WotBS Boons

[Salicus]

Hello People =)

my group is about to finish the 3rd adventure and go into the fourth.
A question came up that I wanted to ask you guys about the indomitable boon:
They understand the wording the way, that the boon gives advantage on any strength check. I understand, that it gives only advantage against being pushed or knocked prone. What do you guys think?
Also the madness boon says it gives the maddening spirit trait to the players or 2 of them. The Trait says the following "Whenever she is successful on one of these saving throws ora creature usestrue seeingto see her true form, the creaturemust make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw, becoming affectedby theconfusionspell on a failed save". Do you also give that to the players?

Also I have a problem now since the players are close to dying to Lee next session, I want to give them help in the fight. It is hard to get there though, because of the storm. Right now I thought of Takasi helping them out in the fight after he lost Laurabec. Since I have a paladin in the group who I wanted to give Takasi to anyway, it would make sense for me. Is the Giant Eagle statblock from the Monsters Manual fitting for him?
I also thought about getting Kathrina and/or Diashan there for help but I dont know how they would get there, since the players just did not leave the tidereaver tear with the Lyceum.

 

[RangerWickett]

I didn't work on the 5E conversion, but the intention was to let you resist things, not do things actively, so yeah, it makes sense for it to grant advantage to resist being pushed or knocked prone.

I don't recall how the Madness boon worked in the 3e version. Man, that was 14 years ago, and I was literally high on pain meds after knee surgery when I was editing that book. Lemme check a PDF....

Okay, in 3e Madness's boon said, "The creature gains the ability to once per day try to shake free of a mind-affecting effect. If the creature fails a save against a mind-affecting effect, she can attempt the save again 1 round later at the same DC."

Sending in Takasi to help would make sense, and Giant Eagle is on point. If you want more aid, perhaps Katrina shows up with some fireballs, wearing a very impromptu magic item to let her navigate the storm, which the academy wizards are keeping active with a group ritual. That lets you show Katrina as an ally, and set up a much later scene in adventure 12 where multiple inquisitors are concentrating to defend an army from afar.

 

[Tormyr]

Indomitability's Boon: The one place where I was actually more explicit rather than leaving it up to the stat block, but I see where there might be some confusion. Check the Trillith Boons sidebar near the end of the adventure. A recipient gets:

• You stabilize whenever you are dying at the start of your turn.
• You are always under the effect of stand the heat.
• You have advantage on Strength checks and saving throws against being pushed, moved, or knocked down.

The advantage only applies to situations where failure means being pushed, moved, or knocked down. Both checks and saving throws are listed because a PC could be the recipient of situations such as a shove (contested Strength check) or a shove as a result of a wolf's bite (saving throw).

Madness: Only use the first line, "Madness has advantage on saving throws against mind-affecting spells and effects from a creature." Giving everyone confusion all the time would be a bit of a downer for the PCs.

Help against Lee: Yeah, he is tough, and he comes at the end of a few tough fights. Katrina could have a tidereaver's tear that she did not tell anyone about. Maybe she managed to lift it on her way out of the witches hut or received one later from a Ragesian contact who had accepted an earlier delivery. Takasi has a stat block in the adventure. It is a giant eagle, with some minor changes to show that it is a celestial summoned by Laurabec.

Edit: I didn't think of a good way to explicitly list the boons until after (rather than inferring from the stat block) until after all the trillith were already listed in adventures. Having written this, I realize that I can put them in the errata document for the time being until I can update the PDFs. Look for them in a week or two.

WotBS Errata

Do you have a print version of War of the Burning Sky or just want to know the significant changes in a new version of an adventure? Check the errata to stay up to date or download the new maps. If you find an error in one of the adventures...

www.enworld.org

 

[Salicus]

I didn't work on the 5E conversion, but the intention was to let you resist things, not do things actively, so yeah, it makes sense for it to grant advantage to resist being pushed or knocked prone.

I don't recall how the Madness boon worked in the 3e version. Man, that was 14 years ago, and I was literally high on pain meds after knee surgery when I was editing that book. Lemme check a PDF....

Okay, in 3e Madness's boon said, "The creature gains the ability to once per day try to shake free of a mind-affecting effect. If the creature fails a save against a mind-affecting effect, she can attempt the save again 1 round later at the same DC."

Sending in Takasi to help would make sense, and Giant Eagle is on point. If you want more aid, perhaps Katrina shows up with some fireballs, wearing a very impromptu magic item to let her navigate the storm, which the academy wizards are keeping active with a group ritual. That lets you show Katrina as an ally, and set up a much later scene in adventure 12 where multiple inquisitors are concentrating to defend an army from afar.

Thanks for the reply and I see that I was correct concerning the boons. I will probably give them takasi and have Katrina and Diashan come in to the rescue as well with a spell made by the Lyceum.

