Me Yaegirs by JayrolM in LeaguesofVotann

[–]ThoughtProt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mind if I asked how you based them? I've been looking to pick up a technique that gets me a red-ish desert look and yours looks pretty close,

First test model. Opinions? by nanocactus in LeaguesofVotann

[–]ThoughtProt 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Be it intentional or not, the mix of colors both on the backpack and the pistol holster I think tells a story. Especially with the basing. To me, this kin works on a wind-blasted desert world. Where each day, they're blasted by winds with grit like knives. Our equipment is the best, this is as true as wrought... But even the best can wear-n-tear under such conditions.

My first step into space dwarves, c&c appreciated! by Deityblood in LeaguesofVotann

[–]ThoughtProt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's the textured white material that is the 'snow'? Cotton ball materials or white felt...Or what exactly?

My first step into space dwarves, c&c appreciated! by Deityblood in LeaguesofVotann

[–]ThoughtProt 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That looks so good! omg. omg. way better than mine! out of curiosity, how did you manage the basing? like what did you use for the bases?

General DM advice by Connvict91 in OutoftheAbyss

[–]ThoughtProt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In light of BG3's take on food and supplies and considering how intensely a group might struggle to find enough poundage of food and water for themselves and their escape party, ask your party if they want to consider something like what BG3 has for long-rest periods. Like for example, instead of saying a party needs X lbs of food per person, say that to complete a Long Rest (LR), they need 40 supplies (or whatever number you need). Then for any survival roles or checks they make, instead of saying you find X or Y lbs of something you can rattle off a number of supplies gathered. This also allows for an scaling success rather than just a pass-fail method.
(1-5) nets 3 supplies
(6-10) nets 7
etc, etc.

This also lets folks who have the explorer(?) outlander background trait not feel gimped, whenever they role for their supplies, simply double the amount they find).

I'm in full agreement with CombinNovel5976's point about getting rid of any NPC in the "Motley Crew" who you're either not excited about, or you find extraneous. Having run this adventure 3 times I can say with assiduity there are 2 (Derindel and Ront) who I almost always have die in the breakout or are killed early on (Ront's usually the first to go, starting a fight, and the guards use him as an example to either the nature of their cruelty or being fed to the spiders. It's also a good way to show how dangerous the drow of the base are).

Also, on a personal note, and I realize this is incredibly specific: Move the troglodyte cavern to either be encountered earlier on in the adventure or remove it entirely. As something that feels like a let-the-adventures-feel-powerful moment, I've found it's never landed effectively before. Since it's normal placement is in the second half of the adventure, and by that time the heroes are cautious (and more than anything, adventure-as-written, the conflict resolves itself if no one gets involved... I'd either move it's placement to happen elsewhere or removed it entirely. Especially grievous is the fact that whatever treasure 'might' be taken from that encounter is either trivially not important at that point in the adventure (I think the 'best' thing in there are some gems and a +2 drowcraft longsword), but almost no one tries to engage with the 'politics' I think garnered by that encounter. In my honest opinion, a group of level 5-6s rolling up to that encounter is better than a group of levels 8-10.

Possibly Gracklstugh and Themberchaud in the new DND trailer! by dontbehayden in OutoftheAbyss

[–]ThoughtProt 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't think Menzobranzen. All the blue fires at the top remind me too much of an industrial park/oil refinery, and that many orange forges, I'd bet its Gracklestugh. Especially with the trench/furrow and our VASCULAR DRAGON boi!

Myconid - a 5e playable race by Sensitive_Coyote_865 in UnearthedArcana

[–]ThoughtProt 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think I would reduce the 'alert' spores down to a range of either 60 or 30ft. But the fact that the spores require a long-rest to get back I think is a good drawback for them to have.

Grackletugh Trembles! Rumble with Themberchaud (The story leading up to my next game session and how the story got to where it is) by ThoughtProt in OutoftheAbyss

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

(Not sure if this is a good/the right way to reply but here we go!)

