Show Notes
In this 4-part series, we teach new players with absolutely no exposure to the game how to play Dungeons and Dragons with the help of our special guest, Jodie, who prior to recording with us had never been exposed to Dungeons and Dragons. By the end of this series, you’ll be ready to build a character and play your first game.
In our third episode in this series, Randall Dungeon Masters a short one-shot adventure for Jodie using the character that she built in the previous session.
The Full 4-Part Series
- Part 1 – Concepts and Themes
- Part 2 – Characters
- Part 3 – Playing the Game
- Part 4 – Questions and Answers
Transcript
Randall
Welcome to this very special episode arc of the RPGBOT.podcast. Yeah, so in this arc, we’re going to take our special guest Jodie. Through learning about how to play tabletop gaming. In particular, we’re focused in Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition. We’re going to do this in four episodes. So the first episode we’re gonna talk about concepts and themes in tabletop gaming. The second episode, we’re going to work through building a character for playing D&D 5e. The third episode, we’re going to do a one shot in D&D 5e. And in the fourth episode, we’re going to gather and kind of talk through everything that Jodie experienced. Give her an opportunity to ask any questions you might have about the game. So yeah, if you’re a regular listener, if you’re super into D&D 5e, this might not be super useful for you, but we’re hoping it’s something you can bring to folks who want to come to the game. And if you’ve been away from tabletop for a while, and you want to come back to it, we’re hoping this is a great resource for you to kind of get familiar, reacquaint yourself, and come back into the game. Thanks a lot. And now, Episode Three with me Randall and in Jodie, and yeah, we’re gonna do a one shot together. It’s gonna be great. Welcome to the RPGBOT.Podcast. I’m Randall James, your Dungeon Master tonight. That’s right, yeah. So we’re gonna have a special episode, we have a special guest today, Jodie.
Jodie
Hi.
Randall
This is the third episode in the arc that we put together where Tandom Powell worked with Jodie to talk about what a tabletop role playing game is. Tyler worked with Jodie to put together a D&D Fifth Edition character. And now Jodie and I are going to play a session, we’re going to play a one-shot all the way through. And this is kind of meant to be an introduction to the game. And so Jodie, this is your first time playing a tabletop game, right?
Jodie
It is yes.
Randall
You excited?
Jodie
I am really excited about it! So we’ll, we’ll see how I do.
Randall
Oh, it’s gonna be great. I guarantee you’re gonna be great. So yeah, we’re we’re going to do this. And Jodie as you have questions asked, because the whole idea of this is, we’re hoping other people who maybe haven’t played a lot or haven’t played at all, will be able to listen to this, you know, hear the same kinds of questions that you ask and kind of put the game together to where, you know, they can then step off and feel more comfortable stepping into their own actual play. Because I think a lot of times the fear of like not knowing what you’re doing when you get in there can be a barrier. And we really don’t want that to be a barrier to getting in because this really is a welcoming hobby.
Jodie
Alright.
Randall
Folks enjoy new people coming in. So let’s, let’s introduce your character a little bit. How do you pronounce her name?
Jodie
Andrea Tealeaf.
Randall
Andrea Tealeaf. I like that. Okay. Tell me about Andrea.
Jodie
Well, Andre is a halfling as a race, and a Druid, a class one Druid. I’m sorry, Druid as the class. Level one with a background of being a hermit.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
And I chose the name, Andriy because it was one of the options it gave in the book, and I liked it. But then I chose Tealeaf because drinking tea is one of my things.
Randall
Perfect. I like that a lot. Awesome, awesome. So I think we can step into the game. And then my thought would be that as we encounter things that we’ve done for the first time, so the first time we do a skill check, the first time we enter combat, will kind of do the meta of like, what we’re doing and why, why we’re doing it at the same time that we actually play the game. Sounds good?
Jodie
Yes.
Randall
Alright. Because we’re doing a short one-shot, I’m going to kind of set the scenario for us. A lot of times in a longer, longer campaign. What a Dungeon Master likes to do is put everybody in a tavern, put everybody in a bar, or some scenario where the characters can kind of figure out what motivates them, what gets them excited, what adventure do they want to go have? But in this case, we’ll kind of set up the adventure to where we’re going right into the action, as opposed to kind of having that that dwelling of like, Oh, what are we doing? So you live in the kingdom of Manta.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
There’s a rumor going around that the king’s court Wizard is doing unnatural things.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
As a druid, druids tend to not like unnatural things. In particular, any kind of undead is considered an affront and it’s generally something that you know, if somebody is dabbling in necromancy, dabbling with the undead, that that’s the thing that makes most druids unhappy.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
So your character has heard rumors that this is happening to people thrown into the prison. And your character thought, who better to solve this problem then yourself? So you got yourself thrown in prison so that you could find evidence.
Jodie
Okay,
Randall
And then escape with evidence.
Jodie
Oh, okay. Interesting.
Randall
So I’ll ask the question, do you have any thoughts on what kind of crime you might have committed to get arrested?
Jodie
first thought is theft.
Randall
Okay, so that’s an easy way.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
What would you steal? And who would you steal it for?
Jodie
Who would I steal it for? Well, okay, my first thought was kind of an Aladdin thing. I’d steal a loaf of bread for some hungry children.
Randall
I love that. I think that’s great. Okay, and in fact, yeah, so I like that. What I want to do, because I think that’s a cool idea, like taking care of kids.
Jodie
Mhmm.
Randall
So even though you’re going to do something that’s technically wrong, you’re still trying to do something good with it. I want to give you Inspiration.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And so at the top left of your character sheet, there’s a little box that says inspiration. You can check that off.
Jodie
Okay. Just put a checkmark in the box.
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
Okay, got it.
Randall
And then later on, if you have something that you really want to make sure you succeed on, let me know, and we’ll talk about how to use Inspiration to make that happen.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Okay, awesome. Alright, so that’s fantastic. So, Andrea stole a loaf of bread, running away from the guard or maybe walking away from the guard, not that briskly because you kind of wanted to get caught. You gave a loaf of bread to a group of children. But you were ultimately caught by the guard. To your surprise, they bring you into the guard keep, which is hooked to the prison, but they don’t take your gear. They don’t take your equipment, they leave you with your scimitar, they leave you with your focus and your shield. They open a trap door, and they push you to the brink of the trap door. And one of the guards leans in and he says “the wizard’s waiting for you down there.” And then you pushes you in.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
You land on all fours. Okay, and the first thing you notice is that your hands kind of sink into the muck a bit. It’s a little bit damp. As the door is closing, you look around, and you see that you’re in a stone walled cell. It’s fairly large. And the ground is kind of bare dirt and mucky and icky. But right at that moment that you’ve you’ve appreciated this much of your surroundings. The trapdoor above you closes and you’re left hand pitch black
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
What do you want to do?
Jodie
Produce flame?
Randall
Okay, all right. So you have a cantrip which is Produce Flame? No, brilliant. That’s perfect.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
So yeah, you have a cantrip, which is produced flame. That’s gonna last for 10 minutes. And it lets you see, I think it’s 10 feet in front of you. Okay, and so you can kinda, you have dim light in a 10-foot radius. Okay, and so you cast that. You look around, you can see two of the walls, they’re grimy and mossy. There’s like green fuzz growing out. So apparently light does come in here at some point. You can’t see the other two walls, but there’s pillars throughout the room. And as far as you can see, the floor is kind of mucky. Basically, as you felt with your hands. You see it looks, it looks as gross as it felt. What do you want to do?
Jodie
I was told there would be a Wizard in there, correct?
Randall
Well he said the Wizard was going to be waiting for you. I don’t know if that means the Wizard is going to be in the room.
Jodie
Well, could I cast a spell to Detect Magic? Or what other options what I have in a situation like this? I’ve never been in one!
Randall
No, understood. So it’s a, it’s a good question. So you have, as a level one Druid, you have to level one spell slots, which means you can cast, you can cast two of your four level one spells before you take a long rest. So what I would say, I don’t know if Detect Magic is going to give you a lot of value here. Like, you don’t see anything that’s potentially magical, unless somebody is like hiding invisibly in front of you something like this. What I would what I would say because you can only see two of the walls of the room, so there’s more room to be explored.
Jodie
So I need to look under my skill set versus the spells at this moment.
Randall
So that’s a good question. What I would actually say is maybe ignore the character sheet for now. And just intuitively, if Andrea is in a room, Andrea can only see about 10 feet in front of her, and she can only see kind of half the cell. What would you want to do? Do you want to in you know, kind of check this part of the cell a little closer? Do you want to just go see what’s on the other side?
Jodie
So I could say I would like to walk around or walk forward? How specific do I have to be?
Randall
All great questions. 100%. You can, and this is actually I want to drive this home, you can say that you want to try to do whatever you want to try to do. In the worst case, the DM is gonna say, I’m not gonna allow that. I’m gonna try to use my own hair to start a fire in the middle of the muckyroom. I’m probably gonna say okay, now this this isn’t going to work and you already a pretty slim, so it’s good. But yeah, like if your instinct is to walk around 100% Just say I want to walk around. And if kind of a good rule of thumb that most teams will use. If you’re likely to success if basically there’s no chance of failure when you go to do something, I won’t even ask you to roll. So for instance, if you tell me you just want to go look around the other side of the room, to look around the room, I won’t ask you to roll. I’ll give you a brief description of kind of everything that’s obvious over there. And then if you say, Well, I want to look a little bit harder at this feature or that feature then might be the place where I’d say, okay, look, let’s make a perception, let’s make an investigation roll.
