D&D 5E (2024) Thoughts on Infinite Staircase?

plecostomus · Mar 16, 2026

Finished The Lost City yesterday. My players really enjoyed the Zargon social encounter. Instead of having to give any treasure to him, they outwitted him and evaded a couple attacks to make their escape.

I also had a pinch-hitter for the final floor because of some scheduling uncertainties, and that player has decided to join us for the rest of the adventure.

I said above there's no boss fight on Zargon's floor, but I may have spoken too soon. There is a cultist named Zekrikitch in the chamber above Zargon's who uses the mind flayer statblock. Zekrikitch is CR7, everything else in the dungeon has been CR4 or lower. The players are Level 4 when they find Zekrikitch.

I accidentally killed Zekrikitch with a NPC who critted and then rolled max damage. Had the NPC not been there and had the players not freed her (she was chained to an altar in Zekrikitch's room), I'm not sure I would classify this as a winnable fight, especially if Zekrikitch gets lucky on his Mind Blast recharges.

Worth noting Zekrikitch could not hit anyone with his Tentacles, which means he could never set up for Extract Brain. On the flip side, his Dominate Monster spell, used on the Bard (it's not actually restricted to monsters), was not removed for the entire fight. I'm pretty sure the Bard did more damage to the party than Zekrikitch did, outside of Mind Blast.

So that was a pretty exciting fight until I smoked my own guy. Note that the 5.5 mind flayer has 15 ft of fly speed and the room height here is 20 ft.

Total time on this module was 44 hours for my group of 3 players. We play for 2 hours each week. For the next module we will have a proper 4-player party.

Zardnaar · Mar 16, 2026

plecostomus said:
Finished The Lost City yesterday. My players really enjoyed the Zargon social encounter. Instead of having to give any treasure to him, they outwitted him and evaded a couple attacks to make their escape.

I also had a pinch-hitter for the final floor because of some scheduling uncertainties, and that player has decided to join us for the rest of the adventure.

I said above there's no boss fight on Zargon's floor, but I may have spoken too soon. There is a cultist named Zekrikitch in the chamber above Zargon's who uses the mind flayer statblock. Zekrikitch is CR7, everything else in the dungeon has been CR4 or lower. The players are Level 4 when they find Zekrikitch.

I accidentally killed Zekrikitch with a NPC who critted and then rolled max damage. Had the NPC not been there and had the players not freed her (she was chained to an altar in Zekrikitch's room), I'm not sure I would classify this as a winnable fight, especially if Zekrikitch gets lucky on his Mind Blast recharges.

Worth noting Zekrikitch could not hit anyone with his Tentacles, which means he could never set up for Extract Brain. On the flip side, his Dominate Monster spell, used on the Bard (it's not actually restricted to monsters), was not removed for the entire fight. I'm pretty sure the Bard did more damage to the party than Zekrikitch did, outside of Mind Blast.

So that was a pretty exciting fight until I smoked my own guy. Note that the 5.5 mind flayer has 15 ft of fly speed and the room height here is 20 ft.

Total time on this module was 44 hours for my group of 3 players. We play for 2 hours each week. For the next module we will have a proper 4-player party.

CR7 is probably RAW with new encounter guidelines.

Scott Christian · Mar 16, 2026

plecostomus said:
Finished The Lost City yesterday. My players really enjoyed the Zargon social encounter. Instead of having to give any treasure to him, they outwitted him and evaded a couple attacks to make their escape.

I also had a pinch-hitter for the final floor because of some scheduling uncertainties, and that player has decided to join us for the rest of the adventure.

I said above there's no boss fight on Zargon's floor, but I may have spoken too soon. There is a cultist named Zekrikitch in the chamber above Zargon's who uses the mind flayer statblock. Zekrikitch is CR7, everything else in the dungeon has been CR4 or lower. The players are Level 4 when they find Zekrikitch.

I accidentally killed Zekrikitch with a NPC who critted and then rolled max damage. Had the NPC not been there and had the players not freed her (she was chained to an altar in Zekrikitch's room), I'm not sure I would classify this as a winnable fight, especially if Zekrikitch gets lucky on his Mind Blast recharges.

Worth noting Zekrikitch could not hit anyone with his Tentacles, which means he could never set up for Extract Brain. On the flip side, his Dominate Monster spell, used on the Bard (it's not actually restricted to monsters), was not removed for the entire fight. I'm pretty sure the Bard did more damage to the party than Zekrikitch did, outside of Mind Blast.

