Critical Role & Sagas of Sundry - Part 2: Combat & Skill Checks | Starter Kit - D&D Edition
Episode Date: August 18, 2025A mysterious map has brought the party to a foreboding dungeon, with danger lurking around every corner! Our players learn how to explore the ruin by performing skill checks, and then test their mettl...e in their very first combat encounter! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Welcome back to your starter kit.
I'm your dungeon master, Jason Charles Miller.
This is the majestic D20.
This crazy-looking icosahedron is synonymous with Dungeons and Dragons,
and it's used in the game a lot.
And what's often referred to as the core mechanic or the D-20 mechanic.
Combat, exploration, character interaction, magic.
So much depends on this little polyhedral.
And in this episode, we're going to start using it.
And we're back.
We're at the entrance to the Black Rock Cave.
What you see in front of you is the map.
that we're going to be revealing today in a game that doesn't have this great production value.
What the Dungeon Master would do would either give the party leader or someone in the party
who's designated the mapper to map out what's being described, or the Dungeon Master would
draw the map for you as you go, which is, this is a large version of that.
A large, beautiful, well-crafted version of that.
So as you move the vines away,
you'll actually see that there's a pretty
well-carved opening and hallway that goes right in.
So you could actually, Hal, if you want to remove that
right there in the middle, yeah.
That's our cave, right?
Yeah.
It's just a straight-up hallway, one entrance.
For 60 feet, and then you see a door.
Investigate.
Investigate.
Great.
What we might do here is let's pick a marching order too on how you guys want to travel through
the band.
I think you and I got to go out front.
Yeah.
What's your current hit points?
What does that say?
On yours?
What's your head?
15.
Okay, you have more than I do.
So you'll be in front of me.
Most of that is your peers.
Right behind you.
What are hit points?
Hit points are basically your life scale.
If you're in a video game with like the little hearts that each
one gets knocked out as you fight?
Is that like I have 14?
You have 14 hearts.
That's good to know.
Yeah.
So if you get hit with 10 hearts, you still have four left.
And those hearts in that video game were based on hit points.
That's right.
Yeah.
D&D came first, man.
That's right.
So you have 14, I have 10.
And then you're healing everybody.
You stay in the back.
So you're right behind that.
I think I can be in the middle because I'm less squishy than those two are.
Oh, she is armored up?
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
She's got a key scale mail, I believe.
Sure do.
Oh, well, heck.
So shouldn't we notice?
So him, me, her.
Figuring it out right now.
Yep, you'll bring up the rear.
Okay, great.
Let's use your figure as just to show us where you are on the map.
And then we'll remove that if and when you get into combat,
now we know where you guys are.
It could be an abandoned dungeon.
I mean, we have no idea.
This could just be a mall that's been closed for years.
Roll your head points.
So you're at a door.
What would you guys like to do?
Can we try it?
Does it appear to be locked?
Good answer.
Good answer.
So that's really good.
Okay, so that means that you're going to
enter the door.
Inpect it, right?
That you're gonna look at it.
So that is a perception check.
There's a couple ways that you can do this.
You could either all five of you roll perception.
Let's find it on your sheet too.
It's under skills.
Perception is a big skill.
It's a widely used skill in the game.
I haven't we got
plus one perception.
Me too. I only have two.
Plus two, that's good. When you roll, you add one
to whatever it is. I mean, you add plus whatever
it is. Right, so whatever you roll, you'll add that
bonus to it. And that's
those bonuses are based on
your core
ability scores and also you may
get other bonuses based on
your class or race.
And don't feel like you can't roll
on something because you have a low bit
on that because you might roll the highest number
and somebody has a great bonus. And somebody has a great
bonus on it only rolls a three that you can still work.
So everybody has a chance to actually contribute in these.
A good way to do it is you can pick the two people
with the highest perception and have one assist the other.
I think that's how we should do this.
So I'll assist you as you're a rogue, you do doors.
Okay.
And so what do we do?
As the assister, you're going to roll first.
If you roll 10 or higher, then she gets to roll with advantage.
And what that means is you're going to roll 2D20s
and you're gonna take the highest roll.
Okay, so her number is just to help distinguish
what number I get.
I'm still the one handling the lock.
Exactly.
And if it's under 10, then you only roll one.
Yes, okay.
All right, I'm trying to help you now.
Thank you, dear.
Here we go, here we go.
Trying for a 10, I have a plus 3.
I got a 17.
Great, nice.
So now you're gonna roll 2D20.
So grab Hal's there.
Please.
Roll them both and tell me the highest number.
Okay.
20.
A natural 20.
On my dice.
Great, okay.
So we actually have our first natural 20 of the game.
Oh yeah.