Jodie
Okay. All right, well, then I would like to walk around and look at more of the room.
Randall
Awesome. Okay, so you walk around the edge of the room. And of course, you’re skeptical because you’re in a dungeon, you came here to find somebody doing terrible things. When you hit the far wall, the very first thing you notice is that there’s a large, open door, written above the door, in very large letters. It says, “speak criminal, and move freely.”
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And as you continue, oh, go ahead.
Jodie
No, I’m, I’m digesting that.
Randall
Okay. And then as you continue to move around, you, you kind of walk all the way to the firewall, just to see what’s over there. Will you make a Perception check for me. And so to do a check, this is our first skill check. Let’s look at your character sheet. You’re proficient in Perception, you have a little dot filled in for it. And so your wisdom bonuses A plus three, your proficiency bonuses, a plus two. So all that together is a plus five, and you have it marked like that on your character sheet. So to make that Perception skill check, we’re going to roll a d20. And then we’re going to add that five to the d20. And then I have a number that I know I want you to roll in order to kind of at levels of perception, so to speak.
Jodie
Okay, I rolled a 16 by this 21.
Randall
That’s great. Okay, so you notice this inscription, you also notice huddling in the corner, a small mouse. What would you like to do?
Jodie
Oh, my goodness. First thought is Speak with Animals, but…
Randall
That’s a cool idea.
Jodie
Okay. Alright. But so because this is also new, I’m going right for the spells. But is there something on my in my skill area that would help in this? I mean, what would… what are my options here? What what kinds of things can be done?
Randall
Understood. So, I think before we talk about options, it’s kind of a, what do you think you want to do? So we have looked around the room, there’s only one obvious kind of exit point. You did do a perception check. And you rolled pretty well on the perception check. You didn’t find kind of any, I’ll say obviously hidden exits. But you did find a mouse, and the mouse is kind of sitting there patiently. And so what we’ve identified about the room is a door. There’s a question of whether you want to get through that door or not. And I’ll pose to you: do you think you want to get through the door?
Jodie
That that was kind of… after I said, What are my options? I I thought back about the door because I was fuddled. I was focused on the mouse huddling in the corner at that moment, but then I did think while you were speaking that I would want to see if the door’s… if I can open it, just to check to see if it’s unlocked.
Randall
Awesome. Yeah. So you you approach the door, it has a handle, kind of same as any door. The handle doesn’t turn.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
As if it were locked.
Jodie
Okay. Alright. Hmm. I mean, is there something in… oh, goodness.
Randall
So the, like, some, some characters would have something like a lockpick. And they could attempt to pick the lock or Jimmy, the lock. If you had tools, you might make an argument about like messing with the hinges or this sort of thing.
Jodie
Yeah.
Randall
But I don’t think these things are available to you. So I think we’ll have to do this a different way. And that’s where I’ll call out, right. So written above the door, we have this “speak criminal and move freely.”
Jodie
Okay. So with at that point, do you say that you would like to call out something? Like call to see? I mean…
Randall
If you want to call out something,
Jodie
Yeah, like to call to see if someone’s there.
Randall
You can.
Jodie
Okay, someone would try to open the door?
Randall
You could try this.
Jodie
Okay. So what do I do now?
Randall
Whatever you want to say whatever you want your player character to say just say it as if… and like what some people do cuz it’s kind of its most comforting thing is like, Andrea says…
Jodie
Okay. Andrea says “Hello. Is anyone out there?”
Randall
Okay. Nobody responds. You don’t hear anything. You wait, maybe another 30 seconds, another minute goes by. And still nothing responds.
Jodie
Okay. And I don’t have any tools to open the door. Okay, is it at the point where I want to try and speak with the animal to see what the animal knows?
Randall
I think that’s a cool idea.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Alright. And so you’ll, you’ll cast your level one Speak with Animals.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And what that does is it lets you talk with animals for 10 minutes, and kind of what they’re able to communicate to you is limited by their intelligence. So we’re going to hope this is a very smart mouse. And so you now have the ability to to speak to the mouse.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
So what typically happens in this situation is I’m, I’m going to, I’m going to be the mouse and you get to be Andrea. And so we could just have a conversation as the characters. And I’ll kind of leave it to you to make the first move because you’ve cast the spell. The mouse, not gonna lie, it’s probably going to be a little bit surprised that this person is speaking in a way that the mouse understands.
Jodie
Oh, okay, so my first thought was to say don’t be afraid, little mouse.
Randall
How can I help you?
Jodie
Oh, I won’t hurt you.
Randall
That’s fantastic.
Jodie
Can you tell me where I am?
Randall
Oh, you’re in my home.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Do you have any crumbs?
Jodie
I do have some crumbs in my pocket.
Randall
Fantastic. It reaches out takes crumbs.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Nibbling crumbs.
Jodie
Okay. Okay. So then I say “well, little mouse. Could you tell me how I can get out of here?”
Randall
So the mouse is kind of looking back and forth and just is looking at the door. He’s like “Well.”
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
“Some people go through door.”
Jodie
He’s telling me I’m asking a silly question. Okay.
Randall
No, no, these are great questions. The mouse is not smart. That’s really the issue.
Jodie
Do people come in that through this door very often?
Randall
Ah, yeah. So sometimes people kind of walk around and they sit, and they don’t do much. And a lot of people come through the door. And when they come through the door, usually it’s bad for the person. But other times, people people walk up to the door. They look at it. And he like he raises both of his hands above his head kind of like in like a bear pose almost. They look at it. And they they squeak. They squeak out the door. They squeak at the door, and the door opens. And then they leave.
Jodie
Oh, can you tell me what? What it sounds like when they squeak at the door?
Randall
You got any more of them crumbs?
Jodie
I do have more crumbs. Here you are.
Randall
Not missing the chance for a meal, it eats a few crumbs. He walks to the position he was talking about. He puts his hands up in the bear pose. And he’s… *indiscernible mouse noises*. He’s looking at you hoping that this is doing something good for you. But… *more mouse noises”
Jodie
So… So I walk over to the door and I raise my arms in a similar position. And I say… “whoop” like he did.
Randall
I don’t think that’s… that doesn’t sound… that doesn’t sound like what I said.
Jodie
Can I hear it again?
Randall
So the problem is he doesn’t speak common. And so if they were saying a word in common, he doesn’t actually understand what they’ve said.
Jodie
Mhmm.
Randall
And so the only thing he can really do is kind of mimic what he thought he heard. But he gets in front of it and he’s you know. *more mouse noises*
Jodie
Okay. So that is not helping. Okay. Hmm.
Randall
I can I can do better.
Jodie
Okay?
Randall
Do you have any cheese?
Jodie
I have some crumbs of cheese in my other pocket.
Randall
It’s my lucky day! That’s the wrong voice. Well, I’m sorry. It’s my lucky day. And then you know, so he takes a little bit knee he gets in front, and he’s like *sound of a mouse trying to speak common*
Jodie
Okay, so that’s not something I understand as a word. But at this point, would I be able to try and mimic that? You can try. Okay, I’m walking over to the door. I’m raising my arms. I’m saying I’m saying “crumb crimina crumb crimina”
Randall
So the first time that you say it, the door just slams open.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And we did it. Alright,
Jodie
I opened the door.
Randall
So the mouse is now staring at you and staring at the open doors like “ah, you did it, you did a good job.”
Jodie
And I say “thank you a little mouse. Here’s a few more crumbs.”
Randall
Oh, thank you very much.” It takes as many crumbs they can and his little grubby paws and he kind of runs off into the dark. Okay. All right. So when you open the door, light comes through from the room beyond. It illuminates… you know, everything in your room looks about as much as you remembered when you were first thrown in. It’s still mucky stone walls, this sort of thing. But you can immediately see the room beyond is lit by torch light, not extremely well lit, but much better lit than your current room. There’s a nice running carpet along the doorway. You can see tapestries hung on the wall and the part of the, on the part of the wall that you can see. And there’s wooden tables and bookshelves here and there. What looks like almost like a apothecaries station or like a laboratory station is kind of visible in the distance. And you can’t see most of the room, you can see maybe 20 foot, you know, 20 foot to the other wall. But of course everything occluded by the wall is is hidden from you. What would you like to do?
Jodie
So what I’m doing is here I’m is I’m trying to look for evidence that someone is dealing with unnatural things. And so this would be a room where that could possibly be happening?
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
So I would like to investigate or look around more.
Randall
Okay. And so I will say and this is a kind of a typical role playing thing. So there’s always a potential for combat. And so, in a situation like this, where you’re in a prison, you’re in a dungeon. When you enter the room, you want to enter the room cautiously. And so I don’t want to move past having a conversation about how you enter the room.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
In other words, you talk about like, I could go in and I could start investigating this sort of thing. And I think that does make sense. But the very first conversation we should have, it’s like getting you into the room and kind of talking about everything that that’s obviously visible. And then we can hop into like, Okay, now what are the things you really want to dive into?
