Baldur's Gate

Abyssal Incursion Cover

Abyssal Incursion and Infernal Machine Rebuild

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You can order The Demonplague, my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure, right now!

I have two new products on the DMs Guild this week!

Abyssal Incursion

The first is a demon-tastic expansion for your Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus campaign called Abyssal Incursion. I previewed two artifact weapons from it in last week’s post. Here’s the product description:

Note: Light spoilers for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus in this description!

Expand your Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus game with three new adventure locations, complete with plot hooks and NPCs, plus two new artifacts: Baphomet’s glaive, Heartcleaver, and Yeenoghu’s flail, Butcher! This supplement adds more challenges for characters of levels 8 and above who dare face Demon Lords on the River Styx.

Face Baphomet aboard his war barge!

Go inside the belly of Yeenoghu’s beast, Crokek’toeck (literally)!

Get a little Eberron in your Forgotten Realms by acquiring an elemental galleon made to sail the River Styx… if you can deal with the yugoloths defending it!

Maps and a printer friendly version included as separate files!

The Blood War rages in Avernus. Will you sieze opportunity, fight back the hordes, or perish?

This product is meant to be a companion to Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus and requires the adventure.

The incredible maps for this adventure were done by Kayla Cline. Check out her depiction of the inside of Crokek’toeck! She’s a genius!

Infernal Machine Rebuild

I am also pleased to say I got to contribute to Infernal Machine Rebuild, a special adventure led by Bart Carroll with all proceeds going to Extra Life! Here’s the description:

A fallen clock tower holds components from an ancient artifact. Upon discovery of the components, competing agents look to launch expeditions to uncover additional components scattered across distant places—and times. The now-lost Temple of Moloch and the construction site of the legendary Tomb of Horrors are two of those locations. However great the risks, finding the components demands the effort, for whoever does so can reassemble the fabled Infernal Machine of Lum the Mad!

For characters 5th-10th level.

This adventure explores two dungeon locations and includes new monsters, magic items, plus new artifact powers submitted by the player community!

Further featuring new art, maps (from Claudio Pozas), cartoon (from Jason Thompson), even an Adventurers League cert for a new trinket—and all monies that Wizards of the Coast receives from sales of this PDF are donated to Extra Life.

Your purchase of this adventure goes to a truly great cause!

About Extra Life:

Extra Life unites thousands of gamers around the world to play games in support of their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Since its inception in 2008, Extra Life has raised more than $30 million for sick and injured kids. Sign up today and dedicate a day of play for kids in your community!

This was so much fun to be a part of! Plus you can see Chris Perkins running the adventure in video below!

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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Weapons of Demon Lords: Heartcleaver and Butcher

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Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rich Hershey / Fat Goblin Games

You can order The Demonplague, my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure, right now!

I’ve got a DMs Guild product called Abyssal Incursion that ads mobile lairs for Yeenoghu and Baphomet to Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. It should be out sometime next week, but in the meantime, I wanted to share two artifacts from the product: Butcher, the three-headed flail of Yeenoghu, and Heartcleaver, the glaive of Baphomet!

Butcher

Weapon (flail), artifact (requires attunement)

Yeenoghu’s three-headed flail, Butcher, is built from the bones and flesh of a deity the Gnoll Lord murdered. Each rusty chain ends in a barbed head. The weapon screams with discordant laughter when swung.

When attuned, the weapon resizes to fit the wielder.

Hyena Appearance. While you are attuned to Butcher, your body changes so you look like a gnoll, though you still retain your size.

Magic Weapon. Butcher is a magic weapon that deals 1d12 piercing damage on a successful hit and has the reach property. Once per round when you make an attack with Butcher and hit, you can choose to create one of the following additional effects:

  • The attack deals an extra 2d12 bludgeoning damage.
  • The target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed until the start of your next turn.
  • The target must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be affected by the confusion spell until the start of your next turn.

Random Properties. The flail has the following randomly determined properties (see “Artifact Properties” in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide):

  • 1 minor beneficial property
  • 1 major beneficial property
  • 1 minor detrimental property
  • 1 major detrimental property

Demonic Hunger. You can consume the corpse of a Small or Medium creature over the course of 5 minutes, during which time you can do nothing but feast on the creature’s dead flesh. At the end of this time, the corpse is destroyed, and you regain 1d10 hit points. You can also take 10 minutes to consume the corpse of a Large creature and regain 2d10 hit points, 1 hour to consume the corpse of a Huge creature to regain 4d10 hit points, or 8 hours to consume the corpse of a Gargantuan creature to regain 8d10 hit points.

