Warning: This is a rant about game design. Ye have been warned.

Guidance is a terrible spell. It’s so bad, in fact, that I’d argue it flirts with being objectively bad.

I mean, not if you’re the character casting it. If you’re casting the spell, it’s absolutely fantastic. Guidance is not only incredibly powerful, it is constantly useful. That’s actually part of the problem.

Let me back up for a second.

There are two principles of game design on which this rant is based.

First, in a game where players choose between different abilities, any ability which is so good that everyone should pick it every single time is almost always an indication that the ability is broken. Whether or not the ability actually breaks the play of the game, it has broken the process of choosing abilities. The auto-choose ability flattens the game by reducing the diversity and variety of characters.

Second, declaration gotcha mechanics aren’t fun. This is basically the, “Whoops! You forgot to say ‘Simon Says’ before collecting your victory points, so I automatically win the game!” school of game design and it almost always results in terrible experiences. Just imagine Dennis Nedry laughing in your face for eternity:

(Another common example of this in D&D are DMs who resolve traps as purely declaration gotchas: “Whoops! You forgot to say, ‘I search for traps,’ so here’s your random damage tax!” See Rulings in Practice: Traps for a better way of running traps. But I digress.)

So let’s talk about guidance.

In 5^th Edition D&D, guidance is a cantrip that allows the caster to touch one willing creature and grant them +1d4 to any ability check of their choice made within the next minute. It requires concentration, but because it’s a cantrip you can cast it as often as you like.

First off, this is clearly a must-have spell. It grants, on average, +2.5 on ability checks. So any group without guidance is, on average, performing 12.5% worse on ability checks. That’s huge! To put that in perspective, getting a +2 proficiency bonus requires at least five levels of advancement. Guidance allows 5^th level characters to make skill checks as if they were 13^th level characters.

This makes guidance the auto-choose spell that we were just saying is a huge, neon red flag in game design. If you’re the character in the group who has it on your spell list, you’re obligated to take it, and I’ve witnessed multiple Session 0’s in which players have specifically coordinated to make sure that someone has guidance covered. It’s absolutely a character creation tax.

It’s also just a terrible spell in actual play.

Let’s start by pointing out that it’s actually difficult to explain what guidance actually does. If I cast a fireball spell, it creates a giant ball of fire. If I cast absorb elements, we can visually imagine the flames of the fireball being absorbed or noticeably weakened around me. With knock we can imagine tendrils of magical energy turning the tumblers in the lock. And so forth.

But guidance? It’s a spell that can help the recipient with both a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check a Wisdom (Insight) check; and I don’t even have to determine which one at the time I cast the spell. In some cases you can kind of improvise something that the magic might be doing (lightening your limbs? letting you see someone’s pulse? whispering secrets from the primeval Font of Knowledge to help with that Intelliegence (History) check?), but in practice the spell appears to be sufficiently dissociated that its casting is almost always a simple declaration – “I cast guidance!” – with no clear concept of what’s actually happening in the game world.

More importantly, what makes the spell so essential is that it can improve every single ability check. And therefore, of course, it must be cast for every single ability check.

This is the declaration gotcha. You forgot to say you were casting the spell? Congratulations! You just made your group significantly worse!

And even if you do remember to say it, the experience at the table is just dreadful. “I cast guidance. I cast guidance. I cast guidance. I cast guidance. I cast guidance. I cast guidance. I cast guidance. I cast guidance. I cast guidance.” An endless, mindless drone which is both a tax you are obligated to pay and an action which is not only devoid of narrative worth, but an active distraction and detraction from whatever the focus of play actually is.

“But I like it when PCs assist each other!”

Me, too. But that’s not really what guidance does. Because the spell has no narrative presence in the game world, it doesn’t create the experience of one character helping another. And because its use is so generic as to be mindless in its application, there’s no true satisfaction or sense of accomplishment. In my experience, guidance actually gets in the way of players creatively coming up with ways of assisting each other!

“You should just tell the player to stop metagaming!”

There’s no metagaming here. If you’re on a dangerous adventure and you have a spell that you can freely cast that will help you or your comrades succeed in your tasks, you would absolutely cast that spell. In fact, because the spell lasts for one minute and allows the recipient to invoke it at the moment the skill check is made, it would actually make the most sense in character to be constantly casting the spell every minute. You’d be a fool not to.

“But guidance isn’t as useful in combat because the caster has to use an action to cast it!”

I honestly don’t care. You could completely ban guidance from being used in combat and it would still be a broken, awful spell.

It is true, though, that guidance is less of a problem in combat. Why? Because your actions in combat are a limited resource, and therefore the need to use one of those actions to cast the spell imposes a cost.

And that cost is, essentially, what’s missing from guidance. Without a cost outside of combat, it’s actually failing to cast guidance as often as humanly possible which is the cost. And it is precisely this which makes the spell miserable in play and broken in design.

So is there a way to fix it?

Yup.

Ditch guidance entirely and roll it into bless, which is a 1^st level spell that currently only affects attack rolls and saving throws. The spell remains quite useful, but you’ll now need to exercise some thought to determine when it is best used.

Go to Table of Contents

In the cosmology of D&D, when someone dies, their soul journeys to the Outer Planes where it is reincarnated as an extraplanar entity. For the damned, this usually means being forged into a soul coin, emerging as a lemure, or otherwise being placed at the bottom of the Asmodean hierarchy.

Those who served Hell faithfully in life, however, can sometimes skip ahead, being immediately incarnated as more powerful devils. (Particularly if they were wise in the bargains they struck.)

