Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Neutrilino Jul 24, 2014 9:56:06	I ran my first session of D&D 5e last night using the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure.  I mentally noted a couple of things which fellow DMs might find interesting.   Players:  - Fighter (PreGen Noble)  - Fighter (PreGen Folk Hero)  - Fighter (Dual Handaxe)  - Rogue (PreGen Criminal)  - Cleric (PreGen Soldier)  - Wizard (PreGen Acolyte)   We played through from the Goblin Ambush through to fully clearing the Cragmaw Hideout in 4 hours.     Encounters are much faster.  We're a 4e trained group so normally 6 encounters would take two 4-hour sessions.  6 encounters in 4 hours felt like we were moving at light speed. Easy system to teach.  Coming from 4e, most of the people around the table were comfortable with fighting after two encounters.  The sticky areas are around spell lists, slots and the various durations and actions of spells. Stealth feels messy.  I've been through the Basic Rules a couple of times now and I'm still having trouble determining when characters and monsters can hide.  The basic conditions required for a Hide action, maintaining Stealth, and attacking from Stealth still feel vague. Sleep is very powerful.  In the final two encounters, the wizard popped off Sleep once.  In the Cragmaw Hideout, it was easy for her to hit every creature in the area of the spell.  In both encounters, over 50% of the monsters were incapacitated.  My initial impression is that monsters should have a saving throw against the spell rather than it being an auto-hit. Balance still to be determined.  I've read several reports of groups hitting TPKs at level 1.  We were almost the complete opposite.  There wasn't much challenge in the Cragmaw Hideout.  Note, that to handle 6 players, I added at least one monster to each encounter.  However, with the monsters having around a 30% chance to hit, and the PCs doing enough average damage to one-hit a goblin, they moved through the entire hideout without having to take a long rest.  As an introductory session, that was great. Very positive players.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.  The session moved fast, played fast, and players were involved at all times.  We ran into problems with 4e where players would lose interest during encounters due to the long wait between turns.  These encounters moved so quickly that they had to pay attention.  I appreciated that. That's all I can think of at the moment.  In general, we had a really good time.  That bodes well for the rest of the adventure.
#2 Swede1985 Jul 24, 2014 10:33:00	Sounds like you had a mostly positive experience. I agree that the stealth rules need more ironing out. Did you goes do theatre of the mind or grid?  Ditto on the sleep spell as well. The wizard in my party cast during the opening ambush dropping two goblins, and then again when confronting the bugbear, dropping the two goblins in that encounter as well. I was surprised by its "auto hit" nature, and I am still unsure if I like this or not. I mean, it allows the wizard to feel really powerful to contribute to the fight in a substantial way, and as long as your main big guy has a few goons around, the sleep spell won't completely wipe a room - so, its definitely a powerful spell but I don't know if it is TOO powerful. As a player, if I am playing a wizard and I cast sleep with one of my precious spell slots I like the idea that it's auto-hit - if a save negates the effect completely then how are the hit dice distributed? Anyway, you could house rule it, but I don't think it breaks the game, really.    My players also did not run into the "TPK" threat that has been abounding on the forums. A few went down, but that's why there's a Cleric in the party. All in all, I really like what I've seen so far. Unfortunately, we're so close to PHB release and the first adventure module that my players have decided to wait and play once the book is released. Probably won't play the Starter Set again unless I am teaching the game to new players. Still love the adventure, though. Good art. Nice simple story. A good introduction, but it could stand to be clearer in some areas - especially giving the DM tips on roleplaying characters and such. I've been DMing for years, so its not hard for me, but a new DM might want a few pointers.
(Reply to #2) Neutrilino	Swede1985 wrote:
#4 Leugren Jul 24, 2014 12:16:31	Thanks for sharing!  To me, these types of testimonials are the most useful threads on these forums.
#5 kanageddaamen Jul 24, 2014 13:00:40	I found it a bit easy on my solo run through.  I am going to run it with a group of 5 and decided to add 25% more CR of monsters to keep the XP pace up for them and to make it more of a challenge. Sleep is conditionally powerful due to its random nature.  Its unlikely, but you roll 5 1s and the spell does nothing to goblins at full health, you roll less than 14 and you can only drop 1 creature.   Its also not a huge area of effect (but the LMoP battles are in some tight quarters.) In general, I have found the 1st level spells to be very good, which is why they are limited.
(Reply to #5) Neutrilino	kanageddaamen wrote:
#7 kanageddaamen Jul 24, 2014 13:17:27	I take the area of effect comment back, 20'radius (8x8 on map) is not too shabby
(Reply to #7) JodyJohnson	Sleep doesn't differentiate friends from foes. And it is a enchantment which doesn't benefit from Evokers Sculpt Spells.   Lost the party rogue at one point.  First level Wizards can easily put themselves to sleep.
(Reply to #8) kanageddaamen	JodyJohnson wrote:
#10 MonsterEnvy Jul 24, 2014 13:50:13	Also it effects the ones with the lowest hp first. So the tougher creatures are unlikey to fall from it.
(Reply to #3) JodyJohnson	Neutrilino wrote:
#12 pukunui Jul 24, 2014 21:43:33	JodyJohnson wrote:
(Reply to #12) kanageddaamen	pukunui wrote:
#14 pukunui Jul 25, 2014 5:58:51	Not at that point, no.
(Reply to #8) Goober4473	JodyJohnson wrote: