One Step Two
2017-08-17, 06:35 PM
Hello Playgrounders, it's once again my great pleasure to run a 3.5 for my gaming group, so I decided that I wanted to create a thread that is a mixture of my DM planning notes to help me keep track of things, a campaign journal, as well as a sounding board (pun totally intended) for ideas that if anyone on the forum would like to comment on or provide feedback if they feel some of my ideas are too far-fetched.
So I decided to pick up an old game we had set in Faerûn. Incidentally, if a Paladin by the name of Sir Pyronious Eventide rings a bell, then you are a member of my gaming group, which means you should stop reading now.
This story diverts from the canon story line of the Forgotten Realms, I have the precise dates and campaign notes on my old laptop hard drive which I will need to get out of storage, so what I am writing now is from memory more than anything, updates with exact details to follow.
Sir Pyronious and his associates, aided in bringing to an end a civil war among the elf nobility in Silverymoon after the mysterious disappearance of Alustriel. This civil war was revealed to be perpetuated, though not instigated, by Fey'ri belonging to the forsaken House Dlardrageth, who used the initial civil disagreement between the nobility to sow chaos, so that they could carve out some lands for themselves in the aftermath.
The campaign ended with the War being brought to a close once the Fey'ri were scattered after their leadership was dissolved. I mentioned that there will be trials at the end of the war for the head of each house and any commanders responsible for any war crimes, and this is where we will be beginning the new campaign.
If anyone would like more details, please let me know.
The contents of the trial for the party will revolve around this incident:
In the twilight of the civil war, Sir Pyronious's detect-and-smite attitude was used against him, as the Fey'ri who had survived such actions created magical tokens which made a few key non-evil commanders of the various Elf forces detect as evil. The result of such a ploy caused Pyronious to break a peace bond when entering an elven war camp, as he not only attacked commander, but it led to Kevar, the party Sorcerer working under Pyronious's command, to launch a fireball at the warriors in the camp without any provocation save that the party paladin detected 'evil' on the commander.
The trial that Sir Pyronious and his comrades face is merely the framework to have them sent on their current adventure, as an NPC they are familiar with called Vardus, an eccentric wizard, will intercede on their behalf. Vardus will offer for the group to take on a penance mission by sending them into a dangerous dungeon to retrieve relics some, two that he wishes to study in detail, and one belonging to the dwarves who are are over-seeing the trials.
The Dungeon?
None other than the Deadly, White Plume Mountain. (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051207a) An archive link for the module found here (http://web.archive.org/web/20090602052001/http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/WhitePlumeMountainRevised.zip).
For those not familiar with the Module, the original White Plume Mountain was one of Four AD&D modules that were compiled into a set called the Realms of Horror, four of the most dangerous modules in the game: The Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, Expedition to Barrier Peaks, and The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. A Book I have the great pleasure of owning, and have wanted to use for some time. Learning of a 3.5 conversion of White Plume Mountain, I could not resist.
White Plume Mountain is found in Greyhawk normally, so to suit the Forgotten Realms geographically, I am placing this dungeon in the south-eastern part of The East Wall Mountains in Halruua, just north of Rethild (The Great Swamp), which suits the terrain around White Plume Mountain.
The Relics? Three powerful intelligent weapons known as Whelm, Wave, and Blackrazor
In the 3.5 Module for White Plume Mountain, the three weapons are built as Weapons of Legacy, however I am not a fan of the weapons of legacy rules, as the trade-offs hurt melee oriented characters and they do not, in my opinion, reflect the original weapons as well as they should. In a later post, discussing the changes I am making to the module I will outline how they are being changed, and why.
In my next post, I will talk about the party.
One Step Two
2017-08-17, 06:56 PM
The party consists of 5 members, three of the original group who played through the wars in Silverymoon, and two new players. As a whole, my gaming group is roughly mid-op in terms of strength, taking good synergistic choices for their classes/roles, putting everyone at roughly High Tier 3.
