One of the toughest parts of role-playing a non-human character is to give that PC a distinct cultural identity. We often play ever character of every race as if they were born and raised in the Human world. For many races this isn’t a big deal because their societies will parallel Humans’ in many ways. However, Drow are very different from Humans and this should be reflected in the way they are played.

Although your character is an individual and you have the freedom to play him as you see fit, it’s important to consider his upbringing and how that has shaped his personality and attitudes. He might have forsaken his heritage to become an adventurer, but if he was raised in Drow society there are a lot of little details that you should keep in mind when running him. Use these differences to make your Drow stand out from the Elves and Humans in the party.

Society

Drow are a subterranean race that thrives on chaos. Their world is filled with magic and danger. Every Drow is taught the value of power from a very early age. The strong survive; there is no place for the weak. Drow consider themselves superior to other races, especially other Elves and other subterranean creatures. Drow will often enslave other lesser races, treating them harshly and giving little thought to their well-being.

Within the chaos of Drow society is an order of sorts and there are rules. Drow are one of the few matriarchal societies in D&D. Males are treated as inferior to females. This is not something that is questioned by either sex; it’s just the way things are. This is perpetuated through the worship of Lloth, the Spider Queen by the priestesses that rule in many Drow societies. Lloth only accepts females as priests and cleric, which goes a long way to keeping men subservient to women in Drow culture.

Much of the established Drow cannon was created and refined by R.A. Salvatore in his Drizzt novels. It’s certainly easiest when using Drow in your campaign to use what’s been established but that’s not to say that this is the only way to use Drow in your game. The Salvatore interpretation of Drow certainly applies to the Forgotten Realms but in other worlds Drow may have very different roots. For example, in Eberron Drow live in the forests of Xen’drik. They do not worship the spider goddess nor are they associated with spiders at all. They are a savage, barbaric race whose forefathers escaped slavery of the Giants by fleeing belowground.

Geography

Think about where your Drow character was raised. Forget the social or cultural influences for a minute and just picture the terrain. The Drow are a subterranean race. Your character has always lived with a roof over his head. Before leaving his home world (for whatever reason) he’d likely never seen the sky, the sun, the moon or stars. The vast open spaces of the surface world will likely cause your PCs serious bouts of agoraphobia (the fear of wide open spaces).

The natural light of the sun that surface dwellers take for granted is a foreign concept to Drow. They live and thrive in darkness. They have darkvision which allows them to function in complete darkness. Drow do employ artificial light but when they do so it is for a clear purpose.

Sounds behave differently underground than they do on the surface. Although it’s rarely taken into considerations in most D&D games, it makes sense that Drow would have a keen sense of hearing. Sound trapped in the enclosed spaces and will bounce off of cavern walls, ceiling and floor, as well as objects and creatures. This is not to say that Drow have sonar or super-hearing, but they would know what to listen for and be able to interpret those sounds (or lack thereof). Conversely Drow might find it more difficult to judge the distance, location, and origination point of sounds on the surface world.

A society in which all the members can see in complete darkness and interpret the faintest sounds would understand the value of stealth. So regardless of a Drow’s class he’s likely to know the basics of remaining unseen and unheard.

Influence of Environment

The physical and cultural environment in which your character was raised would have greatly affected the person he became. You need to decide which of these factors and influences are most prevalent. Do bright lights and open spaces make your PC feel uncomfortable? Is he subservient to women, showing them unquestionable respect or does he resent them? Does he go out of his way to demonstrate how much he is not like others of his race or does he use the stereotype to gain an advantage during social interactions?

Take all of this into consideration the next time you play a Drow character. Make sure that your Drow has characteristics that separate him from the rest of the party. Play your PC in such a way that it will remind the other players that Drow are unlike any surface dwelling race they might have adventured with in the past.

Related reading:

• Playing Drow Part 1 – Embracing the Evil
• The Drow Are Coming!
• Only One Race in Fantasy RPGs

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When an adventurer begins his career he’s always looking for magical treasure. Even in a magic-rich setting a +1 sword is a coveted item. As the character advances he will seek more items with even higher plusses. After all why stick with a +1 sword when you can have a +2 sword? But eventually the plus no longer matters. Believe it or not there comes a time when the player realizes that the plus isn’t the most important part of a magic item. Eventually an item’s power or ability is deemed more integral to the character than one more plus.

Our home campaign recently moved into the epic tier. During a recent adventure the heroes completed a major story arc and were rewarded with treasure suitable to their level as well as a level 30, +6 bow. Although two characters in the party use bows and both currently have +4 bows neither player was interested in the item. They were content to keep their level 17 and 18 weapons respectively than trade up for a level 30 magic item. These are players that are among the greediest I’ve ever played with (and I mean that as a compliment) yet they both felt that it severed their character better to keep their current +4 bows than trade up for a +6 replacement. In both cases it was because of the importance of the power their current weapons gave them.

At low level you don’t care what the weapon’s power is, if it’s magic you take it. And for a while anything that’s got more plusses is deemed better. But eventually the PCs reach a point where they have suitable resources in the form of gp and rituals that they can be more choosy. If they really want a Sunblade or Thundering Weapon they’ll either pay to upgrade a lesser version of the weapon or sell loot that’s not one of these coveted items in order to get the gp they need. So even thought there’s a shiny new Flaming weapon in the treasure horde, players would rather sell it than use it.

Identity

At first the weapon itself – sword, hammer, bow – is what defines the character. But as the PCs advances the powers that magical versions of these weapons possess will become more of their signature than the weapon type. Two Dwarven Fighters who both carry Craig Hammers may be confused for one another initially, but when one finds a Flaming Hammer and the other a Frost Hammer the magic items go a long way to helping these similar PCs gain individuality. Once that identity is forged it may be difficult to convince the player to change weapons just because it’s +1 more than the one he’s currently using.

Synergy

By paragon tier most PCs have magic items filling almost every slot on their character sheet. They should also have suitable gp to fill any empty slots. This gives paragon characters a lot of freedom and flexibility to find, acquire, steal or purchase magical items that will best serve them, regardless of their class or race. A character that is a specialist in any sense of the word will find the items that help him fulfill that niche. And once they start to get the items they want, it’s extremely unlikely that they’ll give them up.

For example, I’m playing an Eladrin Warlock who has maxed out everything to do with teleportation. He’s got an Eladrin Ring of Passage (+2 to distance teleport), Planestrider Boots (allowing him to teleport around corners), and the Robe of Eyes (to ensure that he can’t be blinded thereby gimping all his cool teleporting powers). No matter what other Rings, Boots or Armor are dangled in front of me I’m not going to give up these items. These are integral parts of who this character has become as he worked through the levels. He’s the teleporting guy and all his powers and tactics revolve around this. So even if the DM dangles +6 armor in front of me, I’m not going to trade in my +4 Robe of Eyes. Sure the +2 to AC will help me considerably (I’m really soft compared to many of the allies) but the power of my current armor is not something I’m willing to pass up for any reason.

Inherent Bonuses

In campaigns where PCs use the inherent bonus system the plus really doesn’t matter as much. In fact I have a paragon level character who still uses the +1 Frost Blade he found at level 2 even though he’s now a level 15 PC. Inherent bonuses level the playing field so that it’s not necessary for me to trade up to be useful. However, inherent bonuses will only keep you even with the pack; they won’t let you surpass it. So even in a campaign with inherent bonuses PCs can still benefit from items that will provide bonuses higher than the inherent bonus. They can still be better than the next guy if they find a really cool magic item with a really high plus. So although there is less determent to not upgrading items, it’s impossible to get an advantage without more plusses.

Drawing the Line

When I realized that characters eventually reach a point where they genuinely don’t care as much about more plusses as they do about the power of their items I started to ask myself where the shift happens? At what level or point in a PC’s development does this shift occur? Can you pinpoint it to a specific level?

Although I don’t think there’s a definitive line, there are certainly some prerequisites that have to be in place before greed is pushed aside for practicality. I see this happening during the mid-paragon tier. The requirements as I see them include magic items in almost every slot with the weapon, implement, armor and neck items being at or near the PCs current level. The PC needs to have sufficient powers to carry him through multiple encounters, so he needs numerous daily and encounter powers. And finally the PC needs to have enough hit points that taking an extra hit or two because their armor wasn’t +1 higher won’t really change the course of a battle. Add everything up and you’re talking about levels 15-20.

Campaign Development

DMs that find their adventuring party has reached the point where they no longer seem interested in more plusses need to challenge the players by presenting them with interesting choices and opportunities. In the example above the PCs passed on the +6 bow, but what if the new bow was the only way to defeat the evil villain that they’re likely to face at the end of the current story arc. Which archer will use the new (better) weapon and lose the power bestowed through his previous one? How will that PC need to change his tactics? How integral is the old bow to his identity?

When the plus no longer matters it’s up to the DM to come up with a good hook to get the players interesting in those plusses again, even if it’s just for one epic battle.

Have you had a character whose identity was so closely tied to his items that the pluses didn’t matter? At what level do you think that players give up on the pluses?

