Shall we just launch an assault with arrows? We'd get one free round, I think. Then we'd have some cover from the crates we are hiding behind. What's the advantage of getting within range of whatever big club the bugbear is using?

I was wondering about trying to garrote the bugbear. Take him out quick before he can bring the club to bear.

The problem with garroting them is that we have to sneak up on them. Presumably Dane has some ability with that, but he would then be alone next to two goblins with his friends a ways away. And that assumes he can kill the bugbear in one blow. I don't think backstab works that way in 5.0.

Or we all try to sneak up together so that he isn't left on his own, but then we all need to make our sneak checks. Given 3 of us, two of which are not rogues, the odds of success seem small. If they see us would we still get a free shot?

Convince me and Dane will try it, but he is far more likely to want to do the arrow for the reasons given in my last Q&A post.

Q for the GM - if we tried to sneak up on them and were spotted it seems very likely that we would know we were spotted - their eyes would bug out, they would jump up and shout. But we would be watching closely as we approach. Would we still be likely to get a free shot at them before they could do more than just jump up? Would they all know at the same time, or might the one that spots us react faster than the ones who only hear his warning?

I forgot to mention a large wolf sitting beside the bugbear. Do you guys mind if I throw him in there?

If we say we mind does that mean you won't put him in there?????

I think the wolf is another reason not to try and sneak - it can hear and smell better than the others, I suspect. Or maybe the GM will just leave him out . . .

The bugbear left his wolf in his other pants. As a way of adjusting the difficulty for a party of three

Badass idea. I think Nomad is right though, garroting is basically grappling until you strangle the guy, and has a chance of not succeeding if he's a tough one. Also I'm not sure if you have something that's good for garroting. I imagine just regular hemp rope isn't the best for that? It being kind of thick and all, and no special handles. Not saying it's impossible by any means.

I guess one person could garrote while the other two fight the goblins?

Ok, Padre. Your call. What do we do?

I suppose here's the character I'm proposing. While it's not homebrew, I understand some groups may find a Genasi PC a bit too unconventional. If this is the case, I'm all for rolling a different character. Now as this is copied from an existing character sheet (minus the inventory, he's only got his starter gear obviously) he is level 2. If this is an issue, I'll revert him to his level 1 stats and spells, and erase his XP. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bdiDxYyq8OLa1jvGW0ZwDO1j76WQOWZyQoUpOlGLeWQ/edit?usp=sharing
Fair warning, when he ran through this dungeon previously, he was downed five times... I'm not the best at playing squishies.

We have a new player

I contacted the DM a few days ago and just got around to transferring the character from paper to docs. Still typing up his physical description and a friend of mine *may* draw him in future.

The group was a bit small.

The group was a bit small.

Hey dungeon goat, in response to your pm, being a sorcerer is great, we need a magicky person in the mix, I think. However, I'd prefer if you were a human, dwarf (mountain or hill), or elf (high or wood) or halfling (stout or lightfoot). Each comes with it's own special ability score bonuses which I can explain if need be. Other than that, I glanced at that character sheet and it looks fine.

I'm gonna say that's a miss....goblin's armor class is 15 with a shield, 14 without. I don't think they would get penalty on that for being surprised. If you're aware of something different, let me know.

Bugbear's AC is 16, fyi. He's a well appointed bugbear, wearing chainmail, and it's a heavy club, not a light one, that looks like it can do serious damage.