With, when you're doing something like perception,
that basically means you will learn everything you possibly
could have learned about whatever you were looking at.
In combat, there's different rules for natural 20 in combat.
But for perception, you,
you, you, you basically took an N-R-R-R-U.
You know what tree that door was cut from
49 years ago.
You know the name of the-
You're a carpenter now.
You know the name of the Isle at Home Depot.
Right.
Yeah.
Although technically that would be more of an inspection.
But seriously though, as far as you can tell,
this door, not only is it unlocked,
and it opens freely.
But you also notice that there are bits of wood
that have been chipped away from the edge
indicating that it's previously been forced.
Okay.
Or they have a dog.
Or they have a dog.
Either way, someone has been in here before.
So maybe somebody broke in.
They kicked in the door.
So there might not be treasured stuff in here after all.
We don't know.
Or there might be some forceful people who are in here.
Like they might have gotten here ahead of us.
Right.
That's a concern.
That is a concern.
Yeah, signs of force, interesting, clearly.
This means we see the room.
You can go ahead and open that up.
Very exciting.
Oh, all right.
It's just another hall.
All right.
So yes, as you open the door,
you see that there's an alcove off to either side of you,
10 feet wide and 10 feet deep.
And the hallway continues.
Now, it is pitch,
black. So everyone with dark vision can see, but...
I'm sorry, everyone with what?
Everyone with dark vision can see, but you don't have dark vision and our
cleric doesn't have dark vision. So the three of you guys can see fine, but you
probably want your entire party.
Yeah.
So I would cast light for us.
Yes, I shall cast the light.
What would be good is to cat, what you might want to do is cast light on an item and
then carry that item with you.
And then that way you sort of have your owner.
So Moon, you have light as a cantrip, right?
Yeah.
I have that too.
So we can just cast those as many times as you want any time just for a few.
So there will always be light with her.
How long is the duration on that does it last?
One hour?
One hour, okay, great.
So every hour you'll just be casting light on something,
preferably something that you're gonna carry with that.
We cast it on your ear.
It's a light clear.
Also, I have 10 torches so I can conceivably light one of my torches too and give it.
I'd wait.
Yeah, because I can use this light whenever, right?
Yeah, I mean, I would say it's probably,
save our resources. As, you know,
as a, as a beginning players,
I would say it's probably safer to cast light
on that item and use that rather than
burn a torch and then,
you know, attract the attention,
someone smells it or hears that it's easier to.
Where do we go?
Where do you go now?
Check out some of those ones.
Do we inspect the alcoves?
Yeah.
He inspect those alcoves.
Yeah. So is this a passive perception thing?
Is that what passive perception is?
No, actually, what
Passive perception is if you're not paying attention to someone, like for example, let's say a monster or
MPC is trying to sneak up behind you and attack you.
Okay.
Right.
Gotcha.
This, you're actively looking.
So I would say do the same thing that you guys did again.
Sure.
You're going to help her inspect.
You ready?
Team perception.
Let's do this.
Team perception.
I got an 11.
Great.
All right.
So then you get to roll two again and take the higher one.
Get that lucky D20, babe.
16 plus your bonuses, so 18.
So 18.
Right?
There's absolutely nothing in these alcoves.
They are empty as hell.
Okay, I see.
You roll to figure out your answer.
I keep forgetting that.
Okay.
And then, so then I guess, should we move on down the hall?
Wait, real quick.
What would have happened if she rolled like a one?
And it was like, she got a one and then you get a one.
Is it just like, you can't look anymore?
No, you can look again.
But there's like a certain amount of time that would go by.
Usually like 10 minutes of game time.
It's as if you're, you're, you get email
you have to check on real quick.
Yeah, like you lost your train of thought
or you got distracted or something.
I think we should just keep on moving into the space.
We just keep going down the hallway, see what we find.
Great.
Go ahead and pull off that next piece.
And more alcoves.
Alcoves forever.
Alcoves for days.
All right.
Can we inspire please?
I will say this, from your high perception role,
you deduce that perhaps these alcoves were used
as some sort of defense mechanism for this cave.
Ah, I was gonna say.
Yeah, some sort of combat.
Like places to hide and then come out.
Let's do perception on these alcoes again.
It costs us nothing, right?
On the first set, there's two sets of alcoes.
On the first ones, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, as we go.
And I am helping you not at all with the three.
So now you just roll one now.
One. Four, not so good.
Four, so that gives you a six.
As far as you can tell, those are empty as well.
That's right.
You too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you did notice that in general, now that you're sort of getting into the dungeon more,
you guys do notice the air feels thick.
There's sort of a thin layer of dust on everything.
So even though somebody broke in the door,
it hasn't been anybody on this stuff.
in a long time.
Right.
Yeah, in theory.
