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A DM’s Guide to Nezznar the Black Spider

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What if the final encounter of lost mines looked like this?

As a GM running Lost Mines I struggled with Nezznar the Black Spider more than any other NPC. Nezznar felt out of place, a barely fleshed-out baddie whose appearance at the tail end of the adventure felt tacked on. This made getting PCs to care about whether Nezznar lived or died a difficult challenge. If that wasn’t enough, Nezznar’s stat block made the final encounter far too easy for a level four party and not even close to the boss battle that would make a fitting end to the campaign.

But do not despair, brave GM! With just a few tweaks Nezznar can become the memorable villain that he deserves to be. In this post we’ll discuss some of those tweaks.

First, we’ll work on the Black Spider’s origins by answering an important question: How did a drow from the Underdark become the Black Spider in the first place? Next, we’ll talk about ways for the Black Spider to make an appearance earlier in the adventure so the PCs aren’t asking “who’s this guy?” when they finally meet him at the end. Finally, we’ll beef up the lackluster final battle and transform it into something that Sephiroth would be proud of.

Nezznar the Black Spider’s Origins

When fleshing out the backstory for Nezznar we need to answer a few important questions:

  • Why did Nezznar leave his home in the Underdark?
  • Why is Nezznar seeking the Forge of Spells?

Why Did Nezznar Leave the Underdark?

Although there are many drow Underdark cities, Menzoberranzan is the largest and the one for which we have the most lore. Thus, it makes sense to choose Menzzoberranzan as Nezznar’s original home as we won’t need to make up as many details on our own.

As a resident of Menzoberranzan, Nezznar almost certainly didn’t leave his home willingly. For drow, nothing is more important than exercising power over other drow. This is something that Nezznar would not be able to do if he left the Underdark. Even if a drow felt that they could gain power from some MacGuffin like the Forge of Spells, they almost certainly would not venture out to find it on their own, as doing so would mean to abandon their rank and station, and thus any hope of advancement in drow society.

Most drow live in matriarchal societies due to the influence of their Goddess, the evil spider queen Lolth. As a member of such a matriarchal society, Nezznar would be considered a second class citizen, but certainly not an unprivileged one. As a student of the arcane, Nezznar has a chance (however unlikely) to rise to the highest station available for a male drow: Archmage and Master of Sorcere, Menzoberranzan’s wizard school. Even if Nezznar doesn’t attain such a lofty station, he will still be more respected and feared than many other male drow.

As you can see, Nezznar has a lot going for him, so there’s not a very good reason for him to venture out on his own in pursuit of the Forge of Spells, as leaving the underdark would mean to forfeit his coveted position.

What then would cause Nezznar to leave Menzoberranzan? The most likely possibility is banishment. Some potential reasons for Nezznar’s banishment might be that:

  • Nezznar was framed for a crime
  • Nezznar actually committed a crime
  • Nezznar failed an important mission
  • One of Nezznar’s superiors failed a mission and blamed the failure on him
  • Nezznar’s family lost a war with another family. All members of his family were supposed to be killed but somehow he escaped.

In addition to banishment, Nezznar may receive the curse of driderism. This is a curse by the goddess Lolth by which the afflicted are transformed into hideous spider creatures called driders. It’s possible that Nezznar has found a temporary cure to his driderism and needs the Forge for a more permanent cure.

Why Does Nezznar Want the Forge of Spells?

As I’ve already written an article focusing exclusively on the Forge of Spells, I won’t go too much into detail about the properties of the Forge here. Essentially, all we need to know for the purposes of understanding Nezznar’s motivation is that the forge is powerful and will allow Nezznar to do powerful things. Nezznar may need this power for personal revenge, or perhaps need it to cure a personal affliction like driderism. It’s also possible that Nezznar is working for some greater villain who wants the forge for reasons that don’t become clear until the next campaign.

Nezznar Needs the Forge for Revenge

While the potential targets for Nezznar’s revenge are many, let’s go with the current Archmage of Sorcere, Gromph Baenre.

I like the idea that Gromph saw Nezznar as incompetent and would never give him the time of day. As such, he would continue to pass him over for advancement. Nezznar, feeling that he deserved more, tries to plot against his master and fails miserably.

Having no other choice, Nezznar flees the underdark with his loyal “friend” Vhalak. Nezznar doesn’t know that Vhalak is a doppelgänger and it’s even possible that Vhalak is responsible for Nezznar’s foiled plans against his master. As a doppelgänger, Vhalak wants to seek out others of his kind (he hasn’t found Vyerith yet) and decides that exposing Nezznar and perhaps implicating himself in Nezznar’s crime is a good way to get them both banished.

As Nezznar’s companion, Vhalak continues to assume the identity of a fellow drow wizard. Since Vhalak shows a remarkable talent for magical disguises, he helps to build Nezznar’s network as the Black Spider by infiltrating the Lord Alliance and Cragmaw Tribe and recruiting Vyerith as an apprentice.

For more on Vhalak and Vyerith, check out my article about the doppelgangers.

Once Nezznar establishes himself as the Black Spider, revenge against the Archmage becomes his single and all-consuming goal. Vhalak suggests that they disrupt Gromph’s plans to summon and bind Demogorgon, one of the demon princes of the Abyss (As this is the premise of the Out of the Abyss Module, this would be a good segue into that adventure). Vhalak, being a doppelgänger being capable of reading the surface thoughts of others would likely learn of Gromph’s plans just by being in proximity to him.

Nezznar knows that a source of powerful magic like the Forge of Spells could potentially disrupt whatever ritual Gromph needs to cast in order to summon the great demon. Or, the forge of spells could be the key to crafting or repairing some legendary weapon that Nezznar would need to defeat his former master. Whether Nezznar can do this or not doesn’t matter (he probably can’t). The important thing is that he believes he can.

This makes for a really interesting dynamic because the world would probably be better off if the party lets Nezznar have access to the Forge of Spells. The party doesn’t know this, however, and Nezznar is so arrogant and xenophobic that instead of cooperating with the party he sees them as a nuisance impeding his plans. Should Nezznar survive his encounter with the party it’s quite possible that they will need to enlist his help to fight Gromph or some other greater villain for whom Nezznar bears a grudge.

