The adventuring party consists of four 2nd level characters (whose stats can be found online at 13thage.com):
Korin Ironhand, a male dwarf fighter (played by Tom);
Yani Darkshadow, a female halfling rogue (played by Mark);
Ryisha Noir, a female human cleric (played by Wes);
Tallos Silvereyes, a male high elf wizard (played by Kate).and
Luckily for the players, Rob is the GM.
The adventurers are following a washed out trail across rocky, broken hills on their way to the village of Grayson’s Crossing when the path leads to a rickety wooden bridge over a deep, dark cleft. Rob calls on everyone to make Wisdom checks as the PCs approach the bridge, assuming that they are being wary. It’s a normal check for adventurer tier to spot the lurking enemies—DC 15. He totally skips the part where the GM makes the players explain exactly how they approach the dangerous area, since he knows his paranoid players would slow the game to a crawl. Yani, using her +4 Imperial Scout background, easily notices scaly humanoids waiting in ambush behind bushes on the other side of the bridge. She shouts a warning to the group.
Rob says, “Well, since you’ve let everyone know you’ve seen the ambush, including the five lizardmen in the grass, they leap to their feet with growls and look like they’re going to charge across the bridge to attack. Go ahead and roll initiative!”
While the players are rolling initiative, Rob rolls initiative for his monsters, one roll for the 3rd level leader and another for the four lizardman savages following him. (If you already noticed that there is no lizardman leader on page 237, you’ll also have guessed that Rob just added a level to the stats for the 2nd level savage to create the leader; took fifteen seconds.)
Each player rolls a d20 and adds their initiative bonus, calling out their totals to Rob. (As a human, Ryisha gets two rolls and uses the better.) Rob tracks the initiative order on notebook paper:
Yani, Korin, the savages, Ryisha, Tallos, and the lizardman leader.
We agree that’s it’s a good thing to tell characters they should be using their daggers at times instead of their other weapons. And I see Jonathan’s point, lodged ever so lightly in the players’ backs. Maybe I’ll do it his way sometimes.
I never let players get out of a jam this easily.
Being forced to use a small-dice weapon every once in a while keeps the brawny barbarian from taking their big axe for granted.
Teleportation
Teleportation is an effect by which a creature moves instantaneously from one location to another. As a rule, teleportation doesn’t draw opportunity attacks but some spells that create teleport effects do draw opportunity attacks against the caster.
A teleport effect in itself doesn’t trigger opportunity attacks from enemies who are engaged with the teleporting creature before or after the movement. As a rule, abilities that allow teleportation don’t draw opportunity attacks—the high elf’s highblood teleport, for example, disregards the presence of engaged enemies. When a spell like blink or touch of evil allows the target of the spell to teleport as a temporary ability, using the ability doesn’t draw opportunity attacks. The same goes for teleport effects forced upon enemies.
On the other hand, many teleport effects occur as a result of a spell being cast. Spellcasting rules don’t change because you are casting a teleport spell. If you cast a ranged spell that draws opportunity attacks and it also happens to have a teleport effect, you will take opportunity attacks from enemies engaged with you when you cast the spell. Note that it is the spellcasting that draws the opportunity attack, not the teleport effect.
For example, the Queen’s shadows is a ranged sorcerer spell that offers a chance of teleporting. If you cast the spell while engaged with an enemy, you draw an opportunity attack from that enemy. Moving using the teleport effect if you hit with a natural even attack roll, however, doesn’t draw an attack itself.
So if you’re smart, you’ll teleport somewhere you can’t be engaged easily, allowing you to use the spell again without taking opportunity attacks.
Similarly, you could use a teleport effect on an ally who is engaged with enemies and your ally won’t draw opportunity attacks when they blip away.
Rob tells Mark, “Okay Yani, the lizardmen have spears and are getting ready to charge across the bridge, what do you do?”
Yani’s player, Mark, considers the terrain and hopes Korin will act before the lizardmen, saying, “Korin, hold the bridge.” Mark makes a shadow walk attack against the enemy with the best Mental Defense, in this case the leader, rolling a 15 on a d20. Yani has a +5 bonus for that attack, giving her a 20, which is more than enough. “I disappear!”
says Mark. Rob points out that a cool ability deserves a cool narration. “What would it look like in a movie?” he asks. Mark says, “Where Yani was standing just a moment ago, there’s now nothing but a swirl of dust in the air.” Mark picks his mini up off the table with a flourish. Mark then tells Rob he’s done.
