Fun Fact: the trio pictured here are the PCs from the original Dungeons of Drakkenheim Actual Play. From left to right: Sebastian Crowe the half-elf shadow sorcerer, Pluto Jackson the human fighter battlemaster, and Veo Sjena the tabaxi ranger gloom stalker/rogue arcane trickster.
This brief chapter discusses possible post-campaign epilogues. It starts out with talking about how PCs resolved their Personal Quests, asking the players various questions with examples given for the 12 sample Quests earlier at the beginning of the book. Next up, we move onto talking about the fate of defeated factions, and how this might affect geo-political consequences in the wider world. Lastly, we have Epilogues tying up major plotlines: whether or not Westemär has a new Crown-appointed ruler, if Argonath was resurrected, and how/if the Amethyst Academy turns Drakkenheim into a "delerium greenhouse."
For the royal heir, the use of the Crown and Seals will be the best means of uniting the kingdom's nobility. It's possible for someone other than the von Kessels to do this, particularly one of the other noble houses of Westemär, although this will require gaining the backing of at least 3 factions in addition to demonstrating legitimacy via the aforementioned magic items. Should the Queen of Thieves attune to the Crown of Westemär, she will use it to cement her power over the ruins. The book notes if the DM is using the suggested backstory of her being Katarina von Kessel, she will use the three wishes to close the dimensional rift, resurrect her sister, and erase all knowledge of her magical abilities in order to rule without the Edicts of Lumen being used against her.
For Argonath's resurrection, he will be loyal to whatever faction was instrumental in reviving him. In the case of the Silver Order, he will help the Knights destroy as much delerium as possible, and the book suggests having him accompany the faction and PCs in destroying the Delerium Heart; his breath weapon is radiant, so he can damage it normally. Should this be done, the Haze will disappear slowly over time, although delerium will still grow but at a lesser rate. The Silver Order will have uncontested control over Drakkenheim; if a royal heir isn't appointed, there will be no desire to rebuild even in Haze-free ruins, and Westemär will split into many smaller kingdoms. If Argonath sides with the Falling Fire, he will help drive out the Silver Order and Amethyst Academy while protecting pilgrims continuing to visit. The Falling Fire sect grows in numbers and political legitimacy in spite of the orthodox faith's increased violence against them. Eventually, millions of souls will have taken the Sacrament, their golden delerium shards gathered in the crater. The city isn't rebuilt, as the faith views Drakkenheim as a holy city, and the Falling Fire will do nothing as the Haze spreads over the world to eventually destroy it. Whether or not Lucretia Mathias' prophecy comes true is left to the DM to decide.
For the Amethyst Academy ending, Eldrick Runeweaver will need the Pristine Delerium Geode and a reclaimed Inscrutable Tower as part of a powerful ritual to create a giant dome-shaped Prismatic Wall in order to contain the Haze. This will do a good job of preventing it from spreading, but should the Wall be destroyed this will cause a devastating feedback loop of the Haze expanding in a violent explosion for hundreds of miles. The world will be destroyed in just a few years this way.
Should the PCs somehow manage to arrange events so that none of the five factions gain the upper hand, the most likely outcome is that Westemär will split up into smaller independent kingdoms. Without an organized force to research and contain the dangers of the Haze, it will increase in size and scope, slowly dooming the world unless some other group of heroes rises to the occasion.
Thoughts: I like how this chapter goes over the most likely endings and prominent geopolitical outcomes. I find it rather interesting how the Amethyst Academy's plan may be the one that destroys the world the fastest, but it is in line with how research bereft of moral consequences can make things worse. Look at Oscar Yoren and the Pale Man, for instance. While I do understand that the Queen of Thieves' ending is left relatively open given that it's up to the DM who she is, I would've liked to see more word space discussing how the Queen's Men and Westemär as a whole will react to a "bandit leader" gaining the Crown. Instead, we have much of the word-space focusing on the Actual Play identity, which can be fine for some campaigns but is less helpful for DMs who have their own Queen of Thieves.
