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[Let's Read] The Test of High Sorcery, a CYOA Dragonlance Adventure
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8862257" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p>Just for fun, I decided to run through this adventure with 3 original PCs to see how things hold up. I used 27 Point Buy for generating stats and, barring an alternative take on the Kender from Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything, I stuck to official sourcebooks for character building. While there is some inevitable metagaming as I have read this adventure, CYOA books are meant to be replayed by design. Even so, I made each character different enough to have them pick “sub-optimal options” in line with their personalities.</p><p></p><p>I am happy to say that of the three, two managed to complete their test, with only one death. And that was at the final battle!</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/50cJSGv.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><strong>Adventure1, Elf Wizard</strong></p><p></p><p>For my first character I decided to make Azrifa Moondew, a stereotypical elven wizard. Given the emphasis on puzzle-solving over combat, I made her specialize in divination and chose a Stone of Good Luck as her free uncommon magic item. Combined with Portent, these were pretty powerful choices optimized to give her the edge in rolling the many ability checks and saving throws of the Test of High Sorcery.</p><p></p><p>In her playthrough Azrifa survived, and went for the moral yet practical-sounding options when possible. The idea was that she was someone who preferred to act when she had all of the information, and didn’t want to intrude into unknown territory. Particularly if it involved her owing a debt of nebulous condition to a greater power: she resisted Fistandantilus’ offer, angering him, and when confronted with the gold dragon refused his offer of a potion as she didn’t want to make a deal without knowing the price; in exchange he healed her Ghost-Touched trait that was gained from an earlier challenge. Azrifa also gave up her Wand of Fickle Luck instead of making a deal with the hag, also reinforcing her tactics of risk-minimization.</p><p></p><p>The final battle was with the Lost Wizard, and I have to admit the dice were luckily on my side, as the boss was unlucky with their own melee attacks and managed to exhaust their limited-use abilities. I won with 4 Destiny Points remaining.</p><p></p><p>Azrifa wasn’t lacking in spell slots; combined with Arcane Recovery and being a Wizard, the High Sorcery feats also gave me a decent amount of backup spells. Shield and White Robe Adept’s Protective Ward were also helpful in prolonging my life during the final battle, while Magic Missile and Scorching Ray were my primary damage-dealers.</p><p></p><p>[spoiler=Stat Block]Azrifa Moondew</p><p>Lawful Good Qualinesti High Elf School of Divination Wizard 4</p><p>Background Mage of High Sorcery</p><p>Armor Class 12 (15 with Mage Armor)</p><p>Hit Points 26 (4d6+8)</p><p>Speed 30 feet</p><p></p><p>STR 8 (-1) DEX 15 (+2) CON 14 (+2) INT 18 (+4) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 10</p><p>Saving Throws Intelligence +7, Wisdom +4 (added +1 from Stone)</p><p>Skills Arcana +7, History +7, Insight +4, Investigation +7, Perception +4 (added +1 from Stone)</p><p>Weapons Daggers, darts, longbow, longsword, shortbow, shortsword slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows</p><p>Senses Passive Perception 13, Darkvision 60 feet</p><p>Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elven, Istarian</p><p>Feats Adept of the White Robes, Initiate of High Sorcery</p><p></p><p>Equipment</p><p>Dagger</p><p>Component Pouch</p><p>Scholar’s Pack</p><p>Spellbook</p><p>Bottle of Colored Ink</p><p>Ink pen</p><p>Set of Common Clothes</p><p>Pouch</p><p>10 GP</p><p>Stone of Good Luck (+1 to ability checks and saving throws, attuned)</p><p></p><p>Miscellaneous Abilities</p><p></p><p></p><p>Adept of the White Robes: cast Locate Object and Mind Spike 1/long rest each</p><p>Arcane Recovery: 1/day choose up to 2 levels worth of spell slots to recover after a short rest</p><p>Fey Ancestry: Advantage vs charm, immune to magical sleep</p><p>Initiate of High Sorcery: cast Protection From Evil & Good and Shield 1/long rest each</p><p>Portant: roll and record two d20s at end of long rest, can replace any attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you or a creature you can see makes with the roll.