u/Naysayin

Hi all,

I'm currently running PaB:TSO with a party of 4 (+1 imp from the Warlock and a flaming skull pet from the Mage, long story). The cleric was attacked in her past by a werewolf that left her a scar, and I wanted to tie that into the story. I was planning on having that werewolf be a pet for the Mindflayers to rescue the obelisk shards, and thus is mutated by the Far Realm influence. This is the inspiration for it (a guy made a mini online and I will run it :D)

My idea is that the players fight it either on Talhund's Cript or in Gibbet's Crossing (effectively level 7-8) along with a paladin dragonborn, which also ties to their story and is helping the Mindflayers/Ruxithid. The thing is, I'm a fairly new DM and I am not seasoned in homebrewing monsters, so I thought of tweaking a premade monster (maybe a psionic one) as I don't want to TPK my party. Any ideas are welcome!

Also, it's okay if the CR is high, as I was planning to have a Selune Cleric friend from our cleric to come aid in combat if needed, presumably a level 8-9 character, maybe in a last-ditch effort to defeat the werewolf.

Let me know your thoughts. Thank you!

Hi folks,

My table is running PaB:TSO and the players just finished WEC and reached level 5. They are a warrior, a cleric, a warlock, a mage and a flaming skull companion (they managed to convince the WEC one). I changed the story so that The Spider made a deal with Venomfang, who also wants to go into WEC (for the Forge of Spells) but knew the Spider would betray her. My idea was to have Venomfang find the players when they exit WEC, tell them her real plans (to become superpowerful and subdue the Phandalin region to her will), so they would have to fight VF, but apparently it's still a very difficult combat and potentially deadly for a lvl 5 party.

The thing is, players shouldn't be able to get their way out of combat talking this time. They're seasoned players and very tactic, but I worry they might die and we still have the rest of PaB:TSO. If there's combat, I planned to give them some ruins to hide behind and maybe avoid most deadly attacks (a breath instakills two of them if they fail the save). Do you think I should run the combat nevertheless, or maybe rework the story a bit so they fight VF later in the campaign?

Thank you!

Edit: maybe having Reidoth come the deus ex machina out of it to help in combat, but at level 5 it seems it's still difficult (I'm checking the encounters in the D&D Beyond encounter creator).

Howdy folks,

Fairly new DM here. We're running Phandelver and Below: TSO at the moment and players just ventured into Wave Echo Cave. Some of them are quite seasoned players and very, very creative.

For context for what's to come, when they were in the Cragmaw Castle, they lit the brazier at the Gricks room to do a short rest. If you recall, under the ashes of the brazier there were a few trinkets a goblin hid, and they noticed them after the fire was lit. When they asked if the wrapping wouldn't burn, I jokingly told them "no, a fireproof cloth kept the items safe". We all laughed at the idea of a fireproof handkerchief, but I let them keep it as I was genuinely curious about what they'd do with such an item in the future and I enjoy their ideas.

Fast forward back to WEC, they defeated the Flameskull. After almost an hour at the room, they noticed the skull was slowly regenerating (good Arcana check), so... they wrapped the skull in the fireproof cloth and put it inside an urn. They argued that they could do so and that the flameskull couldn't really cast spells because it can't see anything inside the cloth. It was such a silly, fun moment that I allowed it.

So, what's the deal: I really want to reward them for their ingenuity and quick thinking. They're always coming up with great ideas, they are a great group at the table, so I let them keep the skull and told them I'd come up with something. They suggested having it sort of like a flamethrower— unwrapping the skull, cast a flame or spell and put it back on the cloth and the urn, but I'm afraid something like that could be overpowered. At the same time, they're very understanding and flexible, and they wouldn't be mad if I rejected the idea. They always take into account my part of fun as DM (three of them being DMs themselves) and so they'd accept a more watered-down idea.

So, all in all, I accept any suggestions. I like the idea of the flamethrower thing, but not being too seasoned in creating spells/magic items myself, I don't know what would be too much. Similarly, not knowing the creature's lore too deeply makes me wonder if wrapping the skull in a fireproof handkerchief would be possible in the first place.

For the time being, they tied a rope to the skull inside the cloth and, considering it floats, it's kind of a balloon now. A balloon that can cast fireballs if got loose. Yikes.

Any ideas are well appreciated, and thanks for the long read!

TL;DR: My players put the Flameskull at WEC inside a fireproof cloth and asked me if they could keep it for future uses. I want to reward their ingenuity but not make the thing too OP. Accepting ideas!