In an adventure which begins with the PCs killing devil cultists on the Material Plane and then sees them travel to Avernus, this can have the curious consequence of encountering the same villains they killed at the beginning of the campaign as devils who have received their eternal “reward.” As Thalamra Vanthampur swears with her dying breath: “I’ll see you in Hell.”

Hell, of course, is a very large place and it would perhaps seem unlikely that the PCs would run into these devils purely by chance. But the cultists encountered in the first act of the campaign are all closely connected with Zariel’s Elturian schemes; and, of course, our adventures in Hell focus on both Zariel and Elturel. It may actually be rather unsurprising to discover that these foundling devils have been drawn to the same place.

(And, of course, it’s dramatically satisfying to see this flipped side of the coin.)

Here we’re going to look at several characters from Act I of the campaign who, assuming they died, can return to torment the PCs when they arrive in Hell.

Depending on how your campaign plays, you may find it useful to use all, some, or none of them: Perhaps the players were careful to capture cultists so that they could face lawful prosecution, in which case they’ll be rotting in cells instead of roving among the damned. On the other hand, there may be some ostensibly minor NPC who, in your campaign, became a major antagonist.

THALAMRA, WARLORD HUNTER

In life, Thalamra formed a pact with Zariel. In death, she has been transformed into a deathlock mastermind (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, p. 128). Locked to Zariel’s will, she has been dispatched to hunt down the rebellious warlords of Avernus: Bring them to heel or grind them into the dust.

Thalamra rides atop a demon grinder (DIA, p. 219) crewed by four bearded devils (MM, p. 70). Her two lieutenants ride alongside on devil’s rides (DIA, p. 218):

• Lilxori, a cambrion (Warlords of Avernus, p. 10)
• Asharu, a barbed devil (MM, p. 70)

Chained to Thalamra’s belt are her dead children, transformed into lemures (MM, p. 76).

USING THALAMRA: Thalamra’s full crew is quite dangerous. Fortunately, they will most likely not be looking for the PCs (although that could change) and it should be fairly easy to avoid them on the Avernian plains if they’re on a war-ride.

If they’re not riding out in force, it’s far more likely to encounter Lilxori, Asharu, and/or some of the bearded devils trying to track down a warlord’s lair (or, if the lair is too strong, identify a time and place they might be vulnerable)… information they might be willing to pay a handsome bounty for.

As described in Part 7F, it’s also quite likely that Thalamra will first make her presence felt in Avernus by disrupting the balance of power between the local warlords. The PCs can encounter the vestiges of these conflicts (smoking war machines, a warlord’s lair filled with butchered corpses, etc.) and rumors will begin racing across the wastelands. The PCs might also be asked by warlords to protect them from Thalamra, to help them negotiate an alliance with another warlord to oppose Thalamra, or even to ride in a war-band to take Thalamra down.

THAVIUS KREEG

As described in Part 7D, Thavius’ reward for ultimately delivering Elturel into Zariel’s hand is incarnation as a magugon (The Book of Fiends, p. 170). He has been given the rank of Triarius and serves aboard Zariel’s flying fortress, where he’s most likely to be encountered.

REYA MANTLEMORN & THE HELLRIDERS

Literally any knight of Elturel that the PCs encounter during the first part of the campaign (up until the point where the Tome of the Creed is destroyed) will have fallen and rose as a Hell Knight. Many of these Hell Knights can be found in fallen Elturel (seeking to keep the city under control until it can be dropped into the Styx).

Reya Mantlemorn is the most likely such character for the PCs to have developed a relationship with.

The key thing to understand about Hell Knights is that their souls have been warped by their transformation into devils: They remember their former lives, but their morality has been fundamentally warped and their will is at least partially enslaved to both Zariel and their devilish nature. If necessary, they will not hesitate to use their mortal memories to betray those who were once dear to them.

On the other hand, many are painfully conflicted by the memories of who they were and what they have become. So if they are not actively tasked, the PCs may also find them tragic figures.

(Other Hell Knights, of course, were willing Zarielites actively conspiring to bring about Elturel’s fall. They are far less transformed by their devilish forms, but are probably even more dangerous.)

You can use any devil stats for a Hell Knight. A few likely possibilities include:

• barbed devil (MM, p. 70)
• bearded devil (MM, p. 70)
• bone devil (MM, p. 71)
• chain devil (MM, p. 72)
• ashemde (Book of Fiends, p. 145)
• chamagon (Book of Fiends, p. 150)
• kere (Book of Fiends, p. 167)
• pain mistress (Book of Fiends, p. 174)
• shocktroop devil (Emirikol’s Guide to Devils, p. 187)

If you want some Hell Knight mooks, consider mobs of:

• spined devils (MM, p. 78)
• herlekin (Book of Fiends, p. 164)
• vierhaander (Book of Fiends, p. 181)
• narzugon, variant (Emirikol’s Guide to Devils, p. 181)
• merregon, variant (Emirikol’s Guide to Devils, p. 184)
• merregon (DIA, p. 238)

Particularly potent Hell Knights might include:

• erinyes (MM, p. 73)
• erinyes vanguard (Emirikol’s Guide to Devils, p. 178)
• magugon (Book of Fiends, p. 170)
• assassin devil (Emirikol’s Guide to Devils, p. 171)
• narzugon (DIA, p. 239)

DOOMED REFUGEES

Remember how the Cult of the Companion was murdering descendants of Elturian knights so that their souls would be sucked into Hell?

Guess where they are now.