Jodie
Okay. Alright.
Randall
And so yeah, how do you how do you want to enter the room?
Jodie
Okay, so this is where you kind of get descriptive in the game? You say, Andrea cautiously steps into the room and glances around looking to see if there are any other occupants.
Randall
That’s, that’s perfect. No, that’s awesome. So what we’ll do, uou have in your skills, stealth.
Jodie
Okay, I see it.
Randall
Okay, so let’s roll a d20.
Jodie
Oh, I rolled a three.
Randall
Okay,
Jodie
And I have a +2 for stealth.
Randall
So you have a five total?
Jodie
That’s not very good.
Randall
Okay. So Andrea wants to sneak. But as Andre stepping towards it, her boot gets stuck in the muck. And it makes this wonderful, like, sound just… *sound of suction* And it reverberates you feel as if it bounces around the room for seconds, until finally everything goes to quiet. And before you can actually enter the room, you suddenly hear *clicking noise*
Jodie
Oh. Well, I know someone else’s in the room.
Randall
You you enter the room and you look at the source of the sound. There’s a man sitting behind bars in a prison cell. He’s fairly well dressed. Within the room, there’s a desk and there’s a bed. But again, completely behind prison cells. And he says to you, it’s like, “oh, you’re a clever one. You solved the puzzle. Yeah, the Wizard likes clever ones who can solve the puzzle. Their eds are always much better.”
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
As you hear this, and you’re taking this in, you also notice next to his cell is another cell separated by a wall. In that cell, it is not nearly as nice. There’s no bunk. There’s no desk. There’s basically the same muck floor that you were just in a moment ago. And there’s a half-elf, sitting kind of scrunched up with like the fetal position. So knees up to the chest, arms wrapped around knees, and he appears to be asleep.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
What would you like to do?
Jodie
Well, I’m thinking my options are to try to engage the first person, character a little more, or ask questions. And then another option would be to try to communicate with the half-elf, or I could try to investigate the room a little further. But can I start with asking questions?
Randall
Absolutely.
Jodie
Okay, so I Andrea would say “who are you?”
Randall
To the to the awake man, the one who clapped when you first enter the room?
Jodie
Yes.
Randall
He’s like “Ah, I’m but a humble prisoner. Happy to make your acquaintance.”
Jodie
Alright. Why are you here?
Randall
Well, I was placed here. And I stay here because they lost the key.
Jodie
Oh, that’s unfortunate.
Randall
“It’s actually very fortunate because my… you know, me in this room, I am much more comfortable than most of the people who come through here.”
Jodie
Okay, how did you become so fortunate as to have a more comfortable position?
Randall
“Well, no, that’s a that’s a funny story.” And as he says that he kind of like pulls down his collar a little bit, and shows a key out from underneath his collar. “And he’s like, yeah, so as I say, when they put me in here, apparently they lost the key. But the Wizard finds me entertaining. And as long as he finds me entertaining, he lets me be.”
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
“And so this this is a much better life for me.”
Jodie
Oh, who is the guy in the other who’s who is the half elf and the other cell? Who’s that?
Randall
“The the lunatic. The crazy man. All he does is babble all day long. All day long. I love these moments where he sleeps because I don’t have to listen to his, you know, incessant prattling.”
Jodie
Okay. Okay. There’s probably another good question I need to ask this guy.
Randall
Well, and I mean, here’s the great thing. He’s stuck. So he’s not going anywhere. We can always ask him.
Jodie
So what is that key for?
Randall
“Uh, for my cell door.”
Jodie
So he’s not actually stuck?
Randall
“Well, if I knew that I could actually escape the prison without dying, I certainly would be willing to leave this cell. But until I feel very comfortable that I can escape this prison without dying, I’m not going anywhere.”
Jodie
Does that key open any other doors besides yourself?
Randall
“I’ve never tried. Because I’m, well, I, I don’t want to let anybody know that I have a key. But you’re harmless. You’ll be dead before anyone asks you.”
Jodie
Okay, so the Wizard that you’ve mentioned, when will he return?
Randall
“Oh, well.” And you asked that he starts to turn and look at like the moss on the walls. And like, you know, he looks at his left elbow trying to things like “oh, well, I’d say in the coming in the next two hours. Or maybe the next two days? I don’t know.”
Jodie
What does the Wizard do here in this room?
Randall
“Oh… research, mostly.” I’ll ask you to make an insight check.
Jodie
Okay. Okay. Now, what is that?
Randall
So in your skills, about halfway down, there’s this insight. And again, so your wisdom’s +3, your proficiency is +2, so you actually get a +5 on this.
Jodie
Okay. So if I say, if I do an insight check, what happens?
Randall
I, depending on how well you do, I’m going to tell you what your insight on this person is. And so the way the way the insight skill works, especially dealing with people, is it’s reading between the lines. And some of that you kind of do, like, I’ll do in character to where you can obviously read between the lines, and then sometimes it’s worthwhile to actually use your character skill to really peer between the lines and understand look, you know, either there’s no way this is true, or absolutely, that’s true. You know, I don’t think this person’s trying to lie to me. And so kind of the benefit of it is, let’s say, in a typical situation, if you roll fairly well, and the DM tells you, I’m pretty sure this person is telling you the truth, or I’m pretty sure this person’s lying. You as a player can feel comfortable that, you know, I don’t need to dig into this any further because I wrote a really well I have a good insight score. And I was told that based on what the the non-player characters said, I believe them. And so you get to believe them. Okay, it’s not very often that a DM would like mislead you on a good insight roll.
Jodie
So my question is, is if I was playing this game, and you know, I escaped the room that I was originally in, I’m now in this new room that I tripped into and I meet this well-dressed character and I see this other half-elf that sleeping. Should I go for insight early on? Versus I’ve tried to have a conversation and get information first. I mean…
Randall
That’s a that’s an interesting question. So I guess I’m, I’m used to thinking of insight as a tool in conversation to understand whether I should, whether I should believe somebody or whether there’s something I should should dig deeper or whether I get a sense in everyday conversation. And I think it really is analogous to like, you know, your own personal spider sense when you’re… Yeah, spidey sense. When you’re when you’re dealing with somebody. So when you meet somebody, and they start to introduce themselves and tell you about themselves, and you get the feeling like, this just isn’t right. Or I immediately love this person. Like, I think this person is great. One of the things that comes with this is like, if you have a more charismatic character, you know, in real life, if you meet somebody with a lot of charisma, they might be a real slimeball, but you might walk away from the conversation thinking that person was great
Jodie
Right.
Randall
And, and vice versa. Somebody would low charisma, somebody, you know, who, you know, is, you know, spitting everywhere and, you know, half-dressed and you know, hasn’t had a haircut or a beard shave in 15 years, you might not trust that person immediately. And so their charisma might actually do them harm, then even if they are telling you the truth, maybe it’s not something you’re going to believe.
Jodie
Okay. Well, I have another question that’s just kind of related to like the pace of the game.
Randall
Okay,
Jodie
So I know from my own personality, and my experience playing video games, where you’re, you’re searching for clues, and you’re solving puzzles in order to finish the levels and do your battles and all that. I tend to, to focus on those games by trying to find everything. You know, I tend to go through the levels very slowly, and I look at everything, and I try everything and, and so it takes me a long time. And I know that there are other folks out there that that when they start playing one of these games, they they just kind of hit all the high points and try to get through the game pretty quickly. When you’re thinking about a Dungeons and Dragons game like this, I mean, should you be going in, in just significant detail looking at everything trying to find everything? Or is it usually faster-paced, where you, you don’t have to analyze everything?
Randall
I have a couple of different answers to that. And I hope all together, they’re satisfying. And so maybe I’ll go breadth first and then we could dive deep. And then we’ll tie it all back together. At a high level. My a couple of responses. One is it depends on the game and your Game Master, your Dungeon Master in the D&D case, on what kind of session they’re trying to run. And then the second thing I’d say is that it depends on the other players as well. And so really, it’s kind of a social thing of like, when we got together, what were we really hoping to do. And some games, you know, maybe you’re trapped in a mansion, and it’s a mystery, and you have to solve one puzzle in one room to escape the next puzzle in the next room. And so every single thing needs, like, you know, minute focus. And in some games, the most you’ll do is you’ll make sure you go down every path.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Recognizing that it’s kind of a game of infinite potential. That if you say, I want to search this desk, you know, I might tell you like, okay, cool, you open every door, and there’s literally nothing in every drawer. And I promise you, there’s nothing please stop looking. Let’s go do something else.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
That’s not very fun. But you might have a damage just like there’s nothing there move on. You might have a situation where you open the drawer, and I started listing the items that are in it. Well, the problem as a DM is if I start listing like every single item in it, I’m almost hinting that there’s importance to it. Because I’m enumerating all of these different things.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And so, the, you know, this is something I, I think is a DM if there’s something interesting to be had, I’ll give clues that there’s something interesting to be had. Vice versa. You know, if you tell me you want to search the writing desk, and I know as a DM I don’t really want anything in the writing desk, I might say something like, you know, you find a bunch of writing paraphernalia, like an inkwell, and an ink pen and an ink fountain. And then you say, okay, cool, it’s writing utensils, we can move on. The the last thing that I’ll add to this is, let’s say there was a, like a secret compartment on the desk and you said you wanted to search the desk, I might ask you what you’re searching for. And if you said secret compartments, then I would just say, Okay, roll an investigation check for me. And I’ll let the dice decide whether you find that thing or not. And in general, if there’s something extra, like maybe there’s a few gold to be found, or something like this, I might ask for some kind of check just to determine whether I’m gonna let you have this little bit of a bonus.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
But as a DM, my goal is to never kind of never let you get locked out of the game. In other words, you should never be worried that you’re not going to find the key and then two sessions later, you’re going to be in a situation where you didn’t have the key that you needed, because as a DM, I’m going to take care of you in that way. Typically.
