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[0:00] Michael Doherty: Mythic Thunderlute is produced independently, but you can find us on Patreon.

[0:25] Michael Doherty: Hello again, listeners. Game maker Michael Doherty here once again with my good friend and straight A student, Richard R. Henry.

[0:31] Richard R. Henry: Richie, has that ever been said about you in the past?

[0:35] Richard R. Henry: Uh that I'm a that I'm a good student? No. I'm a terrible student. There's probably undiagnosed lots of things. ADHD, ADD. I haven't been checked for any of it, but I am a terrible student. However, when I'm interested in something, I can I can focus in on it and get the task accomplished.

[0:53] Michael Doherty: I love that. Okay, good. So last time in D&D 201, I helped Richie build a character. Richie, could you remind our listeners about your character's name, race, and class, if you would please?

[1:02] Richard R. Henry: Yes. I am Sarodari the Wise. I am a dragonborn cleric one class and level, and I am a chaotic neutral.

[1:11] Michael Doherty: Great. Well, I think it's time to get Sarodari ready for a little test drive. You ready, Richie?

[1:16] Richard R. Henry: Yes, please.

[1:16] Michael Doherty: With that, it's time for D&D 301, Mechanics of the Game. So, Richie, when next we meet, we're gonna dive into an actual gaming module where you're gonna test drive your character.

[1:31] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[1:31] Michael Doherty: But I want to make sure you leave here today aware of all of the options that you've got.

[1:35] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[1:35] Michael Doherty: Just real quick, a little MTL trivia before we really dive in here. Something we actually tweaked for Thunderlute is we changed the term race to species. I personally feel like it's more accurately describes what it is, and it's just a bit less of a loaded term in like our modern context. You know what I mean?

[1:53] Richard R. Henry: Oh, I understand. Yes, yeah.

[1:54] Michael Doherty: I'm and I'm definitely, I'm definitely more of a thing than a human.

[1:58] Richard R. Henry: That is true. For sure, for sure.

[2:00] Michael Doherty: We also changed the word intelligence in those big six ability scores to knowledge.

[2:07] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[2:07] Michael Doherty: Since intelligence kind of has like this monolithic vibe.

[2:11] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[2:11] Michael Doherty: And since acquisition of knowledge could be experiential, for instance, you could know about dungeons and dragons and not a ton about, say, how cars work.

[2:20] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[2:21] Michael Doherty: Just a random example doesn't pertain to me particularly. My point is this would make someone less intelligent, just less knowledgeable about that particular thing.

[2:30] Richard R. Henry: Right, gotcha.

[2:31] Michael Doherty: For this reason, I also let players roll with advantage on knowledge checks that pertain to their area of expertise.

[2:39] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[2:39] Michael Doherty: So if you're rolling about, like, say, the draconic pantheon, which your parents taught you a lot about, I would say roll with advantage on that, because you probably would remember more readily something your mom said to you. And when you say roll with advantage, are you adding numbers to that?

[2:54] Richard R. Henry: This is a great question, Richie. So when we roll with advantage or disadvantage, what that means on your end is you're going to roll twice.

[2:56] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[2:56] Michael Doherty: When we roll with advantage, we take the higher of the two rolls. When we roll with disadvantage, we take the lower.

[3:08] Richard R. Henry: Okay, gotcha. Uh finally, one thing we tweaked for Thunderlute is we changed the term dungeon master to game maker.

[3:14] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[3:15] Michael Doherty: This is for accessibility to our newcomers. I make the game, so that's a pretty straightforward way of putting it. Also, when we play, I feel less like a master and more like a sweaty nerd in a weird padded closet telling dumb jokes.

[3:28] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[3:28] Michael Doherty: So I because I know that I had friends who like took their dungeon master status very seriously.

[3:33] Richard R. Henry: Exactly, exactly.

[3:35] Michael Doherty: Dressed apart, looked apart, acted the part.

[3:37] Richard R. Henry: Yes.

[3:37] Michael Doherty: Perhaps uh egos ran away.

[3:40] Richard R. Henry: Maybe so.

[3:41] Michael Doherty: Yeah. Um now, since last time we met, uh, you and I have been privately discussing your backstory based on your character impulses and the already built world of Thunderlute, right?

[3:50] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[3:51] Michael Doherty: So part of your homework was to write down Sarodari's ideals, bonds, flaws, and personality traits, right?

[3:56] Richard R. Henry: Yeah, my ideals, he's a he's a religious extremist. Uh he he his his prayers are to Velma, the god of death.

[4:05] Michael Doherty: Yeah.

[4:05] Richard R. Henry: Because when you when you move down to Bonds, uh my parents were murdered mysteriously. Uh-huh. Um, and uh, and so I took to religion and uh and revenge as uh those are the two things that sort of drive me.

[4:20] Michael Doherty: Yeah.

