Storm King's Thunder

[Klorox]

How is this? What level are characters expected to reach?

Are there any classes that would excel in this mod? Any that would be gimped or ineffective?

TIA

[RickAllison]

I haven't analyzed it in terms of class effectiveness (I don't have my copy yet), but I saw a flowchart from it that explained the preferred milestone leveling and it went to 10.

[PeteNutButter]

I haven't analyzed it in terms of class effectiveness (I don't have my copy yet), but I saw a flowchart from it that explained the preferred milestone leveling and it went to 10.

Whats with all these levels above 10 in the phb and every mod released can't get past the awkward tweeny stage?

[R.Shackleford]

How is this? What level are characters expected to reach?

Are there any classes that would excel in this mod? Any that would be gimped or ineffective?

TIA

I've seen good online reviews but I haven't heard a single person, in real life, say that it's worth full price.

Might want to wait till you get a discounted copy.

[Gastronomie]

Whats with all these levels above 10 in the phb and every mod released can't get past the awkward tweeny stage?I honestly hope they someday introduce an adventure that goes from 10th to 20th level or something.

[R.Shackleford]

I honestly hope they someday introduce an adventure that goes from 10th to 20th level or something.

I hope they actually introduce levels 11 to 20 that were well thought out and crafted to actually be part of the game and not just placeholders to make people think this is a 1 - 20 level game.

[RickAllison]

I honestly hope they someday introduce an adventure that goes from 10th to 20th level or something.

I really want to set up something that combines all the campaigns into one glorious campaign to level 20! I'm imagining the beginning of OotA until a point where the adventure stabilizes, then throwing the party headlong into CoS through a mysterious fog bank. Carefully, the party maneuvers their way through Strahd's intrigue as they are rather underleveled for his final confrontation, then they attain victory and find themselves on the surface.

Everything is now in hell and it looks like the apocalypse itself is coming. The elements are ripping across the planet, giants are vying for prestige in response to the shattering of the ordning (we will take HotDQ as causing that catastrophe somehow, so we don't have to play through that :smallbiggrin:), dragon cultists are still trying to do something awful, and the party very much remembers the chaos going down below the surface.

I imagine the final confrontation being a glorious massacre as Tiamat gathers the great villains with subterfuge or promise of power. The PCs must gather allies to take on a god, several demon lords (or the one who survives), Maegera, and the Elemental Princes.

I may be too ambitious.

[Sigreid]

I really want to set up something that combines all the campaigns into one glorious campaign to level 20! I'm imagining the beginning of OotA until a point where the adventure stabilizes, then throwing the party headlong into CoS through a mysterious fog bank. Carefully, the party maneuvers their way through Strahd's intrigue as they are rather underleveled for his final confrontation, then they attain victory and find themselves on the surface.

Everything is now in hell and it looks like the apocalypse itself is coming. The elements are ripping across the planet, giants are vying for prestige in response to the shattering of the ordning (we will take HotDQ as causing that catastrophe somehow, so we don't have to play through that :smallbiggrin:), dragon cultists are still trying to do something awful, and the party very much remembers the chaos going down below the surface.

I imagine the final confrontation being a glorious massacre as Tiamat gathers the great villains with subterfuge or promise of power. The PCs must gather allies to take on a god, several demon lords (or the one who survives), Maegera, and the Elemental Princes.

I may be too ambitious.

I would suggest a Compromise. When they get out of the Underdark, they find that the demon lords efforts they find themselves in Ravenloft. Upon defeating Strahd and returning to the surface world, expecting some R&R, they find that the demon lords had weakened the veil between plains, and seeing an opening Tiamat and the elemental lords start a free for all running headlong for the big prize of the mortal world. In response to this, the high god of the giants shattered the ordining to get his children off their lazy behinds. Let the players chase the leads that they want, and tell them the news they hear from the other stuff.

