not sure how I feel about the changes to Barovia in the new book, I liked "Ez" better as Ezmerelda, and I liked it better when she was a Vistani, instead of a random Barovian whatever the Vistani equivilent of a weeaboo is
and it kind of makes her a terrible person by having her withhold the secret about Van Richten's son NOT actually having been killed by vistani from him (which is a new plot addition)
I just flipped through it as I bought it on DnDbeyond at behest of my former CoS DM.
And at the risk of sounding very petty, he made me rework a core hexblade feature because he didn't like that it can summon a spectre at 6th level. Basically only the Dark Powers/Strahd have control of undead in his view. If he's consistent.... then what would he make of each and every character option given in Van Rictens Guide?
But we're not yet in the right space to ask him about it.
who's to say your spectre isn't under the control of a dark power, and they're loaning it to you? The dark powers don't all like each other, Strahd has made war against other domains of dread in the past (I believe with Borca)
who's to say your spectre isn't under the control of a dark power, and they're loaning it to you? The dark powers don't all like each other, Strahd has made war against other domains of dread in the past (I believe with Borca)
No, no. Its been a whole thing and I think we discussed it in the thread many, many moons ago. We refluffed it to being able to summon an Animated Armor once a day (as I had refluffed my Hexblade to have a Patron that was an Angel, and the Armor took on his aspect to aid me when called for.) and that worked well in the end. But man, we had some discussions on what was and was not acceptable for PC use in Ravenloft. He is very much an adherent to the old 2e mindset of the setting, meaning that the entire setting is there to beat PC's down with awfulness and ennui, while I would have much preferred a more modern approach, and that difference eventually didn't work out for me playing in that game anymore.
Surely the whole point of a Warlock is that you're messing with powers beyond your ken and at some point there's going to be a price
I agree. However my DM had certain aspects of it that he would not allow. Specifically the PC's access to abilities that the DM deemed to be in the purview of the Dark Powers. And making the soul of an enemy I killed into my bitch for next 24 hours definitely fit his description.
And, to be honest, I didn't mind the Animated Armor. It was especially fun when I cast fly on both of us, Kool Aid Man-ed the Armor thru the walls of Baba Yaga's Hut and then followed it in, ruining her blood bath.
But those limits he was holding to are kind of blown away by, like, all of the character options presented in the new book. So I'd be curious to discuss that with him, but, things being as they are between us I can't ask him about it just now.
my players freed Fekre, Queen of Poxes from her amber prison and the warlock ended up seducing her (I blame the random Frank Frazetta art I used for Fekre), I decided that I guess confers the boon since she rolled a high enough con save to not die (I set it at 17)
Many of the dark powers I have in the temple aren't vestiges, but their actual mortal forms - sometimes for their own protection from the others, sometimes as a form of truce to limit their ability to grab other domains, sometimes not by choice - in all cases their minds are free to rule as gods over the domains
Yeah, there's some fluff stuff from Ricky's Guide to Spookytown I'm going to ignore or change. Like Ezmeralda not being Vistani and the cult the book introduced that is working in Vallaki. But otherwise, I love the book! Definitely going to implement a bunch of it into my CoS game. I'm think maybe the Carnival can show up at some point, maybe outside Vallaki or Kresk. And before the book came out, one of my players sent me a preview article featuring The Bagman telling me "Nope." I think I might need to ignore his request...
I feel like the changes to "Ez" are weird as well, the character was already one of the coolest and most iconic characters in COS and didn't need much, I already have a supplement from Lunch Break Heroes (his youtube channel's suggestions for Curse of Strahd are absolutely fantastic and he's currently putting out detailed guides and backstories and motivations for every chosen ally on his patreon) that does a much better job fleshing her out
but most of the rest of the stuff is great
My real complaint is that it doesn't really give us many monsters and no new magic items
Got the book today and while I really like the new Warlock subclass I have to laugh that it's introduced in the setting where it's going to have the hardest time possible.
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Stupid question - how often would you break/remove a potion of healing in a PC's person as a consequence of a skill check failure?
WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Just regular potions of healing worth 50gp. Each PC is 4th level, so not that important, but still a useful resource. How about ammo bags?
I'm mostly envisioning strenuous activities - say, scaling a treacherous cliff - that would cause items from their packs to jostle and drop out of reach. Not the important items, of course. Just possibly ammo or health pots.