Korin is up next. Tom heard Mark’s advice but knows that his character would rather charge an enemy than guard a bridge.
“Korin hefts his axe, yells a battlecry for clan Ironhand, and rushes to the end of the bridge, engaging and attacking the front lizardman.” Wes interrupts, shouting, “No, the bridge is a trap,”
because that’s the kind of assumption Wes likes to make when people don’t follow his notion of the plan. Tom looks at Rob as if rethinking his reckless move. To keep the action rolling, Rob makes up some crazy story about how Korin can tell that the bridge is actually dwarf-built and set to last another couple ages.
Korin runs across the bridge, the fight is on, and recurrent jokes about dwarf-built architecture enter the campaign.
As a fighter, Korin makes a basic melee attack. Tom rolls a d20, getting a 14, and adds his attack bonus (+8) to it, telling Rob that his attack is a 22 against AC.
Rob checks the savage’s AC, which is a 17, and tells Tom that Korin hit. Tom rolls 2d8 (11) and adds his +5 Str
modifier and +1 magic weapon bonus in for a total of 17. Because Korin is a fighter, he also gets to choose different effects based on the natural result of his attack roll (flexible attacks). With the even number (14) that he rolled on this attack, he uses his defensive fighting maneuver. That maneuver gives Korin a +2 bonus to AC until his next turn, which will come in handy since he’s now the main target for the lizardmen. Tom then narrates Korin’s attack to fit the maneuver: “I lash out at the monster’s leg, then spin full circle into a defensive crouch with my shield up high.”
Rob subtracts the 17 points from the lizardman’s total, dropping it from 32 to 15. Since the monster went under half its hit points, Rob tells the group that the axe blow staggered the savage and describes the deep gash on the lizardman’s leg. Then Rob sees that it’s the savages’ turn in initiative order.
Rob decides that the staggered lizardman already engaged with the dwarf and one other savage will attack Korin.
Rob rolls two spear attacks against Korin first, getting a 4 and a 14, and adds each savage’s attack bonus of +7 to the roll for a total of 11 and 21 against Korin’s AC. Normally the 21 would hit his AC of 20, but because of the defensive fighting bonus, Korin’s AC is 22 and it’s a miss. Cheers go up around the table.
Next up are the other two savages, who leap onto the bridge behind
Korin, moving across and engaging Ryisha, who’s just ahead of Tallos.
As the first savage moves toward Ryisha, Tom says, “Hold on, he’s headed for Ryisha? I’m going to try and intercept using Skilled Intercept.”
“You know you’ll only get away cleanly from one of the guys on you, right, the other one will take an opportunity attack,” says Rob. Tom waves that off since he trusts in Korin’s armor, but he rolls only a 7 when he needed to roll an 11+ to pop free from engagement and intercept the enemy moving to Ryisha. “You’ve got heavy armor, clerics can take it,”
says Tom to Wes, trying to be encouraging after his own failure.
Two lizard man savages end up attacking Ryisha. One roll is a clear miss, but the other is a 17 for a total of 24 with his +7 attack bonus—a hit! Damage for the monster attacks is a static value, so Rob tells Wes that Ryisha takes 7 damage, and Wes subtracts that amount from Ryisha’s 32 total hit points, leaving her with 25. Even worse, when a lizardman savage hits with a natural 16 or better, it can also make a bite attack the same turn. Rob rolls again and gets a 10, for a total of 17 vs. Ryisha’s AC. Another hit!
The bite deals 5 damage, but even worse, it sets Ryisha up for a ripping frenzy attack next turn if Ryisha is still engaged with that savage. Rob raises his eyebrows archly while Wes lowers Ryisha’s hit points to 20. Rob then tells Wes that it’s Ryisha’s turn.
As a cleric, Ryisha is the party’s healer. As she’s lining up a mace strike against one of the savages on her, Wes decides he’d better have Ryisha heal herself before things get too dicey. But first the attack! He isn’t willing to expend a daily spell yet, so he makes a basic melee attack with the mace and rolls a 5. Ryisha’s bonus is only +5, so a 10 vs. AC misses. Dang! But even on a miss, she deals damage equal to her level (2). Rob describes her swing as throwing the savage off-balance, reducing its hit points from 32 to 30.
Two points of damage is fine and all, but Ryisha needs healing. Wes says, “Ryisha calls out to the Gods of Light and channels healing energy into her wounds.” Wes then marks off one use of Ryisha’s heal spell.
