King of the Troll Haunt - I has it!

[Shroomy]

I got my copy tonight, I'm stoked to start reading it ASAP.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Comprehensive Monster List?

Can someone lay out a full comprehensive monster list? I want to beat the rush on buying minis. I saw a "new monster" list but I don't necessarily know what "old" monsters weren't mentioned.

My group is most of the way through Thunderspire Labyrinth and we're all loving it. I'm deciding now whether or not to go into Pyramid of Shadows or not. It's a bit strange for my dungeon crawly tastes. I'm not a fan of hedge mazes and all that. Still, I already bought it so I might as well run it.

 

[Rechan]

Can someone lay out a full comprehensive monster list? I want to beat the rush on buying minis. I saw a "new monster" list but I don't necessarily know what "old" monsters weren't mentioned.

See Post #6.

I tried to give you the minimum amount of minis you'd need. Naturally there are more monsters than that, and ones you need to substitute.

[sblock]For instance, most of the normal trolls in the Warren are "Warren Trolls" which have a poison bite, but you can use a troll mini for them. Same with a troll shaman.

In two instances, there's a bunch of troglodytes and one named one (either a shaman, or a badass champion guy). One trog mini that's different than the other trog minis will do.

And each time the Nothics show up, there are 3 of them, but it's always 3 of the same kind; either a gazer or a stalker.[/sblock]

 

[Rechan]

Sounds good! I hope to combine this adventure with Dark Heart over Mithrendain (Dungeon #157)

That shouldn't be hard, what with Moonstair's active feywild portal; the module makes casual mention of an Eladrin city a few days from Moonstair in the Feywild, called Celduilon.

Also, I am surprised they didn't use any monsters from the troll Article, or the Cave Troll from one of the other Dungeon adventures.

A city to defend seems good enough, hoping characters have to decide what to guard or have to coordinate the city's defenses and not just face a combat with the enemy boss and some minor rule describing side effects in the combat.

[sblock]Skalmad has actually deployed his forces before the PCs find out they're headed that way. He mentions it to them the first time they fight and kill him. By the time the PCs make it back to Moonstair, the raid is underway, so they don't get to do the "Batten down the hatches" perlimenary work.

However, the encounters aren't necessarily linear. The PCs can decide which ones they want to engage first; attack from the water, from the air, burning of surrounding farmsteads, or breaches to the walls, etc.

Also, there are some quests mentioned in the DM booklet. One involves the PCs, during their downtime in Moonstair, training the Moonstair guard. The book mentions that if they do this, then add more defenders to the raid sequence, and give the PCs some troops to order around/deploy. I thought that's a nice little addition.

One of Etheran's adventuring buddies (the sole survivor) is still in Moonstair, and there's a minor quest on the page that lets the PCs recruit him to the party, or put him in charge of Moonstair's defenses.

The nice fold-out town battlemap aside, I don't think it's your cup of tea.[/sblock]

I'd like to ask if there's anything in this module that's really different from the Heroic series. In looking at it, it seems to me like it's just "higher level bad guys are trying to do something bad to a town."

Moonstair is a trading town that's on the edge of the Barony of Therund. Skalmad plans on kicking the crap out of Therund; Moonstair is just his first step. So it's not just a town; he wants to establish his own kingdom.

But in all honesty, it doesn't feel very Paragon-y, if that answers your question. There's no great big differentiating tone.

 

[Nebulous]

But in all honesty, it doesn't feel very Paragon-y, if that answers your question. There's no great big differentiating tone.

Maybe the DM needs to set the tone. Too bad the adventure doesn't include any pointers on that, but it's not a big deal to me. I'm more concerned about it portraying the Feywild as a mystical, fascinating place.

 

[Shroomy]

I've read through Adventure Booklet 1 and about a 1/4th of Booklet 2 and I'm really liking what I've read so far. Overall, it definitely has a dark, fairy tale vibe to the whole thing that I really enjoy, with its mixture of trolls and fey.

Personally, I do think it is different from the H-series adventures in two major respects (mind you, its still at the lower end of the paragon tier, so its not going to be super "paragony" IMO). First, the immediate stakes are certainly higher than in the previous adventures, and second, it expands directly into the planar realms.

 

[Nebulous]

Since i'm thinking about skipping Pyramid of Shadows and moving straight to this after Thunderspire, i'm going to have a little level problem. A 3 or 4 level disparity problem.

Do you think it will be hard to alter the adventure as written to accommodate a much lower level party?

It wouldn't be terribly difficult i don't think, but it would require changing HP, AC, attack bonuses and damage and Defenses for every monster and trap in the whole book.

Then again, i don't want to mess up the equilibrium of what the designers have for Heroic vs. Paragon.

 

[Rechan]

First, the immediate stakes are certainly higher than in the previous adventures

Aside from the "End of the world"ness of KotS, I agree. The other two are very contained, almost side-trek like.

and second, it expands directly into the planar realms.

This might be a thread-jack, but is the Feywild/Shadowfell considered "Paragon" territory? I actually think exploration and small forays, being so easy, can be done in early Heroic tier.

 

[Rechan]

Do you think it will be hard to alter the adventure as written to accommodate a much lower level party?

It wouldn't be terribly difficult i don't think, but it would require changing HP, AC, attack bonuses and damage and Defenses for every monster and trap in the whole book.

You'd just have to shuffle some requirements. You could also swap some monsters out for others.

[sblock]The Troglodytes for instance could easily get swapped out for lizardfolk, or other monsters entirely. Degrade the dragon an age category. The Grell seems just odd, being there for no good reason. The two briar hags could easily become howling hags or bog hags, with regular boneshard skeletons in the cages.[/sblock]
I would also advise you to take a look at this. On the last page of the adventure is the stat-block for a Cave Troll. Lvl 7 brute. That might serve you well.

 

[Nebulous]

You'd just have to shuffle some requirements. You could also swap some monsters out for others.

[sblock]The Troglodytes for instance could easily get swapped out for lizardfolk, or other monsters entirely. Degrade the dragon an age category. The Grell seems just odd, being there for no good reason. The two briar hags could easily become howling hags or bog hags, with regular boneshard skeletons in the cages.[/sblock]
I would also advise you to take a look at this. On the last page of the adventure is the stat-block for a Cave Troll. Lvl 7 brute. That might serve you well.

Thanks. Yeah, just swapping out some monsters might be the easiest way to do it. I just wasn't too impressed by Pyramids when i read over it, seemed kind of "out there," but Trollhaunt sounds like just the kind of adventure i would want to run. And my PCs have already had a sort of Feywild encounter KotS, so it makes a logical transition.