Jodie
Okay. Okay, well, okay, I see a parallel with a video game there. You have certain keys you have to find to get to the next level and you don’t go until you have what you need that kind of thing.
Randall
Yeah, except for as a DM, you know, in the game. It’s it’s already scripted. It’s already been written and so that keys in a fixed location. Maybe it’s DM if I realize like, Okay, we move past this place, maybe a guard happens to be walking by carrying the key on a platter. And all we have to do is take out the guard and we get the key on the platter.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Because that’s the freedom that we have to take control of it. And so kind of rolling it back, you you were having this conversation and us kind of what is the Wizard doing here. And kind of like me, me saying with the writing desk, I might ask you to roll an investigation to see if you find that secret compartment. I’ll ask you here to roll an insight check. And then let’s see what we learn from it.
Jodie
Okay, so I roll my d20.
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
Okay. And oh, I got a 15.
Randall
Nice!
Jodie
And then plus my +5. So I’m at 20.
Randall
You’re at a 20 total. Okay. So that’s a great roll. As soon as you bring up the Wizard and what the wizard’s doing, you can see that the the man is visibly uncomfortable, and is kind of resisting. He’s been giving you all these other details, like, he told you he stole the key immediately. But you asked about the Wizard, and all of a sudden his response is like, “research. He does research in here.”
Jodie
Okay. What is that supposed to tell me? I’m drawing a blank at the moment.
Randall
Well that’s okay. The other thing I’ll point out is we do still have the the sleeping half-elf. And also, we can look around the room a little bit more, actually, it might be a good thing to point out because you would have recognized this immediately, we described the two cells already. Next to the two cells on the opposite wall from the door you came in is another door. And when you look around the room, you don’t notice any other obvious doors. So the two entrances are the way you came and this new door nearby the cells.
Jodie
Okay, now is there…. Okay, if I don’t feel like I can get any more information from this gentleman that I’ve been speaking with the the half elf, I’ve been told is a lunatic crazy man. I might not necessarily want to wake him up. So I could either maybe investigate something in the room or just try that door.
Randall
You could try the door. The other thing, or… he is also in a cell. So he doesn’t, he doesn’t have an ability… Well, at least he can’t physically reach you.
Jodie
He can’t. But what if I woke him up and he started screaming and drew attention? And I’m trying to be careful.
Randall
That’s a… No, that’s a great question. That’s a good point. And so, yeah, you do have this door and you said you wanted to try the door? I thought I heard.
Jodie
Either that or if there was something in the in the room to investigate. I can’t quite remember when I was in the room.
Randall
Absolutely. So you noticed there, there really is a writing table. I wasn’t lying. And in addition to the writing table, there’s almost like an apothecary station.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And so you notice like all kinds of like, herbs and medicines. But then there’s also like, chemicals that you’re not quite familiar with, you know, they’re not as obvious to you what they’re there for.
Jodie
Okay, so maybe I want to investigate the writing desk to see what kind of materials are there, maybe I could get some kind of information about what the Wizard is doing?
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
From what’s in the in or on the desk.
Randall
I’ll tell you notice a thin book and you open the book and it becomes pretty obvious to you that it is almost like a schedule.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And the schedule started… It appears to have started like 12 days ago.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
So in other words, it isn’t like a year’s worth of schedule, but it’s actually a fairly recent book.
Jodie
Okay. So I want… I mean, can I say I want to read the entries and to find out what’s on his schedule?
Randall
Absolutely.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
It has kind of comings and goings of, like, when folks have come in. There are, like, various races written down. So like you see half-elf, you see halfling, you see human and kind of tally marks next to it.
Jodie
Oh. Okay.
Randall
And then, you know, on each day, there’s kind of a, almost like a line separating.
Jodie
Separating the days?
Randall
Wwell, separating the the bar for individuals written into the journal. And so you might have, like, the tally marks that like five halflings came in. And then you would have somewhere further down a few more tick marks somewhere further down a few more tick marks. Make a… make another investigation check. Actually make an investigation check. I don’t think we’ve done that yet.
Jodie
No, we haven’t. Okay, so I’d like to make an investigation check. So I go ahead and roll my d20?
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
And I rolled a 13 and I have a +1. So 14.
Randall
Okay. The way that you interpret it is that there are it almost looks like it’s like a transition period or some kind of like, you know, if there’s five tick marks, then there’s always five sets of two tick marks. And if there’s six tick marks, there’s always six sets of two tick marks. And so you’re almost wondering if it’s like a time of day for each of the folks who came in. And so you’re wondering if this has to do with with what the the Wizard has been doing. But it’s not super clear.
Jodie
Okay. So can I investigate further to see if there’s anything else in the desk? Any of the secret compartments like you mentioned?
Randall
No, absolutely. And so I’ll tell you, basically, everything else you find appears to be writing paraphernalia.
Jodie
Okay. Alright. So, no hidden compartments. Alright. So maybe I want to go over and check the door to see if it’s unlocked.
Randall
Okay. How do you want to handle the door? Do you… if it is unlocked? Do you want to open it? Do you just want to check the lock?
Jodie
Alright, I want to open it if I can.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
And slowly and carefully as not to make any noise.
Randall
Alright, let’s do it. Let’s do another stealth check. Let’s see how this goes.
Jodie
Stealth check. Okay, so I roll for that.
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
Okay. I rolled a 20! And I have a +2.
Randall
A natural 20! Okay, so yeah, we call this natural 20. So you actually rolled a 20, plus two is 22. So yeah, you manage to open the door with no creaking, no juggling anything like this, and it is unlocked. So it just opens and you see a hallway beyond. It’s well lit, similar to the lighting in the previous room. And, you know, if you poke your head in, you can kind of see it extends down to the left, it extends down to the right. And so your room is kind of in the middle of it almost to like teed, teed up, so to speak.
Jodie
Okay, so I need to make a decision to enter the hallway and move carefully to the left, searching for other doorways.
Randall
Okay,
Jodie
Or… okay.
Randall
Okay,
Jodie
Something like that?
Randall
Yeah, you can do that. That makes perfect sense to me. And so you enter the room. Let’s go and make another stealth check because you said you wanted to do it quietly.
Jodie
Okay, so I’m gonna roll. I have a 12 plus two, so 14.
Randall
Okay. You feel like you’re being reasonably quiet. As soon as you exit your room, you notice that there is a door, like not directly in front of where you were, but a little bit offset. And then as you kind of move down to your left, you notice that there is another door kind of far on the end on the same wall.
Jodie
Okay, so I’m, I’m guessing that there’s no windows?
Randall
No.
Jodie
Okay, so they’re closed. So I want to carefully check the closest door to see if it is open. Unlocke, rather.
Randall
It is unlocked.
Jodie
Okay. So, do I do another stealth check to see if I can carefully enter that room and see what I can find in there?
Randall
Absolutely.
Jodie
Okay. Alright, I have a 10 plus two. So I’m a 12. So at what point when you roll, if you know, I know that the 20 is the higher you get the better. So at what point do you say, Oh, gee, that’s, that’s not so good.
Randall
If you think back, like when when you rolled your five to come into the first room, and you made your big pop, and it was super obvious to everybody that you were there.
Jodie
Yeah.
Randall
That was a good example of not good enough. The other thing here is that you… the door magically opened all the way and so there really wasn’t a lot of sneakiness. And so to a person who’s awake in the room, they would notice Okay, the door just open. And also for that person, they were used to it. So you had a lot of things working against you in that in that situation.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Now, I’ll tell you kind of, so behind the DM screen, so to speak, I have a number in my head if you if your rule above a 10 I’m generally going to give you good stealth. Like nothing awful is gonna happen. If you’d rolled below five something what happened to cause like a cacophony that… You know, the one you were afraid of a moment ago. And then yeah, in anything higher, I’m really going to consider how quiet it was. And so in this case, he wrote a reasonable but it wasn’t, you know, wasn’t like above 15. When you open the door, the door opens quietly, and you peek inside. And there is a skeleton staring back at you.
Jodie
Okay. Okay, well, I’ll try to ignore the skeleton and maybe look a little further around the room.
Randall
The skeleton begins to approach you.
Jodie
Oh. Okay. I think my natural instinct is to back out of the room and close the door.
