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[Let's Read] Sands of Doom: a D&D Sandbox where you fight an army of Fantasy Egyptian Gnolls!
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9775169" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/eakpKOl.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 297px" /></p><p></p><p>This isn't going to be the largest of posts, for quite a bit of the Appendices' content have been covered earlier as part of the relevant posts for this review. We get five Appendices covering material that doesn't fit neatly into any of the prior chapters.</p><p></p><p><strong>Appendix A: Timeline in Sands of Doom</strong> provides a chronological list of various events, beginning when the PCs meet Prophecy in the Temple of Time all the way to the day of the Siege of Al'Kirat. This takes the form of a two-column table spanning 3 pages, with numbered days highlighted in certain colors pertaining to particular factions and areas. For example, the red color highlights the position of Lord Ammu's army through the region of Kirat, while white colored days measure the progress of the excavation in Anan'Thul. As the milestone leveling has a lot of major events happening at the Speed of Plot, the timeline is less exact, instead having events on particular days start when the PCs reach a certain level.</p><p></p><p><strong>Appendix B: Creatures</strong> covers monsters and NPCs. Here we get entries for Lord Ammu, his monstrous pet Ma'rut, and a one-page writeup for his mobile War Camp complete with a map of his personal tent and how many NPC soldiers are present. Following Ammu's retinue, we get stat blocks and variations for the various types of Anubian NPCs found throughout this adventure, along with non-Anubians such as Lilith, Fang Dragons, Malicia, the sphinxes Prophecy and Anamnesis, Souk, and Packs of Beasts/Soldiers which represent swarms of faceless enemies. The more fleshed-out NPCs, such as Malicia and Lord Ammu, have more detailed write-ups on roleplay notes, goals, and particular magical items in their possession and how they'd use them.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/JK9X65n.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 358px" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Appendix C: Divine Relics</strong> covers the 14 Aru-forged artifacts that can be found in this adventure path. Unlike other magic items, a character can only ever attune to one such Divine Relic at a time, although Lord Ammu can get around this limit via a headdress magic item that lets the Pharaoh attune to two at once. Beyond their particular abilities, every Divine Relic imposes a set of universal benefits to an attuned wielder: an increased amount of hit points equal to twice the attuned's level (NPCs/monsters get +30 HP instead), take less damage from Necrotic sources, hit point maximum cannot be reduced by spells or effects, ages only 1 biological year for every 10 years, can instinctively recognize any other Divine Relic, and can speak, read, and write the Anubian language.</p><p></p><p>Each Divine Relic also grants various Relic Spells themed around the item's purpose and capabilities. The higher-level the user is, the more powerful spells they can cast. Such spells can be cast once per long rest without a spell slot or material components, although they can be cast again using appropriate slots. We also get a table going over where each relic is initially located in the adventure path.</p><p></p><p>While we covered pretty much every Divine Relic's powers broadly in an earlier post, there is one still uncovered that earns special merit: the Emerald Hourglass, the artifact that starts out useless until it's restored by the use of expensive Heka amber. Well, what can this Divine Relic do once fully functional? Well, it lets the attuned user see into the future by choosing an activity or goal that they or the group will attempt within the next 7 days during a Short or Long Rest. The DM then rates how likely or unlikely they are to succeed at that activity, and then learns what action they should take in order to increase the odds of success. This function of the Hourglass can be used only once per day.</p><p></p><p>The Emerald Hourglass' other major ability is teleporting the user or a willing creature anywhere from 1 round to 24 hours forward in time. They disappear from existence, becoming untargetable and untraceable for the duration, before reappearing in the same location (or nearest available location if occupied). The Relic Spells are a broad grouping, such as Arcane Lock, Divination, False Life, and Modify Memory.</p><p></p><p><strong>Appendix D: Genies in Sands of Doom</strong> talks about the wish-granting NPCs in this adventure path, particularly in regards to the uses of their wishes. Unlike the default 9th-level spell of D&D, the wishes granted by genies in this campaign abide by a number of Unbreakable Laws: namely, that only a mortal may make a wish, which precludes not just deities, but undead and sentient constructs, although genies are an exception when they use a wish for their own benefit. The Aru managed to find a loophole by enslaving genies to target themselves with Wishes, which we see demonstrated during this adventure path such as the Center Spire or an optional final battle with Prophecy.