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I just glanced through the module at the store, but it appears they did dial down the numbers a bit. The great hall in the hill giant steading doesn't have as many hill giants as in the original. The treasure was also lowered somewhat, though it seems to be closer to 1E levels vs. the 5E...

These are good points. My experience has been that the druid is not a combat machine. Wild shape, even with Circle of the Moon, does not compare with the barbarian, fighter, paladin, and ranger for tanking or damage output. Druids can do some healing, but it's not their forte. Flexibility and...

You'll have to ask the DM. The module assumes characters will be roughly 13th level before the final encounters, but I think that's not necessary. My own group finished the module at 10th-11th, and that's what I've seen in a couple write ups by other groups. If you continue to have 5-6 PCs...

Wizard: Counterspell is outstanding in this module. There will be lots of cultists and lots of spells flying around. Arcane Eye is an excellent scouting spell. An evoker with fireball can be useful against most of the temples. Ditto feather fall, water walking and other utility spells. However...

Note, Perkins' response is to the OP's second question, not the first one. I would allow misty step to escape a grapple, manacled to a wall, etc. as those are things you can't misty step with. (You can't take another creature, and the wall manacles are not things that you are holding, like a...

As a GM, I have real problems hand-waving the more "monstrous" races, such as drow and tieflings. However, a couple of my players really like playing exotic races, so I allow them. On rare occasions, this will bite the PCs (such as when the drow PC was trying to get info from villagers who had...

That's about the same level I started seeing issues too, and I was very stingy with magic items during the characters' early levels. One of my beefs with the attunement system is it's not consistent. One wand might require attunement, but another - just as useful - doesn't. Many permanent...

Yep, those were the days. :) Nowadays, I much prefer simpler rules with fewer exceptions. Probably has something to do with being an old fart. B-)

Do you also propose that AC be a reaction? For example, limiting how often you can use your Dex to modify your AC in a turn? Or should we have "unlimited" defenses against regular attacks, but limited against magical? On the one hand, limiting defenses of all types would change gameplay...

Agreed. As you note, there are significant differences in how the two mechanics are handled: - Attacks can critically hit, doubling the effect. Saves don't. - It's relatively easy to gain a high attack roll. Imposing minuses to saves if much harder (bane spell, a few other effects). - It's...

Which is why I like using story awards. As Rils points out, in sandbox adventures, one can never be sure how much of the content will be encountered by the PCs. Story awards are a way for me to ignore that issue. Example: If the PCs close an elemental node, but just happen to take a route that...

Yep, I do the same thing, though with a caveat: is the threat really gone, or just delayed? Many of the NPCs from the module that got away are still out there, able (and willing?) to cause trouble. For those, I gave half XP, since they eliminated the immediate threat, but not permanently. In...

Never mind - Google took me to an older version. The latest version of the errata does indeed remove this limitation. From the errata: Glyph of Warding (p. 245). The first sentence clarifies thatthe magical effect needn’t be harmful. The final two sentences of the firstparagraph now read as...

Yep, I've seen this too (though I still believe the official 5E adventures are a bit too stingy with monetary treasure in the first place). When we finished up Princes of the Apocalypse, the rogue had around 10,000 gp saved up (to build her hideout). The barbarian had several thousand gp...

Probably 50/50. The early part of the adventure, the party mostly stuck to the module. As time went on, they got bored of the grind, so started asking for me to come up with other stuff to do. At the end, they spent more time dealing with an invasion by giants/orcs/gnolls and a dragon than they...

I can confirm that Princes does not have enough XP in the written encounters to reach 15th level. My group was 10th - 11th level by the time they finished the module. Even though I added a lot of extra encounters and missions, and quite a bit of XP for achieving various goals, I only awarded...

Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp 2nd-level transmutation Casting Time: 1 action Range: 30 feet Components: V, S, M (a miniature hand sculpted from clay) Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute You choose a 5-foot-square unoccupied space on the ground that you can see within range. A Medium hand made...

Check out the night hag in the MM. It's Nightmare Haunting ability might be what you need.

You could go with kuo-toa's working to free the demon from the column. Kuo-toa have some nice variety in the MM, and anything with insane cultists trying to free a demon is always fun. Besides, the image of trident-wielding kuo-toa riding giant crocodiles is too cool to pass up. :)

Yoink!