D&D 5E Problems with Tales from the Yawning Portal

[pukunui]

I wish they'd done a full statblock for Tloques-Popolocas. As it is, some of his modifications are a little fiddly and/or vague.

For starters, his innate hold person spell doesn't have a spellcasting ability associated with it, so we don't know what the save DC is.

Also, how does his blood-drinker ability work? Does he still bite the victim or does he cut them? Does he regain hit points when he drinks the blood, or does the victim just lose points from their hp max? I suppose it's not meant to be something he would do during combat, so perhaps the specifics of how he does it don't really matter, although it would still be nice to know whether he's supposed to regain hit points or not.

 

[hastur_nz]

Fighting a water creature in its natural environment is MEANT to be a tough challenge. I was a player in Forge of Fury back in 3.0 days, and the fight against the Black Dragon is meant to be a pain in the butt for the players, and it's meant to be the cornerstone BBEG encounter. We were suitable challenged, and it was very memorable in terms of how the various players tried (and mostly failed) to deal with it. So no offense to anyone's players if they flipped out on this, but honestly, they need to grow a pair and deal with it as the challenge it's intended to be.

Now I've not run HSoT, but I have read it cover to cover (AD&D and 5e versions), and I think that what was described here was good on the DM's part, captured the essence of the encounter and logically it makes a lot of sense, just not so much on the players part (seems they lacked somewhat in imagination), but I guess that's partly the difference between a home game and AP too.

 

[pukunui]

Fighting a water creature in its natural environment is MEANT to be a tough challenge. I was a player in Forge of Fury back in 3.0 days, and the fight against the Black Dragon is meant to be a pain in the butt for the players, and it's meant to be the cornerstone BBEG encounter. We were suitable challenged, and it was very memorable in terms of how the various players tried (and mostly failed) to deal with it. So no offense to anyone's players if they flipped out on this, but honestly, they need to grow a pair and deal with it as the challenge it's intended to be.

Agreed. Plus, solo monsters need every little bit of help they can get to even the odds against multiple opponents.

 

[pukunui]

One thing I've just added to the list: Belak's stated tactics. The book says he casts barkskin on himself, then uses his wand of entangle. Unfortunately, both spells require concentration, so as soon as he uses his wand, he's going to lose his barkskin. I've really strugged to make druids effective antagonists in 5e, due to the fact that so many of their spells require concentration. This is a good example of that.

 

[Prakriti]

Shatterspike in The Sunless Citadel is an issue for me. There are no rules for breaking/sundering weapons in 5E as there were in 3E.

I think I'd home-brew Shatterspike to break non-magical weapons on a roll of 20.

 

[James Gasik]

Well there are rules in the DMG for breaking objects, but it's totally DM country and obviously more intended for "can I break the door down?" scenarios than "can I sunder the Fire Giant's sword?". Shatterspike should have been written with a limited use ability to damage gear, like, say, "on a successful hit, enemies must make a Reflex save, DC = to half the damage dealt by the attack or their weapon is damaged/nerfed/destroyed. Once this ability has been used, it cannot be used again until the wielder completes a short rest. This ability is regained whenever the wielder scores a critical hit".

Or something. But yeah, this forces DM's either to use rules they wouldn't normally invoke, or to say "not in my game, that's just a fancy +1 sword that requires attunement". Neither of which are good scenarios.

 

[pukunui]

Agreed. Shatterspike really doesn't belong in an edition that has gone out of its way to make it impossible to damage anything a character is wearing or carrying. I mean, you can be literally on fire and your clothes won't burn away or anything!

I'm planning on swapping Shatterspike out for something else.

Well there are rules in the DMG for breaking objects, but it's totally DM country and obviously more intended for "can I break the door down?" scenarios than "can I sunder the Fire Giant's sword?".

Except that the adventure itself specifically calls for Sir Braford to attack the PCs' weapons with it: "Sir Braford uses Shatterspike ... to destroy his foe's weapon, if possible."

 

[hastur_nz]

I added a note about the inappropriate sizing of the G1-3 Lairs for 5e's Huge giants.

 

[pukunui]

I added a note about the inappropriate sizing of the G1-3 Lairs for 5e's Huge giants.

Thanks. I moved it to the map issues section.

I was editing my note about Ctenmiir, the vampire in White Plume Mountain, at the same time, but I managed to retrieve my work. Turns out he's actually a dwarf vampire. Given that PCs who become vampires retain their racial traits, I wonder if this guy should too ... eg. 25 foot movement speed, Dwarven Resilience, and so on.

 

[pukunui]

Something I'm not sure about: The kelpie's slam attack deals piercing damage. It's a seaweed monster. Shouldn't it be bludgeoning? Or is it spiky seaweed? Should I add this to the list?