What causes the most of the changes I make in the dungeon to follow is that the module is written for four 7th level characters, and the group will consist of two 8th level characters, and three 7th level characters. The player of Kevar the sorcerer wishes to try out Psionics for the first time, and believes it's story appropriate that Kevar would face jail time for what he did, so he is coming in one level behind the two returning characters, who are:
Sir Pyronious Eventide, LG Human Paladin 6/Knight of the Weave 2
Althair*, LE Human Beguiler 8
*This may not be his name, my memory is lacking, all I remember is that it started with an 'A', I will edit the post once the player finds the character sheet
Althair worships Shar, second son of a merchant family from Waterdeep, joined an adventuring guild called the Wayfarers to make his own name. When confronted with the civil unrest in Silverymoon he began using it to help his family sell weapons, and increase profits, but with a darker aim. He's bribed enchanters of the weapons that are being sold to randomly curse the users, making them unreliable, to drag his brother's name through the mud and take control of the merchant house for himself, he’s been mostly successful in this endeavor, but his real goals revolve around…
Sir Pyronious Eventide, a Paladin of Mystra who wields Spellfire. Despite his “If it glows, it goes” attitude when using detect evil, has been staunch in his efforts to bring glory to his goddess (and a touch too much to himself), the previous campaigns villains made him almost violate his vows as I mentioned in the brief synopsis above. For now, it’s not his goodness that is in question, but his lawfulness, he will receive a minor censure at most, in the eyes of Mystra, he’s acting too much like a paladin of Torm in his actions, the quest to White Plume Mountain to help retrieve the relics from the lair of the evil wizard Keraptis to remind him what the aims and goals as a Mystic Fire Knight in service to Mystra and the Weave.
Note: For those wondering, Althair has been hiding under Pyrionious’s nose thanks to the Undetectable Alignment spell.
As for the new characters, I will hopefully have their backstory soon, but they are easily added to the party as other members of the Wayfarers Guild, which the Althair will enlist to help sir Pyronious with his penance mission, but I can give a brief overview of their goals/aims from the brief conversations I have been able to have.
Kevar the Sorcerer's player has decided he wanted to try Psionics, and after some searching decided to play an Elan Psion 5,with the Phrenic Creature Template. This breaks the mold of the Tier 3 the rest of the party has, but the +2 LA should keep him from being too overbearing, and he tends to play as a simple Blaster more than anything in the past. I'll be keeping a close eye on his Powers known list.
Our two new gaming group members have opted into playing Rogue and Cleric, they are familiar with DnD, but not too experienced in 3.5 as a whole, so I will likely be providing some aid in building the characters. They are pretty happy to follow the party's lead in most things, when we discussed playing this campaign, the fact we needed a skill money and some form of divine magic, they volunteered to take on those roles to fill out the party
In my next post, I'll be going over White Plume Mountain as a whole.
One Step Two
2017-08-17, 07:32 PM
Ah, White Plume mountain, it's an amazing deathtrap.
Too blunt? Well, them's the breaks. Even the 3.5 conversion is pretty faithful, there are no less than 3 ways to TPK your adventurers if they are not cautious, but unlike the Tomb of Horrors, it's not so much a function of, gotcha traps, like the false entrances or the Green Demons Heads, but the obviously dangerous terrain that require forethought before simply barreling through them.
For example here is the external map of White Plume Mountain:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mfk4m-gfI1I/TwCbP08LhSI/AAAAAAAAA5k/7Zu0IiEHoh4/s1600/white%2Bplume%2Bmountain.gif
Because for my purposes of inserting the dungeon into Faerûn, they will be forced to approach the mountain from the swamp side. They will be given the exact warnings about Thingizzard and Dragotha's respective lairs, the web enhancement for the Module Outside the Mountain (http://web.archive.org/web/20090604150940/http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DnD_OUTSIDE_THE_MOUNTAIN.zip), gives us stats for both of those creatures:
Thingizzard is a Green Hag Wizard 11, and Dragotha is a Wyrm Black Dracolich.
The party will be told, explicitly, that they are to remain on the river leading to the mountain, and to avoid probing too deep into the swamps.
Hypothetically speaking, the party could approach Thingizzard and make use of her as an ally, providing potions, and information to the party, however, Sir Pyronious would not allow that in any capacity.
With that said, if the Hag has forewarning, I may make changes so that she uses her Alter Self and add undetectable Alignment to her spell list to make a sinister ally of the party, but if they spot her early, it would not in their interests.
As for Dragotha? No exceptions, if they try and foil with the Dracolich, he may offer them one chance to escape at most, but they may not survive the warning shots.
