plecostomus
Explorer
A couple more questions:
Module 1 / The Lost City
My Lv3 party is approaching the "boss" of the 4th floor, a banshee.
The party's current HPs and CON saves:
The players currently know the king's crypt is haunted, but are unaware that the haunting is a banshee. I described the banshee's old room as being filled with icy mist, and when they examined her old coffin they heard distant crying. This is more than the module's room description gives players, but it still didn't prompt them to ask what kind of monster causes these effects.
The party also rolled the random encounter for 2 guards (CR 1/8) to help them just beforehand, but I didn't introduce the guards before session end. My players are also very familiar with "environmental storytelling mosaics" and various other lore dumps in this dungeon. I have options to give them further warnings, even though they are in the hallway to the banshee's room.
I could introduce the guards (or maybe a more fun stat block) if only some PCs survive, and let the players whose PCs went down play the guards till they get new characters or the situation resolves in some other way. This avoids the players getting dropped at the start of the session and then not having anything to do.
I'm also considering my options in the event of a TPK.
So general question: Do you (in this module or otherwise) usually try to warn players about banshees, or does death by banshee work better as a surprise?
Module 2 / When A Star Falls
The garrison in the Tower of the Heavens is stocked entirely by gnomes who use the Guard statblock. Did anyone add Gnomish Cunning to the Guard statblock when they ran this module? Two of the other dungeons (the Forge and Derro Lair) in this module are also populated by creatures with advantage on Saves frequently used for spells, so it might be better to let the casters relax here. I am just fond of gnomes as funny little magical guys.
Module 1 / The Lost City
My Lv3 party is approaching the "boss" of the 4th floor, a banshee.
The party's current HPs and CON saves:
- 19 HP +1 CON
- 23 HP +1 CON
- 27 HP +2 CON
- 21 HP +3 CON (the sidekick)
- Deathly Wail (1/Day). The banshee releases a mournful wail if it isn’t in sunlight. Constitution Saving Throw: DC 13, each creature within 30 feet that can hear the wail and isn’t a Construct or an Undead. Failure: If the target has 25 Hit Points or fewer, it drops to 0 Hit Points. Otherwise, the target takes 10 (3d6) Psychic damage.
The players currently know the king's crypt is haunted, but are unaware that the haunting is a banshee. I described the banshee's old room as being filled with icy mist, and when they examined her old coffin they heard distant crying. This is more than the module's room description gives players, but it still didn't prompt them to ask what kind of monster causes these effects.
The party also rolled the random encounter for 2 guards (CR 1/8) to help them just beforehand, but I didn't introduce the guards before session end. My players are also very familiar with "environmental storytelling mosaics" and various other lore dumps in this dungeon. I have options to give them further warnings, even though they are in the hallway to the banshee's room.
I could introduce the guards (or maybe a more fun stat block) if only some PCs survive, and let the players whose PCs went down play the guards till they get new characters or the situation resolves in some other way. This avoids the players getting dropped at the start of the session and then not having anything to do.
I'm also considering my options in the event of a TPK.
So general question: Do you (in this module or otherwise) usually try to warn players about banshees, or does death by banshee work better as a surprise?
Module 2 / When A Star Falls
The garrison in the Tower of the Heavens is stocked entirely by gnomes who use the Guard statblock. Did anyone add Gnomish Cunning to the Guard statblock when they ran this module? Two of the other dungeons (the Forge and Derro Lair) in this module are also populated by creatures with advantage on Saves frequently used for spells, so it might be better to let the casters relax here. I am just fond of gnomes as funny little magical guys.
