So I am completely new to DMing and currently running my first module which is the start kits module. So the Hunter in our group decided he wanted to go, horizon walker, after reading the description. My question is should I hide a portal so he can at least get some use of "Detect Portal". I would love some ideas if you think I should. My group is a bunch of first time D&D players so I would love them to enjoy the game to the fullest so they want to continue the game.
I hope this is an appropriate post in this thread if not I'd love direction on where this post should be.
I have a horizon walker in my game. We've only been playing for a few months so I haven't given her too many portals but so far I've used: 1. A weakened portal that is just a mirror reflecting into the Fey wild. 2. Broken water basin that was a portal into celestial realm, but it has left a lingering effect on the area (they got a bonus for taking a long rest there, water had simple healing properties while in the basin) and 3. A mouse hole in the wall that is a portal into a pocket dimension on some demiplane. A NPC has been using the portal to hide items.
I've been having fun with the portal creation, right now they are small little insignificant things but I plan on making the stakes higher as they progress. For example, there is a massive sinkhole in the world ~20 miles across, and expanding. Eventually it will become a plot point to stop this sink hole from growing and devouring the world. At the bottom of the sink hole is a portal to different plane (haven't decided where yet, this is midgame stuff haha). Because souls are important in this world, I'm thinking that so they don't have their soul destroyed while plane traveling/get stuck in the other world/ or some DM magic stuff idk, that they have to essentially make a phylactery that will bind their bodies to the material plane so they can return. Obviously when my horizon walker encounters the sinkhole for the first time, she will know it's a portal and make her character feel special since no one else has been able to figure out why this sinkhole exists.
Anyways, this is how I've been playing out portals for my Horizon Walker. Hope it helps spark some ideas. :)
If this is your first campaign, I’d recommend against it. Largely because if there is a portal, the party will want to go through it, and then you’re on the hook for designing the area and then getting them back. But at that point, they’ll have earned more do and treasure than expected for the module, which may throw things off. Besides that, detect portal is one of the ribbon abilities, imo, (they’re nice and pretty but not very useful) that many classes get. I wouldn’t blow anything up for them to get a chance to use it. Not everything will be useful in every campaign, and that’s ok. Maybe after you finish the module, they’ll want to keep the characters and then you can homebrew some planar travel.
The Detect Portal ability tells distance and direction to a portal within 1 mile. That is pretty darn specific. Even if you put a portal in your world, he'd have to almost know it's there beforehand, to Detect it. The odds you're just going to happen to be within 1 mile of a portal at the time of casting, due to random chance, are vanishingly small.
Also there is nothing that says it has to be open when they get there. Nor that it can't be defended. Well. Maybe he detects a portal letting Balors into the world. Good luck with that.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Thanks so much for the advice. Unfortunately, our Hunter went alone for awhile... And well he died... He currently rerolling another character now.
For an adventure hook idea, wait a few levels, then have the ghost of the dead Horizon Walker show up and lead them to a portal that leads to some extra-dimensional dungeon or something like that.
Thanks so much for the advice. Unfortunately, our Hunter went alone for awhile... And well he died... He currently rerolling another character now.
There is a reason why the mantra "Never split the party" exists. A single character on their own is very vulnerable to many things unless they have a reliable way to escape.
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Hello,
So I am completely new to DMing and currently running my first module which is the start kits module. So the Hunter in our group decided he wanted to go, horizon walker, after reading the description. My question is should I hide a portal so he can at least get some use of "Detect Portal". I would love some ideas if you think I should. My group is a bunch of first time D&D players so I would love them to enjoy the game to the fullest so they want to continue the game.
I hope this is an appropriate post in this thread if not I'd love direction on where this post should be.
ProfessorGoBack
I have a horizon walker in my game. We've only been playing for a few months so I haven't given her too many portals but so far I've used: 1. A weakened portal that is just a mirror reflecting into the Fey wild. 2. Broken water basin that was a portal into celestial realm, but it has left a lingering effect on the area (they got a bonus for taking a long rest there, water had simple healing properties while in the basin) and 3. A mouse hole in the wall that is a portal into a pocket dimension on some demiplane. A NPC has been using the portal to hide items.
I've been having fun with the portal creation, right now they are small little insignificant things but I plan on making the stakes higher as they progress. For example, there is a massive sinkhole in the world ~20 miles across, and expanding. Eventually it will become a plot point to stop this sink hole from growing and devouring the world. At the bottom of the sink hole is a portal to different plane (haven't decided where yet, this is midgame stuff haha). Because souls are important in this world, I'm thinking that so they don't have their soul destroyed while plane traveling/get stuck in the other world/ or some DM magic stuff idk, that they have to essentially make a phylactery that will bind their bodies to the material plane so they can return. Obviously when my horizon walker encounters the sinkhole for the first time, she will know it's a portal and make her character feel special since no one else has been able to figure out why this sinkhole exists.
Anyways, this is how I've been playing out portals for my Horizon Walker. Hope it helps spark some ideas. :)
If this is your first campaign, I’d recommend against it. Largely because if there is a portal, the party will want to go through it, and then you’re on the hook for designing the area and then getting them back. But at that point, they’ll have earned more do and treasure than expected for the module, which may throw things off.
Besides that, detect portal is one of the ribbon abilities, imo, (they’re nice and pretty but not very useful) that many classes get. I wouldn’t blow anything up for them to get a chance to use it.
Not everything will be useful in every campaign, and that’s ok. Maybe after you finish the module, they’ll want to keep the characters and then you can homebrew some planar travel.
The Detect Portal ability tells distance and direction to a portal within 1 mile. That is pretty darn specific. Even if you put a portal in your world, he'd have to almost know it's there beforehand, to Detect it. The odds you're just going to happen to be within 1 mile of a portal at the time of casting, due to random chance, are vanishingly small.
Also there is nothing that says it has to be open when they get there. Nor that it can't be defended. Well. Maybe he detects a portal letting Balors into the world. Good luck with that.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Thanks so much for the advice. Unfortunately, our Hunter went alone for awhile... And well he died... He currently rerolling another character now.
For an adventure hook idea, wait a few levels, then have the ghost of the dead Horizon Walker show up and lead them to a portal that leads to some extra-dimensional dungeon or something like that.
There is a reason why the mantra "Never split the party" exists. A single character on their own is very vulnerable to many things unless they have a reliable way to escape.