</p><p>Protective Ward: use reaction to spend spell slot, reduce damage by xd6+4, with x equal to spell slot level </p><p>Trance: rest for 4 hours a day</p><p></p><p>Spells</p><p></p><p>Spell Save DC 14</p><p>Spell Attack Modifier +6</p><p></p><p>Spell Slots: 1st: 4/4; 2nd: 3/3</p><p></p><p>Cantrips: Dancing Lights (high elf) ©, Fire Bolt (feat), Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost</p><p></p><p>1st Level: Burning Hands, Charm Person, Detect Magic ®, Find Familiar ®, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Protection from Evil and Good ©, Shield, Sleep, Unseen Servant ®</p><p></p><p>2nd Level: Invisibility ©, Locate Object ©, Mind Spike, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web ©</p><p></p><p>Feats: Locate Object 1/1, Mind Spike 1/1, Protection from Evil & Good 1/1, Shield 1/1</p><p>[/spoiler]</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/fykXhZ4.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><strong>Adventure 2, Kender Mage-Thief</strong></p><p></p><p>This was the only adventure which resulted in a death. My backstory was that an enterprising kender known as Carbery Tanglefoot happened upon a spellbook and began to study the arcane arts, thus the Arcane Trickster subclass for Rogue. I built her as more of a support mage or one that relies on hit and run tactics, with her primary damage-dealing ability being Sneak Attack and the bulk of spells being stuff that debilitates the enemy like Hideous Laughter or Color Spray. I chose the Winged Boots as my free uncommon magic item, which was helpful in the two battles but bad luck still did the poor kender in at the end. As I figured that this adventure may be part of an ongoing campaign, not all PCs are going to be built with soloing challenges, so Carbery is very much one of those “abilities best in tandem with other party members” kind of mages.</p><p></p><p>I played up Carbery’s incessant curiosity and good nature while also still being new to this whole world of magic. She examined the circle of Takhisis and watched the fey dance in the forests of Wayreth, tried to save two people at risk to herself during the terrorwind arena, “borrowed” some extra scrolls from the community pool, and was overconfident and managed to humor the rakshasa by talking his ear off about all the things she gathered from putting together his identity in the test of knowledge (“one of my favorite things is learning new stuff about the world!”).</p><p></p><p>Sadly, she took a beating during the two fights. The amphi dragon lucked out and was able to immediately recharge their breath weapon which it used once again, and I had to burn through Destiny Points to keep Carbery alive. As I didn’t have much in the way of damaging magic, I had to rely on targeting his tongue and hoping to roll high enough to do 10 damage. The advantage from the captain fighting alongside me in combat was canceled out by the disadvantage and I had spent my Inspiration already in hopes of hitting with a Sneak Attack (I didn’t), so I lucked out in rolling the best result on a 1d6+4 a few rounds in.</p><p></p><p>In hindsight I suppose I could’ve used Hideous Laughter or Color Spray to try and negate its actions, but as an Arcane Trickster I wasn’t brimming with spell slots. I also figured that given the storm my kender mage couldn’t fly around too much in what would at least be difficult terrain.</p><p></p><p>My end came with the final battle against the gnoll shaman. I suppose that a kender’s fear immunity* from a narrative perspective would’ve made them get the Lost Wizard but I still wanted to roll for the “master your fears” if only to see some variance in the boss battles. My PC took advantage of her winged boots to stay out of the gnoll’s melee reach, but his Fire Bolt cantrip combined with the d4 terrain causing fire damage on a few results caused the tale of Carbery Tanglefoot to come to a premature end.</p><p></p><p>*These rolls don’t specify how resistance or immunity to the frightened condition changes the challenge during the interview, and the Tasslehoff’s Pouches kender are immune to the frightened condition but not necessarily all forms of fear-based stuff.