One thing I noted is that long-term, destroying the Delerium Heart appears to be the "best ending" long-term for the world.
Monty Martin did have a good explanation on Reddit (user intermedial) on how this ending can still leave things a mess even if it saves the world:
One element that's important to the Silver Order "ending" is creating the doubt that that ending is even achievable -- as others have commented, the complete obliteration of all delerium isn't really possible given how much has already gotten out -- especially into Ash Bay. The process of destroying it all isn't an overnight project either. It's going to take decades to clean up, and during that time tons of problems can happen. Just as there can be concerns about the Academy's "super shield" falling, there should be concerns that the Silver Order might not be able to "hold" Drakkenheim long enough to complete the cleanup properly, setting the whole problem up all over again.
beyond that, Drakkenheim asks the player characters not just "will you save the world?" but instead "what does the world look like after you save it?"
The Silver Order's ideal scenario asks you to consider the political cost of saving the world. If the Silver Order gets their way, there should be a tangible sense that the world is on the brink of complete hegemony under the Faith of the Sacred Flame, allowing the Faith to bring out their more hardline stances. Westemar is left a broken nation, the Amethyst Academy might be brought tighter under the heel of the Silver Order, and potentially, active persecution against mageborn resumes. The Followers of the Falling Fire might not disappear either, and take the destruction of what they perceived to be as a divine destiny as a call for further radicalization.
In short, yes, the Silver Order ending "saves the world" -- but it leaves the world an utter mess, and there should be a clear and palpable sense that this decision is going to pull the Continent into greater conflicts which may take centuries to resolve.
I'll just say that the idea that there is a "best" ending is far more subjective than you might think. I've had the pleasure of speaking with DMs whose campaigns have gone all in on the Falling Fire, helped the Queen of Thieves take over the world, and even campaigns that ended with spectacular failure and the destruction of the world itself.
Finally, your players and their reactions and opinions to the factions are the "wild card" in the entire equation, and the players will drive the campaign towards the conclusion that makes sense for them. This is why it's vitally important that as the DM of the campaign, you dispense with the idea that there is a "best" ending, so you can regard the players choices with more neutrality. You have the benefit of total information and future speculation which your players don't.
One thing I would've liked is more characterization of Argonath. While I take it that he's more of a plot device, it would be good to have a better understanding of what can sway his thought processes both ways as the Silver Order and Falling Fire want very different things regarding the fate of Drakkenheim.
This covers the new monsters in this book, including modified stat blocks of Monster Manual entries as well as entirely new ones. The book notes that all non-humanoid creatures found in Drakkenheim that didn't originate outside the Haze are immune to Contamination levels and can take Long Rests inside, but suffer automatic Exhaustion levels for every full day they spend outside the Haze. They can also touch a delerium shard to heal damage as an action, but said shards cannot be used to heal again in that manner until the next full day. All monsters in the city also gain universal roleplaying traits representing Haze-induced madness, such as a compulsion to Contaminate and devour other creatures and to bask in the glow of delerium.
As I already covered a good bit of creatures during this Let's Read, I'll go over some of the ones I didn't touch.
Arcane Wraiths are spellcasters who died in Drakkenheim, their spirits unable to move on. They have wraith stats, but with a few offensive spells such as Lightning Bolt and Hypnotic Pattern which up their CR to 6.
Crater Wurms are found only in the Crater Basin, and use purple worm stats but their stomachs inflict Contamination to those inside and they can trample and move through spaces of creatures.
Haze Wights are warriors who died in Drakkenheim and believe themselves to be defending the city's inhabitants against invaders. They are wights who trade in their Life Drain for a Contamination-inducing touch attack, and can turn humanoid corpses that recently died violently into haze husks.
Warp Witches are undead who lost their memories and look for humanoids to possess. They use ghost stats but have a psychic damage wail attack and can impose Contamination on those they possess.
