D&D 5E Problems with Tales from the Yawning Portal

[James Gasik]

Well I'm stuck for the AL thing. I agreed to run Season 6 at my FLGS, and this is Season 6. Plus, since I had to pony up the 50 bucks for the book, not running it isn't going to reimburse the investment.

Now WHY AL would make this book Season 6, when it is obviously not intended for the format, and offer very few tips on how to run it is a bit boggling, but that's outside the scope of this thread.

 

[pukunui]

Map 2.4 page 49 Sinkhole too dark so the doors on Room 30 and 31 are unreadable.
Map 2.3 page 44 too dark.
Once I saw how bad the maps were I just got my old modules out and photocopied them.
Dead in Thay is going to be a bother.....

Unfortunately I don't think this is going to change any time soon. The art in the 5e books has been too dark right from the start. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a deliberate, if somewhat crude, attempt at copy protection. Fortunately, a lot of the art (including the maps) is available online.

White plume mountain. CHANGE THE RIDDLE. CHANGE THE RIDDLE. CHANGE THE RIDDLE.

Given that this book consists of faithful renditions of classic modules for the new edition, I'm not sure this really counts as a "problem". I'm mostly interested in recording actual issues with the text: missing words, errors, vagaries, etc. Things that can potentially be corrected and/or clarified with errata.

 

[pukunui]

I've added some comments about the generic conjurer and the conjurer lich, Tarul Var. The conjurer has an error in its statblock. Also, both have Benign Transposition, albeit worded differently, but it costs Var an action to use, whereas the lowly conjurer can use it as a bonus action. I would've thought it would be the other way around.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

I've added some comments about the generic conjurer and the conjurer lich, Tarul Var. The conjurer has an error in its statblock. Also, both have Benign Transposition, albeit worded differently, but it costs Var an action to use, whereas the lowly conjurer can use it as a bonus action. I would've thought it would be the other way around.

The base wizard (conjurer) ability uses an action for this; though I think the conjurer NPC ability is more fun tactically. I'd probably run the listings as written (with two different versions) - Tarul Var is likely to be fairly challenging if the PCs blunder into him.

 

[pukunui]

Yeah maybe. It just makes more sense to me that a powerful lich like Var would be able to do something as a bonus action if someone not as powerful as him can do it.

 

[S'mon]

*the problem with underwater mechanics happens with the fight itself. The adventure tells you that Nightscale (the black dragon) lurks under the water of her murky lake, and only raises enough of her head and neck out of it to breathe acid. This gives her (according to the adventure) three-quarters cover.

So if raising her head out of water gives her 3/4 cover, then being totally under water should give her total cover, which broke the encounter because suddenly she couldn't be targeted by spells (and even area spells are blocked by total cover). Nobody wanted to get into the water because then she could attack them in melee.

When the Sorcerer actually did dive in to cast fireball, he almost flipped the table when I told him that, by the rules, a creature completely submerged in water has resistance to fire.

This does have the caveat that I could have been wrong to rule that being underwater grants total cover from those above it, but again, that call was based on the information the adventure itself gave me.

I wouldn't fancy running this anywhere the players had authority to tell me how it works (AL?)
and there is an issue, only because 5e allows move-attack-move. In earlier editions the dragon would be above water half the time.

My approach:
1. You could certainly lightning bolt her in water. But she'll have total cover vs physical ranged
attacks while underwater. No of course fireball won't work underwater!
2. Yes you need to get in the water with her. What are you, men or mice?
3. I guess if you're feeling mousy you could ready attacks for when she breaks the surface.
4. Or you could leave the place where she's at her best and if she follows, fight her somewhat
smarter. I ran this in 4e and AIR that's exactly what my group did.

 

[pukunui]

In Dead in Thay, there are a number of "reduced-threat" monsters. Among other things, this involves the monster taking a -2 penalty to attack rolls. In the Undying Laboratory (area 31, pg 132), there are two reduced-threat wights that throw urns at people. The text states that the wights have +4 to hit with them, and the urns deal 1d6 dmg. Given that a wight's attack bonus is normally +4, I'm thinking that they should actually have a +2 to hit with an urn, and, since damage isn't affected by the reduced-threat modifications, the urns should deal 1d6 + 2 dmg.

Thoughts?

 

[pukunui]

This isn't a problem per se, but do you guys think that the demilich, Kazit Gul, should have access to his Lair actions when the PCs face him in the Phylactery Vault in Dead in Thay? Also, given the descriptive text about crushing his gem teeth and releasing souls, should he also have the optional Trap the Soul demilich action?

 

[pukunui]

Possible typo: The sentient greatsword Wayth, found in the hill giant steading in Against the Giants, is listed as having a Wisdom of 2. I'm not sure if it's actually meant to be that low or if it should actually be 12. It's possible it is, since the sword is "courageous to the point of foolhardiness".

 

[James Gasik]

Wouldn't that make Kazit Gul as powerful as Acererak in Tomb of Horrors?