D&D 5E Enhancing "Storm King's Thunder"

pukunui

Legend
Something I've been wondering about: Who is Sirac of Suzail's mother? It didn't seem to be important when SKT first came out, but now, with the info from ToA, we know that his mother can't be Artus' wife, Alisandra, because she's been stuck in wherever Mezro got sent to during the Spellplague for more than a century. So unless Sirac is really old too, then Artus was unfaithful to his wife at some point. And yet it seems like he loves and misses her, since he's gone to Chult to try to find a way to bring her back. Perhaps Sirac was the result of a moment of weakness on Artus' part? I guess we'll never know ...

For my purposes, however, I think I might just make Sirac a distant relative of Artus' ... like a great-grandnephew or something.
 

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Motorskills

Explorer
Something I've been wondering about: Who is Sirac of Suzail's mother? It didn't seem to be important when SKT first came out, but now, with the info from ToA, we know that his mother can't be Artus' wife, Alisandra, because she's been stuck in wherever Mezro got sent to during the Spellplague for more than a century. So unless Sirac is really old too, then Artus was unfaithful to his wife at some point. And yet it seems like he loves and misses her, since he's gone to Chult to try to find a way to bring her back. Perhaps Sirac was the result of a moment of weakness on Artus' part? I guess we'll never know ...

For my purposes, however, I think I might just make Sirac a distant relative of Artus' ... like a great-grandnephew or something.

Remind me who that is (or where she's referenced in SKT), doesn't ring a bell at all.
 

pukunui

Legend
Remind me who that is (or where she's referenced in SKT), doesn't ring a bell at all.
Sirac is one of the playable NPCs in Bryn Shander. He's the one pinging on the frost giants' blod stone radar. SKT says he's the son of Artus Cimber, and that his parents (plural) essentially abandoned him when he was little, so he grew up on the streets of Suzail in Cormyr before heading up to Icewind Dale, where he found religion.

However, back in the 2e days, Artus Cimber fell in love with Alisanda Rayburton, the daughter of the Cormyrean adventurer who had the Ring of Winter before Artus, and married her. Alisanda is actually a lot older than Artus, as she and her father became immortal barae (protectors) of Mezro in Chult several hundred years before Artus was even born.

Anyway, Alisanda was still in Mezro when it was supposedly destroyed during the Spellplague, although we now know, thanks to ToA, that it was just whisked away to some other dimension. Alisanda has been trapped there ever since, and after waiting around for a century, Artus is now trying to find a way to bring her back.

Alisanda can't be Sirac's mother unless he is also more than one hundred years old, but SKT seems to suggest that that isn't the case. Therefore, despite the fact that Artus clearly loves Alisanda enough that he is seeking to reunite with her, it would appear that he was unfaithful to her at least once, resulting in a love child that neither he nor the other woman wanted to raise themselves.

With all that in mind, I think it makes more sense for Sirac to merely be a (distant) blood relative of Artus, rather than his son. Sirac just happens to be the closest member of the Cimber family to the frost giants' blod stone. If the giants were to visit Cormyr, they'd probably find more of them.


EDIT: Some relevant quotes:

SKT, p 39: "Sirac knows that he's a son of the immortal Artus Cimber and thus carries the Cimber bloodline, not that it has ever benefited him. Artus's immortality, it is said, comes from a magic ring--a ring that Sirac has never seen. Sirac's parents gave him up as a baby ..."

ToA, p 212: "A former member of the Harpers, Artus Cimber is the keeper of the Ring of Winter. He found the ring in the jungles of Chult, where he also met his wife, Alisanda ... Artus has spent most of his life trying to keep the Ring of Winter out of evil hands, but his return to Chult is focused on reuniting with his beloved Alisanda, who disappeared along with the city of Mezro during the Spellplague. No longer content to wait for Alisanda and Mezro to return on their own, Artus has been seeking the means to bring them back."
 
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Motorskills

Explorer
I want to develop some amped-up OOT Lair Actions for Iymrith. The ones in the Monster Manual aren't bad, but I want Iymrith's lair to be truly nasty.

Suggestions?
 

hastur_nz

First Post
I have very little time to prep tomorrow's session but I am cool with winging it for the most part, however I was thinking of having some sort of giant encounter on the road to Neverwinter to set the stage for what's happening in the North at large. I might do hill giants since they are the lowest ranking/CR giants (my guys are only 4th level) but am debating other options (especially since I see the hill giant thing being mostly focused on the Dessarin Valley and they're pretty far from Graud Haug. I could have sworn that there was an encounter written up somewhere with a single frost giant (or maybe two) on the High Road returning to his ship on the coast with a bag of ill gotten gains, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Does that ring a bell with anyone?

Anyhow, any comments about any of this are welcome, or thoughts on if I'm heading for a TPK if I break out a frostie, but the main thing I am looking tonight is a point to where the above mention encounter may be written up, if I didn't imagine it. I looked through Storm King's Thunder fairly thoroughly and couldn't find it but I also downloaded A Guide to Storm King's Thunder and some other stuff a while back and wondered if it might have been something from one of those sources? Thanks in advance for any help!

Amphail, page 72, features 3 hill giants crashing a party. I used that, and later a single Hill Giant and his 'minions' outside Goldenfields. For a group of only level 4 PC's, that's potentially too tough - it depends on whether it's a straight up fight, or you give them a chance to interact outside of initiative first. Mine were level 5 at that point, which is a significant power-up over level 4.
 

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer
1) ...they are done with {i]LMoP[/i] so now I need to...

2) however I was thinking of having some sort of giant encounter on the road to Neverwinter to set the stage for what's happening in the North at large.
1) ...change the leading curlique bracket to a square bracket, to get the effect I think you want.

2) How about having them meet a fire giant who is totally preoccupied with a Wand of Detecting Pieces of Vonindod, checking the area? He almost steps on them because he isn't looking where he is going. But he doesn't really care about the PCs (or any other smallfolk) at all; he will swat at them if they hurt him, and move on. (Give him a sweeping Push attack.) He could say something like "There isn't any HERE, either. Bah!" as he turns to leave.
This gives them a chance to meet and maybe fight the enemy, without having to-the-death be the automatic stakes.
 

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer
I want to develop some amped-up OOT Lair Actions for Iymrith. The ones in the Monster Manual aren't bad, but I want Iymrith's lair to be truly nasty.

Suggestions?

The posts a few pages back (p15? I don't remember and will have to edit this post when I find it) about how BIG Imryth really is were inspiring to me.
Edit: Found it ! I hope this is a link: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?488544-Enhancing-quot-Storm-King-s-Thunder-quot&p=7183802&viewfull=1#post7183802
(Post #341, in case it doesn't work and you have to take the long way back)

I'm thinking about creating an independent campaign using the Frost Giants (SKT), Arauthator (Tiamat), and some Uthgardt "Vikings" as the main players. I am so putting XL Arauthator with the cone "tail sweep" attack in that lair. Now I need to build a 3-D simulation of his ice cavern so I can figure out just where to swoop in on the PCs...
 
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