</p><p></p><p>Wishes also cannot make the impossible possible, such as creating a squared circle or gaining "invulnerability to all damage." As for why the latter, the word "all" encompasses infinite possibilities. Wishes cannot create matter from nothing or erase something from existence, and furthermore can only change the present, not the past or the future. There's also rules discussions of how these altered wishes interact with gameplay elements, and we also get detailed writeups on the individual genie NPCs. Particularly in how they'd go about fulfilling the terms of wishes and what they will do in the campaign once they are freed from their imprisonment.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/BoRDnnQ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 292px" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Appendix E: the Grand Bazaar</strong> details the main shopping center for the Sands of Doom campaign. It includes specific prices on a wide number of magic items divided by type, as well as poisons and a new type of item that is added to existing equipment known as an Enchantment. For instance, the Elemental Power enchantment can make a weapon deal 1d4 bonus damage of cold, fire, or lightning for 300 gold, or 2d6 bonus damage for 3,000. There's even enchantments for spell foci, such as Magical Control for 1,500 gold: that one adds +1 to spell attack rolls and save DCs and can let the user recover a spent spell slot of up to 3rd level as an action once per long rest.</p><p></p><p>There's an awful lot of items that are several hundred gold pieces, meaning that the bulk of the material in this appendix should be purchasable by PCs relatively early in the campaign. But the more powerful items hew towards the more expensive side, such as a Cloak of Protection for 3,000 gold or a snazzy Ring of Invisibility for 10,000 gold.</p><p></p><p>We even get a list of 9 new <strong>Desert Magical Items</strong> optimized for travel in the Wasteland. They range from the merely thematic and don't directly help with wilderness hazards and survival, such as a bag full of Slashing Sand for 500 gold that can be thrown like more powerful caltrops. But there are some utility-focused items such as Goggles of the Desert for 400 gold, which make the wearer immune to eye-targeting effects and let them see up to 60 feet in a sandstorm.</p><p></p><p>But perhaps the most popular item in campaigns will be the Skin of the Desert Camel. Although it costs a mere 300 gold, it can hold up to 1 gallon of water, and once emptied it will magically refill itself over a period of 4 hours. As the magic item was created by a genie's wish, it can work even in the Wasteland. I can see most gaming groups buying this item as soon as possible.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> The individual Appendices are useful collections of material, easily accessible at the back of the book. Unfortunately, the PDF does not have bookmarks linking to them, which is an inconvenience. I was initially surprised at the brevity of Appendix B, as the vast majority of monsters and NPCs in the adventure path draw from the core rules. But that's not necessarily a negative, as it makes the adventure very friendly to DMs, and some enemies (such as the Anubian soldiers) have sufficient diversity of stat block alterations to make up for this. I particularly like the breadth of items in the Grand Bazaar, as it handles a common criticism of 5th Edition in not having enough things to spend money on at later levels.</p><p></p><p>The Appendix on Wishes feels a bit constraining, but as such a spell is campaign-altering and Sands of Doom only goes up to 10th-11th level, I can understand why the author wanted to put some breaks on it while still keeping it a potent reward. That being said, such restricted Wishes are still open-ended enough that creative players might still be able to pull out all kinds of clever tricks with it.</p><p></p><p><strong>Final Thoughts:</strong> I initially did not have high expectations for Sands of Doom. Beyond the fact that adventure paths are the white whale of RPG publishing, the KickStarter had numerous delays and the author didn't realize the magnitude of work he had set in front of himself at the time. But I'm happy to say that the wait was worth it, and what we have here appears to be an engaging, functional, and novel campaign for Dungeons & Dragons. From a unique setting to generous amounts of player freedom via alternate outcomes, Sands of Doom exceeds the quality of even some Wizards of the Coast adventure paths recently produced. While I am sad that this campaign's sequel is unlikely to be made, what we do have is enough for a gaming group to tell an epic and memorable story.</p><p></p><p>As for what I'll review next, normally I'd be reviewing Ravenloft products from the Dungeon Master's Guild for October. But as that storefront's more recent entries are overwhelmed with AI slop and a lot of the more popular ones are actually setting-neutral horror modules, I don't have as much material to cover as in prior years. However, I do plan to review a highly-rated cosmic horror sandbox adventure for D&D 5e.