Some Powerful Entity wants Nezznar to Secure the Forge for Them

Another possibility for the Forge of Spells is not that Nezznar needs it for anything, but someone Nezznar is working for happens to need the Forge of Spells. In my run of Lost Mines, Nezznar has been punished by Lolth for a past crime and has been transformed a drider. As this is considered a mark of great shame in Drow society, Nezznar would stop at nothing to return to his former self, even to the point of making a pact with an archdevil like Zariel.

Nezznar strikes the following bargain: the infernal being grants Nezznar an amulet which suppresses his drider form. In exchange for this amulet Nezznar must agree to conduct an infernal ritual which only a magic source as powerful as the Forge of Spells could fuel. Should Nezznar fail at this task, his soul would be forever enslaved in the nine hells. Should he succeed, Nezznar is permanently cured of his affliction.

What would an archdevil want from the forge? Perhaps Zariel or some other Archdevil wants Tiamat gone from Avernus. In order to do this they plan to use the magic of the forge to weaken the border between Avernus and the material plane, thus making it much easier for Tiamat to escape. This of course, makes for an easy transition into the Tyranny of Dragons campaign.

If you choose to go with the archdevil idea, be sure to leave clues about his affiliation with this infernal being. In my run of Lost Mines, I left the various reagents necessary to perform the ritual for weakening the border to hell as well as a copy of Nezznar’s pact written in infernal among his belongings.

Of course Nezznar’s pact doesn’t necessarily have to be with an Archdevil. Nezznar could form a pact with any great being who may have the power to restore Nezznar back from his cursed drider form. This being could be an archfey, a demon from the abyss, or even one of the great old ones. Choose whatever you feel would be a good match for your campaign.

How Can Nezznar the Black Spider Appear Earlier in the Adventure?

One commonly voiced complaint about the Lost Mines module is that the only time the party has an opportunity to meet Nezznar is at the very end. Because we don’t really know anything about the Black Spider, there is very little emotional investment on the part of the PCs to care whether he lives or dies. One way to solve this problem is to have Nezznar make an appearance before the PCs before they are ready for him. Another way is to drop more lore about the Black Spider as the party progresses in the campaign.

An Early Encounter with Nezznar

One potential spot for an early Nezznar encounter is right after the PCs have cleared the Cragmaw Hideout. I think it works pretty well and will definitely make the party hate Nezznar, but it also might be a little hardcore for new players who may not be ready for such an encounter in their second session of play.

At this point in the story, Nezznar wants to spend more time trying to find the Forge of Spells, but he’s more worried that some third party will find out about the Forge and overwhelm him with sheer numbers. This is why interrogation of the Rockseeker brothers is so important. Wanting to take care of this important matter personally, Nezznar decides to head to Cragmaw Hideout himself to ensure that the Rockseeker problem is taken care of.

After nabbing Gundren at the hideout, Nezznar heads to Cragmaw Castle with Vyerith and some loyal Cragmaw gobilns. Before they get very far, a frantic messenger goblin riding on wolf-back informs Nezznar that a party of adventurers has cleared out Cragmaw Hideout and rescued Sildar.

Cursing this turn of events, Nezznar directs Vyerith and the goblins to take Gundren to Cragmaw Castle while he turns around to deal with the PCs personally.

As the party heads down to Phandalin they will be ambushed by five giant spiders. Nezznar will be a hooded figure with a spider staff who uses misty step and darkness to escape should the party get too close. Nezznar will try to remain unseen behind the trees and will only be noticed by players with a passive perception above 15.

If The party loses against Nezznar and his spiders:

The party is close enough to town that Daran Edermath will notice the commotion and defeat the remaining spiders on his own. Daran will help carry unconscious party members to his orchard to help them recover. Daran mentions that he “might have seen a drow with a spider staff” but doesn’t believe a drow would be so far from home. This would be a good opportunity to do a lore dump on the drow as Daran would likely be knowledgeable about them.

It’s possible that some PCs could die here. If you want to go easy on the party, Daran will attempt to to stabilize dying players or even feed them a healing potion (this might be recommended for newer players).

Dealing with a PC death or even a TPK at this point shouldn’t be too hard though. Should the entire party or all but one party member die, roll up a new party who happen to be charged with investigating the PC deaths. Should only one party member die, the new character can be in Phandalin investigating the Redbrands and the disappearance of the Dendrar Family.

If you’re going to allow a TPK, be sure you mention that this might be a possibility to your players before you begin so you don’t catch them off guard.

If the party wins against Nezznar and his spiders:

This would be the less preferable outcome, as Nezznar will seem like less of a threat to the party. It makes sense that should Nezznar see the tide turning against his spiders, he’d immediately retreat. On the unlikely chance that Nezznar dies or gets captured, you can replace him with another villain of your choice who can assume the role of the Black Spider in Nezznar’s place.

Possible variant to the Encounter

One variation on the this Nezznar encounter would be a similar encounter after the party clears the Redbrand hideout. In this version of the encounter, the party would run into Nezznar as they leave the hideout. Nezznar, deciding that he doesn’t want to engage with adventurers powerful enough to have vanquished the Redbrands on their own, sends spiders to attack the party while he quickly makes his escape.

Nezznar Lore Drops and Clues

If you want to maintain more of a sense of mystery about the Black Spider but still want to insert him into the story more, you can leave more lore and clues behind at various spots in the adventure.

Some possibilities are:

  • Work with one of the players to incorporate Nezznar into their backstory. Perhaps the Black Spider was responsible for the assassination of certain prominent figures in Neverwinter, one of whom the PC was close to. If you do this, be sure to give players an opportunity to discuss backstories (I provide a way to do this in my article about what to do before the Goblin Ambush).
  • A bottle of drow poison is found in Klarg’s stash in Cragmaw Hideout. A high enough medicine check will let you know that drow poison is extremely rare outside the Underdark.
  • In one of the empty cells of of the Rebrand Hideout is a corpse wrapped in spiderweb left by one of Nezznar’s pets.
  • Halia once had a confrontation with the Black Spider. She has a dagger of drow make on her desk as a souvenir of that encounter. When asked about the dagger she will lie and say she bought it off a merchant in Neverwinter.
  • One of the party members has a prophetic vision of the Black Spider doing something villainous, perhaps interrogating Nundro Rockseeker, Gundren’s brother.
  • The Glasstaff that Iarno Albrek wields is a drow artifact.