So that was a pretty exciting fight until I smoked my own guy. Note that the 5.5 mind flayer has 15 ft of fly speed and the room height here is 20 ft.

Total time on this module was 44 hours for my group of 3 players. We play for 2 hours each week. For the next module we will have a proper 4-player party.

Three players, the sweetest spot for combat in my opinion. Glad you guys had fun. So it took about 22 weeks (or more). Can I ask: Does that 2 hours include downtime, or is that your actual playtime? Also, what's next?

plecostomus · Mar 16, 2026

Scott Christian said:
Three players, the sweetest spot for combat in my opinion. Glad you guys had fun. So it took about 22 weeks (or more). Can I ask: Does that 2 hours include downtime, or is that your actual playtime? Also, what's next?

That is the actual playtime. I record the sessions so I just added up the recording times. I do include the players' recap of the previous session in the recording, but I would say that's 1-5 minutes.

I also checked how much time they spent on each floor. Pardon my rounding.

7% - Floor 1
9% - Guardians of Gorm / Floor 2
7% - Mages of Usamigaras and Warriors of Madarua / Floor 3
27%, 12 hours - Crypt / Floor 4
34%, 15 hours - Exit Hall / Floor 5
14% - Zargon's Lair / Floor 6
2% - Exit / Return to Town

The next module for Infinite Staircase is When A Star Falls. My players were already excited when they got back to town and saw a map with plants and water again, so maybe this one will feel relaxing. Much of WASF takes place outdoors, and it seems like there's much more opportunity to Long Rest since going between its locations can take multiple days.

Before that, I am going to be running a solo quest for my arcane caster (Bard) called The Test of High Sorcery, which is a 3P Dragonlance module.

My new player might be making an Artificer, which is very exciting since he's never played one and I've never seen one played. We're going to be so helpful to each other. He asked me if Artificers were possible in Dragonlance, and I certainly think so. This is the art I showed him for inspiration:

Scott Christian · Mar 20, 2026

plecostomus said:
The next module for Infinite Staircase is When A Star Falls.

Oh, you guys aren't done with the adventure yet? I see. That was one of the reasons I was asking. It seemed quick. Good luck and have fun. The solo adventure sounds sweet.

plecostomus · 2026-04-05T06:11:02+0100

When A Star Falls (5.5 rules) update:

My Level 4 four-player party gobbled up both the Memory Web and Sion with a single PC taking 11 damage after both fights. From here I think I am going to move into giving any unique monsters their max HP instead of average.

As far as I can tell though, nothing will be putting up resistance until the party reaches the Forge with the maschin-i-bozorg (which if they are not very silly, they will only be fighting 1 of these once), and then the young red dragon.

For travel on the hex map, I am using some of the A5E activities suggested here. I roll weather/precipitation to give the party a vibe for each day, and otherwise we're chilling. I think this works out well after the long dungeon crawl of The Lost City. The maps are very open, and the dungeons/interiors are quite short, with the exception of the Tower. The necessity of multi-day travel in the region grants many more Long Rests than Lost City.

For pace the region map uses 4-mile hexes, so I modified the 5.5 PHB Travel list and let them choose Normal pace at 2 miles per hour, or Fast at 4 miles per hour, with the latter giving disadvantage on both Wisdom and Dexterity-based checks. If for some reason they wanted to, they could also go Slow at 1 mile per hour for advantage on the checks. Using the A5E Befriend An Animal and Scout activities mitigates some of the disadvantage from Fast pace.

I threw some nothics into this module as part of the background build towards the Eve of Ruin adventure. I've written the nothics were summoned by the usurper Piyarz at the Tower to investigate the region. One was assigned to the Memory Web, one is assigned to the Derro Lair, and one is assigned to the Forge.

The party kidnapped the nothic at the Memory Web and they are carrying it around in an ox cart. Since the nothic's job is to gather information and the party is chauffeuring it to every point of interest on the map, it's pretty chill with its circumstances at the moment.