Randall
Okay. Alright, let’s do that. So you back out of the room and you close the door. Okay, you, do you like run back to the other room? Do you stay where you are, but with the door closed?
Jodie
I think I would be standing there for just a minute with my heart pounding and thinking, Okay, I don’t want to be in there. Let’s try the other door.
Randall
Okay. And so we’re going to go back to the… or we’re going to go all the way down the hall to this door?
Jodie
Yeah. Although, I mean, I feel like the skeleton thing is important. I don’t want to be in there with it!
Randall
Well, it can be important on the other side of the wall, right? And so I do want to be clear, like, there there. In this case, you wait a little bit of time, this skeleton does not come back out. Like, doesn’t, you know, you don’t hear anything banging on the wall, clawing on the wall or anything like this. So it doesn’t appear to be chasing you. Oh, good, big relief. But But I do want to point out, like, that’s a potential that could happen. And in fact, in most most of the time, if you encounter, like, a monster, that monster likely is going to try to attack you. And a lot of times a door is not going to get in the way.
Jodie
Okay, okay. So, phew, alright, I’m good. I’m gonna continue.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
Down the hall.
Randall
Okay. And how do you do this? As in, I walk quietly down the hall? Okay, cool. And we’ll say okay, so you’re able to…
Jodie
Keeping to the, to the walls, I can like, like in a shadow, or something like that.
Randall
Okay, cool. Absolutely. So you get down to the end and you have approached another door.
Jodie
Okay. I peek in.
Randall
Alright, so we’re going to, we’re going to open the door, when you open the door, you immediately see that you’ve entered into another hallway, this time running kind of 90 degrees parallel to the right.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Again, you notice that there’s a door immediately next to you on your left. Okay. And you can see that there’s another door kind of a little further down as well.
Jodie
It sounds like I’m going to be doing a lot of door checking. So I would quietly continue on my way to the first door and try to open.
Randall
Okay. Alright, let’s, let’s roll a stealth check.
Jodie
14 plus two.
Randall
Okay. No, you nailed it. Nothing catastrophic, catastrophic happens. So you, you do get the door open. And you see in the far corner of the room, it is lit. The room is lit, that is. So you can see. In the far corner of the room there’s some body standing facing a wall.
Jodie
Okay. Wait, did you say the room is fairly well lit?
Randall
It says well lit as like the hallway that you’re in now.
Jodie
Okay. And there’s somebody facing the wall?
Randall
Yes.
Jodie
Okay. Is there anything else in the room?
Randall
As far as you could tell, it’s kind of a muck floor, stone wall.
Jodie
Okay. Alright. So I could take a risk and try and speak with this person?
Randall
If you would like.
Jodie
Okay. I’ll take a chance.
Randall
Okay, cool. What do you say?
Jodie
Oh, goodness. “Excuse me.” Something to start with. For attention.
Randall
Okay, and so you you hear kind of *groaning sound* and the creature starts to turn towards you. And it’s, it appears to be a zombie.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And it is lurching towards you.
Jodie
Mhmm.
Randall
What do you want to do?
Jodie
Okay, well. I mean, my first thought is produce a flame and see if it would kind of scare it back a little bit.
Randall
Okay, so if you want to take take an action, we can roll initiative, and we can start combat.
Jodie
Alright, am I totally off base? Or is that something that you?
Randall
I don’t think the fire is gonna scare it away.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And actually, probably, yep, I might ask you to make like a history or survival check. But I think honestly, that’s, that’s kind of silly on my part. So I’m gonna take that back. Your character would know as somebody who really hates the undead that the undead are probably not going to be turned away by, like, a flame. There are spells certain spells that, like, clerics have that will make undead flee, make them run away.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
But that’s not something that you have available to you.
Jodie
Okay, so I could I just back out of the room again? quickly back out of the room?
Randall
Yeah.
Jodie
Okay. Let’s, let’s go that route.
Randall
Okay. Sounds good. Alright.
Jodie
I’ve already found two things in this this place that I’m in that are unnatural, correct?
Randall
Yes. And it doesn’t make you happy.
Jodie
Okay. Alright, so I’m going to back out of the room and hope this guy’s not going to follow me and try to eat me.
Randall
Okay. So in this case, you do feel like there’s a little bit of, like, bumping into the door that you hear. It doesn’t sound like you’re not worried the doors gonna fall off but there is definitely like a… *thumping noises*
Jodie
Okay, so I’m going to quickly make my way down the hall to the next door.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
Alright, and I’m going to try to quietly open the next door.
Randall
Okay, and you open the door and behind door number two is another skeleton.
Jodie
And does a skeleton get up?
Randall
It is it is standing when you enter the room. Okay, so it is it is already animated and ready to party.
Jodie
Alright. Well, gosh, if I’m trying to get more information here, maybe I want to try and look around the room before it gets to me.
Randall
Would you… do you want to try this?
Jodie
Okay, yes.
Randall
Okay. So there, there isn’t anything obvious, but in the time that you are trying to look, the skeleton rushes you. So we’re going to roll initiative, and we’re going to have combat.
Jodie
Okay, better with the skeleton than the zombie.
Randall
That’s what I always say.
Jodie
Alright, so what do I do now? I know, I’m going to roll something.
Randall
To figure out who’s gonna go first we roll initiative. And so you have at the top middle of your character sheet, you have an initiative bonus, which I see is plus two. And so you’ll roll a d20. And I’m going to roll a d20.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Alright. What did you roll?
Jodie
20.
Randall
Ah! Okay, natural 20. Awesome, awesome. Alright, so you are going to go first and this combat. So you see the skeleton rushing towards you, and you recognize he’s probably not coming in for a hug.
Jodie
Uhuh.
Randall
What do you want to do, and the way this goes, so you have on your turn, you can do an action, a bonus action, and you can move up to your speed.
Jodie
Okay,
Randall
The skeleton is starting about 10 feet from you. And so if you want to do something like using your scimitar, you could approach the skeleton, so you could kind of rush in to meet it, and then you could attack.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
If you do that, you’re kind of locked in melee combat, so to speak. In other words, you kind of side-by-side combat, and it makes it harder to do things that are ranged.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And then there’s this idea that if you move away, there could be a penalty with that. And if we if you choose to do that, we’ll kind of go we’ll dive into that in a moment. So do you want to approach and try to do a melee attack? Kind of next to him?
Jodie
Yeah.
Randall
Okay. Alright. So you move, you move up to him. And so you’re standing right next to him. Tell me tell me what it looks like when you try to hit him with your scrimitar.
Jodie
I’m supposed to describe like a movement?
Randall
Well I’ll tell you, if it would be fun to you, you can. If not, you can just say “I’m gonna attack with this scimitar” and then we’ll, we’ll roll our d 20 and we’ll see if it hits.
Jodie
Well, if, if she… Andrea rushes up and lifts her scimitar and, and, okay, I’m trying to think of words to use. Alright, let’s go your route. I’m not thinking of any words.
Randall
No, no, that’s great. Yeah, so let’s roll a d20. We’ll see what hits.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And also say I kind of did it backwards. Usually, it’s like, let’s figure out if it hits or not. And then depending on if it hits, we’ll talk about what that looked like.
Jodie
Alright, let’s d20. Oh, man, I rolled a seven but I have a +4r.
Randall
Okay, so that’s an 11 total.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
So that will miss the skeleton of Okay. Okay. And now it is the skeleton’s turn.
Jodie
Okay, and um, can I… do I do an action then like, cuz I know I have a shield.
Randall
So we can, we can say that this shield is equipped because you have been walking around in a dungeon. And what that does for you is it basically raises your armor class.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
So it makes it harder for the skeleton to hit you.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Alright. So, you know, you took your try with your scimitar, the skeleton is carrying like a short, like, rusty, rusty sword and so it’s going to try to attack you with it.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
It rolled a 12, which does not hit your armor class, so it misses you back.
Jodie
Oh, good.
Randall
It is now your turn.
Jodie
Okay, well, I’m going to take another swipe with my scimitar. So I go ahead and roll?
Randall
Yep.
Jodie
Alright. 18 plus four for 22.
Randall
Okay, that will hit! So you get to roll. You have your 1d6+2 for damage.
Jodie
Okay, so I roll my six. Ugh. I have a one.
Randall
Okay. And then plus two is three.
Jodie
Mhmm.
Randall
Okay. Alright.
Jodie
So do, do we know how… how strong, I don’t know if these are the right words, a skeleton would be? I mean, how much damage would I have to do to…
Randall
So that, that’s meant to be kind of a mystery.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
The… what’s the right way to put it? Like, I typically, I won’t put a stat block or I won’t, you know, hit points is kind of how much damage you need to do. As soon as you do enough damage to reduce the hit points to zero, a creature will typically die. As you face something more and more often… let’s face it, like the first time you find something all the way through, if you’re keeping track of it, you get a pretty good feeling for how much damage something can take. The monsters actually have variable health. So something might say that it has like seven health, which is the equivalent of like, you know, 2d8+3 or something like this.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
I think my math is wrong there. Maybe 2d6+3, something like this. But but the idea being that it actually might be on the lower end or the higher end or your DM given a situation might decide, you know, okay, look, I actually want to do this at a reduced. What is typical is I might tell you that something looks pretty hurt. Or you might ask, and I might answer the question. So I won’t tell you something’s almost dead. But I’ll kind of give you the clue that like you are actually having impact. Vice versa. Let’s say you walked into a fight, you had no business being in. And there wasn’t really an opportunity to kind of talk you out of it ahead of time. I might tell you like, yeah, you know, you hit. It really didn’t look like it even noticed. It didn’t look like it cared.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
But in this situation, it’s neither of those. It does not look almost dead but you know, you hurt it.
