I'm thinking of putting together a Theros campaign using Kerano's lost icons of power as the mcguffin. I'm looking for some ideas of a greater threat than seems significant, but won't put the adventure on a ticking clock. I don't want the party to get concerned that taking too long in the quest voyage will cause a failure. Any ideas for a threat that I could say comes to fruition in like a year?
The easiest thing that I could think of, is that they need the icons in order to lift a curse, enter an area, dispel magic, or otherwise proceed to the true end goal. Essentially time isn't an issue because things in that area can't get worse, but they are motivated to quest because they can make them better. You can use one of the mythic monsters in Theros as the end boss for this - Arasta (CR21, spider stuff), Hythonia (CR17, a medusa that I would personally suggest: her regional effects fit, she's not too strong, but not weak enough that the quest must end quickly), Tromokratis (CR26, uber kraken, might work if the area is by the sea, but it's also very strong). You could also use a different legendary creature: List of Legendary Creatures. You probably want one with regional effects and/or lair actions so that you can make some logical "barrier" that the quest must find these items in order to overcome.
Some characters may be motivated simply by the prospect of a heroic quest or monster slaying, but not all. It can help if this area is a hometown, or needed to rescue something that the characters care about. If your player's already have characters, use their backgrounds, motives, divine gifts, ect, to build the story. If not, state some minor details about the story, or use an introductory quest to get some investment into the quest.
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I'm thinking of putting together a Theros campaign using Kerano's lost icons of power as the mcguffin. I'm looking for some ideas of a greater threat than seems significant, but won't put the adventure on a ticking clock. I don't want the party to get concerned that taking too long in the quest voyage will cause a failure. Any ideas for a threat that I could say comes to fruition in like a year?
The easiest thing that I could think of, is that they need the icons in order to lift a curse, enter an area, dispel magic, or otherwise proceed to the true end goal. Essentially time isn't an issue because things in that area can't get worse, but they are motivated to quest because they can make them better. You can use one of the mythic monsters in Theros as the end boss for this - Arasta (CR21, spider stuff), Hythonia (CR17, a medusa that I would personally suggest: her regional effects fit, she's not too strong, but not weak enough that the quest must end quickly), Tromokratis (CR26, uber kraken, might work if the area is by the sea, but it's also very strong). You could also use a different legendary creature: List of Legendary Creatures. You probably want one with regional effects and/or lair actions so that you can make some logical "barrier" that the quest must find these items in order to overcome.
Some characters may be motivated simply by the prospect of a heroic quest or monster slaying, but not all. It can help if this area is a hometown, or needed to rescue something that the characters care about. If your player's already have characters, use their backgrounds, motives, divine gifts, ect, to build the story. If not, state some minor details about the story, or use an introductory quest to get some investment into the quest.