[4:20] Richard R. Henry: And uh my flaws, of course, are the same thing as my goals, uh, which is very much like me in real life, is that I'm uh reclusive and vengeful. Uh now to be clear, when you say you're drawn to murder and revenge, you ha ha have you murdered in your life, or you you have hopes of murdering as a means of revenge to avenge your parents?

[4:43] Richard R. Henry: Once I find out who they are, I'll be dead set on mur on murderous revenge.

[4:47] Michael Doherty: Yeah, yeah. Great, great, great. Love it, love it, love it. So, right off the bat, always remember to let those bonds, flaws, personality traits actually affect your gameplay, right?

[4:58] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[4:58] Michael Doherty: I think it's easy sometimes in D&D to jettison our characters' shortcomings and quirks and go into like beat the video game mode. But keep in mind we are cooperatively telling a story here. And the story becomes infinitely more interesting when we honor the characters we created and still allow them to grow and change.

[5:15] Richard R. Henry: So, so like things like keeping my religious extremism in mind.

[5:19] Michael Doherty: Right, right, right. Like you you always do it to honor Velma, exactly that kind of thing.

[5:24] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[5:24] Michael Doherty: You say w what's under personality traits, could you remind me?

[5:27] Richard R. Henry: Yeah, personality traits. I I talk to myself.

[5:30] Michael Doherty: Oh, right, because you're a recluse.

[5:31] Richard R. Henry: Right. I have no filter.

[5:33] Michael Doherty: Yes, yes. I'm timid in conversation, but not in action.

[5:36] Richard R. Henry: Those are great examples of things that's like awesome to keep like at the forefront of your mind. I mean, eventually I'm obviously gonna be forced to bandy with a group of people who are other than my own species. And it's gonna be hard for me because I have social anxiety.

[5:50] Michael Doherty: Exactly, exactly. So let those things be present, right?

[5:53] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[5:54] Michael Doherty: Those social interactions and how those play out genuinely are like so delicious and and for me the funnest part of the game.

[6:01] Richard R. Henry: Yeah, you want you want them, you want people to be flawed.

[6:04] Michael Doherty: Yeah, yeah, totally. If if if we were all like the Justice League, there wouldn't be a lot of fun. I think that's one of the problems with the movies, is everybody's so perfect.

[6:12] Richard R. Henry: Yes, exactly.

[6:13] Michael Doherty: I'm less interested in like punishing my players when they go astray and more interested in the most entertaining and moving story for our listeners.

[6:22] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[6:23] Michael Doherty: Um, I also firmly believe that there are always multiple solutions to a problem.

[6:28] Richard R. Henry: I see, yes.

[6:29] Michael Doherty: And always adjusting based on the innovations of my players. Truly know there are no wrong answers in D&D.

[6:37] Richard R. Henry: It seems like when the game is really going, it's like a nice tug of war between the players and the and the GM.

[6:43] Michael Doherty: I totally agree. I totally agree. This is my philosophy, but like we are on the same team here, right? Like we want the same thing, which is a fun adventure.

[6:50] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[6:51] Michael Doherty: But the choices you make will affect the outcome and the choose your own adventure nature of it is what's exciting to me.

[6:58] Richard R. Henry: Right. I mean, that's why people are still playing this game.

[7:00] Michael Doherty: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Okay, so before we go any deeper, I'd like to level you up to level four to get you a bit heartier for your mission here.

[7:09] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[7:10] Michael Doherty: First thing we're gonna do is increase your hit points. You've got like 12 right now, is that right?

[7:15] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[7:16] Michael Doherty: Look on your character sheet, it'll say what your hit dice is.

[7:19] Richard R. Henry: D eight in hit dice.

[7:20] Michael Doherty: Every time you level up, you're gonna roll that d8, and you're gonna add your constitution modifier to that. So yeah, go ahead and roll that three times and tell me what you roll.

[7:29] Richard R. Henry: So one plus six plus one.

[7:32] Michael Doherty: Okay, great. So that's eight total. And in addition, you add your constitution modifier.

[7:38] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[7:38] Michael Doherty: Top left column. Uh yes. Constitution is fourteen, but the little circle is two.

[7:44] Richard R. Henry: Great.

[7:44] Michael Doherty: So we're adding two per level, so that would be another six. So add fourteen to your hit points.

[7:50] Richard R. Henry: Add fourteen to my hit points, guys.

[7:52] Michael Doherty: So your total is now twenty six.

[7:54] Richard R. Henry: Right. Next, we're gonna increase one ability score, and that's the big number by two. Meaning very likely that smaller number is gonna increase by one. So this is a big moment. Do you want to be wiser, smarter, stronger? Do you want to be more dexterous? Do you want to have a higher constitution?

[8:10] Richard R. Henry: Well, we have strength that's at 19, and then the modifier is four. That's pretty fucking high. Dexterity is ten and the modifier is zero.