Demonic Resistances. You gain resistance to cold, fire, and lightning damage.

Invisibility. You can use the flail to cast the invisibility spell without the need for any components. You cannot use the weapon to cast the spell again until you complete a short or long rest.

Languages. You can speak, write, and understand Abyssal and Gnoll.

Rampage. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with an attack from the flail, you can take a bonus action to move up to half your speed and make another attack with Butcher.

Swat Away. When you hit a creature with an attack made with the flail, you can use your bonus action to force the target make a Strength saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. If the target fails, it is pushed 15 feet in a straight line away from you. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target falls prone.

Destroying the Flail. If Yeenoghu is permanently killed, the flail crumbles into ash.

Heartcleaver

Weapon (glaive), artifact (requires attunement)

Baphomet’s great glaive, Heartcleaver, is feared throughout the Abyss. When attuned, the weapon resizes to fit the wielder.

Minotaur Horns. While you are attuned to Heartcleaver, you grow large horns as part of your new appearance if you do not already have them. These horns are magical melee weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Immediately after you hit a creature with a melee attack as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to shove that target with your horns. The target must be no more than one size larger than you and within 5 feet of you. Unless it succeeds on a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier, you push it up to 10 feet away from you.

Magic Weapon. Heartcleaver is a magic weapon that deals 2d10 slashing damage on a successful hit.

Random Properties. The glaive has the following randomly determined properties (see “Artifact Properties” in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide):

  • 1 minor beneficial property
  • 1 major beneficial property
  • 1 minor detrimental property
  • 1 major detrimental property

Charge. If you move at least 10 feet straight toward a target then hit with an attack with your horns on the same turn, the target takes an extra 3d10 piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 25 Strength saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier or be pushed up to 10 feet away and knocked prone. You cannot get to make use of this feature again until the start of your next turn.

Demonic Resistances. You gain resistance to cold, fire, and lightning damage.

Intimidating Presence. You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill. If you are already proficient with this skill, your proficiency bonus is doubled for it.

Labyrinthine Recall. You can perfectly recall any path you have traveled, and are immune to the maze spell.

Languages. You can speak, write, and understand Abyssal.

Savage Hunter. You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks made to track other creatures.

Wall of Stone. You can use the glaive to cast the wall of stone spell without the need for any components. You cannot use the weapon to cast the spell again until you complete a short or long rest.

Destroying the Glaive. If Baphomet is permanently killed, the glaive disappears in a burst of flame.

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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Waterdeep: Descent into Avernus

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You can order The Demonplague, my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure, right now!

Last week saw the release of Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, the latest hardcover adventure for Dungeons & Dragons. I was elated to work on the release with so many other fantastic people, especially after I was fortunate enough to also write for the 2018 hardcover adventure, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. While I was thinking about both adventures, it occurred to me that Dragon Heist likely ends with the characters at 5th level and Descent into Avernus splits at a key point when the characters are level 5. It would be pretty easy to bring the Dragon Heist chocolate into the Descent into Avernus peanut butter. How do you do it? Swap the city of Baldur’s Gate for the city of Waterdeep in Descent into Avernus. More on that below…

Spoilers for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus below! Proceed with caution!

The Structure

The overall structure of Waterdeep: Descent into Avernus looks like this: run Dragon Heist in its entirety with some major elements of Descent into Avernus chapter 1 thrown in. Those major elements to add are Elturel going missing, Thavius Kreeg, Reya Mantlemorn, the infernal puzzle box, the Shield of the Hidden Lord, and all of the “Candlekeep” section. Then run Descent into Avernus chapters 2 through 5 with a little modification (swapping Laerel Silverhand for Ulder Ravengard).

