D&D 5E TftYP - Sunless Citadel Debrief

[pukunui]

I've been dying to run Forge of Fury. Please let us know how that one goes.

Will do!

I'm thinking if I ever run this, I'd allow the Midsummer apple to cure Sir Bradford and Sharwyn. Give the PCs a choice between taking the valuable apple as treasure or to free two NPCs from their bondage to the tree and inevitable death.

I was going to do that too, but they killed Sir Braford instead of knocking him out, and then they burned down the tree without bothering to look for a fruit first. (I had stated previously that it was near midsummer.)

Good debrief. Hit the adventure league forum for my write ups of YTP. It may give ideas.

Cheers.

If the party takes the front way in, forge of fury has a fairly tough first encounter on a bridge. if they have magic weapons, much of the rest is fairly easy. There are swarms which can give some parties trouble, and the more powerful enemies are encountered alone. And then there's nightscale, who is a serious threat as a challenge 7 and uses very dirty tactics. Check the rules for her fight and be prepared to make rulings about them as they can have implications for the future.

Nightscale is a black dragon. She's *supposed* to fight dirty. And the front entrance is also supposed to be tough. Good thing a bit of exploration can find some other ways in.

 

[James Gasik]

I didn't say she shouldn't, i was simply commenting on it, in case you have pc's who are not prepared for it (like i did).

 

[hastur_nz]

If the party takes the front way in, forge of fury has a fairly tough first encounter on a bridge. if they have magic weapons, much of the rest is fairly easy. There are swarms which can give some parties trouble, and the more powerful enemies are encountered alone. And then there's nightscale, who is a serious threat as a challenge 7 and uses very dirty tactics. Check the rules for her fight and be prepared to make rulings about them as they can have implications for the future.

That's exactly my memory of having played it in the 3.5 days - the beginning and end were most memorable because they were the most challenging. One of our players really hated that last encounter, because he struggled to deal with a setup which his PC wasn't really prepared/built for and complained bitterly (a typical "melee only" dude), the rest of us found it a difficult but fun challenge trying to find some decent tactics.

 

[Raunalyn]

My group actually had a blast with it. They befriended the kobolds as well, and Meepo joined them to help find the dragon. Meepo was turned into a kobold-sickle when the dragon unleashed its breath weapon, dying instantly. The group made the big mistake of doing a direct assault against the goblins and nearly got killed, retreating to the safety of the kobolds to rest. They then moved through the area with the undead and got nightcaller as well, using it to raise the zombie of one of the adventurers they were looking for.

Belak also went down pretty quick, but that was because the party keyed on the tree and started hitting it with fire. As soon as it went down, Sir Braford and Sharwyn turned on him.

Much fun was had. I'm running them through Forge of Fury now.

 

[schnee]

Yeah, we did similarly - with the exception of doing better against the goblins due to talking the Kobolds into lending us a few warriors, and taking Belak down quickly with stealth and focus fire rather than hitting the tree.

We learned the secret of the twig blights, and will take the two thralls back to town unharmed (by us that is), so politically our party will come out of this really well positioned.

 

[pukunui]

In case anyone is interesting in reading up on my group's exploits in the Sunless Citadel in more detail, you can find all the recaps on my blog here: https://theyawningportal.wordpress.com/category/the-sunless-citadel/

 

[pukunui]

Rise from the dead, my dear little thread!

Despite my prediction that I wouldn't want to run this adventure again, it looks as though I will be doing just that. I am considering making some alterations this time around, however. For one thing, I may give Belak some legendary / lair actions granted to him by the Gulthias Tree. For instance, I might give him a concentration-free barkskin (like the tree thralls get) and/or a concentration-free entangle ability.

Sir Braford will still have to stay close to Belak to use his Protection ability but that's probably OK.

Anyone got any other suggestions on modifying this adventure? Is there anything from any of the more recent 5e books (monsters, mechanics, etc) that you'd be inclined to include? Hit me up!

 

[jasper]

Give mempo some rogue levels.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Give mempo some rogue levels.

We ran this recently and Meepo kept rolling criticals in the final battle. He transformed from afraid of his own shadow to mighty warrior. Afterwards we regaled Yusdrayl with tales of his valor.

 

[Burnside]

Rise from the dead, my dear little thread!

Despite my prediction that I wouldn't want to run this adventure again, it looks as though I will be doing just that. I am considering making some alterations this time around, however. For one thing, I may give Belak some legendary / lair actions granted to him by the Gulthias Tree. For instance, I might give him a concentration-free barkskin (like the tree thralls get) and/or a concentration-free entangle ability.

Sir Braford will still have to stay close to Belak to use his Protection ability but that's probably OK.

Anyone got any other suggestions on modifying this adventure? Is there anything from any of the more recent 5e books (monsters, mechanics, etc) that you'd be inclined to include? Hit me up!

Belak's combat strategy made a lot more sense in 3E when Concentration wasn't a thing; writers kinda forgot to update his game plan. When I ran it, I just decided his wand let him cast entangle without concentration (PS the players slaughtered him pretty easily anyway; his frog didn't even get to swallow anyone).