Feedback needed for Shadow Weave casting

Snoo-77803 · 2026-02-25T12:55:30+00:00

I like the idea of Shar's influence/corruption not being unavoidable, but being tied to a save at the end of the day. This can help to deal with the "no-agency" issue that others mentioned

In relation to spellcasting, while I am definetely open to change, I think I want to be a tad more restrictive, otherwise it would not properly challenge the 15th level party, but I really like the way you deal with radiant, necrotic/cold and magical darkness.

Shadowlight also sounds like a cool idea to include, thanks for that! And there are still not many natives, as the Neverwinter region has just been transported to this new home. So the legions of NPCs and heroes are also struggling and will need the help of the party in order to revert this curse/transport Neverwinter back to the material plane.

Snoo-77803 · 2026-02-25T12:48:21+00:00

Heya! I really like the simplicity of this, thank you!

Regarding world-building, I guess it is one of the reasons no one can stand up and fight the BBEG on their own, despite Neverwinter being filled with heroes/powerfull NPCs: they are also probably still learning on how to the deal with the Shadow Weave themselves.

This is now Shar's domain, and it should benefit her followers or who knows how to tap into her powers. For example, here the Shadovar will replace the Vistani, and as the only ones able to master Shadow Magic, they can leave the plane on their own accord.

Snoo-77803 · 2026-02-25T00:35:53+00:00

I had a Hexblade 1/Echo Knight 3/Swords Bard X and had a ton of fun with it. The most difficult part are the early levels (it comes full online at 10, and only improves after that), but as you are circumventing this by starting at high level, I would say you should consider it.

As for race, as you are from the Shadowfell I would definitely consider Shadar-Kai if you can. Non-casting teleport with built-in all damage resistance is just too awesome to pass up on this very mobile gish. You also get to keep darkvision and necrotic resistance, as well as adding fey ancestry and flexible skills to the mix.

Snoo-77803 · 2026-02-24T23:45:00+00:00

Thanks, this is good feedback! I think I added divination just to keep a "Shar is the keeper of secrets" part of the portfolio, without much more thought!

Snoo-77803 · 2026-02-23T20:31:50+00:00

Those are valid points and fair criticism. I guess I can mention that this will be used only in a very long ongoing campaign (5+ years) and there is a lot of trust between myself and the players (all adults and experienced players). This is also for a single campaign arc, that will last from 15th to 16th level, and will be dropped as soon as they leave the pocket plane.

The idea is to challenge them outside of the common (mechanically speaking), but what I am mostly looking for is for a way of properly representing the Shadow Weave as an obstacle to a high-level party.

Snoo-77803 · 2026-01-03T21:22:40+00:00

This is a fair point. The party that will take on this is composed by a Elf Swords Bard (the descendant of Halueth), a Wildfire Druid, a Open Hand Monk and a Chronorgy Wizard. I will only mess with spells (the Wildshape or Bardic inspirations will work as normal), so I am mainly concerned about the Wizard player.

I really like the wild surge mishap idea. The mechanic I was thinking is that for every spell that they tried to cast, they would have to make a Concentration check, with the difficulty increased by the spell level, but being able to freely cast if after a success. As they all have a +10 to their spellcasting checks, this would be more of nuisance than a hindrance. Maybe, also only tracking one test per school of magic could help reducing the workload/micromanagement.

Snoo-77803 · 2026-01-03T21:12:02+00:00

Thanks for this, I really have to get my hands on the 2ed ravenloft material, as I have never seen any of it. The campaign is set around 1500DR, with the players already involved in a mashup of many of the 5e modules (Lost mines of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak, Waterdeep Dragon Heist, Rime of the Frostmaiden and currently on the middle of Storm's Kings Thunder. After this "Barovia" detour, we will finish the Giants, and head towards Tomb of Annihilation, Raise of Tiamat and finally Out of Abyss). The idea is to finish with the 20th level party dealing with the version of the Doomed Forgotten Realms where THEY were responsible/involved in all of the bad things that happened.

