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The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 11:02 am
by SamWiser
OOC discussion area for Lost Mines of Phandelver.

Character Sheets/Party info

More details to come, but I'm glad to have you all.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 2:35 pm
by Rodgeir
Woo!

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 9:18 pm
by SamWiser
Alright. One request, because I can see how this might get confusing. Everybody please choose a color, and when you speak, at least when roleplaying is necessary, please use that color. Trying to make sense of everything when it's all the default colors will get confusing fast for everybody, I fear.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 9:29 pm
by Lurks_In_Shadows
Balin= Brown(ish)

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 10:45 pm
by Rodgeir
Aimee = purple

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 10:51 pm
by GathersIngredients
Saca Brako = ginger o:)

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:57 am
by Lurks_In_Shadows
:chuckle: Congratulations, Rodgeir! I think you've actually came up with a character more "concerning" than Holger!

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 6:08 am
by Rodgeir
Thanks, I guess? She is just happy to be there!

I chuckled at Balin's wiping his hand off.

Balin is only a few inches shorter than Aimee, being the giant of a dwarf that he is. Saca is more than a foot shorter than him!

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:43 am
by GathersIngredients
So... what exactly is Balin even try to "see"? Just curious, and also I'd like to know if there is something I need to be doing (describe more or I dunno)...

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:49 am
by Lurks_In_Shadows
It's just a general looking at to see what he notes about her. Does he recognize her as another cleric, etc. Generally if you look something over for information/impressions, you roll perception, if you are looking at it in detail, inspection. Sam may let certain things pass at his discretion as GM.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:52 am
by GathersIngredients
Is that "my" decision or the GM's decision?
And how would I know if Balin would recognize her as a cleric? Is it dependant on their domains or ...?

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:06 am
by Rodgeir
What the type of roll should be and what is seen are normally up to the DM, though they can confer with you if they don't know.

Balin might be looking for holy symbols or maybe if he has seen Saca at a Dwarven cleric convention?

PC interaction with each other is tricky to handle with dice rolls (I feel), and how much Sam will require rolls for it is up to him.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:52 am
by Lurks_In_Shadows
Sam gets to decide what information can be observed with a roll when that happens. It could be behavioral (ie. Does she act shifty/suspicious or nervous for example), small items of dress that may not be immediately obvious: holy symbols, clan markings, scars, quality of clothing, new or old gear and how well it's cared for. The roll is supposed to be an indicator of how observant the character actually is at that moment. It introduces a little bit more randomness into the play (just like people having good days and bad days). Sometimes it can be pretty hilarious if someone gets a critical fail. (like a 1 or 2 result). It can also be used to detect if a player or NPC is trying to hide something from the others.
If you want a good example of how it could go (and are otherwise bored), reading through the early entries on Spider's game, The Sundered Way, could be useful. We started at level 1 on that game, and I wasn't too familiar with 5e rules yet (and I still don't claim to know them in detail). Since Thinks, Rodgeir, and I are in that game, you may see us make comments from time to time about it. We'll try not to do that too often. :P

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 11:49 am
by Rodgeir
Yep, exactly what Lurks says. I would only add that different types of rolls give different information. For example a perception roll gives all the information Lurks noted, while an insight roll could indicate if someone is hiding something. An investigation roll can be used to examine something more closely for things that may be missed by a casual glance.

In this case Balin could have seen a holy symbol on Saca and Sam could decide he needs to make a Religion roll to see if he recognizes it!

On the first page of the group sheet all the skills are listed so you can get a feel for what Saca is good at doing. Her best skills are animal handling, medicine and survival so she would probably take the lead in handling animals, checking injuries and leading the group in the wild.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:15 pm
by thinkslogically
The nice thing about 5e in general though is that you always start with a d20 roll, so if you make a mistake and roll the wrong thing it's no big deal- you just change the modifier (if necessary) and can keep the dice roll.

What I like on my game, and what we do in Rodgeir and Spiders games a lot is make an educated guess at what roll might be appropriate for a given situation, and post it with a brief description of what we're trying to do. The DM can then use the roll, ignore it, or tell us to use a different modifier as they see fit, but at least making the roll helps keep the game moving when we're not all face to face.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:02 pm
by GathersIngredients
So I was wondering about the money, equipment etc. in the spread sheet. From the looks Kryz even has more Gold than Saca, so is that a case of "sheet needs to be updated in those regards as well" or is mooching/bumming for stuff just his mindset/way of life? o:)

Also, is there a list of what stuff costs (approximately) in D&D? I have no idea what Saca would have to pay for a mug of beer (but I'm fairly certain 10 gold should be enough, especially if we'd get paid the same sum for 3-4 days of guard's work, each).