Just regular potions of healing worth 50gp. Each PC is 4th level, so not that important, but still a useful resource. How about ammo bags?
I'm mostly envisioning strenuous activities - say, scaling a treacherous cliff - that would cause items from their packs to jostle and drop out of reach. Not the important items, of course. Just possibly ammo or health pots.
Depends on how you do it. If it's just a run of the mill athletics check..
Hi, I'm Mark the Dragonslayer and I'm too dumb to secure my gear properly!
It won't feel good. I'd only do something like that if a PC opted to do something insane despite warnings and failed at it.
Just regular potions of healing worth 50gp. Each PC is 4th level, so not that important, but still a useful resource. How about ammo bags?
I'm mostly envisioning strenuous activities - say, scaling a treacherous cliff - that would cause items from their packs to jostle and drop out of reach. Not the important items, of course. Just possibly ammo or health pots.
In early editions if you were hit by a fireball you had to roll saving throws for all of your potions and magic scrolls to determine if they explode or were incinerated. Fireballs were volumetric and dangerously unpredictable so you had to be very careful about casting them.
Maybe give them a choice. If they roll something along of the lines of a two, then you could say, "That's a rough roll, you can either fall 60 feet and eat that damage, or make a desperate grab for a ledge, but that's sort of maneuver is likely going to jostle some of your gear loose..." That way it's a reaction they have some control over.
Just regular potions of healing worth 50gp. Each PC is 4th level, so not that important, but still a useful resource. How about ammo bags?
I'm mostly envisioning strenuous activities - say, scaling a treacherous cliff - that would cause items from their packs to jostle and drop out of reach. Not the important items, of course. Just possibly ammo or health pots.
In early editions if you were hit by a fireball you had to roll saving throws for all of your potions and magic scrolls to determine if they explode or were incinerated. Fireballs were volumetric and dangerously unpredictable so you had to be very careful about casting them.
We're doing Dead House part 2 this weekend, but one of our players has notified us that he won't join us for the complete Curse of Strahd campaign (he might join us later during the campaign). We will go forwards with it, but that it's a shame (especially as we will be going from a 4 member party to a 3 member party and I always feel that that is the exact point where party composition is a big factor.)
First and foremost you're gonna have to do a session where you just ask everyone to describe their paper doll in some measures of precise detail. For instance:
Where do you actually hang all your weapons, and how?
What do you keep in your pack and What do you keep in your belt pouch?
Do you have like a cool tome or anything hanging on your waist, or possibly some potions lashed to an equipment belt for easy future access?
Where do they hold their coinage?
Take extensive notes. Probably just get humanoid silhouettes and lable them directly.
Then you can start poking at specific items in encounters from all manner of angle as they make sense given actual location on the person and circumstances. Thieves come to mind, as do rust monsters. Not properly securing your gear, on an ascent, making them vulnerable to item loss on significant Athletics(Str) failures seems right in line.
I would say you should make that very easy to obviate with a little ahead of time skill challenge. Like before they start the ascent if the party can put together a number of Athletics(INT) checks, they realize that properly stowing their gear for a climb is vital, and then they go about doing so, and do not face the harsher consequences fir failures in the following skill challenge.
You can still do the Athletics(STR) challenge for the actual climb. possibly with a few more Athletics(Int) checks thrown in to be able to figure out the climbing puzzle (as I've grown to understand it scaling a rock wall is as much a challenge of wits as it is strength). They've just made it so they won't face dropping stuff problems.
The main issue for extensive climbing encounters is that if you're going very high you need a consequence that is something other than, "and then you fall off the cliff face... and die". The issue is that the only thing you can really do is make it take longer for failures, and potentially add some exhaustion for extreme failure.
So another question to ask is, what's at the top of the cliff? Does it care how long it takes them to climb the cliff? Will they be able to rest at the top of the cliff?
