D&D 5E 7 Legitimate Beefs with Hoard of the Dragon Queen

[Mondas711]

Yeah the real problem is that Cyanwrath won initiative and caught all the characters in a line coming down the hallway. I think if I started the encounter after the characters moved into the room and fanned out it might have worked differently. Even after that though I don't know if the party could have handled the encounter as written. My problem is that I would have to scale the encounter way back for almost any 3rd level party that did not use well above average tactics. Why even write the encounter that way? The way the encounter was worded it made it seem like you might have to bump it up a bit for it to even be challenging so I was sort of mislead into thinking the encounter wasn't particularly deadly. I did fail to note how tough the encounter was before I started, but it still seems that it could have been set up better considering it can kill your characters before they even have a chance to run.

 

[Wolfskin]

Yeah, I agree that the description of the encounter assumes that it may be too easy to more than four characters, which makes no sense since the berserkers are actually tougher (HP-wise) than Cyanwrath! My guess is that berserkers were originally CR 1 instead of 2, with thirty-something hit points and maybe a slightly lower damage output, and that was changed in the MM after Hoard was already sent to the printer.

Even though I haven't run Rise of Tiamat yet, by looking at it I think encounters are better designed than the ones in HotDQ.

 

[aramis erak]

My players lured Cyanwrath and the berserkers into a hall... and took them out one at a time by use of ranged weapons and the movement rules.

 

[Parmandur]

Actually, from what I gather the adventures will be of different lengths. So, Tyranny of Dragons is a pretty big event (2 adventures), but the Princes of the Apocalypse is a shorter event (1 adventure).



Possibly. I could well be wrong.



It's certainly true that having both adventures out makes a big difference, though!



Cheers!

Princes of the Apocalypse costs as much as the two ToD adventures combined. We don't know page counts yet, but I'll wager it comes out to the same length as both combined, and would not be surprised if it were 16 "Episodes" (modules).

 

[evan]

The one thing I'm highly skeptical of is WotC's ability to produce adventures that in anyway equal what I have become accustomed to from Paizo. Paizo's Adventure Paths were far superior to anything I have seen from WotC since the good old days of D&D. Much more open to DM and player caveat with more interesting stories that you can do with or without the recommended NPCs. I hope future modules are far more interesting than Hoard appears to be. Heck, I'd be happy if WotC updated a bunch of 1st edition modules rather than producing new modules. Those 1E modules are still great. Love to see 5E Against the Giants or Assault on the Slavelords.

The caravan sequence at my table involved a bard going crazy and murdering a random NPC, which then spawned a 2 hour long murder investigation. A number of caravan events, I just skipped. I incorporated the Golden Stag and the +1 longbow into another character's personal arc. All-in-all, much fun was had. But there was much deviation from the text.

I have heard very good things about Paizo's Adventure Paths. As a Pathfinder novice, what AP would you recommend (aside from Rise of the Runelords, I'm currently playing that campaign)?

I've bought and am reading through Rise of Tiamat. I'm not sure how to rate it yet, but I think it will be fun to run.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I liked it through the swamp castle. Even the caravan wasn't too bad if you kept it focused and moved it along briskly. The cloud giant castle is dumb and contrived. I fail to see how a group of 4-6 maybe 7th level characters are supposed to survive without a lot of luck and GM coaching.

 

[evan]

I liked it through the swamp castle. Even the caravan wasn't too bad if you kept it focused and moved it along briskly. The cloud giant castle is dumb and contrived. I fail to see how a group of 4-6 maybe 7th level characters are supposed to survive without a lot of luck and GM coaching.

By the time you reach Episode 8, characters should be around level 7 (I think) according to the adventure's milestone experience guidelines. They might have wrote it with taht in mind.

That being said, I'm eager to see how my characters will handle the Castle. I don't think it's dumb, I think it's really cool! There are opportunities to talk to a Cloud Giant, there's a big control room with lots of shiny buttons, there's a dragon downstairs with a room full of treasure. And if I remember correctly there's even a vampire.

It's definitely a place where characters need to use their heads, though. If they go in all-spells-blazing, they might end up dead or worse.

 

[aramis erak]

I liked it through the swamp castle. Even the caravan wasn't too bad if you kept it focused and moved it along briskly. The cloud giant castle is dumb and contrived. I fail to see how a group of 4-6 maybe 7th level characters are supposed to survive without a lot of luck and GM coaching.

If you're not using milestone leveling, you need to include enough "random" encounters to keep the level up . My AL Casual Play group is using tracked XP (as required by AL guidelines), and has PC's from 4th to 6th level in Episode 5 (and we're not even done with 5 yet)... tho' the 6th level guy did get 2 expeditions modules in, too. (And hit max XP on both.)

 

[MonsterEnvy]

On the Dragon Eggs. Rise of Tiamat talks about them a bit. Showing Fractions that want to destroy them, ransom them, or sell them.

 

[jayoungr]

Is the original blog article down for some reason? I get a 404 when I try the link.