz

1st level characters do not start out with mounts, so here are some suggestions for additional gear (mounts, tack/harness, drawn vehicles) for above 1st level.

*

Lv 2 additional gear:

Choose a) riding horse, b) mastiff or c) pony

bit and bridle, riding saddle

Choose a) barding (light), b) draft horse (with pack saddle) and wagon (with 10 days of feed), c) pony (with pack saddle) and cart (with 10 days of feed) or d) mastiff (with pack saddle) and sled (with 10 days of feed)

*

Lv 3 additional gear:

as Lv 2 additional gear, with additional options added in:

Choose a) riding horse, b) mastiff, c) pony or d) warhorse

bit and bridle, saddle (military or riding)

Choose a) barding (light or medium), b) 2 draft horses (with pack saddles) and wagon (with 20 days of feed), c) 2 ponies (with pack saddles) and cart (with 20 days of feed) or d) 2 mastiffs (with pack saddles) and sled (with 20 days of feed)

*

Lv 4 additional gear:

as Lv 3 addition gear, with additional options added in:

Choose a) riding horse, b) mastiff, c) pony or d) warhorse

bit and bridle, saddle (military or riding)

Choose a) barding (light, medium or heavy), b) 4 draft horses (with pack saddles) and wagon (with 40 days of feed), c) 4 ponies (with pack saddles) and cart (with 40 days of feed) or d) 4 mastiffs (with pack saddles) and sled (with 40 days of feed)

Which books is xorw?

Goats are medium-sized in 5E...what the?

I was not imagining that when I was envisioning his goats.

Hopefully Tommy's dog does not bite it, but if he does Tommy could make one of his goats his beast companion.

I did not know the goats could be mounts for Tommy, lol. They 'grew a lot' with the change in editions. :P

As it will use up more header space if level 4, I am going to use level 4 for now to figure out decent header layout. Will adjust as needed after you tell us what level to make our characters, Critz.

Regarding potential of starting us at level 4:

- we have already been adventuring for a level with the 'class pass'
- we have a feat (or +2 total ability score boosts without one)
- our proficiency bonus is same as it was at 1st level, and will increase at the first level-up in-game (@5th character level).

As the proficiency bonus only increases 4 times from 1st to 20th level in this edition, those levels are *power leveling* mechanics-wise (weapon attacks, spell attack rolls, etc.)

Currently working with Tommy's header to have the game stats at easy convenience.

Advantages to starting at 3rd level: Everyone has their 'class path' selected, as (I think most) classes are at 3rd level you choose which 'path' in the class you are taking.

Advantages to starting at 4th level: same as 3rd level plus potential to start with one feat that can help fit the overall 'background' of the character.

For saving throws, I take it if both gestalt classes only have physical saving throw proficiencies or mental saving throw proficiencies, to ignore the stipulation of 'one physical and one mental', correct?

For starting gear, I take it choose one of the classes' starting gear to combine with the starting gear the background gives the character, correct? If so, Tommy's gear is good, as I combined druid gear with folk hero gear.

If we are starting higher than 1st level, have you considered how you are going to handle extra gear/coinage for being higher than 1st level?

So the number of spell slots per day Tommy gets is the druid spells per day.

He selects spells known for his ranger spells (spontaneous caster in this edition) and chooses which druidic spells to be on his prepared druidic spells for the day, and the spell slots (of the druid class table) can be used to cast one of his prepared druid spells or one of his known ranger spells.

Hit Die (ranger) (I was already using only the higher hit die/hit points/level for being a gestalt.

Tommy's saving throw proficiency options are:
druid: intelligence, wisdom
ranger: strength, dexterity

At 1st level Tommy will have saving throw proficiencies in dexterity and wisdom. At 10th he will probably gain proficiency in intelligence saving throws.

I will need to redo skills (which I have in this post), as I had treated the 'choose any' as 'automatically start with', similar to PF2E dual-classed PCs.

Skill/Tool Proficiencies for Tommy:

From Folk Hero Background:

Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Survival
Languages/Tool Proficiencies: one type of artisan's tools (brewer's supplies), Vehicles (land)

Number of skill proficiences (from classes) to choose:
Druid: 2
Ranger:3

So he chooses 3, chosen from the combined list of:

Arcana, Athletics, Animal Handling, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Religion, Stealth and Survival

Struck-through ones he gained from his background.

