Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Esgay 05-22-06, 10:10 AM	Beware, Possible spoilers for the "Shadows of the last war" module The PCs in our campaign have just finished the rose quarry section of the adventure and anyone who has played the adventure will know that whitehearth and the mournland is next. The trouble is, looking over the adventure it seems practically impossible for most PCs to complete this part without dying, it's a great adventure and seems well balanced for level 3 PCs (which they should be by this point) just the designers seem to have completely forgotten that the adventure takes place in the mournland and that it will be impossible for the PCs to heal, apart a few very specific ways (rope trick, goodberries, lay on hands, psionics) of which the PCs have none) I really don't want the PCs to die in the mournland, luckily 2 of the 4 PCs are warforged (fighter and samurai) so If they do their job properly the dwarf and shifter shouldn't take too much damage and they can use repair checks and oil of light repair to fix themselves up. Saying that I don't really want to have to fudge too many dice rolls to keep them all alive. How have other DMs played this part to stop it turning into a TPK? It just seems like setting it in the mournland has bumped up the difficulty by a few levels, way past the realms of 3rd level PCs. Cheers in advance
pedr 05-22-06, 10:38 AM	I believe that SotLW was written while the nature of the healing-impediment in the mournland wasn't fixed. I think the adventure assumes reduced-efficacy of healing, rather than a complete ban. So you might want to do some tweaking (whether that's inventing things which work, or providing a way for healing spells to work - perhaps have a DC15 caster level check every time someone wants to cast a healing spell or it fails.) Alternatively, have your PCs stock up on goodberries (from the Druid spell, though I think they only last 1 day or 1 day/level) and goodwine (in the ECS??) which isn't conjuration (healing) so should work. Oh, and send a 2nd level paladin with a twinked out Cha with them because lay on hands should work too. I'm sure others will come along with other, better solutions as well.
(Psi)SeveredHead 05-22-06, 10:59 AM	Don't fight anything if you can help it. If it's not relevant to the plot, avoid it, and don't try to kill it. Bring goodberries with you, either in the form of wine, or druids. If you have any alternate form of healing (eg you can summon a creature that casts a fast healing spell on you, or whatever) bring it with you! Avoid anything unusual. If you see something strange, and you think "I wish I knew what that was" you are clearly under the effect of some strange compulsion. Don't go into the Mournland if you're only 2nd-level. Seriously, if my PC (a wizard) had RPed better, he would have said "hell no! You're not getting me into the Mournland even if you shove flaming bamboo under my fingernails!" See if you can hire a dozen warforged bodyguards, and if possible a quartet of mages. Note that the mages, at least, might be of questionable sanity if they're willing to go into the Mournland just for the promise of gold.
Ricohard_Draconis 05-22-06, 11:00 AM	There are several locations where healing potions can be found within the whiteheart base and i allowed them to work, since they were altered by the mourning. Which meant that every character became insanely careful to make sure to repeatedly search every room
Seth of the First Brigade 05-22-06, 11:28 AM	How have other DMs played this part to stop it turning into a TPK? It just seems like setting it in the mournland has bumped up the difficulty by a few levels, way past the realms of 3rd level PCs. Cheers in advance If I remember correctly, there are potions of Cure Light or Moderate Wounds in the Haversack that Elaydren gives to the party. To my knowledge these should work. Or does that violate how healing is done in the Mournland. If it does you could always have Failin the land cart driver give them some goodberries. It would go something like this. At the end of the Rose Quarry section, dialog between the party and Failin takes place in regards to him taking them the 30 miles into the Mournland to the Whitehearth facility in his cart, which as we can see (according to the Module) is a difficult task at best. Seeing however as they have probably saved his life at least once previously in the module the dialog might go like this. Player: "Failin my friend we must make haste to Whitehearth, it is said to be a days travel or so from here. We are in need of you and the services your wondrous land cart provide. Failin: I'm sorry friends did you say Whitehearth, dont remember us talking about Whitehearth. Dont do sojourns into the Mournland. Been there once or twice in no hurry to make it a third. That place is twisted. Even the dead cant find their ways to Dollurh in that place. Sorry friends but no. After this they may beg and plead, you work out the details as you see fit. In the end however whether he takes them or not; I say not, just my opinion though. He will either way toss them the goodberries or goodberry wine (or whatever else works in the Mournalnd for healing) and then say: Failin: "If you ever find yourself near deaths gate or even just wounded in that place, drink this, its the only thing I know that works there; the Mournland that is. Even the Jorasco Heirs themselves cannot call forth the power to heal in that place. Well, I'll be going now. Safe journeys. As he leaves he whistles a melancoly tune. Scene fades...Cut to Journey into the Mournland. Of course you can make the dialog whatever you want. Its your game. Hope this helps. :)
MysticRhythms 05-22-06, 05:27 PM	The village of Olkhaan is nearby. Barring that, the group is near Rhukaan Draal. Both could provide a source for Goodberry wine (as detailed in the ECS). I had the folks n my party with knowledge ranks figure out that they would need these if they wanted to do any healing. They ended up using the money from the Haversack as a resource to buy Goodberry Wine. They even considered selling the cure light potions they had accumulated to turn them into goodberries. As long as the group is aware of what they need before they go in, I think they can avoid the infamous TPK. I do agree that they should be given the chance to level up to 3rd level before going on wit hthis phase of the adventure.