Related reading:

• What’s a +1 Sword?
• Dividing Treasure
• Exploiting Racial and Class Features: Fey Step

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On March 17, 2010, Wizards of the Coast begin this little experiment called D&D Encounters with the very first Wednesday night encounter. Over two years later the program is still going strong and yesterday marked the beginning of season 9. In Web of the Spider Queen the PCs will be facing off against Lloth’s forces as the Drow invade Shadowdale. This is all part of the ongoing Rise of the Underdark campaign that will be dominating the Wizards’ product offerings throughout 2012.

As we’ve done from the outset of D&D Encounters we will continue providing weekly recaps every Thursday. This is our way to provide an ongoing synopsis of the story as well as share the highs and lows of our specific campaign. We will also continue recording the sessions and sharing the podcasts on a weekly basis. So get ready to fight some Drow as the Web of the Spider Queen beings.

Character Creation

Around season 4 of D&D Encounters we had a lot of trouble getting player to come out to the FLGS and continue coming back. Not wanting to turn away anyone we were very lax when it came to character creation. My feeling was that I’d let you play whatever race/class combo you wanted if it would keep you playing. So for over a year we’ve seen a lot of strange characters. But now that we’ve got a steady group, many of whom are actually very experienced players, we decided to tighten the reigns of character creation this season.

According to the direction in the adventure character race, class, themes and backgrounds could only be from Heroes of the Fallen Lands, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, and Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Guide. So the races allowed were: Dragonborn, Drow, Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Goblin, Half-Elf, Halfling, Half-Orc, Human, Kobold, Svirfneblin, and Tiefling; and the classes allowed were: Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock and Wizard.

Some of the players were genuinely angry that I decided to actually enforce the rules (especially when they learned that they couldn’t take the background Born Under a Bad Sign). In the end I decided to let them play any variation of the eight allowable classes which opened up a lot of possibilities and made them a lot more agreeable. The result was an all-Drow party that looked like this:

• Drow Cleric
• Drow Druid
• Drow Fighter
• Drow Rogue
• Drow Rogue
• Drow Wizard (Bladesinger)

When I learned that they intended to all play Drow (an idea I fully supported) I reminded the group that they could not be evil. The adventure assumes that the party is good and that they will help the downtrodden for no other reason than because it’s the right thing to do. They could be unaligned but they had to have good tendencies. I further reinforced that as non-evil PCs I would not allow or support any backstabbing (figuratively or literally) among the PCs. After all, they’re supposed to be friends.

The majority of the players at my FLGS have a habit of playing recklessly because they know that there is no penalty for dying. They know that if their PC is killed they’ll get to come back next week with a brand new character and start fresh. (I realize they’re supposed to lose surges but it doesn’t stop or discourage them). It’s actually better if they get killed after a few sessions than struggle with a wounded PC. Frankly I was getting sick of the power gaming so I introduced a house rule for this season. All monsters will get +1 to all defenses and attack for every PC that died in the previous week’s encounter. This should hopefully encourage the players to create balanced PC and play smart. Otherwise if one guy plays stupid and dies needlessly everyone pays the price. My desire is to promote teamwork and let the players police each other. We’ll see how things go.

Setting the Stage

The adventure began with six Drow adventurers arriving in Shadowdale at dusk. This party heard of the recent troubles the Drow were causing in Shadowdale and decided to join any resistance or militia that was going to get to fight more Drow. Realizing that their appearance might startle the locals or worse still drive them to action, the PCs decided to send one member ahead to announce their arrival and prepare the locals. They elected the charismatic Rogue. He used his disguise kit to mask his true heritage and went on alone into the Old Skill Inn.

His arrival didn’t startle the locals, likely because they didn’t immediately see through his disguise (he rolled amazing). Ghessla Silvermane, the owner and proprietor of the inn welcomed the traveler, invited him to sit, and took his dinner order. A few minutes later when his food arrived he explained to Ghessla that he was travelling with a party of adventurers and that they’d be arriving soon. He explained that they were all Drow, but he assured her they meant no one in Shadowdale any harm.

She didn’t seem phased by the revelation but thanked him for the warning. He then stood up and made the same announcement to the rest for the patrons. Most seemed indifferent, but a couple of drunken Dwarves raised their mugs to toast their arrival. With that the rest of the party, all of who were hiding just outside the inn, entered the common room and joined their friend.

When Ghessla returned to take their orders they took the opportunity to pump her for some information. They explained that they were her to help defend Shadowdale against another Drow incursion and if that didn’t happen they’d be happy to brave the underdark to find and kill them. After a little bit of Diplomatic tap-dancing Ghessla explained that she could grant them access to the underdark (despite local rules against such things) through a passage in her basement but it would cost the PCs 100 gp. They decided to take rooms and lodging for the night and would head out first thing in the morning.

While the party supped on Shadowdale surprise the Druid (the only one to pass on the local special and instead choose the Cormanthor mushrooms) noticed an old man sitting alone at the bar keeping a vigilant eye on the door. He decided to befriend this old-timer and went to sit next to him. As he approached, the Druid began to detect a foul odor which he realized was emanating from the old man. The man watched the Drow approach but said nothing. The Druid ordered the man another drink which changed his mood considerably. He became friendly and affectionate, hugging the Druid and thanking him for his generosity.

The Druid’s new friend revealed that he’s lived in Shadowdale all his life but he’s flat broke. Ghessla feeds him every day but he fears that her generosity will end soon. He also revealed that he’s seen Drow scouts in Shadowdale after dark, but no one believes him.

Meanwhile the Rogues sat with a young Human woman. She made a pretense of leaving until they offered to buy her a few drinks. She introduced herself as Khara Sulwood and after a few drinks revealed that she was one of Elminster’s apprentices. The Rogues both believed that she was embellishing the extent of her relationship with the old sage.

More drinks kept the information train rolling and Khara eventually revealed that although she thinks well of Lady Ulphor (the current ruler of Shadowdale) she disagrees with her decision to place the Pendant of Ashaba in her room atop the tower rather than wear it at all times. Khara’s great-grandfather, Doust Sulwood a former lord of Shadowdale, told her that when the lord does not wear the Pendant it weakens the wards that protect Shadowdale. Khara blames Meadra, Ulphor’s advisor for coming up with the idea.

As the night progressed the PCs eventually retired to their rooms and bid their new friends good night. The Rogues made a quick parameter check of the inn following up on the old man’s warning of Drow scouts but found nothing.

Soon after heading to their rooms the PCs heard sounds of combat and screaming coming from downstairs. When the rushed down to investigate they saw Drow warriors attacking the patrons of the Old Inn. Ghessla shouted, “You can’t do this! Elminster will stop you! Shadowdale will force you back underground!” as a Drow struck her unconscious. The old man tried to fend off the Drow with a dinner knife, displaying unexpected bravado and courage. The sounds of combat could be heard outside as it became clear that Shadowdale was under attack.

The Combat

As the DM I find it useful to gauge the party’s strengths during the first combat. I suspected that this party was capable of handling more than what was presented in the adventure but I decided not to make any adjustments aside from those needed to challenge a party of six.

Initially there was 1 Drow Scout (armed with a long sword and short sword), 4 Drow Stalkers (minions) and 1 Drow Archer. The party acted in the chaotic fashion you’d expect from Drow, although it was completely unintentional. You’d have thought it was their first time playing D&D. They were all over the place and no one was working together.

One of the Stalkers had his rapier poised under the throat of an innocent bystander and demanded that the PCs throw down their weapons. The Bladesinger blasted him without any hesitation. The scene became even more chaotic as Clouds of Darkness began popping up; some from the enemies, other from the PCs.

In the second round four more Drow joined the combat from the hatchway in the floor behind the bar. The Bladesinger managed to kill two minions as they provoked opportunity attacks while a Scout and Archer managed to get by.

More Drow meant more Clouds of Darkness, which made the battle map exceptionally crowded and difficult to remember who’s was whose and when it was going to disappear.

The Rogues being at the top of the initiative acted first and moved farther into the room than their allies. This made them the easiest and most obvious targets. One Rogue took multiple hits before the Fighter managed to come in and provide some much-needed defense by marking opponents.

The Cleric did her best to try to heal as necessary but powers like Astral Seal were wasted as allies with full hit points attacked those hit by the power. As the fight seemed to be reaching its climax four of the PCs and four of the Drow were all trapped in a corner of the room near the staircase. With multiple Clouds of Darkness active no one could see one another making it harder to kill the enemies. During the confusion two more minion Stalkers came up from the basement adding unexpected flanking bonuses when the darkness dropped.

The party finally managed to kill all the Drow that were threatening the Old Skull Inn and the people within but it was costly. One Rogue ended up using 4 healing surges as did the Cleric. Meanwhile the Fighter and Bladesinger were unscathed not taking a single hit. If this party is going to survive they need to get some better tactics and work as a team.

