gettingdiceystats

[gettingdiceystats]

WWK: The Redbrands

From the surface, these ruffians look nothing more than common street thugs of Phandalin, but is that all they are? This will be a new segment of the blog called, “What We Know” on certain peoples, places, and events that happen on stream. Now, time to dive into it. 

Like I’ve stated above, from their first introduction into the narrative, the Redbrands have been nothing spectacular. While their motives are unclear, they tend to simply enjoy sowing fear into the town of Phandalin through violence or threat of. It’s what makes the townspeople think twice about their interactions with the party members so far and their advice to avoid them. And yet, when faced with their presence, it seems that the party had no trouble disposing of 1, 2, or even more of their band of ne’er-do-wells. 

But it seems that we’re missing something, something crucial we haven’t discovered yet. Perhaps it has something to do with the creature found underneath Tresendar Manor or the contents of said cave. Perhaps it has something to do with the party’s spoken or hidden goals for visiting Phandalin. Perhaps it’s something we haven’t even encountered yet! 

We do know certain things that could enlighten us to the bigger picture. Several sessions ago, the party was given a title of someone who might play a bigger role in the future for our band of adventurers called, “The Black Spider”. Not much is known about them, but from what we know about the Redbrands, he could be a leader or a high ranking officer in their hierarchy. And that might answer some questions from past sessions such as, “Who’s resurrecting goblins in or near Phandalin?” and “What exactly is the nothic’s purpose under the manor? Is it there to guard something (ie. the treasure it spoke of) or was it placed there as a trap, or even, was it left there as a punishment.” It seems that the answers to our questions simply provoke more questions than we might like.

Nevertheless, there is still a lot we don’t know about the Redbrands, but the deeper we go, it seems as though there’s more than meets the eye.

In later articles, we’ll get more in-depth, but for now here is the first, “What We Know” article on the Redbrands, but more like a “What We (Don’t) Know” seeing as there’s so much we still have to understand or discover about these ruffians.

[gettingdiceystats]

Quick Stats before Episode 8

The party has done a cumulative 447 points of damage throughout the campaign and have killed 27 enemies, a majority of them from Cragmaw hideout. And while damage is important, there are more stats to track, so keep reading below!

Lorros leads the kill count with 12 kills, while Sigg follows closely behind with 7 kills and executions at 44.4% & 25.9%, respectively.

The party has rolled a cumulative of [9] Natural 1s and [8] Natural 20s with Lorros leading the former with a total of 4 and Gill leading the latter with 0.

Gill has done a cumulative 18 points of damage with Vicious Mockery, which has become our Bard’s bread-and-butter in combat.

Lorros has raged a cumulative of 4 times throughout the campaign and mitigated 32 points of damage.

Sigg has used Action Surge a cumulative of 1 time throughout the campaign and has dealt an additional 14 points of damage. 

Miraqen has used Fey Step in order to cast Misty Step a cumulative of 2 times throughout the campaign and we have yet to see her Wildshape but are waiting with excitement. 

Baron has done a cumulative of 21 points of damage with Chill Touch, which has become our Wizard’s bread-and-butter in combat.

Cheese Counter: 17

Number of Sessions before Gill has rolled a Natural Roll: 8

More stats to be added in the future, such as “Cumulative Gold Acquired”, “Cumulative Gold Spent”, etc!

[gettingdiceystats]

Character Class Update: Level 2

Soon after the group’s completion of Act 1, they were awarded their first level-up! But what does this mean? Let’s break it down. 

LORROS

For our resident Barbarian, we have two updates to his features with “Reckless Attack” and “Danger Sense”. Both have merits in combat with one allowing him to gain advantage on strength-based weapons and the other allowing him advantage on DEX saves provided that he isn’t blinded, deafened or incapacitated. Next level, he’ll choose his Primal Path where Lorros will gain certain features during his Rage that can buff him or his allies.

SIGG

For our Fighter, we have the coveted “Action Surge” which is a staple to the versatile martial class. It allows him to take an additional Action for free once per rest. Pretty good, right? Well, you may not have known that Action Surge allows you to add your “Extra Attack” feature to the Action, as well. So at level 5, Sigg will be able to attack up to FOUR times on his turn if he were to Action Surge. And like our Barbarian, Sigg will be choosing his Martial Archetype next level which will only further his prowess on the field.

GILL

While our Bard doesn’t get more attacks or advantage on his rolls, he will be getting more spell slots. At level 2, Gill will have 3 level one spells slots to cast each long rest. And at each level, Gill can replace any spell he knows with another so long as he has the spell slot to cast it. But aside from that, he’ll receive two new features: “Jack of All Trades” and “Song of Rest”. JoAT allows Gill to add half his proficiency bonus (rounded down) to any and all ability check he doesn’t have proficiency with. And SoR allows him to give his resting allies an addition d6 during their short rest if they were to expend 1 or more hit dice. Gill will also be choosing his Bardic College next level which will provide bonuses to his Bardic Inspiration and flexibility as a caster and ally on the field.

MIRAQEN

While some of the others had to wait for their class archetypes, our Druid will be picking hers at this level. With Miraqen’s affinity for spellcasting, it wasn’t a surprise for her to choose the Circle of the Land. She gains an additional cantrip and “Natural Recovery”, a feature that allows her to regain spell slots on a short rest that have a combined value of equal half (or less) her Druid level. And more spell slots because why not (which can be prepared during a long rest, provided she has time to do so). However, she does receive one more feature which is “Wildshape” which allows her to take the form of Beasts she’s seen with a CR equal to or less than the one provided on her WS table. 

BARON

Similar to Miraqen, our Wizard chooses his School of Magic at level 2. For him, it will be the School of Necromancy which allows him to spend half the number of time and gold to copy a spell from a scroll or other medium to his own spellbook with “Necromancy Savant”. However, he also gains the feature, “Grim Harvest” which Baron can use once per turn allowing him to reap life from a creature he’s killed gaining 2 times spell level of hitpoints (3 times, if the spell came from the School of Necromancy). Aside from that, he gains one additional spell slot per long rest and he is able to re-prepare spells in his spellbook each long rest, provided he has ample time to do so.

And that’s it for level two! Let me know what you think and if I missed anything!

[gettingdiceystats]

To the Fans of GettingDicey

GettingDicey Stats is looking for new members to help out with keeping track of stats from episode-to-episode! As it stands, I, Francis, am the only person currently undertaking this project for the group, but as I accumulate more projects (specifically with OPHIR, a 5E setting that I hope to release somewhere around Fall 2019-Winter 2020), I fear this site may deteriorate. So, if anyone is interested in helping out, that would be fantastic! Send me a message on Tumblr or Discord and we can talk about it!

The site will also be undergoing some visual updates in the next few weeks since the overall navigation of it is subpar at best. I’m hoping to rectify that sooner rather than later.

Stats will also be getting some changes. I’ve found that it might be easier and better, in the long run, to break down each part of the episode-to-episode analysis into separate posts but also allowing it to expand and not just get technical but retrospective about the events and actions of the characters. And so, GettingDiceyStats will no longer use Google Docs, but strictly use the site for displaying stats and other interesting tidbits about the show. Don’t worry, you don’t have to make an account. You simply have to know the URL of the page and you’re set. I do hope to keep the site up and running, but it might slow down a fair amount without help.

-- Moderator Francis