The three skills he has proficiency in (in addition to his background skills) are:

Investigation (For investigating where the predators that attacked the livestock came from.)

Nature (He can identify various natural predators that might threaten the livestock of the farms.)

Perception (He is vigilant at keeping an eye out for predators and for finding the footprints of predators that have attacked livestock of the farms.)

Languages: Common, Druidic, Halfling

Tools/Language proficiencies from classes:

Druid: Druidic, Herbalism kit
Ranger: none

Thanks, Bharaz.

Tommy, via his druidic spells, has a healer role.

So it is an easier refererence for you and the other players, here are druid spells that will be added to his default preapared druidic spell list at each level, with most even-numbered class levels leaving a 'as needed for the day' spell added in (such as ones with expensive material components or ones that will help with the current circumstances the group is dealing with). Spells with an an asterisk are ones he automatically always have prepared for being a Grassland Circle druid.

Cantrips
@1st level: druidcraft, mending
@2nd level: magic stone
@4th level: ?
@10th level: ?

Ranger Cantrips (via Druidic Warrior): as he can replace one of the two cantrips each time he levels, adds great versatility. Will probably use these cantrips for the various elemental damaging ones.

1st level druid spells
@1st level: cure wounds, healing word

2nd level druid spells
@3rd level: invisbility*, pass without trace*, protection from poison

3rd level druid soels
@5th level: daylight*, haste*, protection from energy

4th level druid spells
@7th level: divination*, dominate beast, freedom of movement*

5th level druid spells
@9th level: dream*, insect plague*, mass cure wounds

6th level druid spells
@11th level: heal

7th level druid spells
@13th level:regenerate

8th level druid spells
@15th level: animal shapes, antipathy/sympathy, control weather

9th level druid spells
@17th level: foresight (casts on himself and his beast companion), shapechage

In addition the the above default prepared drudic spells Tommy has, below is how many empty druidic spell slots he has left at each class level to prepare other spells.

1st: none
2nd: 1
3rd: 1
4th: 2
5th: 2
6th: 3
7th: 3
8th: 4
9th: 4
10th: 5
11th: 5
12th: 7
13th: 7
14th: 8
15th: 6
16th: 7
17th: 6
18th: 7
19th: 6
20th: 7

Tommy's ranger fighting style will be druidic warrior.

I will take a look at the non-Player's Handbook ranger fighting styles to see if I like one as a better fit for Tommy.

For ones who might be wondering where the gods Critz told us we are using: They are not in the 5E Player's Handook. They are in the 5E DMG (page 10, which are the Dawn War deities, which was the default pantheon they that was created for 4E (if you do not have a copy/access to the 5E DMG but do have a copy/have access to the 4E Player's Handbook).

The deities Tommy prays to are:

Pelor (NG) (for good harvests)
Melora (N) (for good weather)
Avandra (CG) (for luck)
Erathis (LN) (to keep the village safe)
Moradin (LG) (for dwarves to enjoy his brews)
Kord (CN) (for strength)

Here is a link to Tommy Boyd's 5E build.

It currently (as I type this) does not have the ranger class features gained spoiler completed yet.

Tommy's beast companion will be a (Tibetian) Mastiff, which is a large livestock-guardian dog breed.

which are the largest livestock guardian dog breeds?

I kept the following in mind when building him: a farmer (and brewer) who wants to keep his livestock safe from predators and enjoys entertaining the children (and adults) of the village. Events and circumstance made him into an adventurer. Once the adventurers have succeeded in founding a new settlement for a mass emigation of some back home, he returns to keeping his livestock safe and entertaining the children (and adults) of the settlement he helped to found (which he is much better at doing since before he became an adventurer, through the magic he is capable of casting).

Tommy was a farmer (goats, chickens, wheat fields) that was good at tracking the footprints of predators (wolves, foxes, coyotes) that attacked the animals of his and surrounding farms. He stood alone when a dire wolf was attacking one of his neighbor's cattle.