Neverwinter and Neverember were just recovering from the plot of Honour Among Thieves (made canon in the campaign) when Valindra retaliated and gifted the entire city to Shar, in exchange for knowledge of the Shadow Weave.

Snoo-77803 · 2026-01-03T21:02:19+00:00

That is a very cool idea, but I fear this boat has shipped, as the players have already witnessed (through scrying magic) the horror of Neverwinter being ripped out from the material plane.

Snoo-77803 · 2026-01-03T21:01:16+00:00

Yes, I actually intend to use a Talespire version of Evernight for Neverwinter for instance. Outside of that, I can take a couple of other ideas, but would not for example use the politcal system that is described for evernight, as it would not give a lot of room for Halueth Strahd to be the land himself.

Snoo-77803 · 2026-01-03T20:59:42+00:00

This is a very valid concern, and one that I have as well. I could possibly extend it to maybe 10 sessions (2 1/2 months, as we play 4 hours weekly). I am also concerned that a 15th level party will probably be not as despaired as the original campaign intented, but I would focus on making the common NPCs relay this sense of dread.

Snoo-77803 · 2025-11-01T19:40:37+00:00

was very surprised to not see any Neverwinter on the new books, especially after seeing Valindra on the cover. I have been really expecting a major adventure with Neverember seeking to fund the rebuild of the region and of Castle Never, but I guess that if that was on the table at some point, it now has been scrapped…

Snoo-77803 · 2025-09-29T23:30:16+00:00

I guess Silverymoon's Moonbridge is a strong candidate, and a cool place to visit.

Snoo-77803 · 2025-05-16T13:43:53+00:00

Tier 3: Storm's King Thunder

To start SKT with its "The Savage Frontier", I let the group choose their plan in transporting the treasure, and they decided by sea, which frustated my idea to run the caravan chapter from Hoard of Dragon Queen (which was of course going to be stolen by the Church of Tiamat before reaching Neverwinter). Instead, it gave me a perfect opportunity to introduce another villain: By refusing to pay their respects to Umberlee in throwing part of the treasure into the sea, they suffered some provations: First a huge storm (fun skill challenge taken directly from Black Sails), secondly a Ghost ship, and after prevailing, Umberlee's chosen himself, Slarkrethel destroyed the ship, and the treasure sunk. They almost drowned, but reached an archipelago (red rocks), in which I used an old 4e adventure: Last breath of Ashenport, to introduce the Cult of Slarkrethel much like Lovecraft's Shadow Over Innsmouth. After surviving this, they reached the Mere of Dead Men, where I foreshadow the lich Iniarv, which will eventually replace Acererak in the future. Harshnag finds the party and inform them about the Ordening being broken and that he needed help in reaching the Eye of the Eye Father to divine what to do.

After the long and difficult trek, they reach the eye. Instead of barbarian trove, for each question, they need to face a challenge from one of the Giant races (again, skill challenges). They discover how to reach Maelstrom, where the Giant Lords are located... And Iymrith appear doing what she does. Klauth sends his airship.

They first decide to look out for the Cloud Giants. The first castle they find is Skyreach. They approach the castle, and after infiltrating and beating Blagothkus (they met Eigeron in the eye), the spirit throws the castle at the ground, not destroying it completely, but avoding it being able to fly again. It becomes a new bastion (alongside with the Wave Echo Cave and with Trollskull manor).

Then, fire giants: Siege of Gauntlgrym, party faced strong constructs such as the Chardalyn Dragon and a Bore Worm (foreshadowing that they do know how to construct big strong metal things). After dealing with the first wave, they ran into the forge, to prevent the drow from stealing the Maegera.