Maybe if we could see, we would see footprints.
But we can't see it.
Do you want to inspect again?
Just use your mug on the ground.
Well, are we done with the, oh, we just, no, we're not done.
No, we have to decide whether we want to move forward and check the next alcoes, or were we only doing the first alcoes?
Right, you were checking right where that figure is.
That's right.
So I think we checked the next set of alcoves.
Same, same drill everybody.
Okay, great.
Everybody moving in the same kind of deal.
Okay, stop.
Right there, you notice.
You notice that in that third set of alcoves,
there are two statues, as far as you can tell.
Two statues of armored men.
A six-foot human adorned in chain mail wielding a long sword.
They're identical.
Yeah.
Good.
Very much like that statue there.
Although that statue's more in plate armor, but, you know.
Okay, let's do this.
I'm going to assist you.
Yes.
I'm going to try anyway.
I got an 11 this time, so I'm helping.
So, I get...
Oh yeah, you get two.
I'm sorry, this guy.
There you go.
Six.
Plus two, so eight.
Nine actually, you got a nine.
As soon as you...
Oh, it was a nine, I'm sorry.
Okay, oh.
11.
So 11.
So 11.
As soon as you break the plane
of those two statues,
you hear in a loud, booming voice
from one of them,
who dares enter this place
and intrude upon the sanctuary of its inhabitants?
I do.
And before you can even say that, the other statue says,
only a group of fool-hearted explorers doomed to certain death.
I thought the other one was going to say,
Leave them along, Jerry!
Let them have their adventure!
Howard, you've got bad breath!
And then both of them at the same time say,
woe to any who pass this place,
the wrath of Zeligar and Rogan will be upon them.
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We're in the right place.
This is good.
Yes.
The map was worth every penny at this point.
This is what we do know.
Right.
Then they both start laughing hysterically.
Oh, rude.
So it's Rogon and Telegre is effectively
these are the spirits of them.
Possibly.
Hmm.
This could be.
Was there anything more?
Yes, actually.
Yeah.
And then.
Past the third set of alcoves,
just right past there.
Right.
At the end of the corridor.
Yeah.
You see two steps up.
Oh.
And at the top of the side,
the corridor continues straight ahead and quarters meet from east and west.
At this intersection is a grisly sight.
The remains of a hand-to-hand battle.
Three bodies lie broken on the ground amid huge smeared pools of dried blood.
Is there a kind of check I can make as a cleric to be like how recent are these bodies?
Yes, actually you can.
Like a medicine check?
Like a medicine check to see how long they've been there.
It's a nine.
With your, with your bonuses?
Yeah.
Okay, you can't really determine.
These are either skeletons or they were just killed.
I have no idea.
I have no idea.
Well, they're, you know, they're still, they're not quite skeletons, but...
Shall we loot them?
Yep, you can absolutely loot them.
You can search the bodies.
What's your alignment?
Yeah, right.
Her alignment is...
Just for fun.
Oh yeah, that sounds like...
Oh, yeah.
Okay, so yeah, we talked about alignment a little bit in the character creation, but what alignment in is kind of your set of morals.
Okay.
And we talked about how you are chaotic good.
Oh, okay, yeah, I see.
So everyone in our party is good, just some...
I'm good, I just like to loot.
Some are neutral goods, some are...
Well, I'm a chaotic...
I'm neutral good, so I'll look through the body.
Let's loot.
I'm lawful good, so I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
Right.
What's CG?
What is that?
Chaotic good, you're chaotic.
So, yeah.
Oh, that's great.
Oh, you wanna lose it.
Yeah, you definitely wanna look.
That was totally within character.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, she and I will load the bodies.
We'll search the bodies for,
to find out anything about them.
Okay, great.
Oh, let's do it.
Do we do a perception roll in that
or are we just look at them?
With this one, you can just loot them.
Okay, I'll tell you what you find.
Okay, pick them up by your feet.
You see there are three gnomes.
Oh, in a trench coat.
All pile on top.
They got in, but they couldn't find it.
There are three gnomes, and gnomes are about the same size as halfling, and they're a little bit,
so they're, you know, three diminutive creatures.
And one is slumped against a wall, one is impaled against the wall,
and one is lying face down a little bit up those two little stairs.
So slumped against the wall, one has a broken sword.
Sheared off three inches among the pommel.
The body's been stripped of any armor.
But as you turn him over,
you actually notice that there's a belt pouch.
And opening the belt pouch
has five gold.
Paying for that map already.
It appears pretty clear to you that that was just missed,
that maybe whoever killed these three gnomes
didn't have time to fully loot them.
Some things have been pulled off of it, some haven't.
Because the armor and stuff is gone.
Yeah.
Yeah, money.
