Crashed UFO (5e module test) OOC

[J-H]

Welcome!

IC Thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?660727-Crashed-UFO-(5e-module-test)-IC)

We'll use Discord for most back-and-forth questions, clarifications, and player tactical discussions. I typically also message there when I've posted. Here's the link. Here's the link:
https://discord.gg/HQRE6WxF

I'll send out review copies for you to rate/review on the DM's Guild once we're done and I've finalized any changes.

Use of character blocks at the start of in-character combat posts is helpful!

https://i.ibb.co/28rKwzk/horc-east.jpg Paul Mauser (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/94323854)
Half-orc Artillerist Artificer
AC: 18 HP: 45/45
PPer: 14 PInv: 18 PIst: 11
Conditions: --
Concentrating: --

[Infernally Clay]

https://i.ibb.co/KGSr6FN/d86tf9u-3e470fb1-1d5b-4c6e-ab15-65e777b4caca-2.jpg
Hamza (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2838480)
Half-Elf Fathomless Warlock 12
HP: 99/99, AC: 17
Conditions: None
Spell Slots: 3/3




I'll use this, methinks.

[Bobthewizard]

https://i.imgur.com/j6s6IwK.jpg Mug Vitgut (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2838954)
Half-orc Psi Warrior
AC: 22 HP: 136/136
PPer: 14 PInv: 14 PIst: 14
Conditions: --


"Here I am" says Mug as he walks in the room.

[Dr.Samurai]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4a/40/d1/4a40d1a3ab2aa9e4271e565d19c54138.jpg Perrin "Perry" Hilltopple (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2839460)
Halfling Barbarian (Path of Giants)
AC: 16 HP: 125/125
PPer: 14 PInv: 9 PIst: 10
Conditions: --
Reckless: --

Greetings everyone! says Perry with a wide smile.

[Shiro_Nogard]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/04/95/ec/0495ec11cee53ffa4d8c3f52ac33b634.jpg Hadril (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2838596)
High-elf rogue (Soulknife)
AC: 18 HP: 87/87
PPer: 16 PInv: 15 PIst: 12
Conditions: --
Reckless: --

"Yo!" An elf distractedly plays with a card.



Should we add advantages and the like?

[J-H]

Up to you. And yes, you don't have to be proficient to have the pack of cards.

[Shiro_Nogard]

Up to you. And yes, you don't have to be proficient to have the pack of cards.

K


Upss. Forgot the stealth and perception check. A moment.

[Bobthewizard]

Greetings everyone! says Perry with a wide smile.

It's funny that you still have Heroes of Jinshu in your Sig. That game ended over 3 years ago, and I'm sure we've played in other games together since then. I did love Bai though.

[Infernally Clay]

Stealth check: [roll0] [roll1]

[Shiro_Nogard]

I missed adding it to the first post. Hadril can use telepathy in the group. He could use it right now, but he needs to be able to see the creatures. If he likes the GM, we might be doing it. IF not, he plays into one of the traits I already have in my character.

[J-H]

If you'd like, you could have set up the telepathy before everyone went invisible.

Is the Discord invite link working for you?

[Shiro_Nogard]

Posted on discord!!! but have to make the rounds around. :(
Be back later.

[Dr.Samurai]

It's funny that you still have Heroes of Jinshu in your Sig. That game ended over 3 years ago, and I'm sure we've played in other games together since then. I did love Bai though.
Lol, I know, I have to edit my Sig!

That game was fun, I think it got interrupted by the forum going down for like a month or something IIRC. And if I remember correctly we were both Yong's lol. Felhammer is one of my favorite DMs on these boards. That was the second campaign I played in in that homebrew setting of his. In the first one I was a petjar barbarian (so a badger-man). I think for the second time around, there were a lot of frontliner applications so I went with monk.

Wonder if he's still active actually :smallconfused:.

[Bobthewizard]

Wonder if he's still active actually :smallconfused:.

It looks like he last posted in 2021. Hope he's ok.

[J-H]

Init:
18+initmod Perrin
9+initmod Mug
6 Hadril
4 Hamza
2 Turrets

Hamza has advantage on her first attack roll due to being unseen. [roll0]
d'oh

[Infernally Clay]

Concentration saves:

1. [roll0] [roll1]
2. [roll2] [roll3]
3. [roll4] [roll5]
4. [roll6] [roll7]

[Bobthewizard]

Psi die against ghoul [roll0]

[Bobthewizard]

Second Psi die [roll0]

Third [roll1]

[J-H]

Str save vs Prone on the 1st hit [roll0] vs DC 16

[J-H]

#5
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2] plus [roll]2d6

#6
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5] plus [roll]2d6

[J-H]

Messed up fire
[roll0]

[roll1]

[J-H]

Almost forgot readied actions from interior turrets vs Mug as he passes through their line of fire
[roll0] for [roll1] radiant
[roll2] for [roll3] radiant
[roll4] for [roll5] radiant
[roll6] for [roll7] radiant

[Bobthewizard]

JH, what's the T on the map? and the yellow square?

