D&D 5E Phandelver & Below's Full Description

On Amazon you can read the full back cover text of September's Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. The description includes hint at a villainous cult to a malevolent entity, a bestiary of over 20 new creatures, a magic appendix, and a double-sided poster map. The hardcover comes out on September 19th, with Beadle & Grimm's deluxe edition following in October.

Uncover a new threat to Phandalin in this timeless dungeoneering adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk is a high-fantasy adventure that begins in the beloved town of Phandalin as it faces unimaginable danger. Whether the heroes are newcomers to Phandalin or are returning after the acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver, they discover hints of a threat lurking below the town. The heroes soon learn that the cult of a malevolent entity has set its sights on transforming Phandalin into the capital of its evil empire. To save the town from oblivion, the heroes must uncover a nefarious plot and confront the otherworldly cultists directly.

• Offers new Dungeon Masters and players the opportunity to dive into their first full-fledged Dungeons & Dragons adventure
• Retains the beloved Lost Mine of Phandelver quests that unfold into a brand-new adventure with classic D&D themes and a tinge of horror
• Presents a bestiary with approximately two-dozen new creatures that showcase psionic magic, body horror, and more.
• Provides a magic appendix that includes new consumable metamagic items, Netherese amulets, and duergar magic
• Includes a double-sided poster map with the Phandalin region on one side and the town of Phandalin plus key encounters in the adventure on the other

 

[Uta-napishti]

It mentions Lost Mine but not Dragon of Icespire Peak?

Seems a bit funny to me as well. Guess they wanna focus on goblins, not orcs?

What bugs me is that so much is going on in one little village? Don't the PCs want to see the wider world? What kind of world-breaking conspiracy is going to be so attracted to nowheresville that it will power a campaign that will keep the PC's around for another bunch of levels? There is a reason Phandelver, and Icespire were starter adventures, they are supposed to launch the PC's starting in Phandalin out into the world, right? The second half of this adventure better play somewhere else cool like Amn, Rashemon, or even revisit the Moonsea region or something.... Yeah underdark bits, yeah fine... this is cause that tiny leetle patch of the Sword Coast is tapped out.

 

[Zaukrie]

Seems a bit funny to me as well. Guess they wanna focus on goblins, not orcs?

What bugs me is that so much is going on in one little village? Don't the PCs want to see the wider world? What kind of world-breaking conspiracy is going to be so attracted to nowheresville that it will power a campaign that will keep the PC's around for another bunch of levels? There is a reason Phandelver, and Icespire were starter adventures, they are supposed to launch the PC's starting in Phandalin out into the world, right? The second half of this adventure better play somewhere else cool like Amn, Rashemon, or even revisit the Moonsea region or something.... Yeah underdark bits, yeah fine... this is cause that tiny leetle patch of the Sword Coast is tapped out.

I have zero issue with it being in one spot. Zero.

 

[Parmandur]

As someone who adores Lost Mines, I'm glad to see a hard copy version of it will continue to be available.

But as someone who doesn't use the Forgotten Realms (I lightly reskin Phandelver for my games), I wish WotC wouldn't work so hard to integrate starter adventures into the Realms.

To be fair, one of their main reasons for using the Forgotten Realms is the ease of reskinning anything there.

 

[Parmandur]

Really looking forward to see how they expand on Lost Mines.

 

[Parmandur]

One-shot items that do things like shape spell or maximize spell seem like a really great inclusion -- and an admission that metamagic in 5E doesn't really play much of a role normally.

One pill makes you larger, the next one makes you small...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

To be fair, one of their main reasons for using the Forgotten Realms is the ease of reskinning anything there.

Forcing in their four big Forgotten Realms factions into Lost Mines doesn't add anything meaningful other than it being one more thing for DMs to remove.

Even easier than reskinning the Forgotten Realms is just not mentioning anything outside of the local area an adventure is set in.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Whoops! I don't know how I got 13! 5e hasn't even been around that long!

The usual way: An accident with a time machine.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'd have been a fan of defining metamagic generally as options for upcasting any spell -- not just the 20% of current D&D spells that have their upcasting options defined. We already have upcasting in D&D, just make that the standard way to achieve metamagic like twinning, boosting duration, giving disadv on saving throws etc... If the sorceror's whole identity is that they can do something that any sensible magic system should allow all casters to do, than maybe the sorceror needs to be rethought.

I would love to see 99% of spells able to be upcast. There's some good products on DMs Guild along those lines.

 

[Parmandur]

Forcing in their four big Forgotten Realms factions into Lost Mines doesn't add anything meaningful other than it being one more thing for DMs to remove.

Even easier than reskinning the Forgotten Realms is just not mentioning anything outside of the local area an adventure is set in.

Yeah, they stopped bringing the Factions up after 2016 for that reason, only ever really came up in a handful of Campaign books.

 

[Parmandur]

Forcing in their four big Forgotten Realms factions into Lost Mines doesn't add anything meaningful other than it being one more thing for DMs to remove.

Even easier than reskinning the Forgotten Realms is just not mentioning anything outside of the local area an adventure is set in.

It is worth noting that, as far as Phandelver goes, the original followup by Rich Baker (Princes of the Apocalypse) specifically has a guide on how.to acruv and resting the Forgotten Realms Factions that would work for Lost Mines, too.