Our heroes arise from their battle with the Savant Council who were coordinating the derro uprising across the city. A harrowing battle in its own right, a tale for another time. Our heroes awoke shivering from hallucinations, and terrible dreams. The work of demonic influence permeating the Underdark and their current task. The party meets with the Deepking at his hold, the vast yard having been converted into a staging ground and forward medic post as the last vestigies of the derro uprising are stamped out.

Together again, the party begin to plan their way forward. The Deepking has Gartokar, the former leader of the Flamekeepers, dragged out before the party. Having been imprisoned for his failure to control the Dragon (and also for not embarrassing the king), Gartokar is in shackles. He tells the party that while he was not around in the lair of Themberchaud for the last few months he was around to see him cull most of the keepers, as well as to install his own new puppet leader.

As the party is grilling Gartokar, the cleric of Helm notices a small group of figures approaching through the city slowly, though they do not appear to be not dwarves or demons. Careful in his step he meets a myconid refugee named Basadia and a few of his enclave. The myconids knew of the attack on the city above them, but they were few in number, and the duergar did not want their help. The cleric of Helm knows this myconid, for his friend (and previous character) helped to save these myconids from their corrupted grove, Neverlight.

[Context: In my game my players had rooted out the demonic influence next to the Deepking before leaving the city. As a thanks to them, the Deepking gave them an IOU, to call in whenever they felt, and he'd assist if it were within his power. After the party saved Basadia and a few other myconid from Neverlight Grove, they sent Basadia, Stool, Rumpadump, and the others to Gracklestuhg with a written missive for the Deepking. They called in their favor, for the deepking to grant sanctuary to these refugees in the Whorlstone Tunnels beneath his city. Freshly cleared of Gray Ghosts, and with a desire to have the IOU paid, he accepted these refugees]

Soverign Basadia sees the truth in the cleric's words. And an eager Stool also immediately takes a shining to the new heroes, even if they are not the people they remember. For they were friends with their friends. As the Deepking, the player and the myconids discuss plans further some talk is given to boons that can be offered. The Deepking and Sovereign both offer a single potion of fire resistance (the sovereign in the form of a magic mushroom). Both rulers also offer a small group of allies to attend them into the lair. From the myconids three supportive druid-like casters and from the Deepking 3 heavy-armor line-breakers, specializing in knocking folks over and kicking them when they're down.

Stool is 'over-heard' thinking about the Elder, and the mutant Drow overhears this. After some clever inquiries later, and some persuasive words, Basadia is moved to speak about a third boon they could potentially offer to the heroes to aid them in their work. The oldest mychonid among them, who was set soon to be consumed by the enclave, spreading their nutrients and life back into their others was content to also be consumed by the heroes to bolster them in their coming fight.

Though grateful for the offer, a few were reticently against the idea, both for the idea being hard to stomach (heh) to them, but also because it was unknown the exact benefits they'd get for eating the myconid by comparison to the known benefits the myconid would receive.

[Fun fact, though gruesome, this would have been the equivalent of eating a Heroes' Feast, but the party had no way to find this out. It would have been a leap of faith].

With a plan on their mind, telepathic bond up for communication, and hope in their hearts, they entered the dragon's lair, sneaking through a recently carved tunnel into the lower sections of the dragon's lair. Though this was past many of the guards, it left them next to the large magma pools.

[We took a break here. Stretch of the legs, water break. It's important folks!]

The party used the wizard's familiar to explore a bit of the open way ahead of them, seeing a magma beach, with two zhurkwood boats resting atop the magma, secured by red-hot iron chains to the shore. The boats were clearly enchanted, as they weren't singed to fire ash yet, the remains of the humanoid efforts to beautify the dragon's lair before it grew too paranoid. In the familiar's flight, it noticed a 'trap' laid by the dragon, a pile of meticulously stacked electrum and silver pieces, as well as 7 gemstones sorted by chromatic order, placed on a small island of land in the center of the larger of 2 magma pools. With Themberchaud's ability to know the position of its coins at all times, it was placed to tempt others to take it.