[8:19] Michael Doherty: Okay, yeah. Uh constitution is fourteen with a two. I should probably get a little wiser.

[8:24] Richard R. Henry: Yeah, so wisdom is a what you use to cast spells. Um, and it's also kind of your survival instinct. If you look at your skills that are tied to wisdom, you've got like animal handling, insight, we've got medicine, we've got religion, we've got perception, right? Survival. Like this is how you've lived in the mountains so long and not died.

[8:46] Richard R. Henry: Exactly.

[8:46] Michael Doherty: Intelligence, or as I call it, knowledge is book smarts, knowable information. Which this makes a lot of sense that you wouldn't have a lot of context for the world, because you don't have access to like books and things, you know.

[8:59] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[8:59] Michael Doherty: I would argue you don't need to be the brightest bulb. So instead of like leveling up your lowest, I would choose something that might come in a bit more handy.

[9:08] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[9:09] Michael Doherty: Oh, uh dexterity for sure.

[9:11] Richard R. Henry: Oh, yeah. Is that my ability to use weapons?

[9:14] Michael Doherty: Not necessarily, like you'll probably roll a lot of strength for that.

[9:17] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[9:17] Michael Doherty: But your initiative bonus is your dex mod. So right now your initiative is zero. So if you increased your dexterity score, your initiative would increase.

[9:26] Richard R. Henry: Okay, so we should.

[9:27] Michael Doherty: I think let's go with that. Let's go with dexterity.

[9:29] Richard R. Henry: So we are now increasing your dexterity to 12.

[9:32] Michael Doherty: Got it. Making your modifier one.

[9:34] Richard R. Henry: Oh, okay, gotcha.

[9:35] Michael Doherty: Yeah, it was zero before. No, yeah, gotcha. And then what about inspiration?

[9:40] Richard R. Henry: Inspiration are like points I can award when I think you do something super in character. When it's awarded, you can then like use it to do something cool later.

[9:51] Michael Doherty: I see. We also need to add your dragon damage breath type. There are several different kinds acid, fire, lightning, cold, and poison. So you get to choose what kind of breath Sarodari has.

[10:06] Richard R. Henry: You know, you you just want to lean with fire because fire breathing dragons are so great. Why not? And it'll also help with cooking and uh and in the world we've built, we have seen dragons breathe fire. So this is this is very in keeping with the world of Thunderloot.

[10:20] Michael Doherty: So I love that.

[10:21] Richard R. Henry: Great.

[10:21] Michael Doherty: Let's put it down in your weapons toward the bottom, like where you have your hand axe.

[10:25] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[10:25] Michael Doherty: Make a note that it requires a dexterity save.

[10:25] Richard R. Henry: A dexterity save.

[10:30] Michael Doherty: And then define that for me. So that means that you're not rolling to see how it goes.

[10:37] Richard R. Henry: Your enemy is rolling to see if they can dodge it.

[10:40] Michael Doherty: If they fail, they get 10 damage. If they succeed, they get five damage. You still hurt them a little bit no matter what, because you're breathing fire right toward them.

[10:48] Richard R. Henry: Oh, and you chose the uh the tempest uh magic for your source of magic.

[10:56] Michael Doherty: Like you can control storms and stuff.

[10:58] Richard R. Henry: For my staff.

[10:59] Michael Doherty: Yes, that you could control from your staff. That means anytime storm damage is inflicted upon you, for example, electricity, you are resistant to that.

[11:09] Richard R. Henry: Oh, okay.

[11:10] Michael Doherty: So that just advantages you a little bit. Finally, you can choose a few more spells.

[11:15] Richard R. Henry: Oh, good.

[11:16] Michael Doherty: You get two more level one spells and three level two spells. So just make a little note of that.

[11:21] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[11:22] Michael Doherty: And part of your homework will just be adding those spells. If you just Google 5e level one spells and 5e level 2 spells, you'll see a big old list.

[11:33] Richard R. Henry: Yeah, yeah.

[11:34] Michael Doherty: Okay, with that, let's get into the actual gaming mechanics. As we discussed, when you're outside of combat, you can essentially do anything you want, right? Go anywhere at any time. This is an open world for you to traverse, right?

[11:48] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[11:48] Michael Doherty: Though it's usually guided by missions and goals for you to move toward. That's what kind of makes it fun and not just like, well, what the fuck do I do now, right?

[11:57] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[11:57] Michael Doherty: So use your powers of deduction, perception, persuasion, diplomacy, stealth strength, any of your skills and any of your interests as a player to get you where you'd like to go. So that's a pretty like open rule for most of our gameplay. It shifts when we enter combat.

[12:12] Richard R. Henry: Okay, yeah.

[12:15] Michael Doherty: Let's get into the rules of combat. There are three things that must happen before fighting can commence. Step one is we determine surprise. If you or someone on your team or one of your enemies is doing a surprise attack or a sneak attack to lead us off, the attacker not only gets the first attack, but they do so with advantage.