Jodie
Okay. So then does it continue to attack me?
Randall
It does. It will.
Jodie
Okay, got it.
Randall
So, it is going to try to hit again. Okay, so it rolled a… oh, math is hard. Math is not hard, but a 21. Okay, which is enough to hit your armor class. It’s bigger than your armor class. So it is now going to roll for damage. Okay, and it does three damage.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
So up at the top, you have this current hit points of 10. So you could do 10 minus three.
Jodie
Wait, where’s up at the top?
Randall
In the middle below your armor class. that hit point maximum.
Jodie
Okay. So minus three. So I’m at seven now.
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
Okay. Alright. So I guess I’m still alive and kicking though.
Randall
So let’s look at what you have available to you. I think attacking with your scimitar is fine. But I do want to review in your, in your spells, you have one first level spell still available. You have Thunder Wave, which deals some damage, and also has a likelihood of pushing a creature away from you. And then you also have Cure Wounds, which you could use to heal yourself. And then finally, we can always plan to take a short rest after combat, in which case you get to use your hit dice to recover a bit of health as well.
Jodie
Okay, so first, if you have you know, you can use Cure Wounds one time, would you look at to see, okay, well, I still have seven points left, let me… I mean, if you use Cure Wounds, does it take you back up to 100%? Back up to 10?
Randall
Cure Wounds would almost certainly… Yeah. Okay, because your wisdom caster, Cure Wounds would heal your, would heal you up to full health, but it would actually be a waste right now.
Jodie
Okay. So that’s what I was thinking. I would want to fight a little further and then Cure Wounds if my number goes down below seven.
Randall
That’s right. And, but then the other half of it is because we can take a Short Rest, we can actually use that to heal after, too. So the biggest risk would be if the skeleton got very lucky and did a lot of damage, you know, you could be in some danger.
Jodie
Okay. So at this point, I mean, do you just say, okay, I just need to get out of here.
Randall
It could be a good idea. And it is, it is your turn. So if you want it to try to run away, because you’re right next to them, the skeleton will get what we call an attack of opportunity. And so it will try to attack you one more time as you flee. But certainly, if you, you know, whether you get hit or not, you could try to shut the door and hope that the creature doesn’t pursue.
Jodie
Okay, so sounds like I have like three options or so so I could attack again. I could use a Thunder Wave to kind of knock him back and give me a chance to get out of the room. Or I could just run.
Randall
That’s right. I think that those are all good options.
Jodie
Okay, and those are my only options. I’m guessing.
Randall
Yeah, because we talked through the Cure Wounds probably doesn’t make sense right now.
Jodie
Perfect. Okay. But if I use my Thunder Wave, I won’t have a cure. I won’t be able to do Cure Wounds. But if I use the Thunder Wave and I get out of there, then I could rest and heal.
Randall
That’s right. We’d take a short rest, and so we wouldn’t, you wouldn’t get any spots back but you could heal. That’s right.
Jodie
Okay. Oh my god. Alright, can I just… Ah, okay. Let’s use the Thunder Wave.
Randall
Okay, cool.
Jodie
Get out of there. Okay.
Randall
All right. So for Thunder Wave, I have to make a constitution saving throw. And so at the top of your spell sheet, there’s a larger number.
Jodie
The spell save?
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
13? Okay.
Randall
Okay. And so what that means is the skeleton will have to make a constitution saving throw of 13. Okay, and then the good news with Thunder Wave is even if they fail, they still take half the damage.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Alright. So let’s, let’s make that happen. Alright. Alright, he rolled a 10. So he fails the he fails to save.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And so you will deal, you get to roll to da so you could roll your da twice. And then tell me that number?
Jodie
18.
Randall
Oh, a d8. Sorry.
Jodie
Oh, sorry.
Randall
No, that’s okay.
Jodie
Three.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
And eight.
Randall
Okay, so that is a 11 damage total. The skeleton crumbles before your eyes and flies off and shatters against the wall.
Jodie
Okay, well, he’s not a threat anymore. Maybe I could look around the room at this point and see if there’s anything?
Randall
Okay. You, you look around the room. You find bones, Certainly. You find tattered bits of, like, cloth and this sort of thing. Some of it wrapped around the skeleton. And so you think it’s almost the clothes, the clothes of them. And then the room is very bare other than that. It’s kind of the same mucky base and the same stone wall.
Jodie
Okay, well, that’s not going to help. So I guess I exit the room and continue down the hallway to check the next door. Was there one more door?
Randall
There is one more door.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And so you get down there and you get the door open. And it is a it almost opens up as if it’s like a, like a foyer. Like there’s a small bit of a chamber and then 10 feet down there’s one more singular door.
Jodie
Okay, so I’m going to, I’m going to enter and go on to that next door very quietly.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And do you open it?
Jodie
I try to open it very quietly. Yes, stealthily.
Randall
Okay, so let’s, let’s, let’s roll a stealth check.
Jodie
Okay. 19.
Randall
Okay, that’s great. So you get the door open.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
There is another skeleton. The skeleton is not facing towards you. And so you’re able to get a good look. The clothing seems to be like a rustic tunic, you could tell that the tunic is not like super old, there’s still some hair attached to the skull. And in the skeleton’s hand, as opposed to the other skeleton, what you spot is a very beautiful dagger. It almost catches the light and kind of reflects it about the room.
Jodie
All right. So is there some way to investigate further without attracting the attention of the skeleton?
Randall
Well, what would you what would you like to do? Do you want to look around the room and see what you can see? Or are you more interested in something about the skeleton?
Jodie
I would be curious as to whether it would be possible to communicate with the skeleton. Is that a thing?
Randall
You could try to talk to the skeleton, but you you’re, you know that they’re probably going to tend to be hostile.
Jodie
Okay, so I would want to try to peek around the room without attracting the attention of the skeleton.
Randall
Okay, so you do look around the room. And it’s it’s kind of the same as what you’ve been saying. Like it’s kind of the bare floor, stone walls. Nothing, nothing super exciting.
Jodie
Okay, so all I’ve learned so far from looking in this rooms, I’ve learned that they there are skeletons that are animated and moving around and hostile. And there’s a hostile… What did we call the other guy?
Randall
Zombie in one of the rooms.
Jodie
Zombie, right. So alright, well, I think I’ve come to the end of the hallway on this end, haven’t I?
Randall
You have. Absolutely.
Jodie
So I want to quietly exit this room.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
And go back down the hallway and then where I was the tee where I came out of the original room. I’m going to go continue on that way.
Randall
Okay, so as you’re walking by the door, you hear in druidic one on three one on on one three on on 1311 on 131 on 131 in a voice that you’re not sure that you’ve heard before.
Jodie
Okay, is this the door from the room that I had originally come out of?
Randall
It is.
Jodie
Okay. So as I approach the door and I hear those 11131 words being spoken, I want to peek into the room and see who is making who’s speaking to it.
Randall
Okay, so when you pop your head in the room, you it’s obvious to you that it is the half-elf that was asleep in the corner. He’s now mumbling to himself in druidic.
Jodie
Okay, so I can approach him and try to communicate with the with the half-elf.
Randall
That’s right. And as a Druid you speak Druidic, so it’s good fortune.
Jodie
Okay. Alright. Well, is this where I would start by…. Wait a minute, what was the word. Insight before the conversation?
Randall
No, I think you would, you would just have the conversation. But then if there’s something that maybe seems off or if you’re not sure if if you’re hearing the truth about something, that’s a good place to make an insight check.
Jodie
Okay. So I would approach and say hello to the half-elf and say “who are you?”
Randall
And you’re going to do this and Druidic or Common or?
Jodie
Well, I speak Druid. So I would say Druidic.
Randall
Awesome. Okay, so you approach and you say “hello.” And as soon as he hears the word, he immediately kind of looks up, and you know, still just one on 3111131131. But he’s obviously paying attention to you.
Jodie
Okay. So I’m going to ask him about, you know, who he is and what he’s doing there to see if I could get any information that way. But I’m guessing he’s going to just continue.
Randall
Okay. So that seems right. And so what what would your, so your instinct is to kind of maybe pry more information, like, who are you? What are you doing here? Okay, let’s, so what I’ll say is, let’s make a persuasion check.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And the idea is you’re trying to convince this person they should like, calm down, open up, talk to you, that this sort of thing.
Jodie
Unfortunately, I’m not very good at that apparently, according to my skill set. So I’ve gotta roll high number.
Randall
Yeah, no, that’s the plan always.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Real life, very charismatic. Andrea, not so charismatic.