[Anonymouswizard]

Whats with all these levels above 10 in the phb and every mod released can't get past the awkward tweeny stage?

Long story short, D&D has always been a roughly 10 level game. The later levels just aren't as well balanced or thought out as levels 1-10.

Also, there's at least some evidence to suggest that levels 1-10 are the most popular range to play. Not that high level play isn't awesome, but most people prefer their normal warriors and mystical wizards. So it makes sense that WotC would focus on it.

[R.Shackleford]

Long story short, D&D has always been a roughly 10 level game. The later levels just aren't as well balanced or thought out as levels 1-10.

Also, there's at least some evidence to suggest that levels 1-10 are the most popular range to play. Not that high level play isn't awesome, but most people prefer their normal warriors and mystical wizards. So it makes sense that WotC would focus on it.

Except for 3.5 and 4e, then it was a level 20 and level 30 game

[Grod_The_Giant]

Except for 3.5 and 4e, then it was a level 20 and level 30 game
3.5 started to seriously fall apart around 10th, was I think his point, though 4e was the same game from 1-30. I'll generally agree with you that 5e upper levels look under-designed, though I haven't played them at all. It's ultimately a bounded accuracy issue, I think-- they feel like they can't put anything really impressive in there because it takes you too far away from kobolds still being a threat. Even casters fall to a slower progression, though of course they keep getting stronger and stronger spells. It's kind of irksome, I suppose, but I don't think I'd ever want to use D&D for a high-power fantasy game-- I'd go to Mutants and Masterminds or Exalted or something designed for that.

[Finieous]

I hope they actually introduce levels 11 to 20 that were well thought out and crafted to actually be part of the game and not just placeholders to make people think this is a 1 - 20 level game.

This is an odd comment. My first full 5e campaign as a player went into 18th level. The game I'm DMing is at 10th level after 20 sessions (started at 3rd level) and is hitting its stride. 5e runs great in the teens, in my experience.

It is harder to develop published adventures for higher levels, though. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I'll focus on two. First, high-level parties have a lot of options for approaching and resolving problems. (One "solution" is to say "every problem is a nail" and just give all characters hammers with a predictable increase in percussive impact...) However, the DM knows his particular party and shouldn't have any difficulty with presenting situations and problems well-suited to their capabilities and proclivities. On the other side of the coin, because the DM knows his party, he can easily confront them with situations that take them outside their comfort zone. Both are good, both are difficult in a published adventure.

Second, many players get restless and start itching for new characters and story-lines, so you probably limit your audience with high-level adventures. And of course, if you can sell two 1-10 campaign books rather than one 1-20 campaign book that takes twice as long to play, that probably looks pretty smart from a business perspective as well.

TL;DR I haven't played in or run any of the published adventures or campaigns, but I can say from personal experience that 5e plays great at high level.

[R.Shackleford]

3.5 started to seriously fall apart around 10th, was I think his point, though 4e was the same game from 1-30. I'll generally agree with you that 5e upper levels look under-designed, though I haven't played them at all. It's ultimately a bounded accuracy issue, I think-- they feel like they can't put anything really impressive in there because it takes you too far away from kobolds still being a threat. Even casters fall to a slower progression, though of course they keep getting stronger and stronger spells. It's kind of irksome, I suppose, but I don't think I'd ever want to use D&D for a high-power fantasy game-- I'd go to Mutants and Masterminds or Exalted or something designed for that.

The game fell apart because some classes were severely unbalanced versus the game. The issue wasn't the game itself but those classes. Play a tier 3 (+/- 1 tier based on Optimization) game and 3.5 works on all levels.

For all of people's complaining... Splat books made 3.5 better. The part of the game that made the game broken past level 8, on both sides of the spectrum (high tier and looow tier), can be phased out of the game and you can have a 1 - 20 experience without having all the problems of wizards, clerics, and bears druids (oh my!). Edit: But still have vancian spellcasting/spellcasters.

