D&D 5E (2014) Enhancing "Waterdeep: Dragon Heist"

[pukunui]

Great stuff. Some more thoughts of mine:

1) Istrid Horn: The book says she's a shield dwarf, but her picture makes her look more like a gold dwarf.

2) House Phylund: The brief write-up in the intro says they are of Tashlutar ethnicity. I had to look that up. The Tashlutar are natives of Tashala, a nation on the isthmus connecting Chult to the mainland. Also, with respect to House Phylund, this is either a retcon or a slight error on the authors' part, as the house was of mixed ethnicity (Tethyrian and Tashlutar) as of the 3.5e era.

On that note, people might find this old web enhancement for the D&D 3.5e Waterdeep sourcebook of some use: Noble Houses of Waterdeep


Also, did anyone else notice that they've dropped the H from "Waterdhavian" in this book? It's just "Waterdavian" now. (FWIW it's spelled "Waterdhavian" in the SCAG, so it's not exactly a 5e change.)

 

[jimmytheccomic]

"Somebody" should write up an adventure supplement that:
1) Modify the final stage of each of the 4 season sequences in chapter 4 to give the heroes the clue that it's under Castle Waterdeep
2) Make up a new table of keys, so that each key is a physical object, with a random location in the villain lairs
3) Build out a Masked Ball at Waterdeep Castle event, that would include:
- A way for the characters to get an invitation
- Some kind of social intrigue that must be resolved/addressed before the vault can be entered

If it were done well I would definitely pay for that on DMs Guild.

Noted! Right now I'm writing a supplement with a lot of small heists and cons that can be pulled in Waterdeep to fill out Chapter 2, but that's a good idea for Waterdeep Supplement #3, especially since I'm doing it for my table anyway...

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Here's how I'd run this:

1) Throw out most of Chapter 3 and the event chains in Chapter 4 (all of which just feel like a contrivance to keep the Stone of Golorr out of the PC's hands for as long as possible).
2) Have the players find the Stone of Golorr somewhere in their inn, Trollskull Manor.
3) The Stone has three eyes. ALL OF THEM ARE MISSING. But anyone attuned to the Stone can sense the location of the eyes.
4) The eyes appear to be black pearls and they are located in the lairs of 3 of the 4 modular villains. The 4th villain, of course, is the one picked by the DM to be the Big Bad.
5) Players must infiltrate and steal (aka "heist") all three eyes from within the lairs.
6) Once all three eyes are placed in the Stone of Golorr, the players are granted the location of the Vault, which they know is filled with gold because of their interactions with the Big Bad and his/her minions.
7) The Stone, with all eyes placed within, is obviously also the Vault Key.

I think that could make for a very fun, challenging adventure.

 

[Demetrios1453]

1) Throw out most of Chapter 3 and the event chains in Chapter 4 (all of which just feel like a contrivance to keep the Stone of Golorr out of the PC's hands for as long as possible).

And that is what makes it awesome!

 

[pukunui]

I’ve finally finished reading through this adventure. Lots to love. In fact, I’m really struggling to decide on which season to use. I wish I could combine them all.

I originally went with spring, but I think that season’s quest chain is the least interesting.

Summer’s is potentially the most fun, especially the finale with the kids and the “rocking chair” in the sewers, as well as the PCs having the opportunity to team up with the Black Viper, but I’m not sure about the catch 22 ending (either 99 innocent people die or 2 innocent kids lose their souls).

My group has played through Curse of Strahd and would probably appreciate the play that references his backstory in the winter chain.

However, I think I like the autumn chain the best. Not just because Jarlaxle is so cool but also because his chain has such a distinct James Bond vibe, what with all the disguises and the secret submarine and all that.


I like the idea of making it so the PCs have to break into the three other villains’ lairs to retrieve the keys. That said, I also like that the default key acquisition method gives the players the freedom to be creative with how they source the keys.

Lots to think about.


EDIT: We started on Friday. After some discussions, the group opted to have their PCs all be childhood friends from Amphail who decided to head to the big city. More on them later, but we made it through to the fight with the kenku in the warehouse. We’ll pick up with them finding Renaer and interrogating the one kenku they captured.

 

[robus]

I wish I could combine them all.

I originally went with spring, but I think that season’s quest chain is the least interesting.

Summer’s is potentially the most fun, especially the finale with the kids and the “rocking chair” in the sewers, as well as the PCs having the opportunity to team up with the Black Viper, but I’m not sure about the catch 22 ending (either 99 innocent people die or 2 innocent kids lose their souls).

My group has played through Curse of Strahd and would probably appreciate the play that references his backstory in the winter chain.

However, I think I like the autumn chain the best. Not just because Jarlaxle is so cool but also because his chain has such a distinct James Bond vibe, what with all the disguises and the secret submarine and all that.

Don’t forget that they do suggest rolling your own “best of” chain. So feel free to mix and match to suit your objective.

 

[pukunui]

Don’t forget that they do suggest rolling your own “best of” chain. So feel free to mix and match to suit your objective.

Well, yes, but I’m not sure how I would combine all the bits I like best, especially when I like more than one of the final quest chain options.

I can't have the street urchins take the Stone of Golorr into the sewers *and* have the drow gunslingers drop it in the harbor! Not unless I contrive some way for the stone to be snatched away from the kids before the PCs get to it ... I suppose I could have the gunslingers leave behind a fake that the mimic then squats on top of in its rocking chair form.

Will have to ponder it for a bit ...

I *would* love to have the street urchins show up more than just the once. I'll have to see if I can work them into chapter 2 somehow.


EDIT: Oh, and I would love to have the PCs get tailed by a gazer or two through chapter 4 even if I don't do the spring chain. And since the gazers are meant to resemble the beholder who dreamed them up, they should all be blue rather than green.

As an aside, I reckon the albino gazer in the* Xanathar's lair should have the Sunlight Sensitivity trait. (Or maybe just Light Sensitivity in general.) The albino dwarves in Tomb of Annihilation probably should have as well ...



*He will always be *the* Xanathar to me, no matter what WotC says!

 

[pukunui]

On a different note, in the back of the book, it says the Waterdeep City Guard is composed of guards and veterans, while the City Watch is composed of veterans and knights.

I feel like that should be the other way around, especially since the City Guard captain pictured in the book is wearing full plate.

It also makes more sense to me to encounter a knight in an army than in a police force.

Anyone else find that odd?

 

[robus]

On a different note, in the back of the book, it says the Waterdeep City Guard is composed of guards and veterans, while the City Watch is composed of veterans and knights.

I feel like that should be the other way around, especially since the City Guard captain pictured in the book is wearing full plate.

It also makes more sense to me to encounter a knight in an army than in a police force.

Anyone else find that odd?

Yeah, the city guard is the militia dealing with external threats, whilst the city watch is the constabulary dealing with keeping the peace within the city walls (or at least it should be )

 

[robus]

Updated the index...