Doc, Javi, Pulga, Dani (or more realistically, just Doc), if you are reading this, stop.
So, I have been DMing a Lost Mine of Phandelver/Dragon of Icespyre Peak campaign for the last year and a half and we are on the last few sessions but I am lacking on ideas about how to implement the last two enemies. Making a long story short, my players are going to fight a Green Dragon that is draining the life of all plant life in the region to accelerate its growth and then, the following day, defend the town of Phandalin from an orc invasion (not very original, I know).
My group consists of a level 7 Circle of the Moon Druid, a level 6 Totem Barbarian that might reach level 7 fighting the dragon, a level 6 Hexblade and a level 6 School of Divination Wizard, though the last one might be replaced by either a Nature Cleric or a Storm Sorcerer, also level 6. That gut's characters just keep being killed, captured and mind controlled, so he has those 3 after some were resurrected and freed, though he is only allowed to use one at a time.
The things I would need most help with are:
1) Challenges for them to face while going to fight the green dragon/approaching the place it is, so that it is not just go there and fight the thing.
2) Phases, challenges or scenes for the siege of Phandalin, if possible things that are not simply combat so that it isn't just like, 5 fights one after anoither.
3) As part of the preparations to fight the horde, they recruited the Gnomes of Gnomengarde, a group of 20 so-so artificers who have like a day to help prepare defenses. They also recruited a group of 6 kobolds to make traps. I was thinking something along the lines of assigning points to both groups and give the players a list of improvements to the defences that they can buy with said points.
Ok, NOW THE LONG VERSION
The Dragon set up draining the life of a tree that represents all plant life in the region. It had two options: it could either us it to mutate all plant life in the region or it could drain it to grow faster. The players assumed that it would make an army, because until recently it was allied with the wizard Glasstaff to make an army of plant monsters. The reason it chose the other option is because it was influenced by a rogue Mindwitness that has the power to inflict nightmares and drive people insane. Said Mindwitness is a previous bad guy from the campaign that the players chose to ignore because they stopped a ritual that let it do so in mass and so it can only do so to one person at a time now, so they considered him low priority. The Mindwitness bears a grudge about this and it was keen on choosing the option that killed the tree because the first plot of the Mindwitness the players interrupted would have killed the Tree and it wants to prove all their actions were pointless by making it die anyways.
The horde of orcs is more like the vanguard, as it will reach the town the day before the main armies from the horde and Neverwinter reach it. It will arrive the day after the party fights the dragon and they only need to last for a day.
On the Dragon Plot:
1) The dragon is accelerating its growth by draining the tree. It is currently in a middle stage between Young and Adult, CR 10. It is basically a slightly weaker Adult. I do realize this might be on the weak side for a boss monster for a level 7 and 3 level 6, but it was already mentioned that it would be at this stage. It could be beefed up due to what I mention in point 2)
2) The Mindwitness is influencing the dragon. As the players chose not to pursue its plot, it is gaining power by pretending to be a god to a group of Kuo-Toa, which means that I am open to suggestions regarding effects (be it environmental or for the dragon) involving psychic powers and nightmares. The Mindwitness influence is represented mostly by people having dreams of eyes made of fire and growing obsessed with them.
3) The dragon has experience building plant monsters so it wouldn't be surprising if some appeared. Blights, Yellow Musk Creepers, Assassin Vines, Man Eating Plants, Awakened Trees, all have been part of the campaing so far. The dragon raised some plants to defend the place it is in before digging in, so anything goes involving them and green dragon regional effects.
4) The fight would take place where the Tree is, an abandoned factory with the thing growing through its roof. The players have experineced with the place, as in a previous quest they stopped a guy that was making drugs with the sap. The place is overgrown.
5) One of my players had a character (a Storm Sorcerer) that died several sessions ago and as a boon for saving the Tree before, its guardian (who has the stats of a Vine Blight) offered to help resurrect it by submerging them in the sap of the tree. The ritual would have ended around the time the dragon took over. I was thinking that maybe it could use its body as a catalyst to throw lighting from the tree and that rescuing him could stop said effect as a mechanic.
6) In preparation for the orc horde, they chose to evacuate the children from the town. I could maybe make a thing that they were taken captive by the dragon but they would have left town like the night before the players at best and they did do a few missions rescuing children at the beginign of the campaign. On one hand, it would be cutting it close with the timing but on another, if one of them manages not to be captured I could use them to warn the players about the effects more related to the Mindwitness.
On the Horde plot:
1) The horde is an advanced force of a bigger one. The idea is that it will reach the town before the main orc army and the army from Neverwinter that comes to relieve the town, so the players have to defend the town from it.