[Infernally Clay]

Con saving throw: [roll0]

[Bobthewizard]

Mug's poison save [roll0]

[J-H]

Is Rope a viable target? Medium DC due to flexibility constraints, DC 15.
1 [roll0]
2 [roll1]

[Bobthewizard]

Psi die to crit [roll0]

[Dr.Samurai]

Short Rest Hit Dice

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]

[Dr.Samurai]

Constitution save vs Radiant damage DC20 - [roll0]

[J-H]

Perrin reroll the nat1 on stealth check due to Lucky [roll0]
edit: that really wasn't helpful

[Infernally Clay]

Initiative advantage: [roll0]

[Dr.Samurai]

Perrin reroll the nat1 on stealth check due to Lucky [roll0]
edit: that really wasn't helpful
Lol, I forgot about that trait, thank you!

[J-H]

Perry reroll [roll0] (halfling)

[Bobthewizard]

Mug's Indomitable [roll0]

[J-H]

1. Did this have a good and consistent mood?


2. Was the exploration component (although small) interesting and fun?

3. What was your favorite part?

4. What was your least favorite part?

5. Was the combat adequately challenging?

6. Were the lasers too powerful, or was this a tactics issue?

7. Are there any areas that needed more or better descriptions?

8. What do you think of the loot/magic items?

After I make edits and get a cover done, I'll be putting this up on the DM's Guild. Please send me your e-mail address so I can send you a review copy to rate/review! It's extremely hard to get reviews and ratings. I have e-mail addresses for Bob & Dr.Sam already.

[J-H]

Approaching from the top
You would have only taken fire from the top 3 turrets, and would have been able to get within 120' before being shot at.

Opening the slave bunkroom door
The door can be opened telepathically. If someone had tried thinking at it, or telepathically broadcasting/communicating something about it opening, or anything close to that, it would have opened.

Warforged & the Magic Rocket
The warforged here are all dead, but it’s possible that one has sufficient self-repair systems to eventually wake back up, either now or after the group leaves. This is a good point to unlock Warforged as a character option for any new or replacement characters.
The party could take the engine from the boarding craft and mount it on any sort of rigid flying contraption they have. This would require fabricating several mounting brackets and attaching it, which would take approximately 1 day to accomplish, including all necessary lifting and moving.
The engine runs on magic. Each spell slot expended powers the engine for one hour, increasing its speed by 10’ per level of the slot expended. The engine is extremely loud, and would ruin any attempts at stealth.
The adamantium totals 100 lbs.
This is intended to be an "outer space taxi/boarding vessel" for warforged, who I don't think need to breathe.

Engine Room
Dealing 100 points of damage to items in the engine room disables power to the laser turrets (players may target anything that looks important). Area of effect damage counts double. Acid, bludgeoning, force, lightning, or thunder damage counts as normal. Cold, fire, necrotic, piercing, or slashing damage is resisted and counts for half of the total. Poison and psychic damage are ineffective.

Once the engine room has been sufficiently damaged, everyone in the room takes 4d8 lightning damage as a shower of sparks erupts from multiple components, along with a cloud of oily black smoke. Anyone near the stairs can make a DC 18 Dexterity save for half. Damaging the power components does not end the ongoing radiant damage caused by leaking radiation.
The cryogenic pods have their own separate power supply.


There were 5 standard mind flayers, 2 arcanists who never got to cast, and 1 psychoportationist.


Exterior Turret
HP 90
AC 20 (Natural Armor)
Speed 0 ft.
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
10(0) 10(0) 16(+3) 26(+8) 10(0) 1(-4)
Saves +0
Senses Darkvision 300’, passive Perception 21
Resistances fire, cold, B/P/S that’s not adamantine/ magic
Vulnerabilities force, thunder
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities all
CR 7
Built In The turret is immune to effects which would move or remove it, including dimensional effects like Banishment
Programmed The turret is not truly intelligent. Instead, its perceived accuracy is due to precise mechanisms, programming, and predictive algorithms. The advanced processing power also means Perception checks are made using its Intelligence modifier rather than Wisdom. It can sense both light and vibrations (sound) out to its range of 300’ with no disadvantage on vibration (sound-based) checks unless its vision is obscured by fog, magical Darkness, or similar effects.
Actions
Laser Beam. Ranged spell attack against any 3 adjacent squares, +11 to hit, 300’, 4d8 radiant damage.

