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Heldig can take 3rd or 4th shift.  He has darkvision so any 'night shift' sorts of watch schedules would leverage that as a strength.  Of course, most of the adventure will likely be in caverns and whatnot ... so that point is likely moot.

As a cleric too, he'll have to set aside time to pray each day.  I figured that as a crafts-dwarf deity ... it would make sense if he had an 'early to bed, early to rise' sort of mindset and prayed for his spells early in the morning.  He would not be bothered by waking up early to stand watch and then pray for his spells (all before breakfast!)

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Re: Marching order.

Heldig needs to hit things with his hammer, so close to the front.

Second or third rank would be a good fit.

Let the warriors close in first, then Heldig can wade into the thick of it with hammer-in-hand or he could support from afar with spells/healing as needed.

Lucien will be in the back to guard the squishies and watch the rear.

Proposed watch schedule

First Shift: Lucien & Rissa & Lorrain
Second Shift: Lucien & Lorrain
Third Shift: Lathan & Snagger & Heldig
Fourth Shift: Lathan & Jinx & Alisandra

Please place Lorrain in the middle of the marching order :)

Warriors?

Sadly we don't have those. I think you're our tankiest member!

I have AC 19 niw but low HP

That watch schedule looks good to me.

Lathan will be at the front of the group when we're exploring.

Snagger is the "tankiest" character. He should be at the front in any fight.

I am thinking through how this can play out. I should be able to suggest a plan soon.

You would have observed that Rissa has lots of bonus action healing spells, but no big heals.

Let me know when you're ready to proceed underground again.

We are ready!

I believe that this is our current composition of the group.

Alisandra               Human, Female       Bard (Lore)
Jinx                    Gnome, Female       Artificer/Wizard
Heldig One-Thumb        Dwarf, Male         Cleric
Lathan Swiftstrider     Wood Elf, Male      Ranger
Lucien Nailo            Elven, Male         Rogue
Rissa Twiceborn         Tiefling, Female    Warlock
Snagger                 Dwarf, Male         Fighter
Lorrain Greenleaf       Elven, Male         Wizard

So for a two-person wide marching order...

Proposal 1
Snagger (Fighter) / Heldig (Cleric)
Alisandra (Bard) / Lorrain (Wizard)
Jinx (Artificer) / Rissa (Warlock)
Lucien (Rogue) / Lathan (Ranger)

But with the above group. It may be better to have Lucien move to the front in order to scout ahead of the main group while Lathan watches the rear.

Proposal 2
Lucien (Rogue)
Snagger (Fighter) / Heldig (Cleric)
Alisandra (Bard) / Lorrain (Wizard)
Jinx (Artificer) / Rissa (Warlock)
Lathan (Ranger)

BUT in COMBAT, we may want to shift to this...

Front Line (Hold Them) --> Snagger (Fighter) / Heldig (Cleric)

Second Line (Fluid) --> Lucien (Rogue) / Lorrain (Wizard) / Rissa (Warlock)

Rear Line (Fluid) --. Alisandra (Bard) / Jinx (Artificer)  / Lathan (Ranger)

Thoughts???

@GM, yeah I think we're ready to head underground.

In reply to Lorrain Greenleaf (msg # 17):

I'm starting to get worried that we might have lost Jinx.

Lucien does most of the scouting via his familiar so he doesn't tend to be in the front when marching unless we specifically want to scout ahead stealthily. We also probably want Lathan leading the group so that we make better time thanks to his Ranger perks.

I don't want to speak for Lathan too much, but I'll say that he's tended more towards melee combat thus far.

For combat, I think we ought to swap Rissa and Lucien for Lathan and Alisandra. Lucien is reasonably capable in melee so can can be the one to step between the mages and anything coming up from behind in a pinch, but in general we're going to want him getting a sneak attack shot off with his longbow as often as possible.

Lathan and Alisandra run point, Alisandra providing aid another.

Also for combat Alisandra bulked up with a fighter lvl to be up front.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:32, Wed 13 Apr 2022.

Lathan used his longbow in the last fight, but Lucien is correct: Lathan has generally preferred melee combat. But he can be flexible.

And he has previously been at the front of the party when exploring, with Lucien using his familiar to scout even farther ahead when necessary, as Lucien mentioned.

Makes sense to me, thanks for taking the time to list it out.  I'm good with Heldig's placement in each of the versions.

Sounds good. So someone going to write this up so that it is easier for me to remember? Please ;)

I'm good with the marching order post Alisandra's adjustments.

Rissa can see farther in the dark than anyone else can, including most of the things we fight, which has come up more than a few times.  However Lucien's familiar outranges that, so it's also largely moot.  She just tends to get the first shot off, as she can see twice as far as anyone else in the dark.

The others old timers know she's more than just a Warlock, but I like that stuff to come out in character.

Man, a gloomstalker would be so good in this campaign.

1st:  Lathan/Alisandra
2nd:  Snaggar/Heldig
3rd:  Lucien/Jinx
4th:  Rissa/Lorrain


I'm tempted to propose swapping Lucien/Jinx with Rissa/Lorrain, but only because of that time that little halfling bugger nearly cut Rissa's throat when he hit the back of the line.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 16:32, Tue 12 Apr 2022.

I think marching ought to be:

1st:  Lathan/Alisandra
2nd:  Snagger/Heldig
3rd:  Rissa/Lorrain
4th:  Lucien/Jinx

And for combat we let the fighter and the cleric move to the frontline:

1st:  Snagger/Heldig
2nd:  Lathan/Alisandra
3rd:  Rissa/Lorrain
4th:  Lucien/Jinx

To Rissa's point, Lucien can guard the back row against attacks from the rear and she's closer to the front in order to see farther. This gives Lathan and Alisandra the option to move into melee as desired/needed.

Regarding Jinx: I sent her player a message a day or two ago and haven't heard back yet. If we don't hear anything soon, I'll recruit a replacement player.

I don't know if I'll have time to post anything more tonight, but I'll move things along when I do have the time.

I'll be posting an advert to look for a replacement player for Jinx shortly. I'll move things along later this evening. Thanks for your patience.

No worries. I'm curious who we'll get for Jinx 3.

In reply to Lucien Nailo (msg # 27):

Hi all.  Hoping to break the Jinx jinx with lucky #3 ;)