D&D 5E Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

[pukunui]

I had three cult wagons in the caravan.

I asked Steve about that. He said it was meant to be three. The earlier "five" is just a typo.

I also asked him about the number of dragon masks needed to make the big one. This was his answer: "In HotDQ, we weren't allowed to let PCs capture any masks, which was a dramatic problem. By RoT, Wizards came around to our thinking, sort of, but it was too late. The whole adventure is built around the idea that all 5 masks are needed to kick off the ritual."

I'm sure you can go either way depending on what preparations your party makes. My party completely blew chapter 2 and never infiltrated the cultists' camp near Greenest, so it made sense that they didn't recognize anyone in the wagon train. But I've also listened to a podcast where the DM just told the group at the start of the journey that they'd figured out who the cultists were. Both ways worked fine.

I think that makes a lot of sense. Making it so the party knows about some of the wagons but not all of them might just give you the best of both worlds.

Yeah. My issue is that I can't think of any good reason why Selebon wouldn't tell them where the mysterious buyer in the palanquin wanted the wagons to be delivered. I'm thinking that I'll have him tell the PCs that the wagons were delivered to a warehouse on the outskirts of Blackgate. But by the time the PCs get there, the cultists will have already packed up the wagons and headed for the caravan assembly grounds. Instead, the PCs will find Mondath and some cult assassins waiting for them ...


As an aside, I've run so many sidequests in Baldur's Gate now that my PCs are going to be 5th level by the time they leave the city. I'll have to make sure the encounters they have on the road aren't all too easy as a result. The No Room at the Inn encounter should be interesting. I could potentially use one actual assassin, and maybe replace the others with veterans or something. (I was considering using Steve's young green slaads idea, but I'm not so sure now.)

 

[jayoungr]

I asked Steve about that. He said it was meant to be three. The earlier "five" is just a typo.

Makes sense. It could also be explained in-world by saying that the other two wagons are in reserve for whenever the next shipment of treasure hits town.

Have you decided what the three wagons will pretend to haul?

I also asked him about the number of dragon masks needed to make the big one. This was his answer: "In HotDQ, we weren't allowed to let PCs capture any masks, which was a dramatic problem. By RoT, Wizards came around to our thinking, sort of, but it was too late. The whole adventure is built around the idea that all 5 masks are needed to kick off the ritual."

Interesting--thanks for sharing! The adventure doesn't fall apart if you use the RoT assumption from the beginning, though. The masks don't even start to become important until almost the very end of HotDQ. If anything, assuming you only need two masks makes tracking down the wyrmspeakers more urgent, since the PCs know they can't stop when they get the first mask. (So far, my PCs have captured the black one and the green one. When we get to the final showdown, I'm planning to describe how on the assembled mask, the heads of the colors the cult had are lively-looking, with fiery eyes, while the ones matching the colors they didn't have seem to be asleep.)

I'm thinking that I'll have him tell the PCs that the wagons were delivered to a warehouse on the outskirts of Blackgate. But by the time the PCs get there, the cultists will have already packed up the wagons and headed for the caravan assembly grounds. Instead, the PCs will find Mondath and some cult assassins waiting for them ...

I think that's a great way to bring Mondath back! The PCs might even want to keep her alive long enough to find out where the wagons are going next.

As an aside, I've run so many sidequests in Baldur's Gate now that my PCs are going to be 5th level by the time they leave the city. I'll have to make sure the encounters they have on the road aren't all too easy as a result. The No Room at the Inn encounter should be interesting. I could potentially use one actual assassin, and maybe replace the others with veterans or something. (I was considering using Steve's young green slaads idea, but I'm not so sure now.)

The homebrewed young slaads that I mentioned upthread have enough hitpoints to stand up to a 5th-level party. But I'd recommend making them hit a bit harder and/or more often, especially if most of your party has AC of 19+, as mine did.

 

[pukunui]

Makes sense. It could also be explained in-world by saying that the other two wagons are in reserve for whenever the next shipment of treasure hits town.