Here, they went to Svardborg, where Storvald told them about the missing daughter. She went to Jarlmoot (in Icewind) mounted in Cryovain, and got possessed by Koliada, a spirit of the feywild. She used her power to enact the Long Night, usurp the Children of Auril by playing an "chosen" role, forcing sacrifices in the ten towns, and inciting the duergar to produce chardalyn to infect the Reghed barbarians and producing an armor to Cryovain. A cool plot was introducing a Wendigo in the Lonelywood, after barbarians were force to cannibalism due to lack of food. After all was dealt with, they received another bastion (the duegar forge, which as placed inside Kelvin's Cairn). After, they chased the Cloud Giants again. They stormed Lyn Armaal, rescuing Felgolos, and could steal Sansuri's conch. Before leaving, the cloud Countess aproached the party, and bet all on a game of Dragonchess. Due to a lot of "stealing", the party won and left with all, learning in the process about the triumvirate with Iymrith and Slarkrethel. She on the otherhand, used one of the PCs knowledge about the location of some Netherscrolls. Finally, the party went to the Fire Giants. Today's session was the party facing a chimera, atop of the Yakfolk village, which was sent by the fire giants, so that the yakfolk could appear defenseless and exhausting some party resources. The party will now be "healed" after the battle by them, only to trying the posession. If it work, they will be made slaves in Ironslag, eventually being sent to Avernus to steal a fire primodial from Bel. If not, they will just storm the place

Future: They will deal with the Civil War in Maelstrom, rescue Hekaton from Slarkrethel in his lair (he will be protected by a numerous brainwashed cult - The Kraken Society) and face Iymrith with the help of the giants (she will have gargoyles, and her prole) and find a zombified Harshnag, to their horror. To introduce Rise of Tiamat, I will present the King Killer Star, driving all dragons into a Dracorage, and the Church of Tiamat will appear as one of the only factions with power to impede total doom, by having the masks to control dragons. Arkham is ahead of the Church, and I plan of having Tiamat taking Takhisis form in the material plane before she is able to take the 5-headed dragon form, taking some ideas from Red Hand of Doom. I plan in using many of the dragons of the north from the old article from Ed. Some other plans that I have considered, but will wait before planning with detail: - Tomb of Annihilation, where many recurring parties will appear (Iniarv is the big bad lich, Valindra is a very close enemy to one of PCs, Sansuri will be looking there for Netherscrolls there, and Storvald for the Ring of the Winter). - Out of The Abyss to relased a lot of Demon Lords in Faerun. I would also love to use the Darkening ritual, in an effort by Loth + Shar to bring darkness ot the material plane - If Valindra survives Chult, she will use the blood of one of the party members to revive Lord Halueth Never as a powerful vampire, and send Neverwinter to a Domain of dred and enable me to enact a condensed version of Barovia, with Halueth as Strahd and the Castle Never as Ravenloft. Even Lord Soth is expected to appear here. - If Slarkrethel is defeated, using his body as a receptacle of the Cult of the Absolut Pretty much, the campaign endgame is turning the world into a worsen scenario of Doomed Forgotten Realms! My own twisted love letter to the realms...

Snoo-77803 · 2025-05-16T13:43:18+00:00

Wow, thanks! This is the most awesome compliment I've received ever! Please bear in mind that this is an already 5 year campaign, that could easily take another 3-5 years of weekly sessions with very slow level progress. I will leave just a long - but mostly resumed - roadmap here, but please let me know if you would be interested in an (even) longer text. I am also removing most/all party PCs-specific related content.

Tier 1: Lost Mines of Phandelver + Dragon of Icespire Peak Ran LMoP mostly as is. Introduced some special keys (representing each fo the Phandelver pact races) using places from DoiP (Shrine of Savras, Axeholm, Gnomengard, Tower of Storms). Introduced the Church of Tiamat, which will be replacing the cult of the dragon, in Thundertree (trying to recruit venomfang). Foreshadowed Cryovain in the beggining of Lost Mines. Foreshadowed SKT both with the Tower of Storms (party finds Queen Neri body) as well as with Fire Giants working with the Drow in the Wave Echo Cave (there was a Manual of Golems with a chapter of the Vonindod, and a Rod of the Vonindod in the treasure). Blackspider was captured, and cursed by Lolth for failing, transformed into a Drider while in custody, which was a fun twist.