Right, right.
I'm taking three of the gold since I gave more to get the map.
And you can have two.
That's a good point.
Take the gold back.
Noam number two is impaled against a wall.
The killing spear, a small crude weapon still thrust through the body, is lodged in the wall,
which has a large section of wood at this point.
So up into this point, it was all black rock, but then you notice that there's a wood section on the wall,
which is kind of interesting.
Yeah.
I take that sword for my own?
That sword is all, it's actually a spear,
it's a spear in him, but you can certainly pull that off.
You're gonna need to pull the spear out to loot him.
I feel like I'd like to keep that as well,
as one of my tools, and then we should maybe try to get
through the wood and see if there's anything
on the other side of the wood or no.
Okay, when you pull the spear out of the body
and it slumps to the ground, you realize that wood actually was a sign.
It was a sign and it says quazquitone.
Quasquiton in it in the common tongue.
That's why they just pronounce it Q because quas quas.
It's hard. It's hard to say.
So it basically looks like the sign saying this is the name of our police.
The spear unfortunately, once you remove it, it's worthless.
The heads loose, the quality's crap.
Wait, so what was this?
Everybody becomes a hoarder as soon as they get in one of these games.
It's true.
You've got plenty of cool stuff.
Okay, okay.
Look through your own list, don't double anything up that you don't need to.
Sometimes you'll find something cool, but you'll find something cool, but you'll
But little known boy was holding the sign for the town and somebody stabbed him with the sign.
He's like, I'm afraid of him.
The sign was behind him.
The sign was through him.
He was impaled against the sign.
Does it move?
It's a wood sign.
Does it move?
No, it's like it's pretty well affixed.
Okay, so the wall isn't split.
You can't go through the wall.
Right, no.
It's just a big wooden sign affixed to the black stone.
At this point we can go left right or forward.
Yeah, not to think about it.
Right.
We go forward past where the dead body's off.
There's a third dead body that didn't want to tell you.
Oh, that's right.
We have to lose him yet.
Yeah.
So the third one is lying face down in the corridor,
just east of the intersection.
So just one.
This is north for us?
Yeah, this is north.
Okay.
So that's east.
Yeah, so just like one little square.
Maybe he's right here.
Yeah.
In his right hand, he still clutches a short sword
and it appears that he crawled wounded to this point.
So it's a trail of dried blood leads back to
the battle location.
So he was trying to go that way.
So we want to go the other way or forward.
There's a sack turned inside out and his armor's been
stripped from the body, although he's still wearing a leather cap.
He's still wearing his leather cap.
Turned his sandkin side out.
Have they known?
As you turn the body over though, you notice a leather scroll case.
Oh.
Oh.
I think we're gonna get that.
I would open the leather scroll case.
Okay.
As you open it to Agate stones fall out.
Okay.
And also a map.
Wait a minute.
How many maps are there around this book?
This guy's been printing maps.
We don't know if we have the correct map.
So I'll take one of the agate stones.
What is an agate stone?
It's like a precious stone.
It's worth probably like 10 gold each.
Yeah, yeah.
I'll take an agate stone.
And you get one as well because we paid the most for the map.
So do I log that somewhere?
Yes, you put it in your equipment.
In your equipment.
What is that?
Just write an egg stone.
Yeah, right.
The bottom square in the middle.
The bottom square in the middle, right.
That's where your gold was, so you could scratch out
how much gold you gave and keep track of how much you have.
And then, so we look at the scroll.
Let's unroll the scroll, open it and unroll it.
The scrolls can be high.
I went to temple a lot.
Scrolls can be dangerous.
Oh.
I don't know if we can detect magic on it or anything like that,
or maybe just kind of keep it or.
You could, well, actually, but you notice even when you pulled it out
that it, it's fine.
It looks like a map.
Oh, okay, let's check it.
It doesn't look like a magical scroll.
But maybe it's a magical map.
It could be.
You could cast Detect Magic if you want.
I think Nixie has Detect Magic.
No, it's not free.
Oh, well, let's, whatever.
I mean, if we die here, we'll just have to start over,
so it's right.
So as you open the map, you realize it's the same,
it's a copy of the map that you bought.
That dude is suckering us in here
and he's gonna try and kill us.
So these dudes came in with that same map and got,
now.
My deity helm gives us strength.
So even when we are tested in moments like this
where we had a whole plan and then it turns out
it was all a fraud and that we might all die,
he tells me we should keep going
because we have heart and spirit and armor
and a lot more of us than those.
And I say fortune favors the bold.
At that moment, you hear footsteps approaching
from straight ahead.
From straight ahead, okay.
From up this way.
This way.
Okay.
You hear footsteps approaching.
Light.
And you hear, and you kind of hear like, just sort of like, some weird language you don't understand.
