Topic: The Dungeon and Dragons Thread

Well sorry for how long it took me to get back here lol, I've had a busy month, no dnd updates on my part sadly. I think we'll be continuing our main campaign next week though.
@Tasuki Glad you enjoyed Frozen Sick! I had a lot of fun with that one-shot, funnily enough the part the group had most fun playing wasn't in the book. At the journey part where the party needs to cross a lake our dm improvised a monster encounter with some mist creatures (homebrew) that was pretty dang fun. It's a pretty adaptable adventure that'd I'd definitely recommend. Glad your group has been able to meet together again too.
@Tyranexx Ah scheduling conflicts, the one true curse of D&D. Also, I sent the Grim Hollow setting to my group and they also seemed to take an interest in it, sounds like we might do a one-shot there eventually, thanks for the link!

@Tyranexx I think the Drake Warden is in the Fizbans Treasury of Dragons book right? That sounds like a pretty cool class. As for the one shots do you have any plans on what you character you are going to play for those?

@Tasuki Now THAT would be a cool adventure, even if that lost Dwarven stronghold isn't all it's fabled to be. I wonder if the modern dwarves will be so forthcoming with their information?

@FroZtedFlake Yeah, scheduling has been a pain lately. Doesn't help that I'm currently recovering from mild illness as well. On Grim Hollow: No problem! I think it appeals to many who like dark fantasy settings. Let me know if that one-shot ever materializes; I'd like to know how things go.

@Themagusx1 The Drake Warden is indeed in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. One of the other players has the guide and makes sure to bring it when we're playing so that I can reference it if needed. The great thing is that my character was almost tailored for it by the point I switched anyway since she managed to tame a guard drake and was in the process of learning Draconic in order to communicate with it. The DM was letting me pick between the drake or my wolf guardian for battle (never both lol).

Not sure on the one-shots yet. Still haven't heard anything new on that front.

@FroZtedFlake Yeah I definitely enjoyed DMing it. It definitely be an adventure I recommend.

@Tyranexx Well we will see what will happen, but first the players have some training to do as they will be selecting their subclasses next session.

@Tyranexx That’s cool how your character came together so well. So what would be your characters greatest accomplishment so far? You just have a very well put together character. And that’s cool about the one shots.

Seems that we will be meeting this weekend. The usual campaign. I'm curious to see what'll happen next in the castle. Where we last left off, our group was trying to flush out the basement of any potential Bollywogs and cultists. We happened across the Bollywog leader and took him out. Then we had to take one of our group members out since he triggered a trapped chest, despite us knowing full well it was trapped....Shame Mage Hand doesn't have a longer range than 30 feet.

@Tasuki Ah, so they just hit level 3? Insert I'll Make A Man Out Of You training montage

@Themagusx1 Hmm...Her greatest accomplishment? Outside of a couple of REALLY lucky shots with her longbow - one of which saved another character from getting kidnapped by doppelgangers - I'd have to say the group effort that it took to try to oust the cultists from the swamp castle. Though that's technically not finished yet. It helps to be on good terms with the Lizardfolk and speak Draconic, but also because she's a bona fide animal nut and helped keep the Giant Lizards in check so that the last huge battle we were in didn't turn into a crapshoot lol.

@Tyranexx Yeah they just hit level 3 so the fighter, Bard, Monk will be selecting their subclasses. My son who's playing the Bloodhunter isn't quite sure if he wants to take a subclass or multiclass. So this will be an interesting session.

@Tyranexx That must of been a hell of a shot then to save your party member. It does help to be in good terms with the lizard folk. And man mage hand is such a useful spell but it’s range is a little weak. Of course I am curious about this castle you are in. You said you took out the leader but you gotta flush out some of the cultists left? Has the castle been a tough challenge or was it not?

@Tasuki It'll be interesting to know what subclasses everyone goes with. Or if they multiclass. I know you can multiclass in 5e, but I haven't played in a game yet that has any characters that do so.

