In 5E, Martials are awesome

[Ruslan]

Just something awesome that happened last night that I wanted to share.

Setting: the PCs are fighting some Trolls in a dungeon, next to a 50' pit. They're badly beat up, but only one Troll now remains. He took fire damage this turn, so if they manage to bring him to zero, will die for good. The Monk is the last PC to take a turn, after which it'll be the Troll's turn (if he lives).

Monk: I attack (makes attack, damage rolls). Then I take Flurry of Blows ... first attack hits. 10 damage, and I try to push him into the pit.
DM: Okay, he gets a Strength save, let me roll ...
Diviner Wizard: He fails that save.
DM: Wait, what?
Diviner Wizard: I have foreseen it. The omens have foretold it so. I use a portent die. I assume a '3' fails?
DM: Okay ... the Troll stumbles backwards and falls into the pit. (roll 5d6 damage, Troll is down to 3 hp)
DM: He's lying down at the bottom of the 50' deep pit, very badly banged up, barely alive. He's gonna try to stand up and ...
Monk: Wait, it's still my turn. I have one attack left.
Wizard: Do you have a ranged weapon?
Monk: Ehm ... no.
Wizard: Are you going to jump into the pit?
Monk: No ... But wait, this is 5th edition. I can move between attacks, right?
DM: I guess so, yes.
Monk: I run to the next room. The storage area.
DM: What's your speed?
Monk: 55'. Monk and Elf. Can I make it there and back in one move?
DM: I guess so.
Monk: I run to the storage area, grab a barrel of pickles, run back, and for my last attack I throw the barrel ...
DM: It has to be an unarmed strike.
Monk: I dropkick the barrel into the pit.
DM: What is this, I don't even ... you know what, roll nonproficient weapon attack.
Monk: 17.
DM: The barrel breaks against the Troll's forehead, killing him instantly. He lies there, dead, covered in pickles and brine.

[Ralanr]

What works?
Teamwork!

[Wagadodo]

Nice, that sounds like you have a DM that is open minded to cool stuff.

Poor Troll ended up in a pickle. :smallwink:

[ImSAMazing]

Dude. Place this in the Campaign Quotes thread! Sure you will get more responses. Also, I really like this. This shows how D&D learns you how to play together. I'd love to play with those players.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Poor Troll ended up in a pickle. :smallwink:

Does pickled brine count as acid? Because that would be an ingenious way of stopping the troll regenerating.

[Shining Wrath]

Props to the Diviner Wizard for supplying a "3" on the strength check, and excellent use of what used to be a feat with prerequisites (Spring Attack) but which everyone now gets for free. Move, free action, move, kick barrel.

Although I probably would have ruled as a DM that a pickle barrel is NOT an unarmed strike :smallsigh:
OTOH, a troll lying in a 50' pit can't climb out in one round, and a pickle barrel to the head is going to put him back at the bottom of the pit - the wizard does know Fire Bolt, right?

[DireSickFish]

I thought for sure he was going to drop on top of the troll and let his monk falling damage powers absorb the blow that kills the Troll. Still, props for creativity.

[Daishain]

Does pickled brine count as acid? Because that would be an ingenious way of stopping the trill regenerating.
Some brines contain a small amount of acid, but nowhere near enough to count as acidic damage. If a DM actually allows this, replace your trollbane potions with lemon juice, as that stuff would be more potent than the brine.

[Yagyujubei]

I thought for sure he was going to drop on top of the troll and let his monk falling damage powers absorb the blow that kills the Troll. Still, props for creativity.

yeah and depending upon level he could have run back up the wall no probs which woulda been awesome, but maybe they weren't high enough for that.

[Ruslan]

I thought for sure he was going to drop on top of the troll and let his monk falling damage powers absorb the blow that kills the Troll. Still, props for creativity.


yeah and depending upon level he could have run back up the wall no probs
That would have been cool too, and just goes further in support of the thread's title! :smallcool:

[Yagyujubei]

That would have been cool too, and just goes further in support of the thread's title! :smallcool:

yeah man, I played a monk up to level 12 in a campaign and while they aren't the best dmg wise, they can for sure do some of the coolest stuff.

I was WotS and there was this one session where we were in a boat and were being swarmed by wyverns in a feeding frenzy, and I just shadow stepped onto the backs of the wyverns, cut up their wings, and then shadow stepped onto the next wyvern as they were falling into the ocean. I felt like such a badass.

[ZenBear]

Awesome story! This is why I love D&D, all the crazy comedy. 😂

[Magic Myrmidon]

I like this, and I think it's an awesome story.