3e may not have started as a level 1 - 20 game, but it definately got there.

This may have been one of SpawnofMorbo's games but... I really loved the condensed 4e. Where you put heroic, paragon, and epic all in levels 1 - 10 and then allow players to level up as you see fit. It worked out pretty fricken well and was a lot of fun :). Normal 4e is still a level 1-30 game, but I think that worked out better.

I play/DM high level 5e a lot and I can say... A lot of the high level features for classes and stuff just don't cut it. They don't seem well thought out and a lot of the time it is just levels 1 - 10 "again".

Look at each class's capstone and please tell me how each of these could ever be considered balanced or even deserving of high level (looking at you Ranger) :smallconfused:.

[Dalebert]

I understand that AL is releasing tier 3 and tier 4 modules this season.

[R.Shackleford]

I understand that AL is releasing tier 3 and tier 4 modules this season.

Yeah, but it's AL so... yeah there's that :smallannoyed:

I guess if you grab those adventures and do some work to them they might be decent.

[Anonymouswizard]

3.5 started to seriously fall apart around 10th, was I think his point, though 4e was the same game from 1-30.

Yep, although I'd argue that levels 11-20 are the most interesting part of 5e. If I ever try to make a fantasy heartbreaker again I'll be doing a 10 level 4e and give characters the equivalent of a paragon path. Spoiler if you want more information.


I'll generally agree with you that 5e upper levels look under-designed, though I haven't played them at all. It's ultimately a bounded accuracy issue, I think-- they feel like they can't put anything really impressive in there because it takes you too far away from kobolds still being a threat. Even casters fall to a slower progression, though of course they keep getting stronger and stronger spells. It's kind of irksome, I suppose, but I don't think I'd ever want to use D&D for a high-power fantasy game-- I'd go to Mutants and Masterminds or Exalted or something designed for that.

I'm agreeing here, although I'd personally pick Anima: Beyond Fantasy (which assumes most warriors will have some Ki powers).

[Quintessence]

I honestly hope they someday introduce an adventure that goes from 10th to 20th level or something.

At least HotDQ goes to around 15 :D

[clem]

Any word as to whether they'll be character options in Storm King's Thunder, like the background provided by Curse of Strahd?

[RickAllison]

Any word as to whether they'll be character options in Storm King's Thunder, like the background provided by Curse of Strahd?

Depends what you mean by character options. Druids will be happy with new beast options (I've heard that the Crag Cat was shaping up to be a really good Wild Shape!), wizards get a new familiar option (Tressym, tiny and CR 0 beast specifically created to be a wizard's familiar; more utilitarian than an owl, but far less useful for administering spells or Helping so it balances out), and there are some new magic items if your DM lets you pick. I think that's about it.

[rhouck]

I haven't analyzed it in terms of class effectiveness (I don't have my copy yet), but I saw a flowchart from it that explained the preferred milestone leveling and it went to 10.

FYI the book also suggests (on p.224) that the players may want to gain additional levels before engaging the BBEG and gives guidance on what else to do (all within the book) to get up to 12th level. (sorry I'm being vague, want to avoid spoilers and I just picked up my copy yesterday)

Still not 15th or 20th level, but at least allows for a taste of T3. I haven't had a chance to read through completely yet, but I suspect it would be easy enough to scale up encounters to make it challenging for characters hitting the upper end of T3.

[RickAllison]

FYI the book also suggests (on p.224) that the players may want to gain additional levels before engaging the BBEG and gives guidance on what else to do (all within the book) to get up to 12th level. (sorry I'm being vague, want to avoid spoilers and I just picked up my copy yesterday)

Still not 15th or 20th level, but at least allows for a taste of T3. I haven't had a chance to read through completely yet, but I suspect it would be easy enough to scale up encounters to make it challenging for characters hitting the upper end of T3.

Not to mention that refusing to give magic weapons to the party could well result in decent challenges from the book up into high levels.