I'm looking forward to the next time we revisit the Grim Hollow setting, which won't be this weekend. Our characters may hit level 3, and I'll likely go the Arcane Trickster route with my Rogue. I was thinking of using something in the setting that's somewhat similar, a Misfortune Bringer, but I had second thoughts. It'll be more fun to be a knockoff mage. XD

@Themagusx1 More like a very good D20 roll lol. I can't recall if it was a natural 20 or a number close to it. Fully agreed on Mage Hand. The castle is a slowly moldering wreck stuck in the middle of a swamp; some parts of it are inhabitable, but much of the ground floor and especially parts of the basement are muddy and wet. A few towers and other areas are crumbling and falling in too.

The castle has been a challenge since we were grossly outnumbered by the Cult of the Dragon and their tenuous allies. That did include the Lizardfolk, but they're on terrible relations with the Bollywogs since the Bollywog leader killed their leader. The Lizardfolk just want to be left in peace. The Bollywogs were only sticking around because they wanted to claim the castle after the cultists eventually stopped using it as an outpost. We're mostly trying to oust the cult from the castle. We've taken out a lot of their leadership (see earlier in the thread for a full rundown), but the half dragon lady running the show, Rezmir, escaped. I have a feeling we'll see her again....She's very bad news and is partially the reason we lost our Oathbreaker paladin.

@Tyranexx The best kind of d20 roll So this half dragon lady is she in the castle too? Your campaign sounds awesome, I been catching up Im this thread on your exploits. So you said your game resumes this weekend?

@Themagusx1 Yep, just about to leave for the session in fact. The campaign we're in is called Tyranny of Dragons. We're trying to prevent the rise of Tiamat. Very bad news if she comes back. To our knowledge, Rezmir left the castle completely...for now. I'm pretty sure it was a tactical retreat and not out of fear however.

@Tyranexx So manged to play a session tonight, nothing major. The group just made it back to the village, and sold off some stuff they found and didn't need anymore. Mostly just a RP session but they did get a few more adventure hook thrown at them.

@Tyranexx now that the half dragon lady escaped, do you and your party have an idea of where she went? No Tiamat is not a good thing at all. I hope you don’t have to fight her. Have you seen her stats in Fizban treasury of dragons?

We finished exploring the castle last night. We started off by exploring the rest of the basement; the only encounter we had down there was with a horde of giant frogs. The attack was seemingly unprovoked...until we discovered the chamber full of (giant) tadpoles. The kobold Warlock wanted to finish them off, but my character was firmly against that and (threateningly) talked him out of it. Our group took a short rest and expended some hit dice for recovery, helped by our Bard using Mass Cure Wounds. Same day as the big battle against the cultists, after all.

We then went up the central tower that we hadn't explored at all. Nothing of much note on the second floor, but the third and final floor had clearly been used as a sort of astral observatory at some point. Ironically, the only character who DIDN'T have any aptitude with the arcane (mine) rolled high enough to know what this thing was. It was a magical telescope known as the farseer of Illusk, which can be used for both astrological and ground observations. My Bow of Warning, despite finding no traps in the room, was going crazy, so we didn't fully enter the room. (I suspect the described gargoyles outside were the problem but have no proof).

Up a different tower to go through Boringray's (SP) things, nothing major of note there besides a painted effigy of a certain five-headed dragon on a lone door of an empty second floor room. Up the final tower where we knew there was a library on the second floor, and Rezmir's office and quarters on the third and last. Some cultists were holed up in the library, we extricated them (violently), and...I made a couple of simultaneously my best and worst rolls of the evening. My character rolled a 1 for an attack, misfired their bow, hit my poor guard drake instead, and did maximum damage (11). Then when the drake moved, one of my two rolls for its Multiattack was a 1 as well, and retribution was visited on my character through an elementally infused bite attack. X_X Which I also rolled high for. At least the tail attack didn't connect with a friendly. We almost - but not quite - had our weakened bard knocked out again during this fight.

