BS

[dmw71]

We have a cleric.

The cleric is a selfish @$$%&^#, though.

[Zhym]

Handy!

I was thinking about making Lug a druid (it would actually fit with his background, oddly enough), but, unlike in OD&D, you can't really have a 1e cleric with a wisdom of 4.

[Rex]

You need really good scores to be a druid in 1e

[Zhym]

It's not that bad in 1e - you need a 13 WIS and 15 CHA, IIRC. That's not as bad as what you need for a ranger, paladin, or bard. But a 4 wisdom won't get you there. In OD&D, you can have a really dumb wizard, a cleric with crummy wisdom, or a clumsy thief, if you really want to.

Hm. A fighting bard. That might have been fun. He could have sung while he swung—and used his musical instrument as a bludgeon!

Also, as eager as Ah'Tak is for a fight, is there any interest in having him and Lug engage in a friendly round of fighting before the main even starts, as sort of a "dry run?" It wouldn't have to be in the bar (and maybe shouldn't be—we'd want them to be fresh for the real fight). But we could use it to illustrate the mechanics of the fighting.

[dmw71]

Also, as eager as Ah'Tak is for a fight, is there any interest in having him and Lug engage in a friendly round of fighting before the main even starts, as sort of a "dry run?" It wouldn't have to be in the bar (and maybe shouldn't be—we'd want them to be fresh for the real fight). But we could use it to illustrate the mechanics of the fighting.

If it's something we could do in a parallel universe and not have the damage or abilities expended before the real fun starts... then sure!

Although, I think all we do is provide the rolls and the DM adjudicates what happens as a result. It might not be simply up to us.

[Zhym]

Although, I think all we do is provide the rolls and the DM adjudicates what happens as a result. It might not be simply up to us.

I think we could, if we both have the 1e tables handy, but it'd probably be better to let MR adjudicate it instead of doing it ourselves. Whether we could do that without delaying the real fight is a good question, though.

I was thinking of it sort of like how when you're teaching someone a new game, maybe you do a practice run just to show how the rules work.

[Zhym]

Thanks for the sparring ring. The dry run is really useful. For example, I'm learning that size is even a bigger factor in grappling and overbearing than I thought. There's no reason Lug would ever pummel (although he just did, so we could get an illustration of how that works, too).

I'm curious about how temporary vs. permanent damage is working. I thought that all damage counted, it's just that some was recovered more quickly than others. In this sparring exercise, for example, my interpretation would have gone this way:

Round 1: Lug does 9 damage: 2 real, 7 temporary (rounding real damage down). Dwayne's "current" HP is 1.
Round 2: Lug does 5 damage: 1 real, 4 temporary. Dwayne is at -4 and knocked out. Lug wins! Dwayne wakes up five minutes later with a few bruises and a headache. After six more minutes, he’s at 7/10 hp—where he’ll be until he can get healing or a full day’s rest.

In other words, both "real" and "temporary" damage reduce a person's current HP total, but "temporary" damage is recovered at 1 HP per round.

[Rex]

I would have played it the same as Zhym. Is there an example anywhere in the DMG?

[Monsieur Rose]

I looked at it again, and I think you both are correct. I may have just played my way at some point and never questioned it. In fact, the unarmed rules don't even mention temporary hp.
"25% of damage sustained is actual; the remaining 75% is restored at the rate of 1 hit point per round"

My mistake.

I did think that all damage was rounded down. So 9 damage split 25/75 would be 2.25 and 6.75. Rounding both of those down gives 2 and 6. But I'm open to change my mind. I couldn't find any reference to rounding, except for in the description for an artifact. I see the benefit of rounding to the nearest whole number, otherwise, a +1 bonus to damage doesn't actually do anything in unarmed combat.

So, lacking a definite rule in the book somewhere, what do you guys think? Round everything down, or split damage to whole numbers?

As for the sparring, I'll do one last round with Dwayne.

[Zhym]

I think that rounding only comes in when determining how much of the total damage is actual vs. temporary. Otherwise, a +1 doesn't mean much.

Basically, if you always rounded down both numbers, only damage amounts that are multiples of 4 would matter. E.g., 1 damage = 2 damage = 3 damage = 0 damage. Since the rules include damage amounts that aren't multiples of four, rounding down separately can't have been the intent.

So, for example, a grappling attack that does 9 damage does 9 damage. The question is how much of that damage is real. Since 25% of a grappling attack is "real" damage, you'd have 2.25 "real" damage and 6.75 "temporary" damage. Instead of rounding both down (which makes the +1 vanish), I'd round down the "actual" damage. So in this example: 2 real, 7 temporary.

[Monsieur Rose]

Yeah, that works. I think we just round to the nearest whole number, which is what you're suggesting. That keeps the bonus damage useful and removes any weirdness that would result in a hybrid-type situation.

Honestly, I don't know the intent. Things are not always clear.

[Rex]

I think that works best.

[Monsieur Rose]

Good call on the sparring rounds. Thanks for suggesting that.

[Zhym]

I wouldn’t always round to the nearest whole number. I’d just round down the real damage and apply the rest as temporary.

Here are a couple of ways to do damage:

Method I
1. Determine total damage
2. Calculate how much of that damage is real, rounding the "real" damage down
3. Apply the rest of the total damage as "temporary" damage

Method II
1. Determine total damage
2. Calculate "real" damage and "temporary damage"
3. Round both "real" damage and "temporary" damage to the nearest whole number

So, for example, in Method I, a grapple attack that did 7 points of damage would be allocated as 1 point of real damage and 6 points of temporary damage. In Method II, the same attack would do 2 real damage (1.75 rounded up) and 5 temporary damage (5.25 rounded down).

I personally think that Method I is simpler—all you have to do is calculate 1/4 or 1/2 of a number and round down. It's also a little cleaner when you have numbers that end in .5. For example, a 7-point pummel attack would do 3 real and 4 temporary damage under Method I. Under Method II, both real (3.5) and temporary (3.5) would usually round to 4, which adds a point of damage. You could make a special rule for that, but it's probably just easier to use Method I, IMO.

I also like Method I because it minimizes "real" damage, which I think should be as low as possible in a brawling situation.

[tibbius]

We have a grid map marked with 1"? squares. What are we doing for movement rates? I can't find the 1e rule on "/round but I'm assuming it's 12" for medium-sized creatures.

[Monsieur Rose]

Let's say the squares are 1". That makes the vertical stone floor about the same.

1e seems to have all PC's at 12", unencumbered. What I'm doing is having any PC or NPC have a base movement of 12". This is reduced by the type of armor one is wearing. Leather and no armor don't reduce your movement. Studded reduces it to 9".

So:
As I see it, Lug and Vonn move at 12"
Everyone else moves at 9".

[dmw71]

Rogg manages to grab Gatu's leg and has a firm grip on it. It feels supple and smooth. Elves have great skincare routines.

This is hilarious!

[Rex]

The whole thing is hilarious! I love where the mug ended up. Well done!

[Zhym]

MR, could you put the combat map in spoiler tags, please? The text scrolls to match the size of the image in my browser, which means the text scrolls off the right side of my browser, at least on my laptop screen.

Thanks!

[Monsieur Rose]

Ah, right. Sorry about that. I should have asked if that was happening. Fixing it now.