</p><p></p><p>[spoiler=Stat Block]Carbery Tanglefoot</p><p>Chaotic Good Wanderlust Kender* Arcane Trickster Rogue 4</p><p>Background Mage of High Sorcery</p><p>Armor Class 15 (leather armor)</p><p>Hit Points 27 (4d8+4)</p><p>Speed 30 feet</p><p></p><p>STR 10 (0) DEX 18 (+4) CON 13 (+1) INT 16 (+3) WIS 10 (0) CHA 10 (0)</p><p>Saving Throws Dexterity +6, Intelligence +5</p><p>Skills Acrobatics +6, Arcana +7, History +5, Perception +2, Sleight of Hand +6, Stealth +8</p><p>Armor Light armor</p><p>Weapons improvised weapons, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortbows</p><p>Tools Thieves’ Tools</p><p>Senses Passive Perception 12</p><p>Languages Common, Ergot, Kenderspeak, Solamnic, Thieves’ Cant</p><p>Feats Adept of the Red Robes, Initiate of High Sorcery</p><p></p><p>Equipment</p><p>Rapier</p><p>Shortbow w/ 20 arrows</p><p>2 daggers</p><p>Explorer’s Pack</p><p>Thieves’ Tools</p><p>Leather Armor</p><p>Bottle of colored ink</p><p>Ink pen</p><p>Set of common clothes</p><p>Pouch</p><p>10 GP</p><p>Winged Boots (attuned)</p><p></p><p>Miscellaneous Abilities</p><p></p><p>Adept of the Red Robes: cast Blur and Knock once per long rest each, if roll a 9 or lower on attack or ability check can treat as a 10 up to 2 times per long rest.</p><p>Cunning Action: Dash, Disengage, Hide, or control Mage Hand as bonus action.</p><p>Expertise: Double proficiency on Arcana and Stealth.</p><p>Explorer: add double proficiency for History checks regarding geography</p><p>Fearless: immune to frightened condition</p><p>Kender Pockets: pull random item as a bonus action, roll on Kender Pockets table. Remains for 10 minutes, this can be used 2 times per long rest</p><p>Initiate of High Sorcery: cast Color Spray and Feather Fall once each per long rest.</p><p>Mage Hand Legerdemain: Use mage hand to also retrieve or stow one object in a container, use thieves’ tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range.</p><p>Sneak Attack 2d6</p><p>Taunt: bonus action targeted creature who fails DC 10 Charisma save is enraged, attacks against other targets take disadvantage and they cannot take disengage action. Can be done up to 2 times per long rest.</p><p></p><p>Spells</p><p></p><p>Spell Save DC 13</p><p>Spell Attack Modifier +5</p><p></p><p>Spell Slots 1st: 3/3</p><p></p><p>Cantrips: Gust, Light, Mage Hand (subclass), Message, Shocking Grasp (feat)</p><p></p><p>1st Level: Charm Person, Color Spray, Feather Fall, Grease, Hideous Laughter ©, Silent Image ©</p><p></p><p>Blur 1/1, Color Spray 1/1, Feather Fall 1/1, Knock 1/1</p><p></p><p>*Race from Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything[/spoiler]</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/849S1L0.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><strong>Adventure 3, Hobgoblin Battlecaster</strong></p><p></p><p>I debated between statting up an Eldritch Knight Fighter or Hexblade Warlock for a “gish build,” but I went with the latter because it felt cooler. Unlike the prior two characters I went for a darker and edgier character: Ret’jarvo is a hobgoblin warrior who came upon a fell spirit that taught him the gift of arcane magic to give him an edge in battle. As he wanted to learn magic to better vanquish his enemies, his spells and invocations reflected this. The Fiendish Vigor Invocation guaranteed that he’d always have a reserve of temporary hit points to draw upon during the challenges, and Devil’s Sight plus the Darkness spell gave him a great edge during the battles. I chose an adamantine breastplate as the uncommon magic item, and chose Warcaster over an Ability Score Increase for 4th level so he can cast with a shield and have a sturdy 18 Armor Class. I chose to use the hobgoblin race from Volo’s rather than Mordenkainen’s on account that Volo’s is closer to classic hobgoblins than the fey retcon of the newer book.</p><p></p><p>Ret’jarvo was ambitious and used to currying favor with whoever seemed to be on the winning side, so he helped out Takhisis during the fairy and bakali encounters, threatened the medusa’s eggs into bypassing that fight, made a deal with Fistandantilus, kept the magic stone instead of giving it to the siren, and let the thief die when triggering the dragon orb trap. He chose to spare the blue dragon wyrmlings given their association with Takhisis, which in a rare twist was the moral choice for the wrong reasons. If anything, that decision came back to hurt him as the gold dragon geas for the offensive potion made it so that he wouldn’t slay innocent lives!