As a reminder, these victims are definitely dead:

• Edmao Eduardo
• Wemba Oshrat
• Madhuri Akhila
• Leiv Diomidis
• Aneta Diomids
• Annika Silverleaf
• Shohreh Letitia

And these people may have also died if the PCs weren’t in time to prevent their murders:

• Iolanthe Oshrat (sister of Wemba Oshrat, the second victim)
• Valeria Nuska
• Weronika Nuska (sisters)

Unlike those who actually swore oaths, these victims are unlikely to have been transformed into Hell Knights. They are far more likely to be lemures (MM, p. 76), encountered:

• On the shores of the Styx
• In Zariel’s flying fortress
• Enslaved by one of the warlords

And so forth. However, if it makes sense for one of them to show up as a more powerful devil, you can easily use the suggested list above.

Alternatively, they could be placed as hellwardens (Book of Fiends, p. 163), eternally crucified devils who serve as damned watchmen. (Perhaps around the Dock of Fallen Cities or Haruman’s Hill.)

DM Tip: This may also be an opportunity to emphasize that the PCs’ time in Hell is not without costs in the real world. Consider having the PCs meet an Elturian refugee who was alive when the left Baldur’s Gate, but who has died in the interim.

OTHER CULTISTS

If you’re following the Principles of RPG Villainy, then it’s quite possible that other cultists in Act I will end up resonating with your players or otherwise growing to unexpected importance.

The Hell Knight list, above, is a good place to start for bringing them into Hell for an encore appearance. They might be operating independently, or you might put them in service to Thalamra, Thavius, or a Hell Knight.

Note: Quite a few of the bad guys the PCs face in Act I are actually Dead Three cultists who have been hired by the Vanthampurs. While it’s possible for Dead Three worshipers to end up in Hell, it’s comparatively unlikely.

KELTON HUNTER

The Poisoned Poseidon (the beached ship taken over as a base of operations by the Dead Three cultists in Act I) was, as described in Part 3E, originally captained by a warlock named Kelton Hunter who was infamously dragged into Hell.

Whether that story is true or not, Kelton Hunter is now a charonadaemon pirate sailing the Styx. (See merernoloth, Tome of Foes, p. 250.) The PCs might encounter his new ship, the Nether Poseidon, while seeking passage across the Styx (in which case he might rob them or attempt to shanghai them into his crew). Alternatively, the Nether Poseidon might attack a ship that the PCs are taking passage on.

Kelton and/or his crew might also be encountered at Sudok’s Mart (Hex B2a) or the Purple City (Hex F2). It might be intriguing if he was friends with Carol D’Vown (Hex D2a). He might interrupt PCs exploring the wreck of the elemental galleon (Hex H5).

Kelton will be interested to hear how his old ship is faring, and will be glad to hear that it’s being put to “good use” if he hears about the grisly serial killings.

Go to Part 7H: Avernian Random Encounters

Go to Part 1

ARVAL’S AWAKENING

(Fiction by Peter Heeringa)

While I have this moment of sanity, let me record my memories lest they flee again from the horror I have become. Try. Trying to piece together the fragments of the past, use them to guide the path of the future. My earliest memory, the warmth of my life flowing from my neck, blade in my hand yet in another’s? NO! That is not my first memory. That is not me. I must focus beyond the shimmering veil to the time before my awakening, beyond the void.

Within the inked darkness pins of light… why this fear and exhilaration? I cannot pull away as they materialize, grow, and coalesce. Shapes and forms emerge. The shadowed darkness retreats in the advancing light and the blurring fragments of the past surge over me, thunderous, threatening to pull me under:

The glow of candlelight and tomes, the excitement of the knowledge and power, pride – I have been accepted to study the arts of the weave. Others, much younger, have mastered the spells, why haven’t I?  Long hours after lights are out. Long hours in the dark recesses of the library to pull tomes. The strange tome that shouldn’t have been there… Sneaking away to lamplight, the smell of straw, the frustration of the challenging information, the undecipherable script, terrible frustration, throwing the book across the room – dropping midflight and opening to that page, it made no sense but I need to know. I must keep at it. The positions and images are stars, this I know.  Stars… why am I filled with dread?

Dreading the restless days of harsh instruction. Why am I unable to master the spells? I am to be a great wizard. Insults from the instructor on my work? My measurements are off.  They are always off.  The mocking calls of other students?! I know I am capable of great things! Hot, flashing anger. Fist fights, blood. Too much blood. My blood? Running. Running as fast as I can.  Running with the book. Riding home in the back of a cart in defeat. The long journey home. Reading and teaching the other one as their father drives the cart. Mountains scraping the sky around us. Teaching them the meaning of the positioning. “Look, look there at the bright one where I am pointing-“ DON’T POINT TO THEM THEY MIGHT NOTICE. No, keep focused! Focus on… home-

Home. The north, yes, this place of deep seasons and emotions. The summer wildflowers and bees. I am a child?  Escaping chores to run through the wildflower fields of summer with… someone.  Someone important. Important to me?  My mother’s stern and worried call home, laughter at meals with the family, the harsh winter chilling to the core of my bones, the worried look of my parents over my sick bed. I never did regain my strength.

Not strong enough. Am I always to be the last one?! They’re passing me by for working the boats. Passing me by for working the mead halls.  Passed by for the guards and caravans? Laughter from those I knew as friends. Children are so cruel, crueler when they are nearly adults. Yet for their strength their eyes gaze upon the wonderous miracles performed before their eyes by the wielder of magic.  Of course! This is the answer to it all!  Unlock the secrets of strength beyond strength. Magical secrets! Secrets… my father has kept a grand secret: my first book!