CoughMaegeraCough

[clem]

wizards get a new familiar option (Tressym, tiny and CR 0 beast specifically created to be a wizard's familiar; more utilitarian than an owl, but far less useful for administering spells or Helping so it balances out)

Sounds like a must have for the arcane trickster -- I'm taking one as soon as Adventurer's League allows it.

[2D8HP]

http://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/styles/products_thumbnail/public/images/product/SKT_Book_0.png?itok=macj1D1W

I picked it up yesterday and I haven't had much time to check it out yet, so I have only a few short impressions so far:
1) It's a DM's book. There's lot's of "Gazetter" type information about "The North", but it's more for designing encounters, not PC backgrounds. I'd actually say that it has the least number of PC options of any 5e book WotC has yet published.
2) It runs from levels 1 through 10, but it has options for starting at level 5 after running levels 1 to 4 in Lost Mine of Phandelver, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Princes of the Apocalypse, or Out of the Abyss (but not Curse of Strahd).
3) So many pretty pictures!

[Thrudd]

http://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/styles/products_thumbnail/public/images/product/SKT_Book_0.png?itok=macj1D1W

I picked it up yesterday and I haven't had much time to check it out yet, so I have only a few short impressions so far:
1) It's a DM's book. There's lot's of "Gazetter" type information about "The North", but it's more for designing encounters, not PC backgrounds. I'd actually say that it has the least number of PC options of any 5e book WotC has yet published.
2) It runs from levels 1 through 10, but it has options for starting at level 5 after running levels 1 to 4 in Lost Mine of Phandelver, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Princes of the Apocalypse, or Out of the Abyss (but not Curse of Strahd).
3) So many pretty pictures!

Every adventure path/module is a DM book, isn't it? Players can't read the adventure before they've played it! Unless it's a book split into two parts, one player section and one DM only section, an adventure should not be read by any player that ever wants to play in it.

[Discord]

I'm in love with the new Tressym familiar option. My Wizard I am going to start playing on Tuesdays was going to have a Raven because it made sense, since he is an Illusion Wizard, but this is almost to tempting not to take.

[Sigreid]

I'm in love with the new Tressym familiar option. My Wizard I am going to start playing on Tuesdays was going to have a Raven because it made sense, since he is an Illusion Wizard, but this is almost to tempting not to take.

RAW, every time you re-cast find familiar you can choose it's form. So, there's that.

[Discord]

RAW, every time you re-cast find familiar you can choose it's form. So, there's that.

True, but 10GP is a lot to an Adventurer who was just given 50GP to stock up to transport a wagon to another city. :P, more than likely since I like this Tressym so much I will probably get one.

[R.Shackleford]

True, but 10GP is a lot to an Adventurer who was just given 50GP to stock up to transport a wagon to another city. :P, more than likely since I like this Tressym so much I will probably get one.

Yeah, but what else are you going to use your money on? I mean, there really aren't all that many spells you need/want (unless you are just a collector) and like... There really isn't much to use your money on (I actually miss magic item marts, I think the concept can work when you don't have +attack/+damage weapons and boring things like that).

[Discord]

Yeah, but what else are you going to use your money on? I mean, there really aren't all that many spells you need/want (unless you are just a collector) and like... There really isn't much to use your money on (I actually miss magic item marts, I think the concept can work when you don't have +attack/+damage weapons and boring things like that).

This is also true, as a Wizard I don't have a terrible need for items, however my character may be a bit of a collector for spells. Currently I have challenged myself and taken no damaging Cantrips / Spells (Besides Phantasmal Force). With my 50GP, I am going to use 10 of it to cast my Find Familiar, and perhaps pick up a Bow of some sort or a Short Sword, since I have an 18 Dex (we rolled for stats) that will assist me a bit if enemies choose to get into melee with me.

The DM awards creativity, I've posted some ideas over in another thread called, "Illusionist Tricks" where I've showed some good spell combos.