</p><p></p><p>Ret’jarvo’s two battles were against the swarm of swimming eyes which was prolonged due to a lot of misses on both sides, but he used the Amulet of Takhisis’ charges to do a lot of lightning damage; his Dreamed of Drowning let him auto-know the monster’s weakness. The warlock was actually a pretty craven individual, as he had both Fear of Dying and Fear of the Wild from the “face your fears” interview with the Order leaders. I figured that he’d be more scared of death, so chose that for the final battle.</p><p></p><p>The battle against the kender ghost and skeletons was trivial. His pact weapon was a warhammer so he easily one-shotted each skeleton given their bludgeoning vulnerability, and given his high AC and temporary hit points he was able to destroy each one after the other. The skeletal knight was the most threatening due to its high damage with the lance, so he took advantage of the gold dragon potion by casting blindness/deafness to try and deal damage with it failing a saving throw in lieu of going for its AC.</p><p></p><p>Ret’jarvo, unsurprisingly, was inducted into the Order of Black Robes. But he also passed the Test with flying colors, having 5 out of 5 Destiny Points remaining by its end!</p><p></p><p>Whilst Ret’jarvo had the most hit points and a decent armor class which really helped him out, having a rechargeable pool of temporary hit points was perhaps the greatest boon. I tried to be “fair” in not refreshing it during times when the challenge had areas in which to be silent, like the medusa cave, in order to not trigger verbal components. Or when he had to avoid suspicion like with the bakali asking him for help. But I was able to more or less ignore the negative consequences of failing the less-damaging checks and he was able to perform the best when initiative was rolled.</p><p></p><p>[spoiler=Stat Block]Ret’jarvo</p><p>Lawful Evil Volo Hobgoblin Hexblade Warlock 4</p><p>Background Mage of High Sorcery</p><p>Armor Class 18 (adamantine breastplate + shield)</p><p>Hit Points 35 (4d8+12)</p><p>Speed 30 feet</p><p></p><p>STR 10 (0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT 8 (-1) WIS 10 (0) CHA 16 (+3)</p><p>Saving Throws Wisdom +1, Charisma +5</p><p>Skills Arcana +1, Deception +5, History +1, Intimidation +5</p><p>Armor Light armor, medium armor, shields</p><p>Weapons simple weapons, martial weapons</p><p>Tools</p><p>Senses Passive Perception 10, Devil’s Sight 120 feet</p><p>Languages Common, Goblin, Ogre, Primordial</p><p>Feats Adept of the Black Robes, Initiate of High Sorcery, War Caster</p><p></p><p>Equipment</p><p>Mace</p><p>Spear</p><p>Component Pouch</p><p>Dungeoneer’s Pack</p><p>Leather Armor</p><p>2 daggers</p><p>Bottle of colored ink</p><p>Ink pen</p><p>Set of common clothes</p><p>Pouch</p><p>Shield</p><p>Adamantine Breastplate</p><p></p><p>Miscellaneous Abilities</p><p></p><p>Ambitious Magic: Cast Blindness/Deafness and Suggestion once per long rest each without using spell slot. Can spend a Hit Die (d8) equal to spell level to add to damage of spell if creature within 60 feet fails save of spell.</p><p>Hexblade’s Curse: as bonus action curse target within 30 feet for 1 minute. Deal +2 damage, crit on 19-20, if they die regain 7 HP (level + CHA). Can use only once per short or long rest.</p><p>Hex Warrior: Whenever finishing a long rest can touch one weapon that is not two-handed. Add Charisma modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity for attack and damage rolls, applies also to pact weapons.</p><p>Initiate of High Sorcery: Cast Dissonant Whispers and Hex once per long rest each.</p><p>Invocation, Devil’s Sight: See in both magical and nonmagical darkness up to 120 feet.</p><p>Invocation, Fiendish Vigor: Cast false life on self at will as 1st level spell without using spell slot or material components.</p><p>Pact of the Blade: use action to create a weapon with which you are proficient, is treated as magical. Can turn a magic weapon into a pact weapon, it can then be dismissed into extradimensional space.</p><p>Saving Face: If fail on attack or ability check, can gain a bonus equal to the number of allies you can see within 30 feet (max +5). Can use once per short or long rest.</p><p>War Caster: Advantage on CON saves to maintain concentration when taking damage. Can perform somatic components even when hands are full. Can use reaction to cast a spell at a creature as part of an opportunity attack.