D&D 5E Princes of the Apocalypse campaign recaps

[Nebulous]

Ahh, yeah OK. My party are all down at 3rd level at the moment. We haven't reached the heady heights of totem bears yet...

I can see good and bad in daily recharging items. Something that does it's thing once per day is one thing. Having 10 charges per day might seem a bit too powerful. Although, the Wand of MM has 7 charges, and I think it is a great item.

To me, having all that rechargeable magic makes it too easy. Just save that last charge, and even then it is what, a 5% chance of being destroyed? I would probably houserule that into a much more dangerous percentage instead of 5% across the board.

We haven't used charged items a whole lot, although someone did have the wand of magic missiles that came in very handy.

 

[Nailen]

I like that Staff of Spike Growth and Entangle. I am inclined to give it 1 charge per spell per day.
Now, if Elizar uses it in battle, that is the charge used for the day, right? It's not based on the user...?

 

[Nebulous]

I like that Staff of Spike Growth and Entangle. I am inclined to give it 1 charge per spell per day.
Now, if Elizar uses it in battle, that is the charge used for the day, right? It's not based on the user...?

It's whatever you want. If you are concerned about the PCs getting their hands on it and using it, then plan accordingly. Are you saying that it casts Spike Growth and Entangle once per day? I suppose if it is casting them at the SAME TIME (which I had not considered, but that is awesomely nasty!) then yeah, once a day is all I would allow. But beware, that is casting two normal Concentration spells simultaneously! That doesn't happen in 5th edition at all, not from the same caster, but if you're making up your own magic item then it is up to you, but I can almost promise you, as DM, you are going to hate your PCs when they start using it.

So, the PC is maintaining the Concentration "through" the staff, but not using up his or her own spell slots. Another houserule you could add, to balance the item slightly, is that any Concentration checks to maintain the Spike Growth & Entangle are done at Disadvantage.

Or, you can just keep it as per the book, you cannot maintain both spells at the same time, and casting a new one ends the old one. That's how I originally envisioned it.

 

[Nailen]

Sorry, I wasn't so clear in my description. I meant it can cast Entangle 1/day and Spike Growth 1/day.
Thanks for the reminder they are Concentration spells.
And I will rule that whatever he uses in combat is gone for that day.

 

[Nebulous]

Sorry, I wasn't so clear in my description. I meant it can cast Entangle 1/day and Spike Growth 1/day.
Thanks for the reminder they are Concentration spells.
And I will rule that whatever he uses in combat is gone for that day.

That totally works, Nalien. But now I have a new spell in my head, Entangling Spikes, 4th level, and it's a variant of Evard's Black Tentacles!

 

[Sir Brennen]

Ahh, yeah OK. My party are all down at 3rd level at the moment. We haven't reached the heady heights of totem bears yet...

I can see good and bad in daily recharging items. Something that does it's thing once per day is one thing. Having 10 charges per day might seem a bit too powerful. Although, the Wand of MM has 7 charges, and I think it is a great item.

I modified the wand a bit in my game. I like to use the Special Featuress table in the DMG to give items a little history and flavor. Then those features may suggest a minor mechanical tweak as well, so the items aren't just "regular" ones from the DMG with fluff.

In the case of the necromancer's Wand of MM, it's a relic of an ancient Tiefling empire, with a ruby tip in a gold setting that looks like a devil, it's horns holding the gem in place. The wielder can spend one charge to change the damage type from Force to Fire for an hour.

Don't know how this will play out yet, as the low level party only recently acquired it, and the player of the character that owns it has been spotty in attendance.

The dagger in the Tomb of Moving Stones was already pretty good in terms of extra minor features.

Overall though, I'm also thinking upping the magic item count in the adventure slightly, in part because I have a six member party.

 

[Nailen]

My motivation for adding extra items was that as a playing group we felt we didn't get many items from LMoP. (We missed the Wand of MM that is there. )
I also quite like the idea of low level items that give a bit of benefit but aren't super-powered. I was thinking of some Cantrip items to sprinkle about a bit. Maybe something that casts Mending once per day. Might seems useless, but someone could earn some Inspiration by thinking up a cool way to use it.

 

[Nebulous]

Might seems useless, but someone could earn some Inspiration by thinking up a cool way to use it.

Personally, well, the whole group actually, we have found Inspiration to be the most forgotten and underused mechanic ever. We almost never remember to use it or reward it. I would love to find a renewed mechanic to inject to 5e whenever I run it again, probably not until Tomb of Annihilation.

 

[Nailen]

I awarded Inspiration to one PC last session for killing Quanderil. And having thought about it, I'm also awarding it to the monk for creating a zone of silence around Quanderil and then also for catching the crossbow bolt and throwing it back.
I won't award it for doing those two things again, but it was great in that particular battle, and I will try to award it to at least one player per session.
Need to look at their character ideals and flaws etc.

 

[Nebulous]

We have rewarded it for good roleplaying, particularly when a player does something not good for the character, but that the character's personality would have done. Still, we forget the Inspiration is there to use.