Defining event: He stood alone against a terrible monster (he scared off a dire wolf that was attacking a neighbor's cattle with the flame of a torch while the rest of the farmers fled) and became a folk hero.

Afterwards he was inducted into the plains circle of druids that included his village within the lands they protect and roam.

Some fun (and useful to the party) entries from his character build (up to 20th level)

Starting gear:

brewer's supplies, shovel, iron pot, set of common clothes, belt pouch containing 10 gold, sling, sickle, leather armor, explorer's pack, druidic focus.

His 10 gold pieces from the folkhero background for: herbalism kit (5 gold), one male goat (1 gold), three Nubian milking goats (3 gold), 24 hens (48 copper), 1 pound of salt (5 copper), 1 pound of flour (2 copper), 1 pound of wheat (1 copper); leaving Tommy with 4 silver & 4 copper

note: Without a rooster, each chicken will provide 1 egg every day (24 to 26 hours) that is safe to eat. Tommy will see about acquiring a rooster after he makes a new homestead.

note: A Nubian milking goat will produce 1 gallon of rich, creamy milk per day

note: Working with six PCs in the party, that is (when not used for Tommy's cooking/brewing) a half gallon of milk per day for each PC and 4 eggs per day for each PC.

15th level:

additional spell typically added to prepared spell list: antipathy/sympathy (great for keeping wolves away from the livestock)

18th level:

additional spell typically added to prepared spell list: animal shapes (In addition to the usefulness of this spell while aventuring, Tommy also uses it to put on fun plays with the children (and adults) of the settlement he helped found, as well as a teaching method to teach the children (and adults) about different animals (to educate them about which animals are ones to avoid (predators) and which ones are safe to approach.)

19th level:

Actor feat (+1 to Cha, making it 18, He has advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Charisma (Performance) checks when trying to pass himself off as a different person. He can mimic the speech of another person or the sounds made by other creatures. He must have heard the person speaking or heard the creature make the sound, for at least 1 minute. A successful Wisdom (Insight) check contested by his Charisma (Deception) check allows a tistener to determine thatthe effect is faked.

Tommy uses the Actor feat to put on plays for the children (and adults) of the settlement he helped found, mimicking the voices and mannerisms of his old adventuring companions.

additional spell typically added to prepared spell list: shapechange (Tommy makes use of this spell when putting on shows for the children (and adults) of the settlement he helped to found, to change into the characters (including his adventuring companions) and creatures that were part of their adventures. He wears an oversized robe (that can fit dwarves and humans) while putting on a show, so the show stays G-rated for the children of the audience.)

I will make a request that for 5E we use the original 5E book, not the 2024 one (so that it is easier for some of us who do not have the new 2024 edition.

Aside buying a few 5E books, Wizards lost me as a consistent product purchaser (while TSR still owned the company: I have all the BECMI main 5 boxed sets, Wrath of the Immortals boxed set, all the creature crucibles and gazetteers). At one time I had the entire collection of the 2nd Edition brown-soft cover backed 'Complete' players books). Wizards bought the rights and made 3rd edition. In addition to the three main hard cover books, I had all (except very few) entire hardcover books of 3.0 and 3.5 as well as the soft-covered rules books. I continued with 4th edition, buying all the players books, up to at least Players Handbook 3, even though overall I did not play/run much 4E (though the system works so much better for a miniatures game rules set than the official miniatures rules set they put out during 3.5). But during the age of 4E it became evident from their sample new 'D&D cards' that clearly had an icon in the corner of the cards with a rarity color-coding - as a forwarning they were going to try to make D&D (like Pokemon and Magic) into a game that had a 'pay to win' element to it. That was when I stopped regularly supporting the company that received a sizeable 'tithe' from my paycheques for the better part of 2 decades.

Apologies for the mini-rant. Now you know why I am not going to be buying any more Wizards D&D products.

To work in the backstory of why our specific characters might have been chosen to travel across the sea to look for new land for some of our people back home to migrate to, I think us being already established (higher than 1st level) adventurers back home makes in-game sense.

If I recall correctly (sans human having an option at 1st level) the first level that (non-multiclassed) PCs gain the option to gain a feat in 5E is 4th level.

