pukunui
Legend
Hi all,
I've been working on converting the old AD&D tournament mod, The Crypt of Istaris, to 5e for a while now. I had a thread about it on the WotC forums but forgot to copy it over. I'm finally planning on running it in just a few weeks (as the first adventure of the new year for my homebrew campaign), so I'm just going back over my conversion notes and would like to see what other people think.
Just a note: While the adventure was originally published for AD&D 1e in Dungeon #9, I'm using the slightly revised 2e version that was released with Dragon #155 (with the only major change being that four lemure devils got replaced by a spirit naga!). Also, while it's aimed at PCs of levels 3-5, mine are all 5th level (and I believe I'll only have three or four of them rather than all five).
Here are my thoughts (EDIT: now spoiler blocked to make them easier on the eyes!):
Conclusion
The adventure's goal is for the PCs to find the dead mage's corpse and medallion, both of which have been turned into magical bombs, and destroy them before the planets align at midnight. If they only destroy one of them, the resulting explosion is confined to the cemetery (but is still powerful enough to kill all the of the PCs instantly if they're still in the area). If they fail to get either of them, the explosion also destroys the nearby town. If, however, they succeed in finding and destroying both body and medallion, then the resulting "magical flux" flies up into the air, seeking out the artifact the bad guys used to create the "bombs" and causes it to explode instead, thus destroying the bad guys in one fell swoop.
That seems a little cheesy, I know. Since I ran the introductory "Trouble in Red Larch" mini-adventures from PotA as the opening act for my campaign, and the main bad guy Larrakh got away, I thought I might replace the "Brotherhood of Hiisi" with some earth cultists led by Larrakh, who is seeking revenge at having had his plans foiled. If the PCs are successful and choose to go find the cultists' lair, I could make it so Larrakh and a few minions survived the backfiring explosion, so they can face him in a rematch. (Or, I could potentially drop the magic artifact and just have a success result in the "magical flux" showing the way to the Sacred Stone Monastery, which I can run as a sort of sequel to this.)
Anyone got any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Jonathan
I've been working on converting the old AD&D tournament mod, The Crypt of Istaris, to 5e for a while now. I had a thread about it on the WotC forums but forgot to copy it over. I'm finally planning on running it in just a few weeks (as the first adventure of the new year for my homebrew campaign), so I'm just going back over my conversion notes and would like to see what other people think.
Just a note: While the adventure was originally published for AD&D 1e in Dungeon #9, I'm using the slightly revised 2e version that was released with Dragon #155 (with the only major change being that four lemure devils got replaced by a spirit naga!). Also, while it's aimed at PCs of levels 3-5, mine are all 5th level (and I believe I'll only have three or four of them rather than all five).
Here are my thoughts (EDIT: now spoiler blocked to make them easier on the eyes!):
As a tournament mod, the default premise of the adventure is that the evil "Brotherhood of Hiisi" has used a powerful artifact to amplify the "magical flux" embedded in a long-dead wizard's corpse and magic amulet so that, when the planets align at midnight, they'll explode and destroy the local town - unless the locals pay the brotherhood 20,000 gp. When the PCs arrive on the scene, there are only four hours left before the magical bombs go off.
The adventure does offer an alternative that gets rid of the time limit for those not playing as part of a convention tournament (eg. You can make it so the Brotherhood will only trigger the magic bombs if the locals don't pay them protection money and/or allow themselves to be enslaved), but I think I'll keep it. It adds a nice sense of urgency that I like, and if the PCs manage to complete the quest without exploring the entire dungeon, they can always do the rest afterwards when they have the time.
One other thing about the premise: The adventure provides a full page of read-aloud text, in which a friendly NPC cleric tells the PCs exactly what they need to do. While this might work for a quick convention game, for my purposes, the cleric comes across as knowing far too much. Not only does he know most of the history of the dungeon and its creator, but he also knows pretty much exactly what the bad guys have been doing there - repeatedly using their magic artifact to amplify the "magical flux" in the dead wizard's body and amulet. He tells the PCs that they shouldn't try confronting the Brotherhood directly because, even if they could find the cultists' lair in time, their magic artifact can also be used to control people even to the point of forcing them to commit suicide (so like an uber version of dominate person, I guess).
