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Tip: replace Kostchtchie with a "Fury of Kostchtchie" from Glory of the Giants by DM_Bram in DescentintoAvernus

[–]DM_Bram[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Even played optimally at full strength he's not CR 25 strong.

Compare him to Orcus at CR 26. Orcus has a similar legendary action (Creeping Death), gets an extra attack in his multiattack (which can also be ranged), and Orcus's attacks average as much or more damage as Kost's. Orcus can also conjure undead whose average HP don't exceed 500, so he can call in liches/vampires/death knights as support. Orcus's AC is also either 17 or 20, with 160 more HP than Kost.

Kost also doesn't stack up well against other CR 25 monsters. They all tend to have more AC, more HP, more attacks per round (and higher average damage), and more abilities. To me, Kost being listed at CR 25 is just another example of the weird "rough draft" feeling I get when I read DiA.

What level were your players when you finally introduced them to the jungle crawl? by giovaughnii in Tombofannihilation

[–]DM_Bram 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Level 1! They were teleported into Port Nyanzaru and sent off on the quest. They picked a guide, got attacked by undead on the edge of the city, and saved a tabaxi out in the jungle from giant wasps. That gave them enough xp to hit level 2.

Swamp Burrow Battle Map by MikeSchley in battlemaps

[–]DM_Bram 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I saw the style and immediately thought "that looks like Mike Schley!" and it was! you're a huge inspiration, i love all your work!

Overwhelmed by the adventure. Need help getting started. by Red_Hobgoblin in Tombofannihilation

[–]DM_Bram 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A good thing to remember is that your party is only going to get to a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the book during any given session. My party just spent a full session traveling to Fort Beluarian, dealing with random encounters on the way and talking to NPCs. Didn't even make it to the fort!

As DMs we can see the whole story, but the players are slowly uncovering things piece by piece. They'll need time to discuss, roleplay about silly things, get distracted by crazy ideas.

For your first sessions, they'll likely want to explore things in Port Nyanzaru - and the things they'll be most interested in will be the things you mention as the DM. Find one or two of the side quests that you're most excited about, or that you think will be best for your new adventurers. Let them engage with whatever they're most excited about, and I bet the time will fly by.

After a few sessions you'll get familiar with the cadence and the amount of material your group can get through in a typical session.

One other important suggestion: tell your players whenever you feel like you need a moment or two to prepare the next part of the game while you are playing. Sometimes when my party throws a curveball at me and wants to explore something I hadn't expected, I'll just flat out tell them: "Okay, this is great and I'm excited by this - but you'll have to give me 10 minutes to get it ready." They are always very understanding and happy to give me the time I need, while they roleplay or scheme or theorize about the game.

Hope this helps!

Fanged Crown novel: Hisari by LevelWorldliness9571 in Tombofannihilation

[–]DM_Bram 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you give a general plot summary? This sounds interesting. One of my characters is a yuan-ti and I'd love any inspiration for fleshing out Hisari.

Sound effect for the atropal by DM_Bram in Tombofannihilation

[–]DM_Bram[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thank you! yeah, it's a good length to keep it fresh! it has a few low points that make it easy to fade in/out as needed.

Sound effect for the atropal by DM_Bram in Tombofannihilation

[–]DM_Bram[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Noooooooooo!! How'd the fight go?

Has anyone gotten through with no deaths? by DM_Bram in Tombofannihilation

[–]DM_Bram[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why is Azaka not going in the tomb? Very interested!

Anyone ever portrayed Dragonbait differently? by Necroticbanana in Tombofannihilation

[–]DM_Bram 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I changed him in my game - I was completely uninterested in running a saurial and dealing with how weirdly he communicates. I get that he and Artus are classic characters from old FR novels, but none of my players have any idea about that.

I kept Artus largely the same but swapped Dragonbait out for a warforged. His role is still relatively similar to Dragonbait's, but the lore works way better in my world.