I've just been destroying all my players' stuff non stop in tomb of the nine gods
Acererak just showed up and the ranger is standing there in his birthday suit with a magical breastplate on holding his legendary bow, and his 5 magical arrows wedged in the neck hole of the breast plate since his quiver, bags, etc disappeared
but this dungeon isn't supposed to be fair
the druid is doing the best since when they walked into the hall of ruin and stuff started disintegrating she turned into a dolphin (to be clear this isn't underwater, but? what? well it worked)
they already all lost their bags of holding when they went into an extradimensional room and left them outside, so I had Withers steal all of them and run off
I feel like the changes to "Ez" are weird as well, the character was already one of the coolest and most iconic characters in COS and didn't need much, I already have a supplement from Lunch Break Heroes (his youtube channel's suggestions for Curse of Strahd are absolutely fantastic and he's currently putting out detailed guides and backstories and motivations for every chosen ally on his patreon) that does a much better job fleshing her out
but most of the rest of the stuff is great
My real complaint is that it doesn't really give us many monsters and no new magic items
Or statblocks for the Darklords. I get what they were trying to do by not giving statblocks, but some of the suggestions don't really make sense to me and make the Darklords effectively trivial opponents for parties fairly early in their careers. These are the individuals entire domains gravitate around. I feel like they definitely deserve unique, challenging, stats.
Also, Lyssa von Zarovich as Tatyana's reincarnation? I can think of more than one problem in having Tatyana being Strahd's great-grand niece...
I feel like the changes to "Ez" are weird as well, the character was already one of the coolest and most iconic characters in COS and didn't need much, I already have a supplement from Lunch Break Heroes (his youtube channel's suggestions for Curse of Strahd are absolutely fantastic and he's currently putting out detailed guides and backstories and motivations for every chosen ally on his patreon) that does a much better job fleshing her out
but most of the rest of the stuff is great
My real complaint is that it doesn't really give us many monsters and no new magic items
Or statblocks for the Darklords. I get what they were trying to do by not giving statblocks, but some of the suggestions don't really make sense to me and make the Darklords effectively trivial opponents for parties fairly early in their careers. These are the individuals entire domains gravitate around. I feel like they definitely deserve unique, challenging, stats.
Also, Lyssa von Zarovich as Tatyana's reincarnation? I can think of more than one problem in having Tatyana being Strahd's great-grand niece...
Stats mean I can kill it, no stats means I might not ever be able to kill it, and if I can it is likely only at the end of a specific campaign goal. If you have something that isn't supposed to be killed and is to be of unfathomable power, the first rule is to not give it an AC or hit points.
I got the the book the other day. I've never been a big Ravenloft guy, but it looks like it would be fun for one shots and mini-campaigns.
Bit disappointed that the Raven Queen wasn't incorporated more, but not I'm also not surprised. The only mention I've seen of her so far is that she might be the true identity of one of the gods worshiped in Ravenloft. I'd make it so maybe she's secretly behind the wereravens and the Dark Powers are entities resisting the power of death (including Tenebrous aka Ghost Orcus).
In other news, I'm having to take a class on management principles (I'm not going for a business degree; I just need 12 credit hours to qualify for TRA payments), and it's giving me some inspiration for how I want to run duergar in my current campaign. Basically, dwarves are still largely artisans while duergar are more about managing "workers (aka slaves)" and implementing efficient/dehumanizing labor practices. They're also slightly more technologically advanced, but that's partially because Descent into Avernus introduced Mad Max-style tech to the Nine Hells that has trickled down to the duergar.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Well, basically, they're any group that values "productivity" and "efficiency" over the well-being of workers, although I've also given them a religious reason to give large amounts of money to their god's temples and prevent any one clan outside the priesthood from gaining prominence. Part of the inspiration is the idea that they are unknowingly pawns of the Nine Hells, who want to establish a strong presence in the Underdark, and part of it is based on the ideas of real world figures who were pioneers in increasing efficiency aka putting profit ahead of the worker's wellbeing.
Here are some notes I've cobbled together:
- Always looking for ways to advance in society, despite social mobility being extremely limited.
- Instead of skilled artisans working on single items, many workers each contribute a small piece so that no one owns the final product other than the capital owner.
- Cold and aloof to workers, intimidating in some cases.
- Overseers are charged with making sure large numbers of slaves can work together efficiently in mass production environments.
- New technologies increase efficiency, standardize slaves’ labor and remove capacity for individual expression.
- The duergar claim that their slaves would lead pointless, unproductive lives without being forced to work; thanks to them, the slaves have a reason to live and a safe place to dwell, away from the (other) horrors of the Underdark.
- The duergar can’t guarantee that runaways won’t suffer fatal accidents, starve, or be slain by monsters, discouraging slaves from trying to escape.
