D&D 5E CoS - Amber Temple questions [spoilers!]

[pukunui]

Hi all,

*Spoilers ahead for those playing in the Curse of Strahd adventure*


I have some questions regarding running the Amber Temple.

1) The text says that the doors are all made of translucent amber. Wouldn't that mean that some of the doors glow because they're illuminated from the other side? The doors leading from the balcony (X4) to the berserkers' room (X15), for instance. Did anyone run it like that?

2) On a similar note, wouldn't the PCs be able to see some flickering green light coming through the arrow slits in the main hall because of the flameskulls in area X17?

3) Exenthanter can't remember his spells and doesn't have all his hit points, but can he still use his legendary and lair actions? How have others played him in that regard?


Thanks,
Jonathan

 

[Prakriti]

1) The text says that the doors are all made of translucent amber. Wouldn't that mean that some of the doors glow because they're illuminated from the other side? The doors leading from the balcony (X4) to the berserkers' room (X15), for instance. Did anyone run it like that?

Does it actually say "translucent" somewhere? I missed that. Since the walls are covered in an "amber glaze," I treated the doors the same way, i.e. non-translucent. Either way, though, it works. Having the berserkers' campfire visible through the door would add some interest to things.

2) On a similar note, wouldn't the PCs be able to see some flickering green light coming through the arrow slits in the main hall because of the flameskulls in area X17?

Maybe. But unless a PC explicitly mentions the arrow slits and tries to examine them more carefully (in which case I'd allow a Perception check), it's easier to just assume that, for whatever reason, the party doesn't notice the dim green light. Plus, it's a lot funner if the flameskulls get the drop on the party. Nothing puts a party in panic-mode like starting combat after three fireball saving throws. Of course, it can lead to a TPK if you aren't careful. Luckily, that wasn't an issue for my group because I removed Neferon from the equation (he appeared (and died) earlier in the adventure).

3) Exenthanter can't remember his spells and doesn't have all his hit points, but can he still use his legendary and lair actions? How have others played him in that regard?

I played Exethanter as comic relief. He said he wasn't feeling well and wanted the party to take his pulse. When informed that Strahd had stolen something from him, he exclaimed, "That little stinker!"

 

[hawkeyefan]

Hi all,

*Spoilers ahead for those playing in the Curse of Strahd adventure*


I have some questions regarding running the Amber Temple.

1) The text says that the doors are all made of translucent amber. Wouldn't that mean that some of the doors glow because they're illuminated from the other side? The doors leading from the balcony (X4) to the berserkers' room (X15), for instance. Did anyone run it like that?

2) On a similar note, wouldn't the PCs be able to see some flickering green light coming through the arrow slits in the main hall because of the flameskulls in area X17?

3) Exenthanter can't remember his spells and doesn't have all his hit points, but can he still use his legendary and lair actions? How have others played him in that regard?


Thanks,
Jonathan

I think perception checks would come into play for the light. Amber of the thickness we're talking about isn't all that translucent, in my mind, so I didn't let my PCs see through doors. But they did see flickering flame through one of them. I had the Berserkers out hunting, so that was a non-issue.

For the flameskulls in the hallway overlooking the main temple, I'd say they could be noticed with a decent perception check. The arrowslits are pretty far off, and no harm in hinting that somethjng may be out there. If your players are like mine, they'all know they're walking into a dangerous place.

For Exethanter, I didn't worry about it since he's easy to kill if they attack. But with his phylactery hidden, that doesn't really matter. My players didn't attack him, and ultimately wound up restoring his memory, and he then helped them out.

 

[pukunui]

Does it actually say "translucent" somewhere? I missed that. Since the walls are covered in an "amber glaze," I treated the doors the same way, i.e. non-translucent. Either way, though, it works. Having the berserkers' campfire visible through the door would add some interest to things.

On page 183, at the top of the page, it says "All the doors in the temple are fashioned from blocks of translucent amber."