Interior Turret
HP 45
AC 20 (Natural Armor)
Speed 0 ft.
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
10(0) 10(0) 16(+3) 26(+8) 10(0) 1(-4)
Saves +0
Senses Darkvision 300’, passive Perception 20
Resistances fire, cold, B/P/S that’s not adamantine/ magic
Vulnerabilities force, thunder
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities all
CR 4
Built In The turret is immune to effects which would move or remove it, including dimensional effects like Banishment
Programmed The turret is not truly intelligent. Instead, its perceived accuracy is due to precise mechanisms, programming, and predictive algorithms. The advanced processing power also means Perception checks are made using its Intelligence modifier rather than Wisdom. It can sense both light and vibrations (sound) out to its range of 300’ with no disadvantage on vibration (sound-based) checks unless its vision is obscured by fog, magical Darkness, or similar effects.
Actions
Laser Beam. Ranged spell attack against any 3 adjacent squares, +10 to hit, 300’, 2d8 radiant damage.


Elder Ghast
Whatever this humanoid once was, it now resembles nothing but skin and bones. It is hungry, but it is also old, and age gives power and speed to undead. It also fears radiant damage and will avoid any sources of such if possible.
Medium undead
Armor Class 18 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 190 (20d8+100)
Speed 50 ft., Climb 50 ft.
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
10(0) 22(+6) 20(+5) 10(0) 14(+2) 8(-1)
Saves Wis +6, Cha +3
Damage Vulnerabilities Radiant
Damage Resistances Necrotic
Damage Immunities Poison, B/P/S from weapons that are not silvered or magical
Condition Immunities Charmed, Disease, Exhaustion, Poisoned
Senses Darkvision 120’, Passive Perception 16
Skills Acrobatics +10, Perception +6, Stealth +10
CR 11 (PB +4)
Foul Stench. Any creature that starts its turn within the same room as the ghast must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be Poisoned until the start of its next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to this ghast’s stench for 24 hours.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in direct sunlight, the ghast has disadvantage on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks.
Turn Defiance. The ghast has advantage on saving throws against effects that turn undead.
Actions
Multiattack. The ghast attacks twice with its claws and once with its Bite. If it paralyzes a target, it will use its Bite against that target as much as possible to sate its ancient hunger.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack, +11 to hit, 5’, 1d6+6 slashing damage. If the target is a living creature, it must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack, +11 to hit, 5’, 2d6+6 piercing +2d6 necrotic damage. The ghast heals for ½ the total damage done by its bite attack.
Bonus Action
Cunning Action. The Ghast may Hide or Disengage as a bonus action.

Illithid Psychoportationist
This illithid looks like any other, but has specialized in the psionic discipline of psychoportation.
Medium undead
Armor Class 15 (Breastplate)
Hit Points 71 (13d8+13)
Speed 30 ft.
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
11(0) 12(+1) 12(+1) 19(+4) 17(+3) 17(+3)
Saves Int +7, Wis +6, Cha +6, Adv. saves vs. magic
Skills Arcana +7, Deception +6, Insight +6, Perception +6, Persuasion +6, Stealth +4
Senses Darkvision 120’, Passive Perception 16
Languages Deep Speech, Undercommon, telepathy 120’
CR 7 (PB +3)
Magic Resistance. The Ilithid has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack, +7 to hit, 5’, 2d10+4 psychic damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 15) and must succeed on a DC 15 Int save or be stunned until the grapple ends.
Extract Brain. Melee Weapon Attack, +7 to hit, 5’, one incapacitated humanoid grappled by the illithid. On hit, the target takes 10d10 piercing damage. If this damage reduces the target to 0hp, the illithid kills the target by extracting and ddevouring its brain.
Mind Blast (recharge 5-6). The mindflayer magically emits psychic energy in a 60’ cone. Each creature in the area takes 4d8+4 psychic damage and is stunned for 1 minute. A DC 15 Int save negates the effects entirely. A stunned creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end the effect.

Psychoportive Psionics. Spell save DC 15
Control
[] Dominate Monster (C, 60’, target must make Wis save or be charmed for duration; target has advantage if it or allies are fighting the caster; while charmed, can issue simple mental commands, or use action to take complete and precise control).
[] Hunger of Hadar (C, 150’, 20’ radius completely dark and blinding, difficult terrain; creatures starting turn in area take 2d6 cold damage; creatures ending turn in area take 2d6 acid damage, Dex save negates).
[] Scatter (30’, up to 5 targets teleported to empty visible spaces on the ground within 120’; unwilling targets make Wis save to negate)
Utility
Detect Thoughts (at will)
Levitate (at will)
Bonus Action
[] [] Misty Step. Teleport 30’ to a visible space. May not cast other psionic abilities, including Mind Blast, on the same turn.

