D&D 5E DMing "Out of the Abyss"

[Celtavian]

You seem reasonable in other threads, so I'm gonna go ahead and ask what your beef is? What did you expect that you didn't get?

To me, it seems you would have rated the module higher if instead of two medium encounters you got seven hard ones? Or three double-deadly ones? But "combat difficulty" <> "storyline", right?

Or is your problem really the openness, the randomness?

Because if you treat D&D as combat-as-sport, it would seem 4th Edition (with its delves and strings of carefully calibrated set-pieces) would be a much better fit.

Otherwise, I would have thought you to be a sufficiently experienced DM to easily fix any problems with difficulty. Each time you roll for a random encounter, roll twice. Then double the number of enemies. Then roll again less than a short rest later, instead of waiting twelve hours. Reduce xp awards by two thirds. (Or nine tenths!)

And you're ready to go. Perhaps your players will thank you for the brutal slog they're up for

It's looking better as I read it. I'm getting ideas for what I want to do. I'll have to redesign a lot of the combat encounters, but that's par for the course as I do that in nearly every module.

They have some interesting encounters to play with. I like the start. Interesting relationships to play with.

 

[CapnZapp]

Good luck, Celtavian!

 

[designbot]

DMG page 92 says "Any NPC that accompanies the adventurers acts as a party member and earns a full share of experience points."

Do you think the DM is intended to follow this advice in Out of the Abyss?

Mike Mearls weighed in on this one:

https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/647599312126373888?p=v

yes, if they contribute meaningfully to an encounter

one alternative - slice goes up and hand wave all fighting outside of PCs

example, PCs fight half of monsters, other half fights NPCs off-camera, DM summarizes results

 

[Jabborwacky]

I'm not sure what the intent is, but I agree that splitting the XP an extra 10 ways would seriously slow the PCs' leveling progress! Personally, I'm not splitting experience points with the NPCs, but I'm also not leveling the NPCs as quickly as the PCs level. Right now, early in the campaign, some of the NPCs are on par power-wise with the PCs, but my goal is to have the PCs gradually outpace the NPCs in power. By the time they reach the halfway mark of the campaign, any NPCs still in the party will still be able to survive a battle, but will definitely be second-stringers.

I was thinking about the ramifications of this on my future group as well. Also, I'm not too familiar with leveling up NPC "scouts," but I haven't really run all that many adventures in 5th edition yet. Perhaps information about that lay in the monster manual.

As for experience, I planned on having a separate pool of XP for the PCs and NPCs. Both would get equivalent experience from encounters as though they were two independent groups doing the same kind of encounter away from each other. That way the NPCs don't risk becoming too squishy along the way.

That does leave the question: How do you level a myconid sprout?

 

[Motorskills]

How do people track the passage of time in the Underdark. The module uses days as units, but that seems really off.


(I was thinking of using a "sleep" as a unit of 6 hours.

 

[Jabborwacky]

How do people track the passage of time in the Underdark. The module uses days as units, but that seems really off.


(I was thinking of using a "sleep" as a unit of 6 hours.

Somewhere in the book it mentions that denizens of the underdark keep track of time based on their sleep cycle. Instead of something being three days away, it might be thought of as three rests away.

By the way, where does the book explicitly state the classes and levels of the prisoners? I can't seem to find that information anywhere in chapter 1.

 

[Guest 6801328]

By the way, where does the book explicitly state the classes and levels of the prisoners? I can't seem to find that information anywhere in chapter 1.

Each NPC has a type in bold (e.g. spy) ; look up that type in the back of Monster Manual, Appendix B, "Non Player Characters", Page 342.

 

[Motorskills]

Somewhere in the book it mentions that denizens of the underdark keep track of time based on their sleep cycle. Instead of something being three days away, it might be thought of as three rests away.

That works, thanks.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Two things.

1.I know they are demons but what is the motivation of the Demon Lords?

They get dragged to the Underdark by the summoning spell - then what?
Why do they stay? Is it 5e lore than demon lords can't usually come to the prime so this is a chance to explore? That seems a bit pathetic that demon lords can't plane travel at will?

I see Zuggtmoy has a plan - which is fine,
Fraz managed to get himself kinda stuck (he seems to be such a muppet - always getting bound into things),
Yeenoghu and Baphomet decide to it's a good chance for a cage fight
What are Demogorgon, Grazzt, Jubilex and Orcus doing? And why?

2. Does anyone else think the demon lords stats are less than impressive? I know 5e is meant to trim down information in a stat block but they really seem to lack magical power and physical punch - even Orcus' wand doesn't do anything extra when wielded by the big man himself (2d12 necrotic, ooooo I'm so scared)

No Demons or Extraplaner beings can go back and forth between the Prime at will. Even gods can't.

The Demon Lords are brutal horrible creatures and they can't just go back to the Abyss. However all of them are evil and want to cause suffering and choas to the creatures. Demogorgon has no great plan here other then causing destruction and chaos. Juiblex has no plan and thats how he has always been. His simple desire is to devour all he comes across he plans on eating the Fungus that Zuggtmoy wants to take control of. Which is why they come to blows. Graz'zt is more of a plotter and is doing his own thing which is unknown currently. Orcus also sees this as a chance to increase his power, and has taken control of a mind flayer city.

The Demon Lords are very powerful and Orcus's wand does quite a few new things while wielded by him himself. Also Orcus's wand does 3d8 +11 plus 2d12 damage. That's going to hurt. (Just rolled that attack twice it did 74 damage.) Plus it grants him quite a bit of spell power along with the ability to summon lots of powerful undead.

 

[ddaley]

I ordered this adventure because my players are getting close to the end of the Starter Set and this adventure appealed to me more than the others that were already released.

I'm getting a bit scared though after reading this is for experienced DM's.
I only have about 7 sessions under my belt and don't consider myself that experienced yet.
But perhaps this is the best way to learn and improve?

I am in the same boat. I DM'ed many years ago, but only started again recently. My group is going through LMoP right now.

I just got OotA and am reading through it. I am excited by the idea of running this for our group, but, with the openness of it, the thought is also scary.

I am still reading through this thread, but it has already given me some ideas. I am going to predetermine the "random" encounters and try to plan those out after their escape. I will try to "guide" them to go to Sloobludop first, but if they choose another destination, that is fine too. I plan to read and reread the chapter for that destination and make sure I am prepared for that. I will try to just stay a step ahead of the players and focus on planning out their next experience. I don't think I can read the entire book and plan out much more in advance than that.

Oh, and I am planning to have the party be kidnapped by the drow as they near the end of the LMoP. I am not exactly sure when or where yet. We have been pretty happy with LMoP so far, but I am not too crazy about Wave Echo Cave. So, they may be kidnapped before that