Contaminated Elementals are the first of the outright new monsters we cover. They often appear as mundane versions of their representative elements in Drakkenheim before suddenly attacking travelers. They are all CR 5 and represent the four classic elements: Animated Delerium Sludge can grapple and engulf targets, Living Deep Haze can move through the spaces of creatures and gaps as thin as 1 inch wide, Entropic Flames are similarly immaterial and can light creatures and objects on fire, and Walking Delerium Geodes can explode upon death if the killing blow wasn't force, radiant, or thunder damage.
Hypnotic Eldritch Blossoms can be found in the Queen's Park and look like but are distinct from Eldritch Lillies. They cannot deal conventional damage, instead hypnotizing passersby to get closer so they can shoot Contaminated nectar at them. They can also reflect single-target spells that they save against or which miss them.
Gravekeeper is a creature made up of innumerable faces and limbs of Castle Drakken's former gravekeepers, and thus can be found in that building's lower levels. Some of the limbs hold glowing lanterns which it can use to perform various magical ranged attacks. This is a CR 13 monster with Legendary Resistance and Actions along with Lair Actions, the latter of which include causing sludge or grasping arms to fill portions of the battlefield, or even a light source to be the origin point for one of its lantern blasts.
Thoughts: The enemies here appropriately play into Drakkenheim's cosmic horror themes. As so many rely upon Contamination, it can be hard to port them into other campaigns that don't use this new rule, as this debilitating condition or lack thereof can significantly alter player tactics in dealing with them.
The shortest Appendix of all, Contamination is a new condition measured in 6 levels in a manner similar to Exhaustion. Any time a creature with 1 or more levels finishes a long rest, they roll a d20 and gain another level on a natural 1 result. Contamination level 1 imposes no penalties, but 2 and 3 make it more difficult to heal by halving the Hit Dice results for short rests and not regaining hit points during a Long rest respectively. Level 4 causes the suffering character to halve their weapon attack and spell damage, level 5 incapacitates them, and level 6 permanently transforms them into a monster. In the case of a monster, it's up to the DM what stat block they use, but it's usually an aberration or monstrosity who has a similar or equivalent Challenge Rating to the Contaminated individual's level or CR. A humanoid who dies with any Contamination levels will rise as a haze husk 24 hours later, and if they have 6 or more class levels or Hit Dice they rise as a haze wight instead.
Most magic cannot remove or lower Contamination, and it's a condition from which one cannot recover naturally. For Core Rules spells, Heal can remove all Contamination and mutations, Regenerate can restore physical features lost to mutations, reviving a character from death reduces their Contamination level by 1, and Wish can remove all Contamination and its negative effects from an individual but is considered a stressful use of the spell.
Following this are two tables. The first is a d20 Mutations table where a character undergoes a drastic physical change that imposes an effect that can be beneficial in terms of mechanics (chitinous skin giving an AC boost) or is cosmetic or deleterious (warped vocal chords force you to speak in halting gurgles). The second is a d10 Madness table which imposes a personality trait with an in-character quotation. Said madness imposes difficulties to a character's ability to adventure or interact with others, such as viewing the monsters in Drakkenheim as civilians living peacefully, or developing the need to eat everything they find. Contamination doesn't result in Madness in and of itself. Instead, this table is used to roll on for the times in the adventure path when "Drakkenheim Madness" is called for a saving throw.
Thoughts: I like how Contamination cannot be cured by the Core Rules spells save for high-level and costly ones. This encourages the PCs to seek out alternative cures discovered through play. I also like how the mechanics don't make characters worse at most things like Exhaustion does, but it's still dangerous in that the first half of levels make it easier to die.
Once again, we covered a good deal of this Appendix's contents in the earlier posts. This section starts with a list of gold piece prices for delerium based on volume. It then discusses practical uses for it: notably, it can be used as an arcane focus or material component required for sorcerer, warlock, and wizard spells. They can also be used to craft magic items, but this has more guidelines rather than rules and boils down to the crystal size corresponding to the magic item rarity. The crafting process renders delerium "stable," so the artisan won't have to roll to avoid Contamination when handling it during the crafting. Lastly, delerium fragments can be used as improvised weapons and ammunition that can impose a Contamination level on struck targets who fail a DC 10 Constitution save.
