TOPIC: Spellcaster Pre-checks

Proposal:

At the beginning of combat, the spell casters make 1-3 skill checks.
The GM uses their results of the tests through the remainder of the combat, and doesn't pause the fight to pull out the testing equipment.

Pros:
Less mental context switching for the GMs.
Faster overall combat
More fluid combat

Cons:
Players might use limited abilities differently if they know the results of their checks beforehand. (is this really a problem in a gaming system where hp is on the honor system?)

Matthew Davidson wrote: (is this really a problem in a gaming system where hp is on the honor system?)

Monster HP isn’t.

A potentially better solution that my friend just pointed out.

Have a longer quiz in the coaching room, and have the coach mark your sheet with the results. The GMs in individual rooms wouldn't need to carry the tests anymore at that point, although this would remove the spread-out gameplay of the memorization tests, which might not be desirable.

I’m all for streamlining. But time and gameplay management is part of the challenge.

And taking time in the training room should not even be considered. As a long-time training room coach... and for the central goal of consistency... this is horrid. When you add all that the training room coach is tasked with, adding the evaluation of a caster’s memory test, when the purpose of that room is so that the casters can study that memory test... plus the fact that there are 5 possible memory tests (I know that you could maybe move to discount the bard....) but the wizard and cleric are fairly well required - there’s not time to give attention where it’s needed in the first place.

The spell casting knowledge check should be done while the rest of the party slides. As should the healing.

My opinion only - of course.

Personally, I like to be able to think in the moment based on the situation and like the skill check mid combat, you know that feeling of “did I get it?” It’s almost like the equivalent of a die roll.

One thing that I saw at Gencon that resolves some of this was having a second coach in charge of casters. This made the whole scenario flow well, it didn’t slow down combat and it allowed for a nice balance. What was tricky then was DM communication. Most of them did extremely well. In all the runs I did, there was only one DM that maybe wasn’t actively listening to what was happening with the casters and had to go back a few times to address te right damage etc. I hope this practice continues.

Starkhound (Edwin) wrote: Personally, I like to be able to think in the moment based on the situation and like the skill check mid combat, you know that feeling of “did I get it?” It’s almost like the equivalent of a die roll.

One thing that I saw at Gencon that resolves some of this was having a second coach in charge of casters. This made the whole scenario flow well, it didn’t slow down combat and it allowed for a nice balance. What was tricky then was DM communication. Most of them did extremely well. In all the runs I did, there was only one DM that maybe wasn’t actively listening to what was happening with the casters and had to go back a few times to address te right damage etc. I hope this practice continues.

I like the idea too but it requires additional volunteers. Likely to only happen consistently in Room 7's and maybe Epic.

Ed

MasterED wrote:

Starkhound (Edwin) wrote: Personally, I like to be able to think in the moment based on the situation and like the skill check mid combat, you know that feeling of “did I get it?” It’s almost like the equivalent of a die roll.

One thing that I saw at Gencon that resolves some of this was having a second coach in charge of casters. This made the whole scenario flow well, it didn’t slow down combat and it allowed for a nice balance. What was tricky then was DM communication. Most of them did extremely well. In all the runs I did, there was only one DM that maybe wasn’t actively listening to what was happening with the casters and had to go back a few times to address te right damage etc. I hope this practice continues.

I like the idea too but it requires additional volunteers. Likely to only happen consistently in Room 7's and maybe Epic.

Ed

Agreed, and agreed... still just makes it fly more smoothly.