Making the Final Black Spider Encounter More Challenging and Memorable

One of the ways to make the final Black Spider encounter more challenging is to have Nezznar transform into a Drider as soon as he’s defeated. If you do any amount of googling about how to improve the Nezznar encounter, you’ll find this is a common suggestion.

While I think turning Nezznar into a drider is a good idea, I think we can do more to give our players more of an epic boss battle feeling.

Generally boss battles will follow this progression:

  • The party seems to defeat the villain, and it’s easier than we expect it to be. This would be Nezznar in the form of a drow wizard.
  • A hideous transformation! The boss undergoes some drastic transformation in a desperate effort to stay alive. In this case Nezznar transforms into a drider. There are two ways this can happen: either Nezznar’s existing drider curse has been suppressed by some powerful magic which fails once he becomes unconscious or Lolth decides to curse Nezznar on the spot for being a failure.
  • The final form! At half HP, Nezznar the drider manages to tap into their final reserve of energy, becoming even more hideous and formidable looking (perhaps even looking like the picture at the top of the post). At this stage Nezznar will have access to new abilities and can attack twice as fast.

While stage one and two are essentially two separate encounters that happen right after the other, the third stage of the Black Spider encounter will use some of the ideas about “paragon monsters” provided by Angry GM.

While I’m going to summarize Angry’s ideas as best I can for the purposes of the Black Spider encounter, I highly recommend you read his articles regarding building better boss battles here:

The idea is that we’re going to split the Nezznar Drider’s HP into two pools of hit points, each pool being 61 hp. You give Nezznar the Drider advantage on the first initiative roll and treat it as a regular combat encounter until Nezznar reaches half HP. This is when Paragon Fury (see stat block below) kicks in.

At half HP, Nezznar’s eyes will start glowing purple/black and is surrounded by an aura of energy the same color. We roll initiative again so that Nezznar now has two complete turns per round. In addition, Nezznar has access to a “spectral lash” power which is essentially a re-flavored version of the two-handed longsword attack. Also, we’re going to lower Nezznar’s AC to 16 as we want Nezznar’s vulnerability to increase as his damage output increases. This works out narratively as Nezznar will be more reckless and much less careful about blocking attacks in stage three.

Here’s the revised drider stat block you can use after Nezznar is defeated in drow form:

This is a relatively simple example of things you can do with a paragon monster. If you want to be fancy, you can have the behavior of the final stage be identical to some other monster. You could, for example, give Stage 3 Nezznar the abilities of a Bearded Devil. The infernal wound left by the devil’s glaive could be reflavored as a a spectral stinger or something else that leaves a lingering wound.

Because the bearded devil is rather weak, you can use the Monster Scaling Tool to make it a higher CR creature and then use a re-flavored version of the scaled-up devil stat block as Nezznar’s third stage.

As you can see, paragon monsters have a lot of versatility and have the potential to transform the final encounter with Nezznar the black spider into something much more memorable than it currently is.

Finally, you can use my Statblock Generator to create two statblocks: Nezznar before transforming and Nezznar after transforming. After Nezznar before transforming dies, you can just switch statblocks.

A Challenging Villain to Improve

Nezznar can be a challenge for GMs to improve because it seems unlikely a male drow would be on their own wreaking havoc so far away from the Underdark. Also, as a villain who makes their first appearance at the end of the adventure, he doesn’t really fit with the campaign. Finally, the mechanics of the final encounter leave much to be desired.

Making Nezznar a memorable villain will take some effort on the part of the GM, but hopefully the ideas provided above about Nezznar’s backstory, ways to weave him into the the narrative more, and tweaks to the final boss battle will be helpful.

What tweaks have you made to Nezznar the Black Spider? Please feel free to share them below in the comments!

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For more posts like this, check out the Lost Mines of Phandelver GM Guide!

A DM’s Guide to the Forge of Spells

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When we reach the forge of spells in Wave Echo Cave it’s far from the legendary MacGuffin that the players have been led to expect. Instead, we get a “small brazier in which an eerie green flame dances and crackles” 1. Apparently, the power of this brazier/forge has “waned over the years, to the extent that it can no longer be harnessed to permanently enchant magic items”2.

The underwhelming nature of the forge is likely an attempt to “nerf” it so the party doesn’t have access to a potentially never-ending stream of magic weapons. To me, however, this greatly reduces the campaign’s stakes. As the adventure is written, the consequences of Nezznar seizing control of the Forge of Spells is negligible. Of course, the PCs don’t know that the forge has diminished in power until they get there, but when they finally do it’s anticlimactic to say the least.

This post will offer some ideas for fleshing out the Forge of Spells. First, we’ll explore reasons for why Wave Echo Cave has magical power in the first place. Then, we’ll go over some ways the wizards of the Phandelver Pact managed to harness the magic of the Cave and build the forge. Finally, we’ll discuss how we can make the forge more powerful and consequential without breaking the game.

Why Does Wave Echo Cave Have Magical Power?

In order to add depth to the story you want to tell, It would be helpful to come up with some plausible reasons why Wave Echo Cave happens to have magical power. The most common origins of magical power are:

  • Influence by gods or other powerful beings
  • Influence of a bordering plane of existence

Oftentimes these two are intertwined. If, for example, a place was a gateway to a different world or plane of existence, it could mean that some powerful entity came to the material plane from that other place. This is very common in cosmic horror, where horrific and powerful beings like Cthulhu have arrived from some other unfathomable realm.

Influence by Gods or Other Powerful Beings

In both fantasy and mythology, places can gain magical power because of the influence of some powerful being, whether it be a god, demigod, demon, angel, archfey or primordial. Sometimes the magic comes from an aura that the entity itself happens to give off simply because it happens to live there. Other times a place’s magic power may come from a religion or cult who venerates some being by building temples, shrines or conducting many rituals or human sacrifices there. In these cases it doesn’t matter if the being had ever lived in the place. The magic comes from the rituals themselves.

A place could also be the site of some significant historical event that happens to involve powerful beings. One example would be a cataclysmic battle between gods in the long forgotten past. Crater Lake, for example, was thought by the Klamath people to be the result of a great battle between Liao the god of the underworld and Skell the God of Sky. Maybe a similar battle happened in Wave Echo Cave, and the corpse of the dead god still emanates chaotic magic throughout the cave even in death.