2) Horde is composed by 400 orcs. It is lead by a level 11 Hexblade, who got its power from a sister blade of the one our Warlock PC wields (sadly, it has no backstory other than that and it was mentioned for the first time at the end of last session). The horde also has a Hill Giant and different kind of orcs (Orc, Orog, Blades of Ilnevall, Eyes of Grumsh, Hand of Yurtrus, CLaws of Luthic, Nurtured of Yurtrus, etc) plus some ogres.
3) The town has 100 guards, the PCs, 20 Rock Gnome Recluses (which have 3 level 1 spell slots and magic missile, but they would probably spend one in mage armor anyways), 6 Kobold Dragonshields, the two guard captains (a Knight and a Goliath Warrior) and a whole bunch of sidekicks (like, 3-4 warriors, 2 experts and 4 spellcasters). They also have some Ballistas that they bought to kill a blue dragon that was harassing the town before and an Oaken Bolter.
4) The guards are mostly CR 1/8, some armed with spears and some with shortbows. There are also a few CR 1/2 soldiers armed with Longswords. In order to save time playing, I bunched together some to make bigger units: Units of 4 Guards or 4 Archers were made into CR 1 units. I also made some that are a grouo of 12, with the spearmen ending at CR5 and the bowmen (these ones with longbows) at CR4. I thought that maybe only the best archers, 24 of them, would be bunched together into units, so at most only 2 of the big archer units and 2 or the big spearmen units.
5) I have a map for the Gate of Phandalin that they have to defend to prevent them getting in but there are a few issues with it. The first is that the town defenders massively outrange the orc. Most orcs have javelins for ranged attack, which is 30/120 while even shortbows have like 80/320. My map shows the gate with two towers at the side and around 200 ft of the path outside the town.
Now, My first scene would probably be to have the orcs send heavy units to break the gate (the Hill Giant, an Ettin and 4 Ogres). However, the fight would then be mostly the players and archers shooting at them on the first two turns while they approach and I don't know how fun that would be? Like, it might improve once they break the gate but depending on how much firepower they focus on them they might kill them before they do (like, for example, if they have all 20 gnomes cast magic missile on them). In that case, I need to come up with other waves of enemies that will not be just mowed down before they can approach the gate, since even riding units would take two turns and the orcs don't have that many HP.
I did give the Warlock that leads the horde the chance of summoning an elemental to help break the gate if the Hill Giant is killed, but he has to get close enough to cast it. So yeah, my first problem is that humans really outrange the orcs. It is probably best if I have a way for the orcs to get in if they can't take the gate and just saying "oh, they just climbed the wall off screen" while realistic might be frustrating to the players.
6) My second issue is that if the gate falls, they would retreat to the fort (a rebuilt Trasendar Manor). Thing is that, while the humans really outrange the orcs, the orcs really outrun the humans so I would need ideas to make the retreat interesting. If I just drop them in the map of Phandalin I have and tell them to cheese it, they will either just disengage and run (druid transforming into an animal, Barbarian running with 40 ft movement, Warlock using Thunder Step taking along the Wizard) and not be very fun or they will stay and fight and be surrounded. I need stuff that can happen during the retreat and it can't be trapped civilians because they will hide under Trasendar Manor as soon as the battle starts.
7) Final stand would be in Trasendar Manor. The orcs have to go up a hill in a winding path that... basically, would have them all clustered together for area attacks. Like, this is not so bad but it is basically waves of enemies. There is a secret path to underneath the Trasendar Manor and where the civilians will be hiding that the players are mostly ignoring because it is disguised with magic that I can take advantage of (Hands of Yurtris have Detect Magic and the Warlock has Dispel Magic) if things go south.
8) Regarding things that the artificers could do. I was thinking of giving the players 20 points to buy stuff and the ideas I have right now are:
a) Make the Ballistas automatic: It lets them walk and attack on their own, but due to depending on their sensors they lose their long range option. Costs 6 points each
b) Toy Soldiers: A previous quest had a gnome artificer building these things, they are basically Animated Armors. Costs 3 points each
c) Automatic Crossbows: Makes them lose the Loading property. Useful due to the Barbarian lacking in long range attacks and their favorite sidekick fighting mostly with Heavy Crossbow. Cost 2 points each
d) Reinforcing Gate: Increases the HP and AC of the Main Gate. Costs 5 points.
Doc, Javi, Pulga, Dani (or more realistically, just Doc), if you are reading this, stop.
