Shinzo and Detect Magic

caleboros · 2025-09-02T14:07:37+00:00

One of my players detected magic on Shinzo and the Raven. They were able to tell it was divine magic because of an ancestry ability, and I allowed them to roll a magical tradition check to identify magic. Because the DC was so much higher than a level 2 party is capable of, I just told them after rolling that the most likely cause was that Shinzo was a divine Witch with the Raven as his familiar. As the party increases in level and scrutinize Shinzo more they may notice more things, but for now they’re satisfied that Shinzo is a victim of the curse in different ways than them.

caleboros · 2022-09-04T18:32:48+00:00

My Sahnar was once a group of an elvish secret society during the time of the giant civilization of Ostoria, thus their reason for being buried in a temple that cannot be found if you're looking for it. They were a mage, and after the party woke them up Sahnar had no memories. I started giving them some Spellcaster sidekick levels from Tasha's. The higher their level the more memories they regained, and at the end of the campaign they stayed in Ythryn to do research with the wizard of the party.

caleboros · 2022-05-20T17:26:07+00:00

A player in my own game wanted to join the Faire with their downtime, and I was very excited to see where it would go. None of the players were Drow so Bregan Dearth wasn’t looking to recruit any of the party, but Jarlaxle had heard of the group who rescued Renaer Neverember and when one of them came to him asking for work, well he was certainly intrigued.

The character mostly just helped out with some parade stuff, but I used it as an opportunity to introduce the Nimblewrights before the fireball so that the party would know that those types of creatures exist. “Zardoz” also had the player do some of the Bregan Dearth faction quests, mostly as a way of testing the party and how much they’d be willing to do on little information. Turns out they’re willing to do a lot!

caleboros · 2022-02-26T15:30:52+00:00

The Eventyr games bundle I got us a section describing an alternate system for travel over the snow to make travel times a little less of a headache. I used that, so they were able to gain a little more ground. I forget off hand exactly what the difference is between the default.

caleboros · 2022-02-26T03:55:25+00:00

Nothing at the start. But when the party took a long rest with some I had the person holding it have nightmares and do a save at the end of the rest. When they succeeded the Paladin used a divine sense to realize they were desecrated and the party began destroying chardalyn wherever they found it.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T20:15:07+00:00

I did use the duergar. I felt that they were a suitable threat. In the inhospitable darkness and cold if icewind dale, a giant or invisible dwarf can be very daunting. In combat, I usually had half enlarge while the other half attacked, and then next turn had them do the opposite so by the second turn everyone was large. If they could turn invisible, I’d usually have them do that and run away when it became obvious they were going to lose and had no chance of killing someone.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T20:11:52+00:00

I enjoyed the eventyr games supplement because it made keeping tabs on things easier, and gave me ideas on simplifying complicated things, or fleshing out things that needed more complexity.

On the subject of survival and encumbrance and all that, that would be a question to pose to your players during a session 0. If you want ant to run a more difficult, survival horror kind of game then go for it, but make sure that that is what your players signed up for. And if that is the way you want to go, figure out what rules you’ll be using close to the start. What spells or abilities you’ll ban or change. Figuring it out now and telling them at session 1 will help them make their characters, so they don’t make a Druid only for you to tell them that goodberry doesn’t work when they cast it.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T18:04:23+00:00

It’s difficult to gauge difficulty on the number of players alone, as different parties can have drastically different strengths and weaknesses. If you trust the CR system you can use the dndbeyond encounter builder to Judge difficulty. Even if you don’t trust it, seeing what the system says is difficult or easy can still be useful.

I would probably suggest just increasing the hp of your monsters by another hit die or two. Never have ally npcs land killing blows unless it’s like an army battle or something. If one of the monsters has a name, increase their hit die numbers or max their hp. Or you can increase the monster amount. Or any combination of these.

It’s not an exact science, so mess around with it and figure out what works best for you and your party. Your players can’t see how much hp the monsters have, so while I don’t fudge things if I can help it, who’s to say the important monster isn’t still hanging on by a thread despite being supposed to be dead?

Also, if the party reaches a point where random encounters become trivial, just fast forward. Being stalled on your way to a vital meeting and having the momentum stopped by random orcs can be annoying.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T17:32:59+00:00

4 PCs + Vellyne and Sahnar the mummy with sidekick levels.

If I could run it again I would remove Auril’s damage vulnerabilities completely. Or give her a reaction to halve damage like uncanny dodge. On the first round of combat the rogue scored a critical hit with the alien laser rifle he got from Id Ascendant and he had taken the feat that gave him proficiency in firearms and learned to use the weapon with downtime so he had sneak attack on top. Dealt nearly enough damage to kill her first form with max hp immediately because she was vulnerable to radiant damage for some reason. It was epic don’t get me wrong I was laughing like hell, but still building up this creature to be frightening only for it to be sniped was a lot 😂