We have 14 new spells in this book, which are not available to PCs at the start of the campaign and cannot be learned automatically upon leveling up. Most of these spells are learned by spending 100 gold and 2 days of downtime practicing the spell before they can prepare it, add it to their spellbook, or replace an existing known spell with it. Additionally, four spells in particular, notably the ones that defend against Contamination, haven't been invented yet and thus the PCs must spend even more gold and downtime than usual in order to create it after finding the appropriate research materials. Relevant spells include means of researching/discovering them in their appropriate entries, usually unlocked by visiting certain areas and learning certain related spells or creating a related item (usually Aqua Expurgo).
Lastly, some spells have the "contaminated" descriptor, which means that a PC automatically gains a Contamination level upon casting and it requires delerium as a consumable component. In exchange, they're much more powerful than a regular spell of their level.
As can be expected, the new spells are strongly themed around the Haze and horror stuff. For the contamination-descriptor spells we have Conjure the Deep Haze (AoE Contaminating fog), Contaminated Power (empower your spells in a variety of ways while concentration is maintained, such as being dispel-proof and changing their damage type), Delerium Blast (like Fireball, but deals 10d6 psychic damage and Incapacitates creatures who fail an Intelligence save), Delerium Orb (like Chromatic Orb but deals a lot more damage at 6d6), Octarine Spray (60 foot cone that causes a d8 random effect ranging from forced movement to various uncommon damage types), Ride the Rifts (change into a damaging lightning bolt that rapidly moves you to the end of its line of effect), Ray of Contamination (deals a bunch of necrotic damage and 1d4 levels of Contamination, halved on a successful save), and Warp Bolt (like Scorching Ray but deals necrotic damage and Contamination and automatically hits creatures with 1 or more Contamination levels). The other spells tend to be more utility or defensive, such as Contamination Immunity (single creature touched is immune to Contamination and immune to necrotic damage for 24 hours), Forced Evolution (change a mutation changed from Contamination to another), Neutralizing Field (sphere that grants immunity to Contamination to those inside it), Purge Contamination (removes all Contamination levels and mutations from a creature, and gains 1 exhaustion level for each Contamination level removed), Sacrament of the Falling Fire (can only be cast in the Deep Haze, have a delerium shard implanted in your chest that grants you protection but have to fight a hostile shadow or wraith that represents your wicked side after the spell's complete), and Siphon Contamination (transfers Contamination levels from one humanoid to another).
As for magic items, we have 16 generic types plus the Seals of Drakkenheim and Relics of Saint Vitruvio. As we covered the latter two, we'll go over the former. The magic items here represent various innovations enhanced by delerium. For consumables, Aqua Delerium is a potion that can restore expended spell slots but causes a higher risk of triggering an Arcane Anomaly when casting leveled spells. Drinking more than one between long rests reduces your hit point maximum. Aqua Expurgo is delivered by syringe and lets the recipient auto-succeed on the next 3 saving throws that would cause them to gain Contamination, although using all 3 causes one to fall violently ill and have a reduced hit point maximum. Bottled Comet is a delerium-powered throwable explosive that deals Necrotic damage, a level of Contamination, and an Arcane Anomaly. Refined Delerium Dust can be consumed to grant advantage on spell attack rolls and saves against spells for 1 minute in exchange for automatically gaining one level of Contamination.