When the fighting ended Ghessla awoke. Apparently she was just pretending to be unconscious. A quick search of the dead Drow netted the PCs 60 gp each. After they managed to catch their breath and take a 5-minute rest the Bladesinger heard a voice in his mind. “This is Elminster…”

Afterthoughts

As a huge fan of everything Drow I liked the way the adventure began. It was unfortunately that the party fared so poorly in the combat, but at least no one died. I realized that the Drow’s racial powers may be tough to track during the season so I’m going to work on something that will help me distinguish the friendly Drow Darkness from the enemy Drow Darkness. I tried using different colours this week but it was still very messy.

To try to keep things simple I said that Cloud of Darkness and Darkfire cancelled each other out. So if a PC was lit from the Darkfire he could negate it by activating his Darkness and vice versa. Only a couple of PCs tried it but it seemed to speed thing up and it didn’t make either power feel broken.

One part of the story that didn’t really make sense to me was why the same NPCs from earlier that night were in the Old Skull Inn so late. Clearly they weren’t all guests at the inn. I decided that the attack happened right after the PCs went to bed to try to make this seem at least somewhat plausible.

With four more encounters to come we’ll see if this party suffers any deaths before their first extended rest at the end of Chapter 1.

How did the adventure begin for your group? Was the battle with the Drow too difficult or too easy? How are healing surges holding up for your group?

We continue to record our D&D Encounters sessions and make them available to you for download every week. This season I’m going to try to record the games at both FLGS where I play so that you can hear how two very different groups handled the same encounter. These recordings are made in a loud, crowded game store so at times it may be difficult to hear everyone.

D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen (Week 1) – Podcasts

• Harry T North session
• Dueling Grounds session

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You’re never too old to learn something new. Adventurers need to remember this. No matter how powerful they become there’s always someone who’s more powerful, or more skilled than they are.

In Adventure Hooks: The Legendary Sword Masters (Part 1) we suggested that at some point in your campaign the heroes may need to learn a special fighting technique from a legendary sword master. When such circumstances arise they’ll first need to find the legendary master and then convince him to train them. As he’ll likely become and integral part of the story arc, it’s important that he be interesting and memorable. Today we provide six more examples of legendary sword masters that you can use in your campaign.

It’s important to note that although we use male pronouns and refer to the PCs as masculine, the example masters listed below will certainly work if they are portrayed as female. Just look at the picture at the top of this article. She clearly looks like she can handle that massive blade like a pro. Many gamers (including the majority of the ones I play with) will hear “sword master” and assume it’s a man they’re looking for. Making the legendary sword master a woman can add an interesting aspect to the role-playing.

Regardless of the master’s sex, the character needs to be well developed and have a distinct personality. We’ve provided enough details to get you started but DMs should feel free to tweak these masters as they see fit. With the exception of the Dwarven Master none of them specify race so it’s entirely possible that they could be a race the PCs least suspect. Throwing conventional wisdom and preconceptions out the window is a good way to make any NPC more interesting.

1) The Master with No Memory

The heroes find the man they believe is the legendary master they’re looking for, however, he cannot confirm or deny that he is who they say he is. He has no memory of who he is, or who he was. The master with no memory agrees to train the PCs if they can figure out a way to return his memory to him.

A really evil DM can always have the master turn on the party when his memory is returned. Perhaps he had his own memory erased in order to forget a devastating loss or maybe he knew something so dangerous that he couldn’t risk anyone ever getting him to reveal it. Of course the DM could just as easily just say that he’s an evil bastard and leave it at that.

2) The One-Armed Master

Finding this legendary sword master isn’t hard at all. He’s always said that he’ll train anyone willing to learn. However, he only has one arm. This limitation /advantage is integral to mastering his unique fighting style. If a PC wants to learn from the one-armed master they will have to agree to lose an arm. This is not a decision that is to be undertaken lightly and will have serious long-term ramifications on any PC who agrees. Any PC that goes through with the training will only be able to use the training if they have one arm. If they manage to have the limb replaced or regenerated the training is completely useless.

3) The Beard

When the PCs finally find this legendary master he’s not exactly what they expected. He’s good-looking, physically fit and incredibly arrogant. He treats everyone as being beneath him and expects total subservience from lesser folk (namely everyone). In general, he’s a total ass. He seems to save his most seething criticisms for his servant, a man whose life he saved a decade earlier who then pledged to serve him faithfully in return.

Everything about this man offends the people around him. However, his exploits are legendary so the PCs will have to put up with his unruly behaviour if they want to learn from him. After a few weeks, the PCs will likely begin to doubt the master’s abilities as they don’t find his training to be at all helpful. However, questioning or criticizing his methods will only make him more unbearable.

In truth the arrogant master is actually a well trained actor. The servant is the real master. The two are childhood friends who adventured together for years. They put on this charade to screen anyone looking for the master and requesting training.

4) The Dwarven Swordsman

When was the last time you heard of a Dwarf who wielded a sword? Everyone knows that Dwarves use axes and hammers. This master is the exception to the rule. Having no aptitude for traditional Dwarven weapons he instead turned to the blade. The result was uncanny; it was as if the sword was an extension of himself. His prowess with a blade became legendary. However, his clan was so outraged and embarrassed that he used a sword and not an axe or hammer that they disowned him. The clan’s influence was so great that they refused to acknowledge any Dwarf who associated with their disowned brethren. Over time the prejudice grew and now most Dwarves won’t even speak to anyone who keeps the Dwarven Swordsman’s company. If the PCs accept his help they will be forever denied any assistance or cooperation from Dwarves anywhere.

5) The Killer

This master lives a peaceful life in isolation. When the PCs seek his tutelage he explains that he can teach them the fundamentals but there is no substitute for seeing him put these actions into practice. Without practical demonstrations they will not be able to master his techniques. He won’t use a practice blade or any weapon other than his own sword. However, his beliefs restrict him from drawing the blade unless it is to be used in combat. He will only draw his weapon if circumstances demand that he use it to kill.

He will accompany the PCs if they believe they can find a conflict in which his skills can be put to use and thereby give them the demonstrations they need to complete the training. Where will the PCs find worthy opponents who deserve death so they can learn? It will have to be many creatures if the PCs hope to see the techniques used frequently enough to be useful.

6) The Master with Two Personalities

As the PCs inquire about this master they hear the same stories over and over again – the man they seek is mad. It seems that he has two very different and distinct personalities. One is a great swordsman and the other is not. Those who have tried to learn from this master in the past have been unsuccessful. His students never know which personality is teaching them from day-to-day so they have difficulty separating the actual beneficial training from the maneuvers that will potentially kill them.

There are indeed two distinct personalities; however this is a classic case of identical twins. Years earlier one brother was banished to the Feywild. The remaining brother searched for a way to free his lost brother and eventually succeeded. He found an ancient ritual and enlisted the assistance of a powerful Wizard. However, the banished brother was living a good life in the Feywild and didn’t want to return. When the ritual was performed the banished brother had his new Fey friends try to disrupt the magic, which they did. The result was that the two brothers switched bodies. And every day since the ritual was performed the two have alternated between the Feywild and the real world.

One brother is indeed a master swordsman and is genuinely trying to help the PCs. The other brother has acquired the Fey sense of humour from his time with them and enjoys messing with the PCs and their training. He knows just enough about swordplay to be believable but is clearly not in his brother’s league.

Related reading:

• Adventure Hooks – Moral Choices
• 8 Adventure Hooks: The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
• 7 Adventure Hooks for Making the Loot Part of the Plot

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You’ve braved the Forge, retrieved the Talon and slain the Tyrantclaw, now it’s time to stick it to the Drow! On June 1 Rise of the Underdark continues with Lair Assault: Spiderkiller. Season 4 has the PCs facing off against a small but powerful band of Drow that are up to no good in the Undermountain.

Lair Assault is the Top Gun of D&D. It’s for the best of the best. Normally you don’t win at D&D, but Lair Assault changes that. You create the most optimized character possible (within the confines of the challenge parameters) and try your best to accomplish the goal. It’s not easy and Wizard expects 80% of parties to suffer a TPK during their first attempt to complete the challenge. So if you think you’re a D&D Top Gun than Lair Assault is the adventure series for you.

The Challenge

This time the PCs have been asked to venture into a long-forgotten section within the bowels of Undermountain to stop a Drow priestess from opening a permanent portal to the Demonweb. If she succeeds Lloth can send forth her minions to reclaim Undermountain and from there launch an assault upon Waterdeep and the rest of the surface. The stakes are high so it’s important that the party sent forth to complete this objective be exceptionally capable.

The structure of this Lair Assault combines elements from Forge of the Dawn Titan and Talon of Umberlee. The PCs have 20 rounds to find and stop the Drow priestess; however there are three distinct encounters. So time will likely be the PCs greatest enemy. It’s important to remember that killing all the monsters is not the only way (or the best way) to accomplish the goal. In fact I don’t think a party is capable of the output necessary to inflict enough damage to kill all the monsters in the 20 rounds allotted.

Since the PCs only have 20 rounds to complete all three encounters there is obviously no time to take a short rest between encounters. This presents some really interesting tactical challenges. PCs will have to decide when to use powers that last until the end of the encounter as they’ll only be able to gain the benefits of such powers for one of the three encounters.