Swap Baldur’s Gate for Waterdeep

The grim and gritty Baldur’s Gate must be swapped for the bright and shining city of Waterdeep… which thematically is a bit of an issue. After the characters find the Vault of Dragons in Dragon Heist, they’ll be going to Avernus. How do you avoid a complete tonal shift? My recommendation is to play up the bloody gang war between the Xanathar Guild and the Zhentarim. When the characters go out, they might see a body or two in the streets as the result of the war, the City Watch failing to keep a battle under control, or toughs roaming through the wealthier areas of Waterdeep, brazenly showing their affiliations and shaking down nobles in places where it previously would have been unthinkable. With Laerel Silverhand gone (more on that below), law and order are falling apart. My second recommendation is to use the Asmodeus-worshipping Cassalanters as your main villain, given their dark natures and infernal storyline.

Laerel is Missing

When the adventure begins, Waterdeep is in a state of panic. Laerel Silverhand was on a diplomatic mission to Elturel to see if you she could calm tensions between the holy city and its neighbor, Baldur’s Gate. No word has been heard from the Open Lord since her retinue entered the city. Recently a boat of refugees from Elturel arrived in Waterdeep, claiming their city had disappeared. These refugees are now stay in the Field Ward, while the Masked Lords argue about how to investigate the claims and what the disappearance of Laerel might mean for Waterdeep.

The Cassalanter Plot

Ammalia and Victoro Cassalanter (from Dragon Heist) have a plan to save their children. Through her servant Thavius Kreeg, High Overseer of Elturel (from Descent into Avernus), the archdevil Zariel promised to help the couple obtain the Stone of Golorr (from Dragon Heist) so that they can seize Dagult Neverember’s stolen gold and use it to pay off a debt Asmodeus (instead of using the souls of their children). In exchange for harboring the High Overseer in secret, Thavius provides the Cassalanters with intelligence regarding the stone and another powerful artifact to counsel them, the Shield of the Hidden Lord.

Zariel’s Plan for Waterdeep

Zariel hopes that by adding more chaos and bloodshed to the battle in the streets over the Stone of Golorr, she can create a situation in which the Cassalanters rise to power after seizing the stone and ending the city’s bloodshed. She then plans to help Ammalia or Victoro use the noble family’s now-heroic reputation to become the city’s new Open Lord. Once one of the Cassalanters leads the city, Zariel can make a deal with them similar to the one she made with Thavius Kreeg and drag Waterdeep into Avernus.

Adding the Descent Elements

The following elements should be added to Dragon Heist to make the story flow into Descent into Avernus.

Thavius Kreeg, the Puzzle Box, and the Shield

Thavius Kreeg is staying in the Cassalanters’ guest house (see chapter 5 of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist). He keeps the Shield of the Hidden Lord and the infernal puzzle box in the master bedroom (area CG8). If found and confronted, Thavius acts as described in chapter 1 of Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, claiming the Cassalanters captured him and are forcing him to ascertain the properties of the magic shield.

Reya Mantlemorn

Reya Mantlemorn (Descent into Avernus) approaches finds and approaches the characters after they have had at least one in with the Cassalanters or their forces, but before the characters enter the Vault of Dragons or Cassalanter Villa. This meeting likely occurs during chapter 4 of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. She approaches the characters because she has heard of their deeds helping others in the city.

Reya’s message is the same to the characters, except that instead of hearing rumors Thavius is in Baldur’s Gate and has been seen in the company of Vanthampur guards, she heard rumors Thavius is in Waterdeep and has been seen in the company of Cassalanter guards. She asks the characters to help her explore Cassalanter Villa to find Thavius with her.

Candlekeep

After the characters record the Stone of Golorr and the money from the Vault of Dragons, life in Waterdeep has a chance to return to normal. Mirt, becomes the acting Open Lord of Waterdeep, but he must know if Laerel and Eturel can be returned. He asks the characters to visit Candlekeep and talk to his old friend Sylvira Savikas. She may know how to open the mysterious infernal puzzle box Thavius Kreeg kept or have information that could lead the characters to Laerel. If not Mirt, any worldly or sage-like NPC, such as Vajra Safahr, Barnibus Blastwind, or Jarlaxle Baenre, can tell the characters about Sylvira and Candlekeep.

The journey to Candlekeep and the experiences the characters have there can run as written in Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. From this point on, you’re basically running the rest of Descent into Avernus.

Elturel

The final change is swapping Ulder Ravengard for Laerel Silverhand in chapter 2 of Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. This basically a straight up and down swap. All things Ulder are now Laerel and all things Baldur’s Gate are now Waterdeep. Instead of using her stat block in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, use the mage stat block from the Monster Manual because Laerel’s strength has been sapped by her connection to Baphomet and her time in Avernus. If Laerel manages to escape Avernus, her strength is restored.