[R.Shackleford]

This is also true, as a Wizard I don't have a terrible need for items, however my character may be a bit of a collector for spells. Currently I have challenged myself and taken no damaging Cantrips / Spells (Besides Phantasmal Force). With my 50GP, I am going to use 10 of it to cast my Find Familiar, and perhaps pick up a Bow of some sort or a Short Sword, since I have an 18 Dex (we rolled for stats) that will assist me a bit if enemies choose to get into melee with me.

The DM awards creativity, I've posted some ideas over in another thread called, "Illusionist Tricks" where I've showed some good spell combos.


Please tell me your ally has Hex? Phantasmal Force + Hex is hilarious.

Hex works on Int ability checks, which to defend from is an Investigation check.

[Discord]

Please tell me your ally has Hex? Phantasmal Force + Hex is hilarious.

Hex works on Int ability checks, which to defend from is an Investigation check.

Wow... I never thought of the combo, unfortunately no. We have a Half-Orc War Cleric, Fire Gensai Eldritch Knight, Wood Elf Spell-less Ranger 2 / Rogue 1, and myself a High Elf Illusionist Wizard. I suppose I could always take Magic Initiate at Level 4 for Hex. But my Wisdom is 15 and my Int 17, so I am considering buffing those both to 16 / 18.

Although I've talked to my DM a lot about Keen Mind feat as well for that +1 to Int with some other useful abilities. He told me he'd let it help me with my Illusions, asking him some questions like if I could Minor Illusion a page in my spell book and memorize my spells like that and he said yes. Along with spells like Illusory Text + Malleable Illusions would let me modify the text on a scroll to say whatever I want (like forging official documentation I saw before since I'd have the Keen Mind feat)

So it's a hard decision between Keen Mind usefulness and the +1 Wis, +1 Int.

[R.Shackleford]

Wow... I never thought of the combo, unfortunately no. We have a Half-Orc War Cleric, Fire Gensai Eldritch Knight, Wood Elf Spell-less Ranger 2 / Rogue 1, and myself a High Elf Illusionist Wizard. I suppose I could always take Magic Initiate at Level 4 for Hex. But my Wisdom is 15 and my Int 17, so I am considering buffing those both to 16 / 18.

Although I've talked to my DM a lot about Keen Mind feat as well for that +1 to Int with some other useful abilities. He told me he'd let it help me with my Illusions, asking him some questions like if I could Minor Illusion a page in my spell book and memorize my spells like that and he said yes. Along with spells like Illusory Text + Malleable Illusions would let me modify the text on a scroll to say whatever I want (like forging official documentation I saw before since I'd have the Keen Mind feat)

So it's a hard decision between Keen Mind usefulness and the +1 Wis, +1 Int.

Hex is concentration so don't take it yourself. Teamwork!

Yeah, illusionist wizards don't even need a spellbook, always loved that combo.

This may sound weird but Knowledge Cleric could be a big help for your illusions. Being able to find out what a creature's fear is by using channel divinity? Hehehe...

[Discord]

Hex is concentration so don't take it yourself. Teamwork!

Yeah, illusionist wizards don't even need a spellbook, always loved that combo.

This may sound weird but Knowledge Cleric could be a big help for your illusions. Being able to find out what a creature's fear is by using channel divinity? Hehehe...

Ah yes Hex is a con I forgot.

I mean the Knowledge Cleric Channel Divinity works identically to the Detect Thoughts spell as far as I can see. So I could just pick up the spell just as easily although wouldnt have much battlefield use at least not during.

[krunchyfrogg]

I heard people with the Uthgardt background might get a little extra action.

[RickAllison]

I heard people with the Uthgardt background might get a little extra action.

I had seen some scanned pages where they went in-depth on the various tribes and their power structure. Not much of a mechanical impact (unless that is just on a page I haven't seen), but great for background and pulling it into the story.

