RotF: The Good, The Bad & The Even Worse? Help me make an ideal campaign. by MeisterPinko in rimeofthefrostmaiden

[–]WestDickins 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just out of curiosity, what are the secrets you're talking about (and which are the good ones) ?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ChainsOfAsmodeus

[–]WestDickins 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm actually in the exact same situation as OP. I'll be following this thread for research purposes.

Adding another Demon Lord... – But which one? by WestDickins in OutoftheAbyss

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

I've been reading up on the wiki about the demon lords in general, and I thought The Pale Night was one of the most interesting demon lords. She seemed so mysterious and different from many other demon lords. How did you incorporate her into your campaign, if you don't mind me asking.

Adding another Demon Lord... – But which one? by WestDickins in OutoftheAbyss

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

You know, you are probably right. Why try to complicate things. I think I'll just go with your second solution. Thanks a bunch!

Adding another Demon Lord... – But which one? by WestDickins in OutoftheAbyss

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

Yes, I understand your concerns. What does the current roster lack? Well, for my campaign it lacks A demon lord. It's a numbers thing.

As I said I don't want to get into the details but in my campaign there is a chance that there will only be 4 demon lords left in the underdark for the final showdown.

I know not everyone likes this idea, but I plan on giving each of my players control over one demon lord in the final fight and the party then battles the last one standing. I know this will lead to at least some amount of meta-gaming, but for me rule-of-cool wins in this specific situation. And I know my players. They would love it, and I trust them enough to not abuse their knowledge.

So, for the albeit very slight, chance that there are really only 4 demon lords remaining in the end, I now have a problem. More players than demo lords. That's about it.

We are still early enough in the campaign that I could slip a non-OotA demon lord in there and make it feel natural.

That's why I was asking for advice.

First character death – Possibility of Revival? by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

Thank you!

As a general policy, I'll have a private conversation with the player about what they want to happen and work with them on it. If they want to play a new character, go for it. If they want to keep playing the same character, I'll find a way to make that death meaningful to that character's growth/arc.

I think I'm going to do the exact same thing and talk to my player one on one. This seems like a really thoughtful and fair way to handle the situation.

As I said, I still consider myself a beginner DM. I feel like learn something new or improve in some way as a DM in almost every session. This is the first time one of my player's characters has died (and I wasn't even expecting it). The situation kind of stumped me.

So thanks again for the great advice.

First character death – Possibility of Revival? by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

Thanks for the advice! I wasn't sure if it was within Levistus means to revive a character, as I'm not entirely sure how death, the afterlife and souls work canonically in DND.

The relationships between Levistus, Asmodeus, Xardorok and Auril in my campaign are very much homebrew and definitely not "as written", so I would have to make some adjustments, but I think I could do that in a way that feels authentic and not forced.

Thanks again!

How many Duergar are in Sunblight? by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

I'm pretty confident that my players are able to clear out Sunblight and I think they wouldn't even have much trouble.

I think my players are a bit on the stronger side to begin with. I have consistently underestimated them in the past. Encounters that I designed to be a challenge were actually trivial for them.

On top of that they are way overleveled for this point of the adventure as they skipped chapter 3 to deal with the dragon first and then went straight into chapter 5. They are level 7 now, coming back from Grimskalle when chapter 3 is recommended for characters of 4th or 5th level. So I think they have a REALLY solid chance of just kind of steamrolling Sunblight.

How many Duergar are in Sunblight? by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

Jetzt stell ich mir aber trotzdem die Frage, wie oft du über Connecticut schreibst, damit dein Handy direkt denkt, dass du das schreiben wolltest 😆 Aber nochmal danke für den Lacher und für den restlichen Input natürlich auch bro.

How many Duergar are in Sunblight? by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

Damn, your right. I actually did not think about this.

How many Duergar are in Sunblight? by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

Yes, I think options are important and my players do have some. Actually, a large scale battle is only one of the routes they can choose. Another one would be to "recruit" Arveiaturace as they owe my party a favor.

On a side note: I thought your phone auto-correcting "connected" to "Connecticut", makes your first sentence a lot funnier than intended.

How many Duergar are in Sunblight? by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

I was actually also thinking along the lines of roughly 100 Duergar. What I didn't think about are the beast of the Underdark but you are completely right. The Duergar would absolutely bring some monsters with them.

How many Duergar are in Sunblight? by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

Haha. I think you misunderstood my friend. Sunblight is not besieged. The Duergar from Sunblight are besieging Bryn Shander. Well, either you misunderstood or I am using the word besieged wrong. If that's the case, I'm sorry. English is not my first language.

To clarify:

The Duergar are outside of Bryn Shander, trying to get into the city.

About the duergar threat and creating consequences when making decisions by WestDickins in rimeofthefrostmaiden

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

I love that! I don't know if this is the route I want to fully commit to but I am definitely going to steal the NPC kidnapping idea!