And is there somewhere a description for the spells "charm person" and "disguise self"? Because while those are apparently my "house spells" so to speak, I didn't see them in this list that you guys so kindly provided me with: https://5thsrd.org/spellcasting/spell_l ... ic_spells/

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:29 pm
by thinkslogically
So OOC, my 10 gold defaulted in there from the sailor background... But Saca of course doesn't know that o:) As for Kryz? His reasons, what he owns, how rich he actually is...? Well I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens in game :D or just have Saca ask if youre really curious.

I'm still figuring Kryz out a bit, so I don't actually have solid answers to those questions yet, but I do have ideas (Sam, I'm more than happy to PM you if you are curious about if they want more info / ideas for NPC linkages). Or he can just be who is and we'll see where the adventure takes us all :D

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:54 pm
by SamWiser
@Gathers. There is a sheet in the handbook that gives an idea. I'll try to see if I can find it online to show you, but to give you a general idea of pricing, 10 gold could last you anywhere from a week to about a month, depending on how frugally you want to live. (And for the most poor people, that's probably more money than they would ever see in their lives).

Also, here is a list of spells by name. I've copied and pasted both spells in the spoiler below, but that should give you an idea of any future spells you want to learn.
► Show Spoiler
@Thinks, I'll leave that up to you. I'd love to learn more about your character and their backstory, but I doubt I'll be pulling many plot hooks from people's background in this story. If you want to let the adventure continue and figure it out as you go along, that would work too. As long as you have a general idea of what's what.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:43 pm
by GathersIngredients
Thank you, Sam. So normally, they are not cleric spells?
And does that mean I did the roll right? (...and used the cantrip right, as well?)

And thinks: I was asking OOC, ofc it's up to you, if you want to reply or not, but naturally, also OOC. ;)
Saca, for now, I happy enough to keep to herself, for the most at least. ^_^

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:51 pm
by Rodgeir
Domain spells can be from any spell list Gathers.

The roll looks okay to me but Saca's persuasion modifier is only +1. So it should have been 1d20+1 rather than +5.

Also it doesn't look like you cast anything, cantrip or otherwise?


Ah okay now I see, it is good to include text in the game chat so it is clear you are using a spell. In this case you used guidance, which is a cantrip. Guidance doesn't add a flat +4 to your rolls it adds between 1-4 depending on how you roll. You can roll both guidance and persuasion (or whatever check) at the same time, so instead of rolling 1D20+5 on Coyote you would roll 1d20+1d4+1, with the 1d4 being the amount added by guidance.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:16 am
by GathersIngredients
Ah, okay, so the roll would be supposed to look like this instead.
I misunderstood the guidance a bit, then. Apologies for the wrong assumption.
I had Saca pinch her nose bridge, to "camouflage" the touch condition of the cantrip. You said she could do them at will, so I assumed no roll required for that one. But now I know I need to roll the d4 for this cantrip.
Thanks for the explanation.

So... is spell casting then something I should explicitly write out in the IC posts, even if she's trying to do it covertly? Or rather here in the OOC? Or is it enough if I include it in the description of the roll?


Also, I have a question to the "touch" range of the spell. Does this mean I have to find a bare patch of skin to touch (else I won't be touching the target person, but their armour, etc.), or does it work through equipment, too?
Like a knight in full plate armour is taken as an entity together with his equipment, and I could simply touch any part of his armour, while he's wearing it, in order to fulfil the "touch" requirement?

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:37 am
by Rodgeir
Yep, that roll looks good!

Some cantrips do require a roll, particularly if they are attacks.

What is usually done in Spider, Thinks and my games is that players write IC like you did but then include an out of character ((comment)) explaining that Saca cast guidance and squeezed the bridge of her nose to hide it. If you are trying to do some sort of hand action covertly Sam may even decide you need to make a slight of hand roll to see if it is noticed! Only including it in the description of the roll itself works but requires everyone to click the roll to see it, which takes more time.

No need to find some skin, just need to put hands on the target (armor, hats and boots included). In game this mostly just means that you have to be within 5ft of the target (melee range) to cast the spell.

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:16 am
by SamWiser
@Gathers, if you want to speak with Sildar without Gundren hearing you, you'll have to roll Stealth for it. You can edit it into your post or add it here.

@Lurks, can you give me a better idea of what you are hoping to learn with that insight roll?

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:00 pm
by GathersIngredients
I don't think she's trying to get it past him unnoticed. I mean he's bound to see her leaning over to Sildar, so why would she try to not have him hear it.
I think she's being kind of rude (asking about/criticising him as if he's not there), but in the most polite way possible (doing it quietly, so he can ignore it, if he chooses to). Talk about lack of sense for social conventions.... Luckily, though, she's not been/being hired for her good manners. :lol:

Also, did everyone not notice Saca's question about leaving at sunrise (except Aimee) and Gundren's offer for food and some drinks being paid by him on a player level or on a character level?

Re: The Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:27 pm
by Rodgeir
Aimee heard, and took food :D.