It appears the cleric has learned all this info through his own research and divinatory spellcasting, but that doesn't really work for me for a number of reasons, so I need to come up with some other way of conveying the specifics of the quest (namely, that the PCs are supposed to find the magic-infused corpse of a dead wizard buried in the dungeon and his magic amulet and destroy them both before their time is up). Suggestions would be most welcome!
EDIT: What if I were to make it so the bad guys deliver an ultimatum in which they explain what they have done - that is, they say they've harnessed the power of the lingering magic in the tomb to create a bomb and if the town doesn't pay up in time, it'll go off. That way the PCs would have to expend spell slots - or time - to cast detect magic around the tomb in order to find the highest concentrations of magic.
I also don't really like the magic artifact. I could just make it so the cultists have performed some kind of ritual to amplify the lingering magic in the tomb. The artifact seems like a bit of a cop-out really. "Don't go seeking the cultists because they've got a super-powerful artifact they can use to make you kill yourselves!" Meh.
The adventure does offer an alternative that gets rid of the time limit for those not playing as part of a convention tournament (eg. You can make it so the Brotherhood will only trigger the magic bombs if the locals don't pay them protection money and/or allow themselves to be enslaved), but I think I'll keep it. It adds a nice sense of urgency that I like, and if the PCs manage to complete the quest without exploring the entire dungeon, they can always do the rest afterwards when they have the time.
One other thing about the premise: The adventure provides a full page of read-aloud text, in which a friendly NPC cleric tells the PCs exactly what they need to do. While this might work for a quick convention game, for my purposes, the cleric comes across as knowing far too much. Not only does he know most of the history of the dungeon and its creator, but he also knows pretty much exactly what the bad guys have been doing there - repeatedly using their magic artifact to amplify the "magical flux" in the dead wizard's body and amulet. He tells the PCs that they shouldn't try confronting the Brotherhood directly because, even if they could find the cultists' lair in time, their magic artifact can also be used to control people even to the point of forcing them to commit suicide (so like an uber version of dominate person, I guess).
It appears the cleric has learned all this info through his own research and divinatory spellcasting, but that doesn't really work for me for a number of reasons, so I need to come up with some other way of conveying the specifics of the quest (namely, that the PCs are supposed to find the magic-infused corpse of a dead wizard buried in the dungeon and his magic amulet and destroy them both before their time is up). Suggestions would be most welcome!
EDIT: What if I were to make it so the bad guys deliver an ultimatum in which they explain what they have done - that is, they say they've harnessed the power of the lingering magic in the tomb to create a bomb and if the town doesn't pay up in time, it'll go off. That way the PCs would have to expend spell slots - or time - to cast detect magic around the tomb in order to find the highest concentrations of magic.
I also don't really like the magic artifact. I could just make it so the cultists have performed some kind of ritual to amplify the lingering magic in the tomb. The artifact seems like a bit of a cop-out really. "Don't go seeking the cultists because they've got a super-powerful artifact they can use to make you kill yourselves!" Meh.
The entrance to the crypt is through a false sarcophagus in a mausoleum. "Opening the coffin releases a gas which causes a loss of 1-6 points of strength three turns later unless a saving throw vs. poison is made. This strength loss is recovered after one hour. All within the crypt are affected."
While I suppose I could just adapt the shadow's Strength drain ability, I'm not a big fan of reducing ability scores, so I'm thinking I'll replace it with burnt othur fumes (DMG, pg 258) for a little bit of hit point attrition. I'm also going to make it so the gas is slowly leaking out, so anyone who closely examines the sarcophagus can automatically catch a faint whiff of burnt wood (or something along those lines; "othur" appears to be an undefined made-up substance).
I'll let someone make a DC 15 Nature check to recognize the smell as being that of burnt othur fumes, which will also tell them that holding their breath won't help, since it's an inhaled poison - as per the new DMG errata - so they'll want to try and open the sarcophagus from a distance, if possible ... or have the dwarf do it while everyone waits outside.
While I suppose I could just adapt the shadow's Strength drain ability, I'm not a big fan of reducing ability scores, so I'm thinking I'll replace it with burnt othur fumes (DMG, pg 258) for a little bit of hit point attrition. I'm also going to make it so the gas is slowly leaking out, so anyone who closely examines the sarcophagus can automatically catch a faint whiff of burnt wood (or something along those lines; "othur" appears to be an undefined made-up substance).
