|
The first session was great (I started at chapter 4 for those who don't recall). I warned the players that this was hard stuff, and so they really optimized well... a bit too well, perhaps, but we'll see. They walked through the Umber Hulk in 2 rounds (my bad on forgetting the SR, but that was only 6 points of damage... the big guy went down on massive fighter damage).
I then flew the dragon too close to the party (not the recommended 30' up), did a very nice 6d10 to 4 party members, took half his remaining HP in a round from the melee types, withdrew to 30' and got roasted by the psion prior to his third action, then died from the falling damage. Then they hit me with an interesting twist: the cleric plans to "speak with dead" to locate its horde... "horde?!" says I ... "oh yeah, sure the horde... of course. Well look at that clock!"
So next time, we're going to deal with that. I've used my treasure generator to whip up a suitable horde for the appropriate CR dragon, but I could use some input on where it would be and what the dragon's corpse would say in response to the magic question. Clearly, it would answer in draconic, but there's someone who speaks that language there. It would tell them only in general terms... perhaps directions that are only meaningful to someone who is flying (e.g. "the tallest tree in the jungle canopy a few miles to the east has a cave near its base")? Or does jr. still live in papa's lair? If so, then the players could be in for a very bad time....
Don't forget that speak with dead allows a Will save, so it's quite possible the PCs will get no information from the dragon.
But I did have the impression that the dragon still lives with his dad. I don't have the book right in front of me, but I think there's a rumor that Hookface has been seen recently, but it's actually his son instead. I got the impression from that that they still lived together. If you decide that's the case, you should make it clear to your party that this particular challenge is probably beyond them.
|
|
Don't forget that speak with dead allows a Will save, so it's quite possible the PCs will get no information from the dragon.
Yep, I'm definitely on that one.
But I did have the impression that the dragon still lives with his dad. I don't have the book right in front of me, but I think there's a rumor that Hookface has been seen recently, but it's actually his son instead.
That's certainly one of the rumor table entries, but there's no direct statement of where he lives. My impression was that he'd moved out, but was still looking to build his capabilities and horde before heading out to find his own territory. So, he's probably in a lair which is close to Hookface's, but not actually the same lair. I'll let the PC's recover the horde if they want to take the time, and the corpse fails its will save, though I'll make them work for it in the sense that a) there's going to be some obscurity to the directions and b) they'll have to deal with whatever defenses the dragon has.