D&D 5E [CAMPAIGN] Out of the Abyss [SPOILERS]

[Celtavian]

Travel Checklist

Step 1: Choose Pace. Players choose pace.

1. Fast: No stealth. -5 penalty to passive Perception. No Foraging. -5 on Navigation check. Note: A ranger with Underdark Natural Explorer negates the passive perception penalty for himself.
3. Normal: No stealth. Can forage.
5. Slow: Can Stealth. Can forage. +5 on Navigation check.

Note on Illumination: 1-3 area dimly lit by lichen and fungi. 4-6 area dark save for party light sources. Remember in the dark even darkvision has disadvantage on active Perception checks which also lowers passive perception by another 5.

Special Note: Any character besides a ranger with Underdark terrain for Natural Explorer does not lend their passive Perception to the group’s check when navigating or foraging.

Forced March: If the party chooses to march past 8 hours, each hour past 8 requires a Constitution saving throw equal to 10+1 for each hour past 8. On a failed save, the PC gains a level of exhaustion.

Step 2: Navigating: Make navigation check to avoid getting lost (Ranger with Underdark terrain cannot get lost). DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check to stay on right path. +5 to check at slow pace and -5 if fast pace. If failed, wander in random direction losing 1 day of travel and increasing drow pursuit level by 1.

Step 3: Foraging Check: Check whether food or water can be foraged. DC 15 Survival (Wisdom) Check to find water unless otherwise noted (DC 20 in areas the DM deems have very little food or water).

Failed Check: No food or water found.

Successful Check: 1d6+Wisdom modifier pounds of food or gallons of water (roll separately for each). Note: Ranger with Underdark terrain finds double the amount of food and water.

Food per day by size: Small/Medium: 1 pound- Large: 4 pounds
Water per day by size: Small/Medium: 1 gallon-Large: 4 gallons

Note: Normal pace Outlander Background can find food and water for 5 party members if DM allows.

Step 4: Encounter Checks. Two per day.

Step 5: Rest. Party should decide rest schedule.

Continue steps until you arrive at a destination.


DM Note: I feel a checklist helps a DM keep track of all the required checks for daily travel in an orderly fashion. I highly recommend rolling and/or preparing all encounters in advance, though the table works surprisingly well for improvising. I improvised the first few days of travel. The terrain and creature choices seemed appropriate and were easy to develop into a quick, interesting encounter.

 

[Celtavian]

Session 3

Day 3: Party avoided a gas leak and killed an ambushing "rocktopus". It provided 32 lbs. of food that lasted them a few days. This was the only encounter of the day.

Day 4: They crossed a rope bridge over a 40 food wide and 50 food deep chasm. Eight quaggoth spore servants watched them clinging to the chasm walls. They ambushed the spore servants slaying all eight. Karzak nearly fell. They were concerned the quaggoth were servants of the drow tracking them. They wanted to eliminate any possibility of the quaggoth providing intelligence to the pursuing drow. Once they found the quaggoth were spore servants, they weren't sure what that portended.

Jimjar won 3 gold from Eraxis betting that Jharzzle could finish off a wounded quaggoth with his blade. Jimjar could no longer suppress his gambling addiction and started making random bets during the quaggoth battle because he had a hot hand with the hand crossbow. Jharzzle took none of his bets afraid the deep gnome would win.

Day 5: A tremor caused a rockfall. The party was pelted with rocks. It did more damage than the eight quaggoth. The sorcerer missed three saves and fell. He had to be dragged out of the debris. The bard and warlock/paladin almost fell. Most of the party took substantial damage with the lucky exception of Stool and Buppido. Three DC 12 Dexterity saves with each failure doing 3d6 damage is pretty nasty. I raised the CR on this hazard from 2 to 5. I felt the healing resources used to recover were substantial. If this had been paired with a creature encounter, it would have been a deadly encounter easily.

