D&D 5E (2014) Phandelver Nothic

[Werebat]

Am I the only one who ended up voicing the Nothic in the Redbrand lair like Old Greg?

"Ah... I see y'had a bad experience in th'water... Almost drowned... Musta been scary... Don't worry, fuzzy little man-peach -- you're all safe nah..."

 

[halfling rogue]

The nothic was weird. It didn't feel like it belonged in the hideout, despite the background info they gave. It felt like it was just plunked in there and it didn't have the best effect in my game. Maybe I played it wrong. And maybe my noob is showing but I've never even heard of a nothic until this adventure.

It's creepy, sure. And actually, in my game it was a memorable fight, but not because of anything nothic-y. An orc, or Redbrand, or anything would have probably done the same in my game. I do wonder if they wanted the players to try to roleplay with it a bit. But it was so creepy looking and it was just so out there that none of my players even considered talking to it. Even when it knew secrets. They were like, "this thing is in my head. KILL IT!"

 

[Werebat]

My players just walked right past it, even as it tried to talk to them about personal trauma from their pasts that it should have had no way of knowing anything about.

They were like: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o13Xk5TqyWE

 

[drackcove]

My players named the nothic frank. oh we finished phandelver and my party had an interesting relationship with frank. They talked to frank and got him to be neutrel in their fight against glass staff as they were going to feed glass staff to him. This blew up in their faces when they lost in their fight against glassstaff (they gave him time to prepare and he used his scroll of fireball on them). When they tried to retreat frank stood in their way... the got frank to leave them alone by telling them where the prisoners were... Frank ate the little boy.

The awesome thing about frank is latter in the adventure they made their way back to the hideout and finally killed him off. But frank is not gone. when he died his blood scorched a symbol into the stone. The warlock of the party took a rest at the marking and received a vision of frank. Frank had been a mortal wizard in life and while in his nothic form he remembered none of his magic, but his spirit lived on. The warlock made a deal with him and allowed frank to survive in his own mind. and now "Frank" lives in him whispering eldritch secrets and deeper power...

 

[doctorhook]

I played up the nothic as a gibbering horror, who showed you images of your own past when it stared at you with its creepy eye. My n00b players ate it right up; they still talk about that nothic.

 

[jgsugden]

There is an episode of Buffy in season 7 where a flesh eating demon lives in a cave... I channeled that guy.

 

[drackcove]

"Are you going to feed me? Dont worry about the mess, you didn't have a problem with it when you killed your brother. Its for a more important cause. Feeding me." It was absolutely amazing to play this guy.

 

[ExploderWizard]

My players named the nothic frank. oh we finished phandelver and my party had an interesting relationship with frank. They talked to frank and got him to be neutrel in their fight against glass staff as they were going to feed glass staff to him. This blew up in their faces when they lost in their fight against glassstaff (they gave him time to prepare and he used his scroll of fireball on them). When they tried to retreat frank stood in their way... the got frank to leave them alone by telling them where the prisoners were... Frank ate the little boy.

The awesome thing about frank is latter in the adventure they made their way back to the hideout and finally killed him off. But frank is not gone. when he died his blood scorched a symbol into the stone. The warlock of the party took a rest at the marking and received a vision of frank. Frank had been a mortal wizard in life and while in his nothic form he remembered none of his magic, but his spirit lived on. The warlock made a deal with him and allowed frank to survive in his own mind. and now "Frank" lives in him whispering eldritch secrets and deeper power...

Your party actually got to know nothic!

You know nothic Jon Snow!

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothic.

 

[Lancelot]

I loved the nothic. I adopted stream-of-consciousness creepy statements coming out of the shadows, references to it being able to taste the PCs' emotions, vague glimpses of its form in the darkness. I didn't bother rolling for its Weird Insight - it automatically knew all their secrets. Fun.

I thought it was an inspired choice for the module. It's a little-used creature, and not well-known to many players. My 20-year-veterans genuinely had no idea what the heck it was (they've never encountered one before), and were completely freaked out by it. They had no idea if it was a "level-appropriate" fight, so were immediately running scared (attempting diplomacy, hiding in the shadows, begging for mercy). When a fight finally erupted, every PC's first action was to make sure they weren't the person in the front of the party... which of course didn't help them against Rotting Gaze...

 

[Michael Kermon]

My players just walked right past it, even as it tried to talk to them about personal trauma from their pasts that it should have had no way of knowing anything about.

They were like: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o13Xk5TqyWE

HAHAHAHA That's great!!