</p><p></p><p>Spells</p><p></p><p>Spell Save DC 13</p><p>Spell Attack Modifier +5</p><p></p><p>2 2nd level spell slots per short rest</p><p></p><p>Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Mind Sliver, Prestidigitation</p><p></p><p>1st Level: Cause Fear, Charm Person, Dissonant Whispers, Hex, Protection from Evil and Good, Shield, Wrathful Smite</p><p></p><p>2nd Level: Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Branding Smite, Darkness, Misty Step, Suggestion</p><p></p><p>Blindness/Deafness 1/1, Dissonant Whispers 1/1, Hex 1/1, Suggestion 1/1[/spoiler]</p><p></p><p>If there's enough interest I may stream with an audience on Twitch, where we make an OC or use the pregens and run through this adventure with audience participation determining results.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8862257, member: 6750502"] Just for fun, I decided to run through this adventure with 3 original PCs to see how things hold up. I used 27 Point Buy for generating stats and, barring an alternative take on the Kender from Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything, I stuck to official sourcebooks for character building. While there is some inevitable metagaming as I have read this adventure, CYOA books are meant to be replayed by design. Even so, I made each character different enough to have them pick “sub-optimal options” in line with their personalities. I am happy to say that of the three, two managed to complete their test, with only one death. And that was at the final battle! [img]https://i.imgur.com/50cJSGv.jpg[/img] [b]Adventure1, Elf Wizard[/b] For my first character I decided to make Azrifa Moondew, a stereotypical elven wizard. Given the emphasis on puzzle-solving over combat, I made her specialize in divination and chose a Stone of Good Luck as her free uncommon magic item. Combined with Portent, these were pretty powerful choices optimized to give her the edge in rolling the many ability checks and saving throws of the Test of High Sorcery. In her playthrough Azrifa survived, and went for the moral yet practical-sounding options when possible. The idea was that she was someone who preferred to act when she had all of the information, and didn’t want to intrude into unknown territory. Particularly if it involved her owing a debt of nebulous condition to a greater power: she resisted Fistandantilus’ offer, angering him, and when confronted with the gold dragon refused his offer of a potion as she didn’t want to make a deal without knowing the price; in exchange he healed her Ghost-Touched trait that was gained from an earlier challenge. Azrifa also gave up her Wand of Fickle Luck instead of making a deal with the hag, also reinforcing her tactics of risk-minimization. The final battle was with the Lost Wizard, and I have to admit the dice were luckily on my side, as the boss was unlucky with their own melee attacks and managed to exhaust their limited-use abilities. I won with 4 Destiny Points remaining. Azrifa wasn’t lacking in spell slots; combined with Arcane Recovery and being a Wizard, the High Sorcery feats also gave me a decent amount of backup spells. Shield and White Robe Adept’s Protective Ward were also helpful in prolonging my life during the final battle, while Magic Missile and Scorching Ray were my primary damage-dealers. [spoiler=Stat Block]Azrifa Moondew Lawful Good Qualinesti High Elf School of Divination Wizard 4 Background Mage of High Sorcery Armor Class 12 (15 with Mage Armor) Hit Points 26 (4d6+8) Speed 30 feet STR 8 (-1) DEX 15 (+2) CON 14 (+2) INT 18 (+4) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 10 Saving Throws Intelligence +7, Wisdom +4 (added +1 from Stone) Skills Arcana +7, History +7, Insight +4, Investigation +7, Perception +4 (added +1 from Stone) Weapons Daggers, darts, longbow, longsword, shortbow, shortsword slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows Senses Passive Perception 13, Darkvision 60 feet Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elven, Istarian Feats Adept of the White Robes, Initiate of High Sorcery Equipment Dagger Component Pouch Scholar’s Pack Spellbook Bottle of Colored Ink Ink pen Set of Common Clothes Pouch 10 GP Stone of Good Luck (+1 to ability checks and saving throws, attuned) Miscellaneous Abilities Adept of the White Robes: cast Locate Object and Mind Spike 1/long rest each Arcane Recovery: 1/day choose up to 2 levels worth of