Oh.
And to you, it maybe sounds like they're smaller creatures, but you definitely hear something
coming your way.
All right.
Well, we have our battle order, right, everybody?
Yeah, exactly.
Should we hide in that little quarters and see who they are?
I'm not hiding from anything.
I'll just race down there and start swinging.
Basically, right then, you see four human, you see four human.
Humanoid creatures, I want to read their description to you.
Hey, yeah.
Pretty close.
Then you have to explain what an or.
Whatever, they just, they're drunk on the lust
of having killed three gnomes,
but we're a little harder to handle
than three lawn ornaments, I'm just saying.
You see four creatures that stand barely three feet tall,
scrawny, humanoid body, dwarfed by its wide, ungainly
head.
Oh, okay.
That's what you see.
They've got little toby's.
A little uglier than that.
And they are armed with swords.
Oh.
And...
Angry?
They're a little surprised to see you, but they're like,
get them!
Okay, this is our first combat.
So we've got our blown up battle map here to sort of show five by five grids as we would do in combat.
And at a regular...
D&D game.
A lot of people would have this.
It might be dry erase board,
and then the DM would draw the rooms that you're in or whatever.
So we have these peer range, which is great.
Get one of those CNN flat screens and do like that.
That's right.
Yeah.
I have Steve Kornacki.
Tell us what the odds are.
So let's place you guys in your, in your,
in the order that you generally were.
Right.
Yeah.
Because you heard them coming.
So.
Yep.
Yeah.
Great.
Battle point, right?
Okay.
So now I'm going to bring out...
Nice.
What we've done for purposes of just kind of keeping it...
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Give me a break.
Give me off a piece of that.
Give me a break.
Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar.
Head chocolate crispy.
Give me a break.
Give me a break.
Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar.
Have a break.
Have a Kit Kat.
Keeping it.
Organized and above board.
Yeah, I made all of our enemies.
a pewter color so that it's easier to kind of tell everyone.
Never trust pewter.
Yeah.
If I learned anything from my grandmother.
So we just learned that they're enemies, apparently.
Okay, so what we're going to do now is we're going to roll for initiative.
Everyone is going to roll a D20, including me.
I'm going to be rolling for our intruders here, our invaders.
And if you look on your sheet, you'll see a, sorry, you'll see an initiative modifier.
Where?
It's next to your hit points and your armor class.
Oh yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
So add that to your role and tell me your number.
18 plus two, I'm 20.
So 20.
5.
10.
Seven.
I get a 1 minus 1.
She went away.
Definitely last.
Bravely brave Sarab.
That's funny.
I don't think there's any penalty for rolling a 1 for initiative.
It just means you're going to be last.
This is my first combat.
I'm fresh out of the toe.
I don't have a lot of experience, but I have a lot of spirit.
So I'm gonna put these little markers
on who everyone is in the order that you guys rolled
and including in the order that the monsters get to attack as well.
Yep.
So for me, I just have to look at it
from my point of view, so it's gonna be left to right.
So how old are got a 20?
Who got the next highest number?
I had 10, what did you?
High seven.
Okay, so I think it was me.
Okay, I rolled a one.
Okay.
Yeah.
Another one. So Moon's here.
Then you rolled a seven. Seven.
Okay. So thumpers here.
Got to have a four plus four initiative.
Goblins rolled a six.
So they're right here.
And then you guys both rolled ones.
Okay.
But she has a better modifier.
So she's a five.
Okay.
Yeah, so.
But what's initiative needed there?
Initiative is the order in which people can do things
in combat.
So basically we are now going to simulate
six seconds at a time.
So in combat a turn is six seconds.
So we're gonna determine now
what is gonna happen in the next six seconds of this combat.
Now, Halor will tell me what he wants to do
and how he wants to do it and everyone is placed.
Well, I'm gonna attack with my longsword
since they're coming straight in with swords.
Okay, great.
Now in combat, everyone has one movement action
and one standard action.
Right, well, I figured this is my initiative,
so I will move forward.
Yeah, all you'll have to do is move five.
Now, if you look at your speed on your character sheet,
that says how many feet you can move within that six second turn.
Yeah, so I can move 30 feet, so I can engage.
So all you have to do is move five feet and engage.
Right, I'll move five feet and engage,
and I will swing with my long sword.
Okay, so what you do is you're gonna be rolling a D20.
for this. In combat, you have to roll to hit, unless you have maybe some sort of magical
spell that automatically hits. In almost any situation, you have to roll to see if you hit your
opponent or not. And that's always with the D20. And the D20 is also used, of course, in the
skills that we've already done a little bit of that. But in combat, it's always D20.
Right. So you roll to see if you hit, and then if you hit, then you will roll for damage.