- Some slaves attempt to outdo their peers in an attempt to gain favor, earning ire from others who fear they will all be forced to work as hard as they do. In contrast, other slaves attempt to limit the amount of work they collectively do in an attempt to lower the harsh expectations placed upon them.
I was also inspired by an old 3E third-party book about the duergar that introduced two concepts in particular I liked and built upon:
- When a duergar reaches maturity they are marked with a supernatural brand and set-out on their Lonely Year. During this year they must travel to an active temple of Laduguer and receive an iron token to return to their home community by the end of the year. During this time any other duergar are allowed to seize them and take them to their own home community to be registered as a slave; in this way the duergar on their Lonely Year is tested in their ability to be self-sufficient and avoid threats without receiving aid from others.
- Duergar who have not themselves become part of the slave-caste are allowed to own property to use as they please. However, upon an individual duergar's death the amount of wealth they had accumulated and given to the temple of Laduguer is taken into account. The temple claims the wealth, and Laduguer determines the fate of the duergar's soul based on how much wealth they had contributed to his temple, with the poor suffering the worst fates of all. In this way duergar are taught that their purpose in life is to accumulate wealth and that foolishly spending it or giving it to others can lead to damnation in the afterlife. This also prevents all but the most wealthy of duergar from leaving an inheritance, and even then few are willing to spare coin for their families after death if it means a lower rank in the afterlife.
As for what happens to the money given to the temple, I've personally decided that Laduguer is a false god (there was a Laduguer, but what happened to him is a mystery) and that most of the wealth is transported to the treasury of the archdevil Mammon in the Nine Hells.
I feel like the changes to "Ez" are weird as well, the character was already one of the coolest and most iconic characters in COS and didn't need much, I already have a supplement from Lunch Break Heroes (his youtube channel's suggestions for Curse of Strahd are absolutely fantastic and he's currently putting out detailed guides and backstories and motivations for every chosen ally on his patreon) that does a much better job fleshing her out
but most of the rest of the stuff is great
My real complaint is that it doesn't really give us many monsters and no new magic items
Or statblocks for the Darklords. I get what they were trying to do by not giving statblocks, but some of the suggestions don't really make sense to me and make the Darklords effectively trivial opponents for parties fairly early in their careers. These are the individuals entire domains gravitate around. I feel like they definitely deserve unique, challenging, stats.
Also, Lyssa von Zarovich as Tatyana's reincarnation? I can think of more than one problem in having Tatyana being Strahd's great-grand niece...
Stats mean I can kill it, no stats means I might not ever be able to kill it, and if I can it is likely only at the end of a specific campaign goal. If you have something that isn't supposed to be killed and is to be of unfathomable power, the first rule is to not give it an AC or hit points.
Right, I get that. Like I said, I understand that was the intent of WoTC but I personally would have liked something a bit more concrete. I don't think there is anything wrong with running the Darklords either way! I just wish there was something tangible for people like me, some stats and abilities to really set the Darklords apart from the spies and nobles the book suggests you base them on.
I haven't actually read this particular book just yet. The core issues arises because you're looking for an answer to, "what can these dark lords do?", and regularly the answer is "anything". They are, to my basic understanding, gods of their realms. The answer to what abilities they have is "whatever powers you need them to have in order for your adventure to work". The answer to how those abilities work is, "however they need to work in order for your adventure to work". That said they probably should have at least pointed out some kind of, "this is the theme of this dark lord, they like mummies [or vampires or whatever], here's the type of stuff they lean into thematically for abilities and powers they use".
Like dark lords aren't supposed to be monsters with actions, they are basically walking plot contrivances. You don't have stats for a dark lord's mind control ability, cause if they wanna mind control something, they just do it. It just so happens mind controlling people isn't every dark lords cup of tea or a tactic they necessarily think of regular.
Well, basically, they're any group that values "productivity" and "efficiency" over the well-being of workers, although I've also given them a religious reason to give large amounts of money to their god's temples and prevent any one clan outside the priesthood from gaining prominence.
Here are some notes I've cobbled together:
- Always looking for ways to advance in society, despite social mobility being extremely limited.
- Instead of skilled artisans working on single items, many workers each contribute a small piece so that no one owns the final product other than the capital owner.
- Cold and aloof to workers, intimidating in some cases.
- Overseers are charged with making sure large numbers of slaves can work together efficiently in mass production environments.
- New technologies increase efficiency, standardize slaves’ labor and remove capacity for individual expression.