I'll let someone make a DC 15 Nature check to recognize the smell as being that of burnt othur fumes, which will also tell them that holding their breath won't help, since it's an inhaled poison - as per the new DMG errata - so they'll want to try and open the sarcophagus from a distance, if possible ... or have the dwarf do it while everyone waits outside.
There's a secret door in this room. If the PCs don't find it, there's no adventure, so I might just make it so the bad guys left it slightly ajar by accident, thus making it easy to find.
Alternatively, I could make it so they have to beat a certain DC, with success meaning they find it quickly, while failure means they still find it, but it takes them a while - thus eating into their allotted time.
EDIT: Come to think of it, my players usually think to look for footprints in the dust on the floor, and since the bad guys have been in and out, it should be obvious that there's quite a bit of foot traffic leading to and from a certain spot on the wall. So finding where the secret door is should be fairly easy. Figuring out how to open it might be a little more difficult, although according to the adventure, it just pushes open, which is kinda boring. The walls of this chamber are covered in disturbing paintings, so maybe I could hide the door latch in one of them. That way, I can still require a check to find it quickly vs taking time. Maybe a failure means it takes them 5 minutes to figure it out, whereas if they fail by 5 or more, it takes 10 minutes. How does that sound?
Alternatively, I could make it so they have to beat a certain DC, with success meaning they find it quickly, while failure means they still find it, but it takes them a while - thus eating into their allotted time.
EDIT: Come to think of it, my players usually think to look for footprints in the dust on the floor, and since the bad guys have been in and out, it should be obvious that there's quite a bit of foot traffic leading to and from a certain spot on the wall. So finding where the secret door is should be fairly easy. Figuring out how to open it might be a little more difficult, although according to the adventure, it just pushes open, which is kinda boring. The walls of this chamber are covered in disturbing paintings, so maybe I could hide the door latch in one of them. That way, I can still require a check to find it quickly vs taking time. Maybe a failure means it takes them 5 minutes to figure it out, whereas if they fail by 5 or more, it takes 10 minutes. How does that sound?
This room has a statue in the middle surrounded by a bunch of corridors. Anytime someone goes down a corridor, a wall comes down in front of them and the statue swivels to point at that corridor. It then fires one magic missile per round at a random target in the corridor until no one is in any of the corridors.
There's a fairly easy way to disable the trap (the statue is holding some rods that can be extracted and then inserted into some holes in the statue's base so that it can no longer move; when this happens, the walls in the corridors are prevented from dropping as well), so I'm pretty happy with it as-is. I'll probably make it a DC 10 Investigation check to figure it out if none of them come upon the solution through exploration.
There's a fairly easy way to disable the trap (the statue is holding some rods that can be extracted and then inserted into some holes in the statue's base so that it can no longer move; when this happens, the walls in the corridors are prevented from dropping as well), so I'm pretty happy with it as-is. I'll probably make it a DC 10 Investigation check to figure it out if none of them come upon the solution through exploration.
This room is obscured by an open eversmoking bottle. The stopper is in the northeast corner of the room. While someone who searches the floor in the northeast corner will automatically find the stopper, I think I'll make it a DC 20 to find it by chance, if the players just say they're doing a general sweep of the room, since they can't see anything in the room. There are also eight piercers clinging to the ceiling. They can ignore the smoke because of their blindsight. I'm not sure how to telegraph their presence so they're not a complete gotcha. Any ideas?
By default, there are four ogres cryogenically frozen in large blocks of ice in this room. I reckon that's kinda boring, so I'm going to replace the ogres with four different creatures, although I haven't decided what yet.
I might also need to come up with some kind of incentive to get the PCs to try and free them. Otherwise they might just look in the room, say "Nope!", and then move on. Maybe if the freezer is hermetically sealed or something, and once the PCs open the door, the blocks of ice automatically start melting (whereas, by default, they don't), that might spur them to do something, rather than just ignore it.
Perhaps one (or more) of the creatures frozen in ice could be helpful and provide some clues or assistance, while the others are hostile - so the trick is to figure that out and free that creature and convince them to help before the other creatures break free.
