Dungeon 162 - Winter of the Witch

[Shroomy]

I haven't had a chance to read this one, but it looks promising. Lots of new monsters (including a new type of angel, yeah!) and our first real example of an archfey.

Dungeon Adventure: Winter of the Witch

 

[Fallen Seraph]

While to powerful for now, this winter-theme will be nice for when my Spirit-based campaign gets started and into the higher levels.

Also, yeouch! She is level 26 and is apparently one of the "least powerful archfey of that (winter) court". Some are gonna be pretty powerful, and probably especially if there are any that don't belong to any of the courts (got no backing so got to be tough).

 

[Rechan]

I didn't really read the adventure, just the monster combos, but it seems really... random. Demons, and then undead, and then lots and lots of cold guys.

Also, this adventure has what, 5 solos in it? It looks like a real slog. The Desecration looks like the most boring, annoying solo I've seen thusfar.

The Frostfury trolls make me weep. Those are brutal.

Koliada's statblock doesn't designate what happens when someone is incased in Koliada's Ice. Is it a save ends condition? Are they still restrained? Etc.

I find it interesting that aside from the trolls and treants, both of which are naturally vulnerable to fire, none of the ice monsters are vulnerable to fire. I know that the 4e philosophy doesn't want to stack immunities/vulnerabilities, but I knwo that it would at least irk the hell out of one of my players that something that resists Cold is not vulnerable to Fire (he made the same complaint over fire/magma monsters when I used them). ((I'm becoming aware of the infrequency of Vulnerabilities due to a player with the Dark Pact Warlock Daily that attacks a monster's vulnerability)).

 

[Shroomy]

I read about 1/3rd of it. So far, so good, with lots of room to expand it if you are so inclined. I like the return to Winterhaven and the Keep on the Shadowfell.

As for the archfey, the concept of a nemesis is very cool and flavorful.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I'm okay with Cold-oriented creatures not having a vulnerability to fire (especially at these levels). I imagine there would be such a aura of just plain coldness around them that fire and heat would become dampened and be less significant.

Though I have never been much of a fan of the "this has to be good against that."

 

[Glyfair]

I'm okay with Cold-oriented creatures not having a vulnerability to fire (especially at these levels). I imagine there would be such a aura of just plain coldness around them that fire and heat would become dampened and be less significant.

Though I have never been much of a fan of the "this has to be good against that."

Indeed. One of my favorite supervillains was Killer Frost because she absorbed heat (which is why everything was cold around her). She was actually vulnerable to cold attacks.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I read about 1/3rd of it. So far, so good, with lots of room to expand it if you are so inclined. I like the return to Winterhaven and the Keep on the Shadowfell.

As for the archfey, the concept of a nemesis is very cool and flavorful.

I also really liked the return to Winterhaven, and the use of NPC's from Keep on the Shadowfell. It makes a lot of sense to reuse these locations in published adventures.

Not sure about the large number of solo's, though - it'll make things much harder for people with non-standard numbers of PC's to adjust the adventure. Still, it's going in the store of Adventure ideas that I'm keeping on Google Documents, and I may end up using it someday.

 

[crash_beedo]

This is my favorite 'epic tier' adventure I've seen in Dragon... the story is great - I like the return to Winterhaven, our first exposure to the feywild Winter Court, and first look at one of the (minor) Archfey. The 100 year return of the Winter Witch, the ancient order of knights and the lost artifact, a side-trip to the Shadowfell all add to the scope and sense of history. I'm thinking I'll be able to drop hints about this one well in advance, too.

I'm also thinking this seems to tie in well if you're running the H1-H3 series and P1-P3 by continuing the theme of Orcus meddling in the Nentir Vale, and perhaps it will tie in to the Raven Queen theme (seeing as winter is part of her portfolio).

Mechanically... yeah, I'd need to review the solo fights more closely to see if they need tweaking; I'm grading this one A+++ on the compelling, epic quality storyline first and foremost. At our current rate of advancement, my players won't be hitting epic until early 2010, so I've got time.

 

[Weregrognard]

This one is going into my campaign "queue" for epic level if it ever lasts that long. Points I like:

- A " back to the beginning" feeling by returning to the
location of a 1st-level adventure.
- BBEG makes a great nemesis for one of the PCs, an eladrin sun cleric (bonus: player hates winter)
- I actually get to use my gargantuan white dragon mini

 

[Dausuul]

The Desecration looks like the most boring, annoying solo I've seen thusfar.

Ye gods, yes. It's like a textbook example of how not to set up a solo encounter. The Descration doesn't have anything particularly cool and interesting in the way of offensive powers - it gets a double attack, and it can grab you, and that's it. But it can impose penalties on your attack roll if you target its vulnerability, and it gets a second wind, and when you bloody it, it can weaken you... all to make sure it takes even longer to kill the damn thing.

And of course there's no terrain map, no special terrain effects to liven things up, no allied monsters. Just a big sack o' hit points for the PCs to grind laboriously down into dust.