[R.Shackleford]

Ah yes Hex is a con I forgot.

I mean the Knowledge Cleric Channel Divinity works identically to the Detect Thoughts spell as far as I can see. So I could just pick up the spell just as easily although wouldnt have much battlefield use at least not during.

Channel Divinity essentially gives you additional spell slots per short rest :).

[Gwendol]

The first chapter (designed to bring chars up to level 5) is available for free on the DMGuild: http://www.dmsguild.com/product/189150/DDIA05-Storm-Kings-Thunder-A-Great-Upheaveal-5e?src=newest_in_al

Not sure if it has been noted elsewhere?

[Gastronomie]

The first chapter (designed to bring chars up to level 5) is available for free on the DMGuild: http://www.dmsguild.com/product/189150/DDIA05-Storm-Kings-Thunder-A-Great-Upheaveal-5e?src=newest_in_al

Not sure if it has been noted elsewhere?Now that is cool. Thanks~~

[mgshamster]

Fairly detailed review over here, with some spoilers (and appropriate warnings):

http://www.nerdsourced.com/storm-kings-thunder-review/

[Klorox]

I've been texting my DM, he told me to just bring a level 5 character for the next game I can make.

After reading this, I assume the other party members will be playing through the first part, and I'll just meet up later.

What's good for me is I like to have balanced parties. If I'm joining up later, I'll have a better idea on what holes to fill. 😊👍

[EvilAnagram]

I'm really enjoying playing in this so far.

Spoiler:

At the FLGS, my table managed to defeat a horde of twenty orcs at second level thanks to some clever strategies, and I enjoy when well-designed encounters allow you to think creatively to accomplish difficult tasks.

[mgshamster]

I'm really enjoying playing in this so far.

Spoiler:

At the FLGS, my table managed to defeat a horde of twenty orcs at second level thanks to some clever strategies, and I enjoy when well-designed encounters allow you to think creatively to accomplish difficult tasks.

Can you tell me as much about that battle as you can? I'm curious to how well it matches the book (and if it doesn't, I want to copy it).

[EvilAnagram]

Can you tell me as much about that battle as you can? I'm curious to how well it matches the book (and if it doesn't, I want to copy it).

Our party mostly consisted of Goliaths, our backstory being that we were a wandering tribe. We were a Ranger, Sorcerer, Paladin, Rogue, and three Barbarians. It was a seven-person party, but it's still a deadly encounter, and the table next to us failed with just as many players. The first day we got into town, we cut the bell out of the steeple tower and used our Goliath strength to hurl it at goblins the entire time.

I recognized the war horns of the orcs pretty quickly (orcs are my favored enemy), so we had some time to prepare. We managed to find a few vials of oil searching the town's general store, and we spread it across the bridge. We left the drawbridge down so we could funnel them, and then we piled up some cover and hid.

As the first few orcs charged across, we unleashed a torrent of ranged attacks in a surprise round. I used Hail of Thorns, the Sorcerer used Firebolt, the Rogue used her Dragonborn Acid breath, two of the others threw the bell (10'x10' AoE that dealt 2d6 damage), and two Barbarians threw javelins. At the end of the that, we'd killed five orcs and completely cut the others off.

At the start of initiative, the Orc Chieftain knocked the bell into the water, so we killed the last orc on the bridge and threw the entire round's worth of damage at the chieftain. one of the Barbarians stupidly ran onto the bridge, so when another half-dozen orcs charged onto the bridge she got her ass swarmed. When the Sorcerer cast Chromatic orb at the Chieftain, he surged... badly. Every round a new thing happened.

End of round 1: six dead orcs, one wounded chieftain, six perfectly safe players, and one impulsively injured Barbarian. The Sorcerer grew and then lost hair.

