D&D 5E Out of the Abyss Play Reports [spoilers]

[Fion]

I just got the book this morning, been engrossed ever since. I agree Hemlock, anti-magic ward is a heavy handed way to make sure it's not easy for the party to escape. I like your idea, and it would certainly put even more fear into the party. Perhaps even create an area of Faerzness near the slave pen stalactites. This close to the surface perhaps it isn't consumed with madness but it's chaos magic properties are extremely high. Any spell cast there that is failed by 5 or more causes chaos magic to erupt instead.

 

[Dave Turner]

Regarding the anti-magic ward on the prison cell, I agree it's heavy-handed. But the PCs seem to be routinely manacled when they're in the cell, which could make it hard or impossible to use somatic components for spells. Beyond that, they've got no material components or spellcasting foci, so they can't cast spells that have material components. Clerics and druids can get around these limitations more easily, since they can pray for spells that are V-only or V,S-only. Arcane casters who chose spells with material components are more easily screwed. You could improvise a wizard scrounging some material components. It should be easy to find the pinch of dust needed for a sleep spell, for example. Wizards don't need their spellbooks to regain their spells after a long rest, but they have to rely on the ones memorized until they recover their spellbook.

I'd strongly suggest that the DM mention during character creation that the game will start with the PCs as prisoners and let the players of arcane characters choose their spells carefully.

 

[Daern]

It hasn't come up yet but I am thinking along the same lines that the Fae-stuff in high enough concentration creates an intense chaos effect as well as a madness roll. I compare it to Warhammer's warpstone, in fact I think I will have physical manifestations of the stuff show up here and there. It is fae-stuff warpstone that is providing the light of the lantern outside the door of the prison.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I hate the anti-magic wards in the slave pens in Area #11 of chapter one. It sets a bad precedent (who is casting these permanent improved Anti-Magic Zones? and if they waste such magic on slave pens, shouldn't it be ubiquitous in drow-secured locations?) and it is unnecessary to boot. Instead I just declared that, since the drow are not stupid, anyone who shows signs of being a spellcaster will be summarily killed, as they are too dangerous to keep as slaves (since they cannot be disarmed).

It accomplishes the same dramatic purpose in the slavery context without introducing complications in the larger gameworld.

Dead magic zones have been around a long time in the Realms. Perhaps the drow stumbled across this one in a cave and thought it would make an excellent holding cell for surface-dweller slaves and their sometimes pesky magic, so they built the settlement around it. No need to have the dead magic zone be drow-made - just a natural phenomenon that they took advantage of.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Dead magic zones have been around a long time in the Realms. Perhaps the drow stumbled across this one in a cave and thought it would make an excellent holding cell for surface-dweller slaves and their sometimes pesky magic, so they built the settlement around it. No need to have the dead magic zone be drow-made - just a natural phenomenon that they took advantage of.

I like that idea, but it doesn't match the module text: it's not a dead-magic zone, it's "powerful magical wards" that prevent spellcasting within the slave pens but allow spells to be cast into it from outside.

However, you could certainly convert it into a dead-magic zone as you suggest, and that would work perfectly well.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

I see no problem with such high level magic being used to suppress spells cast inside the room. (its obviously not cast by anyone currently at the location but more likely built over time by the Wizards from Menzoberranzan.It makes sense that the Drow dont want their slaves to escape before they are taken to Menzoberranzan. Even IF the pcs are level 1's , its more than likely the Drow have in the past captured much more powerful people/things as Slaves and a lot of creatures have inbuilt inherent magical ability.

You dont want to damage the 'goods' but at the same time you need to nullify such abilities.

Escaping should be easy, and I think the start of this module will at least weed out who is simply at the table to pick up some exp and those who are willing to work at it.

 

[CapnZapp]

Dead magic zones have been around a long time in the Realms. Perhaps the drow stumbled across this one in a cave and thought it would make an excellent holding cell for surface-dweller slaves and their sometimes pesky magic, so they built the settlement around it. No need to have the dead magic zone be drow-made - just a natural phenomenon that they took advantage of.

I will simply mumble "faerzness something something" and tell them their (1st level) spells fail.

I have no problem changing the adventure on the point where it says spells can be cast INTO the prisoner cell. To me, there is no real reason why Mistress Ilvara must be able to shoot rays of sickness at prisoners in the cell. If somehow shooting him or her full of crossbow bolts fail to achieve the desired effect, why not simply have your guards drag the prisoner out of the cell?

That said...

If I absolutely must put game statistics on it I would say the effect is comparable to dispel/counterspell. That is, spells of levels 1-3 are automatically nullified. Spells cast using higher leveled slots work if you pass the standard test (spellcasting ability check at DC 10 + spell slot level).

This would even allow Mistress Ilvara to show her Emperor Palpatine chops: she can pretty much insta-gibb any weakened prisoner by making a DC 14 check to force a 5d8 sickness ray into the cell as if the ward wasn't there. Remember she's a level ten(!) caster!

Actually, you should probably do something like that, to give players accustomed to their usual "kill everyone" response a clue that escape might be the better option in this scenario... Either that, or they'll get it when their second set of characters get to watch the clean-picked bones of the first party after being subjected to a nice little Insect Plague while still locked in their cell...