Reading it cover to cover over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over by lamplight in the lofted barn. The smell of paper, straw, sweat, and manure – unabashed hope and ambition. Reading it over and over again. The delicate feeling of paper between your fingers, feeling them go dry from the touch of parchment… HANDS, oh, gods I had hands that could feel and touch and caress – my beloved?  My beloved!  Your kindness despite my frailness. Your belief in me gives me an inner strength.  I’m sorry I must go to study – I’m practically too old already – with them willing to take me I must take this chance.  I will be a powerful wizard – my strength will be envied by the others.  I will return and we will be happy.

Happy – more books. Piecing together something… new?  No, something very old.  Forgotten. Rites. Rituals but they make no sense. Sacrifices must be made – but how could I sacrifice another person?  No, I won’t.  But I must.  Perhaps something equal… no, greater, would be sufficient. A large animal might do the trick – a beast of burden.  To get to the site I’d need something that can travel off the paths.  An axebeak should do the trick if my measurements are aligned.

Aligned… the stars are aligned tonight, I must make the exchange for this gift of which the tome speaks. Power enough to solve our problems. Strength enough to show the others with their rote studies that I am not something to mock, I am great. I will not be the last one. Not anymore.  With this dagger across the throat of the axebeak, incantations and rites of old, with these ancient stars in alignment I open myself to the powers beyond!

Oh, gods… where have the stars gone?

I see nothing, yet I know that the darkness beyond darkness is reaching out it’s tendril to me – I must be strong. I have studied the rites.  I am strong. I must not look away. I CAN’T. LOOK AWAY! I CAN’T! Over and over and over and over and over and over and strength! Surging through my frame, bathing in the stars their light, my strength.  Growing.  Power beyond the wildest imaginings!  And yet, I am not alone here.  Another mind? Minds.  One very simple, one I cannot grasp, but I feel it grasp my mind like child testing the tension of  butterfly’s wings before they pop off its body.  And suddenly, everything happens.

The ages tick by in a moment and once again lights shimmer overhead. My, how my eyes look so vacant and yet grasping above me.  My throat looks so red.  Blood.  My blood? Warm life fading from our neck- NO! This cannot be my last memory! No, no, I’ll probe more.  Perhaps if I see more familiar sites and faces that will help.  Help… yes, I was doing this to help.  I must get  help to help.

ARVAL’S ORIGIN

(Created by Peter Heeringa)

Arval was born to a modest family of Good Mead: Cadell Terikson was one of the village’s trappers, journeying often into the White Woods to the west. His wife, Siani, was a daughter of the Rielsbarrow family, one of those who had helped build the Mead Hall and now prospered. (Siani was actually the younger of Kendrick Rielsbarrow, who has since become the Speaker of Good Mead.)

Arval grew up like many other children of the north — working hard and learning life’s lessons the same way. Arval, though, always tried to find and follow the easy route. Attempting to visit a friend named Fef Moryn when he should not have, Arval became lost in a winter storm. While he was recovered from the wilds, being bedridden for a season stunted his growth and his strength never really recovered.

While Arval still lay in his sickbed, his father was killed in a yeti attack. As best as the militia scouts could tell, the creatures — perhaps driven by hunger — had come down from the Spine of the World. Although the militia did a few sweeps, the yeti were never caught. A group of adventurers who followed up on the rumors a few months later found a cave deep in the woods, discovering signs that the yeti had moved on and also recovering bones which were likely those of Cadell Terikson.

As it became clear that he would not, in his weakened state, be able to live the life that others of his age were enjoying, Arval yearned for other forms of power. He set his mind to books and caught the attention of Dusica Breckinridge, the priestess of Tempus who served in the local shrine. Although he showed only mild aptitude, he made up for it by applying himself fully. For a time, he was joined in these scholastic endeavors by Fef. The connection between them deepened and love ensued. They parted ways only in 1486 DR when, after the death of his mother, Arval chose to head south to Luskan and seek admittance into the newly reformed Arcane Brotherhood.

Arriving in Luskan, Arval was overwhelmed by the size (and filth and smell) of the City of Sails. Despite feeling immense frustration as the “country bumpkin,” Arval was, in fact, accepted into the Host Tower by the Raven (whose real name Arval would later learn was Druette). He was apprenticed to Simona the Lion, one of Druette’s followers.

Arval’s time in Luskan was, sadly, not a happy one. Simona’s other apprentice – a tiefling named Avarice who was considerably more skilled in the arcane arts – was endlessly antagonistic, undermining and tormenting Arval at every opportunity. Arval also proved a poor student, picking up — with a great deal of effort — only the most minor of skills. However, while working on the archiving of the numerous arcane volumes pouring into the newly reconstituted Host Tower, he discovered a strange tome that hinted at some short cuts. Rather than cataloguing this volume, Arval secreted it away.

Shortly thereafter, however, Arval was dismissed from the tower by Druette for his poor performance. Simona expressed her deep sorrow in losing him as a student, but Avarice made it clear that it was, in fact, Simona who had recommended he be kicked out.

There was, however, one thing that Arval had proven adept at: Technomancy. Although he had little time to practice it under Simona’s guidance (for the Lion believed firmly in the traditionalist forms of arcane study), Arval spent some time after his expulsion in the summer of 1488 DR continuing his studies, seeking guidance from the technomancers of Luskan when he could.

With his funds running low, however, Arval decided to return to his hometown in the spring of 1489 DR. Crossing the Spine of the World, however, he was shocked to discover that the thaw had not yet come. In Good Mead once more, he discovered that Auril the Frostmaiden had laid a curse on the land and that things were becoming quite dire.

Arval became obsessed with the idea that his arcane magic was destined to save Good Mead. As the sun was slowly drowned by the horizon, however, it became clear his weak trinkets were worthless. His attention turned back to that volume of strange lore which he had purloined from the Host Tower. He began to suspect that the text within the book was shifting in response to his needs, and in time he found a ritual that would give him the power he needed.