You want to check your sheet and see what your bonuses are with your longsword.
It should be right there next to your longsor.
Great.
So you're going to roll a D20 and you're going to add four and then tell me what that number is.
17.
Right on.
Great.
So about 21.
Yeah.
Awesome.
And then I have a...
Definitely hit them.
So now tell me what it says on your sheet for damage.
Damage is...
I used an eight-sided dice and then I add two.
Great.
Two.
Okay.
So roll, that's an eight-sided die there.
This guy right here.
Okay.
That I got a five hit, I have seven hit on it.
So.
Okay, great.
You downed him.
Nice.
You actually, yeah.
These guys don't have, they have less than, you know,
seven or less hit points.
So we have to, you want a seven or, in theory.
So you basically hit the highest you can get on that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, D20 is did you hit him?
Then the second one is how hard.
How hard?
How hard.
Yeah, exactly.
How many did you hit him?
Second, second die.
How much to hit a four?
Whatever his life is, is under a seven.
So it could have been a four.
It could have been a three, but at this point,
the seven definitely kill.
We don't know.
I know it, but you don't know.
That's right.
But we definitely killed that guy.
You're welcome.
You're welcome, everybody.
Thank you.
All right, good first move.
A kill in the first combat is pretty good.
I might have to give these guys more hit points.
Right.
So Moon, now it's your turn.
So 20-sided and...
Tell me what you're going to do?
first before you roll it. Tell me what you plan on doing.
I'm gonna do firebolt. Okay, tell me about the firebolt spell.
You hurl a moat of fire at a creature or object within a range. Make a range spell
attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1D10 fire damage.
Great. A flammable object hit by this spell ignites if it isn't being worn or
carried. Okay, so yeah, so technically you could if you could cast fireball. Just
on like a pile of garbage and you wouldn't need a match.
Yeah.
Right.
Do you know how flammable goblins are?
Um, they're pretty flammable.
Okay.
Flammable as we are, as well see.
I'm in the boots.
So roll four and on 20.
Yeah.
Four!
Plus five?
So that would be nine.
Nine.
Okay.
So the fire bolt goes whizzing over his head.
You missed him.
Oh.
Sorry.
It was my first shot ever, so.
Yeah.
Hey.
Not too bad.
Yeah.
That's right.
And the walls are already black,
so you're not really damaging the property.
I got to warm up.
Just in case, you know, there's like an insurance.
Although you said the rest of the, did the sign catch fire?
What about the corpses?
Oh yeah.
They were fire past them.
True.
Yeah.
No, it whizzed over their head.
Okay, good.
All right.
So it's now.
Thumbars turn.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
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35 speed.
And I got a mall, which I guess is my giant axe.
Hammer thing.
All right.
So, yeah, I'm going to hammer him.
Okay, so you're gonna, this guy right here,
one that's closest to you.
Sure.
So you'll move five feet, and then you'll roll to hit.
It could be, it technically could be one worse.
You can roll the two, and what's your attack bonus?
What is it?
Four.
So you, six.
Six.
You lift it.
You missed, you missed.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm drunk.
Now it's a good, it's a good time to,
to have an intervention.
Have an intervention.
Great.
Okay, is the gobbler.
Did I hit him?
Okay, gobbled.
So the guy that you swung at was not too happy about that,
so he's gonna swing back at you.
Bring it.
Come at me, bro.
Anyone in particular alcohol will numb the pain a little.
Exactly, it's like a car.
Ooh, okay.
What's your armor class?
Really good.
17.
Okay, he hit you and you take.
And you take, you take one point of damage.
So he kind of just nicked you, he got you like in between.
Where do I write down one?
Well, just right, so what was your total hit points?
14 or something?
My armor class?
No, your hit points.
Oh, 14, yeah.
Right, right, right, the little hearts.
Okay, okay, I'm gonna put 13.
So now I have 13, so I'm just gonna bring it,
do I just put it in current events?
Yeah, in current hit points, exactly.
Yeah.
All right, got it, thank you.
So like your max hit points right now is 14.
but you're down to 13.
Oh, okay.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Not the end of the world.
No, especially after a stout war fighter.
And you got the healer right there.
Yeah, and if you notice on your sheet
that you guys all had at least one healing potion.
So you can use, we can talk about that.
Yeah.
Save it. Yeah.
Don't use it right now.
Right now, he needs it.
You know.
I just want to know where it is.
I got my own saving potion.
Great.
Okay, so now this.
Trin is next?
No, it's all the goblins are next.
Oh, all the goblins.
Yeah, sorry.
Yeah, sorry.
Oh, wow.
So this goblin will move here and attack Haldor.
And what's your armor class?
16.
16.
So he missed.
