Thunderspire Labyrinth

[Nebulous]

Thoughts on using the mirror as some kind of artifact that they keep and use throughout the adventures giving clues and other crazy things?

Off the top of my head, Blacksoul (the dragon buried in the grave) stole the mirror from the wizards who used it to seal the Shadowfell rift. Or, followers of the dragon stole it as a gift for the dragon, and it was buried with the dragon. The burial site is a holy shrine of sorts for the kobolds.

Yes, the magic mirror should play a much more significant part in the adventure. It is left as an excellent dangling plot hook for DMs to expand on. I would say that it a minor artifact, and Kalarel does not absolutely need it to open the rift, but it would help.

Maybe he doesn't need it at all. Maybe the dragon's soul is trapped in it, and shattering the mirror in a ritual will empower the spell. In my campaign, the mirror will be nearly impervious to damage. I haven't thought yet what will happen if the PCs drag it back to Valthrun and have it identified.

Perhaps Bairwain will want the PCs to accompany him to Thunderspire Labyrinth later on to trade it in for magic items. Maybe the raiders at the end of the Shadowfell adventure kidnap Bairwain and STEAL the mirror. Which up until now the PCs have been relying on as a future magical payout.

"What the hell? They stole our mirror? Let's get it back!"

 

[Cam Banks]

So do the duergar grow big? Is there an equivalent to the Enlarge Person ability they had in older editions?

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Echohawk]

So do the duergar grow big? Is there an equivalent to the Enlarge Person ability they had in older editions?

The Duergar Shock Trooper (but not the other duergar) has an "expand" ability:

Expand (when first bloodied; encounter) [Polymorph]
The duergar shock trooper becomes Large, occupying 4 squares instead of 1. Any creatures in the squares that the shock trooper comes to occupy are pushed 1 square. The shock trooper also gains reach 2 and a +5 bonus to its melee damage rolls. The shock trooper remains Large until the end of the encounter.

 

[Stoat]

So do the duergar grow big? Is there an equivalent to the Enlarge Person ability they had in older editions?

Cheers,
Cam

There are three or four different types of Duergar presented. One type automatically enlarges when bloodied.

 

[Kraydak]

The Duergar Shock Trooper (but not the other duergar) has an "expand" ability:

Expand (when first bloodied; encounter) [Polymorph]
The duergar shock trooper becomes Large, occupying 4 squares instead of 1. Any creatures in the squares that the shock trooper comes to occupy are pushed 1 square. The shock trooper also gains reach 2 and a +5 bonus to its melee damage rolls. The shock trooper remains Large until the end of the encounter.

I wonder how that interacts with Dwarves...

 

[pukunui]

2. The double sided poster map is not enough. I LOVE that they are doing these poster maps for use with miniatures and I wish there were more. This poster map is useful for three encounters. One of the encounters is a huge area that covers one side of the map completely.

I finally got my copy of H2 yesterday and, although I am very impressed with the adventure itself, I think the utility of the double-sided poster map is questionable at best. One side is definitely useful (the side depicting the Proving Grounds). I'm thinking the other side will be more of a hassle to use than not. It only shows one tiny little part of the Horned Hold and an incomplete Chamber of Eyes (the guard room is only partially on the map, and the corridors leading into the bath chamber and refectory lead into the black space dividing the maps -- this last is the most obnoxious aspect, as it means you will have to cover up that black space in order to make any sense of the room layout, either with WotC Dungeon Tiles or something of your own devising or by creating an extra fold in the map so you can then draw the rest of the encounter space on a battlemat or something.).

So as happy as I am with the adventure as a whole (including the fact that the Dungeon "web enhancement" details all the extra bits), I am very disappointed with the map. I think I would've preferred not to get any map than to get this one.