While there are many possibilities, I like the idea of Wave Echo cave being the home to a powerful being. The wizards of the Phandelver Pact manage to imprison it with their magic. Ever since, it has lashed out against its bindings and has continued to do for centuries. The forge has managed to siphon the magical power from this imprisoned being, greatly weakening it. There may be a cult out there that still venerates this entity and vows to set it free. Imagine how vengeful this spirit would be when their bonds are finally broken 😨!

Influence of a bordering plane of existence

“Thin” places are locations where the borders between dimensions are, as the name suggests, unusually thin. Because of this, the ambient magical energy in the place is especially strong and chaotic. In addition, this energy tends to evoke environmental effects that are characteristic of whatever plane Wave Echo Cave happens to be on the border of.

For me there are two planes which come to mind that would be a good fit for Wave Echo Cave: the the Shadowfell and the Elemental Plane of Water.

Influence from the Shadowfell

The Shadowfell is a plane of existence devoid of all light and emotion. It’s a place where there is no sun or stars in the sky and where the undead and cosmic horrors shamble about in the darkness. This influence from the Shadowfell would explain the undead who have arisen throughout Wave Echo Cave, not to mention its gloomy atmosphere.

To emphasize the tie between Wave Echo Cave and the Shadowfell you can include monsters that happen to be native to the Shadowfell like the Darkmantle, Meazels or Skulks.

Some Shadowfell monsters like the Bodak, Balhannoth, Cloaker, Nightwalker or most of the Sorrowsworn will be too formidable for a level 4 party to handle without some alterations. It makes sense, however, that since these creatures are not on their home plane they may be weakened. You can use a Monster Scaling Tool to make them a little weaker for your party.

In addition to having denizens from the Shadowfell creeping in, you could add the following environmental effects:

  • Everything appears drained of color
  • Party members feel drained of all positive emotion, leaving only fear, dread, and sadness.
  • Light sources only illuminate to half their normal radius
  • Barely audible whispers of the dead can be heard by those who are more perceptive than others

Influence from the Elemental Plane of Water

The Booming Cavern (Area #16) could potentially be a portal to the Elemental Plane of Water. In most editions of D&D the Elemental Plane of Water is an endless expanse of ocean with no surface and no floor. While there is no sun, the water has its own luminescence, and is generally temperate. Nearly every sea creature (except for those that need to air to survive like dolphins, seals and whales) can also be found in the plane of water. Water elementals are common, as are Aboleth, Marids and Kraken.

Should your version of Wave Echo Cave have a connection to the plane of water, you can add the following environmental effects:

  • All sources of water, including water from water skins glow on their own accord.
  • When party members approach a body of water, the water from their water skins struggle to get out. Should they uncork the water skins, tiny water elementals jump out to join the pool.
  • The Dark Pool (Area #10) is connected to the elemental plane of water, and there is a tunnel that leads to an endless expanse of ocean near the bottom.
  • Everything is damp, even the insides of the PC’s packs. Because of the dampness all fire damage is reduced by 1d4 hp.

Harnessing the Magic of Wave Echo Cave

Although not a perfect analogy, the harnessing of magical power seems to hold a lot in common with harnessing electrical power.

Here are some examples:

  • Coal: The ambient magic has solidified and can be mined much like ore. It has to consumed or “burned” in some way in order to properly harness the magic contained within. Chardalyn stones are a canonical example of such “magic ore”.
  • Uranium: Similar to coal in that it can be mined, but deposits are much rarer and require a process that only the most skilled alchemists and wizards can unlock. The process of unlocking the magic can be very dangerous in unskilled hands and the consumption of the magic creates a toxic “magical waste” as a byproduct that has detrimental effects like luring the undead or perhaps even causing the decay of one’s soul to those in proximity.
  • Hydroelectric: Mages have built a massive dam covered in runes which prevents the influence from a bordering plane from encroaching upon the material plane. In addition to preventing the magic from the Shadowfell or the Elemental Plane of Water from entering the material plane, the mages learned that they could concentrate and divert this powerful magic to power the Forge of Spells.
  • Solar: The ambient magic requires special technology to harness. Mages need to create arrays of crystals which can absorb the ambient magic in the air and then be directed via conduits to the forge of spells for the creation of magical items.
  • Geothermal: There are dangerous pockets of chaotic magic deep within the earth that could be harnessed upon an eruption.
  • Wind: Crystal nodes or magic circles have been set up throughout wave echo cave to absorb especially violent surges of magical energy. These surges could coincide with each boom echoing through the caverns.
  • Hamster Wheel: An enslaved spirit could be compelled to provide energy through forced labor of some sort. Every time the spirit tries using its magic to break its bonds, the magic actually gets absorbed and sent to the forge.

Making the Forge of Spells more Important

It’s rather anticlimactic for the Black Spider to have been scouring the Sword Coast in search of the Forge of Spells only to find that it’s but a pale green flame in a brazier that only temporarily makes weapons magical. While it makes sense mechanically to not have a potentially endless source of magic weapons, especially with just a level 5 party, we shouldn’t nerf the Forge of Spells at the cost of making it less important.

Below are some ideas for making the Forge of Spells as impressive and important as it should be, as well as mentioning some limiting factors so as not to break the game.

Possible properties for the Forge of Spells might be:

The ability to repair legendary magic items

Because of the incredibly concentrated magic energy harnessed by the Forge of Spells it’s one of the few places where one can fix broken magic items. Perhaps Nezznar has one of these in his possession and needs the forge of spells to get this item to work again.

The limiting factor for this ability is built-in. Unless the party has a broken legendary magic item in their possession, the forge is not of any use to them.

It makes magical item manufacture possible, or perhaps even cheaper

While the DMG provides a handy chart on page 129 on the time and money involved in creating magic items, it doesn’t specify the necessary skills or equipment needed to craft such magic items. It could be that the Forge of Spells is precisely what’s needed to unlock item creation. If you let some downtime pass between the end of the Phandelver adventure and the next campaign, PCs could forgo some of the gold rewards from the mines in exchange for some of the new weapons or items the forge could be creating.

You could even make the gp cost for magic items a little cheaper to make the forge feel special, although you probably wouldn’t want to reduce the time taken to craft the magic items.

Although this seems very powerful, this would probably have negligible balance issues since PCs would only be able to create a few uncommon items or a single rare item for the time you give them before the start of their next adventure. This ability would only be overpowered if you allowed your PCs to start up a magic weapons business over the next few years without having any enemy try to wrest control of the coveted forge from them. I don’t think many GMs would let that happen.

