Running the Talon of Umberlee

[mclimbin]

Hey all,
I'm going to run the Talon of Umberlee, on my VTT for my in-person group in a week or so. We'll run the 5th edition version of this mod.
Has anyone else run this adventure? How did it go? How did it compare to the other similar modules (the Lair Assault modules)?
Do you have any suggestions, tips, pointers, or comments?:)
Thanks!

[mclimbin]

Hey again. I'm just bumping this in case some of you missed it.
If you have run this in 5e, and have a second, I'd really like to know what your experience was running this in 5E.
In particular, the encounters look a little easy compared to other Lair Assault modules.
Thanks!

[Myrdin Potter]

I have it but have not run it yet. So, sorry, no hints I can give.

[Zacchaeus]

I converted it but haven't run it either. Sorry no help at all.

[mclimbin]

:)
Thanks guys. I appreciate the response.

I’ll let you know how it goes on Saturday!

[LordEntrails]

:)
Thanks guys. I appreciate the response.

I’ll let you know how it goes on Saturday!
Sure, any time you want us to tell you we have no opinion just let us know!

Good gaming :)

[mclimbin]

We had a great time playing this game! Thank you to Zacceaus for the conversion.
Here are some of my observations, in case someone searches for info on this module sometime in the far future. ;)
Of course these are spoilers for the game, so if you are a player, don't read this!



For DMs:
--The magic items that the players can choose are supposed to be one rare, and two either uncommon or common. This is fine, but Wondrous Items should be excluded. It didn't happen in this game, because it happened in another 5th Ed Lair Assault that I ran previously so I did not allow them, but there are quite a few rare Wondrous items that are game breaking for a module like this. A horn of Valhalla or a cube of force might just make the job too easy.

--The first encounter seems a little easy. My players played on Nightmare Mode (so all the NPCs did +4 damage), with admittedly very well optimized characters, and it was not really a problem for them.

--I had Captain Bloodbath blow the horn in round 3. The horn calls for aid from the pirate town, and sets a countdown clock to 5 more rounds, before which the PCs have to attain their goal. I think it would have been more interesting to blow the horn in round 2 or even 1, to build tension. They finished their mission in round 5, three rounds early.

--The second encounter was brutal, and by that I mean just right. The tentacles are nasty, and they hit almost every time. If the DM is really mean or just mad at the players, he or she can throw the characters into the drink, which is insta-death. I thought that would be bad sportsmanship, so I threw the grappled PCs at other PCs, which was great fun.

At the end, the PCs were able to whittle down the hit points of the Baron Saarkrith, the Sahuagin leader, and got him to surrender and call off the kraken, thus winning the game.

Only one character was brought below 0 hit points, and she was saved by the other characters. If I run this again, I think I will increase the levels of Captain Bloodbath, Deadeye Darla, and the higher level pirates in the first round. The knaves, which are fairly weak, are the 5th edition version of minions, so it makes sense that they will go down in 1-2 good hits. I'll also pay more attention to the spells of Captain Bloodbath and the Sahuagin bodyguards, as their spells were not offensive enough.

The players had a great time, and did not mind at all that it was a little easier than intended! :)
I had a great time running it too. It was super easy, with just a little prep, and I was able to use the awesome galleon video from Dynamic Dungeons for the second round. (Another note: if you do this too, I would make the kraken tentacles have a range of 40, not 30, as the galleon is much bigger than the map given with the module)

Thanks again to Zacceaus for converting this mod. It was great!

[Zacchaeus]

Glad you enjoyed it. And thanks for the feedback.