Character Creation Tips

This is a challenge for level 9 characters. All published D&D sources are legal when it comes to choosing feats, powers, themes and equipment. When equipping your PC you can have one item level 10 or lower, one item level 9 or lower, one item level 8 and 3,400 gp to spend on pretty much anything else. However, you can only have two consumables (level 9 or lower) and only one rare magic item. This is the standard used for character creation for every Lair Assault so far so this shouldn’t come as any surprise to returning players.

Here are some tips that you should consider when creating characters. I’ll try not to spoil anything, as these will mostly be common sense tips using the available information. Before creating a character look at the Glory Tracker (see below). Once you see what actions will earn your PC Glory you should be able to make some pretty accurate assumptions about the challenge.

When it comes to skills training in Athletics is mandatory. There will be plenty of opportunity to swim, jump and climb. Alternatively you can take magic items that will make these actions easier. Arcana and Religion are always useful with the big baddie is a) a priestess and b) creating a magical portal.

Training in Endurance may not be a bad choice either since you know that there will be Drows with poison and spiders with poison. Items that reduce or negate poison damage will be helpful as well anything that will make saves against poison easier. In fact anything that makes saves in general easier is almost always a good idea (feats or items).

Given the time limitations there is something to be said for stealth. If the party can be sneaky they may be able to bypass some or all monsters in one or more encounter. A party that’s all trained in Stealth or that can go invisible, fly or otherwise reduce the likelihood of being seen or heard could provide an unexpected advantage.

You know you’ll be fighting Drow, Driders, spiders and spider swarms. Knowing there will be swarms a few members of the party should have blast or burst attacks. Fighting swarms without these is going to eat away at your time and your resources.

Although the adventure does take place in the bowels of the Undermountain there are light sources (not always good ones, but they are there). However, if the entire party has darkvision they could certainly try to use the darkness to their advantage. Just remember that your Drow opponents have darkvision too so it’s not that they won’t be able to see you, it’s more that they aren’t expecting anyone to pass without a lantern or torch. One round of surprise might be all you need to really change the tide of the adventure.

Glory

There are 20 awards, each worth 10 glory for a total of 200 possible glory points to be earned. A player can earn each award only once regardless of the number of times he plays or the different characters used.

I strongly encourage anyone planning to participate in Spiderkiller to review the Glory tracker before you create your character. You can gain a lot of information from the tracker about what’s in store and this can (and should) influence your decisions when you make your character.

There are five secret glory awards this time through. So be imaginative and creative in your play. Good luck!

Glory Tracker Handout

Official Instructions

Now that I’ve covered just about everything here’s the official sheet that accompanied the DMs kit.

Lair Assault: Spiderkiller runs from June 1 – August 31. Good luck!

Related reading:

• The Drow Are Coming!
• Rise of the Underdark (Wizards of the Coast)
• Lair Assault (Wizards of the Coast)
• It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Forge of the Dawn Titan
• It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Talon of Umberlee
• It’s Here! – Lair Assault: Attack of the Tyrantclaw

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We’ve completed another season of D&D Encounters. That’s 8 for those keeping track. Before we jump into season 9 and do battle with the Drow let’s take a look back at the season that was and discus what worked and what didn’t, what we’d like to have seen and what we might have done differently.

Good Introduction to D&D

I think that many of the D&D Encounters regulars forget that the program is designed as an introduction to D&D. It’s intent is to entice new players to try the game, one encounter at a time, and see if they like it enough to buy the materials and play it at home with their friends. From that perspective I think this season did a fantastic job.

The adventure was simple and straight forward. It included a lot of the typical characteristics of old-school D&D adventures. It started with people in a small town facing a problem they can’t handle on their own so they enlist the aid of the heroes. From there the PCs fight monsters and an evil cult. They fight monsters in the wild and they delve deep into an underground dungeon. There is exploration, combat, and even some role-playing along the way. It may not be particularly original for experienced players and DMs but as a primer for someone new to the hobby it was perfect.

Short Chapters

On the surface I really liked that this adventure was only 11 weeks. Chapter 1 was short, only three encounters, but they were action packed and put the characters in real danger. It was just long enough for the players to get to know their character before leveling him up. Chapter 2 and chapter 3 both had four encounters. In my opinion this is perfect for public play. It’s long enough to demonstrate the importance of resource management while not so long as to make things impossible if the group had one bad encounter along the way. Even PCs with only six healing surges can usually make it through four full encounters without getting killed.

When I was previewing the adventure three months ago I was excited that the PCs had a chance to take an extended rest before facing the final encounter. However, after playing the adventure I realized that this was not a good thing at all. The problem was twofold. First the PCs had a lot more in their bag of tricks when playing through encounters 8-10 since they knew they only had to budget for three fights which gave the PCs a huge edge. Second was that the monsters in the final encounter had to be uber-tough to actually challenge a party of fully rested PCs. The result was a lot of PCs getting killed in an unnecessary encounter (more on that below).

In my mind the perfect D&D Encounters adventure would be 3 chapters with each chapter having four encounters each. I could also live with chapter 1 being only three encounters (like it was in The Elder Elemental Eye). I would not allow the PCs to take an extended rest at any time except between chapters. Following this model each season would be either 11 or 12 weeks long. Any longer and the inexperienced or carless players run out of healing surges too quickly and their PCs die. This ends up hurting the entire party including those who didn’t take unnecessary risks or worked as part of the team.

Abyssal Plague

I liked that in the very first week there was a really good chance that some PCs would contract the Abyssal Plague. If they were unfortunate and failed their saving throw subsequent encounters would prove more difficult. Things could get even worse if they failed their saving throw after the next extended rest. However, I don’t think it’s fair to penalize a party for rolling poorly (which is really what a failed save represents), and the author obviously agreed with my thinking. As part of the loot earned after week 1 the PCs found the material components required to cure one character.

If the PCs were not infected (because they were not hit or because they made their saves) they could earn good will and donate the residuum to the local priest to cure the infected Knight of the Purple Dragon. At the end of the first week none of the 12 players at my FLGS were infected. Only 6 were hit and they all made their saving throw.

I’m of two minds on using the Abyssal Plague as a plot hook to infect and entice the PCs. The regulars at D&D Encounters already played in an adventure (March of the Phantom Brigade) that featured the Abyssal Plague and its spawn. Bringing it back again could seem too repetitive. However, as the PCs only faced plague infected at the beginning and the end of the adventure it seems that Wizards felt the same way. On the other hand with everyone at my table saving successfully after week 1 there was no real threat from the plague to provide additional motivation. In truth the players only took on the adventure because it was the right thing to do. Had they faced off against more infected monsters before the end of chapter 1 there would have been a greater chance of someone being infected and thereby adding that missing drive to complete he quest.

Return to Easting a.k.a. The Bad Dream Encounter

This is where I think I’ll have to agree to disagree with a lot of people. In my opinion this was one of the best encounters of the season. It was especially fun and interesting if the players had participated in week 1. In my case we’d had very consistent attendance so five of the six PCs clearly remembered the events from week 1.

Assuming the players took the opportunity the first week to actually explore and role-play, the dream encounter had tremendous potential. Each player in my group was able to draw on the details they remembered from the first week to spot difference this time around. We spent more time role-playing the dream encounter than fighting the monsters. As the author explained on the Wizards’ Forums he was asked to create another encounter using an existing map, so although this might have felt unnecessary and tacked on to some, I thought it was brilliant. It really let the player get into their characters and do something other than fight and kill monsters. At my FLGS this was the stand-out encounter of the season.

Skill Challenges

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I’m a huge fan of skill challenges. So I was glad to see a couple of structured skill challenges used in this adventure. The investigation in Easting (both the fist time and during the dream) worked really well for our group. The checks weren’t that difficult and I gave the players a considerable amount of leeway when it came to which skills could garner successes. The checks were there to add information and the only consequence for failure was ignorance.

And then there was the skill challenge that was the maze. Again, this is one of those areas were I think I’ll have to agree to disagree with a lot of other people. I liked the way this skill challenge was set up. It certainly required some imagination and visualization to work well. I think the real pay-off would have been if the party split up, but I’m willing to bet very few parties did. Wizards has hit us over the head with “Don’t split the party” for so long players are absolutely opposed to even considering the possibility. In this case it would have made things a lot easier.

In my all-Genasi part they each had an elemental resistance. If they’d split up it would have made the group checks easier and it would have let them avoid more of the harmful effects if they failed those checks. But the idea that there was a maze that messed with their minds and required them to use a variety of skills to navigate worked, in my opinion. I did think that some of the checks were so difficult that untrained PCs had almost no shot of making them successfully (a DC 21 Insight check, really?), but I think this was a good way to emphasize that importance of a well-rounded character.

Maps

In general the maps were fantastic. However, I did see room for improvement. In week 1 the PCs fought the Plague Changed Demons in the barn. This was designed as a 2-story combat (a great idea). However, it required a lot of imagination to get the players to see a second level. I would have made this map half the size and provided the second story on the other half (similar to how the library was pretended in Dark Legacy of Evard). I know that the DMs at my FLGS simply made it a one story building and didn’t bother with the second floor.