The forge can fuel powerful spells and rituals

If the Forge of Spells concentrates the ambient magical power of Wave Echo Cave and if that magic hasn’t been tapped into for centuries, the Forge could now possess monumental magic power capable of fueling magic spells of an epic level.

Although this also seems like a potentially game breaking property, it’s likely that only mages with specific expertise like the Black Spider would be able to tap into this energy. The party wouldn’t know what to do with it.

Consequences of the Forge of Spells Discovery

After your players complete the Lost Mines adventure, the Rockseekers will have a controlling share of the mine. 10 percent of the mine profits are to be shared with the party and the rest would go to the Rockseekers and those who may have invested in the Rockseeker’s venture. A reasonable amount of profit might be 400-600 gp per month and might require some rolls on the part of the players to determine how profitable the mines actually are for them.

However, just because the Rockseeker Brothers have a rightful claim over the forge doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to maintain that claim. There are plenty of powerful forces on the Sword Coast who would stop at nothing for the kind of wealth that the mines and the forge would bring.

Here are some potential developments you can add into your game after the party completes the Lost Mines Campaign:

  • Halia buys up all the debts of Gundren in Neverwinter and then forces him to sell a controlling share of the mines so that he won’t go to debtor’s prison.
  • Dagult Neverember takes control of the mine in the interest of “regional security” so that he can supply the Lord’s Alliance with spellforged weapons.
  • Dragon Cultists or some other baddies decide to attack Phandalin and claim the wealth of the mines for themselves.

The forge of spells would be highly coveted and it may not stay in the hands of the players or their allies for very long…

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What forge of spells ideas have you used in your campaign? Feel free to share them in the comments!

For more articles like this, check out the Lost Mines of Phandelver Guide!

Your First Phandelver Session, Part 2: Running The Goblin Ambush

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Seems like a peaceful spot… (Image Source: JamesRPGArt)

This is part 2 of a 3 part series covering Act 1 of Lost Mines of Phandelver. Consider checking out Part 1: Before the Goblin Ambush for more info about setting the scene and generating bonds for the player characters in your party. Please stay tuned for Part 3 on Cragmaw Hideout!

Since the goblin ambush is often the first combat encounter many GMs ever run, it’s important to have a good handle on the rules as they pertain to this particular encounter. Since this is an ambush, concepts such as active vs. passive perception, stealth, and surprise will come into play. Also, since goblins will be behind trees on an embankment, concepts such as cover and difficult terrain are sure to come into play as well. In addition to reviewing combat mechanics as they would apply to this ambush, we’ll talk about adjusting the encounter if you have more than 5 players or fewer than 4. Finally, we’ll briefly discuss whether you should run this encounter using a map and minis or in theater of the mind.

Active vs. Passive Perception

A character’s passive perception score is 10 plus their perception modifier. Passive perception is what a character notices when they aren’t actively looking for something. For example, let’s say the Goblins roll a 13 in stealth. This means that whoever has a 13 or above as their passive perception will notice the goblins regardless of whether or not the player deliberately mentioned that they were going to keep their eyes on the thicket covered embankments for a possible ambush.

If a savvy player catches on that this part of the road seems like a prime spot for an ambush, they may say something like “I want to look around to see if anyone is waiting for us behind those thickets” you can then ask them to make a roll. This gives the player a chance to roll a number higher than their passive perception. If they fail to roll higher than the goblin’s stealth roll of 13 but their passive perception is still 13, they will still not fail to notice the goblins because passive perception supersedes active perception by acting as a floor.

If a party member uses active perception successfully, reward that player by telling them that they “notice a silhouette behind one of the trees” and ask them what they would like to do. This gives them the chance to be the hero and alert the other players that enemies lay in wait. This way, none of the party members will be surprised when you roll initiative.

Before you start your session, it may be wise to go over the rules regarding active vs. passive perception with your players and write down each character’s passive perception for your own reference. It may also be helpful to describe a hypothetical situation for your players where active vs. passive perception is involved (like noticing traps) so that the players will know that they must make active perception roles if they want to get an extra edge in the game.

Surprise

If the goblins roll a 13 for their stealth, any character who rolled below a 13 for an active perception roll and who has a passive perception below 13 is surprised. If one party member made an active perception roll and succeeded, you can give them the chance to alert the party that they have company.

If a player is surprised, they can’t take any actions or move on their turn. It means their turn is essentially skipped on for the first round of combat. Some party members may be surprised, while others may not be. Surprise is determined for each player individually, not for the party as a whole.

Goblin Stealth and Other Tactics

One thing goblins like to do is shoot arrows from a hidden position. In addition to the initial stealth roll they make when they lay in wait for the party, they also have a bonus action which allows them them to hide after making an attack. A sneaky GM can have a goblin run to another tree and hide in the shadows after making their attack.

If the goblin manages to make a stealth roll higher than the passive perception of the target they are attacking, they will have advantage (roll 2 dice, pick the highest roll) on their next attack roll. If a character wants to try attacking a goblin that is hidden (shooting an arrow where they saw the goblin shoot from, for example) they can make a perception roll to determine if they can see their target. If their roll and their passive perception is lower than the goblin’s stealth roll, the player must make their attack with disadvantage.

For more on Goblin Tactics, I highly recommend reading this excellent article by Keith Amman. Following these guidelines will make this goblin encounter truly come alive.

Cover and Difficult Terrain

Be aware that Goblins will be ducking behind boulders and trees when they attack the party. When they do this, at least half of their bodies will be blocked by the obstacle. This effectively gives them half cover, which adds +2 to their Armor Class. Since goblins have a base armor class of 15, this means that players will have to make an attack roll of 17 in order to hit their mark. Fighters who can get up close to the Goblins will not have to reckon with the increased AC as they are engaged in melee combat.

Because the goblins are on an embankment, we can consider it difficult terrain. This means that a fighter wanting to close the distance between themselves and the Goblins will have to spend twice their movement to get up on top of the embankment. I would consider the embankment to be at least 5 feet of difficult terrain, which means getting on top of it would cost 10 feet of movement. A fighter who is more than 25 feet away from a goblin may not be able to reach a goblin on their turn. They can, however, hold an attack action which triggers when any goblin approaches.

