r/TyrannyOfDragons

My group will be starting Tyranny of Dragons within the next few weeks. Do you guys have any tips for me DMing it? I ran Curse of Strahd for almost 2 years before we finished up in February and I'm ready to DM again. I used stuff from Strahd Reloaded and MandyMod for that, are there any supplements like that for ToD that would make the story better? Thanks in advance!

How are y'all finding the campaigns encounters. I'm running with 3 players (2 monks and a warlock) and I feel like it's too easy for them. Is anyone else having these issues and if so how did you handle it?

I'm the noob DM who using 5.5e rules and the campaign is currently halfway through.

I only recently realized that Tiamat the BBEG is considered too powerful in the final battle, but player characters have become quite strong in 5.5e, and I tend to be generous with magical items.

Is it okay to use the Tiamat's original stat block and combat methods as is?

1. The characters become aware of the cult activity because of general rise in crime, everywhere. Robberies, thefts, brutal, elegant, puracy, insurance fraud... whatever. What is scaring the NPCs is, no one does anything with that. No Castles being bought, nor armies being raised etc. This gives almost infinite quest hooks. Some of the mundane goods end up on the Caravan, so there are different ways to follow the thread.

2. The stolen goods are being used for one purpose only: to smelt into a Black Dragon Mask (takes a Black Dragons Breath, and 10000000 GP). The OG mask was destroyed, and the other masks are around. (Made Severin a Rakshasa that stole the Blue Dragon Mask out of Sorcerous Sundries in Baldurs Gate)

3. There's a Dragon Turtle in the sea north of Baldur’s Gate, and therefore all trade towards North has been limited. The Caravan is the first Caravan going north in 6 months, transporting the rarest of goods, where the margin of profit for the merchants is just too great not to risk the wilderness. - This makes the caravan a little more of an expedition, rather than "we're mall cops for 2 months".

In 3.5 weeks, I will be starting this campaign with 3 players (I'm the DM). We are playing with the 5.5e rules for character building. Since the campaign is written for 4-6 players, are there any adaptions I should make to make it playable for 3 players? Or is the fact that characters are stronger in 5.5e enough to make it possible for them to play it?

One of my players girlfriends is joining the game and is playing gold dragonborn paladin.

We were going into the hunting lodge chapter and I'm trying to determine how the cult would react to a dragonborn. So far they had been passing themselves off as recruits or mercenaries tied to the cult or just random citizens depending on the situation? Because the rest are all a bunch of elves, dwarves, and gnomes.

How might a dragonborn PC like this be received by cultists? Would they admire them they're because they resemble dragons similar to the half dragons in the cult? Or would they be suspicious since most dragonborns are not friendly to dragons due to their history?

We stopped right before confronting talis and I'm working up how the conversation might go

Hi all, i am dming my group(Barbarian, barb/thief, paladin and fighter) and they just cleared Greenest. They absolutely massacared every enemy i through at them(i even added some dragonclaws near Sanctuary) and the barb killed Langedrosa Cyanwrath. Of course not unscarred but damn. Therefore my question - how to balance future adventure against such a party? Replace all cultists with Dragonclaws and higher ranking cultists? Remove kobolds altogether? Does anyone have any similar experience? Thank you in advance.

My players just got to the Castle and are about to infiltrate it. I got most of it figured out, though I have a question in regards to Rezmir.

Most of best abilities are tied to the Black Mask, but RAW she's never suppose to wear it. I plan to have her have it in Skyreach, but I'm considering giving some of it's effects to her here - Specifically the better AC, Legendary Resistance and Darkness.

Her main objective would still be to escape, but this way she might have a better chance as well as making her more scary.

Aside from that, does anyone have a good set of spells for Spattergoo's spellbooks? The module tells me to choose them, but if someone has a good benchmark for which and how many, I'd appreciate that.

Thanks!

I am DMing for a group of friends. It is my first time DMing, and we have been going at it for about 1.5 years.

For a bit of context, the party has been hot on the trail of the cult since they first encountered them in Greenest. At Raiders’ Camp, they battled and killed Cyanwrath, but when they faced Frulam, she turned invisible and escaped.

Fast forward two months, and the party has tracked the cult’s activities to Castle Naerytar and decided to infiltrate the castle under the guise of new joiners. They were invited into the castle without any hitches – the plan went very smoothly – suspiciously smoothly.

The party was instructed to keep their weapons and armor in their lodgings in the castle because new acolytes are not allowed to meet Rezmir with visible armor or weapons. After a small conversation with Rezmir, the party decides to explore the castle in the places they are allowed to see.

While exploring, the party’s barbarian went into the north-west tower, subsequently getting grappled by the Otyugh hiding in there, causing an alarm, making the other party members rush in to help, while some guards and cultists also joined to help. In the chaos of the fight, the party’s cleric (trickery) turned invisible to snoop around Rezmir’s office, hoping that she would leave to sort out the situation with the Otyugh – which she did! The cleric found a letter addressed to Rezmir by Frulam with a detailed description of the party’s appearance. In the meantime, the rest of the party is fighting the Otyugh and the additional Specters that joined from the third floor of the tower. Rezmir and Borngray come to join the fight and finish stuff up quickly. After the fight, Rezmir “grounds” the party to stay in just their lodgings, as they have made too much of a mess for their first day already. When the party regrouped in their lodgings and realized they were in for a trap, they tried to retrieve their belongings, only to find they were missing.

Not willing to wait around to be murdered in the room, the party sneaked out and discovered the subterranean entrance. While exploring the caves below, they found the crane in Area 9 and left behind one party member (whose player was missing for the session) so he could pull the other members up when they needed to backtrack. After exploring Frog Lake and the Tadpole Hatchery, they return to the crane to find their friend missing.

Now the party must save their friend and retrieve all their equipment! Stakes are very high, while resources are at a low! Lots of fun!

I feel like I could squeeze in a few more sessions and add the fun of the politics from the books. If you haven't read it, it includes a minor class crisis, an elite upper city, and a more complex flying mechanism that I feel like could utilize Dracolich magic or something similar. In the book, it is a corner of the plane it is from that is twisted and broken off into the material plane. I'd have it be similar, but a part of Tiamat's plane in the hells.

Anything I might miss out on? Was Skyreach cool as is? I could still keep the same NPC's and add a few homebrew. I honestly try not to over homebrew a story, but this feels like it needs it in places. Anyway let me know your thoughts.