My other suggestion would have been to provide online maps of 1) Easting and the surrounding area, and 2) the complete dungeon. I’ll admit that the Easting map wasn’t necessary but would have helped some of the newer players visualize the town a bit better. A full dungeon map was provided in the adventure for the DM to reference. However, as only select areas of the map were provided at 1-inch scale the players didn’t get to see the full layout. This became problematic when the PCs faced the “random encounter” in the kitchen and dining room area.

What do you mean that’s not the end?

OK, it’s time to address the elephant in the room – what was up with that ending? In week 10 the PCs finally faced off against the evil cult leader and stopped the source of the Abyssal Plague in this area thereby curing everyone infected (possibly even some of the PCs). It was a great encounter and ended with the PCs returning to Easting where they were heralded as heroes. Now that’s a satisfying conclusion to all their hard work. What? It’s not over? Huh?

At the end of week 10 everyone at my FLGS left scratching their heads asking what could possibly be in store for the final encounter? They’d defeated the villains and cured the plague. Now what?

As it turned out the final encounter saw the PCs return to Iriaebor to report on the happenings in Easting and collect their 50 gp (which seemed meager now). They had plenty of down-time and got to role-play the celebration of a job well done. OK, I must admit that this was actually kind of fun. Despite the fact that none of these characters would ever be used again after this encounter most players got into it and had fun doing so. And then we moved on to the combat part of the final encounter.

If the PCs spared either or both Drow from week 3 then one of them tipped off the PCs to a potential ambush. Apparently there was a Drow in service to the Elder Elemental Eye who was ticked off with the PCs for stopping the Abyssal Plague. Now she was planning to kill them. So the final week saw the PCs battling a Drow they’d never heard of until this week. Lame!

The Drow and her followers were tough. They had to be since the PCs were back to full everything. The Drow could attack 4 times as a standard action. Although this was no doubt intended to allow her to face multiple foes simultaneously, most DMS had her unload on one PC at a time. That’s what I did and it resulted in a lot of unconscious PCs and even one PC death at our table. To add insult to injury the villains didn’t die when you killed them. When they reached 0 hit points they popped back up the next round at their blooded value. In the context of a normal encounter this might seem like an interesting mechanic to keep a monster alive a little longer, but until now I’d only ever seen it work with undead and usually minions at that.

I understand that this encounter was added to hint at the upcoming Drow-themed adventure in season 9, but as none of these characters will be playing in that adventure it really deemed unnecessary and tacked on. It was a really anti-climatic way to end an otherwise decent adventure.

Final Thoughts

Looking at this adventure on its own I’d say it was decent. When comparing it to other D&D Encounters adventures I’d say it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. It had its up and downs; there was a lot of great stuff in there but there were also some areas that could have used some improvement. As I mentioned at the beginning, this is supposed to be an introductory adventure and from that standpoint it really works. However, I know that a lot of the more experienced players felt that it was a rather bland experience.

The Elder Elemental Eye: 7 on a d10.

I’d like to thank Harry Tarantula North in North York and Dueling Grounds in Toronto for hosting D&D Encounters every week. If not for their support we wouldn’t have a place to play or the material needed to run the games. Remember that your FLGS doesn’t make any money for hosting D&D Encounters. So the next time you need a gaming resource be sure to purchase it from your FLGS as a way to thank them for supporting the D&D Encounters program.

What were your thoughts on The Elder Elemental Eye? How do you think it compared to previous seasons? How many new players did you see this season? What was the stand-out encounter in your opinion this season?

Visit the Dungeon’s Master D&D Encounters Archive for all of our ongoing weekly coverage as well as other great D&D Encounters articles and resources.

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At the epic level the PCs are capable of acts that can change the path of history forever. The aim of this article is to help you embrace the capacity of the party and set a stage appropriately large for their abilities. This article is about spectacles that are just as big as PCs who can come back from the dead every day.

Enter: The Renascence Man, Woman or Child

In order to challenge the PC you need to respect their capability. By level 21 the party has a bag of tricks so deep that attempting to anticipate them is a fool’s errand. There are things that the PCs had to tackle at low levels that are, by now, tasks that are beneath them. The PCs at this point should not have to make Diplomacy checks to convince people that their task is important. Epic level characters shouldn’t have to make knowledge checks to recall simple details, their experience and access to information is so vast that such checks are just a waste of time and any attempt to withhold such information won’t add difficulty or strife, but will just annoy. The only time an epic level PC should be forced to make such checks is to demonstrate how far above such tasks they are.

In most cases skill challenges and encounters are put together in such a way to push the party. The skill challenge could be purpose driven, such as: “I know Josey the Rogue likes to steal,” so a challenge with Thievery developed, or it could be something simple like “I’ll teach that Fighter to mark everything,” but the party is in mind when the tests are made up. I’ve found that at epic level it can get really hard to think up high level examples of how each of those skills can be used and find a cohesive narrative for them.

Say you want to include Athletics and Acrobatics, so you have the PCs climb to the top of a 50-story tower, but then the Rogue needs to do something, so the item is in one of the world’s toughest safes (great idea!)… but then the Cleric needs to do something, so the safe is cursed by a devil that lives in it so that it can be expelled with Religion. By the time you find something for everyone in the party to do you often end up with a situation that denies all plausibility, even in a D&D game. Instead it is my suggestion that you work around this problem in the epic level from the other direction. Come up with your premise for the challenge and then work out the ways that the PCs can contribute. This way the difficulties they experience will feel like tie-ins, rather than add-ons.

They’ll Take a Beating

This is the time to remember that, while the party might be powerful, you as the DM have the ability to create anything. There is no arms race, you hold all the power. In the face of super capable characters the DM might be tempted to try to find ways to limit the PCs power but shouldn’t give in. At this level there is the greatest amount of forgiveness to a combat encounter as the party will have many ways to help them get back on their feet, from epic destiny features to leaders with massive amounts of healing. In combat encounters with epic level characters you will have the greatest amount of notice and leeway if you accidentally design a monster or an monster group that is too powerful.

In this way my advice is to create the biggest baddest thing you can think of and just fine tune it on the fly. Because of the massive amounts of damage and hit points it will be much harder for the party to track a monster’s hit points or the potency of healing effects it possesses so if the monster suddenly becomes bloodied or dies none need to be the wiser.

Bigger Numbers are Not More Fun

Letting the numbers escalate is poor game design. If my epic level game runs like my heroic level game, just with higher skill bonuses and defenses I’m inclined to consider my work as a designer a failure. To me the game design needs to scale with the ambitions of the PCs, not just their ability to deal damage. If you game gets to the point where your PCs are busting out calculators to figure out their total damage then you’ve added a game play aspect that is decidedly not fun. I can play “Use Calculator” any day of the week.

The Big Ideas

Alright, so you have in mind some basic guidelines that will help you towards good ideas, now where do we get them? Start with books, movies, videos games and the like and then practice a bit of one-upmanship. How far you’re willing to go will depend upon the tone of your game, but at this level I’m saying go big or go home.

Here is a notable example of famous action sequence and how the stakes could have been raised – Independence Day. Remember the scene where the alien mothership was beaming huge lasers to destroy the planet? Instead of simply killing people, the high beams could have coupled as mind control lasers, turning all life into thralls for the space invaders. This means that the important NPC that the characters could be trying to protect could be turned, so that they would have to negotiate their compromised NPC, fight off an army of innocent mind slaves and an army of aliens, as well as deal with the mothership. How does that sound? Pretty boring right?

Ok, so to up the ante, the NPC is the vessel of a god that the aliens are trying to prevent from reaching the sacred temple so that the god cannot ascend. In order to do this the aliens (who might was well be Orcs or Mind Flayers now) teleported the whole temple onto a collision course with a near by star. As a result the PCs have to manage this battle while it draws ever closer to a glowing orb of fiery death. To make matters worse there’s no breathable air in D&D space so the PCs have to leverage their magic items, special abilities and clever thinking to even hope to survive long enough to risk being burnt to death in the sun. How dull.

While their temple asteroid races through space towards becoming a spatial singularity, it passes through meteorite swarms, electrical storms and gets blasted by arcane radiation from the star. On given rounds random square are hit with these space missiles, struck with lightning, or burnt by solar flares. PCs with the right abilities, racial background or items can harness this power to deadly effect against their enemies or be killed horribly. Yawn, I think I’ll sit this fight out.

The evil henchmen boss jumps down from the Mind Flayer sky city (complete with mind controlling anti-momentum beams) and joins in the fray, successfully stealing the soul from the important NPC, and thus becoming a super boss, the powerful deified forces cause the creature to grow to enormous perorations, becoming an 10×10 creature, tentacles a flare, commanding the hordes of low level thralls to swarm the party. Their numbers are so great that the hordes are best treated as a terrain type, being too numerous to actually be slain. The PCs are flanked everywhere they go, grasping limbs acting as difficult terrain, but offering up hearty bonuses to any attack. I might roll up a character, come to think of it.

