Ok so I’m going to be DMing for my first time in April it’ll be the first of a series of one shots that my group will take turns DMing that revolves around an adventure guild the group is level 10. My thoughts are the guild is hired by a village because livestock is being taken the group is sent out to investigate. Upon arrival to the village leader comes out to great them, he fills them in on the problem and informs them that since the request was made one of the towns best hunters went out to investigate and hasn't returned. Being given a rough direction the group heads down the road, on the path they are attack by a group of devils equal to CR3 as a warm up, soon after they see a wizard fighting a spined demon, as they get up there 3 more devils join the fight, after the battle the wizard introduces himself and says he is cleansing the area of devils, and has reason to believe there is a group attempting to summon a much more powerful devil. They join forces and eventually make it to the place where they believe they summoning will happen, only they arrive just in time to see a Erinyes (or possibly another devil In her place) when they advance to challenge her she gets ready to destroy them, but then the wizard removes his hood, she recognizes him as the reason she was summoned and tell the adventures if they choose to kill him now she will not be forced to whip them into submission *patting her whip as she speaks*, whether they kill him or not she attacks them (as you can’t trust a devil) and they have to kill her. (The livestock stolen were to feed those that summoned her.) what are y’all’s thoughts? I would ask my regular DM but this is his first game that he’s a player not DM so I don’t want to spoil it for him. Thanks in advance
That's not a bad little adventure for your party to go on. One thing that I would object to, but is more a matter of personal taste, is the idea that the Erinyes would immediately break her promise and attack the PCs. Devils are considered Lawful Evil (as opposed to Demons, which are Chaotic Evil), and I find it more interesting to lean into the idea that Devils always keep their word... but they're also very literal with the exact wording of what they said. So the Erinyes might say, "If you kill the wizard, I will not kill you"... and if they obey she doesn't, but instead focuses on abducting and enslaving them, since it's not literally "killing" them.
Might be easier for her to say "I promise I won't take you as slaves".
Then when she turns to attack she can retort, "I didn't say I wouldn't kill you". It also makes combat easier because if she gave her word not to kill them, then the combat has to be non-lethal for her to keep her bargain.
Another option would be to weave her threads deeper into the campaign, rather than a quickly resolved twist.
Presumably she is on the material plane for some reason - banished or summoned, perhaps. She can say to the party "I promise I will not kill you". If they take her up on this, amulets materialize around their necks made of dark metal, and if they try to remove them they constrict (DC18 strength to prevent the constriction, but they can't be removed. if they relax, they loosen again). She tells them that they will be her champions, and must bring to her the sorcerer who summoned her to this realm - who she wants to open more portals and, literally, unleash hell. The amulets prevent them attacking her, and if they spend too long trying or ignoring her, she will dismiss them with a wave of her hand, a ringing command and a teleportation spell.
The party can then side with the sorcerer to find a way to banish the fiend instead of opening hell, and this will break the cursed amulets on the party. Meanwhile, if there's a warlock in the party (or anyone interested in multiclassing into one) the Pit Fiend can be whispering them to tempt them into using her as a patron. When the fiend is banished, that player might find the amulet still in their pocket, as a choice to make to become a warlock with the pit fiend as a patron.
In my personal opinion, you have a disconnect when a 10th level group of professional buttkickers are investigating sheep rustling. It all comes out even, because it appears to be an actual invasion from the netherworld that they have to stop, but I feel like your players would probably be maybe the second or third actual group to look into this, where the second one found the remains of the first one and decided they were in over their head and get the level 10 guys.
Also, why was the wizard the reason the final boss was summoned? I feel like the wizard is the real key to our story here.
ETA: Also, just because something is designed to be a one-shot doesn't mean it can't be reusable. The characters can just be dragged to hell by a powerful archdevil to fight for his amusement. And that can happen every time you do a one-shot.
I heard that a great twist to for DMing is giving the PCs a moral decision so the wizard is there to make them question there character morality. And the afterlife gladiator battle arena sounds fun.
