Module Changes
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v8706
Arabel Updated Significantly - This represents one of the largest module updates I've ever been part of, outside a full module rebuild. This represents over 100+ hours of work by the entire team to put together; but we do still apologize that we know its size means there will be bugs to hammer out this week.
Historic District and Noble District entirely redesigned.
Over 15 areas updated to reflect recent events connected to the coming of the Storm.Incomplete List -
Arabel Outskirts: Calantar's Road
Arabel Outskirts: Moonsea Ride
Arabel Outskirts: High Road
Arabel Outskirts Eastway
Arabel House Goldfeather
Arabel House Mossmere
Arabel Interiors
Arabel Sewers
Eveningstar
Calantar's Way
Aunkspear
East Way Road: Bospir
Haunted HallsAlmost every area of the module the touches the storm was also edited. Some areas are now within the storm and inaccessible (it'll be obvious when this is the case.)
Added two new areas of the module to explore (these are VERY DANGEROUS but you'll also get a clear visual representation of just how dangerous so you'll know you want to leave before that representation of the danger reaches the obvious bad point.)
Quest Redesigns
Shamrock Garden was entirely redesigned, now in the Arabel Library; will have more enemy variety, a selection of thematic loot that is updated, and connects directly into the new setting.Haunted Mansion was given a major facelift, now connects directly into the danger of the Storm and the last few weeks of plot and storyline. New opportunities to roleplay with some of the deranged workers.
Warehouse Quest new quest giving some indications about how desperate some people are to escape the storm, partially built on the memories of the original from v2 of the module. This is entirely updated version.
Calantar's Road Orc Quest - added substantive new story elements, reduced the length (but not the challenge of the quest). This isn't finished, more polish will come here.
Haunted Ruins -- Major redesign of enemies, new loot.
Tessarils Tower -- Added a new theme of enemies, redesign of existing enemies, fixed setting that locked out variety of things that should have spawned there, more thematic loot added to the tables.
Edits to almost every conversation that gave directions to an introductory quest; in theory, you can now follow from NPC to NPC to do about 60% of the introduction quests. Some you will still have to go looking for. Same adjustment to the Letter Delivery Quest.
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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v8709
Just a ton of bug fixes - PLEASE check bugs people have reported and let us know if the fixes worked so we can clear these. :) Big thank you to folks reporting anything that looks even remotely wrong, I want to clean house quick.
Also, put 5th level wizard scrolls into the wizard shop. Player suggested this was a useful tweak to help wizards, originally, they were taken out because sorcerers may use them - but - and I think this matters - that's why quests give players rewards, so they can buy things. :) If it becomes a problem, we'll just look at the gold price.
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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Many more bug fixes.
ECL has been removed for most application subraces; it now remains at +1 ECL only for lycanthropes.
Oh, and have you found the new casino?
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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v8713
Improvements made to the rat summoning theme to bring it closer into alignment with the other themes in terms of power and utility. Rats tend to be sneaky and work well with stealth builds. Think low damage, stealthy abilities, but good AC and AB to allow them to distract foes.
Deer, rabbits, and squirrels should start acting like herbivores, if you attack one, it will not cause all other docile animals to become hostile to you - so if you kill a deer for a hide, cows won't attack you in town. These animals should also run from players even if you don't attack them.
Adjusted the Flagons Held High (Traitor) quest in the Pride of Arabel. Our data indicated the boss on this quest was the most dangerous NPC in the module in terms of players killed this week (that included Avalanche). This NPC has been redesigned to better match the power-level you expect on an introductory quest, its damage shifted from dual wielded 2d4 weapons to 1d4 weapons, its HP went from 70 to what should be found on a low-level rogue. The final encounter went from a minimum of 5 creatures to a minimum of 3 creatures spawning.
This quest is still due a redesign, but our data indicated it needed an immediate fix.
If you look at the data, Red Wizards and Thayan Warriors also killed a lot of players, the Warehouse quest was meant for 6-10th level PCs in a party. It was accidently set at a testing status (1-10th level characters of 1-10th level). This is now better aligned to our other 6-10 quests.
Mithril Boots were adjusted in terms of power. SR 16 was too powerful, and data backed this up too. Instead of SR, the boots give a Haste (5) for 5 charges with 50 charges total. There were some excellent ideas for revising the boots, but some of those proposed by players would require adding haks to create powers the game doesn't have (such as saves vs spells). Data showed that these were the single most purchased item in the module's stores; beating out potions in the amount of gold players put down for them. That was a strong indicator they were overpowered.