The PC’s finally manage to best the massive Mind Flayer, it’s body being cast into the dark void of space. Seemingly victorious, the PCs catch their breath as the thralls recover from their trance. Off in the distance there’s a noise of a crackle and a crunch (there can be sound in D&D space). To the horror of the party, the body of the slain Mind Flayer has collided with a near by moon, the darkness of it’s soul is transforming the galactic body into a plane of pure hate. The moon begins to rotate more quickly, moving towards the party and their temple asteroid at a frightening pace. This could either be a skill challenge if you need a break from the initiative order, or it could be time for the party to finally kill a planet.

Reeling It In and Fine Tuning

I could go on, but I’m sure the premise is already too ridiculous for most. The key will be to find the point at which you say to yourself “That’s too much, even for me!” and then stop there. Say you felt like you had enough to deal with when the temple was being launched into the sun. Now you do what you do with any old D&D encounter, polish up the various elements so that they all flow well. Pick the monsters that will get the job done with the least hassle (smaller stat blocks are always better), and straight forward mechanics for any environmental effects you may have, bearing in mind that few die rolls means a faster running game.

If in the end you’ve got something on your hands that you like but you don’t know if your party will be on board for 100%, then remember that in narrative terms it’s always easier to escalate a situation than it is to take things back. Say you really want to have the PCs deal with the lack of air, but you can tell from the looks on their faces that they’re not all for there new space-faring ways, you can hold back until a few rounds have passed and you’ve demonstrated to them that this is actually cool. Remember all the tools that you’ve built up as a DM until this point. Be descriptive, keep the pace up and encourage your players to participate in a meaningful way.

Take Chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

So at this level of play, provided that you don’t want to just send the party through another dungeon where the monsters have more hit points, you likely get into situations that the base rules of D&D don’t really cover. This is good! You’ve been playing for 20 level and by this point everyone should know how the game works and you should be able to experiment with rules alterations that allow for things like combat in space. In a later article I’ll address some of the technical issues of taking the fight to the skies, but until then I suggest handing over some of your DM responsibilities to the players who, lets face it, are likely DMs themselves.

By giving jobs like tracking initiative and monster hit points to some of your players, you will be freed up to worry with higher level problems, like tracking how many more rounds of oxygen the players have left. Do you have a player who plays on their iPad when it’s not their turn? Well this is something productive that they can do with their iOS device, and it will give them an excuse to download another application, “ohhhh spread sheets!”

Don’t worry if things don’t work out so well. You have a table full of D&D experts, and they’ll be able to help you anticipate problems, fix things on the fly and let you know when to just can the idea for the sake of fun. The worst thing that can happen if you’re open to ideas and working with your players is that the first half of an encounter is a little wacky.

A Campaign World Turned Blasted Hellscape

In normal situations a PC is an entity of destruction. Practical experience tells us that D&D characters are seldom heroic or noble, but actually just a wrecking crew, and I’m sure plenty of stories come to mind, but for me the story that stands out is one of a PC throwing a bag of holding into a lake a draining the world of all it’s water. At epic level these problems are greatly amplified as the PCs will have the capacity to accidentally kill millions.

While most games are set and run in such a way that the players aren’t really interested in their actions being played out in such detail the risk of having your PCs literally RUIN EVERYTHING is real. So what’s to be done? Resist the urge to control everything. They will want to destroy the beautiful things you have created and you should let them.

The fact of the matter is that your world is an imagined one, and so there’s no real amount of damage that the players can do that can’t be undone. If they kill the god of the harvest and the crops don’t go and the millions starve, well then that’s their story. At the epic level it becomes far to hard to reasonably constrain PCs with magic canoes and the like. The silver cities of the great nations you have created will shine just as brightly after they are reduced to rubble. Whatever the damage the party has managed to do can eventually be set right and needn’t be worried about now, after all, that’s another story for another time.

Related reading:

• Epic Level Encounter Design – Part 1: Cut the Fat
• Using Player Behaviour To Influence Your Encounter Design
• Designing Encounters That Can’t Be Beat (Part 1 | Part 2)

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How often does a player at your table want to do something – in character – that is morally apprehensible and blatantly evil? It doesn’t happen often in my games, but it does seem to come up every once in a awhile. When it does and the action is questioned by the DM or the other players, the player whose character is taking the action usually says something like, “I would never do this, but my character has no issue with it.” I realize that fantasy RPGs provide an escape from reality and you can play any kind of character you want, but I think it’s important to know where to draw the line.

Over the years I’ve come to realize that there are some things that are deemed acceptable in the context of D&D even thought most players would never condone or support such actions in real life. For example, slavery in the context of D&D isn’t usually seen as a big issue. Killing is also given tremendous latitude if the creature or person on the other end of the sword is evil. Theft is perfectly acceptable and is essentially what the majority of adventurers do to earn their loot. I guess it really comes down to the context of the situation and the justification for these actions. If killing an entire tribe of Orcs will make the nearby city safer for “civilized people” then the act of genocide is seen as acceptable and even heroic.

Lately the despicable act that has reared its ugly head in my games is torture. In a lot of the encounters during public play the PCs had the opportunity to ask NPCs questions. In some cases the NPCs are friendly and will cooperate with nothing more than a polite request or a few gold pieces. But when it’s a villain or monstrous NPC, someone who clearly does not want to share information with the PCs, a lot of players have their character get violent and resort to torture to gain the information they seek.

I think the problem is that many players believe Intimidate is the torture skill. They think that if an Intimidate check is required they have to follow it up by inflicting bodily harm. If the check fails, if the person provides information the PCs don’t believe or if they simply don’t know the answer, the PC using Intimate will more often than not proceed to torture the respondent.

When I’ve had this happen at my table or I suspect it’s moving in that direction I often remind the PC asking the question that they should act according to their alignment. Good PCs are unlikely to resort to physical abuse to solicit information. If the interrogator is evil or unaligned I will then look to the rest of the party. After all, they’re a team and the action of one will reflect on the actions of all. I find it hard to believe that any good aligned PC would knowingly let the less scrupulous members of the party beat a prisoner senseless just to get information out of him. Yet I’ve seen this happen more and more in recent months.

Intimidate is a Charisma-based skill. It’s about imposing fear and often about subtlety. The threat of violence is an acceptable way to use the Intimidate skill, but the actual act of striking or stabbing someone to get information out of them is not. When a character begins crossing that line I will increase the DC. If the act clearly conflicts with their alignment or the party’s overall alignment I will again increase the DC. I don’t believe that Intimidate (or any skill) should be an automatic failure just for trying it, but I do think that sometimes the DC can be out of your reach.

In order for a subject to reveal informant following an Intimidate check there needs to be a plausible reason for them to give in (at least plausible in their own mind). This is where fear plays an important part in any Intimidate check and the Charisma part comes in. A threat to do something awful if they don’t talk is a way for them to avoid potential torture (which I hope few PCs would actually carry out anyway). If you’re already torturing them they have no incentive to reveal what they know since it’s safe to assume you’ll kill them anyway. A person under duress will often tell you anything to make the pain stop, usually incorrect information or what they think you want to hear. In fact using torture to solicit information may reveal bad intel which could lead to other problems down the road.

If a PC does resort to unnecessary acts of violence and torture to try and garner information from a suspect, there should be in game consequences for this PC and the party. Heroes gain a reputation and if your party is known for mistreating and torturing prisoners then others will start to treat you differently. People who might normally help you with an easy Diplomacy check may become tight-lipped. The more you torture your prisoners and the more brutal the acts, the less others will want to help you. All social skills will become harder. If one PC is the torturer he’ll likely face the worst of it, but everyone in the party will be painted with the same brush and find checks more difficult.

Fantasy games are supposed to be a fun way to escape reality and become a character unlike anything you could possibly be in real life. From the Wizard who hurls fireballs to the Knight who slays Dragons, your imagination is the only limitation. So if you want to play a character that is cruel and gains perverse pleasure from inflicting pain and torturing the helpless who am I to judge? I’m the DM – that’s who I am and I will judge. There needs to b a line at the gaming table and as the DM it’s up to you to make it clear where the line is. Treading it on occasion may be acceptable but crossing it at every opportunity is not. So the next time players decide that they want to use Intimidate and feel that cutting off fingers or stabbing out an eye is the way to accomplish this, strongly discourage such behaviour even if it’s deemed to be just in character, and remind them that Intimidate and torture are not the same thing.

Have you run into similar issues at your table when PCs want to use Intimidate? How have you handled it? Where have you drawn the line? How would you deal with a party who resorts to violence and torture (basically extreme brutality and violence) whenever they have to question prisoners?