[Bobthewizard]

1. Did this have a good and consistent mood?

Yes. Except the ghast seemed out of place. An intellect devourer might have foreshadowed the mind flayers better.

2. Was the exploration component (although small) interesting and fun?

Yes.

3. What was your favorite part?

The mind flayer battle. That could have gone south quickly. It might be more interesting to take out three of the mind flayers and add an Elder Brain.

4. What was your least favorite part?

The approach. Maybe our tactics.

5. Was the combat adequately challenging?

Yes. It could have been worse without the tower. If you can't separate the mind flayers or take them out from range, it could get too deadly.

6. Were the lasers too powerful, or was this a tactics issue?

Our tactics weren't the best to say the least, but the lasers were too powerful. While it's easily bypassed by speed or dimension door, that's not guaranteed. And the range is beyond the capabilities of most characters to fight back. Perry and Hadril struggled to have anything useful to do. I'd drop the range to 200'/600' and limit it to 2 of them targeting any one location.

7. Are there any areas that needed more or better descriptions?

Not really. Nice job. After the fight, I would have liked more clues as to the purpose of the craft - where they were from, why they were landing on our planet, etc. Some clues to further adventures. Comprehend languages would have helped here.

Perhaps a prison cell with either a Gith or a Kuo-toa could be an interesting way to get some of that information too. Or maybe one of the warforged still being alive.

8. What do you think of the loot/magic items?

They were cool. They just didn't fit my character.

[J-H]

1. Did this have a good and consistent mood?
Yes. Except the ghast seemed out of place. An intellect devourer might have foreshadowed the mind flayers better.

The UFO got damaged quite some time ago and coasted through space before crashing. The ghast is the last of the slaves left alive in the bunkroom, and ghouls/ghasts are a result of cannibalism. Poor guy just tried to stay alive longer and ended up being undead for decades or a century or so.
Not sure how to demonstrate that unless he wrote some graffiti or had a journal before going feral.


6. Were the lasers too powerful, or was this a tactics issue?

Our tactics weren't the best to say the least, but the lasers were too powerful. While it's easily bypassed by speed or dimension door, that's not guaranteed. And the range is beyond the capabilities of most characters to fight back. Perry and Hadril struggled to have anything useful to do. I'd drop the range to 200'/600' and limit it to 2 of them targeting any one location.
Disadvantage at longer range seems good. Maybe 150'/300'?
The only time more than 2 can target one person is if they are flying or on top.
The "hitting up to 3 targets at a time" as the beam tracks across an area never got used.


7. Are there any areas that needed more or better descriptions?

Not really. Nice job. After the fight, I would have liked more clues as to the purpose of the craft - where they were from, why they were landing on our planet, etc. Some clues to further adventures. Comprehend languages would have helped here.

Perhaps a prison cell with either a Gith or a Kuo-toa could be an interesting way to get some of that information too. Or maybe one of the warforged still being alive.

With the ship coasting damaged and pilotless (after being boarded and the pilot killed in the control room just before waking up the ones in stasis), it's hard to figure out how to add more detail, unless there was a high value prisoner in stasis. There was literally no one alive and awake to document what happened... except the slave who became a ghast.

[J-H]

Infernally Clay, Dr. Samurai, feedback please when you can?

[Infernally Clay]

1. Did this have a good and consistent mood?

The mood could probably do with a little work. Information on how long the ship had been there, what locals think of it, perhaps signs of other creatures trying to reach the ship, evidence of life in the ship itself… I feel like the one thing the module lacked most was exposition. Perhaps having an NPC guide filling the players in as they approach the ship and/or a series of holographic projections acting as captain’s logs as the players progress through the ship could add some much needed narrative threads that heighten the mood.

2. Was the exploration component (although small) interesting and fun?

Aside from the limited scale, as you point out, it was indeed fun. It needed more to explore but what there was was itself good.

3. What was your favorite part?

Approaching the ship. There was a good amount of tension and chaos involved. It was pretty fun stuff.

4. What was your least favorite part?

The ending. It felt aimless to the point where we didn’t really know what to do or where to go or even why we were there. I don’t think we needed to be outright told “you have nothing else to do here” but there was no real ending. It was more like “I guess we’ll just leave then”.

5. Was the combat adequately challenging?

The party we had was pretty low power and it was decently challenging as a result. I do think it needed more variety, though. Perhaps some of those damaged warforged could attack the party? I’m kinda surprised there was no boss fight at the end as well. We got some interesting gear but nothing to use it on, you know?