Round 2 started with the chieftain buffing his allies and knocking out the Barbarian. Another Hail of Thorns, the Paladin healed the Barbarian, who made it back to the right side of the oil section, and the rest of us unloaded, killing the Chieftain and unleashing another Hail of Thorns on the orcs behind him. The Sorcerer prepared an action to cast Firebolt when the orcs made it to the oil, lighting them up as they surged forward. The Eye of Gruumsh cast Spirit Weapon and threw a javelin, and the other orcs cut with blades, threw javelins, or died as they ran into fires.

End of Round 2: Dead Chieftain, 10 dead grunts, perfectly safe Eye, fairly okay party, the Sorcerer was shouting.

Round three started with the party slaughtering the front ranks of orcs and backing up our center in a classic Marathon move. The Sorcerer cast Sleep, taking down two orcs. The Eye of Gruumsh used Create Water to extinguish the flames, then more grunts surged across. The rolls were in our favor that round, but Stone's Endurance saw much use.

End of Round 3: 1 dead Chieftain, 2 Sleeping Orcs, 14 dead grunts, 1 Eye of Gruumsh. The Sorcerer gave everyone within 30' of him immunity to piercing, but no one was within 30' of him.

Round 4 was the mop-up round. We slaughtered the four standing grunts, then swarmed the Eye of Gruumsh, who fought on to be killed after a whole round of attacks in round 5. The Sorcerer cast a Chromatic Orb and Fireballed himself (and survived).

So we had quite a few things going for us: we fashioned our own cover, set up a trap, used a silly AoE to cut off a contingent of orcs, and had two extra tanks.

EDIT: I suppose we could have tried convincing some of the NPCs to help us out, but we didn't. That could have been up to five more crossbow shots per round. Even for a standard sized party, there are enough ways to squeeze out tactical advantages to make it work. Even falling back into the town and using guerilla tactics to isolate and kill small groups of orcs isn't a terrible strategy if you don't have any AoEs.

[Klorox]

I'm not going to quote you, EvilAnagram, but that's awesome.

[Ryuu Hayato]

Any new magic item? Someone can post about magic items' effect?

[Ryuu Hayato]

no one? :smallfrown:

[Mandarblade]

So my group took a much less direct approach of dealing with the orcs than evilanagrams group.

(Deception and Insight checks are being rolled throughout this whole ordeal and the orcs are failing hard)

When the orcs showed up the DM had them send out scouting parties around the city instead of frontal assaults. My crew lined up and hid around the raised draw bridge while the NPCs went off to other parts of the city. Our party has a half-orc barbarian that thought it would be funny to play some head games with the orcs so instead of shooting at them right away he claimed to have made his way inside already and offered to lower the draw bridge to let the first 4 orc scouts in. We lowered the draw bridge and let the half-orc be the first one they saw. He invited them across and as soon as they crossed the bridge we descended on them like a pack of wolves and destroyed them quickly. Hiding their mangled corpses out of view of the bridge.

Next came another scouting party of 3 orcs wondering what happened to the first 4, our half-orc had taken up position on the bridge acting injured and requesting help after being "ambushed". The orcs seem hesitant but believe him enough to send one to seek reinforcements leaving two behind which approach onto the bridge. At this point my monk charges headlong out of the town to crush one, the barbarian turns to hit the other and remainder of our party using ranged attacks finish them off with damage to spare. These orcs get dumped into the moat/river which, after a few checks by the DM, is luckily flowing away from the main horde.

Monk retreats back into the town, others duck on battlements, and the barbarian stays on the bridge hoping to pull off the same trick. This time the second in command is with them and has two others with her, but she is far more suspicious. Sensing the jig was up my monk charges headlong across the bridge again and combat ensues with ranged support and a tempest cleric that decides it is time for a maximized thunderwave so works his way across the bridge into melee to deliver the final blow to those 3 around round 2 or 3. Meanwhile the NPCs had killed off 2 other scouts from range elsewhere around town bringing the kill count to 11 meaning the condition was met for the Chief to rally the rest of his troops and leave.