---

Here are the shops I made available for the party in-between modules:

1- Armory with non-magical weapons and armor.
2- Sundries store - They all bought crowbars and climber's kits.
3- Magic item shop with the following items:

Potion of Healing, 100 gold each (6 available, they bought 4)
Potion of Comprehension, 100 gold each (3 available, they bought 1)
Potion of Climbing, 150 gold each (4 available, they bought 1)
Boots of False Tracks - under the name Ambiguous Boots and description: "A pair of ordinary-looking boots. The shop owner insists they are magical though, and great for escapes from thugs", 200 gold, sold
Charlatan's Die - under the name Hiddukel's Die and description: "A six-sided die blessed by Hiddukel, God of Greed and Thievery", 300 gold, no sale
Dread Helm - under the name Death Knight's Helm and description: "The shopkeep lets you try this on. It covers your face in shadow and makes your eyes glow red. Comes with a certificate stating it was obtained from a real death knight!", 500 gold, no sale
Hat of Vermin - under the name Scarecrow's Summoning Hat and description: "A straw sunhat that smells like the offal of various small animals", 500 gold, no sale

I'm using the magic item tracker from the DMG, and The Lost City kept the party on track except in the Common category, hence the selection here.

The Weapon of Warning (Spear) from The Lost City is their most impactful item so far. The Weapon of Warning was buffed under 5.5 to grant Advantage on Initiative to all party members within 30 feet, rather than just to the holder.

Zardnaar · 2026-04-05T06:50:27+0100

plecostomus said:
When A Star Falls (5.5 rules) update:

My Level 4 four-player party gobbled up both the Memory Web and Sion with a single PC taking 11 damage after both fights. From here I think I am going to move into giving any unique monsters their max HP instead of average.

As far as I can tell though, nothing will be putting up resistance until the party reaches the Forge with the maschin-i-bozorg (which if they are not very silly, they will only be fighting 1 of these once), and then the young red dragon.

For travel on the hex map, I am using some of the A5E activities suggested here. I roll weather/precipitation to give the party a vibe for each day, and otherwise we're chilling. I think this works out well after the long dungeon crawl of The Lost City. The maps are very open, and the dungeons/interiors are quite short, with the exception of the Tower. The necessity of multi-day travel in the region grants many more Long Rests than Lost City.

For pace the region map uses 4-mile hexes, so I modified the 5.5 PHB Travel list and let them choose Normal pace at 2 miles per hour, or Fast at 4 miles per hour, with the latter giving disadvantage on both Wisdom and Dexterity-based checks. If for some reason they wanted to, they could also go Slow at 1 mile per hour for advantage on the checks. Using the A5E Befriend An Animal and Scout activities mitigates some of the disadvantage from Fast pace.

I threw some nothics into this module as part of the background build towards the Eve of Ruin adventure. I've written the nothics were summoned by the usurper Piyarz at the Tower to investigate the region. One was assigned to the Memory Web, one is assigned to the Derro Lair, and one is assigned to the Forge.

The party kidnapped the nothic at the Memory Web and they are carrying it around in an ox cart. Since the nothic's job is to gather information and the party is chauffeuring it to every point of interest on the map, it's pretty chill with its circumstances at the moment.

---

Here are the shops I made available for the party in-between modules:

1- Armory with non-magical weapons and armor.
2- Sundries store - They all bought crowbars and climber's kits.
3- Magic item shop with the following items:

Potion of Healing, 100 gold each (6 available, they bought 4)

Potion of Comprehension, 100 gold each (3 available, they bought 1)

Potion of Climbing, 150 gold each (4 available, they bought 1)

Boots of False Tracks - under the name Ambiguous Boots and description: "A pair of ordinary-looking boots. The shop owner insists they are magical though, and great for escapes from thugs", 200 gold, sold

Charlatan's Die - under the name Hiddukel's Die and description: "A six-sided die blessed by Hiddukel, God of Greed and Thievery", 300 gold, no sale

Dread Helm - under the name Death Knight's Helm and description: "The shopkeep lets you try this on. It covers your face in shadow and makes your eyes glow red. Comes with a certificate stating it was obtained from a real death knight!", 500 gold, no sale

Hat of Vermin - under the name Scarecrow's Summoning Hat and description: "A straw sunhat that smells like the offal of various small animals", 500 gold, no sale

I'm using the magic item tracker from the DMG, and The Lost City kept the party on track except in the Common category, hence the selection here.

The Weapon of Warning (Spear) from The Lost City is their most impactful item so far. The Weapon of Warning was buffed under 5.5 to grant Advantage on Initiative to all party members within 30 feet, rather than just to the holder.