I might also need to come up with some kind of incentive to get the PCs to try and free them. Otherwise they might just look in the room, say "Nope!", and then move on. Maybe if the freezer is hermetically sealed or something, and once the PCs open the door, the blocks of ice automatically start melting (whereas, by default, they don't), that might spur them to do something, rather than just ignore it.
Perhaps one (or more) of the creatures frozen in ice could be helpful and provide some clues or assistance, while the others are hostile - so the trick is to figure that out and free that creature and convince them to help before the other creatures break free.
There are three nozzles in this room: a gold nozzle that opens a secret door, a green nozzle that spews out chlorine gas, and a blue nozzle that shoots out a bolt of electricity.
The green nozzle's gas requires a PC to "make a save vs poison or lose consciousness and take 1-6 hp damage per round that the PC is exposed to the gas." It continues to fill the room for a minute if no one turns off the tap. I didn't particularly like the sound of that when I first looked at this adventure, so I changed it to a diluted form of essence of ether (DMG, pg 258) with a DC of 10 and a 1 hour duration. It's unlikely to get all the PCs, but on the off-chance it does, they'll just lose some time rather than their lives.
The blue nozzle, on the other hand, shoots out an electric bolt, which does "3-36 hp damage to a randomly selected person within the room unless as save vs. wands is made for half damage." I've changed that to 22 (4d10) lightning dmg, with a DC 14 Dex save for half dmg.
I've also worked in some clues, so that anyone who examines the green nozzle can see it is slightly corroded and smells faintly of vinegar, while the blue nozzle looks a bit scorched and smells a bit like bacon.
Not sure what, if any, clue the gold nozzle should have. Maybe the lack of any noticeable clues when compared to the other two nozzles is a good enough clue in itself.
"The spell components for eight randomly determined wizard spells are present in this room, and may all be found within three turns if the PCs search for any treasure." I gather that a turn equals 10 minutes in AD&D parlance, so I've bumped the number up to nine spells and have made it so anyone who spends at least ten minutes searching can find the material components for three spells, or all nine if 30 minutes are devoted to the search. Hopefully that makes sense.
I randomly determined the following spells with material components: legend lore, sending, mending, unseen servant, Otiluke's freezing sphere, haste, alarm, antimagic field, true polymorph.
The green nozzle's gas requires a PC to "make a save vs poison or lose consciousness and take 1-6 hp damage per round that the PC is exposed to the gas." It continues to fill the room for a minute if no one turns off the tap. I didn't particularly like the sound of that when I first looked at this adventure, so I changed it to a diluted form of essence of ether (DMG, pg 258) with a DC of 10 and a 1 hour duration. It's unlikely to get all the PCs, but on the off-chance it does, they'll just lose some time rather than their lives.
The blue nozzle, on the other hand, shoots out an electric bolt, which does "3-36 hp damage to a randomly selected person within the room unless as save vs. wands is made for half damage." I've changed that to 22 (4d10) lightning dmg, with a DC 14 Dex save for half dmg.
I've also worked in some clues, so that anyone who examines the green nozzle can see it is slightly corroded and smells faintly of vinegar, while the blue nozzle looks a bit scorched and smells a bit like bacon.
Not sure what, if any, clue the gold nozzle should have. Maybe the lack of any noticeable clues when compared to the other two nozzles is a good enough clue in itself.
"The spell components for eight randomly determined wizard spells are present in this room, and may all be found within three turns if the PCs search for any treasure." I gather that a turn equals 10 minutes in AD&D parlance, so I've bumped the number up to nine spells and have made it so anyone who spends at least ten minutes searching can find the material components for three spells, or all nine if 30 minutes are devoted to the search. Hopefully that makes sense.
I randomly determined the following spells with material components: legend lore, sending, mending, unseen servant, Otiluke's freezing sphere, haste, alarm, antimagic field, true polymorph.
This room has a dead lurker above covered in yellow mold stuck to the ceiling. I'll give the PCs a chance to spot it beforehand, assuming they have a light source (since the clue is that the ceiling has an odd yellowish tint to it, which wouldn't be noticeable with darkvision).