Indomitability's Boon: The one place where I was actually more explicit rather than leaving it up to the stat block, but I see where there might be some confusion. Check the Trillith Boons sidebar near the end of the adventure. A recipient gets:

• You stabilize whenever you are dying at the start of your turn.
• You are always under the effect of stand the heat.
• You have advantage on Strength checks and saving throws against being pushed, moved, or knocked down.

The advantage only applies to situations where failure means being pushed, moved, or knocked down. Both checks and saving throws are listed because a PC could be the recipient of situations such as a shove (contested Strength check) or a shove as a result of a wolf's bite (saving throw).

Madness: Only use the first line, "Madness has advantage on saving throws against mind-affecting spells and effects from a creature." Giving everyone confusion all the time would be a bit of a downer for the PCs.

Help against Lee: Yeah, he is tough, and he comes at the end of a few tough fights. Katrina could have a tidereaver's tear that she did not tell anyone about. Maybe she managed to lift it on her way out of the witches hut or received one later from a Ragesian contact who had accepted an earlier delivery. Takasi has a stat block in the adventure. It is a giant eagle, with some minor changes to show that it is a celestial summoned by Laurabec.

Edit: I didn't think of a good way to explicitly list the boons until after (rather than inferring from the stat block) until after all the trillith were already listed in adventures. Having written this, I realize that I can put them in the errata document for the time being until I can update the PDFs. Look for them in a week or two.

WotBS Errata

Do you have a print version of War of the Burning Sky or just want to know the significant changes in a new version of an adventure? Check the errata to stay up to date or download the new maps. If you find an error in one of the adventures...

www.enworld.org

Would be nice to have a complete overview of every boon. So if it gets into the errata that would be real nice.

I have only one small question left for now and that would be if Diashan is actually mentioned in a later book at all. If people ask for him I wanted to say that he went on one of the missions the other teams had while the PCs go to bresk. Don't know if they will really ask though.

I now realize I have another question for you. I am thinking how to make the battle for gallos fend. In the Gamemasterbook it has this very interesting part about making battles last over several days. Is this meant to be used for hat particular battle or is it meant for a later part of the campaign?

Thanks a lot for your replies, it's very nice to have this forum for getting this valuable input.

 

[Tormyr]

Thanks for the reply and I see that I was correct concerning the boons. I will probably give them takasi and have Katrina and Diashan come in to the rescue as well with a spell made by the Lyceum.

Would be nice to have a complete overview of every boon. So if it gets into the errata that would be real nice.

I have only one small question left for now and that would be if Diashan is actually mentioned in a later book at all. If people ask for him I wanted to say that he went on one of the missions the other teams had while the PCs go to bresk. Don't know if they will really ask though.

I now realize I have another question for you. I am thinking how to make the battle for gallos fend. In the Gamemasterbook it has this very interesting part about making battles last over several days. Is this meant to be used for hat particular battle or is it meant for a later part of the campaign?

Thanks a lot for your replies, it's very nice to have this forum for getting this valuable input.

One of them could also ride Takasi I suppose. . .

As for Diashan, his purpose in the adventures ends with his information. Beyond that, you can use him as you will. Saying he went with one of the other teams could work. You could replace the lone survivor in adventure 5 with him.

The Victory Points (VP) system described in the Campaign Guide is explicitly used in two places in the campaign: the battle for Gallo's Fend in adventure 4 and the battle of the Opaline Waste in adventure 12. Adventure 4 is already set up for you with the missions that influence that battle.

 

[Salicus]

One of them could also ride Takasi I suppose. . .

As for Diashan, his purpose in the adventures ends with his information. Beyond that, you can use him as you will. Saying he went with one of the other teams could work. You could replace the lone survivor in adventure 5 with him.

The Victory Points (VP) system described in the Campaign Guide is explicitly used in two places in the campaign: the battle for Gallo's Fend in adventure 4 and the battle of the Opaline Waste in adventure 12. Adventure 4 is already set up for you with the missions that influence that battle.

I might have to read more carfefully through the battle again then. Somehow I did not really see the usage of the VP system here. But might have to do with the fact, that I mostly read it in the evening while lying in bed.
Have to say btw, that Drivethrurpg really has a good quality in printing, was my first order with them.
Also there might be a little error in Adventure 4 on page 6. In the part about Lady Namin, the same sentences are written 2 times right behind each other. Or is that supposed to be that way?

About Takasi, I actually gave him to the paladin of the group. He is also from the Aqualine Cross and also helped Laurabec a lot through the adventure. Also he was really sad that Laurabec died and went with Takasi to search for her corpse. When Takasi said that he will be going to await his death, the paladin asked him to join and Takasi agreed eagerly.