D&D 5E Enhancing "Rise of Tiamat" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

[Eltab]

All my party knows is that the Cult is trying to bring Tiamat back to the Material Plane. They have no idea how, why, or where.

I don’t think the published campaign has any details about how the summoning ceremony happens, other than it involves the Dragon Masks. I’ve already changed that up a bit as my party managed to successfully retrieve two masks so far (white and black). In my world, Severin doesn’t need the masks to bring her over, they only help determine how powerful she is.

I’m not sure if stopping the summoning is something I want the party to be able to do. That sort of eliminates the big finale! They definitely can impact Tiamat’s strength when she arrives and how many allied forces they have, however.

Alos, I don’t think there’s anything in the published campaign about a role for the Devils or Demons in the Cult‘s plans. I suspect the Demons may want her to stay in Avernus because the Devils have to expend power to keep her there.

I tried to put a "World War II" feel to my Tiamat campaign, and for the Manhattan Project I used "figure out the summoning ritual so we can mess it up". The high elves (unwillingly) and Arcane Brotherhood (willingly) took on that task, using my former-PC as the liaison between that group and the PCs. Besides stealing Dragon Masks and taking down Wyrmspeakers the group also got to pick up certain obscure knowledge from custodians that were unwilling to share. In essence I was slowly revealing the "how to weaken Tiamat" list, and listening as the players tried to figure out what they (or somebody) could / might do about it.

 

[werecorpse]

Has anyone come up with an alternative to the summoning of Tiamat being successful? It seems as if one thing the party is trying to stop is the ritual being performed, but they can’t succeed because otherwise you don’t get the final scene with Tiamat. So what happens if they do succeed? Whats the end then?

 

[ART!]

Has anyone come up with an alternative to the summoning of Tiamat being successful? It seems as if one thing the party is trying to stop is the ritual being performed, but they can’t succeed because otherwise you don’t get the final scene with Tiamat. So what happens if they do succeed? Whats the end then?

My first thought, and it's really just a hint of an idea: if they mess with the ritual at the wrong point, sure Tiamat is still trapped, but you're now down there with her. Maybe trapped, too, maybe not.

OR

Sure, Tiamat is still trapped, but a bunch of devils came through instead. "Why are you messing around with things up here!?!"

 

[weedenbc]

I know some people have added big chunks of Descent into Avernus to the end of ROT, the thinking being that you now chase her down to finish her off once and for all.

I'm still trying to work out whether the devils actually want Tiamat in hell or not. I don't think that backstory was ever officially fleshed out. And it matters as to whether they would be helping the Cult get her out or whether they might actually be working against the Cult (and hence allied with the party!) to keep her there.

That said, there is some interesting speculation in this thread:

Tiamat and the Avernus Politics. - Story & Lore - D&D Beyond General - D&D Beyond Forums - D&D Beyond

I'm currently running Rise of Tiamat as part of a Campaign in which the PCs went already to the Avernus (The first layer of Baator) and got caught in between...

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[jayoungr]

I just ran across this item which could be an interesting thing to add to an RoT campaign. (I wouldn't be surprised if it turns up in a future published work as well.) Maybe something for Severin to wield against the PCs in the final showdown?