Mini Adventure, Week II
It was the concluding week of the Arcana Unearthed mini-adventure, with the three characters striking out to retrieve a vital object that held the fates of a whole village and its people. Maybe it was because we were playing with pre-generated characters that came with the adventure, or maybe because no one wanted to play the Akashic character with its skill-based class, but it seemed to be a case of the blind leading the blind. Not only did the party fail to see three dead monsters 'hidden' in a clump of grass next to the road they were walking on, but the first they knew of a pit, which was in a doorway, 10-feet wide and uncovered, was when the Mage Blade scampered forwards and fell headlong in to it. This wasn't so much failing a Spot check as perhaps thinking that relying on touch would be a better way to perceive the environment. It worked, but it turned out to be a bit more painful than using one's sight.
After clambering out the pit to join his comrades, now embroiled in a fight with the enemy, the Mojh Mage Blade started attacking. He pulled out his sword and smote a nearby foe, hitting for a good amount of damage for a short sword: 5 points of damage from a D6. He then remembered that he wasn't using a short sword but a long sword, but didn't want to reroll the damage inflicted, fearing that he wouldn't get anywhere near as much damage when rolling a D8. I guess he tapped in to some collective unconscious, letting him recall a time when a Fighter rolled more on a D4 than a simultaneously-rolled D20.
It all worked out in the end, with our heroes managing to retrieve the stolen artefact and return it to the village whence it came.
29th October 2004 at 8.55 am
I guess the writer of the adventure didn't realise just how difficult DC10 Spot Checks can be.
29th October 2004 at 1.50 pm
A 'normal' party has 3 PCs with no modifiers to spot: Odds of nobody spotting anything: 1 in 8
Our party has 3 PCs with no modifiers to spot: Chance of nobody spotting anything: Approx. 100%
29th October 2004 at 1.57 pm
Re. the D6 damage roll for the longsword: Up to that point, I had yet to roll "above average" damage during the entire session. In fact, neither had anyone else (apart from the monsters of course, who apparently got a critical threat on their first attack roll and never looked back). By that yardstick, 5 out of a possible 8 seemed like a good bet to stick on.