If the carcass falls, there's a chance yellow mold spores poof up. If someone gets caught under the carcass, the chance is almost - but not quite - guaranteed. I've decided that the yellow mold will poof up no matter what, but if someone gets caught under the carcass (DC 10 Dex save to get out of the way), they'll be knocked prone and will have disadvantage on the Con save vs the mold's poison effect.
The entrance and exit to this room are blocked by portcullises. I was originally thinking of just letting the PCs lift them automatically, but since I'm keeping the time limit, I'll say they need to make a DC 15 Strength check. Success means they get the portcullis up straight away, while failure means it takes 5 minutes (and a failure by 5 or more means it takes 10 minutes).
If the carcass falls, there's a chance yellow mold spores poof up. If someone gets caught under the carcass, the chance is almost - but not quite - guaranteed. I've decided that the yellow mold will poof up no matter what, but if someone gets caught under the carcass (DC 10 Dex save to get out of the way), they'll be knocked prone and will have disadvantage on the Con save vs the mold's poison effect.
The entrance and exit to this room are blocked by portcullises. I was originally thinking of just letting the PCs lift them automatically, but since I'm keeping the time limit, I'll say they need to make a DC 15 Strength check. Success means they get the portcullis up straight away, while failure means it takes 5 minutes (and a failure by 5 or more means it takes 10 minutes).
This area has a green slime trap. There are two gargoyle statues on either side of a doorway. They can tilt forward and pour out the slime on the PCs. There's a trip wire in the doorway that can trigger the trap, as well as a glyph of warding on the floor in the hallway beyond that can also trigger it. (It's like the authors really wanted the PCs to trigger the trap!)
I'll let anyone who examines the statues automatically detect that they can pivot and rotate. The "nearly invisible" glyph is going to be hard to spot, though, unless someone casts detect magic in the area. According to the DMG, the DC to spot a trip wire is only 10, so they should at least be able to spot that.
I'll let anyone who examines the statues automatically detect that they can pivot and rotate. The "nearly invisible" glyph is going to be hard to spot, though, unless someone casts detect magic in the area. According to the DMG, the DC to spot a trip wire is only 10, so they should at least be able to spot that.
This room has a trapped cabinet that shoots a "barrage" of spikes. By default, you're supposed to roll against the closest PC, then the next one behind, and so on. Seemed a bit odd to me, so I'm changing it so that the spikes shoot out in a burst, requiring anyone in the room to make a DC 12 Dex save for half damage (2d10 piercing). I'm also going to telegraph the trap by having some discarded spikes lying around on the floor (or should I make it so some are embedded in the walls and/or furniture?).
This room contains two coffer corpses. I'm not really sure about them. I know FFG did some 5e stats for them in their Fifth Edition Foes book, but I find the whole "You thought I was dead? Surprise! Now run away in fear!" schtick a little lame, so I'm thinking I might replace them with something else. I just don't know what yet.
EDIT: If I go with the earth cultists idea, maybe I could put some earth elemental type creatures in here.
EDIT: If I go with the earth cultists idea, maybe I could put some earth elemental type creatures in here.
This room is empty, but its doors are heavy and are harder to open from the inside. Seems kinda pointless, since anyone on the outside can just open the doors easily again from that side. I guess maybe it's meant to trap over-curious rogues who've wandered off alone. I'll probably just leave it as-is just in case.
There's a wererat who sleeps here. There's also a secret passage that leads to the dungeon's larder, where the wererat is most likely to be encountered, along with a bunch of giant rats. The text says that anyone who examines the bed finds rat hairs. I'll give them a DC 10 Nature check to recognize them as giant rat hairs (except they're really wererat hairs). I'll also give them a DC 10 Perception check to feel a slight draft coming from the secret passage behind the bed.
There are six troglodytes guarding this bridge. The bridge has a railing, but there's still a chance that someone might fall off - most likely by being pushed. Six trogs aren't much a of a challenge but that's OK. With the time limit in place, it'll just result in some more attrition.
In this room is a bronze statue of Laogzed, the troglodyte god. It can animate and attack intruders. I'm thinking I'll just make it a depowered iron golem or something.
EDIT: Here's what I've come up with:
BRONZE IDOL
Medium construct, unaligned
AC 17 (natural armor)
HP 85 (10d8 + 40)
Speed 30 ft.