[12:42] Richard R. Henry: So let's say you're creeping up on some group of halflings that you want to ambush, and you're like, I'm just gonna throw my axe at the back of that dude's head.

[12:51] Michael Doherty: Right. You are now the first in the playing order automatically. And uh you're rolling with advantage of that because they don't get to defend themselves. A stealth attack is helpful. Stealth attacks and surprise attacks are really helpful. Otherwise, we are just rolling to see who goes first.

[13:07] Richard R. Henry: Oh, I see.

[13:07] Michael Doherty: So we if we we come up against somebody, some one of us either decides to do an attack or we roll for for who's going in first.

[13:16] Richard R. Henry: Right, exactly.

[13:17] Michael Doherty: We then establish board position. Since we're not playing with a gaming map, what is our physical relationship to these people? For instance, in episode three of Thunderloot, they come across this army of Kings Guard, and once they entered combat, I explained to the players they were all holding torches about 60 feet away.

[13:36] Richard R. Henry: And that's a really important number because that means that's close enough to fire arrows to hit them, but far enough that you'd have to travel two turns in order to do close range combat attacks against them.

[13:48] Michael Doherty: And I only have a 30-foot cast on my fire breath, so exactly. Exactly. This is why these things matter. Sometimes you'll be face to face with someone. It totally depends on how you approach and when exactly you engage in combat.

[14:01] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[14:01] Michael Doherty: So just beware of your physical proximity to them before you engage, right?

[14:06] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[14:06] Michael Doherty: The final thing we do is roll initiative. You roll a 20-sided die, you add your initiative bonus, which for you is now one because of your level up, and that will determine the order of combat.

[14:18] Richard R. Henry: The higher you roll, the earlier in combat you go.

[14:21] Michael Doherty: Right. Right? So I'll put everyone in order, and then we begin our turn-based combat. That's the main thing that makes combat different than the rest of the game, is that it is turn based.

[14:27] Richard R. Henry: Ah, I see.

[14:27] Michael Doherty: The rest of the time, people can be like, well, they're doing that. I'm gonna do this thing. But when we do combat, we clarify by going in order of turns. It makes sense, otherwise they get really chaotic.

[14:42] Richard R. Henry: Yeah, exactly.

[14:43] Michael Doherty: Another wild thing about combat is that a single turn is mere seconds of real life combat.

[14:49] Richard R. Henry: It's kind of a slow-mo battle.

[14:50] Michael Doherty: Exactly, right. Like, I'm gonna cast my fire breath. In the animated version of this, you just do it and like it places that guy in front of you. When we play, you're like, all right, I'm gonna cast fire breath. I'll say, remind me what that is, you'll say they have to roll a deck save, and then I roll it.

[15:05] Richard R. Henry: Oh, they got a 19, so they only take half.

[15:07] Michael Doherty: He dives out of the way, but you singe his shoulder and he goes, ah, and he just took five hit points of damage.

[15:12] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[15:13] Michael Doherty: When it is your turn, Richie, there are three things you can do. You ready for this?

[15:17] Richard R. Henry: Do I need to note this?

[15:18] Michael Doherty: An action, a movement, okay, and a bonus action. Let's start with actions. So this is the main part of your turn, right? What's your actual strategy? Are you attacking? Are you running away? Are you hiding? Most of the time, if you're engaged in combat, it is a fight until you kill the people in front of you, kind of a thing.

[15:36] Richard R. Henry: Just like a video game.

[15:38] Michael Doherty: Yeah, totally. Yeah, he I feel like he's more of a tank.

[15:41] Richard R. Henry: 100%.

[15:42] Michael Doherty: And you've got that beautiful AC of 19 because you're not only all armored up, but you've got that beautiful shield that adds to your AC.

[15:50] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[15:51] Michael Doherty: So you being on the front lines is kind of what you're built for, right?

[15:54] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[15:54] Michael Doherty: No, when you're casting one of your spells, you follow the rules of said spell listed in the handbook. It's always okay to refamiliarize yourself with these as we play. It's hard to like hold the rules of spells in your brain. But you're like, I want to do, oh, I want to cast my fog thing so that it's hard for everyone to see. Let me figure out what that does.

[16:12] Richard R. Henry: I believe you don't even have to roll for it.

[16:14] Michael Doherty: You just cast fog, and now you and the people around you can no longer see each other. That may come in handy at some point, it feels like.

[16:22] Richard R. Henry: For weapons, which is your other kind of main attack, you would roll a d20, and if applicable, add your proficiency bonus.

[16:29] Michael Doherty: Which we know for you, when you use your axe, that is something you're proficient in.

[16:33] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[16:33] Michael Doherty: So you would add plus two to your d20 roll.

