My home campaign has returned to the war between Veluna and Ket. A prophecy given by the High Priestess of St Cuthbert has revealed that the key to stopping the conflict is somewhere on the Elemental Plane of Air, so that’s where the adventures have headed. The adventurers are about 9th level and don’t have the spells required to get there and back. So, they’ve … Continue reading Adventures in Greyhawk: The Elemental Plane of Air
In the fourth session of our play of Descent into Avernus, the characters continued their investigation into the underground sewer hideout of the devil cultists – as opposed to the Dead Three cultists found in their previous expedition. They were investigating the sewer complex below the manor of Duke Valthampur, as detailed in the previous instalment. In addition to the player characters, Reya Mantlemorn, a … Continue reading Running Descent into Avernus, part 4
Trap-Trap! is a one-shot adventure for level 3 or 4 characters set in a kobold lair. The adventure begins with the characters captured and forced into a kobold competition against their will – although a variant hook has them there willingly – and they need to escape the traps of the best kobold trap-makers, who are competing against each other for who can kill the … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Trap-Trap!
It occurs to me that I very much miss the original golems from AD&D. These monsters were absolutely terrifying. Let’s take the clay golem, and recast it in 5E terms… Clay Golem Large construct, unaligned Armor Class 14 (natural armor)Hit Points 133 (14d10+56)Speed 20 ft. STR +5 (20) DEX -1 (9) CON +4 (18) INT -4 (3) WIS -1 (8) CHA -5 (1) Damage Immunities … Continue reading Dungeons & Dragons Lore: Old-School Golems
The 5E supplement Bard College of Percussion is a 32-page product that contains two new bardic colleges relating to the type of instruments played by bards, as well as new spells, magic items, a faction and a short adventure. Character Options The two new bardic colleges are: The Pitched-Percussion Bards The Non-Pitched-Percussion Bards Strictly speaking, it’s one bardic college with two different paths. The first … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: Bard College of Percussion
In a few Dungeons & Dragons adventures I’ve seen published recently, the game Dragonchess makes an appearance. It’s something you can buy in the Player’s Handbook. However, it’s unlikely you know what it is. The answer is that it’s a three-dimensional version of chess, played on a three-tiered board. Each board is 8 by 12 squares, bigger than the standard chess board (8 by 8), … Continue reading Dungeons & Dragons Lore: What is Dragonchess?
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 … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Tipping the Scales
When I started playing Dungeons & Dragons in the early 1980s, the game didn’t have much of a skill system. The only skills were possessed by thieves – their abilities to pick pockets, open locks, find and remove traps, and the like. A character might have had a previous profession, which allowed the possibility of knowing a few things related to that profession, but for … Continue reading How Do Your Players Know What Monsters Can Do?
The Haunted Watchtower is an adventure for level 3 characters, in which the adventurers are asked to travel to a ruined watchtower and reclaim it from the undead that currently inhabit it. This is a relatively straight-forward adventure, with a nice twist that recasts it from an expedition to reclaim the watchtower to instead dealing with a nearby necromancer in his lair. Poor Aramil! Once … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Haunted Watchtower
Ruined Prospects is a Tier 2 adventure set in Avernus for the D&D Adventurers League. In it, the characters must rescue a dwarven Hellrider from a ruined fortress crawling with devils. The dwarf has been preserved in crystal by the blessing of Torm, one of the Forgotten Realms gods of good, and the adventure features several aspects of his faith, in both puzzles to solve … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Ruined Prospects