Adjusting the Encounter for a Smaller or Larger Party

The Lost Mines of Phandelver Adventure is recommended for a party of four to five players. How can you adjust your combat encounters so that they aren’t too hard (if you have only three players) or too easy (if you have six)?

One handy tool that I used a lot when I ran Lost Mines was this Combat Encounter Adjustment Tool. This should give you a good idea what creatures to run for each encounter. The encounter adjustments for the goblin ambush listed below are taken directly from the tool.

A Party of Six (Or More?)

For parties with 6 players, consider trying out this combination:

  • 1 Goblin Boss (Monster Manual p. 166) with 22 hit points.
  • 2 Goblins with 7 hit points
  • 1 Goblin with 8 hit points

You could potentially run your game with 7 players or perhaps more, but this will often bog down your game and make it much less fun. Personally I consider 5 players to be the ideal number but you’ll learn what you prefer as a GM.

A Party of Three (or Fewer)

For a party of 3, try this out

  • 2 goblins with 6 hp
  • 1 goblin with 7 hp.

If you only have 2 players at your table, I recommend adding a sidekick to help balance your combat encounters. A sidekick can either be controlled by you or one of the players (I recommend a more experienced player). The Dragon of Icespire Peak Essentials Kit takes place in Phandalin and has some ready made sidekicks that you can add to your adventure (along with many side quests and magical items). You can also roll up a new character as a sidekick or use the Wizards of the Coast UA sidekick rules to create your own.

Use Kobold Fight Club

If you would like to be more creative with your encounters, you can use Kobold Fight Club to adjust them.

For example, if I have a party of four, kobold fight club tells me that the 4 goblins is a Deadly encounter (DEADLY means this is no joke. A player could die).

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4 Goblins is a “Deadly” encounter for a party of 4 level 1 characters.

Perhaps I’m interested in doing a dragon related campaign and thus I would prefer kobolds to goblins for the initial ambush (kobolds are dragon servants). Kobolds are a bit weaker than goblins, so all we need to do is up the number of kobolds so we can make that a deadly encounter as well.

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7 kobolds is approximately equivalent to 4 goblins

So it looks like we can run the ambush with 7 kobolds if we wanted to. In this example, you can see the “Adjusted XP” for the kobolds is a bit more than the 4 goblins. So it’s likely that 7 kobolds will be just a tiny bit harder than the 4 goblins, but not by too much. Personally, I’d go on the easier side for new players and go with 6 kobolds.

Again, I think that it’s better to use the Combat Adjustment Tool mentioned above as new GMs may not be familiar with the kinds of monsters they may have at their disposal. Also, as a new GM you’re already juggling a lot of plates, so it may be better to adjust the numbers and the hp of your enemies rather than the type.

Theater of the Mind vs Maps for the Goblin Ambush

The Goblin Ambush can run either in Theater of the Mind or using a Map. Theater of the mind can be exciting, immersive, and requires less setup than a map (although you may need to keep extra notes to keep track of player and monster positions). However, Theater of the Mind can also be confusing. Depending on how well you communicate the scene, players may not understand how close they are to the goblins or if they’d be able to attack more than one goblin with their burning hands spell. Many of the problems can be solved by following certain guidelines like those provided in Sly Flourish’s guide on running Theater of the Mind combat, but may require a bit of practice as a GM before you get it right. Also, players with aphantasia (inability to make mental visualizations) may have difficulty engaging in the scene, although a visual aid illustration of the setting as well as sharing an image of a goblin from the monster manual can help those with aphantasia.

Maps remove the confusion about distance and range, but also can turn the game into something less cinematic and something more like a board game. Players who enjoy D&D for the tactical aspect will often prefer maps. And oftentimes all you need to bring immersion back into the game is to describe key scenes. Maps can be simple, just a series of outlines drawn in marker on a dry erase battle map. They can also be shared online through a virtual tabletop like Roll20. Finally, if you want to invest some time and/or money you can get a digital display. The display pictured below costs about $1,000 (both for the case and the TV) and was created by Volo’s Workshop on Etsy.

Digital Maps are fancy, but do not necessarily make things more fun. Your players can have as much if not more fun with salt shakers on a table.

If you do decide to use a map for the Goblin Ambush, all you need to do is a quick google image search of Goblin Ambush Battlemaps and you should be set (Be sure to support creators on Patreon if you can!). If you’re printing the map, you may need to do some wrangling using a photo editor and excel to get it to scale. If you’re running this on Roll20 you’ll need to upload the image and align it to the grid.

Keeping Track of Combat Details: Initiative, Conditions, and Stats

I started writing some tips on how to keep track of combat details but it got rather long so I turned it into its own article. For more generic advice about running combat, check out “Tokens and Tables and Stats–Oh My!” Managing Combat in D&D.

What recommendations would you have for running the Goblin Ambush? Feel to leave your ideas in the comments!

Liked this article? Check out others like it in the DM’s Guide to Lost Mines!

Your First Phandelver Session, Part 1: Before the Goblin Ambush

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A Roman Road. I imagine the High Road Would Look a lot like this. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

As a newbie GM planning your first Lost Mines session, the amount of preparation you may feel you need to do can be overwhelming. This is why I’ve provided a step-by-step guide to your first session of Lost Mines of Phandelver. This is the first in a series of articles covering all aspects of Act 1 of Lost Mines. The first article focuses on setting up the story for your players, as well as giving them an opportunity to establish and introduce their characters before the Goblin Ambush. The second article focuses on running the Goblin Ambush itself. The third article, finally, will focus on the running the Cragmaw Hideout dungeon.

This article assumes that you’ve already organized your gaming group. If you haven’t, you may find this article on recruiting players and also this article on scheduling sessions useful.