[16:37] Richard R. Henry: I have the ACs or armor classes of all of your enemies written down. Basically, anyone you encounter will have an armor class.

[16:44] Michael Doherty: That friendly tavern owner we talked about.

[16:47] Richard R. Henry: Being like, Yeah, yeah.

[16:48] Michael Doherty: Hello there's Lap. He's like, hey, what can I get for you?

[16:52] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[16:52] Michael Doherty: And like you're like, I don't like the look of this guy. I'm gonna lodge my axe in his face.

[16:57] Richard R. Henry: And I'm like, okay, give me a roll for it.

[17:00] Michael Doherty: I'm gonna do a random roll right now.

[17:01] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[17:02] Michael Doherty: Seven, that wouldn't be a hit. You would like sink it into the bar in front of him, and he'd be like, oh, get out of here, you fuckwit.

[17:09] Richard R. Henry: Or maybe it lodges right in his skull.

[17:12] Michael Doherty: I just rolled a 13, which might do it, and then that guy dies right in front of you.

[17:18] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[17:18] Michael Doherty: Yeah, it could start a brawl.

[17:19] Richard R. Henry: You've maybe got a barroom blitz on your hands, you know?

[17:22] Michael Doherty: Right.

[17:23] Richard R. Henry: So I whack, I whack him with an axe.

[17:25] Michael Doherty: We roll for what damage he's taken.

[17:27] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[17:28] Michael Doherty: And then it's the next person's turn to either finish this guy off.

[17:31] Richard R. Henry: Yeah, and it all depends. Like, he could be next in the playing order, right?

[17:34] Michael Doherty: Right.

[17:34] Richard R. Henry: And in that scenario, he would probably swing at you since you just took a chunk out of him.

[17:39] Michael Doherty: Right.

[17:39] Richard R. Henry: And he just rolled a 10.

[17:40] Michael Doherty: So even if he had a proficiency bonus of three or four or even seven, he would not hit you.

[17:46] Richard R. Henry: So he swings and misses, and then it would be your turn.

[17:49] Michael Doherty: Yeah.

[17:49] Richard R. Henry: And you would very likely finish him off before you move on to attacking anyone else, right?

[17:54] Michael Doherty: Gotcha.

[17:55] Richard R. Henry: So, other types of actions. We've talked about attacks, right? You're casting your spell, you're fucking around with your great axe, you're casting your fire breath. Other types of actions that could come in handy.

[18:05] Michael Doherty: Grappling.

[18:06] Richard R. Henry: That would render your opponent immobile.

[18:08] Michael Doherty: I want to have a non-lethal interaction, but I need to restrain him because he's out of control.

[18:12] Richard R. Henry: Absolutely.

[18:13] Michael Doherty: To do this, roll a strength check that has to be a strength or dex saving throw from them.

[18:18] Richard R. Henry: Yep.

[18:18] Michael Doherty: Do you understand what a saving throw is?

[18:20] Richard R. Henry: I do not.

[18:21] Michael Doherty: So a saving throw is in response to something happening. For instance, when you blow your fire breath, they're rolling a dexterity saving throw. They're gonna try to dodge out of the way of your fire breath, obviously, when they see it coming at them.

[18:35] Richard R. Henry: Uh-huh.

[18:35] Michael Doherty: So what they roll has to beat, in your case, a 10.

[18:39] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[18:39] Michael Doherty: I just rolled an 11. That would mean they dodge out of the way and it singes them kind of.

[18:44] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[18:45] Michael Doherty: So if someone's coming at you, trying to grapple you, what's better, your strength or your dexterity on your character sheet?

[18:50] Richard R. Henry: Oh, my strength.

[18:52] Michael Doherty: So you would roll a strength saving throw instead of a dexterity one. You're like, I can overpower this guy, add your strength modifier to your d20 roll, which is four.

[19:01] Richard R. Henry: Four, yeah.

[19:01] Michael Doherty: And that would be your saving throw.

[19:03] Richard R. Henry: Makes sense.

[19:03] Michael Doherty: Yeah. If you're grappled, you need to escape before you can do anything else.

[19:07] Richard R. Henry: Gotcha.

[19:08] Michael Doherty: And then amateur question. If I'm if he successfully grapples me, could I use a thunder spell?

[19:15] Richard R. Henry: As long as it doesn't require you to physically move because you are rendered immobile.

[19:20] Michael Doherty: Does the thunder require the staff?

[19:22] Richard R. Henry: Oh, it does.

[19:22] Michael Doherty: It does. So actually, you couldn't do that because you would probably have some mystical waving of your staff in order to do it.

[19:28] Richard R. Henry: I mean, you gotta have mystical waving.

[19:30] Michael Doherty: Yeah, right. So, really, when you're grappled, you gotta get the fuck out of there.

[19:35] Richard R. Henry: Gotcha.