She can use that spell after attacking because it only takes a quick action, and she doesn’t take opportunity attacks from the savages because it’s a close-quarters spell. Rob says, “The countless jagged teeth of a lizardfolk are clamped down on your mortal body, ready to rip you open. How exactly do you cast that spell?” Wes thinks for a second and makes up something theological about the total need of the soul in the face of the gods and how that reflects his total need of the flesh. The other players nod in appreciation. Now Wes rolls for the healing. Clerics use d8s for recovery dice, and since Ryisha is 2nd level, Wes rolls 2d8 (7) and adds Ryisha’s Con mod (+1). Ryisha also has the Healing domain, so she gets to add twice her level (4) to the roll as well, for a total of 12 healing. Ryisha’s hit points go from 20 to 32, good as new. “Total need,” indeed.
Ryisha has used her standard action and a quick action, but still has a move action left. As a cleric, she could create an invocation with a quick action (using the move action as a quick action instead). Wes actually thought about that before healing, but decided that an invocation wasn’t necessary this battle. Instead, Wes decides to have Ryisha try to disengage from the two savages if she can. He rolls a normal save on a d20 for a disengage check, needing to get a 12 or better (normally 11+, but he’s –1 for each additional enemy), but only rolls an 8. Fail! Wes looks at Kate and says, “A little help here wizard!” ending Ryisha’s turn. Talking doesn’t take an action.
Now it’s Tallos’s turn, and even though the cleric just healed herself, Tallos sees that those lizardman teeth are still clamped down on her. Tallos decides to help her and leave the lizardman leader for others to worry about. The savages didn’t engage Tallos, so he’s free to cast without worries. Knowing that Yani will reappear out of the shadows next round, Kate says, “Tallos raises his wand and mumbles out a few arcane words, firing a ray of frost at the savage chomping on Ryisha.” Kate gets an 11 on her attack roll, and adds her attack bonus for the spell of +5, for a total of 16. That wouldn’t hit the savage’s AC, but this is an attack against Physical Defense, since it’s the sort of thing you dodge rather than block with armor. Tallos hits for 10 cold damage against the savage, dropping it to 22 hit points. Then Kate has Tallos back away from the combatants, telling the group that there’s no point getting herself tangled up in that mess.
The last combatant in initiative order is the lizardman leader, and Rob decides that he will gang up on Korin. The leader rushes in and attacks with his spear, and Rob rolls a 19 and adds its attack bonus of +8 for a total of 27, an easy hit. Korin takes 10 damage, and since Rob rolled above a natural 16, the leader gets to make a bite attack as well. Rob rolls a 12, getting a 20 with the +8 attack bonus.
Luckily, that’s a miss because of Korin’s defensive fighting AC bonus. No ripping frenzy for Korin!
The leader’s turn is over, and that’s the end of the first round.
Now the second round begins. First, Rob takes out the six-sided escalation die and sets it out with the one facing up; now all the PCs get a +1 bonus to attacks! Rob says, “Okay Yani, you’re up.”
Mark thinks about the scene and decides that Korin can probably hold out for a little longer. Yani used her shadow walk ability last turn, so this turn she can appear anywhere nearby that she could have moved to normally and she will deal double damage with an attack that hits. Mark says, “As if from nowhere, Yani suddenly appears behind the savage that is about to rip Ryisha a new one. And she . . . (rolling a d20 and getting a natural 20, a crit, for a total of 29 with her +8 bonus and +1 escalation die bonus) . . . plunges the blade into the creature’s back.”
As the table cheers, Rob replies, “You certainly do. How much damage?”
Mark rolls Yani’s weapon damage (2d8) for 4 and adds +5 for Yani’s Dex mod, for a total of 9. Then, since the savage is engaged with Yani’s ally Ryisha, Yani can add her sneak attack damage in and rolls a d8 for 5, giving her a total of 14 damage. But since Yani scored a crit, she gets to deal double damage, which would make it 28 damage. But even better, Yani’s shadow walk allows her to deal double damage on a hit, so she instead gets to deal triple damage.
Mark announces to the table that Yani just hit for 42 damage.
Rob invites Mark to narrate exactly how Yani destroys the lizardman that thought it was about to rip into the cleric. The explanation involves a lot of spatter. Play continues in initiative order, with Korin, then the savages, then Ryisha and Tallos, and finally the lizardman leader. Each new round, Rob increases the escalation die by 1, making
it easier for the PCs to hit with their attacks. Soon the PCs defeat the monsters handily, as happens
in a lot of combat examples.