Karzak murdered Shuushar for "not pulling his weight" in fights. He butchered him while the kuo-toa was injured following the rockfall. Buppido urged him on. Jimjar doesn't want Karzak anywhere near him. He thinks he's a murderous psychopath half-orc.

The session ended with the first half of Day 5.

DM Notes: The step-by-step travel tool I wrote simplified and quickened the handling of travel. It works exactly as I expected it to work encapsulating all the relevant travel rules into one easy to follow single page step-by-step guide.

 

[UrbanZomB]

This thread is awesome! We are starting our second session tomorrow with the escape. With them probably making their escape and heading off to Darklake (from the sounds of it) I needed a simplified way to do the journey and your checklist is perfect! Thanks for letting us see your experiences in running this. This thread has been bookmarked!

 

[vandaexpress]

DM Note: I feel a checklist helps a DM keep track of all the required checks for daily travel in an orderly fashion. I highly recommend rolling and/or preparing all encounters in advance, though the table works surprisingly well for improvising. I improvised the first few days of travel. The terrain and creature choices seemed appropriate and were easy to develop into a quick, interesting encounter.

Love this checklist and thread, Celt. If my memory serves correctly, the guidance in the supplement is that getting lost means the party goes in a different direction for a random number of hours. I like your method much better of just penalizing them a day and boosting pursuit level. Much simpler.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

Step 1: Choose Pace. Players choose pace.

1. Fast: No stealth. -5 penalty to passive Perception. No Foraging. -5 on Navigation check. Note: A ranger with Underdark Natural Explorer negates the passive perception penalty for himself.
3. Normal: No stealth. Can forage.
5. Slow: Can Stealth. Can forage. +5 on Navigation check.

I'm starting Out of the Abyss tonight. I'll be using this checklist. Thanks!

 

[Celtavian]

Love this checklist and thread, Celt. If my memory serves correctly, the guidance in the supplement is that getting lost means the party goes in a different direction for a random number of hours. I like your method much better of just penalizing them a day and boosting pursuit level. Much simpler.

I felt the same way. 1d6 hours for travel broken into days is not helpful. I didn't feel like keeping track of fractional lost days.

 

[Celtavian]

Tytus's Dream

A powerful male drow with a fierce countenance says, War is the ultimate expression of individual power, and only through battle and death can you realize the respect of your comrades. Hone your fighting skills constantly and teach those who will follow into the fray. Never give or receive quarter, and hope to die amid the bloodlust of battle against overwhelming odds.

Lolth’s face at the center of a web, crawling along the strands are fiends, huge fiends. A two-headed tentacled monster. A lady of fungi. A bubbling ooze with many eyes. A fiendish man with a serpentine blade. A minotaur fiend. A demonic gnoll. All walking through the Underdark leaving slaughter in their path while crawling along the strands created by the Spider Queen. Her plan. Her web of deceit. Her desire. Merciless, destructive, yet purposeful.

The voice says, Strike them all down. They are the strands of a vile web. Strike them down and strike at her.



DM Note: The initial text is tied to a particular Forgotten Realms deity. Tytus the paladin is not sure who he derives his paladin power from. This is an initial message sent by the entity that has given him the power for vengeance.

 

[Celtavian]

Session 4

Day 5-Second Half: Rolled two rockfalls in a row. I made the passage the PC was passing through an area of tortured earth. Tremors were common. They were caught in another rockfall (CR5 1800). A mad two-headed Stone Giant (used stats from stone giant in Gracklstugh) stood in their path. Dar and Buppido fell and were buried in the rocks. Tytus pulled Buppido free and Jharzzle healed him. Eraxis pulled Dar free and Cinshariel healed him. Karzak advanced and was felled by a rock surviving because of his orcish resilience. He played dead while Tytus engaged in the giant. The giant was no match for the combined power of a party of Underdark dwellers using their superior darkvision to launch attacks from the darkness. The sorcerer's shadow powers proved potent as he was able to hide in darkness the giant could not see through.

DM Note: Party gained level 4 after this encounter.

