Hi Adam i was just wondering what its like for you (As GM) to be soundly beaten in a big battle like today? How does it make you feel? are you happy for the players? Are you annoyed that you lost? What goes through a GM’s head when something like this happens? Love the show keep up the good work.
The #1 rule of GMing a combat oriented game is you shouldn’t think of it as you vs the players. You’re providing an obstacle they have to try to overcome, you’re not trying to “beat” them and you don’t “lose” when the players win. You win when the players have fun. The goal shouldn’t be to try to kill them in a technically fair manner. That’s how I see it, at least. I can’t speak for Adam but I’m a big fan of his and I think he agrees to some extent.
That said, Adam rolled very poorly tonight and still a player went to 0. On a different initiative order he could’ve had Azriel dead then and there. 1 Shaman + 3 Lizards is a deadly encounter and the fight even had some backup. It was a good challenge, but with some levels in their pocket and much more optimized characters (especially Dan and JP) they’re having better showings.
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I’ve had a recent experience like this. Was doing an AP of one I previously attempted to do before (that didn’t get far), and while the first go around, we found the key to disarm a trap and continued on. The second group, we found the key again, and the DM said we were trapped, the room was going to smoosh us, and that was that. I, the party’s trap disarmer, didn’t even get a chance to disarm or whatever. It was clear to me he just wanted us to die for the sake of dying (despite the AP in question being an absolute meat grinder).
The group certainly has AC going for them now, which should last them to the point where they have the HP/toolkits to match encounter difficulty… assuming Adam doesn’t start throwing in 2-3 enchantment school wizards in every encounter.
But is the ziggurat a dungeon? O_O I wonder how this camp and ziggurat fit into everything with the trade route people.
I’ve always been hesitant about putting dinosaurs in games. I was pleasantly surprised by how much it didn’t affect anything at all negatively. More props to Adam.
Also to Max. RP is always on point, especially the dream sequence and afterwards. It was weird and I’m wondering what’s going to happen to Berg because of it, but I’m really happy (that it happened to at least one of them) that it was Berg that got affected, even though he’s kind of been beaten at every turn recently. Then again that is kind of the story of Berg.
Yeah, it was sort of covered in the post show also, but I believe if they hadn’t recently gotten that armor, the encounter could have wiped the party. They were…not lucky, but fortunate to have been as prepared as they are. With their party comp and gear they’re kind of in a sweet spot until they start hitting mobs that they just have to make saves against or that have damage immunity.
But totally agree with you, it should never been you against the players. The goal is for everyone to have fun.
hot damn that fight was epic. everyone got to shine.
This episode was so much fun. I was laughing and clapping my hands. It’s nice to have the players win every once in a while. You guys are really doing well with your strategy.
GassyMexican don’t forget to use reckless attack to give yourself advantage, against that snake you would have had double criticals.
@AdamKoebel and @itmeJP PG. 128/129 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide has rules on how players can create magic items.
Roleplay is on point and so is the strategy, thanks guys for another great show.
Right! Of course! I’ll check that out.
I’ve never done it my game so I’d be interested to see how you handle it. The recommended costs are somewhat high plus they might need to find special components so it shouldn’t be able to be abused too much. Finding the components could lead to some fun quests. Thanks.
Could Dan have activated the spell stone before the fight to have three extra (occupied) spell slots?
He doesn’t get spell slots from it, he can store spells inside of it after casting them into it. It takes an action or bonus action to cast one of the spells out of it, I don’t recall which.
Yeah I know. What I mean is why not have it activated all the time and bypass the need to waste an action on it?
No, he has to cast spells into it to store them.
Those are not freely usable spell slots.
The activation of teh stone means that you cast the spell you stored earlier.
So he can cast two spells into it today and then have those ready to use in the future.
It stil means he has to expend his own spell slots at one time first to store those spells.
Yes but like in this case he stored those spells right after they left the Rock Gnome caves.
Why not activate the stone immediately, so it circles his head and is ready to be used, instead of keeping it in his pocket and then wasting an action in battle to activate it.
Is there a limit to how long it can be active? Could it be active 24/7?
Phenomenal roleplaying, all cast members, with PC rolls to match. Overall impressive tactical combat decision-making. Really well done, possibly the best CoS episode to date. I fell in love with the series and the characters all over again. Good job Adam, good job cast. <3
Not that it made a difference because Berg was already BEAST in that scene, but when you rage you get advantage on strength based checks and saves.
You’re a bit confused on the usage. Here is the steps on it’s usage:
- Cast spells into the stone.
- At a later time cast spell saved in the stone, this would use an action or bonus action depending on the spell.
It’s not something that is activated and can be always on. It’s just a storage container. Think of it like a waterskin. You can pour water in it and then pour water out of it at a later time. You can’t enable the waterskin to constantly keep you quenched.
Make sense? Here’s a Ring of Spell Storing which is similar to this item:
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No I understand how it works. The thing is Adam said to use the spell stone to get access to the stored spells you have to use an action to have it hover around your head. Dan then used a bonus action spell from it.
From that wording it made it seem like if Dan wanted to use a spell that took a full action he’d have to wait until the next turn.
From the SRD:
While this stone orbits your head, you can cast any spell stored in it.
What I’m asking is why doesn’t Dan have it orbit his head all the time?
Probably because it looks like a valuable gem and someone could snatch it.
It’d probably be wise to put it in orbit if you’re expecting a fight so as not to waste an action, but Dan was hoping to talk to the encampment rather than immediately fight.
Ahhh I guess I missed that. Maybe it’s as simple as it would be odd to be in social situations with it floating around your head? Do you recall the exact name of the stone so I can read up on it?
Ioun Stone of Reserve.