Jodie
Not so charismatic. Okay, I’m gonna roll the d20.
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
Oh! Okay, wait a minute. It’s a six or a nine.
Randall
Is there an underline?
Jodie
No. I wonder, is there more than one six on this day? Because there’s another number right next, to it that looks the same!
Randall
Do either of them have underlines on them?
Jodie
One of them may have a teeny tiny dot under it. It’s not the one I rolled. So it looks like I got a nine.
Randall
I think that’s right.
Jodie
Oh I see, there’s at bitty, teeny tiny dot if I look really closely. So okay, it’s a nine.
Randall
Okay, awesome. But nine minus one is an eight. And so unfortunately, what you hear is, you know, 11311131.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
There’s other things that we could try, so let’s look at our skills. You can try to intimidate kind of like a, you know, a snap out of it sort of thing. You could try to do a medicine check to see if there’s something that might help what’s going on.
Jodie
Okay, that caught my attention? Because when I look at my skill, my strengths or whatever, I have insight, medicine, nature, and perception. So yeah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.
Randall
Oh, no, no, it’s perfect. Absolutely. And so yeah, let’s, let’s roll a medicine check. And then we’ll depending on how it goes, we’ll talk through it.
Jodie
Okay. So d20. I rolled a three, three plus five is only eight.
Randall
So let’s actually, let’s take a step back at the very beginning of this session, I said that I was giving you inspiration because I really liked the fact that you were trying to do something good, and kind of wholesome to your character. So the idea of inspiration is that you get to roll with advantage, which means you get to roll two dice.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And then take the higher of the two numbers.
Jodie
Okay, so I get another roll?
Randall
Well, and so I’ll be clear. Typically with advantage, you declare, you’re going to use your inspiration up front, and then you roll the two dice at the same time. It is a fairly common, like house rule that folks will just say, reroll the die, and I’m going to say let’s reroll the dice. Let’s see what we get.
Jodie
Okay, so in the case when you roll two dice at the same time, would they be two d20s?
Randall
They’d be to d20s. Or you could roll a d20 twice, but ahead of time you declared I’m rolling with advantage.
Jodie
I got a 20.
Randall
Nice! Okay, so natural 20. Okay. You know that this person is in some kind of shock, it’s fairly obvious to you. Because you also noticed on the apothecaries desk earlier that there’s a particular herb that you know, if you burn it, it has quite a calming effect. And so you might be able to use that, if only you know how to create a flame out of thin air.
Jodie
I do! Yes, I’m gonna produce a flame.
Randall
Okay. Alright. And that’s a free action. You just get to do that. And so yeah, talk to me about what you do.
Jodie
Okay. Oh my word. So as far as like, preparing what I’m going to prepare for medicine for this half-elf. So I produce a flame. And then I crumble some herbs in a dish that I find on the desk, and I heat the herbs and I find water and I mixed the herbs into water to form a type of tea as in, you know, on my last name being tea.
Randall
Absolutely. Perfect. Perfect.
Jodie
So I make a tea for this. This poor half-elf.
Randall
Awesome. Okay. And the scent of it is just like, wafting through the room as you’re making this. The other fella is like, oh, you know, you’re making a cup of tea. Oh, can you make two? Like I would love that. But unfortunately, you used all the herbs that you found in this tea that you’re hoping to heal. So you immediately feel calm, you feel a lot better. And the the person’s eyes start, the half-elf’s, start to call him a bit and you know, you kind of have the “1131… is is that for me?”
Jodie
Yes, it is for you. So can I offer it to him to drink? Or is this just a smelling thing?
Randall
No, you can offer to him to drink.
Jodie
Okay, there we go.
Randall
And your medicine check tells you it’s perfectly safe to drink nothing, nothing bad’s gonna happen. So he, he sips it. And he says “who? Who are you? Why are you here?”
Jodie
Okay, so I tell him that I’m at Andrea Tealeaf and I, I have been thrown into this prison. And but I’m searching… do I, do I just openly say what my goal is? That I’m searching for evidence?
Randall
If you want to, that’s perfectly fine.
Jodie
Unnatural activity? Okay, I do that.
Randall
“I should say, you probably found a lot of it. Not that it would convince anybody above ground what’s happening here.”
Jodie
Okay,
Randall
“I, uh, I might be able to help you.”
Jodie
Okay. So would I want to do anything where I’m checking to see if he’s telling me the truth.
Randall
I mean, it sounds like it would make sense to do an insight check here, absolutely.
Jodie
Okay. So I’m doing insight check. I rolled a nine plus I have a five.
Randall
Okay. He seems sincere in what he’s saying.
Jodie
Okay. So I ask him can he help me? Can he show me?
Randall
“I can help you. If I’m going to help you I need you to get something for me.”
Jodie
Okay, what do you need?
Randall
“If you if you go to room 131.”
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
“You’ll find a skeleton with a dagger.”
Jodie
Okay. And what can i What can I get from the skeleton with the dagger? What what is it you need?
Randall
“The dagger. Not, not the skeleton. :eave leave the skeleton. Only bring the dagger.”
Jodie
Okay. The skeleton with the dagger is not the skeleton I destroyed. So, alright, I make a deal with this half-elf that I’m going to get what he needs so that he can help me find the evidence I need. So I’m going to…
Randall
And so he he looks at you and he says “you you look a little rough, though. Why don’t you rest for a moment? Relax for a second before you go do this.”
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Which is is my way of hinting. Let’s take a short rest. Okay. So when you take a short rest, you get to use as many hit dice as you up to as many hit dice as you have available. Because you’re a level one character you actually have one hit dice so you can roll a d8 and then… What did you roll? Okay, and then your constitution is 2, so you actually can add eight which is going to get you up to your maximum hit points of 10.
Jodie
Oh, okay.
Randall
Okay, and so you’re just you’re back at 10 and you’re good to go.
Jodie
Okay, so I’m rested. I’m ready to go ahead and exit the room. Move to the left down the hall all the way to the last door. With, you know, the skeleton.
Randall
The first door and then you walk down three doors. And then you take the first door. So 131 Like you said, and there’s the same skeleton that you saw a moment ago.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Being all spooky doing skeleton stuff.
Jodie
Okay, so now that I’ve had a rest, do I have my spells available to me?
Randall
You don’t. The only thing you have which can do damage is produce flame. You can actually produce the flame and then hurl it at a creature and you can do that at range. And then in Melee, you can attack with your yours scimitar.
Jodie
Let’s do the Produce Flame. Let’s attack with the flame first.
Randall
Okay. And so what we’ll do is, you know, let’s say you go you kick the door open, we’re going to have some combat. So we’ll roll initiative the same way we did the first time, and then we’ll let our… w’ell then kind of get into the combat. So let’s roll a d20, and you get that plus you for your initiative bonus.
Jodie
I roll the three, so I have a five.
Randall
Okay, the skeleton won this round.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And so the skeleton is going to approach you and is going to try to hit you with a dagger.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Alright. And the skeleton misses.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
So it is your turn.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Because the skeleton got to attack first the skeleton approached you. So now they’re in melee range. So you could do something like your, your produce flame and try to attack with it, but because you’re standing next to him, you actually would would attack with disadvantage. So it’s more advantageous to try to use your scimitar in this situation than it would be to do…
Jodie
Okay. I will do that.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
So I roll… the d20.
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
A 4.
Randall
Okay, that’s, that’s no good.
Jodie
A 4, yeah.
Randall
And actually, I should have offered this to you a second ago. So I apologize. We’ll tell you what, is there anything else you want to do on your turn? If not, we’ll have the skeleton and then I’ll offer something you might try.
Jodie
You can do more than one move on your turn.
Randall
You have an action, you have a bonus action, and you can move. And so you you attacked, you could walk away but you’d give an opportunity attack. And the next turn the skeleton would just approach you anyway. Okay, but at the beginning of your next turn, if you wanted to try to like get out of range, and then use your ranged attack. You could try this.
Jodie
Yeah, let’s let’s do that.
Randall
Okay. And so we’ll let the skeleton take his turn and then next turn, we’ll we’ll kind of take that sequence of actions. Okay. Okay. Alright, so the skeleton is going to attack. Alright, and the skeleton misses. Uh, yeah. Yeah, 10 total, which which misses. Alright, so does your turn again.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
You can try to walk away.
Jodie
Okay. Yeah.
Randall
Okay.
Jodie
Yeah, let’s do that. I want to get enough range in there so that I can throw a flame.
Randall
Yep. Okay, good. All right. So he’s gonna make the his opportunity attack. He misses again. He’s gonna hit one of these days, I promise.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Alright. And so you can move up to 25 feet away.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Alright. And so you, basically, if you go to the end of that hall where you’re looking through both doors that you’ve left open so we could pursue you, you would be able to see it. And you’d be able to produce your flame and attack with it. That’s what we want to do?
Jodie
Yep, that’s what we want to do. So…
Randall
awesome.
Jodie
I’m gonna roll. I’m gonna roll a good number this time. I have a 15! And I get an attack bonus, is that…?
Randall
Which is plus five for your spell.
Jodie
Yeah, okay. So I’m at 20.
Randall
Okay, and so that hits so you get the roll d8.
