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

[Xanthais]

None.

That's what I'm gathering as well. I was planning on going with the Milestone method on this, but it seems that with no guidelines on when best to do it, awarding XP is the way to go in this adventure.

 

[Xanthais]

I should ask. Creeping Death: "Creatures in that area are vulnerable to necrotic damage" What does this do? I thought creatures were already vulnerable to Necrotic Damage? Does it mean save at disadvantage? Or does it do a specific amount of damage? The Way I'm reading it, it doesn't do anything at all, which must be an incorrect reading.

Vulnerable means you take double damage from that type, just as Resistance means you take half damage.

Damage Resistance & Vulnerability
Some creatures and objects are exceedingly difficult or
unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage.
If a creature or an object has resistance to a damage
type, damage of that type is halved against it. If a
creature or an object has vulnerability to a damage
type, damage of that type is doubled against it.

Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after
all other modifiers to damage. For example, a creature
has resistance to bludgeoning damage and is hit by an
attack that deals 25 bludgeoning damage. The creature
is also within a magical aura that reduces all damage by
5. The 25 damage is first reduced by 5 and then halved,
so the creature takes 10 damage.

Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that
affect the same damage type count as only one instance.
For example, if a creature has resistance to fire damage
as well as resistance to all non-magical damage, the
damage of a non-magical fire is reduced by half against
the creature, not reduced by three-quarters.

 

[zingbobco000]

Is there a good guideline about PC level-up?

Not really no, it's a very sandbox-oriented game and because of that they didn't really insert level guides.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I would rule that Vulnerability/Resistance works like Advantage/Disadvantage: they cancel each other out, and stacking has no effect. (That is, 1xResistance still cancels 3xVulnerability.)

As for Shintasi's critique, it was entertaining to read and based on some truths, but it's not as bad as all that. It will take some fleshing out, though, for DMs (and players) who don't want everything to be random encounters. It's really a framework for a campaign, occasionally diving into details, and not "an adventure." (An analogue is "Darkening of Mirkwood" for The One Ring: it's a 30-year campaign, but it doesn't actually have enough content to fill 30 years of in-game time. The LM is expected to fill in with their own adventures.)

Again, that's where I think the "Community" (RIP) can come in. Let's design some short side adventures to run while doing the campaign! In some sense there are already a number of them in there, but mostly in Part I. A few more of those, and then a bunch of them for Part II, and we've got something.

 

[Xanthais]

What happens if a resistant creature is hit by an attack that adds vulnerability?
...snip...
simply put, does vulnerable cancel resistant at vice versa? (I've never actually seen vulnerable used)

I would say that they do, just like ADV/DIS cancel each other out for a straight 1d20 roll.

Edit: Ninja'd by Elfcrusher!

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

1. you know you need a whole bunch of radiance spells or preferably enchanted weapons to face one of the bosses (since the others are going to WWE themselves down to 1) do the wizard characters have even the 10-20 days required downtime to manufacture a +1 weapon?
2. Has anyone else realized it might be really, really dumb to go from level 1 to 15 in less time than it takes to enchant +1 weapons? None of the hirelings have them, from what I recall, so they are all just meat bags.
3. What if you don't want to watch an epic cut scene of WWE demon lords tag team matching Jubliex and putting Demogorgon in a figure 4? What if you want to take your adventuring party against all of them, either one at a time, or as a group, is that even possible in 5e? In other words, are 5e characters forever doomed to be mere shadows of AD&D PCs?

In my imagination, I see epic heroes clashing against titanic forces of darkness. But I don't think the adventure is designed that way. I think we are supposed to bring pop corn, be awed, and then towards the end of the cage match, fling the bodies of our golf caddies at them like T-shirt cannons, and then hose them down from range after they've been softened up from too many DDTs by Graatz.

One of the cool things about characters like Eldritch Knights, Bladelocks, and Paladins of Devotion is that they can produce their own magic weapons when necessary. I have no problems with the idea of taking on Orcus at level 15 if you needed to. I think I could build a party of 6 PCs for example that would have a better than 50% chance of taking out Orcus at level 8; and level 15 should be much easier. Don't give up on the PCs yet.

You make a good point about the need for random encounters, and I haven't gotten far enough through OotA to have experienced the later chapters yet, but frankly I like the idea of having lots of randomish encounters in the Underdark, either as a player or as a DM. As a DM it gives me lots of room to experiment with monsters like Grimlock tribes and Purple Worms; as a player I get to level up to the point where I can take out the drow pursuers, steal their stuff, and go kill more purple worms. I like OotA so far as a combination of "very loose adventure frame with some cool NPCs" and "DMG extension: rules for the Underdark."

You can easily make a series of eight encounters for four level 12 PCs using nothing but CR 2s through 4s. E.g. two Chuuls and six Duergar Xarrorns: Hard encounter, 27% of the daily XP budget. Boom, done. Thanks Bounded Accuracy. As a player I would totally love wading through a horde of Duergars, Helmed Horrors, and whatnot. Hordes are fun.

YMMV obviously.

 

[Daern]

I tend to think that the random encounters shouldn't be so random. Use the tables to combine terrain and monsters to interesting effect. These will not be random encounters because the DM will have thought them out ahead of time. It is certainly work for the DM, but not much with the tables, and arguably more efficient/less confusing than randomly rolling it at the table.

 

[Xanthais]

You can easily make a series of eight encounters for four level 12 PCs using nothing but CR 2s through 4s. E.g. two Chuuls and six Duergar Xarrorns: Hard encounter, 27% of the daily XP budget. Boom, done. Thanks Bounded Accuracy. As a player I would totally love wading through a horde of Duergars, Helmed Horrors, and whatnot. Hordes are fun.

Agreed 100%. Cutting a swath through hoards of fodder like a hot knife through butter and not even breaking a sweat can be fun. It can also lend to the overall feeling of an encounter. What I mean by that is, if you had the past 5 random encounters be suuuuuuper easy, then suddenly you're in a fight where...woah, you didn't hit and one-shot-kill something. Ouch! He smacked me back....etc...can lend to the flavor of the game. If every encounter is too easy, it's boring. If it's always a life & death super-hard challenge, it's boring.

Mix it up.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I tend to think that the random encounters shouldn't be so random. Use the tables to combine terrain and monsters to interesting effect. These will not be random encounters because the DM will have thought them out ahead of time. It is certainly work for the DM, but not much with the tables, and arguably more efficient/less confusing than randomly rolling it at the table.

Some of the terrain has monsters built in.

And I heartily agree about the value of pre-rolling encounters.

 

[Xanthais]

And I heartily agree about the value of pre-rolling encounters.

Seconded. I rarely roll for those. I typically have a 2-3 that I want the party to do. I treat them much like backgrounds or any other table. I chose what best fits the scenario and what's coolest for the moment.