6. Were the lasers too powerful, or was this a tactics issue?

I think the lasers were fine but, again, this is where contextual clues could be helpful. A dead adventurer incinerated by a laser, for example, would provide visual clues as to the range of the cannons and maybe even encourage caution. We kinda went in blind and there wasn’t much time to formulate a plan. Magic provided an easy way to get around the lasers but martial characters undoubtedly suffered, so maybe have them prioritise magic wielders? They’re smart enough to shoot an invisible flying object 300ft away, so it might be cool to require martial characters protecting the mages as they approach the ship.

7. Are there any areas that needed more or better descriptions?

In general I think descriptions are the most important thing to improve all over the module. Environmental storytelling, lore dumps, NPC interactions… they would have helped a lot in giving the whole thing more personality and narrative structure. It was a cool ship but it didn’t tell us a story, which was weird considering it had a library.

8. What do you think of the loot/magic items?
They were solid pieces of gear and I liked the unique descriptions. My only real disappointment is that there was no opportunity to use them.

[Infernally Clay]

To follow up on my comments I think it needs both a longer opening and a third act. Something like...

Act 1 - interacting with locals and approaching the ship;

The adventurers arrive at a small village. Meeting people who live nearby the crash site, maybe they're the ones who hired the adventurer's? They're scared, they're vulnerable, some of them have approached the ship and never returned. Not all of them have been killed by the bright beams of light, either. Maybe there are rumours that something leaves the ship at night and drags victims back inside, prompting the party to investigate further or head to the ship to protect the village. That's when the lasers attack and the adventurers see the damage they do, because there are corpses the villagers can't safely recover.

Act 2 - navigating the ship and learning more about its crew;

When inside the ship, perhaps the adventurers find evidence of a crew. Photographs, journals, work uniforms, bunk beds for lower ranking crew members and private quarters for the higher ranking ones. Details about where the ship comes from, where it's going, what happened to it. Perhaps the adventurers are hunted by something on the ship. Perhaps the pods the illithids were in are their version of an escape pod. Instead of jettisoning them from the ship it ensures their survival during a crash by fortifying them. Some didn't make it, the ones that did are either confused or scared or aggressive or they know something got out and they want to stop it but can't communicate that. The adventurers find out that the ship was transporting a dangerous organism and protocols demand that the ship arms its lasers to keep the prisoner from escaping until the self-destruct goes off. The organism in question is so dangerous that killing all life within ten miles to ensure its death is considered an acceptable cost, but there's a whole village nearby and no time to get them to safety.

Act 3 - preventing the ship from exploding and final boss fight.

Now aware the ship will soon destroy itself and the nearby village, the adventurers must disarm the self-destruct protocol either with the help of the illithids or without. The nearby library might provide clues or perhaps there's a captain's cabin with the code or key the adventurers need. Once they figure out how to disarm the ship so it doesn't explode, the adventurers must now hunt the organism that has hunted them since they arrived. If the illithids are helping perhaps they won't lift the self-destruct protocol until the organism is destroyed. Whether they set a trap, track it down or it attacks them depends on what actions are taken but using equipment salvaged on the ship specifically designed to contain the organism, the adventurers must now fight it and kill it.

[Dr.Samurai]

1. Did this have a good and consistent mood?
As the others, the ghoul did feel a little out of place. Otherwise, yes, I think you nailed it. Crashed ship, laser turrets, command consoles, aliens coming out of hibernation, all good!

2. Was the exploration component (although small) interesting and fun?
Yes and no. It is definitely small, though I get you're going for a flying saucer type craft. The fun part for me was the idea of a fantasy character discovering some scifi craft. Maybe if there were more things to interact with, like opening and closing the doors, or having effects with buttons on the console (I think that did happen at some point with an alarm IIRC).

3. What was your favorite part?
I think the countdown to the illithid release is pretty cool.

4. What was your least favorite part?
Probably the Daern's Instant Fortress lol. Especially once I realized we had discovered everything, it felt like we were cheated of a real difficult encounter. Ignoring that part, probably the approach, but again I really should have just retreated. But the sense of urgency kept me going, which was a mistake. The range is quite long, but I think groups might figure out that approaching from below won't work, and they'll retreat and approach from above.

So I'd say the beginning and the end had some hiccups, because this seems like a very very short one-shot. So I think it could be easily slotted into an ongoing campaign, which might lend itself to resolving the one-shot naturally. Here on PbP as testers, it wasn't obvious that we had nothing left to do so it felt a bit awkward the way it ended. Might not be an issue in an actual campaign though.

5. Was the combat adequately challenging?
The turrets were quite difficult as we were limited in how to address them.

The interior turrets and ghoul might be difficult but I didn't experience that.

The Flayer battle looks like it would be quite tough actually, but we didn't get to see that (I was surprised they were actually all full blown mind flayers!)

