We ran our Session 0 of Storm King’s Thunder last night. Six players all rolling characters at the same time, creating a party of adventurers that would work together and would be fun to play.

The result: A Warlock, a Paladin, a Barbarian, a Monk, a Druid and a Wizard.

Covers all the bases!

“Hang on!” I hear you cry. “What about the Rogue?” The answer to that is we gave the Barbarian the Criminal background so that he can pick locks. Not that he has lockpicks yet. I explained the character archetype using the example of Fafhrd, from the books by Fritz Leiber. The explanation would have worked better if anyone but me was familiar with those tales.

Look, they were tremendously important to the development of Dungeons & Dragons! Go and read Swords and Deviltry and the other books and tell me I’m mistaken! They even get mentioned in Appendix N of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. What do you mean that was 40 years ago?

We played a little part of A Great Upheaval, the opening section of SKT, after finishing with character creation. All the characters had worked out relationships with the other characters, and we were beginning to get a sense of how everyone would work together.

Then came the first combat. Two worgs noticed the party and began moving towards them. Most of the party prepared for their approach. Not the Paladin, who used the Dash action to move sixty feet directly up to them. The Barbarian moved next, and we all expected him to do the same.

Not a chance! The Barbarian was also a Mountain Dwarf, well known for their stumpy legs, and could only Dash 50 feet. He didn’t even do that. Instead, he moved up 25 feet and fired a crossbow at a worg. It took him until the third round to finally arrive and engage in melee against the one remaining worg. It bit him. Ten points of damage! Ouch! The paladin, happily protected by heavy armour and a shield, was unhurt.

Did I detect a rivalry forming between the two?

The Paladin and the Barbarian did indeed continue to amuse. The Paladin is very law-abiding. Upon the group looting a kitchen and eating some of the food, she left behind some coins to pay for it all. She then turned to the Barbarian to chide him for his behaviour.

He denied everything. With an eight Charisma, but he was proficient in Deception thanks to his background. Surely the Paladin would see through him?

No, she had an eight Wisdom and didn’t have training in Insight. (The rolls also didn’t go in her favour). So, she’s a gullible paladin, and he’s a lawless barbarian.

This campaign should be great fun!