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

[Sloblock]

hello Delazar and welcome

 

[Sloblock]

B) We're playing the last chapter, and the Rogue went ahead of the party, full stealth, and entered the Temple via the tunnel in area 5. He saw a mage performing a ritual, and he one-shotted him with an arrow. Then he retreated to where his friends were waiting, and they continued to explore the tunnels in the volcano. If I understand correctly, the 10 rounds countdown to have Tiamat appear begins as from the moment the Heroes enter the Temple... does this mean the rogue triggered the countdown?

Like Jayoungr has mentioned, I would also have the timer start once the whole party is in. When we get there that is what I was going to do

 

[Sloblock]

My group is just starting HOTDQ, but given the amount of work I spent prepping that, I figured I had better get reading ROT...

Anyway, something jumped out at me on pg. 11 of ROT under the Giants section. It says "a frost giant named Harshnag lives on Mount Sar north of Waterdeep, and he is sometimes called upon when the Sword Coast faces dire threats." Dragon threat or not, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around why a frost giant would come to the aid of Waterdeep. I thought about turning him into a stone giant, but their reclusive nature doesn't feel right either.

How have others approached this?

I'm working on building Blagothkus's personality and character. My hope is that if I play him right, the party will leave HOTDQ with Skyreach Castle intact and in Blagothkus's possession. If they don't, I will probably use Frozen Castle to link the two books.

I totally missed that part, you could always have Harshnag dormant and only woken by Blagathus?

The way I got round the PCs being nice to Blagothkus, was to make the 2 Stone giants really friendly and inquisitive around the PC races ( I have an inquisitive Gnome ) and to mention that something is wrong if Blagothkus is helping the Cult of the Dragon. This way when they met him, they could start with a topic around why is he helping them and go from there.

hope that helps

 

[jayoungr]

Anyway, something jumped out at me on pg. 11 of ROT under the Giants section. It says "a frost giant named Harshnag lives on Mount Sar north of Waterdeep, and he is sometimes called upon when the Sword Coast faces dire threats." Dragon threat or not, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around why a frost giant would come to the aid of Waterdeep.

Maybe Blagothkus could persuade Harshnag to help out?

I'm working on building Blagothkus's personality and character. My hope is that if I play him right, the party will leave HOTDQ with Skyreach Castle intact and in Blagothkus's possession.

My group left Skyreach with Blagothkus intact. They overheard him telling one of his ogre assistants that he didn't like how the Cult of the Dragon was "trying to take over the castle," which gave them a clue that he wasn't wholeheartedly on the cult's side.

If they don't, I will probably use Frozen Castle to link the two books.

One thing to remember is that Frozen Castle is designed for level 10-11 PCs, and they will probably be level 7-8 when they finish HotDQ.

If you really like Frozen Castle, you can run it anyway; I'm planning to have the Cult of the Dragon assault Skyreach once they realize Blagothkus has turned on them, and they'll be the ones to crash it. The PCs will find out about it when the mage studying the yetis contacts the Arcane Brotherhood and happens to mention that a floating castle recently crashed in the neighborhood.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

My group is just starting HOTDQ, but given the amount of work I spent prepping that, I figured I had better get reading ROT...

Anyway, something jumped out at me on pg. 11 of ROT under the Giants section. It says "a frost giant named Harshnag lives on Mount Sar north of Waterdeep, and he is sometimes called upon when the Sword Coast faces dire threats." Dragon threat or not, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around why a frost giant would come to the aid of Waterdeep. I thought about turning him into a stone giant, but their reclusive nature doesn't feel right either.

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Harshnagg

He showed up in the 3.5 City of Splendors Waterdeep sourcebook. He's some kind of Waterdhavian super riot cop, if I remember correctly.

 

[akr71]

snip
One thing to remember is that Frozen Castle is designed for level 10-11 PCs, and they will probably be level 7-8 when they finish HotDQ.
snip

My HOTDQ group is only 3 and I've added lots of extra stuff, so I should be able to get them to ~8-10. I also promised them that I would find a way that to switch to their 'old' characters between books, should they want to. They are all level 10 and I could have them summoned to Waterdeep for the first council meeting. The council could then ask for 3 volunteers for an extremely dangerous, yet vital mission.

 

[jayoungr]

I've recently noticed that the "Tiamat Tuesdays" articles have disappeared from Kobold Press's blog. Here are links to the Wayback Machine for entries that deal with Rise of Tiamat.

The Rise of Tiamat: A DM's and Player's Overview
So You're Running Tyranny of Dragons...
Maintaining Focus

 

[GuardianLurker]

Jotunmoot

View attachment Jotunmoot.html.zip

Here's the Jotunmoot, extracted from my FG module. If you spot any problems or mistakes, let me know.

 

[Sloblock]

View attachment 75831

Here's the Jotunmoot, extracted from my FG module. If you spot any problems or mistakes, let me know.

Thanks

 

[Eltab]

Kicking around an idea:

My group cleared out the Green Dragon Lair except for the dragon, then took a Long Rest. (The group is on hiatus while I work a seasonal job.) They interrogated and executed - because I wasn't prepared with answers - the Dragon Rider just before stopping.

When we resume, I'm not sure what to do.
1) Rewind to "you arrive outside the cave where the Green Dragon and his Rider lurk"
2) Figure out what the Dragon will do while they sleep all day - probably set up a TPK using "the Classic Cult is a criminal ring" assets
3) Let the group fight the Dragon by his lonesome then leave, probably in triumph
Preferences? Thoughts?

Assume they get out alive, the Rider is still dead, and they report back to the Council.
I am really tempted to build up the scene where they report the slaying of the Green Wyrmspeaker. (The group learned that much before killing him.) When they slew Arauthator, they put his head in a Bag of Holding. I expect them to do the same for the Green Dragon Rider. I also expect them to hold up HIS head for the council to observe, too.
The dwarves begin to sing a victory anthem, the humans rise for a standing O, the Silverymoon elves show grateful recognition ... but the King of the Forest Elves turns pale white and staggers over to the nearest railing, mouthing words that cannot be heard over the noise. He keels over and slumps into a chair as the sounds of victory are replaced by confusion and concern. In a sudden silent moment he can be heard gasping "Neronvain, my son, my son..." (Copied from the Bible, King David hears of the death of his rebelling / usurping son Absalom.) Cue doctors / sages / wizards / &c. He dies of heart failure (truly a broken heart) a few days later, so the Elves' seat is soon taken by his other son and heir. This Elven King has the sudden personality transformation described in the adventure, but he also resents the PCs for killing his father with "a poisoned spear launched straight to his heart."