Session Two Recap 2JUL2016

Session two went quite differently than I planned. It would appear that the players are trying to gain all of their XP without having to slaughter thousands of creatures like nearly every other party ever in existence in the history of FRPGs. This week the combatants were a rust monster and a houseful of animated carpets, both of which the party (or at least individuals therein) were trying to capture rather than kill at some point that evening.

Nonetheless, the party made it through, even when facing two batches of carpets simultaneously. The rust monster is safely hidden away back at the Inner Market, and the party has earned the respect of Sir Richard and the Knights of the Coronade. With the friendly commander's help, they party secured an audience with a mysterious magician known only as the Guy. It was the party's hope that maybe he could uncover more information on the gem from the automata wizard from the sewers. After retrieving a favourite rug from a past incarnation of the house (as well as three bottle of chocolate syrup), the Guy was able to cast a spell on the gem that will obstensibly lead the party to its owner.

not normally found in spell component pouches

As rewards, the party received 200 XP each as well as a sack full of the Guy's glass recyclables. The contents of the sack break down as follows:

• 1 nondescript orb of glass
• 4 potions in clear flasks that give off a faint red glow
• 1 potion in a clear flask giving off a stronger red glow
• 3 clay bottles with an imprinted image of a sword
• 3 vials made of black glass etched with a pale eye
• 3 glass flasks with an flame painted on the side
• 4 glass bottles with a green unhappy face and then a yellow smiley face
• 3 crude clay vials with a skull and crossbones in black and a red line through it, then another skull and crossbones with a red circle, but then crossed out and...never mind, it will be much easier if I just show you:

this label has NOT been approved by the FDA

As far as rules concerns, I don't remember any issues over interpretation that was the source of debate. There was one issue we hammered out fairly quickly, and another issue where, like the SCOTUS, I punted at the time to resolve the problem later after much deliberation.

(When I say, "I don't remember any issues" I am being forthright. I completely forgot to bring my sticky notes so I would possess a physical, written record of the night's conundrums. However, I have a brilliant idea to solve this problem...a sparkling, brilliant idea!)

1) OMG They Didn't Kill Kenny!

My party is composed of very thoughtful players, willing to consider a wide variety of options in solving situations where most groups would just slaughter anything that moved. So far they have spared marauding desert goblins, paid assassins, a clueless bugbear, and a potentially destructive rust monster. They also tried to wrestle several magically animated carpets into submission, though that did not work as intended.

These actions have been made more remarkable when you consider that Fifth Edition has no subdual damage or non-lethal damage. Gone are the days of tracking two types of damage as the players attempt to bludgeon an opponent into unconsciousness. Instead, the game has a simple rule for Knocking a Creature Out (PHB, pg. 198):

When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious and is stable.

No more tracking damage or trying to guess how weak a creature is. (And good riddance to the spell deathwatch!) The only occurrence that might prevent a non-lethal capture is our friend Instant Death (PHB, pg. 197):

Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum.

This doesn't necessarily contradict the first rule, but reading down a bit on page 197 to the section on Falling Unconscious and we learn:

If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious. (emphasis mine)

When using the rule to knock a creature out, you are choosing to render a creature unconscious rather than dying at the point where your target reaches 0 hit points. However, falling unconscious is not an option if the amount of damage delivered is sufficient to instantly kill the defender. The rule for knocking a creature out does not say the damage dealt is ignored, only what happens when the creature could start dying.

In short, subdual damage vanished from this edition but death from massive damage received a makeover. Please be warned; scoring a critical hit on a severely wounded adversary might preclude the opportunity to ask questions later.

2) Identify crisis

Okay, this is where my style of playing D&D might be interfering with how the players want to approach D&D. I've always viewed magic items a bit like computer programs or web pages or technological devices with no instructions included. One can learn what this unknown item does or how it functions through a mix of examination, experimentation, intuition, research and blind luck. In some ways, Fifth Edition intimates such a universe, listing four ways that players can learn the properties of magic items on page 136 of the DMG:

1. cast an identify spell
2. focus on a single item during a short rest
3. discover some clue (keyword, feathery motif, etc.) on the item
4. wear the item or experiment with it

However, method #1 seems the most fool-proof, given that the spells says (page 252, PHB):

You choose one object that you must touch throughout the casting of the spell. If it is a magic item or some other magic-imbued object, you learn its properties and how to use them, whether it requires attunement to use, and how many charges it has, if any.

Identify takes one minute to cast if prepared, or 10 minutes if performed as a ritual (giving the party the equivalent of a short rest). This method takes all guesswork out of an item and essentially declares the party knows the entire rules entry on the given item. However, even this course of action is not perfect, since when it comes to cursed items (page 139, DMG):

Most methods of identifying items, including the identify spell, fail to reveal such a curse, although lore might hint at it. A curse should be a surprise to the item's user when the curse's effects are revealed.

Again, we're given a rule that covers "most" circumstances, excepting, of course, the circumstances that are not covered, which unfortunately are not named. So what's to be done?

So this issue is the one I chose to punt at the last session. Having had a weeklong beach retreat over which to mull this problem, I have developed a more elaborate system for identifying and attuning magic items, which you can find here.

~ Tidwin

07/15/16