spell slots to recover after a short rest Fey Ancestry: Advantage vs charm, immune to magical sleep Initiate of High Sorcery: cast Protection From Evil & Good and Shield 1/long rest each Portant: roll and record two d20s at end of long rest, can replace any attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you or a creature you can see makes with the roll. Protective Ward: use reaction to spend spell slot, reduce damage by xd6+4, with x equal to spell slot level Trance: rest for 4 hours a day Spells Spell Save DC 14 Spell Attack Modifier +6 Spell Slots: 1st: 4/4; 2nd: 3/3 Cantrips: Dancing Lights (high elf) ©, Fire Bolt (feat), Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost 1st Level: Burning Hands, Charm Person, Detect Magic ®, Find Familiar ®, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Protection from Evil and Good ©, Shield, Sleep, Unseen Servant ® 2nd Level: Invisibility ©, Locate Object ©, Mind Spike, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web © Feats: Locate Object 1/1, Mind Spike 1/1, Protection from Evil & Good 1/1, Shield 1/1 [/spoiler] [img]https://i.imgur.com/fykXhZ4.jpg[/img] [b]Adventure 2, Kender Mage-Thief[/b] This was the only adventure which resulted in a death. My backstory was that an enterprising kender known as Carbery Tanglefoot happened upon a spellbook and began to study the arcane arts, thus the Arcane Trickster subclass for Rogue. I built her as more of a support mage or one that relies on hit and run tactics, with her primary damage-dealing ability being Sneak Attack and the bulk of spells being stuff that debilitates the enemy like Hideous Laughter or Color Spray. I chose the Winged Boots as my free uncommon magic item, which was helpful in the two battles but bad luck still did the poor kender in at the end. As I figured that this adventure may be part of an ongoing campaign, not all PCs are going to be built with soloing challenges, so Carbery is very much one of those “abilities best in tandem with other party members” kind of mages. I played up Carbery’s incessant curiosity and good nature while also still being new to this whole world of magic. She examined the circle of Takhisis and watched the fey dance in the forests of Wayreth, tried to save two people at risk to herself during the terrorwind arena, “borrowed” some extra scrolls from the community pool, and was overconfident and managed to humor the rakshasa by talking his ear off about all the things she gathered from putting together his identity in the test of knowledge (“one of my favorite things is learning new stuff about the world!”). Sadly, she took a beating during the two fights. The amphi dragon lucked out and was able to immediately recharge their breath weapon which it used once again, and I had to burn through Destiny Points to keep Carbery alive. As I didn’t have much in the way of damaging magic, I had to rely on targeting his tongue and hoping to roll high enough to do 10 damage. The advantage from the captain fighting alongside me in combat was canceled out by the disadvantage and I had spent my Inspiration already in hopes of hitting with a Sneak Attack (I didn’t), so I lucked out in rolling the best result on a 1d6+4 a few rounds in. In hindsight I suppose I could’ve used Hideous Laughter or Color Spray to try and negate its actions, but as an Arcane Trickster I wasn’t brimming with spell slots. I also figured that given the storm my kender mage couldn’t fly around too much in what would at least be difficult terrain. My end came with the final battle against the gnoll shaman. I suppose that a kender’s fear immunity* from a narrative perspective would’ve made them get the Lost Wizard but I still wanted to roll for the “master your fears” if only to see some variance in the boss battles. My PC took advantage of her winged boots to stay out of the gnoll’s melee reach, but his Fire Bolt cantrip combined with the d4 terrain causing fire damage on a few results caused the tale of Carbery Tanglefoot to come to a premature end. *These rolls don’t specify how resistance or immunity to the frightened condition changes the challenge during the interview, and the Tasslehoff’s Pouches kender are immune to the frightened condition but not necessarily all forms of fear-based stuff. [spoiler=Stat Block]Carbery Tanglefoot Chaotic Good Wanderlust Kender* Arcane Trickster Rogue 4 Background Mage of High Sorcery Armor Class 15 (leather