Mushgnome's Members Bout #3

[waysoftheearth]

Certain Members of the South Eastern Cake Scoffing Rotary Club are pressed into monster hunting service. And Lo! As they approach the Fight Club arena, they find themselves in a cool, dim, circular chamber of imposing stone arches. Over each arch are graven runes denoting "Dungeon Level 1", "Dungeon Level 2", "Dungeon Level 3", and so on, all the way thru "Dungeon Level 12".

Apparently, it's time to get down to business...

@mushgnome which archway do the Members take?

[mushgnome]

And the number of the counting shall be... three!

[waysoftheearth]

Here was I thinking everyone would opt for DL#1. But no, it's DL#3. Dang, these Hobbets are crazy!

[emperor]So be it.[/emperor]

This is where I roll up the monster side using the dungeon gen tables in the V5 (wip). Noting that only Monster Level Tables 2 thru 6 can occur on DL#3.

1d6=5, so it's MLT F O U R.
Now we're talking!

1d12=7, so it's 5-6-headed hydras!
A further die is evens, so it's 6-headed.

We usually get just one fantastic beastie occurring whenever HD > DL.
However, multi-headed hydra are a bit special in that the number of heads can be increased or decreased, kinda like they were individuals in a group.
Where a stronger monster occurs on a lower DL, we could justify fewer heads (e.g., MTA has a 4-headed hyrda on DL4, and a 5-headed on DL5).
However, with 7--10 players, we also get 50% more or stronger monsters.
So, let's just call it even and stick with 6-headed.

Gird thy loins, Hobbets; something this way comes...

[mushgnome]

Right in Archie's wheelhouse! Bring it on!!

[waysoftheearth]

DING!
And Fight Club 3 is underway, folks.

Let's get a closer look through our ever reliable ref-cam.
Here's what we can see down there...

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ | | | | | #| # | | | | |___|___|___|___|###|___####|___|___|___| | | | | ### |q8p| ####| | | |___|___|__###__|___|~X_|___|___#___|___| | | | # | | | | | |# | | |___|___|#__|___|___|___|___|___|_##|___| | | ## | | | | | | # | |___|## |___|___##__|___|___|___|___#___| | # | | ## | | | | # | |___#___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|#__| | |# | | | | | | | |# | |___|#__|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|_#_| | | # | | | | | | | | # | |___|_#_|___|___|___|___|_##|___|___|_#_| | | #| | | | | ## | |# | |___|__#|___|___|___|___|___|___|__##___| | | #| | |S E| | | |## | | |___|___#___|___|___|___|___|__##___|___| | | |###| |D F| | #### | | | |___|___|___##__|___|___###_|___|___|___| | | | | ##|A C####| | | | | |___|___|___|__#|B G#___|___|___|___|___|

Each square is 10ft at this zoom scale folks, so the encounter distance 60ft.


The Hobbet folk are arrayed at the bottom of the view, and that squiggly ASCII anomaly at the top of map is our terrifying 6-headed hydra. Will it be eating hobbets for dinner tonight? That is the question. Let's find out...

There is no surprise in Fight Club, so encounter distance is 2d6=6; 60ft this time.

Ambient torch light applies throughout the encounter.

@mushgnome what orders for the Members?

[mushgnome]

Each believing they are the party leader, Seighild le Frur and Archie the Monster Hunter bark out simultaneous orders. In the confusion, here is how it all shakes out:

S stands her ground and prepares for melee
E throws lantern (makeshift fire-bomb) at the right moment
D and F set spear vs. charge
A charges screaming with 2H sword to fight side by side with Seighild
C casts Protection from Evil at Seighild
B moves up and looks for a clear shot with the lantern-bomb
G casts Sleep on the hydra

[waysoftheearth]

Quick clarification; presumably both B and E are targeting the hydra? or are they targeting a ground area?

[mushgnome]

Target the hydra directly, unless that puts party members in the splash radius, in which case they'll throw their daggers instead. Hobbets are good at throwing things.

[waysoftheearth]

Presumably you want D and F to actually receive the hydra with their spears? At the moment it seems this would be prevented by S and A fighting right in front of D and F.

FWIW, there is no "second rank" rule for spears that I'm aware of (happy to be corrected if there is such a thing).
The advantages that spears do have is: a) three spearmen can defend a 10ft frontage (rather than two swordsmen), and b) they will do double damage when set to receive a charge (if the force is great enough).

[mushgnome]

If the spearmen are unable to melee on Round 1, can they safely throw their spears?