After preparing the supplies he would need, Arval journeyed southeast across the wind-blasted tundra to an ancient stone circle located atop one of the foothills of the Spine which predated the settlement of Ten-Towns. Local legend actually held that these sarsens had placed here by the ancient empire of Netheril to serve as navigational beacons for their flying cities.

Whatever the case, Arval created the arcane circle described in the book. While making his preparations he discovered a strange owl carved from whalebone. Tucking it into his pouch, he placed the axebeak he had ridden there in the center of the circle. Under the right alignment of the stars, he sacrificed the axebeak. He felt his soul brushed by some vast and incomprehensible power. His mind screamed at its touch and things…

… went wrong.

The world twisted or he was twisted through the world, and in that moment he was either transformed into the axebeak or his consciousness was transferred into the axebeak’s body. For a time he wandered in confusion.

When he regained his senses and realized (more or less) what had happened to him, Arval tried to return home. But this didn’t go well for him: He couldn’t speak and his efforts to communicate were misunderstood. He narrowly escaped being penned and fled Good Mead to regroup.

Sadly, this experience was repeated each time he approached people. They would either flee from the wild terror bird or think to themselves, “Hey! Free axebeak!” and attempt to capture him. Arval fled further and further across Ten-Towns, until he eventually found himself on the shores of the Sea of Moving Ice, pecking out a lonely existence by snatching fish from the black waters.

It was during this time that the sun vanished entirely.

A few days ago, he found a half-drowned gnome washed up on the shore. At first Arval thought he was dead, but then the gnome managed to crack his eyes and look up at him. “Help… Please…”

Arval managed to use a little of his magic to quickly dry and warm the gnome. When the gnome awoke, Arval was surprised to discover that the gnome could understand him, and he had his first conversation in weeks. The gnome introduced himself as Wrenn Pilricken and seemed puzzled by Arval’s speech. After some study, he told Arval that, although he was squawking like an axebeak, he was making those sounds with human vocal cords.

Arval offered to take Wrenn to Bryn Shander. On the way there, Wrenn has been able to help Arval learn to control his voice, allowing him to slowly re-learn human speech.

DESCRIPTION

Arval is a little smaller than other axebeaks, standing a little over eight feet tall. His body is creamy gray (mostly darker, charcoal feathers with cream-colored down feathers beneath), but his face has vibrant blue feathers spreading out from his beak in a starburst pattern, curving up and around his eyes.

He wears a side saddlebag crammed with various papers, tools, and arcanocraft materials. Over his right eye are a series of automated lenses. Clipped to the saddlebags like a pocket watch are two holy symbols: The geared wheel of Gond and the unicorn pendant of Lurue.

GOOD MEAD

Good Mead has been known for its distinctive, treacly meads since the town’s founding and every tavern in Icewind Dale s accustomed to receiving regular mead deliveries. It was only four decades ago, however, that the new Mead Hall was completed, ending the town’s dependence on knucklehead trout fishing by allowing its apiaries to flourish throughout the Dale’s harsh winters.

Good Mead is one of two small towns on the shores of Redwaters. Contrary to its name, Redwaters sparkles emerald green during the day and silver in the evening. Unlike Maer Dualdon and Lac Dinneshere, Redwaters is somewhat sheltered from the glacial winds and is a relatively peaceful lake, plied by only a handful of sailboats and a few score coracles that glide across the surface like swans with their young.

The other town of Redwaters is Dougan’s Hole, which is every bit as fiercely independent as Good Mead and the two have a friendly rivalry. For the rest of Ten-Towns, however, “Good Mead and Dougan’s Hole” might as well be one town, almost always mentioned in the same breath. The people of Good Mead find this irksome, since they consider themselves quite different from all other townsfolk. And the folk of Dougan’s Hole find it downright insulting, because for some reason they always come second.

During the lean months of the Dale, the people of Dougan’s Hole are extremely protective of their provisions. (The cultural result of several bad famines in the mid-1400s.) “Warm as a winter greeting in Redwaters” is a common saying for an unfriendly welcome.

Shrine of the Flaming Sword: Dedicated to Tempus, this shrine was built in the 14^th century when rivalry between Dougan’s Hole and Good Mead led to open hostilities (which, in turn, led to the lake being named Redwaters for the blood spilt in it). Of late, worship of Tempus has waned, however, often leaving only Dusica Breckinridge to fulfill the old, lonely rites.

THE ARCANE BROTHERHOOD

In Luskan grows the Host Tower of the Arcane, the academy of magical training and headquarters of the Arcane Brotherhood. Located on Cutlass Island at the mouth of the River Mirar, the Host Tower was not built, but rather grown. A large, central spire resembling a tree of grey-black stone has four large limbs sprouting from it, one in each of the four cardinal directions. These limbs are covered in numerous turrets, towers, and balconies.

The Host Tower was destroyed in the late 14^th century, but in 1486 DR its ruined roots were regenerated and the tower grew anew. It was also at this time that the Arcane Brotherhood, which had been driven out of Luskan and scattered across the world, returned, gaining the trust of the people of Luskan by clearing undead from the ruins of Illusk, protecting the city from a dragon, and swearing an oath to stay out politics.