But I've gone a little off topic it seems... The point remains that the dungeon is dangerous, and deadly to a fault, but it's an informed deathtrap, rather than one that simply offers no-save, irrevocable deaths.
One Step Two
2017-08-17, 10:38 PM
Now for the changes to the dungeon itself!
The rooms and traps remain largely the same, the most constant threat to the party will be the stagnant brackish water throughout the dungeon's many corridors. In addition to costing 2 squares of movement for every 5 foot moved (reducing a Medium sized creatures movement to 15 feet per round), and adding a +2 DC to move silently checks, it's also disease ridden!
To quote the module, Page 6: "The water is tainted as well. Anyone who swims or becomes submerged in it is exposed to blinding sickness (Fort DC 16; incubation 1d3 days; 1d4 Str; a victim who takes 2 or more points of Str damage from the disease must make another Fortitude save or be permanently blinded)."
Nasty stuff, while the DC isn't too tough, exposure can be pretty constant and they can't roll high forever. It will certainly be a shock the first time it's encountered, because honestly, I cannot remember the last time a mundane disease affected anyone in a campaign. The Paladin should be okay, of course, but the attrition value on spells for the Cleric is going to be impressive.
The first encounter of the Module is the Gynosphinx Etrusca.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG233.jpg
This is a wonderful use of her Special abilities; the entrance, and three paths leading into the different wings of the dungeon are all trapped using Gynosphinx's ability to create Symbol traps, the first that the party encounter is a Symbol of Stunning, designed to give Etrusca a chance to question the Party, and ask her riddles. I hope to play it straight, give the party a chance to chat with her and leave it as a non-combat encounter, with Exp awarded for solving her riddles, which act as passwords to the Symbol traps.
I can't praise the module writes enough for the tactics provided in the dungeon, as above where it offers the PC's a chance to solve the riddles, it also plans for if the party decides the right answer to the riddles is violence.
If Etrusca is forced to fight, she will continue to offer the PC's a chance to answer her riddles, before fleeing down the west passage if brought to 25hp or below, and as retribution, makes use of her Symbol of Death spell in the center junction where they first meet her once it is safe to return. It may seem a jerk move on the part of the writers, and myself as the DM to use such a thing, but a party led by a Good PC (Sir Pyronious) should take the offer of non-violent solution... but I've been proven wrong before. Hopefully our resident Knowledge Expert (The beguiler) should roll high enough to remember such details in the event the encounter goes awry, and be wary of retribution.
As for the traps themselves, I will go over them individually with the different wings of the Dungeon, but they all share a common trait: Speaking the answer to the riddle out loud, allows the PC to cross the Symbol spell safely until they move more than 60ft from it. Etrusca will not tell the party this, she will simply query them with the riddle when they approach her each time, insisting that they all must answer before she allows them to pass. This is a not so subtle clue that angering her is not in their interest if they decide simply killing her, or driving her away after they have solved her riddles is a good idea. Or so I hope...
The Eastern Corridor
The riddles and traps are great allusions to what is to come down each corridor, I know my party can choose various paths, but for the sake of clarity, I will describe the dungeon from the eastern corridor to the weapon Whelm first.
The riddle and trap for the eastern corridor are:
My creator wants me not,
And much in dread will I be bought.
My cold embrace is fiercely fought,
Most all who need me know it not.
(Answer: A coffin.)
The trap is a DC22 Symbol of Pain, -4 to attack rolls, Skill and ability checks, which can be brutal in the fights and encounters to come.
The first real test of the dungeon, however is none other than the dreaded Green Slime! (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/dungeons.htm#slimesMoldsAndFungi)
You know, when I first heard of this stuff I thought it was a joke, but at CR 4 that does Constitution damage while just for something growing on the ceiling that matches the algae already growing on the cavern walls is nuts. It's horrible and I wouldn't recommend putting it in most campaigns, but my players are pretty canny, and I know at least 2 of them have encountered it before, their reactions should be immediate and effective, the Module offers alternative solutions to healing Green Slime in the form of DC20 Heal check to surgically remove the affected area for 1d6 damage per Con Damage taken.
I'd love some opinions, or stories from other Playgrounders here, have you used Green Slime before? Thoughts and rulings are appreciated, because as of right now, all I can see is that this 30ft section of hallway (Yes, that's what the module says!) covered with the stuff will cause the party to be hit no less than 6 times with green slime as it drips onto them per 5ft square covered. I may change it to getting hit once per round, meaning that if they take a double move though the area, they should only be affected once even with the reduced movement, because 6d6 con Damage (not to mention the ongoing damage, ugh!) will not leave any survivors.