[19:35] Michael Doherty: You can also shove. This functions exactly the same as grapple, only trying to get them on the ground.

[19:40] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[19:41] Michael Doherty: This is pretty incredible. I I don't think it's utilized very much in combat.

[19:46] Richard R. Henry: But if you succeed in shoving someone, they would be prone.

[19:49] Michael Doherty: They're on the ground.

[19:50] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[19:50] Michael Doherty: They're on the ground. They're on their back.

[19:52] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[19:52] Michael Doherty: They would roll at a disadvantage when they attack because they're on their back.

[19:56] Richard R. Henry: They would roll twice and they would take the lower of the two rolls.

[19:59] Michael Doherty: They're on the ground, yeah.

[20:00] Richard R. Henry: So that sucks.

[20:01] Michael Doherty: Pretty high chances that one of those rolls is gonna be kind of shitty.

[20:05] Richard R. Henry: They could be killed down there as well.

[20:06] Michael Doherty: They could be killed down there.

[20:07] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[20:07] Michael Doherty: You gain advantage when attacking them.

[20:10] Richard R. Henry: I see.

[20:11] Michael Doherty: So knocking someone prone can be really advantageous.

[20:14] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[20:14] Michael Doherty: So opportunity attacks are kind of exciting. I don't think we've really discussed them yet, right?

[20:18] Richard R. Henry: No.

[20:19] Michael Doherty: It's when someone is trying to move past an enemy or stand up or move away from their opponent without first disengaging in combat. Disengaging is something you can always do as your main action to prevent an attack coming your way.

[20:33] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[20:41] Michael Doherty: You want to move to him.

[20:42] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[20:43] Michael Doherty: If you moved away from this guy that you're engaged in combat with without disengaging as your main action, he would be able to swing at you as you moved past him.

[20:51] Richard R. Henry: Oh, I see.

[20:52] Michael Doherty: You want to take care of the people directly in front of you before you move past them.

[20:56] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[20:56] Michael Doherty: More actions you can dash. That just gives you an additional movement.

[21:00] Michael Doherty: For instance, you've got a line of soldiers a hundred feet away from you.

[21:04] Michael Doherty: You can't reach them with your fire breath.

[21:06] Michael Doherty: You can move 30 feet on your turn.

[21:08] Michael Doherty: Well, you can move another 30 feet on your turn if you dash.

[21:12] Richard R. Henry: Oh, okay.

[21:13] Michael Doherty: Now, that would be your action for that turn.

[21:15] Michael Doherty: So you wouldn't then get to attack them.

[21:17] Michael Doherty: You'd have to wait another round to actually hurt them.

[21:20] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[21:21] Michael Doherty: You can also dodge. This is a pretty cool one. Let's say you're up against a lot of enemies, and I don't think I stand a chance of killing all of these people. So I want to play defense, right? Focus on staying alive for this next round of attacks. You can say, I'm going to dodge. Then all of the attacks against you are disadvantaged for that whole turn.

[21:40] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[21:41] Michael Doherty: So then you become just like this nimble warrior, just like dodging all these attacks instead of getting hit with like a million arrows.

[21:49] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[21:49] Michael Doherty: So that's an option. That's an option.

[21:50] Richard R. Henry: So evade.

[21:51] Michael Doherty: Yeah.

[21:52] Michael Doherty: Evade the attack. And it's a preemptive thing. You declare it on your turn, but it comes into effect on everyone else's turn. Sometimes you have to run. Now, similar to this, but on the offensive side, you can ready yourself. This would allow an attack to be triggered at a specific moment. For instance, you want to take down this bridge troll, but your buddy, your teammate, is standing directly in front of you. He's just like stabbed it in the belly. And you're like, can I blow my fire on him? And I'd be like, if you did, you would also scorch your teammate.

[22:25] Richard R. Henry: Ah, right.

[22:26] Michael Doherty: But you could ready yourself. Meaning that as soon as my teammate's out of the way, and you can even say on your turn, like, get out of the way, I'm gonna blow. You know, whatever. Then on his turn, he could disengage and then jump out of the way. And the moment he does, your dragon's breath is triggered, and then you scorch the bridge troll.

[22:45] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[22:46] Michael Doherty: So that's something that would happen in very specific scenarios where you don't have a clear shot.

[22:50] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[22:50] Michael Doherty: Um, on the defensive side, you can also hide. To do this, you would just do a stealth check. You're not the stealthiest. So this is not a great strategy for you.

[22:59] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[22:59] Michael Doherty: But it's always at your disposal.

[23:01] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[23:01] Michael Doherty: Succeed, you're hidden behind whatever you choose to hide behind. If I choose to hide, then I can be ready with an attack, right? Like if I can I can do a surprise attack.

[23:10] Richard R. Henry: Yes, absolutely.

