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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9459067" data-attributes="member: 6877472">After the slog of the past two sessions, I decided to change things up a bit for this episode of "Unknown Lands".Upon returning to Sturnheim, resting, and recovering (and doing a little light shopping), the party considered their options.  With a few quests needing to be completed, they had several paths ahead, but then one of their allies, Cheriadoc "Cherry" Busybee, a Halfling adventurer and former Sapper in the army (which army, however, has yet to be revealed), had been left behind to investigate the city's aging sewer system, as the party Cleric, Tobias, hails from a world with higher technology than Lurra.His plan was to create a water filtration plant, but during her investigations, Cherry came upon a small colony of telepathic Neo-Otyugh who had recently emigrated from the Underdark.During their telepathic conversation, the N-O's discovered the plan to "cleanse" the sewers.  Fearing that this might affect their livelihood (or even poison them), and incredibly wary of this "advanced science", the N-O's let the Halfling go, but only after warning her that they would defend themselves from this threat.For her part, Cherry was able to gain a bit of information from the Neo-Otyughs- they were guarding a treasure that had been given to them by the Svirfneblin, and was presumably, quite valuable.Cherry was only able to reach the deepest levels of the sewers (which mysteriously seem to predate the founding of Sturnheim) due to her slight build (being short even for a Halfling).  She was able to convince the local alchemist to create a variation of a potion of diminution so that the party, reduced to 1/4 height for 2 hours, could reach the Neo-Otyugh's and negotiate with them- one way or another.The sewers present several issues- they're dark, the stench is overpowering, requiring a Survival check every 15 minutes to prevent gaining the poisoned condition (until they could breathe good air for a length of time) and eventually gaining levels of exhaustion.The tunnels were all difficult terrain unless you have a swim speed, and open wounds caused by piercing or slashing damage ran the risk of catching disease.The first challenge came in the form of Osquips- mean rodent-like creatures the size of a small dog, with six legs and oversized jaws with spade-like teeth.As a new feature, I gave the party the option between "easy" and "hard" encounters, with better rewards for hard.  Of course, FOMO wouldn't let them choose anything but hard, but at least I gave them a chance!Being CR 1/4's (and a few mutated 1/2's) against a level 5 party, the Osquips couldn't do much.  The few lucky hits they got on the Warlock were Shielded away, and only the Fighter took any damage (and amazingly, caught disease, though the party had a lesser restoration to remove it).Not for the first time, I contemplated the conundrum of AC in 5e.  At low levels, it's easy to get too much, with enemies having a very hard time being a threat.  But eventually, enemies do get massive accuracy making it much harder to rely on it.As annoying as it is to watch the party laugh off minor threats, I remembered that was the point- it would be hard to rest down here, and every spell slot used now, was one that wouldn't be available later.The second challenge as a bit harder, as they had to deal with strange, hard-shelled beetles who were completely blind, relying on blindsight alone to navigate.  But despite this, they had an impressive ability to fire a 20' cone of bright light that could blind their enemies.I always forget how badly being blind messes with spellcasters, and I quickly had to stop using the ability, damn the recharge rolls.  As it was, the fight went longer than anticipated, and at some point, due to spells like moonbeam and spirit guardians, I had an encounter full of half-dead beetles and actually lost track of the hit point totals of each one, a problem I hadn't had in the previous fight.After a few minutes, we got back on track, but the fight was annoying for some, brutal for others, and the back line mostly got away without a scratch.  But some more spell slots were drained, and the Fighter got diseased (again!), which is going to be a big problem moving into the third encounter, which is one big monster- a Froghemoth (kind of, on "hard" it will have an assist from two swarms of carnivorous fish, CR 1/2 each)!Which means that it might be scary, but it will probably fold quickly due to overwhelming action economy, lol.---Feeling the need for some feedback, I offered the party bonus xp to fill out a little survey about the house rules of the campaign.  Which were liked, which were hated, which were oft-forgotten, and which seemed superfluous.Three party members were happy to give feedback, two seemed like they could care less.  Not sure what to take away from that.Highlights: everyone likes bonus action potions.  My rules for "fighting recovery" (a sort of "second wind" people can use to heal in combat by spending a Hit Die) not so much, because either A) they forget about it, B) they forget when they can do it, and C) they can just drink healing potions instead, lol.Other low scoring rules included penalties for running out of Supplies in the field, and adjustments made to two-weapon fighting (since only the Fighter actually benefits from these).</blockquote>

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