There's a new fork in the road, allowing the party to either reach a dead-end room with treasure (and monsters!), or deeper into the dungeon. So let's start talking treasure!
The Chamber of Globes
This 30 ft square room has a layer of mud on the ground, 9 globes hanging from the ceiling, and a magically hardened, regenerating door which slams shut behind the party 5 round after opening.
The door can only be opened by finding the right key which is hidden in the globes themselves, and also inside are some treasure, and monsters to boot. They are as follows:
Globe 1: A False Key, 300 worthless lead pieces disguised as gold, and 2 Shadows!
Globe 2: A False Key, and a Potion of Eagle's Splendor.
Globe 3: A False Key, An Amulet of Natural Armor +1, A Strand of Prayer Beads with 2 beads of blessing, and An angry Large Air Elemental!
Globe 4: A False Key, and a Potion of Fly
Globe 5: A False Key, and eleven worthless glass Gems.
Globe 6: A False Key, A Grey Ooze! (and five fake gems floating inside it)
Globe 7: A False Key, A wand of Hold Monster (1 charge)
Globe 8: The Real Key, and a Magic* Ring.
Globe 9: A False Key, and 600gp of real Gems.
The real danger of the room is if they smash multiple Orbs at once, or even the Air Elemental alone, who's Whirlwind ability can break open the other Orbs, creating a fight that the players may not be able to win. But if the players are methodical in their actions, even going so far as to surround each orb to ready attacks from monsters that fall out, it might be too easy for them.
I did some basic number crunching, the level and party member advantage can pose a significant benefit to the party, so this is where the first of the modifications come in. If the party is too canny, or lucky, this is the first room where I can start a little bit of attrition.
In preparation for this, if the party is having too easy of a time with the room and their HP is close to full at this point, I will give the Air Elemental the Final Strike feat from Savage species, it's death will cause it to detonate for 8d6 bludgeoning Damage and 4d6 Sonic Damage (DC 17 Ref for half), on average it shouldn't do enough to kill anyone even on a failed save, but it will definitely give them pause and burn some resources.
The Magic* Ring is a hilarious bluff, it claims to act as a ring of invisibility and grant the owner a single Wish per year, however, it consumes 1 HP per year (permanently), and can only have 1 owner. If removed, it will lose all magic forever. This is all a lie of course, once it leaves the room, it becomes utterly inert, as the Module says, "The ring’s story is a basic loyalty and intelligence test for the PCs. Will the party members cut each other’s throats over the ring?"
This is a straight gotcha moment, I may remove it from the module depending on my players moods.
A Prime Choice
This room is another riddle, but a simple number problem, there are 5 flesh golems with the Numbers 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 carved into their chest, with a Magic Mouth that declares:
"One of us does not belong with the others, if you can pick out the interloper, we will allow you passage. If you pick the wrong one, we will kill you. You have 1 minute, and one guess.”
A wrong guess will have only a single golem attack. A correct answer has the golem open the door for the party. A flesh golem is a standard encounter, I don't see a need to change anything about it as written, but the action economy is not in the golems favor. Even with it's many defenses and and resistances, if can be overwhelmed easily, so I may put a lightning trap on the exiting door the golem can trigger for a boost, and as additional hurdle for the players.
The Gate
When the players come to lift the portcullis in the middle of this hall will find it hard to move, as it suddenly tries to eat them. Mimics are the gift that keep on giving, a trap and encounter all at once. There's no need to change anything here, it's near automatic Engulf of whoever touches it is enough to keep things as an even playing field.
Platform room
This is the first of the three Rooms that is a promised TPK. Like I mentioned earlier however, it's not uninformed. The room description is as follows:
'Beyond the door is a ledge—a short extension of rock placed high on the wall of an enormous natural cavern. Far below, a vast mud pit boils and bubbles. A series of wooden disks, each suspended from the ceiling by a massive steel chain, forms a set of “stepping stones” that lead across the cave to another ledge on the far side.'