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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8720v
The Infested Ruins quest in the Redwoods: Cursed Ruins had far too many poison traps per player feedback.
I cut the number of poison traps in half, made it easier to spot several traps, removed several non-poison traps that didn't make sense on a quest with barely intelligent fungus and aberrations.
Additionally, I noticed many foes (Infected mostly) lacked any creature attacks, provided them slam attacks appropriate to their challenge rating.
Adjusted the area cosmetically to suit the quest (let me know if any placeables block vision).
Created additional loot and provided more variety in the monsters that spawn. Some of which hints to the history of the ruins, more of this history can be learned in other ways too.Will revisit this quest in a few weeks to look at how these changes affected it over all. I'm not 100% happy with this update, and think we can do a little more polish here - open to feedback or suggestions.
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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8722v
Several minor bug fixes implemented.
Second Wind now heals 1/2 of your max HP instead of 1/2 your missing HP.
Invisibility now lasts 1 turn (10 rounds) per level.Most NPCs should not react with horror if you have a subrace or a low Charisma score. NPCs who still do this probably are bugs, please report.
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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More bug fixes, most bugs from the big update seem to be fixed now.
Added Trash Cans around Old Gate, Historic, and Noble Districts per player request.
Made it easier to reach the Selune Temple in Immersea Borders and added items to the Siamorphe Store in Immersea.
Looked over the Arachnid Theme and made adjustments - sparked initially by concern 1-3 was too weak - but led to conclusion 4-5 were really outpacing the 'base line' elemental themes. Arachnid theme is meant to have low HP with good AC at higher levels, low damage, but provide poison attacks and some limited crowd control (at the lower levels). With immunity to mind spells and webs (not not to poison).
The SM1 (Summon Monster 1) is on par with other summons, but just for fun I gave it a single use of a bolt web attack.
The SM2 is also on par with other summons, but had a skin that gave it Freedom of Movement; which was likely an effort to make immune to its own web attack. I replaced that with a spider skin that makes it immune to webs only. Gave it additional AC so its more in line with other summons.
The SM3 is where things got odd - it had 20 poison bolt attacks, so it was just going to stand there and shoot a DC 14 minor venom at things. I reduced its bolt attacks to 1; gave it a bite attack with small spider venom and 1d6 damage - it didn't even have a bite attack before at all. Gave it weapon finesse so its attacks hit more often.
The SM4 had 1d8 STR draining poison - meaning one hit could do 2d8 STR damage; that is just too good (better than higher level summons). So this was reduced to a 1d6 STR drain poison; twice as good as the SM3, but not better than SM5.
The SM5 had higher damage output than most elementals + poison. So shifted its STR down, gave it more DEX and Weapon Finesse.
This should improve the 1-3 summons but also probably brings the rest of the spider summons down a little in terms of damage at 4-5.
Open to feedback on these moving forward - but this should be a decent boost to the 1-3; probably not very noticeable on the 4-5 I hope. That said, this theme will soon be open as a sorcerer bloodline theme. We're not done with summoning, there's a thread in discord for feedback.
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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Dwarf Rescue Quest is available again, it is now in Stormlands Widdershins.
Subraces and low charisma PCs will no longer that special penalties on Appraise Checks. The DM team does not feel this is necessary any longer since subraces are application approved and appraise already is a charisma based skill leading to higher costs.
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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Did some updates to the Sunken Ship quest in Immersea. It was a 7-10 quest but wasn't hard - in fact - it was very easy. So I've made some tweaks to the challenge of the enemies, but also removed their dispel spamming. This should still feel like a typical average-level quest that requires a party. It is now 6-10th level in keeping with that as well.
The quest also now has a hard optional part to it. You'll get an OOC message from a placeable to start it, and that placeable has a red name so it stands out.
In the future, there are two simple rules to remember:
NO SPITTING.
DO NOT CROSS MISTER MOLOCH.
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v8744
There should now be prestige chests for the Sentinels and Black Wheel faction; both located in the Old Gate Inn. (Please report anything odd about them, its the first time I've set this up for a group before).
The Sunken Ship and Immersea Lizardfolk quests are both now 6-10 level quests; this was based on their difficulty supported by number of player deaths, how long it takes people to complete them, and a review of the CR of creatures appearing on them combined with a decision to make a few more quests available to 6-10 groups.
