Hunter is an adventure for level 1-4 characters by Will Doyle and James Introcaso. It sets the adventurers the task of surviving the night in the jungles of Chult while a dangerous plant-based predator stalks them.
The adventure first presents a description of the valley the adventurers are trapped in, then describes various NPCs – mainly members of the Flaming Fist – they can interact with. Finally, it describes the various actions the predator – a unique creature known as the Uluu Thalongh – takes during the night. It’s most likely that the adventure will take a single session to play, with the DM tailoring the appearances of the creature so that the climax comes at the end of the session.
This adventure depends heavily on the skills of the DM. Although it’s well-constructed, at some point you must deal with the balance between teasing the adventurers with the creature and letting them fight it – and it’s a dangerous enemy! If the adventurers haven’t discovered their foe’s weaknesses and prepared accordingly, the session could well end in a TPK and a lot of disappointed players.
The Tier 1 nature of this adventure makes this task a particularly challenging one – there isn’t much room for error.
One aspect of the monster stat-block irritates me: it can “poison” characters by sound. I don’t know how this works. Poisoned is a useful condition, but I prefer that it is only granted by actual poison effects.
The adventure is legal for play in the D&D Adventurers League.
The adventure introduces the monster well, and it’s a formidable and fascinating foe. Care is needed in the DMing of this adventure, but it has the potential of being a memorable experience. Recommended.
As a real life example of “poisoned” by sound, check out the symptoms from the Cuban diplomats as a result of attacks from a sonic device:
The victims report a range of symptoms including dizziness, nausea, headaches, balance problems, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), nosebleeds, difficulty concentrating and recalling words, permanent hearing loss, and speech problems. There have also been brain injuries, including swelling and concussion. ( https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/brain-injuries-hearing-loss-attacks-on-diplomats-in-cuba-baffle-scientists/ )
If you wanted dwarves to be resistant to this kind of attack and have ways for players to remove the condition without making new mechanics, I could see using the poisoned condition.