dave2008
Legend
I am already making lots of changes, this is fairly minor to me, actually extremely minor. I also dropped his Int down to 20 too.
D&D 5E Enhancing Vecna: Eve of Ruin *SPOILERS*
- Thread starter pukunui
- Start date
The "evil campaign" thread seems like it might be of interest to those reading this one, so I'm dropping a link here:
www.enworld.org
D&D 5E - Feasibility of rewriting Vecna: Eve of Ruin into an Evil campaign? (Spoilers for Vecna: Eve of Ruin)
The title already said Spoiler but I figure it couldn't hurt to write it twice: SPOILERS FOR VECNA: EVE OF RUIN. Your cell of Vecna cultists has been chosen for the greatest of honors! You shall travel across the Planes and gather the pieces of the Rod of Seven Parts for your master to assure...
www.enworld.org
Necropolitan
Hero
Thank you.The "evil campaign" thread seems like it might be of interest to those reading this one, so I'm dropping a link here:
D&D 5E - Feasibility of rewriting Vecna: Eve of Ruin into an Evil campaign? (Spoilers for Vecna: Eve of Ruin)
The title already said Spoiler but I figure it couldn't hurt to write it twice: SPOILERS FOR VECNA: EVE OF RUIN. Your cell of Vecna cultists has been chosen for the greatest of honors! You shall travel across the Planes and gather the pieces of the Rod of Seven Parts for your master to assure...
If anyone has any ideas on what would need to be changed/could be added to it feel free to post them.
Demetrios1453
Hero
Having now read through the book and digested its contents, I'm posting about the various settings that the book features. One of the points of the adventure is to showcase these settings, so I'm going to comment and grade them on how well they did so, and make suggestions on how to better get the overall "feel" of the settings when that is lacking.
Chapter 2: The Wizards Three
The first part of the Rod of Seven Parts is hidden in an isolated and secret meeting place for agents of Lolth known as Web's Edge, deep within the Underdark of the Sword Coast area of the Forgotten Realms.
Setting featured: Forgotten Realms/Underdark
Showcase Grade: 1/10
How they showcased the setting: With very little, actually. The location isn't very evocative of either the Forgotten Realms or even the Underdark. It could just as well be placed in any world where Lolth has worshipers, and there's no way of knowing without being outright told that it's located in the Underdark instead of, say, some small cave immediately accessible to the surface. The spider-dragon is at least reasonably cool, though.
How to showcase the setting better: Have the portal open some distance away from complex, so that the adventurers have to travel at least a bit through some Underdark locations to get there. Have them visit fungus-filled caves (perhaps one with a myconid settlement), meet a duergar or deep gnome trading caravan, or undergo a drow ambush. Anything beyond just appearing next to the door to the complex! Perhaps Alustriel's portal takes the party to her home city of Silverymoon, and the group has to make a bit of a longer, but more immersive, journey from there (I'll be suggesting such longer journeys for several chapters).
Chapter 3: The Lambent Zenith's Last Voyage
The second part of the Rod of Seven Parts is to be found within the body of the dead god Havock on the Astral Plane.
Setting Featured: Spelljammer
Showcase Grade: 8/10
How they showcased the setting: There's a Spelljamming ship, and it takes place on the body of a dead god. There are githyanki NPCs and another NPC disguised as a giff. All pretty Spelljammer-y!
How to showcase the setting better: A few more Spelljammer-specific creatures would have been nice. The main thing, however, is that the ship has crashed, so no fun sailing through the Astral. The party could definitely start some distance away and need to hitchhike or otherwise hire an actual functioning Spelljammer ship to get to where they need to go (although said ship would likely drop them off some distance away so as not to suffer the fate of the Lambet Zenith!), resulting in some swashbuckling attempted boardings and monster attacks. They could even start at the Rock of Bral and hire a ship there to really get a full, flavorful experience in the setting.
Chapter 4: The Ruined Colossus
The third part of the Rod of Seven Parts is located in the ruins of a huge warforged colossus in the Mournland of Eberron.
Setting Featured: Eberron
Showcase Grade: 10/10
How they showcased the setting: Exceptionally well. The Mournland is depicted very faithfully, and there are warforged featured prominently. The fact that portal is some distance away from the part of the rod the party is searching for means there is plenty of time for them to experience some of the setting's unique features. It's all very well done - someone very familiar with the setting must have been assigned this part.
How to showcase the setting better: It's really just quibbles, but they could have featured more Eberron-specific monsters (living spells come to mind). If you really wanted to go all-out, have the portal take them to a friend of one of the Wizards Three in Sharn, and then they can take a lightning rail to the edge of the Mournland. Throw in a couple of Sharn-specific and rail-specific encounters/adventures, and you've got a pretty decent taste of what Eberron can offer!
(As it's getting late and this post is getting long, I'll continue with the remaining settings in my next post)
Chapter 2: The Wizards Three
The first part of the Rod of Seven Parts is hidden in an isolated and secret meeting place for agents of Lolth known as Web's Edge, deep within the Underdark of the Sword Coast area of the Forgotten Realms.
Setting featured: Forgotten Realms/Underdark
Showcase Grade: 1/10
How they showcased the setting: With very little, actually. The location isn't very evocative of either the Forgotten Realms or even the Underdark. It could just as well be placed in any world where Lolth has worshipers, and there's no way of knowing without being outright told that it's located in the Underdark instead of, say, some small cave immediately accessible to the surface. The spider-dragon is at least reasonably cool, though.
