LSR Actual Play

Here is an example of an actual play experience for Legends of the Splintered Realm. The game is finished. I want a day or two to read it over before publishing it. It will be available at rpgnow.com in a few days...

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Two heroes, Grimsby and Teothas, have entered the lair of a mighty hydra. As it rises from its shallow pool, the heroes draw weapons and prepare for combat.

Grimsby (Lawful Dwarf Myrmidon 3) Atk +3; Def +2; Dmg +3; Amr +5; Hits 6

Abilities: Fortitude (ignore one attack per turn); Resilience (advantage on Amr rolls); Precision (advantage on Dmg rolls with weapons); Specialist, axes (Advantage on Atk rolls); Shield (+1 Amr).

Gear: Enchanted axe; enchanted banded mail armor; 2 potions of healing

Teothas (Lawful Elf Champion 3) Atk 2; Def +3; Dmg +3; Amr +5; Hits 6

Abilities: Defender (3 points to distribute); Scroll Use; Evasion (advantage to Def rolls); Shield (+1 Amr); Mysticism (advantage on all spell casting rolls).

Gear: Enchanted sword; Enchanted chainmail armor; potion of haste; Scrolls: haste; hold

Hydra (Lvl 4; DT 7). The hydra is a 5-headed serpent that bites with each head each round. For each hit that the hydra suffers, there is a cumulative 1 in 6 chance that 1 head ceases to function, and the hydra takes one fewer attack each round. Due to its long necks, a hydra can bite foes up to 30’ away.

The heroes roll for initiative vs. the hydra. The hydra has a default result of 7 (its DT). Grimsby rolls 2+3=5, and Teothas rolls 5+3=8. The order will be Teothas, the hydra, and then Grimsby.

Round 1

Teothas knows this is going to be a fight. He uses a free action to activate his defender ability on Grimsby. Grimsby will take +2 to Att (now +5), +1 to Def (now +3). With his action, Teothas will use his scroll of haste on Grimsby, giving the dwarf an extra action each round. Hopefully, he has just made Grimsby into a little machine of destruction…

The hydra gets five attacks. It will make two at each of the heroes, with a third randomly selected. I will say 1-3 is Grimsby, 4-6 is Teothas. I get 2. Grimsby is getting attacked three times. Grimsby rolls three Def rolls vs. DT 7, and gets 1 (automatic failure with 1 hit damage), 3+3=6 (a hit), and 4+3=7 (avoids the bite). Grimsby is hit 2 times. He rolls Amr to soak the damage of 7, and gets (3, 4) on the first roll, so 4+5=9 (soaking this hit altogether) and (2, 2), so 2+5=7, soaking this as well. He suffers 1 hit total, leaving him at hits 5. Teothas rolls two Def rolls vs. DT 7 and gets (2, 3) on the first roll, for 3+3=6 (he is hit) and (3, 5) on the second roll, for 5+3=8, dodging the second bite. Teothas is hit once. He rolls to soak, getting a natural 1, suffering 1 hit. He is down to hits 5.

Teothas gets to act, swinging his axe two times due to haste. He rolls (2, 6), for 6+3=9 (a hit vs. DT 7) and (1, 1) so an automatic miss for this attack. He hits once. For damage, he rolls (3, 5), getting 5+3=8 hits. This is enough to deal 1 hit to the hydra, bringing it to hits 6. It rolls 1d6 to see if a head is severed, and gets 2. It still has all 5 heads, since only a 1 would sever a head after it sustains 1 hit damage.

Round 2

Teothas uses his hold spell scroll, even though he is hesitant (since this is a great spell to save for a rainy day…). He rolls his Lvl (with advantage due to his mysticism ability) and gets (3, 1). This is a result of 3+3=6, so he fails to hold the hydra, and the spell is gone. Drat.