True.

Have you decided what the three wagons will pretend to haul?

One is going to be the newlyweds. The other is "preserved fruits" from the lands around the Sea of Fallen Stars, and the third is "undisclosed".

Interesting--thanks for sharing! The adventure doesn't fall apart if you use the RoT assumption from the beginning, though. The masks don't even start to become important until almost the very end of HotDQ. If anything, assuming you only need two masks makes tracking down the wyrmspeakers more urgent, since the PCs know they can't stop when they get the first mask. (So far, my PCs have captured the black one and the green one. When we get to the final showdown, I'm planning to describe how on the assembled mask, the heads of the colors the cult had are lively-looking, with fiery eyes, while the ones matching the colors they didn't have seem to be asleep.)

That's a cool idea.

I think that's a great way to bring Mondath back! The PCs might even want to keep her alive long enough to find out where the wagons are going next.

I was actually thinking that Rezmir wouldn't have told her because she's leaving Mondath behind. She probably suspects that Mondath won't be able to defeat the PCs, so it's more of a delaying tactic than anything else.

The homebrewed young slaads that I mentioned upthread have enough hitpoints to stand up to a 5th-level party. But I'd recommend making them hit a bit harder and/or more often, especially if most of your party has AC of 19+, as mine did.

The highest AC in my party at the moment is 17. I'm just not sure if I want to use slaads. I'll have to go back and reread the slaad entry in the MM.

 

[akr71]

HOTDQ pg 79

In addition, the chest here is locked and magically attuned to Rezmir so that if she dies, its contents are teleported to the Well of Dragons and out of her slayers' hands.

I find these kind of things really irritating. If the party never sees it and can never actually get their hands on it, there is no reason to even mention it or have it as part of the adventure. I'm going to make it possible for the characters to get hold of it (and others) and go with the suggestion of making Tiamat weaker when she is finally summoned.

Any ideas on that front? Straight math? -20% for each mask captured/destroyed by the party, is what I am thinking. Also, I think that I'll have it so Severin is not overly concerned about the loss of a mask or two. He will know about the party and their intentions and will let them just bring the missing masks to him. In super-villain fashion, destroying the masks is unfathomable to him.

There are a lot of really cool ideas and links in this thread - I love it! While my group has yet to start HOTDQ, they've got their new level 1 characters ready to roll. There's only 3 of them, so I've made some a number of adjustments and tweaks and added a few XP boosting side quests along the way. I've also got a number of extra NPC's I can throw in if I feel they need help or are lacking skills.

 

[Daern]

Denying the cult could make Tiamat weaker. Wearing a mask while fighting Tiamat might have the effect that she avoids attacking the wearer unless attacked, or provides advantage on Saves against her attacks.

 

[cmad1977]

I think(not sure as I don't have the book in front of me) that Rise of Tiamat has some consequences for not having the mask or all parts of it.

 

[Sloblock]

I think(not sure as I don't have the book in front of me) that Rise of Tiamat has some consequences for not having the mask or all parts of it.

RoT does have some stuff around penalties, for me I would prefer that they were directly linked to any of the masks the PCs have acquired.

In our game they have the Black Mask, and I am going to give them the opportunity to get the Green and Blue for real

 

[pukunui]

RoT does have some stuff around penalties, for me I would prefer that they were directly linked to any of the masks the PCs have acquired.

You mean like, if the PCs have the black mask, Tiamat can't use her black dragon head or something?

 

[cmad1977]

You mean like, if the PCs have the black mask, Tiamat can't use her black dragon head or something?

I was thinking something along those lines, though might be a little crazy strong. I was thinking maybe she just loses the breath weapon. Which might be kinda strong too. I'd look at the penalties in the module and base something off those in terms of power.

 

[pukunui]

One of the options is reducing her attack and breath weapon damage. You could make it so only the relevant head's attack and damage values are reduced, but that might be too much book-keeping. I dunno. I am very far away from that point in the campaign. My party hasn't even left Baldur's Gate yet!