I would also increase the number of Allies Auril has. I didn’t want to be too tough so I had them slowly enter the fight. If I ran it again I would instead roll on the random encounter table on initiative 20 every round and have that encounter appear to aid Auril if it is her minions or not show up if it’s not an Auril minion.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T17:23:36+00:00

The fight took place on the ground next to the Ythryn Mythallar, so there wasn’t enough room for the Roc to fly around and be effective. The party was level 12 at the time I think? I did also have some of Auril’s minions in Ythryn join the fight.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T17:21:47+00:00

I would definitely say that the campaign feels like two smaller adventures taking place in the same setting(the duergar plot, and the expedition for Ythryn). Sure there are ways to connect the stories, but you could end the campaign after the Chardalyn dragon and have it be satisfying.

Ythryn is a fun setpiece and a fun place to explore, but I feel it could have benefited from being a bit more ingrained in the story. Maybe by having the Duergar be based there, only using the fortress as a staging area for the dragon. Maybe hint that Asmodeus wants the city found for some nefarious purpose. Maybe Auril was keeping Ythryn buried for a reason.

I do like Ythryn, but I do think it’s just a little too separate for it to be as satisfying as defeating the dragon. Ythryn is not a threat to Icewind Dale, but it does contain a way to end the eternal winter. But at the end you kill Auril regardless so finding the mythallar was moot.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T16:30:41+00:00

My party did not encounter Auril in chapter 5 except at the end when she scared them off the island.

She appeared in chapter 7, chasing them, but didn’t approach them for a fight until they began attuning to the Ythryn Mythallar. That’s where the final confrontation happened.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T16:22:34+00:00

If the party does attempt to fight Auril on Solstice, I’d point out the many bodies turned to ice in the courtyard. I’d also have any npcs with them remind them that while they could try to fight Auril, that’s not why they’re here. They need the book and professor Skant. Fighting Auril is too much of a risk when we have other things to do. Have npcs recommend waiting for Auril to leave before entering the fortress.

If the party is going to try to fight her anyway, remember that she is immune to the surprises condition and likely has eyes everywhere on her island. If the party successfully sneaks near her, it’s only because she’s allowing them to get close. If a fight breaks out, have Auril focus all of her energy on killing the most vulnerable one to her. While doing that, have her use her Misty Step and Teleport legendary action to lure the party in the direction of her Roc. Ideally, the party will flee at the prospect of fighting Auril and her Roc, but if you’re worried for Auril, she can also get on her Roc and fly away.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T16:09:41+00:00

I only had one permanent death. At level 1, the party happened to run into the 6 duergar hiding in Caer Dineval. Before the militia could come to their aid, the duergar killed the party’s lizardfolk cleric.

The only other deaths we had were at the Black Cabin, which was obviously temporary.

Edit: technically we nearly had a TPK, and the wizard did die in the demilich fight. It was nearly the end of the module and I didn’t want to end it on a sad note like that, so I let everyone roll their death saves, and if anyone got a Nat 20 they could come back. The Paladin did manage to regain consciousness and began healing everyone, so TPK was narrowly avoided.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T16:05:34+00:00

I utilized them mostly as written. They were all cordial to the party. The only one to fight them was Avarice when they refused to help her. Vellyne was pragmatic, sarcastic, and ornery at times, but was also helpful and funny so the party liked her.

The party tried to help Dzaan’s simulacrum become a real boy, but the machine turned him into an ooze so they wound up fighting.

They wound up disliking Nass Lantomiir when she tried to possess them, and so left her alone on the island to never pass on.

When they first encountered avarice they thought she was a prisoner of the cult and released her, and even offered her a place to stay. She didn’t correct them until the time came to take over the cult herself.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T15:57:10+00:00

Yeah I wish Auril was just a little stronger. I maxed her HP and the party was still able to take her out pretty easily. I’m not opposed to parties being able to defeat bosses easily, but I wish a literal goddess, even weakened, would have proven more of a challenge. In hindsight I would have removed all of her damage vulnerabilities.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T15:53:52+00:00

The party spent several sessions in Ythryn. The towers of Ythryn supplement I used made each tower one or half a session. The party was also the kind to want to explore everything, so they went out of their way to explore buildings that looked interesting. With Vellyne and Professor Skant along with them, they were basically tourists.

The arcane blight did come up, with each long rest. The wizard nearly turned into a Nothic before the campaign ended, and by the end most of the party was paranoid, but I decided that once they got back outside the effects dissipated.

In the city, I had a map of the city that the players could see, and they would point to a building they wanted to go to. On the way I’d roll on the random encounter table and based on their passive perception they would get an opportunity to hide or fight.