Bonus Points: Undermountain

If you want to keep the connection going, when the characters return from Avernus, they are grabbed by Halaster Blackcloak and transported into a level of Undermountain (from Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage) appropriate for whatever level their characters may be. Now they must find their way out of the dungeon to get back to Waterdeep… perhaps just in time for an Invasion from the Planet of Tarrasques.

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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Ode to Will Doyle

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You can order The Demonplague, my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure, right now!

This week Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus was released. I got to help contribute to the story for the book and wrote several thousand words for it (more on that in later posts), and I contributed to two DMs Guild products for it, Encounters in Avernus and Hellturel (more on those below). However, I did not work on these projects alone, especially when it comes to the hard cover adventure, which had a massive team to support it.

My friend and fellow designer, Will Doyle, was unfortunately left out of the credits for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. It was an innocent mistake, and Wizards of the Coast is working hard to correct the error in the next printing of the book and get Will’s name out on digital platforms. These things happen in publishing. Will has been super cool about it as has the entire D&D team. I wanted to take a quick moment to recognize Will’s work in the book and how awesome he is.

We’re all celebrating the release of this massive adventure that represents hours upon hours of labor. Will was a big part of that! He wrote a lot of chapter 3, including parts of the adventure that will be your favorite and most memorable not just of this adventure, but of any D&D adventure. I won’t get too spoilery here, but if something in chapter 3 makes you say, “Holy shit!” odds are Will contributed to it in a big way.

You may also know Will from his work on Storm King’s Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation, Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak, many DMs Guild Adepts products (including being the lead designer of our only Adamantine Best Seller, Waterdeep: City Encounters), his Adventurers League adventures (including many truly epic Epics), and/or his articles in Dungeon and Dragon magazines back in the 4e days. Will was also recently announced as one of the new Adventurers League admins (along with the incredible Shawn Merwin). He’s got a lot of other credits in a career dedicated to game design and our community. Will has made a lot of memories for people with his incredible products.

Most importantly Will is a great, brilliant human. I’ve worked with him on countless projects at this point, and every time he’s been collaborative, communicative, honest, organized, artistic, and straight-up genius. I learn something new from him on every single project. He challenges his fellow designers to innovate, while leading the charge to do so himself. He doesn’t rest on his laurels. Will sticks up for what’s right, makes incredible jokes, and hasn’t punched me in the face for making the same joke about throwing tea into the harbor every July 4th. This dude has spent many late nights to get the job done, revising and tweaking until a project is perfect. Working with Will is the definition of enthusiasm, mutual respect, and creativity. If you get the chance to work with him, do it.

If it were possible to bleed ampersands, Will Doyle would do it. He’s given hours to this community, far beyond the pay check he made on Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. So when you’re sending out tweets, posts, and more thanking people for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, don’t forget Will. He crushed it on this one.

DMs Guild Products

I also want to tell you about the two DMs Guild products I helped create for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus: Encounters in Avernus and Hellturel.

Hellturel

I wrote Hellturel on my own, but the maps for the product were created by Meshon Cantrill, a master cartographer! I don’t want to say too much because of spoilers. Here’s the description:

Note: Light spoilers for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus in this description!

Expand your Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus game with four new adventure locations, complete with plot hooks and NPCs, plus five new magic items all found in the holy city of Elturel! This supplement adds more challenges for characters of levels 5 to 6 who enter Avernus through the city.

Elturel is in Hell. It’s up to you to save it.

Encounters in Avernus

Encounters in Avernus is a great supplement from many DMs Guild Adepts that continues the trend of offering many encounters you can drop into you Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus campaign. Who worked on it?

  • M.T. Black
  • James Haeck
  • James Introcaso
  • Rich Lescouflair
  • Shawn Merwin
  • Ashley Warren

Here’s the description from the site:

Bring your Hell to life with this companion supplement for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus!

Encounters in Avernus presents more than 60 short encounters for the wasteland of Avernus, the River Styx, and the city of Elturel. Keep characters busy with these story-rich encounters that help flesh out the first layer of Hell. The supplement is great for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus or any infernal adventure!

Two longer encounter chains are included to help you craft an amazing story with Tiamat or Zariel!

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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