A good deal of the rest of the magic items are offensive in nature. Some of the more interesting ones include Comet Smasher, a bludgeoning melee weapon that deals 3d6 bonus necrotic damage but causes an Arcane Anomaly on a natural 20 (wielder can roll twice and choose the result). Delerium-forged Blades are +2 swords that use the wielder's spellcasting ability modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity if desired, and deals 3d6 bonus necrotic damage and 1 Contamination level on a natural 20 against a humanoid target; Flame Lance is connected to a tank that is filled with alchemist's fire to regain its charges. In addition to being a +1 lance, it can expend charges to cast Burning Hands, with more charges granting higher spell slot levels for the spell. Staff of Contaminated Power is a +2 quarterstaff that regains charges when it rests in the Deep Haze or by absorbing delerium crystals, and its charges can be used to the 6 contamination-descriptor spells in this book. Or the Starcrossed Bow, a +2 bow or crossbow that deals radiant damage as its default type and can expend charges to blind struck targets who fail a Constitution save.
Thoughts: While the book acknowledges that the Contaminated spells get an extra power bump to make up for their drawback, I feel that most players are going to be reluctant in learning or using them until they gain surefire ways to reduce Contamination levels. And even then, the fact that they can get levels while exploring Drakkenheim puts them that much closer to turning into a hostile monster that can then attack the party. I like how the research/invention spells have prerequisites in line with in-game discovery, which makes attaining them feel like a proper reward. The new magic items are appropriately useful and cool, and the flavor text of delerium being used in the crafting process combines nicely with the earlier guidelines for using the material to craft magic items by rarity.
While Dungeons of Drakkenheim takes place entirely inside and nearby one ruined city, it is good to have an overview of the wider setting for helping come up with character backstories and general world-building. While the setting proper is further expanded in Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim, this Appendix covers the world in broad strokes.
The unnamed continent and planet bear no special names, being known simply as "the continent," "the world," and similarly generic terms. Most of the population is human. Dwarves, elves, halflings, and nonhumans exist and are tolerated in most communities, but they are overall rare. Notably, people of mixed heritage (half-elves, half-orcs, tieflings, dragonborn) are known and acknowledged to have human origins and are not treated as races unto their own.
The three largest and most prominent states are Caspia, Elyria, and Westemär, with many smaller kingdoms and city-states neighboring them. The three powers view each other as rivals and there's no major alliances between them. Westemär is a feudal realm heavily made up of forests and rivers blessed with many natural resources. The destruction of Drakkenheim and the deaths and disappearances of the von Kessels fractured the land, and now most noble lands are effectively self-governing. Elyria is the most united of the three powers and is rising in dominance. While theoretically a monarchy, the aristocracy has become little more than a puppet mouthpiece of the Divine Matriarch who appoints the Lord Regent, and most nobles in Parliament are religious fundamentalists who are happy with seeing their kingdom become a theocracy in everything but name. Caspia is a coastal kingdom with a Mediterranean climate, and the nobility elect a High King at a Kingsmoot every decade. Caspians can be summed up as a nation of Gastons, where they view martial prowess and daring tales of heroism as the best qualities for rulership.
Magic both arcane and divine is rare, but incorporated into the political power structures where possible. Only 1 in 1,000 people are spellcasters, and two-thirds of said spellcasters know 1st-level spells at most. The social classes that make the most use of magical goods and services are clergy, nobles, adventurers, and wealthy merchants. Arcane magic is a recessive genetic trait, and those who have it are called mageborn and typically come into it during childhood to puberty. Bards and warlocks bypass the need for such traits, instead drawing upon the Words of Creation or supernatural entities respectively. While there's still some stigma and suspicion of arcane spellcasters due to the era of the Sorcerer-Kings, such magic in and of itself isn't illegal and the Amethyst Academy is regarded as a legitimate institution in most lands. Magical items and services are strictly regulated, where anyone dealing in such trades abides by universal prices and regulations set forth by the Amethyst Academy's Mage's Guild. There is a thriving black market in outlawed magic items and under-the-table spells.