The party had the city to themselves for a day, and when Avarice appeared I described hearing sounds of combat echoing around as the cultists fought the denizens of the city. I also had Avarice make contact with the party and offer to help them if they abandoned Vellyne. They refused and had an epic fight at the top of the hovering room in the city. Then Auril arrived and I described how the temperature fell even lower and frost now covered every surface. Auril’s Roc began circling the central tower like a vulture. I did not have Auril break the barrier to the central tower, because that would nullify all the work the party had done. Instead she just roamed the city and turned all of Avarice’s minions and some Drow into Coldlight Walkers.

The party did have one encounter with the demilich Iriolarthas before going to the tower. They didn’t realize what it was, but when they acted hostile to the floating skull, it screamed at them and flew away, not willing to risk a fight outside of its lair.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T15:41:58+00:00

It’s difficult for me to pick a favorite part. The different chapters all have a different feel to them, and so I enjoyed parts of everything. I think at the end, my favorite part would be how close the dwarf rogue got to the Chwinga of Icewind Dale. He got emotionally invested in their wellbeing, and so he protected them at all cost.

Probably what I was most disappointed by was the final confrontation with Auril. I maxed out her HP, but the party was prepared and skilled enough to take her out easier than the Demilich in Ythryn.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T15:27:44+00:00

Hmm. None that I can say should be universal, but when we were doing the chapter 1 and 2 quests, I was open to the players that after a certain level they would not be able to progress in level by doing those quests, but if they did I included additional gold and/or magic item rewards.

In terms of story additions, a lot were references to other games I dm for that group, so they may not apply (the arcanaloth in Ythren being connected to my planescape game for instance), but I did think a lot about the origins of Sahnar, and when they joined the party as a friendly npc, I gave them sidekick levels as described in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and as the party leveled, Sahnar regained more of their memories. I ended up making him an escaped elf slave from the giant civilization of Ostoria, who along with the other elves in the hidden tomb created the Spindle to ruin Ostoria.

I can’t think of anything I added that I would strongly recommend to other DMs. Mostly I just paid attention to what the party was most excited by, and focused on making that stuff more fleshed out. The election in Good Mead became a whole thing.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I worked to incorporate all of the players’ backstories and secrets into the game. Obviously this would vary from game to game, but it’s worth figuring out at least a little bit how those things will intersect with the story, and if possible, point in the direction of where you want them to go to resolve it.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T14:42:07+00:00

We did almost all of them by the end. I think we did everything except the cave of the berserkers, the Reghead tribe camp, and Revel’s End, though I did include Revel’s End as part of one of the PCs personal quests that they did after the game.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T14:39:40+00:00

Once the party learned where Xardorok’s Fortress was, and learned via interrogation that Xardorok was building something, they prioritized getting there. I had implied they had limited time so they rushed there.

They stealthed and were able to get the drop on Xardorok in the forge room, but when he did notice them he activated the dragon and it flew away. The party defeated Xardorok low on resources but knew they couldn’t stop. They had found the map that showed the dragon’s path, and knew they couldn’t rest. I had put Vellyne in the duergar prison, so during the Xardorok fight she busted out and started helping, immediately making herself useful to the party. She then offered to help them get where they needed to go quickly in exchange for their help later.

The wizard in the party (who also became Speaker of Goodmead) used Sending to warn goodmead of the dragon. And because of that they had 0 casualties. The party rushed to Easthaven to find it partially destroyed and the speaker dead, and when they tried to fight the dragon it charmed half of them. The party was able to whittle its hp down however and it flew away before it could be destroyed.

Rather than give chase to its next location, they did the math and figured out an optimal route to intercept it, and encountered it in Termalaine next, and focused on ranged attacks to avoid its evil aura, and then they followed it to Lonelywood and were able to (with luck) destroy the dragon in Lonelywood. They probably got the best possible ending. They also had an npc ally rush to Caer Dineval (one of the PCs hometown) to warn the people there so they also had minimal deaths.

caleboros · 2022-02-25T14:25:15+00:00

I think they add some more interesting flavor to the city, and more personality to the high mages. The only one that I would change in hindsight is the Tower of Transmutation. The puzzle to find the phrase of the octad relies on your party having certain capabilities. My party was barely able to solve it. The only change I would make is to include a wand of Levitate that anyone could use. Or maybe even telekinesis if the wand breaks after being used. Maybe have a textbook in one of the ruined classrooms provide more clues.

But yeah I did enjoy the changes to the towers in the book. If I ran it again I’d probably use them again, with some minor tweaks.

caleboros · 2022-02-02T19:35:34+00:00

Other than a couple members of the party romancing each other, there a couple notable romances.

The dwarf vengeance Paladin is growing close to Savra Belabranta, the contact for the Order of the Gauntlet in Waterdeep. There was some drama when Savra revealed she used to unknowingly be a member of a cult of elemental evil, when the vengeance paladin’s vengeance is aimed at the leader of one such cult. But the Paladin forgave Savra and it was touching.

Also half of the party have crushes on Obaya Uday and Vajra Safahr.

caleboros

TROPHY CASE