6. Were the lasers too powerful, or was this a tactics issue?
I think both. The problem I have though is suggesting a shorter range is just sort of weird for a flying craft. Like... how close would you need to be before you can shoot an enemy vessel? Then I think maybe the rope maneuver should have worked, but we're level 12, so should it be that easy to fool the enemy? The saving throw seemed fair I think.

7. Are there any areas that needed more or better descriptions?
I think I need to go back and read through. To be perfectly candid, this is a very busy time of year for me, so I may have missed some descriptions. It wasn't obvious to me that we had circuited the entire craft, and I think the atmosphere lends itself to a little more exposition/description.

8. What do you think of the loot/magic items?
I thought they were cool, though I'm curious what their story is. I would have used the quarterstaff going forward. The laser pistol is interesting. I'm not sure I'd like to use a weapon that has a chance to not work for 2 hours though; you'd definitely need a backup.

[J-H]

Sorry, I got sick and then it took me a few days to circle back to working on wrapping this up.

Confirmed changes to make
Signs of danger: Animal corpses sliced in half at the 300' boundary. Perhaps a dead goat, and a couple of vultures?

Add an intro section suggesting "rumors" or NPC exposition of "there was this big fireball and a boom at night a few weeks ago."

For discussion
1. The idea with the ghast is that it's a leftover slave stuck alive in a crashed ship it can't get out of, with everyone in charge dead. It breaks the monotony of "constructs and mind flayer stuff" and seems like it fits from a storytelling perspective. What other creatures might fit here, keeping in mind that anything that could control the ship or telepathically activate the door is out.

2. Pacing. The party moved pretty quickly through the cargo bay, and then didn't examine the other loot until after the mind flayer fight, so you ended up with no identified magic items until you were done fighting, and with a bunch of seemingly aimless exploration as you had already faced the "boss fight." Is there something that I should change mechanically, or is that just a "oops, we rushed it" event because PCs are gonna do what PCs are gonna do?

3. What's a clue I could add in the slave bunks to say "think at the door to open it if you're telepathic" that mind flayers would realistically have used? Perhaps a mild telepathic ping when anyone with telepathy stands next to the door? Not all parties will have a Goolock/psionic class/etc. to trigger this, but that's fine at 12th level.

4. I don't think I want to allow Daern's Fortress as a starting item in most one-shots going forward.

5. Looking back at the original post, did I sufficiently describe that going around and approaching from the sides / uphill would let the party get within 120', or does the text need to be more clear?

6. Laser targeting: I didn't want to give them outright true sight, as invisibility should still provide benefits, but... it's a spaceship, designed to fight enemies that could have cloaking devices of some sort. Instead, the turrets have a really high Perception modifier that lets them detect insufficiently stealthy enemies via vibrations (sound / molecular disturbances in a nebular cloud? not a real scientific answer but fits the convention well enough). That way, invisible creatures who are also quiet have a shot at getting past. Does this make sense? Any suggestions for alternative ways to handle it?

7. Exposition: The ship has been coasting through space for an unknown number of years after being boarded by the warforged (perfect anti-illithid soldiers and astronauts) and having the controls smashed and everyone aboard ship killed. I don't think it fits to have anything aboard alive in terms of prisoners or elder brains.
7a. How about some mention of warforged backpacks and one or two of them have diaries or journals? If so, do we just assume that Space Warforged speak common, or is there some other language? Depending on whether this is dumped in Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun, etc., I think some languages change.
7b. How about a ship's log that is a small crystal slab activated by touching it? Perhaps it's telepathic with overtones of Quaalith, so anyone attempting to decipher it has to make an Intelligence save or some other kind of check (what kind) to comprehend it? It would have information on a bunch of stops at different places with names the party's never heard of (planets) plus mention of evading "brain-less war constructs" and "enemy warships" several times to help set the stage that the warforged were hunting mind flayers in space?

8. Is the Ray of Radiance (solar laser pistol) too weak for its power level and the risk of it not working in the dark?

[Dr.Samurai]

Confirmed changes to make
Signs of danger: Animal corpses sliced in half at the 300' boundary. Perhaps a dead goat, and a couple of vultures?
I think you nailed it with the idea of including dead vultures as well. Vultures would be a sign to the PCs that something has died or is about to. Dead vultures would be a sign to the PCs that something more is going on.

Add an intro section suggesting "rumors" or NPC exposition of "there was this big fireball and a boom at night a few weeks ago."
Yeah I think this would be good.
For discussion

1. The idea with the ghast is that it's a leftover slave stuck alive in a crashed ship it can't get out of, with everyone in charge dead. It breaks the monotony of "constructs and mind flayer stuff" and seems like it fits from a storytelling perspective. What other creatures might fit here, keeping in mind that anything that could control the ship or telepathically activate the door is out.
It's a good idea, and this should work, especially in D&D mythos. This is what creates these creatures. Maybe making it identifiable as one of the slaves, with a uniform or something, and description of remains of the corpses that were cannibalized (with same uniforms).