Maybe 4th level (at a minimum) for our converted PCs, which allows more tailoring for our characters (by having option to work at least one feat into character's abilities/backstory before traveling across the sea).

I am good with converting our characters to D&D 5E gestalt characters.

I have played 5E (not via PBP yet) and have never played a 5E gestalt character.

Critzible: Should we stick with 1st level for our characters when we re-create them as 5E gestalts?

Do not be surprised if I have a working (sans gear maybe) 5E gestalt Tommy Body posted before the new year begins. :)

Expand the first spoiler in my post above, everyone.

@Critzible, is the first or second spoiler in my last post the relevant one in reponse to what Gloin said?

I am ready to continue on.

@Critzible: I am working with there are ample woods not far from the river, as we continue traveling by the river. If that is the case, then the first spoiler below is Tommy's response to Gloin. If that is not the case, the second spoiler is Tommy's response to Gloin.

"I vote yes to using extra torches to help keep the animals safer from predators. If they die, it increases the chances our provisions will run out before we have a chance to properly resupply ourselves."

After getting the pot secured above the flames, Tommy moves over to help attend to the animals, attempting to soothe them.

Animal Handling: 1d20 ⇒ 9 DC 13 or lower

After calming the animals, Tommy replies to Bharaz, "The flora and fauna here are sure to have some differences to the what we are used to back home. Maybe setting a ring of torches around the animals might discourage the wild animals from approaching, whether by ground or air. Extra torch expenditure was something I did not think as a possibility, but would be worth it to keep our supply of milk and eggs alive."

Tommy looks around and asks, "Should we vote regarding using extra torches at night for that purpose?"

Canada (Second Monday in October)

Earlier harvest: Canada's colder climate means the harvest season concludes sooner, so celebrating in October aligns with the gathering of crops.

Official date: The date was officially set by the Canadian Parliament in 1957 to the second Monday in October to acknowledge the end of the harvest.

Historical roots: While influenced by American Thanksgiving, it is also rooted in European harvest festivals and a 1578 celebration of Martin Frobisher's safe return to North America.

United States (Fourth Thursday in November)

Historical event: American Thanksgiving is strongly linked to the 1621 feast shared by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, which occurred after the harvest.

Established date: It was officially declared a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, and the date was later set by Congress to the fourth Thursday of November.

Later season: The November date reflects the later harvest season in many parts of the United States.

Tommy retrieves his sling stones and looks for other pebbles on the ground that might work as decent ammo for his sling.

Tommy goes to the river and fills up a pot to boil some more water to replenish the drinking water he used to rouse some of his companions.

Thanksgiving in Canada is in October, not November.

When some WWE stars did an episode of The Weakest Link, Booker T answered "October" to the question, "Which month is Thanskgiving in?" There were at least 3 Canadian wrestlers on that episode. The British host should have been voted off as the weakest link when she told Booker T he was the weakest link for his 'wrong' answer. It was disappointing that none of the Canadian wrestlers pointed out that there was no "American" or "Canadian" qualifier in the question, so Booker T was not wrong.

Canadian Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving (1578) while the first one to occur in the U.S.A. was 1621.

"Linden, wake up!!!"

Sling speed factor is 6.

"Gloin! Linden! WAKE UP!!" Tommy shouts as he loads his sling and flings the stone at one of the bats.

sling: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15

damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

I am almost 100% sure a 17 means only -2 to Init when playing 2e.

Thanks for the catch. I like how they changed things in 3e when they came up with actual formulas to determine bonuses/penalties. (and not needing to have all the saving throw tables on hand).

BECMI (3) -3, (4-5) -2, (6-8) -1, (9-12) +0, (13-15) +1, (16-17) +2, (18) +3

Tommy has a 17 Dex, so that gives us a -3 to our initiative roll. As I doubt any of us have a -8 modifier, the bats are going first...or rather, they already did, since they attacked the animals. The round they started attacking Tommy acted - waking up Akkramar and Bharaz. Did the bats continue to attack the animals or have they not acted yet for the 'current' round?

