D&D 5E Scrying: How Would You Run This?

[GuardianLurker]

7. Don't use scry. Actually, what you want sounds more like Divination or Legend Lore. But I don't recall what changes 5e made to them, if any, and I don't have my books in front of me.

 

[feartheminotaur]

I've actually had to work around this one before. I found that giving the NPC caster an image of the location generally suffices. The spell calls for a locations you "have seen before", but doesn't specify it has to be with the caster's own eyes.

Any divination that provides a 'picture' of the castle, whether a legend lore, telepathic communication that allow the NPC wizard to see the PC's memories, or even have one of the PCs render the castle.

I've had the NPC case legend lore to get an image (since it doesn't specify the information received has to be in words like, commune or contact other plane does), and I've had one of the PCs draw the location.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I wanted to have Maccath cast scrying, but I didn't stop to double-check the rules while we were playing. She asked the group to give her something that came from the castle to use as a focus and told them to come back later. They gave her a claw from the white dragon which they killed there, and a music box from its hoard.
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1. Maccath casts the spell on the dead white dragon. In order for the spell to have some value, I'll have to say Blagothkus didn't jettison the carcass, which might be straining credibility a little. The dragon has no wisdom score, since it's dead, so I roll a D20-5 (+5 difficulty because she has only heard of the target, but -10 because she has a body part as a focus.) and try to roll under Maccath's spell save DC. (I'll have to figure out what her spell save DC actually is; she must be at least 9th level to cast scrying.) Repeat daily until she succeeds. She will only be able to see the dragon's lair, where the dragon was slain.

I don't know about you, but every single time my party has encountered a dragon, alive or dead, we have tried to make armor from it's remains. Why would Blagothkus not do so? In which case the scry targets the largest collection of body parts, which just so happen to be on a creature. D20 + blagothkus' wisdom mod -5.

Which again makes scrying a difficult spell to use, as you get quite a limited range of view.

Well, you can't see around corners, but you do get a view as if you were hovering within 10 feet of the target, and you can hear as well.

 

[jayoungr]

I don't know about you, but every single time my party has encountered a dragon, alive or dead, we have tried to make armor from it's remains. Why would Blagothkus not do so? In which case the scry targets the largest collection of body parts, which just so happen to be on a creature. D20 + blagothkus' wisdom mod -5.

Well....I'm not sure how much of the dragon was left after my PCs were done taking trophies. ^_^;; Still, it's a big dragon ... but then again, Blagothkus is a big giant!

Well, you can't see around corners, but you do get a view as if you were hovering within 10 feet of the target, and you can hear as well.

True, but the cultists' camp (for example) is more like a mile from the crashed castle.

P.S. Sorry if it seems like I'm just making difficulties with these responses! I do appreciate the suggestions!

 

[jayoungr]

7. Don't use scry. Actually, what you want sounds more like Divination or Legend Lore. But I don't recall what changes 5e made to them, if any, and I don't have my books in front of me.

I looked up those two spells. Legend Lore doesn't seem like a good fit, as first, it's intended for legendary items (which I don't think Skyreach Castle qualifies as) and second, it gives you general information about the item, not a picture of what might be happening where the item is at a given moment. Divination is definitely a possibility, but it appears to be a cleric-only spell; on the other hand, our cleric does have that spell.

Which gives me an idea: maybe if scrying turns up something dramatic--like, say, looking in on the castle at the exact moment when it's being attacked by the cult--the PC cleric could cast divination for himself and find out more. Maccath could even suggest it if the PCs don't think of it on their own.

Any divination that provides a 'picture' of the castle, whether a legend lore, telepathic communication that allow the NPC wizard to see the PC's memories, or even have one of the PCs render the castle.

Great idea! I can probably work with one of those. I especially like the telepathy idea. *rubs hands*

I don't know about you, but every single time my party has encountered a dragon, alive or dead, we have tried to make armor from it's remains. Why would Blagothkus not do so? In which case the scry targets the largest collection of body parts, which just so happen to be on a creature. D20 + blagothkus' wisdom mod -5.

It's just occurred to me that if Blagothkus can't manage to make full dragon armor, maybe he could manage a dragonscale cloak or helmet...I'll have to think about that!

Ah. That does complicate matters a bit.

Yeah, I've been trying not to use the treasure as the reason anyway because RoT is starting to move toward the endgame; it just feels like the cult's plans are too far advanced to keep worrying about the hoard. But maybe, if it turns out I didn't say they took it off the castle, it could still work.

Perhaps the faction leaders could suggest that securing the castle could help secure the giants' aid in the fight against the cult.

Yes, I'm trying to play up the angle of going to aid the giants to make sure they'll be with the alliance in the final showdown, as we've moved into the part of the story where the forces are consolidating. (For reference, it's right after the "Death to the Wyrmspeakers" chapter.) We left Blagothkus' allegiance a little vague at the end of HotDQ because, again, I wasn't expecting to see him again in the story; if "The Frozen Castle" had not come out, I would probably just have had him and some other giants show up at the final battle.

 

[pukunui]

Blagothkus' allegiance (and his motivations) are a bit weird, I must say. The idea of aiding the dragon cult in order to rile up his fellow giants is a bit risky. And the fact that he's so easily swayed to betray the cultists in his castle seems to suggest that he realizes his plan is somewhat stupid.

 

[jayoungr]

Blagothkus' allegiance (and his motivations) are a bit weird, I must say. The idea of aiding the dragon cult in order to rile up his fellow giants is a bit risky. And the fact that he's so easily swayed to betray the cultists in his castle seems to suggest that he realizes his plan is somewhat stupid.

The way it played out in my campaign was that Blagothkus was already having second thoughts about allying with the cult by the time the PCs came on board the castle. Also, one reason he wanted the giants to fight dragons was that otherwise they would fight and kill each other. By the time the PCs left the castle, Blagothkus had pretty much entirely rejected his plan of encouraging the Cult of the Dragon. So I'll be rewriting the parts of "The Frozen Castle" that call for him to be attempting to convince Brunvild to join him in aiding the Cult. Assuming the PCs approach the giants (which isn't guaranteed), I'll have Blagothkus take the place of the Storm Giant that declares the PCs to be part of his entourage.

 

[jayoungr]

Well, I ended up using the telepathy idea. Taern Hornblade set up the telepathic link between the wizard and Maccath, and then Maccath cast the scrying once she had a clear mental image of it. The wizard and Maccath are still linked for another 18 hours or so, which should be entertaining, as they used to date during their student days.

 

[Quartz]

I'm too late as usual.

Rule of cool would suggest that the dragon's head be mounted somewhere in the castle, and that would be the target of the scrying.