Related reading:

• Skill Focus: Intimidate
• Does Alignment Matter in 4e D&D?
• Skill Challenge: Information Gamble

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Upon finding evidence that the Abyssal Plague had infected the inhabitants of the town of Easting the heroes risked life and limb to traversed the subterranean shrine where a cult of evil Dwarves in service to Tharizdun (The Elder Elemental Eye) plotted to spread the plague across the Forgotten Realms. After two days of chasing the Dwarves through the shrine, battling them and their minions, the heroes finally found and destroyed the cult leader and the Voidharrow, the source of the Abyssal Plague the cultist were using to infect the locals. With the threat of the Abyssal Plague stopped, and Easting returning to normal, the PCs venture back to Iriaebor to report of their deeds and collect the reward promised them by the Merchant Council. And with that they adventure comes to an end… or does it?

This was the final week of D&D Encounters season 9. Although last week seemed like the conclusion to the adventure there was still one more loose end that was resolved in the final encounter. We had 11 players and two DMs (exactly as we did last week) at our FLGS. My table of five remained unchanged.

• Windsoul/Firesoul Genasi Assassin
• Earthsoul Genasi Swordmage [Earthforger]
• Firesoul Genasi Barbarian (Berserker) [Ironwrought]
• Sandsoul Genasi Ranger (Hunter) [Unseelie Agent]
• Elf Ranger (Scout)

This week’s encounter began with the PCs on the road from Easting to Iriaebor. A week had passed since they defeated the Dwarven cult and they have had ample time to rest and recover from their adventures. They presented their report to the Merchant Council along with sealed and signed testimony from Father Evendur confirming the party’s heroics. They were paid 50 gp as promised and awarded free room and board for a month at the Wandering Wyvern, one of Iriaebor’s finest inns.

The PCs spent the next week enjoying the finer things available to PCs flush with coin and beaming with talk of heroic deeds. The Scout hired a local Bard to sing songs of the party’s accomplishments, with particular focus on the Assassin’s shortcoming and soft approach to problems. The Ranger indulged in fine food, the Barbarian indulged in fine women, and the Assassin indulged in fine spirits. The Swordmage was the only Genasi still focused on returning home and visited the sage who might have the means for the party to do so (assuming the rest of the Genasi PCs wanted to leave and give up their new-found pleasures).

While the PCs spent their days doing whatever they felt like doing, they made a point of eating dinner together each night at the Wandering Wyvern. One night an Elvin adventurer entered the tavern and asked for the PCs by name. The Barkeep pointed them out and the Elf joined the PCs.

He was dressed in hunter’s clothing, armed with a short sword, dagger, and crossbow. His gear was old, used, and dirty. His weapons were rusted and nicked from repeated use. His hair was matted and knotted, his face dark and dirty with the dust of the road. Yet despite his appearance he seemed polite as he engaged the PCs.

He introduced himself as Belbol Zhaun and explained that he’d heard the songs about these PCs and wanted to meet them personally. He also had information that they might find useful which he felt compelled to share with them. The Swordmage and Scout both realized that the Elf’s name literally meant “bringer of knowledge” in Elvin, a subtle way that he was telling them he was using an alias and wanted to remain anonymous. As he spoke to the PCs he continually addressed the females, showing them respect while all but ignoring the men.

The Swordmage concluded that this “Elf” might actually be Drow. He then noticed that the pants this hunter was wearing were indeed the same pair he’d given the Drow scout the PCs spared during their march across the Badlands. With this realization he warmly welcomed the Drow and blew his cover to the rest of the PCs.

The Drow (real name Tebrizz) explained that he felt indebted to the PCs, specifically the female Ranger, who had spared his life. When he saw an opportunity to help the party he decided that this was a suitable form of repayment. While the PCs battled the Dwarves in the shrine Tebrizz continued searching the area for others following The Elder Elemental Eye. He found signs of a lone Drow, but by the time he caught up to her she’d come to Iriaebor. He’s spotted her a few times but was not able to get her alone. Attacking her alone would be futile, so he watched and waited.

In the past few days this Drow no doubt heard the songs about this party and realized that they weakened her god by killing his followers and destroying the source of the Abyssal Plague. She believes killing the PCs will bring her Tharizdun’s evil blessing.

With his warning delivered, Tebrizz again thanked the Ranger (and the rest of the party) for kindness he did not expect and left them to their fate.

The PCs took immediate steps to search the inn for signs of the Drow or any other followers but found nothing. They scouted the perimeter but also found nothing. They decided to post a sentry overnight on a nearby roof, but after a full 24 hours they saw no evidence of this mysterious Drow or her companions.

A few days later during breakfast the PCs heard a loud crash and then screams outside of the inn. They rushed to the windows where they saw one of the local barmaids pinned under an overturned wagon. The barmaid’s sister was nearby screaming for help. The Ox pulling the cart struggled to free itself but was stuck in the fountain. The driver seemed unable to coax the animal out of the fountain and seemed almost indifferent to the woman dying under his wagon.

The Assassin was first to go to the woman’s aid with the Barbarian following close behind. They managed to easily get the cart off the woman and administered a healing potion. From under a blanket on the cart a giant Spider emerged and attacked the PCs. The Ranger remained inside the inn and fired her bow at the Spider.

The man driving the cart (a Berserker) armed himself with a mace and attacked the Barbarian. Another Berserker emerged from behind the fountain and attacked the Assassin. The Swordmage and Scout ran outside to join the melee. The Scout managed to get into a flank with the Barbarian and attacked the Berserker on the cart.

From on top of the inn, a Drow female threw a shuriken and hit the Assassin. He risked an opportunity attack (which missed) and flew up to the roof. He was surprised to discover that the Drow had another large Spider on the roof with her. The two worked together to try to take out the Assassin.

On the ground the innocent bystanders managed to flee into the safety of the inn. The ox managed to break free pushing the card back towards the melee. Fortunately the Ranger, Swordmage and Berserker manage to avoid getting run over. The Barbarian and initial Berserker, both in the cart fell prone with the sudden movement but suffered no damage.

The Drow realized that the Assassin was almost dead so she left him for the Spider to finish off as she leapt down to the street and joined in the melee. She didn’t attack but instead used an illusionary feign. The Berserkers worked together with the Spider to gain flaking but they kept missing the PCs. The Spider hit consistently, inflicting ongoing poison to different PCs every round.

As the heroes were on the verge of killing the Berserkers, the Drow’s feign paid off and she managed to shift and attack four times. Two devastating blows (with flanking bonus) dropped the Scout and then two more (also with flanking bonus) dropped the Swordmage. She then used her action point to badly wound the Barbarian.

Rather than risk dying alone on the roof, the Assassin jumped off (taking only 4 damage for his trouble) and joined the rest of the party. He then administered a healing potion to the fallen Swordmage. The Spider followed him but missed on its attack.

The Ranger joined he party and revived the Scout with a healing potion. Unfortunately the combined efforts of the near-dead Berserkers managed to both hit and kill the Scout (dead-dead). This was the push the PCs needed as they rallied back to victory. They easily destroyed the Berserkers and one of the Spiders. The other Spider and the Drow continued to flank and attack but the party was working well, marking and focusing fire.

When the Drow was finally the only remaining enemy she used her Darkness Globe to gain concealment. However, when she fled the scene the Ranger and Assassin both spotted her. They followed her and fired. Both attacks hit and they managed to kill her before she could flee.

With the Drow and her allies defeated the PCs had successfully eliminated all members of the cult of the Elder Elemental Eye in this region. It cost them the life of their Elvin friend, but in the end even the side of good must make some sacrifices.

And with that we end another season of D&D Encounters. Next week we’ll have the report card on the season as a whole, but for now I’m interested in hearing how this final encounter played out at your FLGS. My group had fun despite losing one of the PCs this week (only our second fatality of the season).

The encounter itself really felt unnecessary and tact on. Having the Drow from week 3 reappear to warn the party was a good way to reward them if they let one or both Drow live. However, there was no down side if they’d killed the Drow. By sparing the Drows’ lives they should have received some kind of bonus, even a +1 during the first round of combat would have been a reminder that heroes who act in the service of good are rewarded.

In order to tie this encounter into the overall story arc better I’d have had the evil Drow appear earlier in the adventure and then get away. This way the PCs would know that at least one foe was still at large and when faced with an opportunity to stop her they’d likely jump at the chance.

I’ve been saying it all season and I’ll say it again, good tactics made all the difference this week again. This party has become a well-oiled machine and understands the value of teamwork and assisting fallen comrades. When I played this encounter a second time the party suffered a TPK because no one was willing to help each other. I’m going to miss this party of Genasi strikers. It was a neat concept that added something extra to the dynamic and the weekly games.

How did your party fare against the Drow and her followers? Did anyone face a TPK? Did any of the PCs flee? After all, their job was done and there was no reason for them to fight.

We continue to record our D&D Encounters sessions and make them available to you for download every week. This season I’m going to try to record the games at both FLGS where I play so that you can hear how two very different groups handled the same encounter. These recordings are made in a loud, crowded game store so at times it may be difficult to hear everyone.