There are five leaders of the Arcane Brotherhood, each overseeing either the central spire or one of the cardinal limbs:

• Archmage Arcane: Cashaan el Farid, the Red
• Overwizard of the West: The White
• Overwizard of the South: The Blue
• Overwizard of the East: The Grey
• Overwizard of the North: The Raven

The leader of the Arcane Brotherhood is the Archmage Arcane, a title which stood more or less vacant for much of the 15^th century while the various regional factions of the Brotherhood squabbled with each other. As can be seen from the list above, most of the archwizards and other senior members remain enigmatic behind codenames, usually a chosen color (although those serving the Overwizard of the North have begun a new fashion for animal names). (Cashaan chose to be openly known during the organization’s return to Luskan to foster goodwill.) Other senior members known to be active include the Brown, the Crimson (not to be confused with the Red), the Peacock, and the Cerulean.

Although the Archmage Arcane was once more or less a tyrannical despot who ruled the Brotherhood with an iron first, after the reformation it appears things are more complicated, with the Overwizards each maintaining fiefs (both within the Host Tower and across Faerun, with each overwizard “responsible” for arcane matters within their cardinal quadrant) with a great deal of individual autonomy.

The Brotherhood has also been aggressively recruiting, sending out invitations to arcanists across the Sword Coast and beyond. Scores more have come without an invitation, hoping to gain admittance to the academy.

Membership Pin of the Arcane Brotherhood

Go to Icewind Dale Index

V. writes:

In the current 5E adventure I’m running, I’ve attempted to apply many of the concepts I’ve learned from the Alexandrian… Generally, multiple clues have been available to transition PCs between nodes. Now the players are about to experience a party scenario. One planned event will be a senior member of the faction that players belong to showing up unexpectedly at the feast. That NPC is going to give a specific mission to the players that would push them towards a particular node. Would this be considered overt railroading? Something to absolutely avoid?

I guess my mind is really spinning after having just re-read the node series. I don’t remember you mentioning a node structure without multiple entry points to a specific node.

The key thing to understand is that, generally speaking, a node with only one potential point of entry is fragile. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist, it just means that you – as the adventure designer – should be aware that it’s quite possible the PCs won’t go to that node. (Because, following the principle of the Three Clue Rule, they either won’t find the lead, won’t understand the lead, or won’t follow the lead.)

The exception to this is a proactive node. These are the nodes that come looking for the PCs. They don’t need multiple leads pointing to them (although they can) because the PCs don’t need to go to them in order for them to enter play.

Scenario hooks, in particular, are often rendered as a proactive node. And a very common form of this, particularly in published adventures, is the job offer: Somebody wants the PCs to do something and they tell them what that is.

This is, of course, that situation you’re looking at here.

One thing to note here from a structural viewpoint is that, while the job offer may be proactive, the next step (of taking the job and going to do whatever the patron asks) is theoretically fragile (because you only have one lead; i.e., accepting the job offer).

In actual practice, however, this tends not to be case: First, you have an NPC literally saying, “Do this,” which eliminates most of the ways in which a lead can fail (by the PCs missing it or misinterpreting it), leaving the only fragility the possibility that the PCs will just outright refuse to follow the lead (i.e., turn down the job). And this is comparatively less likely because, in most campaigns, scenario hooks are considered something that the players are expected to follow, so as long as the players recognize that this job offer is a scenario hook, it becomes much more likely that they’ll accept it. Also, as in your current scenario, such job offers often come from organizations or patrons that the PCs have an established relationship with, making it more likely they’ll do it for in-character reasons.

Yes, the expectation that the PCs will take a scenario hook when it’s offered by the GM is very light railroading. But the “scenario of the week” format in play is quite common and not particularly objectionable, and even in campaigns where that’s not the case, in practice explicit/obvious scenario hooks are just treated as having more “weight” than other leads.

With that being said, the advanced technique to understand here is that the patron’s job offer — i.e., the thing the patron wants the PCs to do — IS NOT THE SCENARIO.

The scenario is whatever situation (e.g., a collection of nodes) the patron’s job offer is pointing the PCs towards.

For example, the patron says, “I’d like you to steal four hundred cure disease potions from this Imperial caravan.” The PCs might do that. They might also steal the potions and fence them. Or warn the caravan guards and then help them protect the shipment so that it reaches the plague victims in Vilheim safely. Or steal them and redirect them to the poor people in the Cataris district instead of the self-serving 1% in Vilheim. Or take the patron’s intel and use it to steal something else from the caravan. Or sell the intel itself. Or… well, lots of things. When you’re designing scenarios instead of plots, the possibilities become almost limitless.

It also become easier at this point to recognize that the job offer from the patron doesn’t have to be the only scenario hook pointing at that caravan, the cure disease potions, and/or the plague victims in Vilheim and Cataris.

This moves us towards material I cover more fully in Juggling Scenario Hooks in the Sandbox and the Running the Sandbox video, but it obviously removes the theoretical fragility of having the job offer as the only lead pointing the PCs towards the scenario.

(Of course, in the sandbox the players will know that they aren’t expected to follow every scenario hook. So, paradoxically, it may become more likely that they never go on that caravan raid. On the other hand, that’s just fine because, in sandbox, the fallout from them NOT raiding the caravan may be even more interesting than if they had. But I digress.)

Once you have multiple scenario hooks in play, the next design revelation you may have is that these hooks don’t all need to point at the same node! For example, the patron’s job offer is “raid the caravan” (which points them at the caravan, from which they can learn about where the cure disease potions are being sent and why). But the PCs might also have an ally whose mother lives in Cataris and has become sick (leading the PCs to start in Cataris, learn about the plague, and then potentially discover the cure disease caravan as a possible solution). Or they pass on the job, the patron hires someone else to hit the caravan, and now a wealthy uncle who lives in Vilheim wants them to track down the culprits and recover the cure.

If you stop thinking in terms of plot, you’ll discover that a scenario can often engage the PCs from lots of different angles, which will, in turn, give them lots of meaningful choices about how they want to engage with it.