Ok so I’m going to be DMing for my first time in April it’ll be the first of a series of one shots that my group will take turns DMing that revolves around an adventure guild the group is level 10. My thoughts are the guild is hired by a village because livestock is being taken the group is sent out to investigate. Upon arrival to the village leader comes out to great them, he fills them in on the problem and informs them that since the request was made one of the towns best hunters went out to investigate and hasn't returned. Being given a rough direction the group heads down the road, on the path they are attack by a group of devils equal to CR3 as a warm up, soon after they see a wizard fighting a spined demon, as they get up there 3 more devils join the fight, after the battle the wizard introduces himself and says he is cleansing the area of devils, and has reason to believe there is a group attempting to summon a much more powerful devil. They join forces and eventually make it to the place where they believe they summoning will happen, only they arrive just in time to see a Erinyes (or possibly another devil In her place) when they advance to challenge her she gets ready to destroy them, but then the wizard removes his hood, she recognizes him as the reason she was summoned and tell the adventures if they choose to kill him now she will not be forced to whip them into submission *patting her whip as she speaks*, whether they kill him or not she attacks them (as you can’t trust a devil) and they have to kill her. (The livestock stolen were to feed those that summoned her.) what are y’all’s thoughts? I would ask my regular DM but this is his first game that he’s a player not DM so I don’t want to spoil it for him. Thanks in advance
That's not a bad little adventure for your party to go on. One thing that I would object to, but is more a matter of personal taste, is the idea that the Erinyes would immediately break her promise and attack the PCs. Devils are considered Lawful Evil (as opposed to Demons, which are Chaotic Evil), and I find it more interesting to lean into the idea that Devils always keep their word... but they're also very literal with the exact wording of what they said. So the Erinyes might say, "If you kill the wizard, I will not kill you"... and if they obey she doesn't, but instead focuses on abducting and enslaving them, since it's not literally "killing" them.
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That’s kinda what I was thinking, and so that’s why she doesn’t say she won’t kill them, she only says she won’t force them into servitude.
Ah, I think I misread your original statement. In that case, yeah, I think this is a good quick layout for an adventure to lead your party through.
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Might be easier for her to say "I promise I won't take you as slaves".
Then when she turns to attack she can retort, "I didn't say I wouldn't kill you". It also makes combat easier because if she gave her word not to kill them, then the combat has to be non-lethal for her to keep her bargain.
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Another option would be to weave her threads deeper into the campaign, rather than a quickly resolved twist.
Presumably she is on the material plane for some reason - banished or summoned, perhaps. She can say to the party "I promise I will not kill you". If they take her up on this, amulets materialize around their necks made of dark metal, and if they try to remove them they constrict (DC18 strength to prevent the constriction, but they can't be removed. if they relax, they loosen again). She tells them that they will be her champions, and must bring to her the sorcerer who summoned her to this realm - who she wants to open more portals and, literally, unleash hell. The amulets prevent them attacking her, and if they spend too long trying or ignoring her, she will dismiss them with a wave of her hand, a ringing command and a teleportation spell.
The party can then side with the sorcerer to find a way to banish the fiend instead of opening hell, and this will break the cursed amulets on the party. Meanwhile, if there's a warlock in the party (or anyone interested in multiclassing into one) the Pit Fiend can be whispering them to tempt them into using her as a patron. When the fiend is banished, that player might find the amulet still in their pocket, as a choice to make to become a warlock with the pit fiend as a patron.
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In my personal opinion, you have a disconnect when a 10th level group of professional buttkickers are investigating sheep rustling. It all comes out even, because it appears to be an actual invasion from the netherworld that they have to stop, but I feel like your players would probably be maybe the second or third actual group to look into this, where the second one found the remains of the first one and decided they were in over their head and get the level 10 guys.
Also, why was the wizard the reason the final boss was summoned? I feel like the wizard is the real key to our story here.
ETA: Also, just because something is designed to be a one-shot doesn't mean it can't be reusable. The characters can just be dragged to hell by a powerful archdevil to fight for his amusement. And that can happen every time you do a one-shot.
I heard that a great twist to for DMing is giving the PCs a moral decision so the wizard is there to make them question there character morality. And the afterlife gladiator battle arena sounds fun.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking, I’m going with the whip into shape thing cause it’s a terrible pun/ dad joke which my friends expect from me.