D&D 5E [CAMPAIGN] Out of the Abyss [SPOILERS]

Thanks for all the insight. ! Also managing OotA right now, in two more or less parallel groups. Quite interesting, how different groups think. One just arrived in Graklstugh, the other just left the destroyed Slooblutop.

What Level was your group when they fought the Balor ?
Did your read the whole campaign before you started ?

Anthean72 said:

What Level was your group when they fought the Balor ?

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Level 10, but with powerful magic items. A balor is a melee beast with some mobility. It can't match the action economy of a group. In the future I'll look at balors as powerful demon soldiers and add powers to named balors to make them more formidable.

Did your read the whole campaign before you started ?

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I read the entire thing. I like to tailor the story elements to the group. It's easier to do if I know them all very early.

ABYSSAL MINOTAURS

ABYSSAL MINOTAUR Large monstrosity (extraplanar), chaotic evil; Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Armor Class 14 (natural armor); Hit Points 99 (9d10 + 45); Speed 40ft.
STR 22 (+6) DEX 12 (+1) CON 20 (+5) INT 6 (- 2) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 9 (- 1)
Skills Perception +7; Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 17
Damage Resistance Fire, Cold, Lightening, Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from nonmagical weapons.
Damage Immunity Poison
Condition Immunity Poisoned.
Languages Abyssal
Charge. If the minotaur moves at least 10 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a gore attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 10 feet away and knocked prone.
Labyrinthine Recall. The minotaur can perfectly recall any path it has traveled.
Reckless. At the start of its turn, the minotaur can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls it makes during that turn, but attack rolls against it have advantage until the start of its next turn.
ACTIONS
Greataxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d12 + 6) slashing damage.
Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft ., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 6) piercing damage.

DM Notes: Regular minotaurs aren't much of a challenge to 11th level characters. I don't get why the encounters are populated with such weak monsters in The Labyrinth.

The Spire of the Horned King

The Spire of the Horned King: The Spiral is a circular maze of immense size constructed by Baphomet as his home in the Underdark. The Endless Maze where few who enter every find their way out again. It is the only way to find a goristro or move deeper into the Labyrinth to locate the Gallery of Angels and The Maze Engine.

Key Objective: The party must make it through the maze to reach the gallery of angels. They may be able to obtain a goristro heart while in the maze.
The party may also attract the notice of Baphomet. He will obstruct them as they pass through the maze.

General Features
Tunnels: Tunnels are 30 feet high and 30 feet wide and vary in length. The walls of made of stone. The walls are smooth and provide no cover to hide behind.

Beast Fear: Beasts within I mile of the lair become frightened and disoriented, as though constantly under threat of being hunted, and might lash out or panic even when no visible threat is nearby.

Resting: Screams, bestial sounds, and a sense of general despair makes the maze a difficult place to sleep. While within the maze, you cannot take long rests. You must make a DC 18 Wisdom save to take a short rest. You make this save once per short rest. If you fail the save, you cannot take a short rest.

Navigation: You must make a DC 25 survival check if moving at a normal pace to backtrack along the same path in the maze. If you fail, you cannot follow the previous path for a half hour of real game time.

Foraging: There is nothing to eat in the maze but what you bring in or what you kill. Pools of water are easy to find in the maze. Minotaurs and beasts must drink.

Travel: Run the maze as persistent travel with no concern for distance. Insert rules for starvation or other environment hazards due to long travel if you feel it will add to the encounter experience.

UNDERDARK TRAVEL PACE
Fast 8 -5 penalty to passive Wisdom (Perception Scores); no foraging.
Normal 6 -
Slow 4 Improved foraging, or able to use Stealth

Entering the Maze: A gnoll named Gash has been forced to act as a greeter at the door to the maze. Baphomet enjoys enslaving one of Yeenoghu’s children. His job is to lead them through the maze to Baphomet’s Throne Room. If they strong enough to make it through the maze, then Baphomet will kill them himself.

Lair Actions: Baphomet can use his lair actions against anything in the maze. He is aware of any fights with his demonic minions.

Magic: Spells such as Leomund’s Tiny Hut or similar magic that provides shelter do not work in the maze while Baphomet lives.


DM Notes: I found a maze map online. I made the maze Baphomet's lair in the Underdark. The PCs must make it through the maze lair of Baphomet to progress in The Labyrinth. I plan to have the players navigate the maze for the session. I've built a random encounter table to determine what they come across in the maze. I want them to feel very lost and terrified in the maze. It will be the focus of the next session. If they run into Baphomet, we'll see how that fight goes. Finally, fun time is here. Time to fight big boy demons and possibly demon lords.