2. Pacing. The party moved pretty quickly through the cargo bay, and then didn't examine the other loot until after the mind flayer fight, so you ended up with no identified magic items until you were done fighting, and with a bunch of seemingly aimless exploration as you had already faced the "boss fight." Is there something that I should change mechanically, or is that just a "oops, we rushed it" event because PCs are gonna do what PCs are gonna do?
Well... there's no way to account for what the PCs will do lol. (In our current Against the Giant campaign, our DM prepped the first two levels of the fire giant stronghold expecting us to go through the front doors. We instead used the druid in earth elemental form and some Marvelous Pigments to tunnel to the third level. He told us afterwards that he was scrambling.)

That said, I love the idea of foreshadowing the coming battle with these two corpses and the weapons beside them. Maybe an Investigation check (combined with Arcana/Identify) could reveal the wounds on both creatures, and hint that the staff is a powerful weapon that killed the mind flayer despite its power. If the players move on without spending more time on it, that's on them.

3. What's a clue I could add in the slave bunks to say "think at the door to open it if you're telepathic" that mind flayers would realistically have used? Perhaps a mild telepathic ping when anyone with telepathy stands next to the door? Not all parties will have a Goolock/psionic class/etc. to trigger this, but that's fine at 12th level.
Hmm... what if there are other things that can occur if the players mention it, the idea being that if you say it, you're thinking it (for sake of running/playing the game). So additional things could be turning the lights in the ship on and off, activating or deactivating the turrets, light up floor panels to show a path, etc.

These could be activated by players saying things like "does anyone have a light source?" or "how do we get these things to stop shooting us?" or "where do you think this door leads?". This may get the players to recognize that parts of the ship are at the command (though this is more voice activation than actually telepathy). I'm imagining you trying to describe this in your module and it may be too convoluted to convey. Not sure. If it only applies to psionic or telepathic characters, this could work.

4. I don't think I want to allow Daern's Fortress as a starting item in most one-shots going forward.
It's a cool tactic, but it sort of stole the show in this case. I'd agree with your choice here. On the one hand, you can't account for every possible thing players might do when they run through the module. On the other hand, the playtest has to be useful to you with meaningful data. The data here is "Daern's Instant Fortress is very useful in combat" lol.

5. Looking back at the original post, did I sufficiently describe that going around and approaching from the sides / uphill would let the party get within 120', or does the text need to be more clear?
I think it should be inferred from the description, but this is where a handout would be really useful (for what little that's worth, I don't have artistic talents lol). I tried drumming something up on midjourney but, I think "flying saucer" and "UFO" make midjourney want to keep the craft in the air. But here's a sample:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1060027149723111476/1176902214967640115/khanthedestroyer_crashed_alien_saucer_at_base_of_c liff_659901c9-f889-4365-8a87-edc3c394896d.png?ex=65708e99&is=655e1999&hm=65df2a2f2a1ce75c278c1a4344fb09a2c2e129f7670715c 39a8050f3d0376ab6&

6. Laser targeting: I didn't want to give them outright true sight, as invisibility should still provide benefits, but... it's a spaceship, designed to fight enemies that could have cloaking devices of some sort. Instead, the turrets have a really high Perception modifier that lets them detect insufficiently stealthy enemies via vibrations (sound / molecular disturbances in a nebular cloud? not a real scientific answer but fits the convention well enough). That way, invisible creatures who are also quiet have a shot at getting past. Does this make sense? Any suggestions for alternative ways to handle it?
This is what I ran into when thinking about it as well; how should this function as an actual weapon on a ship. I'm okay with it. Parties should be able to retreat and go around with ease. Dropping down from above is half the distance and half the turrets. Given the level of the module, I think leaving it as is is fine. Think about how we handled it, and we still persevered so I would leave it in. There needs to be challenge.

7. Exposition: The ship has been coasting through space for an unknown number of years after being boarded by the warforged (perfect anti-illithid soldiers and astronauts) and having the controls smashed and everyone aboard ship killed. I don't think it fits to have anything aboard alive in terms of prisoners or elder brains.
I think this makes sense. I'd leave as is. Also, there is already the possibility of reviving one of the warforged.