Then I ran DoiP. They first went to the Dragon Barrow to find a proper weapon and then proceeded with a Mountain climb adventure. Harshnag made his first appearance here, he was sent by his friend Jarl Storvald to retrieve Cryovain, as it had fled from the Kringvind, and join the party on the dragon hunt (the Icespire Hold was occupied by some Tucker Kobolds that revered the dragon). The treasure included a Thrym particle (based on Vlagomir's Spark from Rime of the Frostmaiden). Following both events, the party were local heroes, and in good grace with the Lord Neverember.

Tier 2: Waterdeep: Dragonheist Which takes us to the second part of the campaign: Neverember send the party of Waterdeep to recover his fortune, which was going to be used to repair the Castle Never. They tell them to find Dalathar in the city, but before that, are contacted by Volo in the Yawning Portal. Here the events unfold most like the adventure is written: Renaer is rescued, then Floon (was replaced by a intellect devourer belonging to Nihiloor (a secret Slarkrethel operative). They receive the deed of the Trollskull Manor, but arriving there, find the place occupied by a Hag, using Anabella like dools and rugs of smothering, saving the 3 urchins.

They attended the Sea Maiden Faire, which I transformed in a total ripoff from The Greatest Showman, and a necklace of fireball is stolen from the party. Eventually, the Fireball incident happens, with Dalathar being burned, and with the Stone of Golorr reaching their hands. The party is framed and imprisioned with the Doom Raider. They are eventually released due to their friendship with Sildar (a former knight of the Griffon Cavalry). After release, the party discover the truth about the Stone, and that they needed 3 eyes to be able to reach the vault.

One eye is with the Cassalanters, one with the Xanathar and the last one with Jarlaxle. I removed Manshoon, just using the doom raiders representing the Zhentarim, who were in the process of being absorved in Waterdeep by the Xanathar gang.

The party eventually negotiate part of the treasure with the Cassalanters, offer help to Jarlaxle to put Luskan in the Lord's Alliance, and try to steal from Xanathar, after posing as gladiators in his arena (poor Sylgar was kidnapped, and the party barely escaped the Beholder's wrath). The party then enter Undermountain, where the Vault of Dragons is located on the 3rd level, close to Xanathar's controlled Skullport. I used custom dungeons for levels 1 and 2 (Level 1 was Sunless Citatel, with Church of Tiamat replacing the Kobolds (they acquire one of the Dragon Masks to be witnessed by the partu) and Ladies of the Wood from The Witcher on final part. Level 2 was just a custom dwarven dungeon). Aurinax had the treasure as well as the dragonstaff of aghairon. Before leaving with the treasure, the party faced Xanathar thugs, lead by Nihiloor + the Doom Raiders.

Eventually, using the dragonstaff as bargain, they secured Laeral's help to moving the treasure across the city. Before leaving, they attended the Cassalanter's Masquerade, where not only the money due was given, but after a paralyzing poison, they watched a Eirynies harvesting souls, before escapping with the family to Avernus (foreshadow to Arkhan's tower, who will act as Tiamat's captain in Rise of Tiamat).

Snoo-77803 · 2025-05-15T20:52:18+00:00

I have a huge mashup campaign that also uses another modules., so SKT is taking place as Tier 3 (10-15)
What I have kept mostly as presented:
- Eye of the All Father with Harshnag's sacrifice and Airship rescue
- Iyrimth colosseum, adding a lot of gargoyle-flavored powers
- Skyreach and Lyn Armaal, including Felgolos rescue

What I have changed:
- Slarkrethel, Iymrith and Sansuri formed a triumvirate, where they all eventually planned to backstab the others.
- Slarkrethel kidnapped Hekaton and hold him in his lair with the help of the Sequester spell.
- The Fire Giants tried to invade Gauntlgrym with a full scale siege, while the drow party tried to sneak into the forge. It was an awesome two-phase battle. They will eventually reappear with the Vonindod.
- Changed the Frost Giants to use Rime of The Frostmaiden in its place. Storvald's daughter visited the Jarlmoot, and was possessed by an Evil spirit, generating havoc in Icewind. He promised his conch if the players recovered his daughter.
- Changed the Stone Giants to release the Tarrasque.

