DM EXPEDITIONS THREAD: DDEX 1-14 Escape From Phlan - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mibDG007 Mar 07, 2015 15:14:09	So my players (The Henchmen of the Mighty Shield Guardian) have come up with a pretty good plan to kill Vorgansharax the Maimed Virulence, and all of his obnoxious flunkies. The party will be 6th-7th level, and I judge their chances of success to be close to 100%. My problem is that no treasure is officially listed for this encounter. My current plan to award them with a randomly generated hoard appropriate for an encounter of ~70,000xp difficulty, including magic items. How does the Adventurer's League handle permanent magic items not listed in offical modules? Is that acceptable? I know that items cannot be traded without a certificate.
#2 TheBreen Mar 07, 2015 17:18:44	mibDG007 wrote:
#3 OnlyNerdStuff Mar 07, 2015 19:29:31	Moreover, the XP cap for that adventure is only 5000xp. There's literally no reward except bragging rights for pursuing that encounter.
(Reply to #2) mibDG007	TheBreen wrote:
(Reply to #2) mibDG007	TheBreen wrote:
(Reply to #3) mibDG007	OnlyNerdStuff wrote:
#7 Hibiki54 Mar 08, 2015 4:21:29	http://dndadventurersleague.org/sage/index.php?title=Frequently_Asked_Questions_%28FAQ%29#Can_tables_be_limited_to_less_than_7_players_in_the_Adventurers_League.3F Please refer to the section about Rise of Tiamat which also involves generating hoards involving magic items. In other words, YES, you can generate a dragon hoard, but that hoard cannot contain permanent magic items. You can have it contain consumable magic items, potions, spell scrolls and typical mundane and valued treasured. Just not permanent magic items.
(Reply to #5) TheBreen	mibDG007 wrote:
#9 Skerrit Mar 08, 2015 11:27:20	mibDG007 wrote:
(Reply to #9) mibDG007	Skerrit wrote:
#11 Tyranthraxus Mar 09, 2015 23:52:08	I know this sounds harsh,but I truly hope that the Maimed Virulence cleans the floor with them.... I normally would never wish death on ANY character but yourplayers characters sound like cocky SOBs. After all there is not only the Dragon to contend with but his pretty potent allies plus his lair actions. Please do post the play by play though, Im looking forward to it!
#12 RulesJD Mar 10, 2015 0:51:11	DDEX 1-14 was a disappointment. The adventure is incredibly easy, especially considering the high lethality of DDEX 1-10. An even remotely optimized party of 4+ adventurers of appropriate level (7+) should have a fun fight against the dragon at the end.
#13 Skerrit Mar 10, 2015 6:12:45	mibDG007 wrote:
#14 Pauper Mar 10, 2015 9:02:12	Also be aware that, if your characters fail in their quest to destroy the green dragon (and his retinue), they likely will not be able to return via raise dead. (See the first paragraph in the right-hand column on page 18 of the adventure, specifically the second sentence.) Also note that characters of high enough level to play this adventure cannot use Faction Charity to return from the dead. Those characters may need to be permanently retired. The stakes are very high indeed. With that said, DMs who feel the need to increase the challenge of this encounter may do the following: Show None of the humanoid NPCs have a defined race, so the DM is allowed to define their race and include racial adjustments to the monster block. I would recommend the following: Mage: Human (non-variant). This increases hit points to 49, Int saving throw and skills to +7, spell attack bonus to +7, and spell save DC to 15. Knight: Half-Orc. This adds Darkvision 60 feet, Savage Attacks (+1d6 damage on greatsword crit) and Relentless Endurance (first time Knight is reduced to 0 hit points, reduce to 1 hit point instead) Veteran: Mountain Dwarf. This adds Darkvision 60 feet, resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws versus poison, increases hit points to 67, longsword attack to +6 to hit for 8 (1d8+4) slashing damage [9 (1d10+4) two-handed], shortsword attack to +6 to hit for 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage, and Athletics skill to +6. Reduce Speed to 25 feet. Cult Fanatic: Wood Elf. The Cult Fanatic is not included in the adventure appendix, so use Spernik's stats from DDEX 1-5: The Courting of Fire modified for being a Wood Elf. This adds Darkvision 60 feet, increases Armor Class to 14 (16 with shield of faith), passive Perception to 12, spell attack bonus to +4, spell save DC to 12, and dagger attack to +5 to hit for 5 (1d4+3) piercing damage. Increase speed to 35 feet. If your group is still capable of taking out the Maimed Virulence even with these adjustments to his retinue, more power to them!
#15 Kalani Mar 10, 2015 9:34:33	Pauper wrote:
#16 Afet Apr 10, 2015 12:25:22	I think it would be a blatant violation of one of the basic tenants of D&D, player agency, to "not allow" the PCs to attempt to take on Vorgansharax. If they die, so be it. If they succeed, they will have an epic story to tell. Treasure, magic items, XP and administrative restrictions be damned. I look forward to hearing about what they do. If Vorgansharax appears in a future adventure, and the PCs have killed him, he can be substituted with another dragon (A sibling, a competing dragon, her sire Claugiyliamatar, or some other). The players should not have their agency taken away for reasons outside the context of the PCs' engagement with the immersed world (ie. future game design plans, organized play rules, slavish adherence to canon, etc.) Cheers, Afet.
#17 Skerrit Apr 10, 2015 12:42:46	The difficulty with that sort of thinking in an OP campaign is that the DM has no idea what a bad guy is, what he can bring in, how is lair is set up, and can't give any reward for doing it. Its a cardinal rule "If you stat it, they will kill it." So, to alieviate that issue, bad guys that the PCs will fight later are usually not fully detailed. It's cool if you want to go after him at your table because you think its fun, and as long as you have no issue with the fact that your table won't effect the campaigns critical events and you'll have to hand wave an excuse for why you are fighting him later and the second fight is totally different that what the DM at your table made up more power to. Of course, because of how shared campaigns work, you also get no rewards (these are explicitly detailed when a DM can give them, and what they are), but still risk death.
#18 Afet Apr 10, 2015 12:57:47	Skerrit wrote:
(Reply to #18) Ainulindalion	Afet wrote:
#20 Kalani Apr 10, 2015 14:30:14	Not really. You could justify the share the evil PCs keep as a tithe to their faction (Lords Alliance or Zhent) perhaps with the intent of securing favor. Then again even Zhent and LA would want to return the loot to Phlan in this instance - to curry favor with the survivors.
#21 Pauper Apr 10, 2015 14:45:31	Pretty sure there isn't any loot in the castle -- it's already been shipped off to the Sword Coast to further the Cult's main plan. -- Pauper