The 5E Balor Reimagined

BALOR Huge fiend (demon), chaotic evil; Challenge 20 (25,000 XP)
Armor Class 19 (natural armor); Hit Points 393 (21d12 + 126 x1.5 PC); Speed 40ft., fly 80ft.
STR 26 (+8) DEX 15 (+2) CON 22 (+6) INT 20 (+5) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 22 (+6)
Saving Throws Str +14, Con +12, Wis +9, Cha +12
Skills: Athletics +14, Perception +9, Insight +9, Arcana +11, Religion +11
Damage Resistances cold, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities fire, poison; Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses truesight 120ft., passive Perception 19
Languages Abyssal, telepathy 120ft.
Death Throes. When the balor dies, it explodes, and each creature within 120 feet of it must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 70 (20d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The explosion ignites flammable objects in that area that aren't being worn or carried, and it destroys the balor's weapons.

Fire Aura. At the start of each of the balor's turns, each creature within 5 feet of it takes 10 (3d6) fire damage, and flammable objects in the aura that aren't being worn or carried ignite. A creature that touches the balor or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 10 (3d6) fire damage.

Magic Resistance. The balor has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. The balor's weapon attacks are magical. The balor’s weapon attacks score a critical hit on a 19-20.

Innate Spellcasting. The balor’s spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 19). The balor can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: darkness, detect magic, dispel magic (5th level), telekinesis.
3/day: fire storm, greater teleport, dominate monster.
1/day each: divine word, power word stun, plane shift.

ACTIONS
Multiattack. The balor makes two attacks: one with its longsword and one with its whip.

Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: + 14 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d8 + 8) slashing damage plus 13 (3d8) lightning damage. If the balor scores a critical hit, it rolls damage dice three times, instead of twice.

Whip. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 30ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d6 + 8) slashing damage plus 10 (3d6) fire damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 25 feet toward the balor.

Teleport. The balor magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.

Fiery Charge. The balor can charge up to 80 feet using its fly speed. It makes a Shove Check using its +14 Strength (Athletics) skill against any target in its path. It gets advantage on this check against any target that is Large or smaller. Each target in its path is either knocked prone or shove backwards 5 feet out of its way. If the target is knocked prone, the balor can travel through its square without difficulty. Any creature in the path takes 2d10+8 bludgeoning damage and 3d6 fire damage. At the end of the charge, it can make a melee attack as a bonus action.

Hurl Fire and Lightning Bolt: Ranged Spell Attack: +11 attack. Range: 300 feet; each target in 5 foot wide line. Hit: 6d6+5 lightening damage and 6d6+5 fire damage. The target must make a DC 19 Dexterity save or catch on fire taking 3d6 fire damage at the start of their turn until they use their action to put the fire out requiring a DC 19 dexterity save.

Summon Demon (1/Day). The demon chooses what to summon and attempts a magical summoning. The balor has a 50% percent chance of summoning ld8 vrocks, ld6 hezrous, ld4 glabrezus, ld3 nalfeshnees, ld2 mariliths, or one goristro.
A summoned demon appears in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of its summoner, acts as an ally of its summoner, and it can't summon other demons. It remains until its summoner dismisses it as an action.

DM Notes: The PC multiplier is based on 4 PCs. I boost hit points by 25% for every PC above 4 to increase durability.

The 5E Marilith reimagined

MARILITH Large fiend (demon), chaotic evil; Challenge 16 (15,000 XP)
Armor Class 18 (natural armor); Hit Points 283 (18d10 + 90 x1.5); Speed 40ft.
STR 18 (+4) DEX 20 (+5) CON 20 (+5) INT 18 (+4) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 20 (+5)
Saving Throws Str +9, Con +10, Wis +8, Cha +10
Skills Perception +8, Insight +8, Arcana +9, Athletics +9, Stealth +10
Damage Resistances cold, fire, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons; Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses truesight 120ft., passive Perception 18
Languages Abyssal, telepathy 120ft.

Magic Resistance. The marilith has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. The marilith's weapon attacks are magical and have a +1 attack and damage bonus.

Reactive. The marilith can take one reaction on every turn in a combat.

Innate Spellcasting. The marilith’s spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 17). The marilith can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: detect magic, dispel magic (4th level), pass without trace, fly.
3/day: greater teleport, fly (5th level), blade barrier.
1/day each: plane shift.

ACTIONS
Multiattack. The marilith makes seven attacks: six with its longswords and one with its tail.

Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+ 5) slashing damage.

Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10ft., one creature. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 19). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained , the marilith can automatically hit the target with its tail , and the marilith can 't make tail attacks against other targets.

Teleport. The marilith is a master of tactical teleportation. The marilith magically teleports as a bonus action or action, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.

REACTIONS
Parry. The marilith adds 5 to its AC against one attack that would hit it. To do so, the marilith must see the attacker and be wielding a melee weapon.

DM Notes: The PC multiplier boosts hit point by 25% for every PC above 4.

The Spiral of the Horned King

The PCs entered The Spiral of the Horned King. They found the maze more difficult than usual to navigate. It required the extraordinary ranger skills of Jharzzle to continue moving in one direction due to the direction sense warping effects of the maze. They traveled for a few days fighting a group of abyssal minotaurs led by glabrezu. They found the daern's instant fortress having little trouble claiming it from a few shadow demons and gargoyles.