STR 20 DEX 9 CON 18 INT 3 WIS 11 CHA 1
Damage Immunities fire, poison, psychic; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages understands Troglodyte but can't speak
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)
Fire Absorption. As an iron golem.
Immutable Form. As an iron golem.
Magic Resistance. As an iron golem.
Magic Weapons. As an iron golem.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The idol makes two slam attacks.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning dmg.
Stench Spray (Recharge 5–6). As a flumph.
EDIT: Here's what I've come up with:
BRONZE IDOL
Medium construct, unaligned
AC 17 (natural armor)
HP 85 (10d8 + 40)
Speed 30 ft.
STR 20 DEX 9 CON 18 INT 3 WIS 11 CHA 1
Damage Immunities fire, poison, psychic; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages understands Troglodyte but can't speak
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)
Fire Absorption. As an iron golem.
Immutable Form. As an iron golem.
Magic Resistance. As an iron golem.
Magic Weapons. As an iron golem.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The idol makes two slam attacks.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning dmg.
Stench Spray (Recharge 5–6). As a flumph.
There's a single carrion crawler lurking in the burial vaults in this room. While it's a pretty easy encounter for a full party, the setup makes it awkward for more than one PC to fight it at a time, so it might turn out to be tougher than it looks on paper. Even if it isn't, though, it's yet more attrition. And there's a neat little magic bronze dagger (+1/+2 vs undead) that the PCs can find as a reward for their efforts - I've reworked it so it deals 2d6 extra radiant damage against undead but doesn't provide a numerical bonus to hit.
Seven of the dead bodies interred in this chamber have been reanimated as zombies. Pretty straightforward. There's another magic bronze dagger in here. I decided to swap it out for something else and got a necklace of adaptation on a random roll.
Here's where the wererat is most likely to be encountered, along with eight giant rats. They've more or less eaten what little food was still edible in this room, so they're starving hungry. That being said, the wererat is the son of a villager, so it's possible the PCs might recognize him and try to resolve this encounter non-lethally, which is good.
This is a chapel that Istaris built for the troglodytes to worship Laogzed in. It seems much too civilized a space for them, with a pulpit on a stage and pews and the likes. But I suppose a bit of idiosyncrasy can be fun now and again. Perhaps the trogs were trying to learn to be more civilized. I might make it so the room has been trashed, though, and maybe there are old bloodstains on the stage and crude totems on the walls and things, to show that the trogs' experiment failed and they eventually went back to their more savage ways.
This room has an iron cobra guarding it. I've come up with some stats easily enough, but the adventure indicates that the PCs have a "5% chance per turn per searcher (rolled individually, not combined)" to find a book containing the command word for the cobra - but, the thing is, the cobra only attacks if someone starts looking at the books.
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I can't see my players stopping a fight (or not engaging in one) to look through a bunch of books on the off-chance they might stumble across the cobra's command word. It probably wouldn't even occur to them that it might have a command word unless I straight-out told them. They're more likely to just fight it to death, by which time it'd be too late. Not sure what to do about that.
I guess if they make a knowledge roll when it first appears and learn that it's a construct that might have a command word, then they might be inclined to take a look ... but if the cobra is attacking them while they're doing so, I still think they'd be more likely just to want to destroy it and then maybe ask if they can repair it later. LOL.
EDIT: Here are the stats I've come up with for the cobra:
IRON COBRA
Medium construct, unaligned
AC 17 (natural armor)
HP 37 (6d8 + 10)
Speed 30 ft.
STR 12 DEX 18 CON 14 INT 1 WIS 11 CHA 1
Saves Dex +5
Skills Perception +2, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned, unconscious
Senses blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages —
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Immutable Form. As a golem.
Magic Resistance. As a golem.
ACTIONS
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) piercing dmg, and the target must make a DC 12 Constitution save, taking 10 (3d6) poison dmg on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.
EDIT: The iron cobra has now been updated to 5e in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and, conveniently, it's a CR 4 creature!
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I can't see my players stopping a fight (or not engaging in one) to look through a bunch of books on the off-chance they might stumble across the cobra's command word. It probably wouldn't even occur to them that it might have a command word unless I straight-out told them. They're more likely to just fight it to death, by which time it'd be too late. Not sure what to do about that.