We discovered at the end of the night that had the combat lasted another round or two the DM was going to have the Chief and another 5 orcs flank us from behind having entered where the bridge to the keep had been destroyed.

So we lucked out and had some laughs at the poor orcs expense, but just shows language proficiency and a little luck can play havoc with an enemies plans.

[EvilAnagram]

snip

Awesome! It just goes to show there's more than one way to skin an orc.

But no one will ever buy the pelt. :(

[Temperjoke]

Awesome! It just goes to show there's more than one way to skin an orc.

But no one will ever buy the pelt. :(

That's because you keep trying to sell it in Waterdeep, when you should try Skullport. :smallamused:

[Temperjoke]

Any new magic item? Someone can post about magic items' effect?

They don't really add any "new" magic items, except for the rune-imbued items which have powers, some of which can be permanently transferred to things like weapons, armor, locations, etc. But there's a variety of them and they're not that obvious for the most part, unless your party goes looking for them, nor are the items necessary for the story.

[2D8HP]

Any new magic item? Someone can post about magic items' effect?


BANNER OF THE ORIGINAL RUNE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

Crafted from a thick, red fabric, this banner measures 5 feet high and 3 feet wide. The Kris (war) rune is displayed on the fabric with round, metal plates sewn into it. It can be attached to a 10-foot pole to serve as a standard. Fueling or unfurling the banner requires an action. The banner has the following properties.
Crafted from a thick, red fabric, this banner measures 5 feet high and 3 feet wide. The Kris (war) rune is displayed on the fabric with round, metal plates sewn into it. It can be attached to a 10-foot pole to serve as a standard. Fueling or unfurling the banner requires an action. The banner has the following properties.
Mark of Courage

Sentinel Standard

Standards Shield

Gift of Battle

BLOD STONE
Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement)
This diamond contains the blood of a creature-blood that appears in the form of the blod (blood) rune. While the item is on your person, you can use your action to divine the location of the creature nearest to you that is related to the blood in the item and that isn't undead.






CLAW OF THE WYRM RUNE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)









CONCH OF TELEPORTATION
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)







GAVEL OF THE VENN RUNE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)







GURT'S GREATAXE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)







INGOT OF THE SKOLD RUNE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)







KOROLNOR SCEPTER
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)







NAVIGATION ORB
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)







OPAL OF THE ILD RUNE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)







OPAL OF THE STEIN RUNE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)








PENNANT OF THE VIN RUNE
Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement)





POTION OF GIANT SIZE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)







ROBE OF SERPENTS
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)

A robe of serpents is a stylish silk garment that is popular among wealthy nobles and retired assassins. The robe is emblazoned with 1d4 + 3:stylized serpents, all brightly colored.
As a bonus action on your turn, you can transform one of the robe's serpents into a giant poisonous snake.
The snake instantly falls from the robe, slithers into an unoccupied space next to you, and acts on your initiative count. The snake can tell friendly creatures from hostile ones and attacks the latter. The snake disappears in a harmless puff after 1 hour, when it drops to 0 hit points, or when you dismiss it (no action required).
Once detached, a snake can't return to the robe. When all of the robe's snakes have detached, the robe becomes a nonmagical garment.



ROD OF THE VONINDOD
Rod, rare (requires attunement)
The fire giant duke Alto hired a wizard to craft several of these adamantine rods. Each measures 4 feet long, weighs 100 pounds, and is sized to fit comfortably in a fire giant's hand. The rod has two prongs at one end a molded handle grip on the opposite end.
The rod has 10 charges and regains 1d6+4 of its expended charges daily at dawn. As an action, you can grasp it by the handle and expend 1 charge to cast the locate object spell from it. When the rod is used to detect objects made of adamantine, such as fragments of the Vomited construct, its range increases to 10 miles.


SHARD OF THE ISE RUNE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)












WYRMSKULL THRONE
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)














Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)












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Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)