So, I have been DMing a Lost Mine of Phandelver/Dragon of Icespyre Peak campaign for the last year and a half and we are on the last few sessions but I am lacking on ideas about how to implement the last two enemies. Making a long story short, my players are going to fight a Green Dragon that is draining the life of all plant life in the region to accelerate its growth and then, the following day, defend the town of Phandalin from an orc invasion (not very original, I know).
My group consists of a level 7 Circle of the Moon Druid, a level 6 Totem Barbarian that might reach level 7 fighting the dragon, a level 6 Hexblade and a level 6 School of Divination Wizard, though the last one might be replaced by either a Nature Cleric or a Storm Sorcerer, also level 6. That gut's characters just keep being killed, captured and mind controlled, so he has those 3 after some were resurrected and freed, though he is only allowed to use one at a time.
The things I would need most help with are:
1) Challenges for them to face while going to fight the green dragon/approaching the place it is, so that it is not just go there and fight the thing.
2) Phases, challenges or scenes for the siege of Phandalin, if possible things that are not simply combat so that it isn't just like, 5 fights one after anoither.
3) As part of the preparations to fight the horde, they recruited the Gnomes of Gnomengarde, a group of 20 so-so artificers who have like a day to help prepare defenses. They also recruited a group of 6 kobolds to make traps. I was thinking something along the lines of assigning points to both groups and give the players a list of improvements to the defences that they can buy with said points.
Ok, NOW THE LONG VERSION
The Dragon set up draining the life of a tree that represents all plant life in the region. It had two options: it could either us it to mutate all plant life in the region or it could drain it to grow faster. The players assumed that it would make an army, because until recently it was allied with the wizard Glasstaff to make an army of plant monsters. The reason it chose the other option is because it was influenced by a rogue Mindwitness that has the power to inflict nightmares and drive people insane. Said Mindwitness is a previous bad guy from the campaign that the players chose to ignore because they stopped a ritual that let it do so in mass and so it can only do so to one person at a time now, so they considered him low priority. The Mindwitness bears a grudge about this and it was keen on choosing the option that killed the tree because the first plot of the Mindwitness the players interrupted would have killed the Tree and it wants to prove all their actions were pointless by making it die anyways.
The horde of orcs is more like the vanguard, as it will reach the town the day before the main armies from the horde and Neverwinter reach it. It will arrive the day after the party fights the dragon and they only need to last for a day.
On the Dragon Plot:
1) The dragon is accelerating its growth by draining the tree. It is currently in a middle stage between Young and Adult, CR 10. It is basically a slightly weaker Adult. I do realize this might be on the weak side for a boss monster for a level 7 and 3 level 6, but it was already mentioned that it would be at this stage. It could be beefed up due to what I mention in point 2)
2) The Mindwitness is influencing the dragon. As the players chose not to pursue its plot, it is gaining power by pretending to be a god to a group of Kuo-Toa, which means that I am open to suggestions regarding effects (be it environmental or for the dragon) involving psychic powers and nightmares. The Mindwitness influence is represented mostly by people having dreams of eyes made of fire and growing obsessed with them.
3) The dragon has experience building plant monsters so it wouldn't be surprising if some appeared. Blights, Yellow Musk Creepers, Assassin Vines, Man Eating Plants, Awakened Trees, all have been part of the campaing so far. The dragon raised some plants to defend the place it is in before digging in, so anything goes involving them and green dragon regional effects.
4) The fight would take place where the Tree is, an abandoned factory with the thing growing through its roof. The players have experineced with the place, as in a previous quest they stopped a guy that was making drugs with the sap. The place is overgrown.
5) One of my players had a character (a Storm Sorcerer) that died several sessions ago and as a boon for saving the Tree before, its guardian (who has the stats of a Vine Blight) offered to help resurrect it by submerging them in the sap of the tree. The ritual would have ended around the time the dragon took over. I was thinking that maybe it could use its body as a catalyst to throw lighting from the tree and that rescuing him could stop said effect as a mechanic.
6) In preparation for the orc horde, they chose to evacuate the children from the town. I could maybe make a thing that they were taken captive by the dragon but they would have left town like the night before the players at best and they did do a few missions rescuing children at the beginign of the campaign. On one hand, it would be cutting it close with the timing but on another, if one of them manages not to be captured I could use them to warn the players about the effects more related to the Mindwitness.
On the Horde plot:
1) The horde is an advanced force of a bigger one. The idea is that it will reach the town before the main orc army and the army from Neverwinter that comes to relieve the town, so the players have to defend the town from it.