The short version is this: No, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the PCs getting job offers. In fact, it would be weird if they didn’t. Most PCs are hyper-competent and rapidly accumulate a resume of high-profile accomplishments. They’re exactly the sort of people you want solving your problems for you.

Go to Ask the Alexandrian #5

Go to Part 1

HUGIN JORHUND ATHUKAVORE THUUNLAKALAGA

(Created by Allen Voigt)

When he was young, Hugin wrangled with Jaagrik, Kaga, and Zuri, goliaths who were a little younger than him. (For a goliath, “wrangling” – which might be more accurately translated as something closer to “competing” – is the childhood word of playing.) During this time he was given the honorific of Athukavore, a goliath word which translates as “noisemaker.” But he grew apart from his playmates when he was taken under the wing of Kapanuk, one of the tribe’s Dawncallers.

Recognizing Hugin’s divine spark, Kapanuk sought to train Hugin to become a cleric of Talos, the God of Storms. Talos, however, did not seem to wish to use him as a conduit of power. Hugin hoped that things might change when he passed into adulthood, and so he gave up his “blood ball” (a mock javelin his father had made for him that was, in truth, little more than a pointy walking stick made of bone), and entered the Crawl: Passing through the tunnel, Hugin hallucinated that the wyrm which made up his home came back to life and melted the bones of his friends and family, only by plunging deep into the ice was he able to survive.

Hugin emerged from the Crawl into adulthoos. But nothing had changed. There was still no divine spark. Frustrated, Hugin took a pilgrimage to Luskan. In the City of Sails, a member of the Arcane Brotherhood named Nass Lantomir convinced him to take part in the Wet Parade at the Winter Palace.

The white-spired Winter Palace is Auril’s temple in Luskan. The structure is a roofless array of pillars and arches carved of white stone. The rituals of Auril’s worship often seem cruel to outsiders.

The Wet Parade is a ritual in which supplicants don garments packed with ice. They then journey between six white pillars known as the Kisses of Auril, which are dispersed throughout the city. The worshippers move from pillar to pillar, chanting prayers to the goddess. Upon reaching a pillar, a supplicant must climb it and then “kiss the lady,” touching lips to a rusty iron plate at the top.

These events resemble frantic footraces. In winter, there is the added risk of frostbite and injuries caused by falling from the ice-slicked pillars. The parade runners are cheered on by patrons who come out of nearby taverns to place bets on the stamina of the participants. Those who finish the race are thought to have helped make the winter easier, and they rarely have to pay for food or ale all winter long. (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, p. 25)

There is some similarity between Luskan’s Wet Parade and the Blesstide “parade” of Waterdeep: On Auril’s Blesstide, an informal festival held on the first day of frost, paraders dressed in white cloaks (but otherwise naked) run from Cliffwatch in the North Ward across the city, through West Gate, and then leap into the icy waters of the Sea of Swords. (City of Splendors, p. 15)

The Six Kisses each represents a different principle of Auril’s faith, while also physically combining two of Auril’s three forms (which are the Cold Crone, the Brittle Maiden (Lady Icekiss), and the Winter’s Womb (the Queen of Frozen Tears)):

• The Kiss of Ice, which is fairly self-explanatory; it is the crucible in which faith and mortal strength are tested (Maiden ascendant, with the Crone)
• The Kiss of Fire’s Quenching, which is not only the literal quenching of fire’s warmth, but also symbolically the destruction of civilization as personified in the hearth (Crone ascendant, with the Womb)
• The Kiss of the Open Door, for Auril holds that no structure should be made fast against the wild cold (Maiden ascendant, with the Womb)
• The Kiss of the North Wind, which is also known as Auril’s Breath or the Breath of Death; it is one and the same with the cold lack which is the air in a dead man’s lungs (Winter’s Womb ascendant, with the Crone)
• The Kiss of Darkness, also known as the Kiss of Isolation, for in the darkness each man stands alone, revealing the lonely truth of all sentience (Crone ascendant, with the Maiden)
• The Kiss of Eternity, for in ice that which would elsewise be lost will be forever preserved (Winter’s Womb ascendant, with the Maiden)

How much of this symbolism Hugin understood is uncertain, but as a goliath completing the challenge was an easy feat when walking among humans. Nevertheless, he still felt no flow of power from the Frostmaiden upon the completion of the ritual.

Later, however, Hugin was drunk at a local tavern. He was approached by a tiefling woman with light blue skin. At times it seemed to him as if she was rimed in ice, although it seemed hard to be certain, and if he looked at her out of the corner of his eye it seemed as if her eyes were black, empty pits. She told him that if he still sought divine recognition and the holy purpose which came with it, then a path had been laid for him. “Look for the man with the eye of ice. He will show you the way.”

Then she was gone.

But later that same evening, a man with an eye of magical ice sat down next to him and offered to buy him a drink. Then he offered him a job: He’d heard that Hugin was from Icewind Dale, “And I have need of… let’s say a bounty hunter.” It seemed that someone had published a scurrilous treatise called The Hellbent Highborn accusing several prominent patriars in Baldur’s Gate and nobles in Waterdeep of being devil worshipers. They had not been able to discover the author’s true identity, but they knew that they had fled to Icewind Dale by way of Luskan. “All we want is for this criminal to be found and for justice to be done. You understand?”

Hugin left the bar with a pouch of gold coin and immediately made arrangements to work his way back to the Dale as a caravan guard. If hunting down this criminal and seeing her brought to justice was that path to divine recognition, then he would see it done and become what he was meant to be.