Jodie
5.
Randall
5, okay. So you do 5 damage. Okay. The, alright, the skeleton is now going to approach you and kind of gets through the first door and then pulls out a bow strapped to the back and is going to try to shoot you with a bow. Okay. Alright, that is going to hit and deals 4 damage.
Jodie
So I’m at six now.
Randall
That’s right.
Jodie
Alright.
Randall
Alright. Now your turn.
Jodie
Can I Produce Flame again?
Randall
You can.
Jodie
Okay, I want to do that. So I roll the d20. I got a nine. Plus a five puts me at 14.
Randall
That’s enough to hit
Jodie
okay.
Randall
So you get to roll your d8 again.
Jodie
Okay. A one.
Randall
A one. Okay. Alright. So you do the one damage.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
The skeleton is now going to try to attack with the bow again.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
Alright, misses this time. Your turn.
Jodie
Okay. 14 plus a five. I’m at 19.0
Randall
That hits. Roll your d8.
Jodie
Seven.
Randall
Seven. Okay. Alright. So the flame kind of hits in the chest. And almost the skeleton seems to like cave in, and then just crumpled to the ground with its hands still wrapped around the dagger.
Jodie
Okay. So I want to carefully approach the skeleton to see if I can get the dagger away.
Randall
Okay, and you easily pull the dagger out. Okay,
Jodie
And then I take it in a return to the half-elf with the dagger. And I’d like just to hand over a dagger to the half-elf.
Randall
That’s up to you. When you walk in the room, do you walk out kind of with a dagger in your hand? Or have you put it away?
Jodie
I’m gonna hold the dagger in my hand for protection. Can I do that? Or, I mean…
Randall
Yeah, like, you could wield it, basically.
Jodie
Yeah.
Randall
Okay, so you you walk in almost wielding the dagger. And when the skeleton– when the skeleton. When the half-elf, who is not a skeleton, just a regular old half-elf, sees the dagger in your hand, falls to his knees at the bar, or at the the bars of the cell and is holding the bars of the cell and kind of starts openly weeping. And you know, “so is… Is it finished? Is Is he dead?”
Jodie
Yes. I didn’t check to see. Did we say he was not dead? He was almost dead?
Randall
No, no, he was you totally killed it. You are confident that is a dead skeleton. But But I mean, he’s obvious he was concerned that that that this skeleton was a skeleton and was an animated skeleton because he prefers his skeletons un-animated as it were. So you know, “Is he is he really dead? Truly?”
Jodie
Yes, the skeleton will no longer hurt you.
Randall
“I wasn’t worried about hurting… that that skeleton used to be my friend. And I I came here to rescue him because he was thrown in prison for nothing. He didn’t do anything wrong. They just took him and I thought that I could come and I could save them. And the the Wizard showed me what it what had happened to him than I knew that it was him. Because that is his dagger. And I I couldn’t bear to leave here. All right. Yeah, I had to know that he was okay. But I, I think I have something that will help you.” And he reaches into his coat, kind of the smock that he has wrapped around him so to speak. And he pulls out a book that looks a lot like the book that you were looking at, on the desk. And he says this, “this is two years of history of what this necromancer has been doing here.”
Jodie
Okay. So I have the, if he hands it to me, I have the evidence, or Andrea as he evidence that she needs to show that this has been going on. But can she can’t possibly just leave with it and leave half-elf stuck in prison.
Randall
That that would be a kind thing for you to try to alleviate. You also, do you know how to get out of the prison?
Jodie
At this point? No, I don’t because there’s really no way to go back up through that door that I came in with. So I would I then ask “Do you know the way out?” And could, could we, you know, like the half-elf help to escape. Okay.
Randall
Yeah. And so you you asked that question and he starts flipping through and flipping through any finds a map with the doors labeled and you could see where you’ve already gone to the 131. There’s another, you know, it appears through a sequence of doors that there’s actually an exit which is clearly labeled in the Journal of the Necromancer and so he’s known a way out but he’s locked in a cell currently.
Jodie
Okay, now does the key from the first guy open both cell doors? Or did you tell me only…
Randall
Well, he said he didn’t know cuz he had never tried it on anything else. So then, but he’s heard he’s heard you to jibber jabbering in druidic and has no clue. He thinks you’re both crazy at this point, honestly. But yeah. So what do you want to do?
Jodie
I would then approach him and say, you know that I know the way out.
Randall
“A way out? Is to have been jibber jabbering about?”
Jodie
“Yes, we we have the way out. What we need is the key to open the cell door. Would, would you like to attempt to get out with us?”
Randall
“I think I would. Would you please stand back for me?”
Jodie
Okay…
Randall
“Actually, would you please hand me that dagger?”
Jodie
Okay, I’m suspicious. Okay, do I have a tool here?
Randall
Yeah. Um, so you can roll… an… let’s see. I think an insight check makes sense here.
Jodie
Okay, so I’m gonna roll the d20. I rolled a six plus five. So 11.
Randall
Okay. Yeah, so with that insight check, you know, he’s asking for the dagger, it seems like he might consider using it. Like, it doesn’t seem to be a complete bluff. Okay, but it, it isn’t out of a place of malice more is like he seems concerned about his wellbeing.
Jodie
Oh, okay.
Randall
“So can, can I.. If you give me the dagger and you stand back, I will unlock my cell. I will unlock your friend’s cell. And then you can lead us out of here.”
Jodie
Okay. So I agree to that. I hand him the dagger.
Randall
Okay. Alright. And so you step back and he unlocks his cell. And he kind of is looking at you, but aiming the dagger at the other person, you know, walks over and he tries to key in the cell. And it sticks. So you see him tried a little bit more, and you hear a satisfying click. And the cell door opens and the elf walks out. And the elf says, the half-elf says in common so the man can actually understand “when we leave here, I’ll be needing that dagger back.” So…
Jodie
My turn?
Randall
Uh, yeah.
Jodie
Okay. Or was there more than I needed to hear?
Randall
No, no. So So you’ve, you’ve seen the map.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And you are able to follow it pretty easily. And so you go through each door one one answer session after the other. And what you find in the room where it says that there’s an exit is actually kind of a cave-in sort of thing, but you can see daylight leaking through. And you’re very easily able to climb out of it and help your friends out.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
The half-elf hands the dagger back to… excuse me, the demand hands that have all the men hands the half-elf to the dagger perfect, hands the dagger back to the half-elf and tells you, “you know, if you really want to cause some trouble, I could bring you to somebody who would love to see the evidence that you’ve compiled. Because I, I do believe that the king does not love necromancy. And I always heard the Wizard complaining about this particular person.”
Jodie
Okay. So I would say “okay, take me to your friend”
Randall
Awesome. Okay, so that no, that’s perfect. So you and a half elf and this person go to like a local Baron. And you present all the evidence, which is found very convincing.
Jodie
Okay.
Randall
And it’s not, you know, the public has never told exactly what happened, other than nobody ever sees the court Wizard ever again. And so you feel quite confident that you have rid this little part of the world of an evil necromancer. Congratulations.
Jodie
Awesome! All right. So that’s what it looks like to play?
Randall
Absolutely.
Jodie
That’s pretty cool. Okay, I imagine it gets a little easier with time when you get used to what kind of spells or tools that you have, what kind of skills you have.
Randall
It’s fun because it’s, it does get easier. And the mechanisms get easier, right? Like knowing when to make a skill check and when to look at your spell list and this sort of thing, I think these things get easier. On the other hand, as you level up, more options become available. So like one of the coolest Druid skills, for instance, is turning into an animal. And that’s not something that’s available to you at this level.
Jodie
Right, yeah. Okay. I remember talking to Tyler about that. Yeah.
Randall
And so that’s a good example of like, it’s a little bit of additional complexity. But because the character kind of tends to get more complex as you level up, you know, you as a player are gaining experience while the character is also gaining experience. And so in a way you kind of level up together, so to speak.
Jodie
That is neat. Okay, I’m looking forward to doing more of this. Yeah.
Randall
No, that’s, that’s, that’s the best review you could get. That’s great.
Jodie
Yeah.
Randall
Awesome. Well, I’ve appreciated. I’ve had a good time. For folks listening at home. I hope you’ve enjoyed this as well as well. If you have any questions or comments, please write in to podcast@RPGBOT.net. Or put something out on Twitter at RPGBOTDOTNET. Jodie, thank you very much for your time. I’ve enjoyed this. This has actually been really a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun putting together the adventure, thinking about kind of how would a Druid solve some of these problems? And so that was really enjoyable to me. And yeah, I think we’re gonna have one more session where we’re all going to get together and kind of talk about the full path through. And so I look forward to talking to you there as well.
Jodie
Alright, well, thank you. I enjoyed it, and I see it takes a lot of creativity to create the situation. I think that’s pretty awesome. Thank you.
Randall
Thank you. All right. Well, thank you for joining us. I hope you found this episode useful. If you enjoyed this content, please listen to our regular weekly episodes on the RPGBOT.podcast, where we talk about all kinds of topics across tabletop gaming. If you want to read more about building characters and character optimization, please visit RPGBOT.net. Alright, thanks a lot folks.
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