Day 6 and 7: They passed the area of tortured earth. Nothing of note occurred either day.

Day 8: The party came upon Hook Horrors fighting Gnoll Fangs. They slew them all.

DM Notes:
1. I made all the gnolls in the Hook Horror Hunt encounter Fangs due to the influence of Yeenoghu. I felt regular gnolls were an insufficient challenge for a level 4 party. I felt the Fangs fit the theme of the module better than standard gnolls.

2. Next weeks session should be longer than the previous sessions. I finally get a day off work against after 60 days straight of work. That means I can play later than I've been able to lately.

 

[Celtavian]

DM Modifications and Preparation

1. NPC Modifications: I've advanced the surviving NPCs.

• Jimjar: Increased hit die +1d8. +1 to Dex boosting to 16.
• Buppido: Increased hit die +1d6.+1 to Dex. Added Sneak Attack ability.
• Stool: Increased hit die +1d6. Increased Con to 12 boosting hit points by 3.

2. The Ooozing Temple: I've changed this to an ancient temple to Seveltarm. I'm planning to use the scenario to deliver a powerful magic item to the PCs, specifically to Tytus who serves an unknown patron. I plan to make this a scenario where the magic item is calling to Tytus, keeping him in The Oozing Temple to the brink of death. They must locate the magic item before death takes them. This will be a time trial as originally designed with a very potent magic item acting as a lure to keep them from leaving the area before it becomes a danger.

3. Lost Tomb of Khaem: The tomb of an ancient Netherese sorcerer is a perfect place to introduce some powerful magic items that will last for the length of the campaign. Magic items were handled fairly well in 5E. You are able to introduce fairly powerful magic items at low level in 5E and still modify the game easily to account for them. I changed the four specters in room 3 of the tomb to mummies that were favored servants of the sorceress Brysis. Her executioner, her favorite performer, her favorite apprentice, and her torturer. Each mummy has been rebuilt to employ the magic item the PCs will gain should they achieve victory.

 

[Celtavian]

Enemy Modifications: Common Drow Elf Warrior

I modified the drow warriors to make them a bit more traditional. I've made them all use two-weapon fighting to some degree. Thanks for Frylock for his easy to customize stat blocks.

ELF: DROW CR ¼ (50 xp)
Medium humanoid (elf), neutral evil
Armor Class 15 (chain shirt); Hit Points 13 (3d8); Speed 30’
STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 10 (+0) INT 11 WIS 11 CHA 12 (+1)
Skills Perception +2, Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 120’, passive Perception 12
Languages Elvish, Undercommon
Fey Ancestry. The drow has advantage on saves against being charmed, and magic can’t put the drow to sleep.

Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the drow has disadvantage on attack rolls and Perception checks that rely on sight.

Innate Spellcasting: Dancing Lights (at will). Action to cast, 120’, concentration up to 1 minute. The drow creates four torch-sized motes of light within range, or one in the form of a Medium humanoid. The lights shed 10’ of dim light. As a bonus action, the drow can move them up to 60’ to a spot within range.

Innate Spellcasting: Darkness (1/day ). Action to cast, 60’, concentration up to 10 minutes. The drow spreads darkness in a 15’-radius sphere centered on a point within range, an unattended object in range, or an object the drow is holding. The darkness spreads around corners. The darkness dispels an area of light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower.

Innate Spellcasting: Faerie Fire (1/day ). Action to cast, 60’, concentration up to 1 minute. Each object in a 20’ cube within range is outlined in light. A creature in the cube may make a DC 13 Dex save to avoid the effect. If outlined, attacks against the target have advantage, and the target can’t benefit from being invisible.

ACTIONS: The drow can make one attack with a weapon and a bonus action attack with an offhand weapon.

(2) Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5’, one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage.

Hand Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30’/120’, one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Con save or be poisoned for 1 hour.
If the save fails by 5 or more, the target is unconscious while poisoned. The target wakes up if it is damaged or if someone uses an action to awaken the target.
20: bolts.