Just read KotS [Spoiler]

[Ipissimus]

Late I know, but I haven't seen anyone talk about this particular bit yet and, since it's May 20 here, I figured why not?

Friend of mine works in a certain bookstore, calls me up at some ungodly hour of the night telling me he's coming over with KotS for us to look over after his shift.

I have to say it looks like a pretty solid and straightforward adventure. Good introductory adventure for newbies, not really very complex, LOTS of monsters to fight (makes the Temple of Elemental Evil look like the Moathouse at a glance) but light on fluff. More 'Keep on the Boarderlands' than 'Wizards Challenge' if you know what I mean.

The thing that really jumped out at both of us, though, was a certain part... I don't want to give too much away if you're going to play it but

[sblock]Instant Death, no saving throw, is still in, Tomb of Horrors style. Ok, I'll admit, if a character blunders into this one they'll probably deserve it but even so... I can see a few players making a mistake and having a rather permanent accident.[/sblock]

I also noticed that there were three rituals mentioned: Gentle Repose, Cure Disease and Raise Dead but we couldn't find any rules for rituals.

 

[Boarstorm]

Care to provide (spoilered) details of the instance you mention?

 

[Ipissimus]

Ok, but my friend took the book home with him so this is from memory.

[sblock] It's an 'environmental hazard' that has arms/tentacles/whatever limbs with reach 3 that attacks nearby PCs. It has an attack that can shift the target one square. If anything crosses the line... The End. And it mentions that you can be pulled/pushed into it. Due to the description I doubt 99% of players would attempt to enter it of their own accord but the particular encounter that features the hazard forces the PCs to get close to it. It's low risk but still there: DMs be wary.[/sblock]

 

[Boarstorm]

Thanks, Ipissimus.

From what you'd said before, I couldn't decide if I felt betrayed by a "rocks fall, everyone dies" making it into the very first adventure, or if it was simply a case of a really dumb choice leading to its inevitable conclusion.

[sblock] This, however, sounds almost like the portal at the beginning of the movie, Hellboy. I have no problem with handwaving the death of a 1st level character who decides to boldly step into the Far Realms. The fact that the PCs can be pushed/pulled into the hazard, however, might be a little harsh given the runs of bad luck some players tend to have.[/sblock]

All in all, I have to say I think this is a reasonable consequence.

 

[baberg]

It's not as bad as you're making it out to be, actually.

[sblock]There is a portal beyond which you die, and coming out of that portal is a Something which on a successful attack can pull the PC one square towards it. That attack has a reach 3. But there's nothing in the stat block that says the PC is immobilized or restrained, so the PC can still move away from the Something

If the PC is unconscious from being at 0 HP, the tactics block does say that the Something will continue to draw it into the portal. And I guess if the PC walked right onto the threshold of the portal, the Something could make a successful attack and draw her in.[/sblock]

 

[hyphz]

In a sense I'm glad to see this.

Going back to the Tomb of Horrors days would be awful, but too often in 3e and 3.5e there was the feeling that as long as your AC and saves were high, it didn't matter too much what you did, as you'd just Save out of any consequences.

 

[Ipissimus]

Sorry, guys, I didn't want to give away too much and I thought I had indicated that it was merely a remote possibility, which it is.

[sblock]But the hazard's not the only thing in the room either, one of the other things can also push PCs, that's quite a bit more dangerous.[/sblock]

 

[smathis]

I liked the hazard. First off, there's little chance that the PCs will go anywhere near it if it's described correctly but I can see how a deviant GM could definitely turn it into a "deathtrap" by not revealing its nature until the last minute.

Even still...

[sblock]It hardly means certain death. The adventure even says that if the players win and the bad guy gets sucked into it there's still a chance for him to come back as an undead villain or some such. The tentacle beastie is just a portal to the Shadowfell, after all.

Let's assume one of my PCs does get sucked up into it. What ever will I do?

Let the player roll up a new PC, while keeping in mind that the old one went through the portal (possible return NPC if nothing else).

Or let the party quest to recover the PC that got sucked in.

Getting pulled into the Shadowfell only means certain death if you want it to. It's certainly not a prerequisite. Similar things in mythology:

You can stay "alive" in the Underworld as long as you don't eat the food.

If you look a "resident" of the Shadowfell in the eyes, they'll know you're really alive and will try to kill and eat you or something worse...

Or maybe Orcus, Vecna or the Raven Queen help out the PC and send them back to the mortal realm if they perform one small, teeny, tiny favor for them -- to be determined at some point in the future of course.

There are lots of interesting things that can be done with this portal thing that aren't available in the standard deathtraps of old.
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