How to showcase the setting better: Have the portal open some distance away from complex, so that the adventurers have to travel at least a bit through some Underdark locations to get there. Have them visit fungus-filled caves (perhaps one with a myconid settlement), meet a duergar or deep gnome trading caravan, or undergo a drow ambush. Anything beyond just appearing next to the door to the complex! Perhaps Alustriel's portal takes the party to her home city of Silverymoon, and the group has to make a bit of a longer, but more immersive, journey from there (I'll be suggesting such longer journeys for several chapters).
Chapter 3: The Lambent Zenith's Last Voyage
The second part of the Rod of Seven Parts is to be found within the body of the dead god Havock on the Astral Plane.
Setting Featured: Spelljammer
Showcase Grade: 8/10
How they showcased the setting: There's a Spelljamming ship, and it takes place on the body of a dead god. There are githyanki NPCs and another NPC disguised as a giff. All pretty Spelljammer-y!
How to showcase the setting better: A few more Spelljammer-specific creatures would have been nice. The main thing, however, is that the ship has crashed, so no fun sailing through the Astral. The party could definitely start some distance away and need to hitchhike or otherwise hire an actual functioning Spelljammer ship to get to where they need to go (although said ship would likely drop them off some distance away so as not to suffer the fate of the Lambet Zenith!), resulting in some swashbuckling attempted boardings and monster attacks. They could even start at the Rock of Bral and hire a ship there to really get a full, flavorful experience in the setting.
Chapter 4: The Ruined Colossus
The third part of the Rod of Seven Parts is located in the ruins of a huge warforged colossus in the Mournland of Eberron.
Setting Featured: Eberron
Showcase Grade: 10/10
How they showcased the setting: Exceptionally well. The Mournland is depicted very faithfully, and there are warforged featured prominently. The fact that portal is some distance away from the part of the rod the party is searching for means there is plenty of time for them to experience some of the setting's unique features. It's all very well done - someone very familiar with the setting must have been assigned this part.
How to showcase the setting better: It's really just quibbles, but they could have featured more Eberron-specific monsters (living spells come to mind). If you really wanted to go all-out, have the portal take them to a friend of one of the Wizards Three in Sharn, and then they can take a lightning rail to the edge of the Mournland. Throw in a couple of Sharn-specific and rail-specific encounters/adventures, and you've got a pretty decent taste of what Eberron can offer!
(As it's getting late and this post is getting long, I'll continue with the remaining settings in my next post)
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Personally, I feel like the players have seen the Forgotten Realms and the Underdark many times before, so there isn't much point in showcasing them at all. And the Neverwinter start location is FR anyway, expanding on this might be a better way to showcase FR. You could put in stuff from the movie. I'm thinking of swapping out the Underdark section for something more exotic like Dark Sun or Stryxhaven. Although if you have and haven't run Rime of the Frostmaiden the city of Ythryn could be used. It's FR, more interesting and unfamiliar than the underdark, and not far off the correct level range so wouldn't need much work.
Another FR suggestion: Use the Doomvault (Tales from the Yawning Portal). Red Wizards are plenty FR.
I think what Chapter 3 mores urgently needs is a better boss monster. I'm thinking of using an Eldritch Lich instead of the boring hertilod.
Another FR suggestion: Use the Doomvault (Tales from the Yawning Portal). Red Wizards are plenty FR.
I think what Chapter 3 mores urgently needs is a better boss monster. I'm thinking of using an Eldritch Lich instead of the boring hertilod.
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Demetrios1453
Hero
Yeah, I was going to mention that Neverwinter is in the previous chapter, but kinda skipped over that in order to focus on the Underdark side of things, as it's specifically called out in the location chart in the book's introduction.
Necropolitan
Hero
Since the adventure involves time travel to various eras and planes, I had a funny idea:
The PCs have to play a round of Dead by Daylight with a past version of Vecna.
The mechanics of Dead by Daylight could work as the basis for a miniquest and it'd give the party a taste of what the present version of Vecna can do without resulting in a TPK.
You could even have it represent when Vecna was trapped in Ravenloft and replace the Strahd section of the adventure. It'd also give an excuse for the DM to give the PCs information on Vecna from the past.
The PCs have to play a round of Dead by Daylight with a past version of Vecna.
The mechanics of Dead by Daylight could work as the basis for a miniquest and it'd give the party a taste of what the present version of Vecna can do without resulting in a TPK.
You could even have it represent when Vecna was trapped in Ravenloft and replace the Strahd section of the adventure. It'd also give an excuse for the DM to give the PCs information on Vecna from the past.
W'rkncacnter
Hero
Demetrios1453
Hero
I've been mulling over some further plot ideas as it gets closer to the time I start running this, and I think I've worked out two of the issues/ideas I've mentioned up thread: the fact that party is supposed to advance from 17th to 18th level in a chapter where virtually nothing happens (well, one big thing does happen - Kas' reveal and betrayal - but the party is deliberately not part of that), and the idea of having Elturel still in need of rescue when the party goes to Avernus to pick up the last segment of the Rod. Well... just make the rescue of Elturel the cause of the level-up! Tiamat was already one of the ways the chains holding Elturel to Avernus could be destroyed, and she could agree to help simply to knock Zariel down a notch and add to her own power in Avernus. She might also ask the party for a trinket or two to add to her hoard anyway. Also, the nine adamantium rods that unlock the Companion and set the planetar within free can just be replaced with the seven pieces of the Rod (they aren't the actual keys, but, as lawful artifacts, can be used as such). A way to make Kas' "borrowing" of the Rod shortly afterwards is that the pieces have to be slightly cosmetically modified to act as the keys, and "Mordenkainen" says he has to revert those modifications and make sure the Rod is still sound for its upcoming puropse. That will likely seem pretty reasonable to the party rather than just "Mordenkainen" saying he has to examine it with no real reason given.