- The duergar claim that their slaves would lead pointless, unproductive lives without being forced to work; thanks to them, the slaves have a reason to live and a safe place to dwell, away from the (other) horrors of the Underdark.
- The duergar can’t guarantee that runaways won’t suffer fatal accidents, starve, or be slain by monsters, discouraging slaves from trying to escape.
- Some slaves attempt to outdo their peers in an attempt to gain favor, earning ire from others who fear they will all be forced to work as hard as they do. In contrast, other slaves attempt to limit the amount of work they collectively do in an attempt to lower the harsh expectations placed upon them.
I was also inspired by an old 3E third-party book about the duergar that introduced two concepts in particular I liked and built upon:
- When a duergar reaches maturity they are marked with a supernatural brand and set-out on their Lonely Year. During this year they must travel to an active temple of Laduguer and receive an iron token to return to their home community by the end of the year. During this time any other duergar are allowed to seize them and take them to their own home community to be registered as a slave; in this way the duergar on their Lonely Year is tested in their ability to be self-sufficient and avoid threats without receiving aid from others.
- Duergar who have not themselves become part of the slave-caste are allowed to own property to use as they please. However, upon an individual duergar's death the amount of wealth they had accumulated and given to the temple of Laduguer is taken into account. The temple claims the wealth, and Laduguer determines the fate of the duergar's soul based on how much wealth they had contributed to his temple, with the poor suffering the worst fates of all. In this way duergar are taught that their purpose in life is to accumulate wealth and that foolishly spending it or giving it to others can lead to damnation in the afterlife. This also prevents all but the most wealthy of duergar from leaving an inheritance, and even then few are willing to spare coin for their families after death if it means a lower rank in the afterlife.
As for what happens to the money given to the temple, I've personally decided that Laduguer is a false god (there was a Laduguer, but what happened to him is a mystery) and that most of the wealth is transported to the treasury of the archdevil Mammon in the Nine Hells.
So what you’re saying is duergar hire adventurers to rob their neighbours so that they will be eternally damned upon death?
Well, basically, they're any group that values "productivity" and "efficiency" over the well-being of workers, although I've also given them a religious reason to give large amounts of money to their god's temples and prevent any one clan outside the priesthood from gaining prominence.
Here are some notes I've cobbled together:
- Always looking for ways to advance in society, despite social mobility being extremely limited.
- Instead of skilled artisans working on single items, many workers each contribute a small piece so that no one owns the final product other than the capital owner.
- Cold and aloof to workers, intimidating in some cases.
- Overseers are charged with making sure large numbers of slaves can work together efficiently in mass production environments.
- New technologies increase efficiency, standardize slaves’ labor and remove capacity for individual expression.
- The duergar claim that their slaves would lead pointless, unproductive lives without being forced to work; thanks to them, the slaves have a reason to live and a safe place to dwell, away from the (other) horrors of the Underdark.
- The duergar can’t guarantee that runaways won’t suffer fatal accidents, starve, or be slain by monsters, discouraging slaves from trying to escape.
- Some slaves attempt to outdo their peers in an attempt to gain favor, earning ire from others who fear they will all be forced to work as hard as they do. In contrast, other slaves attempt to limit the amount of work they collectively do in an attempt to lower the harsh expectations placed upon them.
I was also inspired by an old 3E third-party book about the duergar that introduced two concepts in particular I liked and built upon:
- When a duergar reaches maturity they are marked with a supernatural brand and set-out on their Lonely Year. During this year they must travel to an active temple of Laduguer and receive an iron token to return to their home community by the end of the year. During this time any other duergar are allowed to seize them and take them to their own home community to be registered as a slave; in this way the duergar on their Lonely Year is tested in their ability to be self-sufficient and avoid threats without receiving aid from others.
- Duergar who have not themselves become part of the slave-caste are allowed to own property to use as they please. However, upon an individual duergar's death the amount of wealth they had accumulated and given to the temple of Laduguer is taken into account. The temple claims the wealth, and Laduguer determines the fate of the duergar's soul based on how much wealth they had contributed to his temple, with the poor suffering the worst fates of all. In this way duergar are taught that their purpose in life is to accumulate wealth and that foolishly spending it or giving it to others can lead to damnation in the afterlife. This also prevents all but the most wealthy of duergar from leaving an inheritance, and even then few are willing to spare coin for their families after death if it means a lower rank in the afterlife.