I wasn't thinking that you'd be able to see through the doors ... just that a bit of the light from the other side would shine through, making them glow in the dark. And since all the PCs have darkvision, it's unlikely they'll have a light source, so glowing things will be more obvious in the dark.

Nothing puts a party in panic-mode like starting combat after three fireball saving throws. Of course, it can lead to a TPK if you aren't careful.

I was thinking that the flameskulls would use their magic missiles first, saving their fireballs for later, should the missiles prove to be not enough.

I played Exethanter as comic relief. He said he wasn't feeling well and wanted the party to take his pulse. When informed that Strahd had stolen something from him, he exclaimed, "That little stinker!"

LOL.

I think perception checks would come into play for the light. Amber of the thickness we're talking about isn't all that translucent, in my mind, so I didn't let my PCs see through doors. But they did see flickering flame through one of them.

That's what I mean: they're translucent, not transparent. If you're in the dark, you'd see the doors glowing with light from the other side, but you wouldn't be able to see what was making the light or what was in the room.

For Exethanter, I didn't worry about it since he's easy to kill if they attack. But with his phylactery hidden, that doesn't really matter. My players didn't attack him, and ultimately wound up restoring his memory, and he then helped them out.

Knowing my players, they'll probably want to kill him if they encounter him. Since I'm running this as a standalone adventure, I have given them the clue that an archmage went to find the temple and never returned. I'm hoping they'll realize that the lich is him, even if he doesn't remember that. But they'll probably still attack him, as they don't generally like dealing with clearly evil creatures.

 

[hawkeyefan]

That's what I mean: they're translucent, not transparent. If you're in the dark, you'd see the doors glowing with light from the other side, but you wouldn't be able to see what was making the light or what was in the room.

Knowing my players, they'll probably want to kill him if they encounter him. Since I'm running this as a standalone adventure, I have given them the clue that an archmage went to find the temple and never returned. I'm hoping they'll realize that the lich is him, even if he doesn't remember that. But they'll probably still attack him, as they don't generally like dealing with clearly evil creatures.

For the doors, yes that's how I handled it. Sorry my earlier post wasn't clearer. I let them know if there was a lightsource beyond a door, and about how strong or how many, but little else.

For Exethanter, if I were you, I'd do what I could to not have them kill him, if possible. In my opinion, the whole location relies on him in a lot of ways. Play up that he seems like he wants to help them, but can't remember how to do so. I played him as more befuddled than sinister. He was welcoming and accommodating, but anytime the discussion turned to something useful, he couldn't remember enough to assist.

If they destroy him, most of the vestiges in the Amber sarcophagi below will remain unavailable to them, all the books in the library will be useless (not that they're that meaningful, but I tossed some lore info in there), and the flameskulls and other guardians will attack the party.

 

[pukunui]

Yeah, I'd rather they didn't kill him. I have given them a scroll of greater restoration just in case.

When I played through it, we never encountered Exethanter. I think we just smashed through the doors we wanted to go through. (And the DM possibly forgot about the necrotic cloud effect - or chose not to use it.)

 

[hawkeyefan]

Wow, no Exethanter, huh? I feel like the place really needs him to pack a punch. Depending on if any of the artifacts are there or what other reasons there are to go there.

How did you find the Temple to be from a player perspective without him? Was it fun? Was it ominous?

 

[pukunui]

Wow, no Exethanter, huh? I feel like the place really needs him to pack a punch. Depending on if any of the artifacts are there or what other reasons there are to go there.

How did you find the Temple to be from a player perspective without him? Was it fun? Was it ominous?

The DM gave my character and one other character a dream. We sought out the temple based on that. When we got there, he told us we each felt a pull in a certain direction. My character was led to Delban's sarcophagus - that was all part of her backstory. The other one was pulled towards another vestige.

There was another PC who didn't even want to be there who ended up accepting Shami-Amourae's gift.

It was fun. Can't say it was particularly ominous, though.