[23:11] Michael Doherty: I'm gonna hide behind this table, and then I'm gonna like throw my fucking axe from behind it and hope they don't even know where it came from.

[23:17] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[23:18] Michael Doherty: But obviously, you can only hide when there is something to hide behind.

[23:22] Richard R. Henry: Of course, right.

[23:23] Michael Doherty: You can also search the area, like always ask me to describe the room. If I am in a great hall, is there a decanter of wine that I can like smash into this guy's temple?

[23:33] Richard R. Henry: So you can use the objects in the area.

[23:35] Michael Doherty: Absolutely. Let's say you've thrown your great axe, you are without a weapon, maybe there's something nearby.

[23:40] Richard R. Henry: Sure.

[23:40] Michael Doherty: You can help an ally by standing beside them, and once you declare it, your fa your friend, your buddy, will have advantage on their next attack. Finally, you can heal someone. This would require a spell or a potion. Currently, you have the spell that allows you to save someone from dying. You don't currently have a healing spell, but you might find that at your disposal when you search spells.

[24:03] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[24:03] Michael Doherty: So those are the actions. Those are all the things you could do as part of your main turn.

[24:07] Michael Doherty: Okay. Literally anything else you can think of, Richie, that you want to do in combat or gameplay outside of combat, just let me know what you're attempting to do, and I'll have you roll for it.

[24:18] Richard R. Henry: Yeah. Now, what happens if you get hit enough times and you go down to zero hit points, right? If you do this to your enemy, they're gonna drop to the ground and they're not a problem anymore. But if you are reduced to zero on each of your next turns, you are trying in your unconscious state to not die.

[24:35] Michael Doherty: Okay. Very simple. You roll your d20.

[24:37] Richard R. Henry: Uh huh.

[24:38] Michael Doherty: If you roll a 10 or higher, you succeed. Roll a nine or lower, you fail.

[24:42] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[24:43] Michael Doherty: And you'll see this on your character sheet, Richie. You'll see it says death saves. Do you see that?

[24:47] Richard R. Henry: Oh, oh yes, I see them.

[24:49] Michael Doherty: Death saves. Yeah. And you see successes and failures.

[24:52] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[24:52] Michael Doherty: Three successes, you come back to life. You get one hit point and you are no longer dying. You like you gasp back to life.

[25:02] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[25:02] Michael Doherty: If you get three failures, you dead. That's it. And then you need one of your teammates to do something positively miraculous.

[25:10] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[25:11] Michael Doherty: Okay, let's talk about movement. So for certain movements like swimming, climbing, moving stealthily or through difficult terrain, you're gonna slow down to half speed, meaning that you'll be moving 15 feet per turn instead of 30.

[25:24] Michael Doherty: And for uh more challenging movement styles like swimming in rough waters or climbing with very few handholds, that will require an athletics check to see how it goes.

[25:36] Richard R. Henry: And then how so athletics is one of your skills.

[25:38] Michael Doherty: Oh, yeah, there it is.

[25:39] Richard R. Henry: It's four.

[25:40] Michael Doherty: Yeah, it's four. So you would roll a d20, you would add four to it if I asked you to do it, uh, do an athletics check, right?

[25:45] Richard R. Henry: Gotcha.

[25:46] Michael Doherty: Pretty straightforward. The final thing you can do on your turn, besides an action or a movement, is a bonus action. Some classes have these built into their features, but for everyone else, a bonus action is anything that doesn't cost an action.

[26:00] Michael Doherty: Speaking is the most common bonus action, along with gesturing, signaling, opening a door, picking up an object.

[26:07] Richard R. Henry: Can I ask this guy not to kill me?

[26:09] Michael Doherty: Yes, absolutely. Bleeding for your life is a bonus action. 100%.

[26:13] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[26:13] Michael Doherty: If you actually sit down your acts and be like, hey, hey, hey, truce, truce, I would probably say roll persuasion. And then you would look at your persuasion score and your skills, and you would roll a d20, add your persuasion to it, and then I would tell you if you convince that guy to back down.

[26:27] Richard R. Henry: So I have a six in my persuasion.

[26:29] Michael Doherty: You're a pretty persuasive guy.

[26:30] Richard R. Henry: Totally.

[26:31] Michael Doherty: Some spells or moves in your character's arsenal may be listed in the handbook as a reaction. That's something you can do on your enemy's turn.

[26:40] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[26:40] Michael Doherty: You don't currently have any of those, but as you build your spells, if you come across anything that says reaction, make note of that.

[26:47] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[26:47] Michael Doherty: Let's talk about cover for a moment. Let's say you chose to hide on your turn, you would either have full cover or partial cover.

[26:55] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[26:55] Michael Doherty: If you're hiding behind a table, you'd be like totally covered and no one could hurt you.

[27:00] Michael Doherty: Right. If you're hiding behind a stump, then you would still be vulnerable to attack. But they'd be rolling with disadvantage on that because you are partially covered.