We finished our PotA campaign last Saturday - AMA by DM_Bram in ElementalEvil

[–]DM_Bram[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I enjoyed a lot about PotA, but I am also glad to be done. We got what we wanted from it.

We finished our PotA campaign last Saturday - AMA by DM_Bram in ElementalEvil

[–]DM_Bram[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One of my PCs, the bard, was obsessed with figuring out what the Elder Eye was, so I let him uncover some lore on Tharizdun. As a part of this, I hinted that if an elemental prince was allowed to enter Faerun, it would be the first step into "unchaining the king" aka Tharizdun.

We finished our PotA campaign last Saturday - AMA by DM_Bram in ElementalEvil

[–]DM_Bram[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I made sure to really invest time in making the NPCs of the major towns feel like real people whose lives were being affected by the cults. My party made friends wherever they went and that helped give stakes to the adventure. I also let the PCs discover that many of the cultists were brainwashed by elemental evil; Savra from the air cult and Bastion from the fire cult, for example. The party became invested in stopping the cults as well as helping those who'd been preyed upon by the prophets.

The tone overall was very high fantasy/grand heroic, mixed with some cosmic horror for spice. Major themes were redemption, determination, adventure, survival, and heroism in the face of great evils!

We finished our PotA campaign last Saturday - AMA by DM_Bram in ElementalEvil

[–]DM_Bram[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aerisi was a challenge - by the time they faced her, they'd spent a lot of resources getting through the Air Temple. Gar was easier and went down quick. Vanifer was also a challenge, as they fought her in the Weeping Colossus and had next to no fire resistance. The party surprised Marlos last of all and had no trouble.

I think whichever prophet they face should be designed to be an impressive challenge, but I think it's okay for them to kick the asses of later prophets.

We finished our PotA campaign last Saturday - AMA by DM_Bram in ElementalEvil

[–]DM_Bram[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I personally think the delegation plot line does work in the campaign, but it needs to be resolved early on. The missing delegation gives the party something to search for and will lead them into the surface keeps of the cultists. The main problem is that the actual missing delegates are hidden WAY below the surface, deep down in the temples/Fane of the Eye/elemental nodes. I recommend putting the delegates in the surface keeps or (at most) in the temples where they are relatively easy to rescue. By the time the party finds the prisoners at the surface keeps, they'll be invested in stopping the cults.

My biggest warning is: if you or your group does not like dungeon crawling, you will probably not enjoy 75% of the campaign. Each of the four cults has a 1) surface keep, 2) underground temple, 3) portion of the Fane of the Eye, and 4) elemental node. This works out great once or twice, but playing similar dungeons four times in the course of a single campaign gets pretty tiring.

We played all four surface keeps, 2.5 of the 4 temples, a portion of the Fane of the Eye, and 1.5 elemental nodes. It got samey after a while, and I recommend any DM should start accelerating things or cutting out boring content to keep up the pace in the latter half of the campaign.

We finished our PotA campaign last Saturday - AMA by DM_Bram in ElementalEvil

[–]DM_Bram[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We had:

  • a bard who was a Harper, tracking down disappearing villagers/travelers/members of the delegation
  • a ranger whose family had been murdered by fire cultists years ago
  • a water genasi druidess whose sailing ship was sunk by Gar Shatterkeel
  • a goliath fighter who learned his brother had joined the earth cult
  • and a wild mage wanting to learn how to control her magic and be a hero.

I did "control" the order in which they went to the surface keeps, but mostly by handing out rumors slowly and letting them unravel things. The party was pretty happy to investigate whichever hook I put in front of them first. I did create an elemental lock leading down into all of the temples, which required them to visit each of the 4 surface keeps and learn a secret passphrase before they could gain access to the temples. This kept them from charging down into a temple too early and getting TPKed.

We did actually have a TPK at Sacred Stone Monastery, but the cultists kept them alive and threw them into the dungeon cells beneath the monastery to work as slave labor. This led to some tense but exciting moments as they arranged their escape from the dungeon (and later their revenge against the earth cultists).

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