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>See you all next time, in the Dungeons of Drakkenheim!</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/KXqrNvN.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 9775169, member: 6750502"] [CENTER][IMG width="297px"]https://i.imgur.com/eakpKOl.png[/IMG][/CENTER] This isn't going to be the largest of posts, for quite a bit of the Appendices' content have been covered earlier as part of the relevant posts for this review. We get five Appendices covering material that doesn't fit neatly into any of the prior chapters. [B]Appendix A: Timeline in Sands of Doom[/B] provides a chronological list of various events, beginning when the PCs meet Prophecy in the Temple of Time all the way to the day of the Siege of Al'Kirat. This takes the form of a two-column table spanning 3 pages, with numbered days highlighted in certain colors pertaining to particular factions and areas. For example, the red color highlights the position of Lord Ammu's army through the region of Kirat, while white colored days measure the progress of the excavation in Anan'Thul. As the milestone leveling has a lot of major events happening at the Speed of Plot, the timeline is less exact, instead having events on particular days start when the PCs reach a certain level. [B]Appendix B: Creatures[/B] covers monsters and NPCs. Here we get entries for Lord Ammu, his monstrous pet Ma'rut, and a one-page writeup for his mobile War Camp complete with a map of his personal tent and how many NPC soldiers are present. Following Ammu's retinue, we get stat blocks and variations for the various types of Anubian NPCs found throughout this adventure, along with non-Anubians such as Lilith, Fang Dragons, Malicia, the sphinxes Prophecy and Anamnesis, Souk, and Packs of Beasts/Soldiers which represent swarms of faceless enemies. The more fleshed-out NPCs, such as Malicia and Lord Ammu, have more detailed write-ups on roleplay notes, goals, and particular magical items in their possession and how they'd use them. [CENTER][IMG width="358px"]https://i.imgur.com/JK9X65n.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]Appendix C: Divine Relics[/B] covers the 14 Aru-forged artifacts that can be found in this adventure path. Unlike other magic items, a character can only ever attune to one such Divine Relic at a time, although Lord Ammu can get around this limit via a headdress magic item that lets the Pharaoh attune to two at once. Beyond their particular abilities, every Divine Relic imposes a set of universal benefits to an attuned wielder: an increased amount of hit points equal to twice the attuned's level (NPCs/monsters get +30 HP instead), take less damage from Necrotic sources, hit point maximum cannot be reduced by spells or effects, ages only 1 biological year for every 10 years, can instinctively recognize any other Divine Relic, and can speak, read, and write the Anubian language. Each Divine Relic also grants various Relic Spells themed around the item's purpose and capabilities. The higher-level the user is, the more powerful spells they can cast. Such spells can be cast once per long rest without a spell slot or material components, although they can be cast again using appropriate slots. We also get a table going over where each relic is initially located in the adventure path. While we covered pretty much every Divine Relic's powers broadly in an earlier post, there is one still uncovered that earns special merit: the Emerald Hourglass, the artifact that starts out useless until it's restored by the use of expensive Heka amber. Well, what can this Divine Relic do once fully functional? Well, it lets the attuned user see into the future by choosing an activity or goal that they or the group will attempt within the next 7 days during a Short or Long Rest. The DM then rates how likely or unlikely they are to succeed at that activity, and then learns what action they should take in order to increase the odds of success. This function of the Hourglass can be used only once per day. The Emerald Hourglass' other major ability is teleporting the user or a willing creature anywhere from 1 round to 24 hours forward in time. They disappear from existence, becoming untargetable and untraceable for the duration, before reappearing in the same location (or nearest available location if occupied). The Relic Spells are a broad grouping, such as Arcane Lock, Divination, False Life, and Modify Memory. [B]Appendix D: Genies in Sands of Doom[/B] talks about the wish-granting NPCs in this adventure path, particularly in regards to the uses of their wishes. Unlike the default 9th-level spell of D&D, the wishes granted by genies in this campaign abide by a number of Unbreakable Laws: namely, that only a mortal may make a wish, which precludes not just deities, but undead and sentient constructs, although genies are an exception when they use a wish for their own benefit. The Aru managed to find a loophole by enslaving genies to target themselves with Wishes, which we see demonstrated during this adventure path such as the Center Spire or an optional final battle with Prophecy. Wishes also cannot make the impossible possible, such as creating a squared circle or gaining "invulnerability to all damage." As for why the latter, the word "all" encompasses infinite possibilities. Wishes cannot create matter from nothing or erase something from existence, and furthermore can only change the present, not the past or the future. There's also rules discussions of how these altered wishes interact with gameplay elements, and we also get detailed writeups on the individual genie NPCs. Particularly in how they'd go about fulfilling the terms of wishes and what they will do in the campaign once they are freed from their imprisonment. [CENTER][IMG width="292px"]https://i.imgur.com/BoRDnnQ.