Loki5654 05-22-06, 06:26 PM	IIRC, Whitehearth itself is under a protective Morden-whoosit's Sanctum spell, or some such. I'll have to re-read the spell when I get home, but I believe that would provide the same dimensional separation as a Rope Trick and allow magical healing of the Conjuration school. Of course, I could be wrong. Please let me know if I am.
Esgay 05-23-06, 05:46 AM	IIRC, Whitehearth itself is under a protective Morden-whoosit's Sanctum spell, or some such. I'll have to re-read the spell when I get home, but I believe that would provide the same dimensional separation as a Rope Trick and allow magical healing of the Conjuration school. Of course, I could be wrong. Please let me know if I am. I was under that impression at first but it turns out it just protects against scrying, I may make it so that it counts as outside the mournland, although that wouldn't explain all the wierdness going on inside.
Frederyck 05-23-06, 09:01 AM	I just finished running this adventure, and before we started it, I decided to allow healing to a certain extent (they got half the hp back from healing spells/potions and no natural healing) and that was tough enough as it was. With no healing available they would all have been killed early. If they ever venture into the Mournlands again, though, they'll be in for an unpleasant suprise when healing won't work at all... :) That's one of the beauties of that place - it doesn't follow any rules!
Endless_Helix 05-23-06, 01:29 PM	IIRC, truespeech functions normally within the mournland, and thus the spells they have to heal people can still offer some protection, but it ain't a whole lot. For low levels in the mournland, Goodberry wine is essential. Also, you might be able to do something with construct essence, the infusion, if you're desperate. I believe the artificer can make scrolls of that at first level, but I'm not sure. Here's some ground rules that I find effective 1. AC buffs are godly. Bring on the potions of mage armor, oil of shield of faith, and scrolls of shield; they all are ridiculously useful. 2. When in doubt, Web is godly. Gve the artificer some time to make scrolls, particularly of Web. It's non-lethal, so friendlies will only be mildly annoyed if they get caught in the blast. 3. Damage reduction is almost as Godly as AC Bonuses. Damage reduction isn't as good as it is outside the mournland on fleshies. Unless the DR is much larger than the damage dealt, you're probably going to take some damage. at second level, You're only going to have the Warforged, possibly warlocks, possibly ablative armor, and maybe a few other possibilities. 4. When things look grim, run like hell. In all honesty, this is the best strategy to avoiding unnecissary fights. 5. Avoid fights at all costs. If you can talk your way through it, don't just bash head and ask questions later.
Korhal_IV 05-23-06, 02:05 PM	Knowledge checks or friendly NPCs to alert them to the existence of goodberries is one idea. A paladin's lay on hands will also work within the Mournlands, if there is one in the party. The spell "Rope Trick" will take you outside the Mournlands, allowing you to heal up in there. Finally, a lot of the combat in the Mournlands section is relatively optional. If they play carefully and sneak past the Emerald Claw gang, they ought not to have TOO much trouble in the Cannith enclave.
Edymnion 05-23-06, 03:43 PM	Basically, the best rule of thumb for surviving in the Mournlands is "run away". Seriously, never fight a fair battle, because you will die. Anything that looks like it could be even a mild threat, try to go around it. If its something you have to fight, use terrain and surprise to your advantage to set an ambush. And above all, no non-warforged should ever go into melee combat. Send the WF out on the front line, since they can be repaired, and have the rest hang back to provide cover fire. Hit fast, hit hard, and don't give the other guy a chance to hit back. If you're not confident that you can take it down in one round, you would be better off avoiding it.
Esgay 05-23-06, 04:20 PM	The party consists of a WF Fighter, WF samurai, Dwarven warlock and shifter rogue. If they have any sense they'll send the warforged in to close combat and have the shifter and warlock stay back with ranged attacks. I, as the DM, was under the impression that they could heal inside whitehearth (mostlt from mis-remembering the "mordenkainen's private sanctum" spell) so the PCs are currently completely un-prepared for the mournland in terms of healing and as you can see, they lack any kind of healing anyway. I think i'm going to allow partial healing to occur within whitehearth. Something along the lines of "the grey mist that seems to permeate the air in the mournland is almost completely absent within this strange facility" should hopefully give a good enough clue that healing should work at least partially.
Brastan 05-23-06, 05:09 PM	I fudged the thing, using Kythri as an excuse as to why healing worked. Needless to say when the PCs found out they had gotten off easy they decide never to go back. They had gotten bent up rather badly during that adventure and with out magical healing would have most definitely died. It was also a way for me to save face after the fact because I missed those few lines in ECS that detailed the lack of Mournland healing when I first ran it. I loving having Kythri around. A wandering, completely random plane of pure chaos is great tool. Being a plane of chaos it's unpredictable so players can't rely on it when they make their adventuring plans.