"Wake up!! We're under attack!!" Tommy throws some of the water in his cup onto Bharaz's face and dumps the rest of the water in his cup onto Akkramar's face. "Wake up!!!"

At 3rd level Tommy will be able to identify plants, animals and pure water with 100% accuracy. His NWP proficiencies include Animal Handling (wis-based) but no specific animal knowledge skill (unless I missed something when I just checked), so base Int it will be.

Int check: 1d20 ⇒ 14 vs DC 15 (or lower) (his Int is 15) success!

"Wake up!!! Something's attacking the animals. Wake up!!!" Tommy yells to rouse his companions as he gets his sling into hand and stone in the other to load it.

Wis check: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (17) - 2 = 15 vs DC 13 (or lower) (Wis score)

"I don't mind taking the witching hour watch. It would be nice to be able to gaze at the stars without my feet rocking back and forth from the tides."

Good to continue as well.

"What rumours have you heard that might be the reason for what caused the changes at the quarry? Even if they are ridiculous theories, we'd appreciate getting an idea of how the grapevine around these parts work."

Tommy offers the river a merchant a pour from his private stock. "I brewed this myself before crossing the sea. Do you think once my friends and I have sorted out things in these parts and have set up shop, if you might like to sell some in your travels? With a fair commission to you for doing so, of course."

heads up: homefront situation is going to make posting as frequently as I have been a bit difficult for the at least the next two weeks. I will still try to make sure I am checking daily, but it might only be once per day instead of multiple times throughout the day until homefront stuff is more managaeable to return to checking multiple times throughout the day.

"Pleasure to meet you, Dahmer. I'm Tommy Boyd. How long have you been plying your trade on this river for?"

Tommy's Weather Sense: 1d20 ⇒ 2 DC Wis - 1 = 13 - 1 = 12 (need 12 or less) => Success

Tommy's Fishing: 1d20 ⇒ 19 DC Wis - 1 = 13 - 1 = 12 (need 12 or less) => Failure

Tommy's Cooking: 1d20 ⇒ 10 DC Int = 15 (need 15 or less) => Success

Tommy's Herbalism: 1d20 ⇒ 12 DC = Wis - 2 = 13 - 2 = 11 (need 11 or less) => Failure

Tommy's Brewing: 1d20 ⇒ 12 DC = Int = 15 (need 15 or less) => Success

I am thinking the herbalism and brewing checks would make more sense just finding herbs/plants/berries/etc. as part of the foraging Tommy is doing during traveling/breaking for lunch/camptime....and would need more of a downtime-style day to make checks to see if he successfully turns his gathered ingredients into viable brews and poultices. Is that how you want to handle it, Critzible?

Unexpected stuff on the homefront came up, that took up most of my free time today and will take up some of my free time for the next few days. Will still try to check and post daily.

I suggested 2 hirelings per PC for traveling from the city to the quarry, so that with some of the hirelings being left to attend to the quarry while we go check out another lead, we would have (at max) 1 hireling per PC travelling with us when we leave the quarry.

So are you taking the whole group with you? Or anyone aside your group as more people will be more days

Are some of the less adventursome halflings open to watching our lot and tending to some of the livestock Tommy would leave in their care (3 milking goats and three hens)? That would be milk and eggs (fresh food) that would help to nourish them while the more adventurous halflings accompany us to the quarry.

What do the rest of you think? Two halfling hireling for each of our PCs? Having half of the traveling (with us) hirelings to remain at the quarry after we take care of what needs to be done there to keep it maintained while our group goes to check out one of the other leads with the remaining traveling hirelings?

@Critzible: Were some of the less adventurous halflings willing to watch our lot outside the city gates (and have some fresh milk and eggs as upfront/ongoing payment while our PCs are exploring?)

Tommy would want to take a break for lunch meals, as he does not want to risk losing any of the halfling hirelings who might not mind a bit of danger but might insist on stopping for lunch, so they can better enjoy their mid-day meals.

Tommy will use his weather sense (60%) and fishing (60%) to try to make sure we set up tents before any heavy downpours that might occur during the week of travel, and making decent meals [cooking] (75%) for the group. He will also look out for any herbs/plants that would be useful for his herbalism (55%) and/or brewing (75%).