DESCRIPTION

Hugin is a dark gray-skinned goliath, standing 6’10”. He’s bald, with lithoderms – coin-sized bone-and-skin growths as hard as pebbles – speckling his skin. Around his joints (at elbows, knees, collar, hips, and so forth) are chalky white calluses, and where the skin meets these protuberances there is a dark grey-blue pattern radiating radiating out.

WYRMDOOM CRAG

W1 -VALLEY. The bones of a dragon lie half-buried in the snow. Ground slopes up from the dragon to the crag’s entrance; stone stairs to the east lead up to the goat-ball court.

Chwingas. Tiny fairies known as chwingas are often seen flitting among the dragon bones. You know that one of them is fascinated by whistling and will come capering out whenever someone is whistling a tune. Another is fascinated by their own reflection.

W2 – GOAT-BALL COURT. Fifteen crude stone pillars stand in this raised area, with bleachers carved into the rocks. (See Goat-Ball.)

W3 – WEAPONSMITH. Your clan’s weaponsmith is Wayani Highhunter. She says she learned her forge-craft from a dwarf of Mithril Hall.

W4 – THE CRAWL. Your clan’s soft-worker, Demelok Nightwalker, dyes cloth and tans leather here. The center of the cavern bulges up, revealing a passage. Through this passage young goliaths must pass in order to become full-fledged adults. They offer up a symbol of their childhood — a doll — and crawl through the tunnel. Members of their family wait for them on the other side, ready to welcome them into adulthood. While passing through the tunnel, visions force them to face their fears. If they cannot complete the journey, then they are not ready for the trials of adulthood.

W5 – MAIN HALL. This cavern has a domed roof and a well. The southern portion of the cave is about ten feet higher and the clan-fire is kept burning here. This is where the clan gathers and socializes.

W6 – PRIVATE CAVES. These private caves are home to the “honored elders” of the clan — Wayani the Weaponsmith, Demelok the Soft-Worker, Chieftain Ogolai Orcsplitter, and Bodysmith (medicine-worker) Aruk Thundercaller.

W7 – FEASTING CAVE. This is both where the food is prepared and the feasting occurs. Members of the clan who do not have a private cave sleep here. Feast-hall wrestling helps establish the pecking order in the clan.

GOLIATH CULTURAL NOTES

Food & Drink: Elk meat, goat’s milk, berries, smoked fish.

Daily Routine: At dawn each day, the chief selects Captains who are tasked with different duties (hunting, fishing, repairing broken furniture, etc.). In addition to the clan Elders, these captains then select members of the tribe round-robin style to assist in their duties. It’s not unusual for multiple teams to be selected for the same task (i.e., multiple hunting groups), in which case informal and formal competitions between them are common.

Names: Goliaths have three names. A birth name (given by their mother and father), an honorific or nickname that can change at the whim of the chieftain (usually reflecting something they did that was particularly useful to the tribe or as a punishment for something foolish or dangerous), and the clan name. (Your clan name is Thuunlakalaga.)

• Example Honorifics: Highclimber, Nighthunter, Bearkiller, Dawncaller, Fearless, Horncarver, Skywatcher, Wordpainter, Latesleeper, Wanderlost, Shytongue, Stumblefoot

Language: Gol-Kaa, which has only thirteen phonetic elements (a, e, g, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, u, th, and v). Relatively recently, the goliaths have picked up the dwarven alphabet and begun using it to transcribe their oral traditions, etc.

Art: Most goliath art is abstract, based on astronomical observations. Their portrait art is highly abstract, with the figure being portrayed more as a constellation of their achievements rather than visual representation of what they physically look like.

Goliath clans often have dawncallers – bards who act as both sentries and lorekeepers for the tribe. Goliaths, whether dawncallers or not, are great tale-tellers and have a rich oral tradition of stories, myths, legends, and songs.

Competition: Goliath culture features a lot of competition. It’s baked into daily tasks and most forms of recreation. They often keep track of their social relationship in the form of tallies or scores (“twice more and I’ll have saved you from wolves twelve times” or “this is the fourth time I’ve given you a healing potion”).

• This includes competing with themselves: Once a goliath has done something (e.g., slay a dragon) they won’t be happy unless they’ve one-upped the accomplishment (e.g., slay two dragons, or an older dragon, or a dragon with a large hoard). Their word for becoming an adult can be literally translated as “champion.” (But, of course, even a champion has to compete to keep their title.) And their word for “chieftain” would be more accurately translated as “champion of champions.”
• Goliaths also prize fair competition. Cheating is anathema and they also feel strongly that everyone should have their turn and an equal opportunity.

Sports: Wrestling, stubborn root (like king of the hill), cliff-bolting (a vertical climbing race), goat-ball.

Honored Elders: Not all of these positions can be found in every clan.

• Chieftain
• Weaponsmith
• Soft-Worker (skilled in cloths, leather, etc.)
• Bodysmith (a medicine-worker)
• Skywatcher (religious leader)
• Adjudicator (referees for the games goliaths play, but also act as judges for other disputes)
• Childsmith (responsible for raising and watching over the clan’s children, sometimes referred to as the Tent-Mother or Tent-Father)

Dawncallers: Dawncallers aren’t exactly elders. They are the “ones who walk at night” – acting as sentries or otherwise taking care of tasks that need to be completed at night. It’s an honored position, which exempts them from the daily captain-calls. The dawncallers are often seen as mysterious and enigmatic, but they share morning and evening meals with the rest of the tribe and, particularly at the evening meal, share the oral history of the tribe (which they learn and share with each other during tehri nightly vigils).

GOAT-BALL

See Icewind Dale: Goat-Ball for the full rules and customs of the game.

Go to Arval Terrikson