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

mibDG007

Mar 07, 2015 15:14:09

So my players (The Henchmen of the Mighty Shield Guardian) have come up with a pretty good plan to kill Vorgansharax the Maimed Virulence, and all of his obnoxious flunkies. The party will be 6th-7th level, and I judge their chances of success to be close to 100%.

My problem is that no treasure is officially listed for this encounter. My current plan to award them with a randomly generated hoard appropriate for an encounter of ~70,000xp difficulty, including magic items. How does the Adventurer's League handle permanent magic items not listed in offical modules? Is that acceptable? I know that items cannot be traded without a certificate.

TheBreen

Mar 07, 2015 17:18:44

mibDG007 wrote:

OnlyNerdStuff

Mar 07, 2015 19:29:31

Moreover, the XP cap for that adventure is only 5000xp. There's literally no reward except bragging rights for pursuing that encounter.

(Reply to #2)

mibDG007

TheBreen wrote:

(Reply to #2)

mibDG007

TheBreen wrote:

(Reply to #3)

mibDG007

OnlyNerdStuff wrote:

Hibiki54

Mar 08, 2015 4:21:29

http://dndadventurersleague.org/sage/index.php?title=Frequently_Asked_Questions_%28FAQ%29#Can_tables_be_limited_to_less_than_7_players_in_the_Adventurers_League.3F

Please refer to the section about Rise of Tiamat which also involves generating hoards involving magic items.

In other words, YES, you can generate a dragon hoard, but that hoard cannot contain permanent magic items. You can have it contain consumable magic items, potions, spell scrolls and typical mundane and valued treasured. Just not permanent magic items.

(Reply to #5)

TheBreen

mibDG007 wrote:

Skerrit

Mar 08, 2015 11:27:20

mibDG007 wrote:

(Reply to #9)

mibDG007

Skerrit wrote:

#11

Tyranthraxus

Mar 09, 2015 23:52:08

I know this sounds harsh,but I truly hope that the Maimed Virulence cleans the floor with them.... I normally would never wish death on ANY character but yourplayers characters sound like cocky SOBs.

After all there is not only the Dragon to contend with but his pretty potent allies plus his lair actions.

Please do post the play by play though, Im looking forward to it!