2) Horde is composed by 400 orcs. It is lead by a level 11 Hexblade, who got its power from a sister blade of the one our Warlock PC wields (sadly, it has no backstory other than that and it was mentioned for the first time at the end of last session). The horde also has a Hill Giant and different kind of orcs (Orc, Orog, Blades of Ilnevall, Eyes of Grumsh, Hand of Yurtrus, CLaws of Luthic, Nurtured of Yurtrus, etc) plus some ogres.
3) The town has 100 guards, the PCs, 20 Rock Gnome Recluses (which have 3 level 1 spell slots and magic missile, but they would probably spend one in mage armor anyways), 6 Kobold Dragonshields, the two guard captains (a Knight and a Goliath Warrior) and a whole bunch of sidekicks (like, 3-4 warriors, 2 experts and 4 spellcasters). They also have some Ballistas that they bought to kill a blue dragon that was harassing the town before and an Oaken Bolter.
4) The guards are mostly CR 1/8, some armed with spears and some with shortbows. There are also a few CR 1/2 soldiers armed with Longswords. In order to save time playing, I bunched together some to make bigger units: Units of 4 Guards or 4 Archers were made into CR 1 units. I also made some that are a grouo of 12, with the spearmen ending at CR5 and the bowmen (these ones with longbows) at CR4. I thought that maybe only the best archers, 24 of them, would be bunched together into units, so at most only 2 of the big archer units and 2 or the big spearmen units.
5) I have a map for the Gate of Phandalin that they have to defend to prevent them getting in but there are a few issues with it. The first is that the town defenders massively outrange the orc. Most orcs have javelins for ranged attack, which is 30/120 while even shortbows have like 80/320. My map shows the gate with two towers at the side and around 200 ft of the path outside the town.
Now, My first scene would probably be to have the orcs send heavy units to break the gate (the Hill Giant, an Ettin and 4 Ogres). However, the fight would then be mostly the players and archers shooting at them on the first two turns while they approach and I don't know how fun that would be? Like, it might improve once they break the gate but depending on how much firepower they focus on them they might kill them before they do (like, for example, if they have all 20 gnomes cast magic missile on them). In that case, I need to come up with other waves of enemies that will not be just mowed down before they can approach the gate, since even riding units would take two turns and the orcs don't have that many HP.
I did give the Warlock that leads the horde the chance of summoning an elemental to help break the gate if the Hill Giant is killed, but he has to get close enough to cast it. So yeah, my first problem is that humans really outrange the orcs. It is probably best if I have a way for the orcs to get in if they can't take the gate and just saying "oh, they just climbed the wall off screen" while realistic might be frustrating to the players.
6) My second issue is that if the gate falls, they would retreat to the fort (a rebuilt Trasendar Manor). Thing is that, while the humans really outrange the orcs, the orcs really outrun the humans so I would need ideas to make the retreat interesting. If I just drop them in the map of Phandalin I have and tell them to cheese it, they will either just disengage and run (druid transforming into an animal, Barbarian running with 40 ft movement, Warlock using Thunder Step taking along the Wizard) and not be very fun or they will stay and fight and be surrounded. I need stuff that can happen during the retreat and it can't be trapped civilians because they will hide under Trasendar Manor as soon as the battle starts.
7) Final stand would be in Trasendar Manor. The orcs have to go up a hill in a winding path that... basically, would have them all clustered together for area attacks. Like, this is not so bad but it is basically waves of enemies. There is a secret path to underneath the Trasendar Manor and where the civilians will be hiding that the players are mostly ignoring because it is disguised with magic that I can take advantage of (Hands of Yurtris have Detect Magic and the Warlock has Dispel Magic) if things go south.
8) Regarding things that the artificers could do. I was thinking of giving the players 20 points to buy stuff and the ideas I have right now are:
a) Make the Ballistas automatic: It lets them walk and attack on their own, but due to depending on their sensors they lose their long range option. Costs 6 points each
b) Toy Soldiers: A previous quest had a gnome artificer building these things, they are basically Animated Armors. Costs 3 points each
c) Automatic Crossbows: Makes them lose the Loading property. Useful due to the Barbarian lacking in long range attacks and their favorite sidekick fighting mostly with Heavy Crossbow. Cost 2 points each
d) Reinforcing Gate: Increases the HP and AC of the Main Gate. Costs 5 points.
e) Gnerkly's Undo-watch: Gives 1 reroll. Costs 10 points.
f) Korboz's Glue Gun: Mechanics pending.
I could use more ideas.
9) I have no ideas for Kobold traps, but one of my players suggested they be recruited, so...
So yeah... Green dragon plot will come up sooner (probably on July 9th) but I need more help with the Phandalin attack, I think.