As for what happens to the money given to the temple, I've personally decided that Laduguer is a false god (there was a Laduguer, but what happened to him is a mystery) and that most of the wealth is transported to the treasury of the archdevil Mammon in the Nine Hells.
So what you’re saying is duergar hire adventurers to rob their neighbours so that they will be eternally damned upon death?
I imagine most duergar would keep their money in the temple, which would also serve as a bank.
...which now that I'm thinking about it would make the concept of a bank robbery absolutely horrifying for such a culture. They'd have to be highly fortified to guard against even things such as purple worms burrowing through at random (which they'd probably take as a curse from their god against a whole community).
A duergar temple/bank getting robbed could either generate a plot hook to retrieve the stolen wealth or to fend off duergar looking to quickly find whatever they can to replace what was lost.
Lunchbreak heroes (I can't shill for this guy enough his Patreon has the BEST expanded curse of strahd content) has a guide for defeating Vampyr, and it's not a boss fight, it's a ritual in the amber temple where the party needs to keep candles lit while someone reads the ritual of banishment and the party is assailed, blinded, withered to husks, turned to vampires, all manner of horrible things- but if they can finish the ritual they win
otherwise the lights go out and stay out
each verse of the ritual (every time someone uses their action to read a verse) something new and horrible happens as Vampyr is squeezed closer to the material plane and the amber prison the party has prepared for him
here's a snippet (there's a lot more and the party is constantly assailed by relatively nonthreatening enemies before having to face a miniboss, and probably be nearly spent when he shows):
yeah it's a lot but I cannot wait to cap off my COS campaign with this
my favorite changes from RAW of his are the Werewolves though, he makes their caves a home, and he makes a lot of the werewolves just scared teenagers, and adds a lot more politics to the wolf pack
The party is assigned to escort a particularly powerful wizard from his quarters to a meeting. After accepting someone pulls them aside and tells them that while they'd never say this in front of the wizard, he's...a bit odd.
He's not oblivious to combat, he will dodge attacks and such, but he doesn't generally see it as a threat, more of a curiosity. He doesn't fight back directly. Mostly because he has a custom spell that if he's injured automatically blasts everything around him!
The quest then becomes less "honor guard," more "Keep anyone from bothering him so he doesn't blow us all to bits"
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and it kind of makes her a terrible person by having her withhold the secret about Van Richten's son NOT actually having been killed by vistani from him (which is a new plot addition)
And at the risk of sounding very petty, he made me rework a core hexblade feature because he didn't like that it can summon a spectre at 6th level. Basically only the Dark Powers/Strahd have control of undead in his view. If he's consistent.... then what would he make of each and every character option given in Van Rictens Guide?
But we're not yet in the right space to ask him about it.
No, no. Its been a whole thing and I think we discussed it in the thread many, many moons ago. We refluffed it to being able to summon an Animated Armor once a day (as I had refluffed my Hexblade to have a Patron that was an Angel, and the Armor took on his aspect to aid me when called for.) and that worked well in the end. But man, we had some discussions on what was and was not acceptable for PC use in Ravenloft. He is very much an adherent to the old 2e mindset of the setting, meaning that the entire setting is there to beat PC's down with awfulness and ennui, while I would have much preferred a more modern approach, and that difference eventually didn't work out for me playing in that game anymore.
I agree. However my DM had certain aspects of it that he would not allow. Specifically the PC's access to abilities that the DM deemed to be in the purview of the Dark Powers. And making the soul of an enemy I killed into my bitch for next 24 hours definitely fit his description.
And, to be honest, I didn't mind the Animated Armor. It was especially fun when I cast fly on both of us, Kool Aid Man-ed the Armor thru the walls of Baba Yaga's Hut and then followed it in, ruining her blood bath.
But those limits he was holding to are kind of blown away by, like, all of the character options presented in the new book. So I'd be curious to discuss that with him, but, things being as they are between us I can't ask him about it just now.
Many of the dark powers I have in the temple aren't vestiges, but their actual mortal forms - sometimes for their own protection from the others, sometimes as a form of truce to limit their ability to grab other domains, sometimes not by choice - in all cases their minds are free to rule as gods over the domains
but most of the rest of the stuff is great
My real complaint is that it doesn't really give us many monsters and no new magic items
Personally, if its value is high, no. If the stupidity of the move was high, yes. If it's all shades of grey, then it's a judgement call.