Before You Begin: Some Background

Some background about the world your players inhabit should be provided before the game begins so that players can integrate their backstories into the world. While you shouldn’t overwhelm your players with lore about the Forgotten Realms, you should provide some basic details about:

  • The Sword Coast: The adventurers live on the Sword Coast on the continent of Faerûn, which is mostly populated by city-states. Each city-state has its own government and laws which are separate and distinct from the other city-states. There are no expansive empires in this region.
  • The Lords Alliance: Sometimes the threat to the peace of the region (raging orc hordes, for example) is too big for any one city-state to handle. This is where the Lords Alliance comes in. Each city-state contributes soldiers to this greater alliance. This Alliance will come to the aid of any member city in need of it. The Alliance is Lead by Dagult Neverember, who also reigns over the city of Neverwinter.
  • Neverwinter: Neverwinter, where the party first meets Gundren Rockseeker, used to be a great and beautiful city until the eruption of the giant volcano Mt. Hotenow some 50 years ago. It is said that some outlying towns are still covered in the ash. Only now has the city regained some semblance of what it once was, and yet many of the city’s districts still lay in ruins. Dagult Neverember just sorta took over the town over after the eruption. Those who supported the old Royal Family aren’t too happy about that, but most people are content since Neverember has made great strides in restoring the city to its former glory.
  • Phandalin: The party’s destination is the frontier town of Phandalin. Phandalin used to be a bustling center of commerce and manufacturing some 500 years ago before it was overrun by orcs. Recently deposits of valuable ore had been rediscovered at the foot of the sword mountains, and the town started to rebuild upon the flagstones of the old ruins.

Ideally, you should send some background information about the campaign and the world before the game begins. It may also be a good idea to review these details at the beginning of your first live session with your players.

Generate Party Bonds

Many adventuring parties are often a random group of sellswords with divergent goals. This can be fine, but one thing that can help facilitate interactions between party members is if they know each other somehow. This gives party members a shared history they can draw upon to make role playing go more smoothly.

Before the first session begins, I’ll ask my players “Who among you is most likely to know each other?” Then, once we’ve determined who knows each other, we brainstorm how they might know each other.

Here are some examples:

Cellmates: The rogue and the bard two both found themselves in jail after some public drunkenness. They became friends and the rogue managed to get a message out to his contact in the thieves guild to bribe the guard so they could escape. Now they’re short of money and they’re in debt to the leader of the thieves guild. They found out about Gundren’s job and they were the first to sign up.

Debt of gratitude: The druid’s sacred tree had been endangered by a party of wandering goblins who were set to cut it down. The fighter, who had been part of the Lords Alliance (And who knew Sildar Hallwinter), rescued the druid from the goblin tribe and now the Druid swears to repay the favor.

Mutual Enemy: The wizard’s village had been overrun by orcs. The Barbarian’s village had also been destroyed by the same orc tribe. In their mutual quest for revenge, they found each other in the thick of battle and had become fast friends.

When suggesting a party bond, I highly recommend this Party Bond Generator from reddit. When brainstorming party bonds with my players, I would go down the list of most likely bonds for two characters and I suggest them to players.

A party bond conversation might go like this:

DM: So John is playing Bartleby the Rogue and Jane is playing Nema the Bard. Since you both are scoundrels who like to drink, I could see you two knowing each other as drinking buddies or even cellmates.

John: I like the cellmates idea!

Jane: Yeah! Perhaps they both found themselves in jail for drinking too much and they became friends in the Neverwinter prison.

DM: And perhaps you both bribed the guard to escape. What do you think?

John: Not sure how I feel about the bribing the guard idea. Perhaps Gundren knew about Bartleby’s talents and Gundren decided to pay his bail to deliver the goods to Phandalin?

Jane: That’s great! And although Nema didn’t know Gundren, she used her charisma to persuade Gundren that she’d be a valuable hire as well?

DM: I love it. Let’s go with that.

Remember, your party bond suggestions are just a starting point. Players are welcome and encouraged to have different ideas of how players may have met or know each other. These party bonds don’t have be set in stone, either. Oftentimes someone will have a better idea that will come to them after the session. I prefer allowing players to change their backstories and party bonds in the event that they do come up with better ideas later on.

Start the Session on the High Road

While it’s tempting to start your session in the Tavern where Gundren and Sildar tell the party about the escort job (and I’ve seen great examples of Gundren’s Contract that you can print up and hand to your players to sign), this can lead to problems. For example, the rogue in my party decided to pickpocket Gundren (something that as a new DM I certainly wasn’t prepared for!) Luckily Gundren didn’t notice, and I breathed a sigh of relief as they embarked on their journey to Phandalin without any other unplanned incidents. Although unexpected actions from players is part of the joy of D&D, there’s no point in giving your players a chance to derail your entire campaign before it has begun!

Instead of starting in a Neverwinter tavern, start your session with the players already traveling on the High Road. Describe the scene, the weather, the clattering of the cartwheels, the merchants and members of the Lords Alliance you meet along the way, and then invite each player to describe themselves. Some possible questions you can ask them are:

  • What do they look like?
  • Where are they? Are they riding up front driving the wagon? Are they following the wagon from behind (this is good for knowing where to place character tokens/minis when you run combat for the goblin ambush.)
  • Are they with anyone?
  • What are they up to?

Optional: Conversation Starters

Once when I was playing Tomb Of Annihilation, our party managed to get through a day crawling through the Jungles of Chult where we didn’t have any encounters. It’s only natural that party members would let their guard down and have a conversation. Our DM suggested three things our characters might talk about:

  • A dream or a goal: “Someday I’m going to save all my money from adventuring and buy a tavern!”
  • A fear: “My older brother went out adventuring in the East. We never heard back from him. I fear he may be dead.”
  • A hatred: “Goblins stole all the sheep in my village! One day I will get my revenge on the Cragmaw tribe!”

I like this because it gives characters a chance to share a bit of their backstory, and warm up their roleplaying muscles. Not only that, but it can make it easier to for it to feel as though distance has been traveled and time has passed.

Any other suggestions you might have for setting up your session before the Goblin Ambush? Leave your ideas in the comments below!

…

Up next: Your First Phandelver Session, Part 2: Running the Goblin Ambush Encounter

Interested in more articles like this? Check out the Lost Mines of Phandelver Guide!

Lost Mines of Phandelver NPC Guide: Vyerith and Vhalak, the Doppelgangers

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Vyerith and Vhalak, the doppelgangers who serve as the The Black Spider’s henchmen in the Lost Mines of Phandelver module, seem to be shoehorned in without much thought. When I ran the module, I almost removed them as they didn’t really fit in the context of the overall story. However, after giving it some thought, I realized that the doppelgangers had a lot of potential and could actually work with just a few tweaks. All we need to do is develop their backstories and their motives a bit.