I guess if they make a knowledge roll when it first appears and learn that it's a construct that might have a command word, then they might be inclined to take a look ... but if the cobra is attacking them while they're doing so, I still think they'd be more likely just to want to destroy it and then maybe ask if they can repair it later. LOL.
EDIT: Here are the stats I've come up with for the cobra:
IRON COBRA
Medium construct, unaligned
AC 17 (natural armor)
HP 37 (6d8 + 10)
Speed 30 ft.
STR 12 DEX 18 CON 14 INT 1 WIS 11 CHA 1
Saves Dex +5
Skills Perception +2, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned, unconscious
Senses blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages —
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Immutable Form. As a golem.
Magic Resistance. As a golem.
ACTIONS
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) piercing dmg, and the target must make a DC 12 Constitution save, taking 10 (3d6) poison dmg on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.
EDIT: The iron cobra has now been updated to 5e in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and, conveniently, it's a CR 4 creature!
This is possibly the coolest encounter location in the dungeon. It takes place on a bridge flanked by waterfalls. There are eight troglodytes and a troglodyte shaman guarding the bridge from beyond the waterfalls. They leap out onto the bridge to attack.
Unlike the previous bridge, this one has no railing and it's quite slippery, so there's a chance that even the troglodytes might slip and fall into the river below when they leap out of hiding. I think I'll make it so anyone moving across the bridge can do so at half speed without needing to worry about slipping, but if they move at full speed they have to make a check. If they dash, they make the check with disadvantage. If they take damage while on the bridge, they'll have to make a balance check to avoid falling off (probably DC 10 or half the damage taken, like a concentration save).
Unlike the previous bridge, this one has no railing and it's quite slippery, so there's a chance that even the troglodytes might slip and fall into the river below when they leap out of hiding. I think I'll make it so anyone moving across the bridge can do so at half speed without needing to worry about slipping, but if they move at full speed they have to make a check. If they dash, they make the check with disadvantage. If they take damage while on the bridge, they'll have to make a balance check to avoid falling off (probably DC 10 or half the damage taken, like a concentration save).
There's a troll guarding the pier here, which is where anyone who falls off either bridge and into the river will wash up.
There's an island in the river near the pier that the trogs regard as sacred to Laogzed. It's inhabited by a giant lizard, which I've beefed up just a little: I've doubled its hit points and increased its Strength to 16, which makes it a CR 1 monster - which should be fine, considering how it'll most likely only be encountered by one PC rather than the whole group, given its location.
The tomb is guarded by four gargoyles and one spirit naga. Do you think that would be too overpowering for three or four 5th level PCs? I'm thinking not on its own, but they will have suffered quite a bit of attrition by that point and won't have had a chance to have more than a short rest or two (the short time limit will prevent them from taking a long rest).
The dead mage's coffin is also fire-trapped (for which I will include some kind of clue - like the smell of something burnt again maybe).
The dead mage's coffin is also fire-trapped (for which I will include some kind of clue - like the smell of something burnt again maybe).
Conclusion
The adventure's goal is for the PCs to find the dead mage's corpse and medallion, both of which have been turned into magical bombs, and destroy them before the planets align at midnight. If they only destroy one of them, the resulting explosion is confined to the cemetery (but is still powerful enough to kill all the of the PCs instantly if they're still in the area). If they fail to get either of them, the explosion also destroys the nearby town. If, however, they succeed in finding and destroying both body and medallion, then the resulting "magical flux" flies up into the air, seeking out the artifact the bad guys used to create the "bombs" and causes it to explode instead, thus destroying the bad guys in one fell swoop.
That seems a little cheesy, I know. Since I ran the introductory "Trouble in Red Larch" mini-adventures from PotA as the opening act for my campaign, and the main bad guy Larrakh got away, I thought I might replace the "Brotherhood of Hiisi" with some earth cultists led by Larrakh, who is seeking revenge at having had his plans foiled. If the PCs are successful and choose to go find the cultists' lair, I could make it so Larrakh and a few minions survived the backfiring explosion, so they can face him in a rematch. (Or, I could potentially drop the magic artifact and just have a success result in the "magical flux" showing the way to the Sacred Stone Monastery, which I can run as a sort of sequel to this.)
Anyone got any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Jonathan
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