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]Appendix E: the Grand Bazaar[/B] details the main shopping center for the Sands of Doom campaign. It includes specific prices on a wide number of magic items divided by type, as well as poisons and a new type of item that is added to existing equipment known as an Enchantment. For instance, the Elemental Power enchantment can make a weapon deal 1d4 bonus damage of cold, fire, or lightning for 300 gold, or 2d6 bonus damage for 3,000. There's even enchantments for spell foci, such as Magical Control for 1,500 gold: that one adds +1 to spell attack rolls and save DCs and can let the user recover a spent spell slot of up to 3rd level as an action once per long rest. There's an awful lot of items that are several hundred gold pieces, meaning that the bulk of the material in this appendix should be purchasable by PCs relatively early in the campaign. But the more powerful items hew towards the more expensive side, such as a Cloak of Protection for 3,000 gold or a snazzy Ring of Invisibility for 10,000 gold. We even get a list of 9 new [B]Desert Magical Items[/B] optimized for travel in the Wasteland. They range from the merely thematic and don't directly help with wilderness hazards and survival, such as a bag full of Slashing Sand for 500 gold that can be thrown like more powerful caltrops. But there are some utility-focused items such as Goggles of the Desert for 400 gold, which make the wearer immune to eye-targeting effects and let them see up to 60 feet in a sandstorm. But perhaps the most popular item in campaigns will be the Skin of the Desert Camel. Although it costs a mere 300 gold, it can hold up to 1 gallon of water, and once emptied it will magically refill itself over a period of 4 hours. As the magic item was created by a genie's wish, it can work even in the Wasteland. I can see most gaming groups buying this item as soon as possible. [B]Thoughts So Far:[/B] The individual Appendices are useful collections of material, easily accessible at the back of the book. Unfortunately, the PDF does not have bookmarks linking to them, which is an inconvenience. I was initially surprised at the brevity of Appendix B, as the vast majority of monsters and NPCs in the adventure path draw from the core rules. But that's not necessarily a negative, as it makes the adventure very friendly to DMs, and some enemies (such as the Anubian soldiers) have sufficient diversity of stat block alterations to make up for this. I particularly like the breadth of items in the Grand Bazaar, as it handles a common criticism of 5th Edition in not having enough things to spend money on at later levels. The Appendix on Wishes feels a bit constraining, but as such a spell is campaign-altering and Sands of Doom only goes up to 10th-11th level, I can understand why the author wanted to put some breaks on it while still keeping it a potent reward. That being said, such restricted Wishes are still open-ended enough that creative players might still be able to pull out all kinds of clever tricks with it. [B]Final Thoughts:[/B] I initially did not have high expectations for Sands of Doom. Beyond the fact that adventure paths are the white whale of RPG publishing, the KickStarter had numerous delays and the author didn't realize the magnitude of work he had set in front of himself at the time. But I'm happy to say that the wait was worth it, and what we have here appears to be an engaging, functional, and novel campaign for Dungeons & Dragons. From a unique setting to generous amounts of player freedom via alternate outcomes, Sands of Doom exceeds the quality of even some Wizards of the Coast adventure paths recently produced. While I am sad that this campaign's sequel is unlikely to be made, what we do have is enough for a gaming group to tell an epic and memorable story. As for what I'll review next, normally I'd be reviewing Ravenloft products from the Dungeon Master's Guild for October. But as that storefront's more recent entries are overwhelmed with AI slop and a lot of the more popular ones are actually setting-neutral horror modules, I don't have as much material to cover as in prior years. However, I do plan to review a highly-rated cosmic horror sandbox adventure for D&D 5e. [CENTER][B]See you all next time, in the Dungeons of Drakkenheim![/B] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/KXqrNvN.jpeg[/IMG][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] Sands of Doom: a D&D Sandbox where you fight an army of Fantasy Egyptian Gnolls!
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