D&D Encounters: The Elder Elemental Eye (Week 11) – Podcasts

• Harry T North session
• Dueling Grounds session

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The third Lair Assault has almost run its course and we finally got a chance to run a few sessions at my FLGS. I’m going to assume by now that anyone who is interested in Lair Assault has already played Attack of the Tyrantclaw. That being the case this article will contain a lot of spoilers so that I can speak to direct problems, issues, and tactics. Hopefully it will help DMs who plan to run this adventure again and it will inspire players who haven’t yet defeated the Orcs on Dinosaurs.

There was plenty of interest in playing this season but we had a lot of trouble arranging a time that worked for all of our regulars. By the time we finally got around to playing it was mid-April and the season was half over. But this actually turned out to be a good thing. As the DM for the first event I was able to search the internet for tips and tricks before I ran the first game and am I ever glad I did. Reading about some of the problems other tables experienced gave me time to review some of the rules and be ready to make the right call if similar situations occurred at my table.

Below are tips, tricks, and advice for players and DMs. We’ve also got recordings of three session of Lair Assault: Attack of the Tyrantclaw below for anyone who was unable to play this season themselves but wants to hear how much fun it was to fight Dinosaurs and try to survive. The first two sessions (which I ran as the DM) resulted in TPKs. The third session (in which I played) we won. Enjoy and good luck!

The Party

Although you don’t have to kill all the monsters in order to defeat this lair assault killing a lot of them will certainly make things easier. That being said I strongly encourage you to bring a few strikers with you. In the three times I’ve seen this adventure played it’s never lasted more than seven rounds. That doesn’t give each characters a lot of actions so it’s important that the attack actions actually hit and score a lot of damage when they do.

The party should have a couple of strikers. They should be strikers that hit hard. I like Rangers using Twin Strike and Sorcerers (especially the new Elementalist build). Rogues should be completely discounted as it will be too difficult to guarantee that they get combat advantage every round. A striker who can’t deal his extra damage is useless. Assuming you’ve got a ranged striker or two place at least one on top of the battlement and have at it. They’re more likely to draw the attention of the flying Dinosaurs so be ready for it. Take powers, feats, or items with will either keep you grounded, allow you to escape easily or soften your landing. Anyone on the battlement will be too far away from leaders to get healed so you need to be self sufficient when it comes to healing.

Every PC must have the means to heal themselves aside from Second Wind. Potions are good but they require actions to draw and consume, not to mention a free hand. Personally I like to multiclass into a leader so that you can heal yourself or an ally with a minor action. If your class offers powers that let you or allies spend a surge, strongly consider taking it. Regeneration is good, but remember that most regeneration doesn’t work unless you’re bloodied and won’t help you if you fall unconscious. Temporary hit points can be better than healing powers because they allow healthy PCs to buff up before they even take damage. If you can combine temps with easy healing you should survive any Lair Assault.

If all the PCs can be self sufficient then you may not even need a leader. I’d only discount a leader if your party is very experienced and has a solid game plan. If it’s just five strangers getting together at the FLGS you’ll need a leader or you’re toast.

I think the ideal party would be three strikers, a controller who can control the battlefield and a defender. The defender need to mark the biggest, baddest Dinosaurs and lock them down. If they can mark the flying monsters, so much the better. I also think that five strikers could really do a lot of damage quickly and quite possibly handle this without any of the other roles. They may get killed by they’ll certainly have fun in the process.

Equipment

Lair Assault is intended to challenge the best of the best. It encourages you to create the most min/maxed, power-gamed character you can possibly imagine. What really separates the men from the boys is item selection. If you really do your homework you’ll find that there are some items that really make a huge difference in Lair Assaults. With this adventure the must-have item is the Pixie Music Box (PMB). For 50 gp any PC can purchase this piece of regular equipment (it’s not even magical!) and keep the Dinosaurs at bay.

For those not familiar with this item here’s the relevant passage from the Compendium.

When the shell is opened, a childlike chorus of pixie voices sounds from within it for the next six hours. While the music is sounding, natural beasts won’t approach or attack anyone in the sound’s area (a 20-square radius).

Any party that activates a PMB should have no trouble overcoming this adventure. However, after a lot of parties used this “cheat” to overcome the challenge DMs took to the internet and tried to come up with ways to counter this uber-powerful item.

The most obvious way to counter the PMB is to destroy it. The Dinosaurs won’t come near it, but the Orcs certainly will. I think it’s safe to say that an unattended PMB has defenses of 10 and 1 hit point. So all it takes is a single Orc to smash it. If a PC decides that he’s going to hold the PMB and protect it we’ve ruled that the PMB will use the PCs defenses and that a hit from a weapon will destroy the PMB but not hurt the PC. Blasts and bursts target everyone including the PMB.

Regardless of how DMs try to counter the PMB it only costs 50 gp so it’s plausible that every PC will have one and in some cases PCs may even have more than one each.

The other option is to alter the way the PMB actually works. Once active the Dinosaurs become passive. If attacked in this state I think that monsters should either get a save to counter the music’s passive influence or get to act normally for 1 round. Of course the DM could just be a jerk and say that thee Dinosaurs are special and cannot be affected by the PMB, but that really seems like a screw you to the players. After all, they didn’t make the item they just found it in the Heroes of the Feywild and saw its potential.

Resources

Pixie Music Box aside there are still a lot of things you can do to improve you party’s chances of success. It starts with spending your resource points. At the beginning of the adventure you can purchase boxes or ballista to help you defend Hyacinth. After playing this a few times and reading a lot of the feedback on the forums the overwhelming consensus is that the ballista are next to useless given their cost. At first the magic ballista sounded like a good idea. After all, it amounted to a few attack against the Dinosaurs every round. The problem we faced was that it missed more often than it hit (usually because of poor rolling by us) and even when it hit the damage was only 1d8+3 which averaged around 7. It was nice, but not a game charger at all. If you do go with a ballista place it on top of the ramparts. The will keep it from getting attacked by the majority of creatures.

You’re better off spending your resources to purchase 20 small boxes. Spread them out so that no more than 3 or 4 can ever be targeted with burst 1 or blast 3 attacks. The crates have 20 hit points each and that’s damage better absorbed by a box than a PC. By creating a maze from all the boxes you can control the flow of Orcs without the need for a controller. It also allows defenders to really shine as all the Orcs need to come through them. The crates also work well to keep the land-based Dinosaurs away from Hyacinth initially. Although they can try to climb over the crates it seems more likely that they stop and smash the boxes (at least that’s what happened when we played).

Combat Tactics

The party gets to decide where to place Hyacinth, however, she must be in a square adjacent to the obelisk. I feel that placing her facing one of the two huts provides a significant advantage. Initially the hut and pools of boiling oil make things difficult for approaching monsters. Add to that the placement of the boxes and things become a lot easier. The monsters will naturally move to attack the Druid head on. If there are still a lot of monsters around at the beginning of the fifth round they’ll be in for a nasty surprise when the tar pits boil over. Say goodbye to any lingering minions.

DM Tactics

My favourite tactic when I ran this was to have the flying Dinosaurs grab a PC and fly away with him. Few players realized the danger and didn’t really work that hard to free themselves. I had the monsters fly up at their maximum speed for a couple of rounds and then drop the PC. A dinosaur with a flying speed of 8 that double moves each round will add an additional 80 ft or +8d10 to falling damage. The only way to mitigate falling damage is if you’re trained in Acrobatics or have an item or power that will let you do so. I killed two PCs this way in my first run-through. Dropping them into boiling oil was extreme insult to injury.

My only real criticism about this adventure is that it doesn’t clearly indicate what to do wit the combatants once the T-rex appears. Do the Orcs fight the T-rex or keep fighting the PCs? Does the T-rex consider the Orcs or other Dinosaurs allies or will it attack them (including taking opportunity attacks)? Is the T-rex considered an ally for purposes of flanking? What happens when the T-rex is reduced to 0 hit points if there are still other Orcs and Dinosaurs on the board? Do the PCs have to keep fighting them to win? Do they still need to protect Hyacinth?
Two DMs

I’m not normally a fan of using two DMs but given the quantity of monsters that enter the fray and attack simultaneously this is one adventure when a DM’s assistant might actually be a good thing. With four waves of monsters (five if you count the T-rex) there’s a lot of stuff for any one DM to keep track of. If the party lacks strikers or a decent controller then they won’t kill off the monsters that quickly which means a very crowded battle mat and a lot of work for the DM. Bring a friend and give him half the monsters to run. It will speed things up and likely make things a lot easier for any DM no matter how experienced you are.

Actual Play Podcasts

We managed to play three session of Attack of the Tyrantclaw this season. We’re planning to try and get another run or tow in before month’s end, but for now we stand at three. As mentioned above two parties were wiped out, one was victorious. Listen to what we did right, what we did wrong and some creative and sometimes nasty tactics by the DM.

• Lair Assault – Session 1 (2 hours 59 minutes)
• Lair Assault – Session 2 (2 hours 27 minutes)
• Lair Assault – Session 3 (2 hours 39 minutes)

Have you played Attack of the Tyrantclaw? Did you win? Did you use the Pixie Music Box? How have other DMs handled the PMB? What tactics did you use that worked or didn’t work? What party composition, classes or races would you recommend or not?

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