Tipping the Scales is a four hour, DDAL-legal adventure for level 5-10 characters set in Avernus. It is the third in a series of side quests where the characters try to gain allies for their expedition. It works quite well as a stand-alone adventure. The main goal of the scenario is to rescue a silver dragon from an ice devil.
The basic plot is as follows: The characters begin at a vast crater in the surface of Avernus and make the perilous journey down to the bottom. They then proceed through a muddy swamp to the devil’s lair. There they must bargain with the devil for the dragon’s freedom.
The two bonus objectives provide additional situations to encounter during travel through the swamp.
The adventure features both role-playing and combat situations. I suppose there are exploration situations as well, but I tend to associate exploration with discovering intriguing features rather than just hazardous travel. I don’t find group checks to see if you avoid exhaustion that interesting. I’d rather have a few suggestions of optional strategies. As flying above the swamp means you get poisoned, it feels like punishing players for their abilities.
The adventure is mostly well-written and contains several entertaining encounters. Others don’t quite work, or I had trouble understanding them. I very much enjoyed the fight against the hellwasps, and the finale was also excellent. These offer memorable scenes.
Unfortunately, the adventure failed to provide stat blocks for the primary foes in both these combats! I’m not sure how this is possible. There are a lot of stat blocks presented – eighteen in all. Many appear only in random encounters rather than set pieces.
Some of these optional encounters I found very memorable. In particular, the imp selling water turned into an entertaining interaction. The quicksand with no foes to take advantage wasn’t as good.
The finale is challenging to run. The description could be more precise – this is one place I’d like boxed text. There are a lot of details to describe. A better description of the Dragonchess set wouldn’t go astray. The text states that “The dragonchess table is made from the same white stone as the walls and appears to use pieces carved from ice. It sits atop a table made of crystalline ice that glows faintly.” I suspect it should be a set not table.
Dragonchess is a version of chess played on a three-tiered board. I’ll write more about it soon. It’s horrendously complex, so having a dragon and a devil compete in a game for the soul of an elf? That’s inspired. I love it!
You have a choice of resolutions. You could fight, or you could try defeating the devil in Dragonchess. I’m not so sure how well this latter solution plays. The resolution with bare ability checks could be underwhelming, despite the complications provided. The difficulty for the rolls is high. The devil is likely to have the same bonus as the most skilled character, which doesn’t bode well. The fight includes restrictions that make it much more challenging and entertaining.
Unusually, the adventure includes no maps. I didn’t need them to run it, but it’s a notable omission.
I find the adventure a mix of good and bad. The central concept is brilliant. It has great imagery. Some encounters are incredible, but others are flawed. The lack of stat blocks is frustrating. However, it has the potential for engaging interactions. I think you need to do some work with this one, especially to make the finale sing, but overall, I found it enjoyable.