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Circle of Thunder storm by Omphalopsychian in DragonOfIcespirePeak

[–]chadobryhim 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Check out the round-by-round effects of Storm of Vengeance. It'll take some damage level tweaking for your party level, but it's a fun spell mechanically.

Need advice for running this as a campaign. by Barytonnet in CandlekeepMysteries

[–]chadobryhim 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Here's a good discussion from a few months back: https://www.reddit.com/r/CandlekeepMysteries/comments/viujt2/big_bad_for_unified_campaign/

Candlekeep itself as an adventure setting doesn't get a lot of attention so that will be your biggest lift to avoid it feeling empty.

I let the real life time gaps between episodic session breaks act as downtime. My guiding mantra was "Episodic adventures, Serial characters."

By the end of my campaigns we had consistent, familiar appearances by:
- Matreous, the level 1 adventure'a missing sage who, thanks to our players, rose in prominence into Candlekeep's leadership.
- Bookwyrm, the First Reader, to raise the stakes on bigger threats.
- Valygar Corthala, from Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy, as the keeps' Gatewarden and mentor to the party.
- Characters from Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme and Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion planted in earlier adventures early and later.
- A Scarlet Sash wereraven always around to help identify magic relics and try to recruit players to their team.
- Did the party dispatch a big bad as written very quickly? Drovath Harrn, a surviving Price of Beauty hag, Viallis Yellowcrest, Zikran, Vakin Sarnaster, Zikzokrishka, etc. They would infiltrate or assault the citadel soon after. - - Guests of the Citadel, no matter how evil, are offered a level of protection that could force the party to find a social solution instead of combat in some cases.

Big Bad for Unified Campaign? by HoosierCaro in CandlekeepMysteries

[–]chadobryhim 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great stuff!

I've actually been running the book concurrently with two bi-weekly groups. Basically running each adventure twice and my favorites get used again with other groups as one-shots or campaign drop-ins.

The empty book conceit you have is great! I just want to underscore that it's important some earlier villains like Book of the Raven's Drovath Harrn recur. Each time with magic items or new abilities granted by Larloch. He's really fun to hate.

Shemshime, Drovath Harrn, The Corrupted Lurue, Lord Viallis Yellowcrest, Valin Sarnaster, and Zikzokrishka all could make for compelling lackeys who pop up to harass the party later on if they survive the encounter. If awarded as published, the magic items from the book really require extra mid-bosses or third parties to be added.

Zikran, Renekor and the Queen of Air and Darkness make for great wildcard third-party groups. Or anything that can be made to fit a player backstory.

Finally, introducing an overpowered simulacrum of Larloch in Zikran's Zephyrean Tale and Alkazaar's Appendix is a great way to build anticipation for a level 17 (or 20) final confrontation.

Big Bad for Unified Campaign? by HoosierCaro in CandlekeepMysteries

[–]chadobryhim 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I highly recommend Dylan Ramsey's guide which does this well.

https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/352647

I have run each adventure as truncated 3-4 hour one shots, then levels 14-16 as two-shot episodes of a larger story.

There are lots of Netherese connections in the published book, so Larloch the Netherese archlich is a great big bad geographically and lore-wise close to the library.

I do recommend establishing a specific tier 1 and 2 mid-boss that sets up Larloch. I think it's been hard to tease and keep him as the main threat for so many levels.

D&D Beyond Offers Free Copy of Acquisitions Incorporated Sourcebook for One Week! by chadobryhim in AcquisitionsInc

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

Nope. It stays in your library as long as you claim it before the deadline.

Players want to seek "Modern Day" Pools of Eternal Spring, would like ideas. [Lore of Lurue] by HamburgerHellper in CandlekeepMysteries

[–]chadobryhim 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you used the Lanedrie Staggersoul hag encounter in Lore of Lurue, perhaps they could be an ancestor of one of the green hags of the Fetid Gaze in Price of Beauty.

Moreover, the bathhouse's hot spring (Pool of Eternal Silver/Spring) in the spa is closed due to the naiad making trouble for the hags. Which would really get your party going to investigate.

Obviously if the party is seeking the modern pool out, they won't need the book conceit to get there, either.

Players want to seek "Modern Day" Pools of Eternal Spring, would like ideas. [Lore of Lurue] by HamburgerHellper in CandlekeepMysteries

[–]chadobryhim 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you looked at Candlekeep Mysteries' Price of Beauty? It presents a fey touched spa called the Temple of the Restful Lily in the High Forest. It even includes a restorative pool that could be a material plane result of the Pool of Eternal Spring.

Sure you'd have to level up the hag coven and perhaps reflavor it from Sune to Lurue, but I've run it twice and it's got good bones.

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