D&D 5E The Temple of Bazim-Gorag

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by iserith:

THEMNGMNT wrote:Good stuff, iserith. Thanks for sharing!

 
Thanks for the feedback!
 

AlHazred wrote:This is great! Needs more environmental effects, though.
 
In the outdoor scene, maybe random fighting is going on elsewhere, as the expedition guards are fighting native levees? Random arrow fire affecting both PCs and natives gives the fight on the temple steps a pulpy, desperate feel -- "You must fight your way to the top before you are overwhelmed by the savages streaming out of the forest like a tidal wave of violence. The expedition guards fight desperately, protecting the mercenary archers in the back ranks who fire missiles as quickly as they can reload, not even pausing to properly take aim." Maybe native shamans summon beasts from the jungle to further complicate matters? The idea is not to overwhelm the PCs on the steps, it's to make the fight as desperate as possible.

 
Interestingly, this is kind of how it goes in the adventure I wrote. I didn't add that context here because it would have added a lot of writing to it and I wanted to just post some basic situations with open-ended solutions. In the "Island of the Frog" adventure from which this location comes, the natives are actually chitine (twisted spider people) who are the creations of a weird spider-like entity that lairs on the island and is in conflict with the Wart Mother and her grippli. The PCs start at the top of the temple and the chitine surge in from all sides to attack with arrows, webs, and by scaling to the top to do battle. They won't enter the temple though.
 
The adventure was originally designed for 4e, so it was a ton of minions and a few standards.
 

AlHazred wrote:Inside, there needs to be some detrimental effect to non-slaad for touching the fluid, besides accelerating the gestation period. Maybe you have to make a Constitution saving throw upon contact. Maybe each failed save gives you one level of exhaustion? Maybe when you succeed, you reduce your exhaustion level by 1 (but only for exhaustion caused by the fluid)? Maybe creatures of chaotic alignment always have advantage on saves against it, while creatures of lawful alignment always have disadvantage? If it has detrimental effects, the slaad should definitely make use of it; perhaps they can stand in the spray so that those who attack them in melee have to contend with the fluid, while those who attack them at range find the misting spray gives the slaad light obscurement.

 
I like the idea of a Con save to avoid exhaustion with advantage/disadvantage due to alignment.
 

AlHazred wrote:I feel like this scenario is pulpy enough, that one of the villains should be a load-bearing boss...

 
It's a pretty pulpy adventure (kind of my go-to) so tropes like that would make sense.
 
If anyone ends up playing this scenario, please let me know how it goes!

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by doc_atomic:

This is one of the most horrifying scenarios I've seen in a while -- I love it! It's way too difficult for any of my players' characters right now, but I'll definitely file it away to revisit once they've leveled up a bit. I think they'd enjoy it immensely. (And honestly, I wouldn't want to run it until I've had more experience as a DM.) 
 
Thanks for sharing. 

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by MonsterEnvy:

I would swap out 3 of the 4 Red Slaadi and swap them with 1 blue Slaad. 

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by iserith:

doc_atomic wrote:This is one of the most horrifying scenarios I've seen in a while -- I love it! It's way too difficult for any of my players' characters right now, but I'll definitely file it away to revisit once they've leveled up a bit. I think they'd enjoy it immensely. (And honestly, I wouldn't want to run it until I've had more experience as a DM.) 
 
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the feedback! If you do run it, let me know how it goes. My experience is that players are indeed horrified by the turn of events here. Carrying a slaad egg is very disconcerting and puts a fun countdown on things.

MonsterEnvy wrote:I would swap out 3 of the 4 Red Slaadi and swap them with 1 blue Slaad.

Oh yeah? What's your thought process on this?

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by MonsterEnvy:

iserith wrote: 
 
 

MonsterEnvy wrote:I would swap out 3 of the 4 Red Slaadi and swap them with 1 blue Slaad. 
 

 
Oh yeah? What's your thought process on this?

 
It's not as bad  as 4 Red Slaadi and gives a bit more verity. A way it could happen is that one of the Tadpoles completes it's transformation into a Blue Slaad.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by iserith:

MonsterEnvy wrote: 

iserith wrote: 
 
 

MonsterEnvy wrote:I would swap out 3 of the 4 Red Slaadi and swap them with 1 blue Slaad. 
 

 
Oh yeah? What's your thought process on this?
 

 
It's not as bad  as 4 Red Slaadi and gives a bit more verity. A way it could happen is that one of the Tadpoles completes it's transformation into a Blue Slaad.

 
Yes, I could see doing that. That'd introduce the possibility of chaos phage on top of being injected with a slaad egg. It makes it somewhat easier an encounter, but in this particular case I'm not concerned with the adjusted XP budget as these monsters are not interested in killing, only implanting.