Good, of course he did.
And this third one is going,
even though he doesn't have a bow and arrow in his
mini, he's gonna fire an arrow at the tallest guy he sees
in front of him, which is Haldor.
Again, right, sure.
And he, what was your armaclass?
16.
He hit and that crappy little bows.
So you take two points of damage.
Wait a minute, so when I roll the two,
we know what the goblins, like, over under is on if you hit him or not,
or is it just like above 10 you hit?
I know what it is.
Okay, but it is a number.
And you can determine during a combat.
Eventually we find out like 12 hit him, but...
Like a seven.
Just how he realized that seven hit points killed the first goblin, so he was,
deducing that all the other goblins have seven or less hit points.
So there's a hit-points.
That may or may not be true, but-
Is it the same number for did you hit him
and the same number for how hard?
Or is it like, no.
The D-20 is like, did you hit him?
And then-
And then you would have found that out.
Everyone has their own, everyone has their own determination
on what weapon they're using and how strong they are
or what their skills are.
Okay.
Okay, so that's it for the goblins on this turn.
Now it's Trim's turn.
Okay.
Roll your 20.
Well, I have to say what I want to kill them with.
Yeah, tell you what you want to do first.
Okay, my question, should I use a dagger or a crossbow?
Where are you right now?
What are you right here?
Oh, crossbow, that was my first choice.
Okay, great.
Okay, so I'm going to roll.
And I would, and which one are you shooting?
What I would suggest is the dwarf is size small so you could conceivably shoot right over him into the other.
And hit that guy right in front of him.
That's what I want to do.
Okay, great.
I didn't realize you had to choose which one.
Okay.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
Okay, so I rolled four and I...
You got six, you got a ten.
She hit, right?
Ten's not a hit.
Oh.
Yeah, sorry.
Over a ten is not a...
Is it over a ten?
Ten and higher?
What?
Well, no, it's just depends on their armor class.
Oh, that's right.
Yeah, depends on their armor class was.
Darned.
Which I'm not revealing to you.
You said they were naked with little swords.
Hey, they're tough goblins.
They got like tough, tough armor.
Tough, tough armor.
Everybody said they were wet.
Great.
Okay, so Deborah, what are you gonna do?
Do I have damage?
You missed.
Yeah, you missed.
Sorry, so that's it, that was your turn.
Okay, unless I'm mistaken, I can't really get up there.
Right, no, you cannot.
To our go.
It's a small hallway.
No, because there is no space.
Right, you could move five feet closer, but that's it.
Right.
Am I like one of the wacky dwarfs from Hobbit?
And you could like climb on me and I do it?
You're like, well, you're more like Gimli from Lord of the Rings,
a little more distinguished.
You could be one of the wacky guys from the Hobbit too.
So I'm not gonna like, whoa!
They were related.
Dumbled up, yeah.
All right.
All right, well, since I cannot get up there
and hit with my hammer and it doesn't seem like you're that injured
and I don't wanna blow any of my spell slots quite yet,
I guess I'll use my cross-bop.
Okay, sounds good.
Roll to see if you hit.
Righty, I got a four.
Ah, man, you guys' rolls are killing.
killing yourselves right now.
He's a little goblin.
We almost do better throw your dice at the edge.
So you missed.
You missed and now is the next round.
So six seconds have passed and now we're back again.
You don't roll for initiative again.
It stays the same within this combat.
So how it's your turn again?
This is like M.
Three.
I whiff.
Okay, you whiffed.
Moon.
Your turn.
I'm going to try the fire bolt again.
Firebolt again.
again, great.
And you're gonna add five.
I was, you know, stretching before this one, so hopefully.
Yeah, I won that.
Seven and then my-
12, because your attack bonus for your spell is five.
I got him, right?
You didn't get him.
Thumper.
Hit it.
What do we got?
I'm gonna attack with the same thing, right?
Mall.
Great.
I'm standing right in front of him.
Mm-hmm.
Scrub 13, plus a four, 17.
You hit him.
All right.
And with your mall, you get to,
roll two D6 for damage, plus add things.
You've got a whole bunch of.
Oh, that's a D6, isn't it?
Yeah.
You got a stack of it.
I hate to mess up my little thing, but...
Two and a three.
Right, plus...
Plus two.
Seven, right?
That's right.
You killed them.
Nice.
Oh, thank goodness.
Before you end your turn, could you get out of the way
so I can get up there?
I think I can.
And can you move diagonally to the left,
forward as opposed to backwards?
Oh, yeah?
So where do you want to move?
So let's say as I pull my axe off of him,
Yeah.
It makes me go, whoa!
And I fall over here.
Yeah.
Okay, here's what would happen.
