Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Genen29 Jul 08, 2015 17:48:11	Two questions regarding an encounter I was running with a new group-   1) Some conditions, such as a paralyze touch from a Ghoul, states it lasts one minute pending a saving saving throw.  If the saving throw is missed, the affected victim gets to roll a saving throw each turn to remove the effect.  Since the PHB states a round lasts 6 seconds, this means that if this victim rolls poorly and never makes a saving throw in his 10 turns, he will be out of combat for 10 rounds doing absolutely nothing.  Is that correct?    2) In the above scenario, as a DM, if you're running this combat and this Ghoul paralyzes a character, do you continue to have this Ghoul attack this paralyzed character each round since he was already attacking this character, (and therefore gain Advantage and Automatic criticals if within 5')  or do you have this Ghoul start attacking someone else in an attempt to spread out the damage and be a nice DM?   It just seems like a minute can be a *long* time for a nasty condition mixed with some bad dice rolls.  Throw in some advantage and auto crits, and for a CR 1 creature this could become deadly, very quickly, for a low level character.   How would you folks handle the above scenario?  Do you prefer to play it out like a Ghoul probably would beating on this poor sap, or do you prefer to soften the blow a little bit and move that ghoul around a little bit?  What are other options that an experienced party would do when they see this happen to a comrade,  just so I may nudge these inexperienced characters in the future.
#2 iserith Jul 08, 2015 18:23:28	Genen29 wrote:
#3 Nevvur Jul 08, 2015 20:30:41	Ghouls are ravenously hungry all the time, even though consumption offers no sustenance. A lone ghoul will probably stop attacking a paralyzed victim, and attack another opponent until it has incapacitated all enemy combatants. They're not bright, they just want to eat. Yet they aren't so suicidal to devour a victim while they're getting beaten on. Within a pack, however, individuals may be overcome by their insatiable hunger and drag a victim away to be devoured even as the rest of the pack fights on. This behavior is described in at least one (probably more) official adventure, though it doesn't appear in the MM entry.   This is how I usually run ghouls, anyway. You should foreshadow this behavior if you choose to use it, so the PCs know to intervene when a ghoul starts dragging away a paralyzed or unconscious party member.
#4 Slagger_the_Chuul Jul 08, 2015 21:15:02	Nevvur wrote:
#5 lawrencehoy Jul 08, 2015 22:51:37	Nevvur wrote:
#6 iserith Jul 09, 2015 3:35:32	I like to imagine ghouls as so ravenously hungry for flesh that they feed on paralyzed characters even at their own peril. I describe it as such, too. This makes them creepier in my view and more dangerous.