On its action, the hydra will continue to bite. It rolls 1d6 to see who the extra head goes after and gets 4. Teothas this time. The hydra attack Grimsby twice, and Grim rolls a natural 1 and 3+3=6. He is hit twice, and takes one automatic hit, down to 4. He rolls Amr to soak those two hits, rolling (3, 5), so 5+5=10 (he soaks it) and (2, 1) getting 2+5=7, and barely soaking this bite as well. His armor is so powerful (between the magic of his armor, the shield, and the enchantment from Teothas) that it will require a pair of 1s on damage for him to take damage on an armor resist roll. Teothas rolls 3 Def rolls, getting (5, 5) for 5+3=8 (a miss), (6, 5) for 6+3=9 (a miss) and (2, 2) for 2+3=5 (a hit). To soak damage, Teothas rolls a natural 1, meaning that he suffers 2 hits. He is down to hits 3.

Grimsby attacks twice, rolling (5, 5) for 5+5=10, and (6, 3). The 6 is an automatic success with +1 hit dealt. For the first hit, Grimsby rolls damage of (5, 4) or 5+3=8 (1 hit damage) and (4, 3) or 4+3=7, another 1 hit damage. Grimsby deals 3 hits this round, leaving the hydra at 3 hits. It must roll for each head, and gets 5 on the first roll (a 2 or lower is needed), 2 on the second roll (3 or lower is needed, so a head is severed), and 5 on the third roll (4 or lower is needed, so no head is severed). The hydra now has hits 3 and 4 heads remaining.

Round 3

Teothas throws an arcane bolt, rolling (6, 6). This automatically hits, and deals +1 hit damage. He rolls for damage and gets 2+3=5. The armor soaks the rest of the damage, but the 1 hit leaves the hydra at 2 hits. It rolls to see if a head is lost, and gets 1 (5 or lower was needed). Another head falls limp, and the hydra has 3 heads remaining. Each hit it suffers will now automatically take out a head.

On its action, the hydra attacks (5 on the roll) Teothas twice and Grimsby once. Teothas rolls (4, 3) for 4+3=7, dodging the first bite. For the second bite, he rolls (5, 2) for 5+3=8, dodging the second. Grimsby takes on one head, rolling 2+3=5, getting hit. On his armor roll, Grimsby rolls (5, 4), and gets 5+5=10, easily withstanding this hit.

Grimsby gets to act. He thinks about drinking a healing potion, but he feels pretty good about their odds if they just keep pressing the attack here. If he’d taken damage, he probably would be drinking a potion. As it is, he swings twice, getting (3, 1) for 3+5=8, and (2, 2) for 2+5=7. He hits twice. With the first hit, he rolls (5, 2) so 5+3=8 (1 hit to the hydra) and (6, 1), so an automatic 1 point. The hydra loses 2 more heads (down to 2) and has 1 hit remaining.

Round 4

Teothas looses an arcane bolt, rolling (6, 3). This is an automatic success with an automatic 1 point of damage. The body of the hydra collapses into the pool, and the heroes are victorious.

For treasure the heroes roll D6 for gold, and get 3. They recover D6x4 gold coins from among the refuse of the cave. They roll and get 1x4=4. Oh well. Each hero takes 2 gold coins.

For minor treasure, they roll a 6, and it drops a minor item. Rolling D6, I get 1; this is a scroll. For the type of scroll, I roll D6 and get 3 (a common scroll). For the scroll, I roll D6 and get 5, a scroll of passage. Teothas takes this.

For an enchanted treasure, I roll D6 and get 4+4=8. This is the DT, so the heroes find an enchanted treasure as well. Rolling D6, I get 6. They find a rope of climbing. Grimsby claims this.

They defeated a level 4 beast, so each hero also collects 2 XP. If this was the final encounter in a quest, they would have earned an additional 40 XP, or 20 XP each. 

Debrief

The synergy of Teothas' spells and Grimsby's abilities created a powerful combination. Grimsby was very difficult to deal damage to, and was able to attack quickly. Without these magical abilities, the encounter is likely to have ended much differently. As it is, the heroes still took considerable damage, and were pushed pretty well by a moderately powerful beast that they were equitable to.