[27:09] Richard R. Henry: Now, what if I'm behind a table and somebody casts a fire spell on me?

[27:12] Michael Doherty: It would ignite the table.

[27:14] Richard R. Henry: Gotcha.

[27:14] Michael Doherty: That would destroy that object, you know, which may be part of their tactic. And I'm vulnerable again at that point.

[27:20] Richard R. Henry: Then you're exposed, but not harmed.

[27:21] Michael Doherty: Right.

[27:22] Richard R. Henry: Right?

[27:22] Michael Doherty: Right. Other things that can obstruct your view, darkness. If the light around you is bright, obviously every character can see just fine. If the light is dim, like you're in a cave or it's nighttime, you now need to have low light vision to not be disadvantaged in that situation.

[27:37] Richard R. Henry: Luckily, you do.

[27:38] Michael Doherty: I see. Dragonborns have low light vision.

[27:40] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[27:40] Michael Doherty: If you're in total darkness, you are effectively blind. You have to feel your way around or find a source of light in order to be able to see a little bit.

[27:48] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[27:49] Michael Doherty: Same goes for as we discussed fog or other visual impairment. If something is lightly obscured, you're disadvantaged navigating it. If it's heavily obscured, you're effectively blind.

[27:58] Richard R. Henry: Right.

[27:58] Michael Doherty: In the case of your fog spell, I'm gonna say you can choose whether you're partially obscuring or heavily obscuring you and the people around you.

[28:06] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[28:06] Michael Doherty: Right? Do you want to disadvantage people or do you want to make it impossible to navigate?

[28:11] Richard R. Henry: There are other impediments that can affect your journey. I'll tell you about those as we go. You can become charmed, deafened, exhausted. Whatever the impediment, I'll tell you uh of its effects. And until you do a full rest, you're not going to be able to recover from those effects.

[28:26] Michael Doherty: Okay. And resting, as I mentioned, is very important. It gives you back your spell slots, it gives you back your hit points after battle, and it cures any impediments. You should do probably one long rest per day to avoid exhaustion.

[28:39] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[28:40] Michael Doherty: Creatures can be vulnerable, resistant, or immune to certain things. As I already said, you're resistant to storm effects.

[28:46] Richard R. Henry: Yeah.

[28:47] Michael Doherty: Which means that your enemy is put at a disadvantage when they use that against you.

[28:50] Richard R. Henry: Okay.

[28:51] Michael Doherty: There are mounts, things you can ride around, horses, hippogriffs, anything upon whose back you can climb. They will not only increase your speed to 60 feet per turn, but depending on the type of creature, can unlock a new movement type like flying or burrowing.

[29:04] Richard R. Henry: You can find items on your journey. These can be really helpful or harmful if it's a trap. If you come across a rare special item, I'll explain how that functions. But you know, if you're a Nintendo person, think the Master Sword and Zelda, right?

[29:17] Michael Doherty: Sure. There's even more specifics of what you can encounter in the player's handbook, things like underwater combat, shape shifting, a myriad of beasts and foes. Check these out on your own. But for our purposes, you have now officially learned everything you need to know.

[29:32] Richard R. Henry: Oh wow.

[29:32] Michael Doherty: And yet I still feel like I know nothing. Like it is such a vast thing.

[29:38] Richard R. Henry: It is vast. And like the point of our tutorial is for you to ask questions as we go, right?

[29:42] Michael Doherty: Right. And with that, my friend, you are officially a graduate of the Michael Doherty School for Dungeons and Dragons players.

[29:48] Richard R. Henry: Thank you so much.

[29:49] Michael Doherty: Congrats.

[29:50] Richard R. Henry: I've graduated kindergarten for Dungeons and Dragons.

[29:53] Michael Doherty: Kindergarten for Dragons. You're the best student I've ever had.

[29:56] Richard R. Henry: Yes.

[29:56] Michael Doherty: Alright, you want to take your character for a test drive, Richie?

[29:58] Richard R. Henry: Yeah, let's do it.

[29:59] Michael Doherty: Then let's play a module. Tune in next month, my friends, when Richie and I will sit down and play a session together that I am dubbing MTL Season 1, Episode Zero, The Tale of Sarodari the Wise. Thanks for being here, Richie.

[30:11] Richard R. Henry: Thank you so much.

[30:11] Michael Doherty: Talk soon. This episode was written by myself and Richard R. Henry, edited by Alex Kuyper, and underscored by Dan Kazemi. A shout out to our newest Patreon supporter, Archer Wagner. Find us on Patreon to gain access to all of our season 1.0 songs and every episode of Shoot the Loot, our behind the scenes talk show. Volume one of our album is available now, and volume two is coming soon. You can also find our merchandise on our website, Mythicthunderloot.com. Finally, don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We'll catch you next time on Mythic Thunderlute.