r/stormkingsthunder

So I'm running through storm kings thunder, and my players intentionally decided to crash the airship into Iymrith during the eye of the allfather encounter, and given how Klauth is notorious for scrying, he knew this happened. Now my players spent some time investingating Klauth and found his hideout, and thought it would be funny to lead a pack of ogres on the road to his lair. Klauth came out and disintegrated one of them, and ate another, and then one of the players (the fighter) decided to give Klauth some attitude. Klauth immediately used his breath weapon, and ate the character. I've been running Skt with a bit more difficulty than inteded, as thats what our table like to do, but I was still wondering if I made the right call there

What’s your take on the Ordning and its power over giants?

Is it simply a socially constructed hierarchy which is respected by most giants, kinda like the organization of my office?

Or is it a divine order which power that compels giants to act a certain way?

Can a giant disregard and ignore the Ordning without any divine or other consequence?

In the campaign Annam has shattered the Ordning which gives evil giants an opportunity to act in new and offensive ways. What stopped them before?

Hey! My players have just finished Kraken’s Gamble. Oosith is dead, and they ended up letting Lady Atalia survive because they were convinced she was just another victim in all of this.

Before heading down into the sewers, they told her to travel to the party’s main base at Zymorven Castle, saying she would be safe there from the cult.

Now I’m trying to decide what makes the most sense for her character. Should she actually follow their advice and go to the castle, or would she ignore them and disappear once she has the chance?

Running Storm King's Thunder is a prep-heavy lift because of how open the structure is. After the party leaves Nightstone there's no guaranteed path, and most of the chapter 3 locations get visited in whatever order the players choose. Having the right supplements upfront makes a real difference.

Here's what I found useful and when:

Before session 1: The Alexandrian's SKT remix (free blog series) restructures the giant lord order to create better narrative progression. Worth reading even if you don't use all of it. The official Volo's Guide provides stat blocks that come up repeatedly in SKT encounters.

Mid-campaign: "Storm King's Thunder: Enhanced" on DMsGuild adds expanded content for the more sparse chapters. "Travel in Faerun" supplements help if your party is engaging with the travel sections rather than fast-traveling.

Maps: Mike Schley's official maps are the clearest for player-facing use. Several community DMs have posted expanded versions of Maelstrom.

I put together a full reference page with links to the supplements, notes on which ones are worth the price, and some general SKT prep tools.

Im preparing to run Storm Kings Thunder merged with Tyranny of dragons for a level 1-20 campaign.

Will be using the 5.5e and therefore the new monster manual.

I really like that the hill giant has a version of the Topple Weapon Master (prone on melee hit) and have been thinking about adding weapon masteries to the other to martial focused Giants, Frost and Fire.

I would like to add Cleave to the frost giant and Graze to the fire giant.

For Cleave I would remove the once per turn, thematically the attack is like a sweeping attack hitting multiple creatures with one stroke.

For Graze I’m think that the damage would be equal to the fire damage of the Fire Giants Flame Sword attack only. Thematically this would be that the heat from the sword is so intense that even though the attack missed you, you take some damage.

What do you think in, how much of an impact would this have on the CR of the Frost and Fire Giant?

Rules for reference.

Cleave PHB p214
If you hit a creature with a melee attack roll using this weapon, you can make a melee attack roll with the weapon against a second creature within 5 feet of the first that is also within your reach. On a hit, the second creature takes the weapon's damage, but don't add your ability modifier to that damage unless that modifier is negative. You can make this extra attack only once per turn.

Graze PHB p214
If your attack roll with this weapon misses a creature, you can deal damage to that creature equal to the ability modifier you used to make the attack roll. This damage is the same type dealt by the weapon, and the damage can be increased only by increasing the ability modifier.

I'm getting ready to start SKT and I'm doing some restructuring. Part of that is trimming content to match my table's desired campaign length and level of direction without cutting too much good stuff. Right now I'm thinking about the region's factions, and would love to hear how they fit into your campaign.

By factions, I mean the following: the Emerald Enclave, the Order of the Gauntlet, the Zhentarim, and the Harpers.

• What changes did you make to any of the factions you included? Did you cut any completely, and why?
• How did factions influence the way your campaign unfolded? Did a players' desire to get involved with one (or more) bring any of them into a more central role than you initially planned?
• In retrospect, was there anything you wish you or the players had done differently with them? Missed opportunities, etc.

I'm looking for input from DMs who are done or almost done with their game but any input on how players might deal with factions in an open world facing a serious threat is welcome. Thanks in advance.