Klaudius Rex
Explorer
Welcome to another edition of Klaw's Tomb of Annihilation post-game show. This is really in reference to session #3 this weekend. (No conflicts arouse from session #2).
Before i get started, heres the player line up again:
- Laucian, the moon elf ranger from the Emerald Enclave,
- Gank, the goliath great weapon fighter,
- Sorath Brightwood, the aasimar cleric from the Order of the Gauntlet,
- Azari, the wood elf monk from the Harpers,
- Smoking Fur, the tabaxi artificer
- and, Idril, the half-elf warlock (death patron).
In this session, the group is agreed to escort Undril Silvertusk, a half-orc priestess of Torm from the Order of the Gauntlet to Camp Vengeance out in the jungles of Chult.
Along the way, they stopped at Camp Righteous, which was previously where the Order of the Gauntlet was stationed until a horde of undead wiped them out. Now, Camp Righteous is nothing but a messy campground full of corpses of fallen soldiers from the onslaught. It was built around a small mythological shrine called the Temple of the Crocodile and the Man. The temple was full of simple, primitive traps that almost killed my players. However, they got to the center of the temple where they found their first magic item, the Alchemy Jug (see DMG p.150).
Here are the issues I encountered with my players, along with how i adjudicated them. Again, i bring them to you guys here on the forums for constructive criticism (or praise). Let me know if you think i was fair, or how you would have handled things.
Smoking Fur, the tabaxi artificer/alchemist immediately claimed the Alchemy Jug (as expected). As a low level item, I personally found this Alchemy Jug to be a bit too powerful, especially because i think the players will use it to spam acid or poison on a daily basis, which in this case can be up to 8 ounces of acid and 1/2 ounce of poison per day. They are only 2nd level players, midway to 3rd level. It wouldn't be so bad, but just prior to getting the Alchemy Jug, he tried to pour a bunch of acid on one of the temple's pendulum swinging metallic blade traps as a means to bypass the trap (apparently, the Artificer class from Unearthed Arcana can produce large quantities of acid per round). Ultimately, I fear that this Alchemist Jug will be used in a similar way. He tucked it in to his Bag of Holding so it wouldn't get broken by any monsters. I haven't ruled against anything because i wanted to consult you guys first: what do you think about the Alchemy Jug? Overpowered? Would you fear endless amounts of acid or poison being produced at such low levels? Is there anything that a DM can do to balance it out? Let me know...
The other issue i had is that an important NPC villain escaped via a portal. The group broke into this NPCs residence, and they investigated the place for clues to where he could have gone. I allowed them to figure out that he left via a portal, but they wanted to use the 'Identify' spell to learn everything about the portal including its key (a command word), how it works, etc, etc. I ruled against it. I told them that the Identify spell really only works on magic items (and people), but not on something like this. However, I'm not sure if this holds the muster of the argument. Later, the group even tried to use Identify to discern how some of the magical traps functioned in the Temple (of the Crocodile and Man) above, including how the magic traps function and how to bypass it, which I definitely ruled against. Admittedly, I almost feel like I cheated the players in this regard and really cannot form a good argument of why certain magic items like NPC portals in their residences and magic traps in a dungeon work differently than magic items found as loot. I just have this gut feeling that it should. So, i look to you guys for sound arguments to help me out. Let me know what you think...
Ok, so any help would be appreciated.
Next session, the group is going to finally arrive at Camp Vengeance, and then to the Aldani Basin, where they will confront the NPC villain who got away.
Thanks in advance!
Merry Christmas!
Before i get started, heres the player line up again:
- Laucian, the moon elf ranger from the Emerald Enclave,
- Gank, the goliath great weapon fighter,
- Sorath Brightwood, the aasimar cleric from the Order of the Gauntlet,
- Azari, the wood elf monk from the Harpers,
- Smoking Fur, the tabaxi artificer
- and, Idril, the half-elf warlock (death patron).
In this session, the group is agreed to escort Undril Silvertusk, a half-orc priestess of Torm from the Order of the Gauntlet to Camp Vengeance out in the jungles of Chult.
Along the way, they stopped at Camp Righteous, which was previously where the Order of the Gauntlet was stationed until a horde of undead wiped them out. Now, Camp Righteous is nothing but a messy campground full of corpses of fallen soldiers from the onslaught. It was built around a small mythological shrine called the Temple of the Crocodile and the Man. The temple was full of simple, primitive traps that almost killed my players. However, they got to the center of the temple where they found their first magic item, the Alchemy Jug (see DMG p.150).
Here are the issues I encountered with my players, along with how i adjudicated them. Again, i bring them to you guys here on the forums for constructive criticism (or praise). Let me know if you think i was fair, or how you would have handled things.
Smoking Fur, the tabaxi artificer/alchemist immediately claimed the Alchemy Jug (as expected). As a low level item, I personally found this Alchemy Jug to be a bit too powerful, especially because i think the players will use it to spam acid or poison on a daily basis, which in this case can be up to 8 ounces of acid and 1/2 ounce of poison per day. They are only 2nd level players, midway to 3rd level. It wouldn't be so bad, but just prior to getting the Alchemy Jug, he tried to pour a bunch of acid on one of the temple's pendulum swinging metallic blade traps as a means to bypass the trap (apparently, the Artificer class from Unearthed Arcana can produce large quantities of acid per round). Ultimately, I fear that this Alchemist Jug will be used in a similar way. He tucked it in to his Bag of Holding so it wouldn't get broken by any monsters. I haven't ruled against anything because i wanted to consult you guys first: what do you think about the Alchemy Jug? Overpowered? Would you fear endless amounts of acid or poison being produced at such low levels? Is there anything that a DM can do to balance it out? Let me know...
The other issue i had is that an important NPC villain escaped via a portal. The group broke into this NPCs residence, and they investigated the place for clues to where he could have gone. I allowed them to figure out that he left via a portal, but they wanted to use the 'Identify' spell to learn everything about the portal including its key (a command word), how it works, etc, etc. I ruled against it. I told them that the Identify spell really only works on magic items (and people), but not on something like this. However, I'm not sure if this holds the muster of the argument. Later, the group even tried to use Identify to discern how some of the magical traps functioned in the Temple (of the Crocodile and Man) above, including how the magic traps function and how to bypass it, which I definitely ruled against. Admittedly, I almost feel like I cheated the players in this regard and really cannot form a good argument of why certain magic items like NPC portals in their residences and magic traps in a dungeon work differently than magic items found as loot. I just have this gut feeling that it should. So, i look to you guys for sound arguments to help me out. Let me know what you think...
Ok, so any help would be appreciated.
Next session, the group is going to finally arrive at Camp Vengeance, and then to the Aldani Basin, where they will confront the NPC villain who got away.
Thanks in advance!
Merry Christmas!