I wouldn't make a habit out of destroying PC resources, unless said resources are liquid and easily replaced or regained.
I'm mostly envisioning strenuous activities - say, scaling a treacherous cliff - that would cause items from their packs to jostle and drop out of reach. Not the important items, of course. Just possibly ammo or health pots.
Depends on how you do it. If it's just a run of the mill athletics check..
Hi, I'm Mark the Dragonslayer and I'm too dumb to secure my gear properly!
It won't feel good. I'd only do something like that if a PC opted to do something insane despite warnings and failed at it.
Losing one because of the environment felt like a big deal, but it was only temporary
In early editions if you were hit by a fireball you had to roll saving throws for all of your potions and magic scrolls to determine if they explode or were incinerated. Fireballs were volumetric and dangerously unpredictable so you had to be very careful about casting them.
Good times.
https://thinkdm.org/2020/01/25/fireball-backdraft/
Where do you actually hang all your weapons, and how?
What do you keep in your pack and What do you keep in your belt pouch?
Do you have like a cool tome or anything hanging on your waist, or possibly some potions lashed to an equipment belt for easy future access?
Where do they hold their coinage?
Take extensive notes. Probably just get humanoid silhouettes and lable them directly.
Then you can start poking at specific items in encounters from all manner of angle as they make sense given actual location on the person and circumstances. Thieves come to mind, as do rust monsters. Not properly securing your gear, on an ascent, making them vulnerable to item loss on significant Athletics(Str) failures seems right in line.
I would say you should make that very easy to obviate with a little ahead of time skill challenge. Like before they start the ascent if the party can put together a number of Athletics(INT) checks, they realize that properly stowing their gear for a climb is vital, and then they go about doing so, and do not face the harsher consequences fir failures in the following skill challenge.
You can still do the Athletics(STR) challenge for the actual climb. possibly with a few more Athletics(Int) checks thrown in to be able to figure out the climbing puzzle (as I've grown to understand it scaling a rock wall is as much a challenge of wits as it is strength). They've just made it so they won't face dropping stuff problems.
The main issue for extensive climbing encounters is that if you're going very high you need a consequence that is something other than, "and then you fall off the cliff face... and die". The issue is that the only thing you can really do is make it take longer for failures, and potentially add some exhaustion for extreme failure.
So another question to ask is, what's at the top of the cliff? Does it care how long it takes them to climb the cliff? Will they be able to rest at the top of the cliff?
Acererak just showed up and the ranger is standing there in his birthday suit with a magical breastplate on holding his legendary bow, and his 5 magical arrows wedged in the neck hole of the breast plate since his quiver, bags, etc disappeared
but this dungeon isn't supposed to be fair
the druid is doing the best since when they walked into the hall of ruin and stuff started disintegrating she turned into a dolphin (to be clear this isn't underwater, but? what? well it worked)
they already all lost their bags of holding when they went into an extradimensional room and left them outside, so I had Withers steal all of them and run off
Or statblocks for the Darklords. I get what they were trying to do by not giving statblocks, but some of the suggestions don't really make sense to me and make the Darklords effectively trivial opponents for parties fairly early in their careers. These are the individuals entire domains gravitate around. I feel like they definitely deserve unique, challenging, stats.
Also, Lyssa von Zarovich as Tatyana's reincarnation? I can think of more than one problem in having Tatyana being Strahd's great-grand niece...
Stats mean I can kill it, no stats means I might not ever be able to kill it, and if I can it is likely only at the end of a specific campaign goal. If you have something that isn't supposed to be killed and is to be of unfathomable power, the first rule is to not give it an AC or hit points.
Bit disappointed that the Raven Queen wasn't incorporated more, but not I'm also not surprised. The only mention I've seen of her so far is that she might be the true identity of one of the gods worshiped in Ravenloft. I'd make it so maybe she's secretly behind the wereravens and the Dark Powers are entities resisting the power of death (including Tenebrous aka Ghost Orcus).