#12

RulesJD

Mar 10, 2015 0:51:11

DDEX 1-14 was a disappointment. The adventure is incredibly easy, especially considering the high lethality of DDEX 1-10. An even remotely optimized party of 4+ adventurers of appropriate level (7+) should have a fun fight against the dragon at the end.

#13

Skerrit

Mar 10, 2015 6:12:45

mibDG007 wrote:

#14

Pauper

Mar 10, 2015 9:02:12

Also be aware that, if your characters fail in their quest to destroy the green dragon (and his retinue), they likely will not be able to return via raise dead. (See the first paragraph in the right-hand column on page 18 of the adventure, specifically the second sentence.) Also note that characters of high enough level to play this adventure cannot use Faction Charity to return from the dead. Those characters may need to be permanently retired.

The stakes are very high indeed.

With that said, DMs who feel the need to increase the challenge of this encounter may do the following:

Show

None of the humanoid NPCs have a defined race, so the DM is allowed to define their race and include racial adjustments to the monster block. I would recommend the following:

Mage: Human (non-variant). This increases hit points to 49, Int saving throw and skills to +7, spell attack bonus to +7, and spell save DC to 15.

Knight: Half-Orc. This adds Darkvision 60 feet, Savage Attacks (+1d6 damage on greatsword crit) and Relentless Endurance (first time Knight is reduced to 0 hit points, reduce to 1 hit point instead)

Veteran: Mountain Dwarf. This adds Darkvision 60 feet, resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws versus poison, increases hit points to 67, longsword attack to +6 to hit for 8 (1d8+4) slashing damage [9 (1d10+4) two-handed], shortsword attack to +6 to hit for 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage, and Athletics skill to +6. Reduce Speed to 25 feet.

Cult Fanatic: Wood Elf. The Cult Fanatic is not included in the adventure appendix, so use Spernik's stats from DDEX 1-5: The Courting of Fire modified for being a Wood Elf. This adds Darkvision 60 feet, increases Armor Class to 14 (16 with shield of faith), passive Perception to 12, spell attack bonus to +4, spell save DC to 12, and dagger attack to +5 to hit for 5 (1d4+3) piercing damage. Increase speed to 35 feet.

If your group is still capable of taking out the Maimed Virulence even with these adjustments to his retinue, more power to them!

#15

Kalani

Mar 10, 2015 9:34:33

Pauper wrote:

#16

Afet

Apr 10, 2015 12:25:22

I think it would be a blatant violation of one of the basic tenants of D&D, player agency, to "not allow" the PCs to attempt to take on Vorgansharax. If they die, so be it. If they succeed, they will have an epic story to tell. Treasure, magic items, XP and administrative restrictions be damned. I look forward to hearing about what they do.

If Vorgansharax appears in a future adventure, and the PCs have killed him, he can be substituted with another dragon (A sibling, a competing dragon, her sire Claugiyliamatar, or some other). The players should not have their agency taken away for reasons outside the context of the PCs' engagement with the immersed world (ie. future game design plans, organized play rules, slavish adherence to canon, etc.)

Cheers,

Afet.

#17

Skerrit

Apr 10, 2015 12:42:46

The difficulty with that sort of thinking in an OP campaign is that the DM has no idea what a bad guy is, what he can bring in, how is lair is set up, and can't give any reward for doing it. Its a cardinal rule "If you stat it, they will kill it." So, to alieviate that issue, bad guys that the PCs will fight later are usually not fully detailed. It's cool if you want to go after him at your table because you think its fun, and as long as you have no issue with the fact that your table won't effect the campaigns critical events and you'll have to hand wave an excuse for why you are fighting him later and the second fight is totally different that what the DM at your table made up more power to. Of course, because of how shared campaigns work, you also get no rewards (these are explicitly detailed when a DM can give them, and what they are), but still risk death.

#18

Afet

Apr 10, 2015 12:57:47

Skerrit wrote:

(Reply to #18)

Ainulindalion

Afet wrote:

#20

Kalani

Apr 10, 2015 14:30:14

Not really. You could justify the share the evil PCs keep as a tithe to their faction (Lords Alliance or Zhent) perhaps with the intent of securing favor.

Then again even Zhent and LA would want to return the loot to Phlan in this instance - to curry favor with the survivors.

#21

Pauper

Apr 10, 2015 14:45:31

Pretty sure there isn't any loot in the castle -- it's already been shipped off to the Sword Coast to further the Cult's main plan.

Pauper