You could do that, but to move here and here,
because this wall's blocking, this guy is going to get
what's called an attack of opportunity.
He's going to get a free stab at you.
Oh, really?
Okay.
It's not in his turn.
So probably we want to go back behind me then.
Just to lay cover, because I got you.
Go diagonally.
Yeah, yeah.
Cool turn.
Not important.
Cool spin.
Thanks kicker over.
It's a kick of opportunity, no.
Okay, great.
Now is the goblin's turn, so what's happening is...
Wait, I'm next and now he's in front of me.
No, you're not next, the goblins are next.
Yeah. Sorry.
After that, true. True.
Okay.
Don't worry, I'll take it. I'm out front, so they'll probably...
So this goblin is going to continue to attack Haldor.
He misses, and this goblin is still shooting at you.
And I have a defensive fighting.
one plus to arm a class, well he didn't admit it.
He missed anyway, so that's right.
You hit you with another crappy little arrow
and you take another one point of damage.
What?
Sorry.
Okay.
Now, Trin, it's your turn.
Okay.
Is somebody blocking me?
Or can I hit, who should I go?
Hit that guy?
You could, because you're a halfling,
you can move through any of these guys.
I would like to do that.
I need a closer shot.
Okay.
Okay, so.
How far can I go?
You can go.
there and then you probably, if you stood here,
he would get a free hit on you,
so probably the best move is to try to stab that guy.
I'm gonna stand here and I'm gonna.
Tag him.
Okay, great.
Now because you actually will get to use
your backstabbing ability because to an ally of yours
is engaged with this guy already, so this is really good.
So if you hit, you're gonna really.
Good, so I'll use my dagger, I'm close enough, right?
Yeah.
You know, you can still use your sword.
Yeah, your sword's probably the best way to do it.
Best way to do it.
Okay, that's a nine.
Plus.
Plus.
Six.
Yeah, so 15.
Oh, great.
Yeah, you hit him.
Okay, so now you're gonna get to roll your short sword damage,
and you're gonna get to add another D6 for your backstab ability.
Oh, so two D6s.
Yeah.
Thank you.
So I'm gonna roll these two.
Both of those.
Okay, guys.
dead. Oh, yeah. Oh, and then add one to it. So 10 points of damage, he is dead. He's dead.
He's murdered. Good job. He's murdered. So you can hit him once and then you can hit him again?
That's one of her roe abilities. Because you have the back spotters. Oh, I see.
It's so smart. And it's because basically, think of it like, I'm fighting this guy and I have a sword and we're back. He and he and I are battling. They're distracted. She just jumps up there and sticks him and it's because he's not as well armored and you got through it.
So I got, I like stabbing from behind basically.
Yeah, mm-hmm.
Okay, Deborah, what are you gonna do?
Cold-blooded.
There is not an open line for me to move,
so I'm gonna shoot my crossbow over the Halfling's head.
Which you totally can, yeah, not a problem.
Awesome.
Just don't hit me in the head.
I did not hit.
Okay, all right.
Haldor.
I'm not really into hurting people.
Move me up towards this guy.
You hit him and then heal him right away.
It's in my nature.
That'll work.
And then, let's see, I'm gonna, yeah, I'll long sort him,
because that'll give me the best opportunity
for something heavy, so, come on you, 15,
plus 4, 19.
Roll for damage.
Yeah, yeah, so he's good, and then this guy is the eight again,
come on, one.
Plus what's your damage bonus to you?
Oh, two, so three.
Okay, yeah, he's still alive.
It's definitely still alive.
Oh, that's right, you're like logging each other.
time he's like down to three more.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, you could get him.
You can get him now that he's damaged.
Or injured.
Well, do I want to stick to the like ones that I can reuse my spells?
Or do I want to try the other stuff?
I would say this early on you want to use the ones that you can reuse.
Especially since there's only one enemy left and he's injured.
Right.
And there are three, you put goblins.
Right.
I'm going to do the firebolt again.
Great.
So roll your D-20.
15. Awesome. Plus five, your spell modifier is 20, so you definitely hit him. Now you're
gonna roll a 10-sided die to determine the damage. That's this one. Yep. And it.
So 40, yeah. 40. Yeah. 40. Yeah. I think I... He can kill it. That kills him. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
On fire. So you guys survived your first combat. What's happening? Not completely unscathed,
Pretty good.
So we're going to take a, that's where we're going to stop right now.
And when we come back, we'll continue further into the dungeon.
Well done.
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The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like
bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world praying the darkness
chooses someone else tonight. But in the shower.
Shadow Dark, the darkness always wins.
This is old school adventuring at its most cruel.
Your torch ticks down in real time, and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job.
This is a brutal rules-light nightmare with a story that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make.
This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s, and man, it is so good to be back.
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