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Problems with Sunless Citadel (Possible spoilers)

Vanye

Explorer
I'm about to start a new campaign, and I am planning on using this module as the starting point, and I was wondering if anyone has encountered any serious problems with the module. I'll have 6 1st level PC's, 2 rogues, a paladin, ranger, a cleric, and probably a wizard.

One concern I have is the dragon priest. What kind of experiences have people had when their players encountered him, especially given the low level of the PC's?

Edit: to add possible spoilers to subject.:eek:
 
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hint: You might wanna relable this post as a possible spoiler. Some ppl may be or may plan to be playing Sunless Cit. Some may not want their players to know what goes on within the mod :).
 

My group level once before going that far. They had some troubles getting down to the citidel. They were attacked by rats and one of them fell and nearly died. The other rushed down (causing another one of them to fall) and got down to the bottom to fight more giant rats as the rats were trying to drag away their friends. After that they took it slow and carefully. So, they were able to go back to a small town, train, and go back in. That helped out a lot.

Then when the ran into the priest their luck turned the other way. The Ranger crited it with his long bow and rolled max damage.

Those are the only two things I specifically remember, I'd have to fine the module to remind myself of the other events. I ran that the week it came out. So, it's been a little while. :D
 

SPOILERS!!!

I've run Sunless Citidel three times now and none of the parties have ever entered that part of the dungeon, oddly enough! The problem is that there are only two real ways to get the key: either steal or take it from the kobalds or get the kobalds to give it to you. None of the characters ever seem to want to fight the kobalds after they meet Meepo (he's so darn cute!), and always seem to prefer the magical stuff that the kobald leader has over the key.

So while it is a good thing to plan ahead, don't sweat it too much!

Balsamic Dragon
 

The amount of repetition and dead space is a serious problem. To much: "you enter a small, square, empty room" garbage. (Note to adventure writers: ask yourself, "if it's empty and serves no purpose, why is it in the adventure?" Use the saved space for meaningful information).

Keep the inhabitants of the citadel active and moving about. Make them "live" in the spaces provided for them. If you don't, this module becomes one boring encounter after another. Think like a weasely little kobold and it will be more fun.

The dragon priest is a pain, but can be handled by reasonably equipped and clever PCs.

Good luck. I hope you have fun. If they survive, try tying Forge of Fury (the next module in the series) into your campaign as well, it's a much better adventure overall.
 

I couldn't agree more with the posts prior to mine.

-- The rats proved problematic for my group even prior to physically entering the Citadel proper, and they darn near lost their rogue.
-- Gaining a level will help.
-- Our group never encountered the priest, electing instead to work with the kobolds because the party sorceror felt an affinity to them. His background story alleged that he (like kobolds) felt his innate magical abilities suggested he'd descended from dragons somehow.
-- Our group also liked Forge of Fury a bit more than Sunless Citadel.
-- Erky Timbers is an entertaining NPC who can provide you with a fine array of other plot devices should you wish.
 

Our group didn't encounter the dragon priest until the very last thing, and then almost by accident. One of the characters had the key, and remembered about the locked door they couldn't enter when they had first come down to the Citadel.

By the time the characters encountered the priest, they were all third level. They suspected that something was going to attack them when it came out of its tomb, so they took precautions and had the tomb well-flanked when they removed the lid. If I remember correctly, the characters all had a better iniative than the dragon priest, and they killed it before it could do anything.

But if they had been lower level, without the right mix of magic weapons and spells, it would have been a very tough battle.
 

When we ran through it, we actually got to that area.

Engraved tomb, freaky orbs... we decided better idea to just leave it alone and leave :).
 

I just started my first 3e campaign with Sunless Citadel this past Saturday. Four characters, all first level - fighter, wizard (evoker), a rogue, a druid & his wolf companion. The fighter is secretly a cleric/rogue using the multiclass at 1st level variant.

SPOILERS
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At any rate, it went well. Everyone had a great time. The rogue got knocked down to unconciousness or near to it a few times (twig blights, dire rat on the ledge, and pit trap at the front door).

Then they allied with the kobolds and took on the goblins with Meepo in tow (although I made him a Warrior1 and changed his name and personality to seem less like a pathetic wimp and more like a schemer. Basically, like the Meepo from story hour but without projecting the wimp image to the party). They opted to come in to the goblin territory through the trapped hallway rather than the back way through the caltrop hall. They made short of the first four guards and then luckily proceeded directly to Calcryx's room. Unfortunately, they were too loud in subduing him and drew a force of goblins from the main living area. Soon they found themselves surrounded, fighting with their backs against the pit in the hallway east of Calcryx's room, with goblins pouring in from the the north and south and others trying to bust down the door back in the dragon's room (which they had been able to lock behind them just in time). I thought that they were done for, but some good tactics and luck (a well placed color spray back to back with a great crit) saved the day and they were able to mop up the goblins in the hall and move to a position where they could stand blocking a doorway, and fight the goblins one or two at a time. Amazingly, they came out with barely a scratch (especially funny when you consider that one of them nearly died from rats and fallig 10').

At any rate, we played for 6 1/2 hours and had a great time and didn't really have any problems. One minor thing I noticed was that the description for the goblin guard rooms says six goblins in the text but the stats list only four (I went with four).

As for the dragonpriest, I personally just didn't like the idea of the troll-priest, so I'm planning on using a wight instead (or maybe a vampire spawn). Unlike Balsamic Dragon's experience, my players became immediately intrigued by the door they couldn't open and bargained with Yusadryl for the key. Now they're dying to check out the area behind the door but have promised the koblods to help finish off the goblins first.

One other thing that was amusing -- when they were in Oakhurst, they opted to have the rogue sneak into the mercantile after hours and steal a healer's kit rather than pay for it, even though they had the gold. The constable noticed some of the other characters out in the street and when the merchant woke up the next day to find the healing kit and his personal stash of money both gone, they put two and two together and set off after the heroes with three militia men. The forces of law caught up to them as they were making camp just outside the ravine. The party, hiding just inside the woods, saw the militia coming and ambushed them, killing them all, including one who had surrendered and the merchant who fled (and was chased down by the wolf).

The funny thing, was that after doing all that with barely a thought about the moral issues, the players later spent quite a while debating over the ethics of allying with the koblods against the goblin tribe. Go figure, eh?

At any rate, I've rambled on quite a bit, but to get back to the point at hand, yes we're all enjoying the module quite a bit and haven't encountered any significant problems so far.
 


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