I'm running HotDQ, which we transitioned to after playing Lmop through - which means the party is pretty strong! They will arrive at Castle Nareytar (The Swamp castle) soon, and they are around level 8.. I do think that a castle full of CR0 Bullywugs is going to provide 0 challenge to the party.. Or do you guys have some ideas to some other inhabitants than Bullywugs?
So i'm thinking of reskinning the castle to a Dungeon like - Temple of Myrkul, with some stronger inhabitants! (Which are forcing the Lizardfolk to work).
Do you guys have any nice feedback on how to handle the situation? :-)
I did the same thing (LMoP to HoDQ) and my players were almost the same level when they got to the castle. Just make sure to sub in thematically appropriate stronger monsters if you are planning on continuing in the HoDQ and RoT adventures.
I used upgraded cultists in the castle controlling the bullywugs (Dragonfangs/Dragonsouls), bumped up Rezmir and Dralmorrer's CR, and made it so that they could definitely escape. Rather than have all the listed monsters in the caves below the castle, I put a young black dragon with kobolds in the caves. (With plenty of kobold traps as well.)
Basically, party talked to lizardfolk, got them on their side, then a large scale battle of lizardfolk vs bullywugs happened. They didn't even bother attacking the bullywugs because the lizardfolk attacked them while the party attacked the cultists. Luckily, my party worked with the lizardfolk. If yours don't, you'll have to figure a different way.
I'm also thinking of doing that :) The only thing i am thinking about is that there will be a castle again in episode 8, which is just around the corner - so maybe a bit too much castle infiltration??
How did it all work out for you? :)
I'm planning on doing af Full Tyranny of Dragons Campaign :)
It worked pretty well for me. Having the lizardfolk storm the place made it so that it was a full frontal assault. This allowed me to let the players know that they were on a time crunch. "As soon as the attack happens, you will have to quickly find Rezmir and Dralmorrer." (The lizardfolk told them they were in the castle) This made it so that they were quickly running from room to room, which sped it up quite nicely. (No room searches over and over, just quick scans for enemies and on to the next) They got to the caves underneath and saw Rezmir flee through the circle as the dragon and Dralmorrer attacked.
Then, after a short rest (their idea), they went through the circle. Ended up finding the hunting lodge empty. Followed tracks to the town, only to see the castle flying away. Stormed into town, where I had Talis and more cultists move to beef up the fight there. They ended up finding the wyverns, then flew after the castle.
This is where it's different: the first castle was a full frontal assault, where the flying castle was a sneaky infiltrate at night. You can give it quite a different feel. Maybe have Talis or Othelstan (or any cultist NPC) from town get captured and tell them they'll never survive a direct assault. Maybe a clue or two why (ogres/ballista). Should end up with two very different castle encounters.
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Hello everyone!!
I'm running HotDQ, which we transitioned to after playing Lmop through - which means the party is pretty strong!
They will arrive at Castle Nareytar (The Swamp castle) soon, and they are around level 8.. I do think that a castle full of CR0 Bullywugs is going to provide 0 challenge to the party..
Or do you guys have some ideas to some other inhabitants than Bullywugs?
So i'm thinking of reskinning the castle to a Dungeon like - Temple of Myrkul, with some stronger inhabitants! (Which are forcing the Lizardfolk to work).
Do you guys have any nice feedback on how to handle the situation? :-)
I did the same thing (LMoP to HoDQ) and my players were almost the same level when they got to the castle. Just make sure to sub in thematically appropriate stronger monsters if you are planning on continuing in the HoDQ and RoT adventures.
I used upgraded cultists in the castle controlling the bullywugs (Dragonfangs/Dragonsouls), bumped up Rezmir and Dralmorrer's CR, and made it so that they could definitely escape. Rather than have all the listed monsters in the caves below the castle, I put a young black dragon with kobolds in the caves. (With plenty of kobold traps as well.)
Basically, party talked to lizardfolk, got them on their side, then a large scale battle of lizardfolk vs bullywugs happened. They didn't even bother attacking the bullywugs because the lizardfolk attacked them while the party attacked the cultists. Luckily, my party worked with the lizardfolk. If yours don't, you'll have to figure a different way.
I'm also thinking of doing that :)
The only thing i am thinking about is that there will be a castle again in episode 8, which is just around the corner - so maybe a bit too much castle infiltration??
How did it all work out for you? :)
I'm planning on doing af Full Tyranny of Dragons Campaign :)
It worked pretty well for me. Having the lizardfolk storm the place made it so that it was a full frontal assault. This allowed me to let the players know that they were on a time crunch. "As soon as the attack happens, you will have to quickly find Rezmir and Dralmorrer." (The lizardfolk told them they were in the castle) This made it so that they were quickly running from room to room, which sped it up quite nicely. (No room searches over and over, just quick scans for enemies and on to the next) They got to the caves underneath and saw Rezmir flee through the circle as the dragon and Dralmorrer attacked.
Then, after a short rest (their idea), they went through the circle. Ended up finding the hunting lodge empty. Followed tracks to the town, only to see the castle flying away. Stormed into town, where I had Talis and more cultists move to beef up the fight there. They ended up finding the wyverns, then flew after the castle.
This is where it's different: the first castle was a full frontal assault, where the flying castle was a sneaky infiltrate at night. You can give it quite a different feel. Maybe have Talis or Othelstan (or any cultist NPC) from town get captured and tell them they'll never survive a direct assault. Maybe a clue or two why (ogres/ballista). Should end up with two very different castle encounters.