In other news, I'm having to take a class on management principles (I'm not going for a business degree; I just need 12 credit hours to qualify for TRA payments), and it's giving me some inspiration for how I want to run duergar in my current campaign. Basically, dwarves are still largely artisans while duergar are more about managing "workers (aka slaves)" and implementing efficient/dehumanizing labor practices. They're also slightly more technologically advanced, but that's partially because Descent into Avernus introduced Mad Max-style tech to the Nine Hells that has trickled down to the duergar.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Well, basically, they're any group that values "productivity" and "efficiency" over the well-being of workers, although I've also given them a religious reason to give large amounts of money to their god's temples and prevent any one clan outside the priesthood from gaining prominence. Part of the inspiration is the idea that they are unknowingly pawns of the Nine Hells, who want to establish a strong presence in the Underdark, and part of it is based on the ideas of real world figures who were pioneers in increasing efficiency aka putting profit ahead of the worker's wellbeing.
Here are some notes I've cobbled together:
I was also inspired by an old 3E third-party book about the duergar that introduced two concepts in particular I liked and built upon:
- When a duergar reaches maturity they are marked with a supernatural brand and set-out on their Lonely Year. During this year they must travel to an active temple of Laduguer and receive an iron token to return to their home community by the end of the year. During this time any other duergar are allowed to seize them and take them to their own home community to be registered as a slave; in this way the duergar on their Lonely Year is tested in their ability to be self-sufficient and avoid threats without receiving aid from others.
- Duergar who have not themselves become part of the slave-caste are allowed to own property to use as they please. However, upon an individual duergar's death the amount of wealth they had accumulated and given to the temple of Laduguer is taken into account. The temple claims the wealth, and Laduguer determines the fate of the duergar's soul based on how much wealth they had contributed to his temple, with the poor suffering the worst fates of all. In this way duergar are taught that their purpose in life is to accumulate wealth and that foolishly spending it or giving it to others can lead to damnation in the afterlife. This also prevents all but the most wealthy of duergar from leaving an inheritance, and even then few are willing to spare coin for their families after death if it means a lower rank in the afterlife.
As for what happens to the money given to the temple, I've personally decided that Laduguer is a false god (there was a Laduguer, but what happened to him is a mystery) and that most of the wealth is transported to the treasury of the archdevil Mammon in the Nine Hells.
Right, I get that. Like I said, I understand that was the intent of WoTC but I personally would have liked something a bit more concrete. I don't think there is anything wrong with running the Darklords either way! I just wish there was something tangible for people like me, some stats and abilities to really set the Darklords apart from the spies and nobles the book suggests you base them on.
Like dark lords aren't supposed to be monsters with actions, they are basically walking plot contrivances. You don't have stats for a dark lord's mind control ability, cause if they wanna mind control something, they just do it. It just so happens mind controlling people isn't every dark lords cup of tea or a tactic they necessarily think of regular.
So what you’re saying is duergar hire adventurers to rob their neighbours so that they will be eternally damned upon death?
I imagine most duergar would keep their money in the temple, which would also serve as a bank.
...which now that I'm thinking about it would make the concept of a bank robbery absolutely horrifying for such a culture. They'd have to be highly fortified to guard against even things such as purple worms burrowing through at random (which they'd probably take as a curse from their god against a whole community).
A duergar temple/bank getting robbed could either generate a plot hook to retrieve the stolen wealth or to fend off duergar looking to quickly find whatever they can to replace what was lost.
otherwise the lights go out and stay out
each verse of the ritual (every time someone uses their action to read a verse) something new and horrible happens as Vampyr is squeezed closer to the material plane and the amber prison the party has prepared for him
here's a snippet (there's a lot more and the party is constantly assailed by relatively nonthreatening enemies before having to face a miniboss, and probably be nearly spent when he shows):
yeah it's a lot but I cannot wait to cap off my COS campaign with this
my favorite changes from RAW of his are the Werewolves though, he makes their caves a home, and he makes a lot of the werewolves just scared teenagers, and adds a lot more politics to the wolf pack
Benedict Cumberbatch as a Drow is not something I knew I needed
The party is assigned to escort a particularly powerful wizard from his quarters to a meeting. After accepting someone pulls them aside and tells them that while they'd never say this in front of the wizard, he's...a bit odd.
He's not oblivious to combat, he will dodge attacks and such, but he doesn't generally see it as a threat, more of a curiosity. He doesn't fight back directly. Mostly because he has a custom spell that if he's injured automatically blasts everything around him!
The quest then becomes less "honor guard," more "Keep anyone from bothering him so he doesn't blow us all to bits"
Drow lullabies leave something to be desired, I think.
thank god his animal companion is a panther and not a penwing!