It doesn't provide whole TON of support for the whole "casters vs. martial" thing, because it still requires a DM who is ok with dropkicking the barrel into the pit, and makes it so that the barrel doesn't just break instead. Also depends on the DM for how effective the barrel fall is. I'm pretty sure one of my DMs would have made it about 5d10, which is significant, sure, but not necessarily enough to kill a troll. Finally, the wizard did play a part in making it happen.

ANYWHO, all that being said, I do feel this is a story that showcases what is great about RPGs, especially with a DM who likes to let cool stuff happen. Teamwork, creativity, and a sense of being the cool guy all in a short story.

[DracoKnight]

I'm pretty sure one of my DMs would have made it about 5d10, which is significant, sure, but not necessarily enough to kill a troll.

It had 3hp left :P

Sneezing on it would have killed it, so long as you hit its AC :P

[Raphite1]

One of the things that I'm loving about 5e is that it's really easy for the DM to come up with "reasonable" rules to govern situations where players are wanting to try atypical things.

Kick a pickle barrel at a troll? Sure, count it as an unarmed strike without the proficiency bonus. Alternatively, make the attack with disadvantage. Either approach (and others) fit within the rules framework well enough that both the player and the DM can feel satisfied that it was fair. There are ways to handle it under 4.0 or 3.5/3.p, but they just feel much more arbitrary and hard to apply consistently.

Similarly, a player in one of my games wanted to walk up behind two enemies and smack their heads together. He ended up doing 1d4+str to both of them. Alternatively, an attack roll or a grapple check could have been required to achieve the same. It's just really easy to come up with spur-of-the-moment, but still totally reasonable, rulings for these types of situations.

[Shining Wrath]

One of the things that I'm loving about 5e is that it's really easy for the DM to come up with "reasonable" rules to govern situations where players are wanting to try atypical things.

Kick a pickle barrel at a troll? Sure, count it as an unarmed strike without the proficiency bonus. Alternatively, make the attack with disadvantage. Either approach (and others) fit within the rules framework well enough that both the player and the DM can feel satisfied that it was fair. There are ways to handle it under 4.0 or 3.5/3.p, but they just feel much more arbitrary and hard to apply consistently.

Similarly, a player in one of my games wanted to walk up behind two enemies and smack their heads together. He ended up doing 1d4+str to both of them. Alternatively, an attack roll or a grapple check could have been required to achieve the same. It's just really easy to come up with spur-of-the-moment, but still totally reasonable, rulings for these types of situations.

I've got a grappler, and we already discussed the iconic Three Stooges head bonk. Improvised Weapons but only one attack roll and both take damage if it hits.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Some brines contain a small amount of acid, but nowhere near enough to count as acidic damage. If a DM actually allows this, replace your trollbane potions with lemon juice, as that stuff would be more potent than the brine.

What if trollbane potions actually ARE lemon juice? I wouldn't put it past those sneaky alchemists to just repackage lemon juice and sell it on at a 5000% mark-up!

[DireSickFish]

What if trollbane potions actually ARE lemon juice? I wouldn't put it past those sneaky alchemists to just repackage lemon juice and sell it on at a 5000% mark-up!

Dude lemons are expensive, you don't even know. Squeezing enough lemons for one flask is quite the workout. And importing them to fake fantasy medivilish not-europe aint easy.

[Ralanr]

I like this, and I think it's an awesome story.

It doesn't provide whole TON of support for the whole "casters vs. martial" thing, because it still requires a DM who is ok with dropkicking the barrel into the pit, and makes it so that the barrel doesn't just break instead. Also depends on the DM for how effective the barrel fall is. I'm pretty sure one of my DMs would have made it about 5d10, which is significant, sure, but not necessarily enough to kill a troll. Finally, the wizard did play a part in making it happen.

ANYWHO, all that being said, I do feel this is a story that showcases what is great about RPGs, especially with a DM who likes to let cool stuff happen. Teamwork, creativity, and a sense of being the cool guy all in a short story.

Yes it does. It's that there's no time for us to debate because a troll will kill us unless we work together.

It's a team game after all, built around creatively using your abilities in different ways. If one class could run a campaign alone, then it sucks to be them cause who wants to play D&D alone?

[Magic Myrmidon]

It's a team game after all, built around creatively using your abilities in different ways. If one class could run a campaign alone, then it sucks to be them cause who wants to play D&D alone?