armor) Hit Points 27 (4d8+4) Speed 30 feet STR 10 (0) DEX 18 (+4) CON 13 (+1) INT 16 (+3) WIS 10 (0) CHA 10 (0) Saving Throws Dexterity +6, Intelligence +5 Skills Acrobatics +6, Arcana +7, History +5, Perception +2, Sleight of Hand +6, Stealth +8 Armor Light armor Weapons improvised weapons, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortbows Tools Thieves’ Tools Senses Passive Perception 12 Languages Common, Ergot, Kenderspeak, Solamnic, Thieves’ Cant Feats Adept of the Red Robes, Initiate of High Sorcery Equipment Rapier Shortbow w/ 20 arrows 2 daggers Explorer’s Pack Thieves’ Tools Leather Armor Bottle of colored ink Ink pen Set of common clothes Pouch 10 GP Winged Boots (attuned) Miscellaneous Abilities Adept of the Red Robes: cast Blur and Knock once per long rest each, if roll a 9 or lower on attack or ability check can treat as a 10 up to 2 times per long rest. Cunning Action: Dash, Disengage, Hide, or control Mage Hand as bonus action. Expertise: Double proficiency on Arcana and Stealth. Explorer: add double proficiency for History checks regarding geography Fearless: immune to frightened condition Kender Pockets: pull random item as a bonus action, roll on Kender Pockets table. Remains for 10 minutes, this can be used 2 times per long rest Initiate of High Sorcery: cast Color Spray and Feather Fall once each per long rest. Mage Hand Legerdemain: Use mage hand to also retrieve or stow one object in a container, use thieves’ tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range. Sneak Attack 2d6 Taunt: bonus action targeted creature who fails DC 10 Charisma save is enraged, attacks against other targets take disadvantage and they cannot take disengage action. Can be done up to 2 times per long rest. Spells Spell Save DC 13 Spell Attack Modifier +5 Spell Slots 1st: 3/3 Cantrips: Gust, Light, Mage Hand (subclass), Message, Shocking Grasp (feat) 1st Level: Charm Person, Color Spray, Feather Fall, Grease, Hideous Laughter ©, Silent Image © Blur 1/1, Color Spray 1/1, Feather Fall 1/1, Knock 1/1 *Race from Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything[/spoiler] [img]https://i.imgur.com/849S1L0.jpg[/img] [b]Adventure 3, Hobgoblin Battlecaster[/b] I debated between statting up an Eldritch Knight Fighter or Hexblade Warlock for a “gish build,” but I went with the latter because it felt cooler. Unlike the prior two characters I went for a darker and edgier character: Ret’jarvo is a hobgoblin warrior who came upon a fell spirit that taught him the gift of arcane magic to give him an edge in battle. As he wanted to learn magic to better vanquish his enemies, his spells and invocations reflected this. The Fiendish Vigor Invocation guaranteed that he’d always have a reserve of temporary hit points to draw upon during the challenges, and Devil’s Sight plus the Darkness spell gave him a great edge during the battles. I chose an adamantine breastplate as the uncommon magic item, and chose Warcaster over an Ability Score Increase for 4th level so he can cast with a shield and have a sturdy 18 Armor Class. I chose to use the hobgoblin race from Volo’s rather than Mordenkainen’s on account that Volo’s is closer to classic hobgoblins than the fey retcon of the newer book. Ret’jarvo was ambitious and used to currying favor with whoever seemed to be on the winning side, so he helped out Takhisis during the fairy and bakali encounters, threatened the medusa’s eggs into bypassing that fight, made a deal with Fistandantilus, kept the magic stone instead of giving it to the siren, and let the thief die when triggering the dragon orb trap. He chose to spare the blue dragon wyrmlings given their association with Takhisis, which in a rare twist was the moral choice for the wrong reasons. If anything, that decision came back to hurt him as the gold dragon geas for the offensive potion made it so that he wouldn’t slay innocent lives! Ret’jarvo’s two battles were against the swarm of swimming eyes which was prolonged due to a lot of misses on both sides, but he used the Amulet of Takhisis’ charges to do a lot of lightning damage; his Dreamed of Drowning let him auto-know the monster’s weakness. The warlock was actually a pretty craven individual, as he had both Fear of Dying and Fear of the Wild from the “face your fears” interview with the Order leaders. I figured that he’d be more scared of death, so chose that for the final battle. The battle against