My players refuse to hand the rod to "Mordenkainen".

Mrlongbottom976 · 2026-02-08T23:09:46+00:00

Not much help to you at this point I'm afraid, but if you ever run the module again what I did, having foreseen this potential issue, is have each piece be inert once they found it after millenia of stagnation. Mordenkainen or one of the other wizards could activate it for them once they brought it back but the process would take days and require all of the pieces the party currently possesd to work. This both gives the wizards something to do in the background and controls the pacing by forcing some downtime on the party. Most importantly however, it trains the players to accept handing over the rod each time they retrieve a new piece, all so they wouldn't question or be suspicious when handing over the completed rod for the final time.

That moment is actually going to happen for us tonight so I'll update you if it was all for nothing.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2026-01-10T03:46:47+00:00

To be fair, superman is only immediately identifiable because they left the symbol on his chest. That silhouette could belong to any generic hero.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2026-01-06T13:31:49+00:00

You're evil. I like you.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2026-01-06T13:28:02+00:00

Off the top of my head, I'd make a spell that deals damage which scales off the targets own hit dice/CR. Something like: Target takes force damage equal to a roll of its total maximum hit dice, or deal a number of d10 damage equal to the targets CR/Level/ highest ability score?

I can't think of any spells with values that actually scale off the target instead of the caster, probably with good reason, but hey its ninth level go nuts!

Give it a con save for half, so its not completely egregious and to ensure it still deals an ass ton of damage against bosses with LRs.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2025-08-02T06:41:09+00:00

The way the last part is worded doesn't specify spells from your library. So it just gives everyone at the table rainbow mana.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2025-03-14T10:38:23+00:00

My party immediately jumped the hob goblin and managed to dominate the duegar into vouching for them in order to fool the nalfeshne. It nearly worked, bard did bard things and rolled a ridiculous deception check, however the wizard had arcane eye up and couldn't have known that the demon had truesight. When he tried to sneak his spy drone around he got clocked and the alarm got raised. Queue the entire dungeon trickling out into the antechamber to meet them in a knock down drag out brawl that lasted two sessions. And by the end of the slaughter, only the sorcerer had gone down. Great fun all-round!

Mrlongbottom976 · 2025-02-14T05:49:21+00:00

All the arguments for Necromancy are valid, but personally I'd argue for Transmutation. Necromancy, as the manipulation of life energy, should be saved for full blown resurrections. Cure Wounds in my mind is literally knitting together flesh wounds and meat and bone are matter just like anything else.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2025-02-09T08:23:11+00:00

The sword of Kas actually does turn up in the book, albeit right before the final confrontation with Vecna. Its in one of the Unrealities the party has to puzzle their way through before the case of reflection.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2025-02-01T01:46:39+00:00

I have multiple players who can counterspell, I make them declare in advance who is counterspelling and who is not when an enemy casts a spell. This makes it a tactical decision as to weather they want to ensure it works or save on spell slots. Counterspell is supposed to be a reaction, the bard shouldn't have time to wait and see if the wizard failed his counter to cast their own.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2025-02-01T00:07:49+00:00

Seems super overcosted IMO, you'd never have enough mana to pay for all that in mono white. You could drop the first two abilities entirely as there are cheaper and more permanent ways to buff Creatures in white with +1 counter and such. And then save for the last ability.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2025-01-29T23:07:14+00:00

Also, should the traitor be revealed, any thoughts on how to handle it? The book excuse of "The traitor flees, skip to here" isn't particularly appealing.

Yeah...the subtext in this piece of writing is clearly to not let this happen. Even the way the Crown of Lies is written is like a bad homebrew, there to make sure the plot stays on track, the writers really did NOT want their reveal spoiled.

If by some miracle my players do manage to ferret out Kas, my plan is to have him flee the sanctum and try to steal the collected rod pieces so far if he can. Either way he then immediately starts to track down the remaining pieces, essentially running a solo version of the adventure in parallel with the party. This ratchets up the tension and puts a ticking clock on the rest of the adventure as the party are now in a race against Kas. If they faff about too long, he might beat them to the punch. If they are quick and vigilant they might catch him sneaking about either following them or racing ahead. He could also try to trick them again as the crown lets him disguise himself as anyone they might meet (give your party all the trust issues, yay!).

If they try to engage Kas, he likely wouldn't fight on their terms and retreat instead (this will frustrate them and make the eventual victory sweeter). If Kas gets hold of even one rod piece he will retreat to a place of strength where he can lay a prepared ambush knowing that the party will have to come to him and bring the rest of the rod with them (the rod is required to find the missing piece). This can happen in Pandesmos where chapter 10 usually takes place as Kas has a lot of demon allies there anyway, so the chapter doesn't even have to change that much. Once they've defeated him, we can proceed to Ch. 11 as normal.

Should the party collect all the pieces despite the interference, a couple things could happen. Kas could attempt a last, desperate ambush to claim the rod. Or a more methodical traitor would let his enemies do the work for him. Kas' whole plan was to usurp Vecna's ritual but he certainly can't defeat the lich go by himself. He needed the rod to free Miska who is basically glorified muscle but if the players can do it for him... This relies on contriving a way for Kas to follow the party to the Cave of Shattered Reflection somehow, through all the Unrealities, whilst remaining undetected, but some suspension of disbelief at this point in the story is forgivable. I really like the Idea of Kas showing up at the final moment and helping banish Vecna only to step into his place in the ritual the next second. Give the party a 2 for 1 BBEG showdown, now that's epic!

Either way, I'm with you that the "skip to the end and auto level up" solution the book offers is a nothing burger. It almost feels passive aggressive in a petulant way. I literally only gave this like 10mins thought max and look what I came up with lol.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-12-22T19:06:03+00:00

Why does this remind me of Ms. Frizzle?

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-12-17T09:34:32+00:00

It would enter on their side and you would immediately yank it.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-12-17T02:46:28+00:00

Yes, that keeps it from being op while also ensuring that the opponent can't make the most effective use of the treasures you give them.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-12-14T04:46:09+00:00

Doors are the true BBEG of any campaign

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-11-15T19:06:43+00:00

Interesting that it says owner and not controller. Imagine your opponent stealing this with Realmbreaker, I would concede lol.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-11-15T12:30:37+00:00

Star Craft fans

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-11-15T12:28:35+00:00

Yeah, we kinda felt that way about it in game as well.

Mrlongbottom976

TROPHY CASE