Vyerith, the naïve apprentice

We meet Vyerith in the shape of a female drow arguing with King Grol. Essentially Vyerith wants Grol to surrender the map to Wave Echo Cave to her to ensure that no one can learn its location. She also wants to ensure that Gundren hasn’t revealed the location of the cave to anyone. After she has done so, she will kill Gundren and destroy the map. 1

This motivation is good enough for your run of the mill drow underling, but it seems a bit flat for a creature who has lived its whole life taking the forms of others, collecting secrets and orchestrating chaos. Furthermore, we have to ask why a doppelganger would be working for a drow wizard in the first place? We need to come up with a backstory and from that backstory a set of motives for her so that as a DM we can play Vyerith with confidence.

A Troublesome Coming of Age

It turns out that we don’t have to go much further than the Monster Manual to find the seeds for a good backstory, especially the part about how they reproduce:

“[Doppelgangers] are too lazy or self interested to raise their young. They assume attractive male forms and seduce women, leaving them to raise their progeny. A doppelganger child appears to be a normal member of its mother’s species until it reaches adolescence, at which point it discovers its true nature and is driven to seek out its kind to join them.”2

Coming of age must be a traumatic and confusing time for a doppelganger, as not only does she spontaneously develop the ability to change her form at will and read the thoughts of anyone around her, but she also learns that her parents are not her own.

Imagine living a relatively normal life and then suddenly having your mind bombarded by the incessant thoughts of strangers around you. You realize that you aren’t even human (or elven or dwarven, or what have you) but a creature despised and feared by most common folk–even by whom you thought were your parents.

So here we have a young and troubled Vyerith who thought she was human but now realizes she is something very different. Lost and adrift, desperate to come to terms with this new identity thrust upon her, she seeks out her own kind. She assumes that if she can read people’s thoughts, her brethren should be able to read hers. And so she speaks her thoughts out loud in her mind, calling out for a potential response:

“Hello? Hello? Is anyone out there like me? A changeling like me? Hello…?”

Vyerith eventually wanders into a tavern where she meets Vhalak. She recognizes what he is immediately. Vyerith, desperate for belonging, eats up every sweet and seductive word that Vhalak feeds her. And thus begins their troubled relationship.

Vhalak, the manipulative master

Vhalak is just about as one dimensional in the module as Vyerith. He takes the form of a male drow overseeing two bugbears digging for a magic artifact in Wave Echo Cave. If he manages to escape to warn the Black Spider that the party is approaching, he assumes the form of Nundro Rockseeker, Gundren’s brother, and pretends to be a hostage to gain leverage over the party.3 However, if we make Vhalak the manipulative “master” of Vyerith, there’s a lot more we can do with the character.

After they first meet, Vhalak tells Vyerith that all humans are base and evil creatures, that changelings like she and him must stick together and forge their own destiny against the world. Vhalak uses techniques that a cult leader might use to brainwash his new protegé. At some point, Vyerith becomes an unflinching devotee to her master Vhalak. I imagine their relationship might be similar to the Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman relationship in The Master (Not the best movie, but not bad either. Worth watching just for the performances).

Vhalak’s motivations stem from the want of control and power. In order to acquire these, he’s content to manipulate things from the sidelines, taking the place of a trusted lieutenant or second-in-command of someone powerful. So it makes sense that he would be curious about what the Black Spider is doing and eventually want to replace some of Nezznar’s more trusted lieutenants.

Vhalak and Vyerith Replace Nezznar’s Trusted Lieutenants

Because Vhalak is a gatherer of secrets and can read the thoughts of anyone within 60 feet of him, it wouldn’t be unusual that he would catch on to Nezznar’s schemes. There’s great potential for power and wealth with the discovery of the Lost Mines, so it makes sense that Vhalak and Vyerith would replace some of Nezznar’s existing flunkies and assist Nezznar in his overtaking of the mines. I imagine that sometime in the future the two doppelgangers may betray Nezznar, but that’s a decision for the DM to make down the road should it come to that.

Potential Uses for The Dopplegangers

While I think it’s interesting for the PCs to confront Vyerith as written in the module so that the party has a chance to interrogate and perhaps even learn Vyerith’s true identity, there are countless other NPCs the doppelgangers could impersonate:

  • Iarno Albrek – This would explain Iarno’s sudden departure from the Lord’s Alliance (The other explanation is he’s just selfish and evil). Perhaps Iarno was actually an upstanding member and was recently replaced. Thus his recent actions betraying the Alliance and forming the redbrands could be explained.
  • Harbin Wester – This makes a lot of sense as well. Why the hell has Harbin Wester ignored the redbrands altogether and focused solely on the orcs harrowing the Triboar Trail? The answer hinted to in the module is that he’s incompetent, but there’s more we can do with this. Since orcs and goblins are natural enemies, perhaps doppelganger Harbin wants the orcs out of the picture so that the Cragmaw tribe can overrun everything.
  • Elsa – Elsa is the gossipy barmaid in the Stonehill Inn. This suggestion was provided to me by Eric Kamander, who has been writing recaps of his party’s Phandelver and post Phandelver exploits on his blog. When Eric ran the module Elsa “was totally enthralled with the party’s exploits and was always praising them. They totally ate it up and told Elsa all about their exploits and plans, since she said she wanted to become a bard so she could sing of their tales. You can imagine their surprise when Carp found her week-long-dead body in the woods.” (See: Link to post recapping Elsa’s interaction with Eric’s party.)
  • Droop – I’ve run Phandelver twice, and both times the party has adopted the pathetic little goblin. Droop makes for a perfect spy.
  • Sildar Hallwinter – Also a possible doppelganger candidate. However, replacing him at the beginning of the adventure introduces too many plot holes: Wouldn’t Sildar’s replacement want to keep Klarg as the ruler of the Cragmaw hideout? Why would the doppelganger want to spy on the adventurers at this point in the adventure before they have really made a name for themselves? If introduced later in the story, however, fake Sildar betraying the party could make for an interesting twist.
  • Gundren Rockseeker – There are plenty of opportunities for a doppelganger to replace him and this could make for a compelling option as well.

The above options work better if the doppelgangers are actual loyal followers of the Black Spider and not pretending to work for him, as it doesn’t make sense that he’d direct them to replace any NPC if he didn’t know Vyerith and Vhalak were doppelgangers in the first place. For me it’s more interesting if they are their own free agents, so I had my players encounter the doppelgangers as written in the module.

Thoughts? How have you used the doppelgangers in your game?

Looking for more? Check out other articles from the Lost Mines of Phandelver Guide!