the kender ghost and skeletons was trivial. His pact weapon was a warhammer so he easily one-shotted each skeleton given their bludgeoning vulnerability, and given his high AC and temporary hit points he was able to destroy each one after the other. The skeletal knight was the most threatening due to its high damage with the lance, so he took advantage of the gold dragon potion by casting blindness/deafness to try and deal damage with it failing a saving throw in lieu of going for its AC. Ret’jarvo, unsurprisingly, was inducted into the Order of Black Robes. But he also passed the Test with flying colors, having 5 out of 5 Destiny Points remaining by its end! Whilst Ret’jarvo had the most hit points and a decent armor class which really helped him out, having a rechargeable pool of temporary hit points was perhaps the greatest boon. I tried to be “fair” in not refreshing it during times when the challenge had areas in which to be silent, like the medusa cave, in order to not trigger verbal components. Or when he had to avoid suspicion like with the bakali asking him for help. But I was able to more or less ignore the negative consequences of failing the less-damaging checks and he was able to perform the best when initiative was rolled. [spoiler=Stat Block]Ret’jarvo Lawful Evil Volo Hobgoblin Hexblade Warlock 4 Background Mage of High Sorcery Armor Class 18 (adamantine breastplate + shield) Hit Points 35 (4d8+12) Speed 30 feet STR 10 (0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT 8 (-1) WIS 10 (0) CHA 16 (+3) Saving Throws Wisdom +1, Charisma +5 Skills Arcana +1, Deception +5, History +1, Intimidation +5 Armor Light armor, medium armor, shields Weapons simple weapons, martial weapons Tools Senses Passive Perception 10, Devil’s Sight 120 feet Languages Common, Goblin, Ogre, Primordial Feats Adept of the Black Robes, Initiate of High Sorcery, War Caster Equipment Mace Spear Component Pouch Dungeoneer’s Pack Leather Armor 2 daggers Bottle of colored ink Ink pen Set of common clothes Pouch Shield Adamantine Breastplate Miscellaneous Abilities Ambitious Magic: Cast Blindness/Deafness and Suggestion once per long rest each without using spell slot. Can spend a Hit Die (d8) equal to spell level to add to damage of spell if creature within 60 feet fails save of spell. Hexblade’s Curse: as bonus action curse target within 30 feet for 1 minute. Deal +2 damage, crit on 19-20, if they die regain 7 HP (level + CHA). Can use only once per short or long rest. Hex Warrior: Whenever finishing a long rest can touch one weapon that is not two-handed. Add Charisma modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity for attack and damage rolls, applies also to pact weapons. Initiate of High Sorcery: Cast Dissonant Whispers and Hex once per long rest each. Invocation, Devil’s Sight: See in both magical and nonmagical darkness up to 120 feet. Invocation, Fiendish Vigor: Cast false life on self at will as 1st level spell without using spell slot or material components. Pact of the Blade: use action to create a weapon with which you are proficient, is treated as magical. Can turn a magic weapon into a pact weapon, it can then be dismissed into extradimensional space. Saving Face: If fail on attack or ability check, can gain a bonus equal to the number of allies you can see within 30 feet (max +5). Can use once per short or long rest. War Caster: Advantage on CON saves to maintain concentration when taking damage. Can perform somatic components even when hands are full. Can use reaction to cast a spell at a creature as part of an opportunity attack. Spells Spell Save DC 13 Spell Attack Modifier +5 2 2nd level spell slots per short rest Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Mind Sliver, Prestidigitation 1st Level: Cause Fear, Charm Person, Dissonant Whispers, Hex, Protection from Evil and Good, Shield, Wrathful Smite 2nd Level: Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Branding Smite, Darkness, Misty Step, Suggestion Blindness/Deafness 1/1, Dissonant Whispers 1/1, Hex 1/1, Suggestion 1/1[/spoiler] If there's enough interest I may stream with an audience on Twitch, where we make an OC or use the pregens and run through this adventure with audience participation determining results. [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] The Test of High Sorcery, a CYOA Dragonlance Adventure
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