7a. How about some mention of warforged backpacks and one or two of them have diaries or journals? If so, do we just assume that Space Warforged speak common, or is there some other language? Depending on whether this is dumped in Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun, etc., I think some languages change.
Remind me; there were slaves on board correct? And they starved and the ghoul is the one that ate the corpses? Could there be a slave journal, started after their masters were dead, in whichever language might make sense, and could hint that the mind flayers made the ship operate and its parts function without touching anything or speaking (a hint at the telepathy) and that the slaves were unable to get anything to work, and that soon they will starve if they don't take drastic measures (hint at ghoul origin, along with slave uniform). (I realized that last sentence started as a question and then rambled on and I'm going to leave it as is lol.)


7b. How about a ship's log that is a small crystal slab activated by touching it? Perhaps it's telepathic with overtones of Quaalith, so anyone attempting to decipher it has to make an Intelligence save or some other kind of check (what kind) to comprehend it? It would have information on a bunch of stops at different places with names the party's never heard of (planets) plus mention of evading "brain-less war constructs" and "enemy warships" several times to help set the stage that the warforged were hunting mind flayers in space?
This would be cool too. Part of the fun in exploring something like this is this sort of discovery.

8. Is the Ray of Radiance (solar laser pistol) too weak for its power level and the risk of it not working in the dark?
Two hours is a long time, and longer than a short rest, and requires sunlight, so can't be done while the party is sleeping. And if you're adventuring in a dungeon or something similar, you can only use this until you roll a 1 and then it's out of gas. As long as you're in normal light, the chance is relatively low, but nat 1s do happen.

[J-H]

Changes made
Ray of Radiance recharge changed to 1 hr

Added rumor table

If you wish to insert this into an existing adventure or campaign, here are some ways to do so:
1. Locals report a big boom and fireball in the sky that landed in the mountains a few weeks ago.
2. An airship or other flying craft reported seeing something shiny on the mountains, and then being sliced by bright beams of light when they came close to approach.
3. A friendly, or neutral but quest-giving, dragon has an experience similar to an airship.
4. A missing herder or hermit is reported in the local area; his or her body will be found nearby, having run afoul of the laser turrets.
5. A Githyanki or Githzerai bounty hunter or mercenary approaches the party and asks them to help complete his quest. Divinations have revealed the presence of illithid magics somewhere in the region.
6. A dwarven cleric has been informed by Moradin that 100lbs. of adamantium may be obtained from something in the mountains. He asks the party to retrieve it as part of a holy quest to do forge something with it, perhaps a statue or a set of magical plate, shield, and weapon.

Added ghast journal

If the room is searched fighting the ghast, the party will find an old sheet pinned inside one of the bunks that appears to have been used as an improvised journal. The words are in ink at first, and later in something darker and messier. Select entries:
1
My name is Hare Hohepa. The brain-eaters captured me and the rest of my hunting party. Half of them have been devoured. I have been left alive, perhaps because I was quicker and stronger? Or perhaps as a meal for later? I do not think I am near my home any more. This place hums, and it feels like movement.
4
The brain eaters go in and out just by looking at the door. The shiny things in the corners fire burning light at any who approach the door without permission. This is evil magic.
7
(messily) it’s dark. An iridescent beam cut through the ceiling. I think the brain eaters are dead. Most of my fellow slaves are too.
9
Four days. No water, no food. None of us talk any more. There is only one way left to eat.
10
I regret my choice to live. My body burns. Every time I wake up I feel less myself.
11
hungry
out
hungry
out
eat eat eat

Added additional explanation about telepathic door

Telepathic door-opening
Anyone with the ability to communicate telepathically can open the door by simply thinking “open” at it. If a player of a telepathic character says anything about it, consider that to mean that they are thinking it.

If nobody does this, then consider having anyone with telepathic abilities hear a simple questioning “ding” sound in their head when approaching the door.
If nobody in the party possesses telepathic abilities, then they are in the same situation as the slaves trapped in this room were, and will need to deal with the turrets and force the door.


Added ship's log

The crystalline hemisphere was the control mechanism for the vessel, but was rendered inoperable during the crash. Anyone inspecting it will notice a blue crystalline rectangle next to it. Touching the rectangle activates it.

The rectangle is the Ship’s Log. It projects information telepathically into the “reader’s” mind. Although the information is delivered telepathically, many of the words are in Quaalith. Anyone who does not know that language must make a DC 14 Intelligence check to gain any useful information.

The log appears to primarily be a list of stops at places whose names the party has never heard of. Near the end, there is a mention of most of the crew going into suspended animation to reduce food needs, as they are having to move slower to evade brain-less war constructs and enemy warships.
The last entry indicates that several enemy boarding parties are in the area, and the craft is going to attempt to escape at high speed as soon as there is a chance to do so.

[J-H]

No further feedback?

[J-H]

Review copies have been e-mailed out to those of you I have addresses for. Thank you!

[Bobthewizard]

I like the way it turned out. Nice job.

[J-H]

Thank you!