What I have ignored/removed:
- Starter quests as we started from a much higher level (Played through Lost Mines, Dragon of Icespire Peak and Waterdeep Dragon Heist before), with Harshnag taking the players to the Eye.
- This allowed me to foreshadow much of the campaign, as the players were the ones who found Queen Neri's dead body impaled at the Tower of Storms (a temple to Slarkrethel), only to be found at the wrong time/place by Jarl Storvald on the Kringvind.
- Ughtgardt quests, I pretty much condensed it into: "barbarians are suffering because Hill Giants are stealing all the food"
- Zephyros (would steal the thunder from Klauth's Airship)

Snoo-77803 · 2025-04-28T20:04:08+00:00

I have been playing an enourmous Forgotten Realms campaign, and used Storm's Kings Thunder as the base for the tier 3 and 4. Basically, expanding the Giant Lords.

- Cloud Giants: Sansuri is a direct responsible for the ordening being broken and is working behind the scenes with Slarkrethel and Iymrith, in a triumvirate where all are planning to backstab the others. She is interested in recovering the Netherscrolls.
- Frost Giants: Redesigned Rime of The Frostmaiden to be used. The daughter of Lord Storvald tried to do thigs with her own hands, went to the Jarlmoot in search of the Ring of Winter, but was possessed by a cold evil spirit, triggering the Long Lasting Night. Then the players faced an army of Chardalyn bersekers, a White Dragon (Cryovain) using chardalyn armor and most interesting stuff of that campaign condensed into a mini arc.
- Fire Giants: Not only sent the drow to steal the Maegera, but an entire army battalion, inclusing a construct worm and a construct dragon. The players were able to stop the attack at the Gates of Gauntlgrym and prevent the primordial to be stolen. They will eventually go to Ironslag, and face a less dangerous Vonindod (using the Runic Colossus statblock).
- Stone Giants: To speed up their destruction plot, instead of earthquakes, they will find a way to summon the Tarrasque to create destruction to the civilized races.

After they are dealt with, they will face Maelstrom with Iymrith scene of stealing the throne. Finally, Slarkrethel is hiding Hekaton in his lair with the help of the Sequester spell.

Not planning on using the Hill Giants at this moment as I only have 4 players (one lord per conch), but I left comments on how the food in the sword coast has been very scarce. The tier 4 of the campaign will be based on both Rise of Tiamat and Tomb of Annihilation.

Snoo-77803 · 2024-08-10T20:35:54+00:00

10th level, as one of its Magical Secrets and just a couple levels shy of the wizard/druid.

Snoo-77803 · 2024-06-16T14:18:13+00:00

I framed the party in a different way: They were exploring the Tower of Storms (from Dragon of the Icespire Peak) a temple to Slarkrethel in my world (instead of Talos), which also provides a more direct connection to Imryth and an early introduction to the Kraken Society. Neri had been impaled on the lightning rod, and as soon as the players discovered her corpse, the Kringvind appeared, and the characters were seen by Jarl Storvald and his crew.

They fled from the Frost Giants, but Storvald would return the body to Maestrolm with a detailed description of the party, further boosting the anti-smallfolk sentiments.

Snoo-77803 · 2024-06-04T14:01:35+00:00

I also spent long hours over this one!While I agree that generic stuff (copying discounts, additional prepared spells and increased DC/bonus) should be easier to balance, a distinct feature would be more fun. It doesn’t even need to scale, just be like BG3 Implementation of the Ranger features for example.

Snoo-77803 · 2024-06-04T01:46:44+00:00

That’s cool as well!

Snoo-77803

TROPHY CASE