... Well. I do. At least, as close as you can get. I've ran and played in games with just a DM and a player. Was pretty fun too. I also enjoy WRPG video games like Neverwinter Nights, which is about as close to playing D&D alone as you can get.

I might be missing the point here. >.>

[Shining Wrath]

Yes it does. It's that there's no time for us to debate because a troll will kill us unless we work together.

It's a team game after all, built around creatively using your abilities in different ways. If one class could run a campaign alone, then it sucks to be them cause who wants to play D&D alone?

Checks the sales of non-MMO RPGs.

Evidently, quite a few people :smalltongue:

But it is so much more fun when you have a group together and everyone's getting into it.

[DracoKnight]

If one class could run a campaign alone, then it sucks to be them cause who wants to play D&D alone?

Bards can do this. :P
They're fullcasters, get a bunch of skills, martial weapons, magical secrets, bardic inspiration.

Monks could probably do it decently too :P

[Ralanr]

When I say alone, I mean just one person being the DM and playing.

Yes I probably should have worded that better. :smallbiggrin:

[WickerNipple]

I'm confused by the title. The hero here appears to be the diviner.

[mephnick]

See, experiences like this do less to solve the Martial vs. Caster debate, and do more to ask the real question which is "Why do you care?"

In the immortal words of Ilya Bryzgalov:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTkHT6UHqkI

[Ralanr]

See, experiences like this do less to solve the Martial vs. Caster debate, and do more to ask the real question which is "Why do you care?"

In the immortal words of Ilya Bryzgalov:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTkHT6UHqkI

I never see debates on the topic in my group unless I bring them up.

Here...Here it comes out waaay more than it needs to.

[Shining Wrath]

I'm confused by the title. The hero here appears to be the diviner.

The diviner helped, maybe, with one roll (troll could have rolled a natural 1 with no help, after all). We don't know what the odds were without the Diviner.

The monk landed an attack, landed the first blow of a flurry, shoved the troll into the pit (possibly aided by the Diviner) with the second, ran and got the pickles, and kicked the barrel onto the troll, scoring a devasting hit with an improvised weapon. Some tactical cukes, as it were.

I think it takes a real effort of will to describe the Diviner as being the hero for aiding one action out of five taken by someone else.

EDIT: I'm wondering if WickerNipple meant to use blue and forgot :smallbiggrin:

[WickerNipple]

EDIT: I'm wondering if WickerNipple meant to use blue and forgot :smallbiggrin:

I don't believe in blue. If they can't figure snark they don't deserve to internetz. :smallwink:

[Ardantis]

Good thread!

[PoeticDwarf]

Just something awesome that happened last night that I wanted to share.

Setting: the PCs are fighting some Trolls in a dungeon, next to a 50' pit. They're badly beat up, but only one Troll now remains. He took fire damage this turn, so if they manage to bring him to zero, will die for good. The Monk is the last PC to take a turn, after which it'll be the Troll's turn (if he lives).

Monk: I attack (makes attack, damage rolls). Then I take Flurry of Blows ... first attack hits. 10 damage, and I try to push him into the pit.
DM: Okay, he gets a Strength save, let me roll ...
Diviner Wizard: He fails that save.
DM: Wait, what?
Diviner Wizard: I have foreseen it. The omens have foretold it so. I use a portent die. I assume a '3' fails?
DM: Okay ... the Troll stumbles backwards and falls into the pit. (roll 5d6 damage, Troll is down to 3 hp)
DM: He's lying down at the bottom of the 50' deep pit, very badly banged up, barely alive. He's gonna try to stand up and ...
Monk: Wait, it's still my turn. I have one attack left.
Wizard: Do you have a ranged weapon?
Monk: Ehm ... no.
Wizard: Are you going to jump into the pit?
Monk: No ... But wait, this is 5th edition. I can move between attacks, right?
DM: I guess so, yes.
Monk: I run to the next room. The storage area.
DM: What's your speed?
Monk: 55'. Monk and Elf. Can I make it there and back in one move?
DM: I guess so.
Monk: I run to the storage area, grab a barrel of pickles, run back, and for my last attack I throw the barrel ...
DM: It has to be an unarmed strike.
Monk: I dropkick the barrel into the pit.
DM: What is this, I don't even ... you know what, roll nonproficient weapon attack.
Monk: 17.
DM: The barrel breaks against the Troll's forehead, killing him instantly. He lies there, dead, covered in pickles and brine.

A monk can just jump, taking 5d6 - monk level X 5 fall damage. A woodelf monk with 55ft has +20 movement speed. So the fall damage reducing would already be enough to just jump.