As for divine magic, it is something that theoretically anyone can gain access to, but it's very rare and even mastering low-level spells requires incredible talent. Divine casters still maintain their powers even should they violate the dogma of their faiths, and combined with the lack of omniscient deities this means that excommunication and sectarianism are the primary drivers of religious conflict and punishment. While angels, demons, and other extraplanar entities exist, they have not helped cement ultimate religious knowledge, for they're prone to speaking in cryptic riddles if not outright lying. Some also claim to be gods, but taking their word for it is ultimately a matter of faith.
We also get a rundown of the Sacred Flame's religious practices, which can be summed up as your typical pseudo-Christian fantasy religion encouraging community aid and good works, although they are notably "godless" and view the Sacred Flame as a cosmic energy force that keeps people safe from wickedness and provides moral guidance. Other religions are smaller and tend to exist in more remote and rural areas or close-knit subcultures, notably the myriad deities of the Old Faith and various Shadow Cults who pay allegiance to various entities of darkness and night. Not all such Shadow Cults are necessarily evil, but they do have a tendency to draw upon negative emotions and fiendish entities.
The Edicts of Lumen are a legal document forged after the fall of the Sorcerer-Kings. The three great powers and smaller civilizations abide by their strictures, but the Edicts are not without their faults and written by people seeking primarily to establish a political order rather than divine writ or objective knowledge of the workings of magic. The Edicts are made up of six main Articles, primarily applied to the Amethyst Academy: mages are not allowed to own land or hold noble titles; the Amethyst Academy must remain politically neutral, and in exchange legal protection is granted to all mages; the Amethyst Academy has the authority to take in any mageborn children for training, including children of the nobility; the Amethyst Academy is granted a monopoly on magical goods and services, but have to supply their services to all realms and clients without discrimination; various forms of "dark magic," such as fiend-summoning and necromancy, are banned, as is using magic to influence or control the nobility or clergy; finally, there's a complex set of legal justifications for using state-sanctioned violence against individuals and entities who refuse to abide by the Edicts.
The Cosmos details the other planes of existence in the Drakkenheim universe. As extraplanar contact and travel is sufficiently rare as to be the stuff of legends, most such travel instead takes the form of hapless mortals coming upon places where the bounds between realities grow thin. Besides the Material Plane which is simply known as the Mortal World, there are Otherworlds known to be coterminous: the Ethereal Plane, Dreamland, the Feywild, and the Elemental Chaos. Beyond this, there are Afterworlds where mortal souls supposedly go to, with the only proof of their existence being summoned entities from such places. The known Afterworlds include the Shadowlands where most souls pass through to go elsewhere, with some unlucky ones ending up trapped to wander it lost; Eternity, a place where angels live and many believe to be a utopian heaven; and the Abyss, also known as Hell, where fiends come from and it's believed that mortal souls transform into demons and devils upon being taken there.
This Appendix ends with an Historical Timeline spanning 1,138 years, from when Saint Tarna became the First Paladin to the start of the Dungeons of Drakkenheim campaign.
Thoughts: This Appendix is a helpful overview of the wider world of Dungeons of Drakkenheim, and helps the DM understand the motivations and support of the five factions. Through it, we get a good idea of various aspects presented in the adventure. Such as why certain NPC mages are on poor terms with the Amethyst Academy, why the Edicts of Lumen came to be and how they cause friction between the five factions, and why Westemär is unable to repel what is effectively a foreign army (the Silver Order) from coming into Drakkenheim.
One thing to note is that the Edicts of Lumen appear to apply only to arcane spellcasters, and the Backgrounds in the next section reinforce this explicitly. However, further commentary from Monty Martin and future Drakkenheim material note that divine spellcasters are in a more legally murky territory. The Sacred Flame already has vows that prevent the religious hierarchy from holding noble titles, and they have more positive publicity than arcane spellcasters which has allowed them to become an unofficial ruling power in Elyria. Additionally, divine casters outside the Sacred Flame, such as druids, would be treated much like mageborn by most people. Even though bards and warlocks aren't technically mageborn, one attaining rulership of a kingdom or noble house can be used as a casus belli for others to go to war against them. This is not a bad thing from a world-building perspective: the Edicts of Lumen are a flawed document, and it is the gray areas and its uneven enforcement that supply opportunity for conflict.