The vast room is 100ft high from boiling mud below to ceiling above, the platform they enter, and the "stepping stones" are in the middle, 50ft from the "floor" and ceiling. Falling into the Mud is 10d6 Fire damage each round of immersion. Death for most players. There are two geysers in the room, that spurt a 10ft column of boiling mud that reaches the ceiling, one that goes off ever 5 rounds, and one that goes off every 3rd round. Depending on the players proximity, there will be some splash damage.
They must cross approximately 70 feet of hanging chain platforms to get from one entrance to the other.
To do this The players are expected to time their movements and leap from platform to platform needing DC 14 jump checks between the geysers eruptions. Rolling a 12-13 points needs a DC 15 balance check, to remain upright on the swinging chain, or suffer the same results as a 10-11, which requires a DC 15 reflex save not to slip off. Passing the Saving throw means a DC20 climb check is needed to get back up, failing by 5 or more is treated as a result of 9 or below, which means falling into the Mud.
The players can take precautions such as tying ropes to one another to help, and aid another checks, the long arduous process will take a toll on their hit points and their resources, which may seem unfair, until you remember this simple thing:
If they found the Potion of Fly in the Globe room, they can navigate the entire cavern without any difficulty. The duration of the fly spell is enough that even under a medium load, the strongest PC can use a double move can cross the entire cavern with minimum damage, while ferrying other party members. It goes without saying, if they bring their own flight spells, it obviates the danger as well.
Ctenmiir's Lair
Well, here we are, the final room, the resting place of Whelm, and it's current wielder, Ctenmiir, the Vampire Dwarf Fighter 6.
As with the Globe and Golem rooms I am given the option of changing things up a little. If the party has been pretty brutalized by the dungeon, I will leave him as written. Somewhat under-optimized, sporting Spring attack, Weapon focus and Specialization (Warhammer) he's your pretty standard beatstick with undead resistances and bonuses. The room is cloaked in a permanent Darkness spell, and Ctenmir uses Blind-fight, as the current edition vampires don't see through magical darkness, an easily countered problem with 7th-8th level characters however.
If the party is having an easier enough time with the dungeon, I will make the following changes:
Party has used a moderate amount of resources, and has a good amount of healing left, simply giving Ctenmiir some extra HP, and a Greater Crystal of Life Drinking to give him some more staying power is in order.
If the party has made it through with closer to full resources, either by resting somewhere safe before entering, for example, Ctenmiir's Room gets a change, instead of Darkness, the entire room will be filled with Obscuring mist instead giving the vampire the ability to position himself using Mist form without a chance of being spotted.
Other changes that can be introduced to give Ctenmiir some power vs higher power parties, can be changing the base Vampire Template to the Savage Vampire from Libris Mortis, to give him extra Oomph in combat, and swapping out his Feats for ones Like Martial Study: Steel Wind, and Martial Stance: Punishing stance. To be truly nasty, Improved Energy Drain, and Positive Energy Resistance from Libris Mortis are also good choices.
As well as changing out the Mist in the room with Kelgores Grave Mist to deal 1d6 cold damage every round to the party if the door to the heated room outside is closed.
Well, this is the final room of the East wing, and here is the prize: Whelm
As I mentioned, the listed powers of the weapons of legacy in the module leave a lot to be desired, so I decided to recreate the weapons as close to their original incarnations as possible using the 3.5 rules.
Whelm, the Dwarven Hammer.
Lawful Neutral, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 10, Ego 19
+3 Goblin and Giant Bane Dwarven Thrower (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#dwarvenThrower)
Treasure Scent at will, Sense Goblinoids, Sense Giants.
Special Purpose: Kill all Greenskins and Giants
Special purpose power: Waves of Exhaustion
Curse: Agoraphobia, the wielder of Whelm is considered Shaken, when not fighting indoors, at night, or underground.
Like all Dwarven throwers it is far better in the hands of a Dwarf. Becoming a +4 weapon, and able to be thrown exactly like the original Whelm. It senses goblins and giants exactly as presented in the 3.5 and original module, but now has Treasure Scent (from Spell compendium), instead of Locate object. Finally, unlike the Weapon of Legacy Build I have included the Agoraphobia Curse from the original Module, it's a drawback, but any immunity to fear will remove the Shaken Condition with ease.
That does it for the East wing of the dungeon, and I am more than happy to hear any feedback on my thoughts and plans so far. Any additional ideas are more than welcome also!
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