DM Notes:
1. The higher level chapters are poorly designed. This is some of the worst module design work I've ever read. Insufficient experience to level. Monsters of an insignificant challenge for characters of the appropriate level. No maps. Somewhat conceptually interesting encounters with no substance to make them challenging. I think this is perhaps the last WotC module I plan to purchase. Their encounter design is some of the worst I've ever seen. Not only are the encounters uninteresting, but they aren't challenging. The entire module isn't level appropriate at all. It's obvious WotC tried to fit too much into one module and thus failed to make a complete, interesting, and challenging module. Very disappointing given the subject matter.

2. I've ramped up the weak maze encounter into something that will hopefully be somewhat challenging. So far they are making their saves, but they are unprepared for the possibility of failure. This is likely due to how easy the module has been to this point. The encounter design from a challenge standpoint is weak, very weak. Why would they have level 10 plus characters fighting minotaurs and gnolls? It is ridiculous. Even standard by the book 5E characters would have no trouble defeating such opponents.

I ended the campaign. I couldn't keep running the game. I find 5E to be a boring game. I could go into detail as to the various reasons, but there's no point. I don't have fun running 5E. I thought I would enjoy the simplicity and concepts like Bounded Accuracy, but at higher levels I don't enjoy them because they are all one-sided. The monsters are simple, but the PCs are not. This makes for a very boring game that I have to rewrite too much to make it as I prefer it. Even the higher level chapters in Out of the Abyss were poorly designed to challenge characters of the level they were supposedly designed for. Overall, 5E is a very unsatisfying version of D&D. Very different from the feeling of dislike I had for 4E. My dissatisfaction with 5E was slow building. It's not a bad game. It feels more like D&D than 4E. I think it is likely a good starting point for new D&D players like basic D&D was way back when I was young. For a long-time D&D player like myself, I need more tactical complexity to keep me interested. I need monsters with options other than charge or fly around and blast with a breath weapon or try to knock someone prone.

I gave it a good shot. But running 5E D&D just isn't for me, though I'll still play it if a buddy feels like running it.

Feel free to use the material I generated in this thread for your campaign.

Thanks for your input. I have already used some of your material in my campaign and I have really enjoyed reading your thread.
Thanks again


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A DAY IN THE LIFE

Jobs: The prisoners are divided into 3 five person groups and put to work for a third of the day, supervised by quaggoths. The groups are random every day. Roll 1d12 for each group.
The prisoners are fed once a day (breakfast) – a thin mushroom stew in a clay bowl.

1. Fill and Haul Water Barrels: p14, area 9.

2. Operate the Lift: This is on page 12, area 5.

3. Clean Areas of the Outpost: The place that makes most sense for this would be the barracks on page 11, area 2.

4. Empty Chamber Pots: Waste is dumped into the pool from the ledge in area 14, page 15. There is a very aggressive grey ooze in the pool, which makes for a lot of fun possibilities. Maybe the adventurers notice it somehow, and are able to trick their overseers into getting to close to the pool.

5. Food preparation and service: This would be in area 3 on page 11. The heroes could be in charge of serving 4 drow who are playing cards. The drow would probably yell at the heroes for any infraction. You could make a skill challenge out of preparing a delicious meal. Your menu might include a florescent fungus salad, cave jelly, roasted deep beetles and a toadstool steak.
• A work team must help a quaggoth chef who is drying fish and canning entrails. Slaves must remove live quippers from a barrel, then kill and clean them with their bare hands. Some hands will be bitten, probably a guard will beat someone for not sorting the guts carefully enough.

6. Wash Dishes: I think this would be in the main hall, which is area 3 on page 11.

7. Laundry: Wash garments under the waterfall at area 9. Then, maybe there's a few spidersilk lines where the clothes can be hung to dry. The idea of the heroes handling the dirty underwear of the drow is quite amusing.
8. Excavation: Give pick axes and buckets to excavate a new chamber.

9. Feeding Day: Feed the spiders. Don’t slip or you are dinner.
• Coiling Rope – After the spiders are fed, another work team is taken to the floor of the cavern in the lift (good recon), where they must select fresh silk webbing and roll it around obsidian rods to create web-balls – which is latter spun into silk rope. They must be careful to not overly agitate the webbing or an angry spider tries to eat them.. The guards laugh! Dexterity ability check DC 8.

10. Test Dummy: Jorlyn needs someone expendible to stir his new batch of poison and test it. Fun! Dexterity DC 10 to stir safely. If fail Constitution DC 13 or 3d4 poison damage, save for half. If fail by 5 or more, gain one level of exhaustion from poisoning.

11. Fight Club!: The guards are bored and pair off the prisoners. Looser feeds the spiders!

12. Hunger Games: Ilvarra, Shoor and some guards collect a random prisoner and take them away. They are never seen again. Nevitash has a nightmare of the prisoner being hunted through the underdark by the party of dark elves. “See dream description”