Bodacious presents: Red Hand of Doom (A5E) (Inactive)

Game Master BodaciousGaming

Miha Serani

Narrator Introduction/Expectations of Play:

Please know that I am a DM/GM/Narrator of integrity, and one that values a satisfying narrative experience and player agency above all other things. I trust players to track their own HP, and will likely not check behind players on things like spell slots or resources. I expect that trust returned as I make the most efficient use of my time in rolling behind the screen on Roll20, where I have all of this material prepped for 5e. This material has been converted from 3.5 to 5e, and now to A5E. Therefore monster stats haven't been tested extensively. I'm relying on my own grasp of 5e, and adjusting based on my observed differences between the original 5e and newer Advanced 5e mechanics. Some things I acknowledge will need to be tweaked on the fly.

I will be rolling initiative and some of your saves behind the screen and narrating the results for efficiency of posting. I don't do this to rob players of agency, but rather to streamline play, so we can hopefully complete the campaign with some measure of timeliness. If a feature requires you to know the die rolled, I can provide that if asked, but will not be doing so by default, as navigating back and forth from mobile browser windows as a default practice is impractical for 90-95% of the game.

Character Creation:

Character creation:

Level Up A5E rules PDF’s

-Starting at level 5 with only A5E sources listed in the Adventurer’s Guide or Gate Pass Gazette. Most of these can be found for free at A5E.tools
-Stats can be generated by using 30 point buy or by rolling 2d6+6 six times. If your finished scores would come out to be less than 30 point buy, you may roll again or use point buy.
-HP as normal for first level. Subsequent levels take one higher than the average die roll for your hit die. (D12 would take 8, D10 would take 7, etc)
-Characters may take one feat for free at creation. You may commit to your level 6 selection ahead of time and take a synergy feat, but must meet its class level requirements when we hit 6th level.
-Characters start play with a +1 weapon or spellcasting focus and their choice of EITHER 700 gp OR the tier 2 starting package for your class found at Starting gear packages

RHOD House Rules

Setting Info:

Setting Info:

Elsir Vale Map

Here’s a map and some introductory information about the Elsir Vale.

The setting of the adventure is a thinly populated human frontier known as Elsir Vale and the surrounding wilderlands. The vale stretches almost 250 miles east to west and averages
about 70 miles north to south. Several small mountain ranges and dense forests form the vale’s borders. Elsir Vale lies in the subtropical latitudes. Summers are hot and dry (although punctuated by the occasional intense thunderstorm), and winters are warm and rainy. Large stretches of the area are quite arid, and the vale is flanked by vast savannahs stretching for mile after dusty mile. The forests that stretch across most of the vale’s northern reaches are stifling and swelteringly hot in the summertime, with not a breath of wind to relieve the oppressive heat. We’ve set this adventure in the middle of a hot, dry summer. The default temperature for the season is hot (85° to 110° F) during the day and warm (60° to 85° F) at night.

I use a tool known as a Hex Flower to randomly generate the weather for the day. For those unfamiliar, think of it as a random generator with memory of previous results and a weight towards more normalized conditions. Weather extremes are rarer and are generally telegraphed by progressively worsening weather conditions by the day.

Relevant rules for Extreme Heat:

At the end of every hour a creature is exposed to temperatures at or above 100° Fahrenheit (38° Celsius), it makes a Constitution saving throw (DC 4 + 1 per hour spent in extreme heat) or suffers a level of fatigue. Resistance to fire damage, immunity to fire damage, or keeping a light pack (less than half carrying capacity) grants an automatic success on this save, whereas a creature wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or heavy clothing has disadvantage. Creatures native to an extreme heat environment also automatically succeed on their saving throw. Saving throws made against effects or spells that deal fire damage have disadvantage

HISTORY OF THE VALE:

The scattered human towns and villages of the area grew up along the Dawn Way, an important east-west trade road linking the heavily settled lands that lie northwest across the Endless
Plains with the exotic kingdoms and goods of the coastal lands lying to the southeast. Much of the Dawn Way was built by an ancient dwarf-kingdom that spanned the Wyrmsmoke and Giantshield Mountains more than a thousand years ago. While the dwarves are long gone, their roads, bridges, and cisterns remain in use to this day. After the dwarf-realm passed, the presence of various monsters and raiders kept traffic along the Dawn Way light for many years; few caravans dared the long and dangerous trek. Few humans lived in Elsir Vale during those times - Only Scattered settlements of Druidic folk who left behind little more than grassy barrows and stone circles on the hilltops.

About five hundred years ago, the nearby city of Rhest
came to control the vale and a large swath of land north of the Giantshields as well. Soldiers from Rhest secured the roads all the way to Dennovar and beyond, creating a safe passage for trade. More and more traders traveled the Dawn Way, and the kingdom of Rhestilor grew wealthy on the tariffs exacted from the passing merchants. Under the kingdom’s shield, the towns along the Dawn Way—Brindol, Talar, Terrelton, and the rest—grew up from tiny hamlets or lonely soldiers’ posts to flourishing human settlements.
The kingdom of Rhestilor eventually collapsed under civil strife, monstrous incursions, and magical blights. Almost two hundred years ago, the city of Rhest was burned by a savage horde out of the Wyrmsmoke Mountains. Although the warriors of Rhestilor killed many of the goblins and their kind, the city was abandoned and the already weakened kingdom broken. The locks and canals surrounding Rhest fell into disrepair, and the Blackfens swallowed the ruined city.
In the years since the kingdom’s fall, the towns of Elsir Vale have come to look after themselves. Most of the local lords, such as Jarmaath of Brindol, still hold titles derived from the old kingdom of Rhestilor. While everybody knows that the kings of Rhestilor are long dead, no new realm has arisen in the Vale.