We looted Rezmir's office, someone accidentally set off an acid vial reaction in one of her wardrobes (this half dragon likes opulence; her outfits and the decor were insane), causing some minor damage to most of the group. Our sorceror made off with a very valuable small black dragon statue, and the rest of us made off with two gems apiece (minus the gnome NPC with us, who only kept one) and some gold.

Finished exploring the castle, our entire group hit level 11! FINALLY! Either my ranger or her drake can use the Drake Warden's totally OP breath weapon once per long rest for free. Then I'd have to blow a third level spell slot otherwise.

At 11th level, as an action, you can exhale a 30-foot cone of damaging breath or cause your drake to exhale it. Choose acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison damage (your choice doesn’t have to match your drake’s Draconic Essence). Each creature in the cone must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, taking 8d6 damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

This damage increases to 10d6 when you reach 15th level in this class.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher to use it again.

@Tasuki RP sessions can be quite fun! Some interesting situations can definitely come about that way, plus it's a nice break from endless combat. Not too unlike what we just went through in our main campaign lol. I'm curious about which adventure hook they'll follow.

@Themagusx1 No idea on where she went; we know she likely teleported out of there. We found a teleportation circle in the basement, but none of us were crazy enough to try to use it...though we had to talk down the Gnome NPC since she's trying to track down some stolen treasure that we know went through it. We don't know where it goes. Hopefully we avoid Tiamat. I haven't seen her stats in Fizban's - I'll have to ask for a look at our next session since one of the players has the book - but I suspect they're insane. I know enough out of character to know that she's very bad news.

@Tyranexx yeah I relooked at her stats again in my fizban book and she is powerful as all heck. Congrats on reaching level 11; that’s awesome news. Sounds like the castle is up and done with….do you know what the next move is? Your campaign seems like it’s on an interesting track.

@Themagusx1 Thanks! Leveling up has been a long time in coming; it seemed like ages since we last did so lol. We left off just after finishing up with the castle and leveling up last session, so I'm not sure what's up next. My guess is we'll receive some sort of lead next time, or maybe try figuring out what we can about that basement portal.

@Tyranexx Thatw cool hopefully you can find the lead soon. I am curious what’s next, I take you guys did not play this weekend?

@Tyranexx Another great session last night. So the group finally returned to the town where all this started, Palebank Village to see the results of their success. The group spent the day and night drinking and celebrating their success while regailing the tavern patrons the story of their first major adventure!! As the group got into the wee hours of the early morning they ended up discussing some things about their own pasts, and growing closer together as a group. It was during this point that the group decided to head to Uthodorn the capital city of the Dwarves to do some more research on they legend of the lost Dwarven city. The totrtle Monk at that point decided to also head back to his temple to perhaps find out some info about the lost city. The group accompanied him as well and got a peak into the lifestyle of a Monk. After meeting with the master privately, each member found out a little bit more about themselves. It was at this time that the teifling bloodhunter offered a peak into the shadow realm where he was raised to the group as he teleported the group from the temple to Palebank. Following that the group decided to prepare themselves for the journey to Uthadorn.

@Themagusx1 Nope. We usually play every other weekend depending on availability. Two of the group had a combined b-day/anniversary celebration this weekend, so we didn't play.

@Tasuki Sounds like another decent RP session with some travel thrown in. I found some art for Uthodurn; it seems like a very intriguing underground city. Definitely Dwarvish in nature, but it appears there are some Elves as well? Some neat peeks into the lives of the other party members before they started their adventure. I'm curious as to what that glimpse in the Shadow Realm looked like. My guess is it's nothing like in Yu-Gi-Oh.

@Tyranexx Every other week sounds like a good schedule. My group has not played in a whole, but last we saw my group they were trying to figure out what the mysterious star scourge is. The players found out due to some ingenuity by my players. I love when my players pull some thing out of their hat and throw a twist to me. That’s what makes this game great. Have you seen a lot of curveballs in your game?