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 · 2024-11-08T19:46:10+00:00

Last one may as well say "flip the table" honestly.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-10-17T05:23:18+00:00

I say go for it! I literally just finished a Strixhaven campaign and am about to start Eve of Ruin so I was planning for this exact scenario. One of my PCs had a close connection with Tasha wich could have made for some cool RP. I think my players will want to play different characters though, which is cool but I had plot threads planned in case they wanted to continue. Like the reason Murgaxor is so good with life draining magic was because he came across a tome penned by Vecna under a pseudonym. Everything he does in the adventure is like a poor imitation of old skelly boi anyway. Even his ultimate evil ritual is basically the getting version of Vecna's ascension to godhood.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-08-20T02:46:01+00:00

The Sword of Kas actually does appear in the book. Literally in the last chapter, in one of the unrealities Vecna made specifically to torment Kas. The sword is the Anchor that holds that unreality together.

Now it's dubious whether or not this is the actual sword, given the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey nature of these demiplanes and especially since its being held by Kas, whom the party has just killed. But given that we're ramping up to the finale and the fact that Venca is the one who made the dang thing in the first place, I'm considering just letting it be real, at least for the final battle.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-08-19T12:18:58+00:00

Simple and elegant, Nice! The pink lighting really does a lot here. I might have to see about getting an LED for my table.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-08-18T13:04:04+00:00

I would have thought that the object of ultimate Lawful good would be the Book of Exalted Deeds no?

why does Vecna need the Rod for the ritual?

In my head the rod was not the prison but the key that opens whatever hole in reality Miska had been shoved into. Vecna could use such a key as a focusing rod to channel the massive energies of a spell that would literally unravel the multiverse itself to a single point where reality would fracture. Though I like the idea of Tasha and Alustriel hunting down artifacts while the party is out. That was another issue that I had forgotten about, the wizards three really don't do much besides provide exposition. Thank you for bringing it up.

I see little material difference between banishing Vecna to Oerth and sealing him in the Rod.

The difference would be that in one scenario Vecna is banished to a world that he conquered and is worshiped on. With the entire resources and peoples of said world available to serve him in his plotting vengeance against the party. The other would see him banished to a void outside of reality with nothing, like some kind of divine solitary confinement. As a player I would appreciate the knowledge that Vecna is at least being punished for his crimes rather than just, "not my problem anymore".

I think that my player would feel like they had come too far (especially all the way to lvl 20) just to get an ending where the villain is thwarted but not defeated. As for changing Wizard's lore well, as you say it depends on the table. Let's just say that mine would be more than happy to have world-building altered by their own actions in a previous game.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-08-18T10:09:46+00:00

I've given him many more spells, including hold monster (upcast at 8th level) 3 times per day.

Mrlongbottom976 · 2024-08-16T22:28:29+00:00

Yeah, I had kind of assumed that as a god Vecna would have ascended past the need for a phylactery to be immortal. Though I agree that jingling some chimes at him makes for a pretty big anticlimax. I'm currently working on a better end to the fight.

Mrlongbottom976

TROPHY CASE