This Appendix provides five new backgrounds designed in line with the Drakkenheim setting at large and also for hooks tying into why they'd wish to explore the ruined city. Their Features notably have explicit mechanical boons rather than open-ended social contacts, which makes sense given the specific nature of this adventure's faction system.
Continental Nobility can be taken by any class besides Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard, representing someone born into an established aristocracy. It is similar to the default Noble background save in that it lets you choose two skills from Athletics, History, Intimidation, or Persuasion, and its feature lets you give an inspiring pep talk to allies during a Short Rest where they can add 1d4 to their next d20 roll.
Mageborn can only be taken by Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards, representing someone who spent their childhood or adolescence being taught spells in a secluded magic school of the Amethyst Academy. It lets you choose 2 skills from Arcana, Deception, Investigation, or Perception, and grants you the choice of Draconic or Elven as a bonus language and either Calligrapher's or Alchemist's Supplies as a tool proficiency. Its Feature lets you create a Spell Scroll once per Long Rest of a spell level up to one half your Proficiency Bonus, and has to be a spell you know or prepared.
Devoted Missionary Represents someone who dedicated themselves to furthering a religious cause, be it the Sacred Flame or another religion. It lets you choose two skills from Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion and up to 2 languages of your choice. Its Feature lets you ask the DM to reveal the DC of an ability check before rolling the dice a number of times per day equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
Survivor represents one of the unlucky few who lived through the meteor's fall and has since chosen to continue staying near the ruined city. You choose 2 skills from Athletics, Perception, Stealth, or Survival plus proficiency in Cook's Utensils and one set of artisan's tools. Its feature lets you cook a meal during a Short Rest for allies, which can restore hit points equal to your level but they can only benefit from such a meal once per Long Rest.
Treasure Seeker represents that all-too-common call of greed, of people willing to risk life, limb, and sanity to pry Drakkenheim's treasures from its eldritch grasp. You gain proficiency in Investigation plus either Insight, Perception, or Stealth, and proficiency in thieves' tools and cartographer's tools. Its Feature doubles your Proficiency Bonus when making any ability to search the ruins of Drakkenheim.
Thoughts: A Mageborn is going to be the best friend to a party with a Wizard, as their ability to effectively make free spell scrolls can thus add to that class' spellbook. The Devoted Missionary's DC reveal is the least useful, as secret checks are dolled out via DM discretion and a character will soon find out whether it's difficult or not once the check is rolled. Otherwise, the Backgrounds are pretty decent in both Features and proficiencies, providing reliable abilities for this campaign.
Thoughts So Far: The Appendices do a nice job wrapping up the material that can't fit in the prior chapters, and there's a lot of content for players to use in fleshing out their character sheets and backstories. I also like the use of altered monster stat blocks, which combined with the new creatures in this book helps keep some fear of the unknown in a horror campaign.
Final Thoughts: Dungeons of Drakkenheim is a tightly-designed, novel adventure. It has many working parts, but they fit well together and the book provides convenient explanations for potential outcomes and scenarios for short-term and long-term consequences. It is easy to navigate and manage for the DM thanks to quality formatting, which enhances its usability at the table. The individual characters and factions have understandable goals and personality traits that help them stand out from each other, which should provide for many memorable faces in the players' collective headspace. The challenges and threats aren't "balanced" in a linear format for particular character levels like most adventures, but the rewards and outcomes always feel like they are appropriately weighed against the relevant risks. In true sandbox fashion, the DM is given many tools to construct their campaign, with enough relative freedom to account for PCs taking off in all manner of directions.
Dungeons of Drakkenheim is one of the best adventures I've had the pleasure of reading, and highly recommend it to any Dungeon Masters interested in running a dark fantasy adventure that's certain to be remembered by players for years to come!