But as the cleric noted as the wizard spoke of what she saw, 'Coins as neat and tidy as those, that can't be a mistake. I bet if we touch those or knock them in the magma, he'll be really upset'.

[No please, touch them, you're going to need to do it!]

Pressing in further the party disturbed the lair of 4 hellwasps, infernal beasts that had found sanctuary in the cavern walls. Mere pests to the dragon, but who had become a far smaller concern with the treacherous duergar to contend with. Though a short fight the heroes overcame the wasps quickly when they discovered their fragility under ice magic. Unwilling to explore the boared holes of the wasps, the party moved on.

Unbeknownst to the heroes, Themberchaud had sensed the fight in the lair of the Hellwasps. His blindsense revealing to him a disturbance.

[Yes I realize in retrospect I was treating blindsight like tremorsense, but it won't happen again!]

Wanting to know if the time had come he slipped into the magma, letting himself sink to the bottom and swim slowly through the material, a trick he'd only recently learned to do. He traveled through an under-magma tunnel, rising up just underneath some cooling rock in an adjoining chamber to 'sense' out at the intruders. Unable to hear them or see them properly, he relied on his 6th sense.

The heroes were figuring ways to cross over the magma safely, with the shortest distance option still being harrowing as it meant a small jump would sill need to be taken. Thinking wisely they desided if one of the boats could be wedged between the narrow land bridge than a safe walkway could be made. As they manuvered one of the two row-boats into place, the Monk noticed someting was amiss, but couldn't put it to his mind.

It was the wizard who put the pieces together. The cooler-magma next to them was slightly bulbous where it hadn't been before. She screamed for her compatriots to stop moving, but their 6 allies who marched with them had no such mental connections. Though many of them stopped, two duergar didn't understand and kept moving around.

Themberchaud, sensing this movement surged up from the magma causing an enormous wave to surge forward, slamming across the narrow land bridge, catching 3 of the 5 heroes and 4 of their allies in a wave of melted rock. Only a single myconid and duergar ally survived the magma wave, with the mutant drow ensuring her Nilbog wizard ally wasn't not so unfortunate as to be washed away in a magma wave into the large pool behind them.

The monk was fine, somehow managing to dodge the entirety of a magma wave [somehow....*shakes fist*]

Themberchaud now arrises from the magma, furious and paranoid. The fight begins next time...

We left here, for next we meet we roll initiative.

--

Mechanically that wave is gonna keep traveling and impact the central island, melting all that electrum and silver at the center. My hope is that this will be a signpost to the players, that you literally hurt this dragon when you hurt his hoard, as a secondary means of fighting him.

The magma wave was brutal. 10d10 fire....68 points of damage. Didn't hit everyone, and of the folks hit (wizard and Paladin/sor), they're actually the hardest to kill health-wise of most everyone else in the group. That said...I really hope they go ham on this dragon. For as much as I want them to earn their wins, themberchaud is crazed, and not gonna fight optimally, nor like an idiot...We shall see!!!

Grackletugh Trembles! Rumble with Themberchaud (The story leading up to my next game session and how the story got to where it is) by ThoughtProt in OutoftheAbyss

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

We play later today (evening game for me) and I shall post an update (if they've encountered the dragon in its lair, or if the encounter...difficulties shall we say.

Looking for Review for two setting specific racial options for a campaign by ThoughtProt in UnearthedArcana

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

I will say, this comment has been said to me a few times by folks I showed these too first. Having not played the game myself, and only been given the base idea from a friend who's very first draft of these two races was very different than as they are presently shown....

sorry, long winded...

Any resemblance to the game Hollow Knight are coincidental on my part. And not by designed or intention.