Goodman Games

Hello, I am new to this forum. Found a new store recently that carries DCC modules and picked up a few to see what they were like. I have a party that is getting close to epic so I decided to start by reading DCC #33, Belly of the Great Beast. Let me say that this adventure is an excellent work. It has a great story, well planned encounters, and is well laid out. Of course with any epic npc's there is bound to be a few errors that creap in, so I am posting what I think are some issues, and hoping that others benefit from this list, as well as point out where I am wrong.

I will list the NPC, what page he is on, and what I think the problem is. I will also offer what I think is an appropriate solution.

So without futher ado:

Black Elgor, pg 7
His belt of giant strength doesn't list the plus, I would make it +4
He has a shield but will find it very hard to use, since he can't have it on and use his rod or wield a weapon and cast spells like heal in combat. This is a common problem with devine casters. I would change his shield to a buckler +4 to keep the armor class the same and give him the free hand. I would replace cleave with quickdraw, so he can get full attack's on the round he enters combat.
The spell list has him memorizing an empowered bull's endurance (I assume it means bear's) but empowering this spell has no effect. Having said that, I would probably still leave it so it is in range of his rod.

Quintoo, pg 12
It appears that he is wearing 2 amulets, I would make the amulet of health a ring
As with Elgor, I would swap out great cleave for quickdraw so he can get full attacks the round he enters melee.

Abbatordex, pg 13
The one minor issue is that it doesn't say how he appears human, as he has no ability to polymorph himself. He might have had a scroll, but it would be interesting to now what the writer was thinking of.
He also has empower spell, but I don't think this is a good choice as he really has no good choices to use it on, and as it is a full round action, it would probably get interupted anyway. I would swap it out with your favorite dragon feat, I like clinging breath, or quicken breath.

Feldspar Heartsunder, pg 21
Just didn't list his damage reduction of 2/- in the stat block so remember it.

Ahandar, pg 35
Should have 14 3rd level spells I believe, not that you would ever use them all

Frexsanthius, pg 39
This is the one fight that I think could be a little to tough, as in TPK. Having blasphemy at will at caster level 30, you will paralyze the majority of most parties. Looking at the Pregens in the back only the thief will be mobile for sure, and the wizard will have a 45% chance to avoid the paralysis with his spell resistance. That just bodes ill. And if by some chance you happen to kill him, the death throes will kill off the lizardfolk in the room if encountered and killed in the room he is listed in. Don't know what I am going to do with this one, suggestions anyone.

Maligance, pg 42
Both her rings give her deflection bonuses to armor, change the ring of protection to a ring of natural armor.

Noosem, pg 53
Not sure if she is supposed to stay in human form and fight with her gauntlet, or change to dragon form. The room would be a tight fit for a dragon, but at least all the PC's would have to be in that little corridor. Could be interesting.

That is all I have. Sorry about the length of the post but I hope you find in helpful and post any suggestions you have.

Thank you

Wow. I can't wait until my group is that high of level. Thanks for posting; if / when we get there, I'll be looking for your post...!

Hi there,

I was the stat editor for this adventure, so I’ll try to address your stat-based concerns.

SirKently wrote:Black Elgor, pg 7
His belt of giant strength doesn't list the plus, I would make it +4
He has a shield but will find it very hard to use, since he can't have it on and use his rod or wield a weapon and cast spells like heal in combat. This is a common problem with devine casters. I would change his shield to a buckler +4 to keep the armor class the same and give him the free hand. I would replace cleave with quickdraw, so he can get full attack's on the round he enters combat.
The spell list has him memorizing an empowered bull's endurance (I assume it means bear's) but empowering this spell has no effect. Having said that, I would probably still leave it so it is in range of his rod.

Right, the belt should be +4.

The shield issue is a common problem for clerics, however, since it’s only a move action to ready or sling a shield, and both can be done as a free action by a character with a +1 attack bonus in conjunction with a move, so I don’t think it will be too much of a problem. So Elgor could start combat with his rod and spellcasting, and then ready his shield and move into combat once he’s ready for melee. If need be, he can sling his shield again (it doesn’t draw an attack of opportunity), and cast spells. But that said, your suggestion of a buckler and the Quikdraw feat could certainly help if a DM saw this as a serious problem.

SirKently wrote:Quintoo, pg 12
It appears that he is wearing 2 amulets, I would make the amulet of health a ring
As with Elgor, I would swap out great cleave for quickdraw so he can get full attacks the round he enters melee.

Correct. One of those amulets should be a ring.

As for the shield issue, see my comments on Elgor above.

SirKently wrote:Abbatordex, pg 13
He also has empower spell, but I don't think this is a good choice as he really has no good choices to use it on, and as it is a full round action, it would probably get interupted anyway. I would swap it out with your favorite dragon feat, I like clinging breath, or quicken breath.

More a matter of taste really, since an empowered magic missile or scorching ray could certainly be useful, especially if the characters have immunity to lightning. A DM could simply swap out spells that would better utilize the empower feat, or as you said, add a breath weapon feat.

SirKently wrote:Feldspar Heartsunder, pg 21
Just didn't list his damage reduction of 2/- in the stat block so remember it.

Correct. Feldspar’s adamantine armor gives him a DR of 2/--.

SirKently wrote:Ahandar, pg 35
Should have 14 3rd level spells I believe, not that you would ever use them all.

Correct again. Should be 4 spells per day from 20 levels of sorcerer, plus 3 for his Charisma modifier, multiplied by 2 for his ring of wizadry.

SirKently wrote:Maligance, pg 42
Both her rings give her deflection bonuses to armor, change the ring of protection to a ring of natural armor.

Right. Your suggested change is a good one.

Thanks for posting these. As you can well imagine this edit was a bear, and I’m sure these issues you’ve raised will aid DMs planning to run this module.

BD

I am sure this was a bear of an edit. Thank you for your reply. Just a couple of addendums to your post.

The issue I have with Elgor is his inability to cast spells while in melee. Also, he couldn't draw a weapon and shield in the same round as free actions unless he had two weapon fighting.

As for Ahandar:

SirKently wrote:
Ahandar, pg 35
Should have 14 3rd level spells I believe, not that you would ever use them all.


Correct again. Should be 4 spells per day from 20 levels of sorcerer, plus 3 for his Charisma modifier, multiplied by 2 for his ring of wizadry.

the answer is right but the math is wrong. Just so others don't get confused, a Sorcerer 20 gets 6 3rd level spells, his charisma of 26 will give him 2 bonus spells, and the ring will double the base of 6 to 12, for a total of 14. The ring doesn't double bonus spells due to stats or specialization.

Thanks again for the reply.

SirKently wrote:I am sure this was a bear of an edit. Thank you for your reply. Just a couple of addendums to your post.

The issue I have with Elgor is his inability to cast spells while in melee. Also, he couldn't draw a weapon and shield in the same round as free actions unless he had two weapon fighting.

But he could cast spells if he slung his shield, a move action that does not draw an attack of opportunity. Of course, he couldn't make a full attack on the round he slings his shield, but he could certainly cast spells that require somatic componets with his off-hand.

Ultimately, it comes down to how the DM wants to play him. Elgor is not perhaps optimized for a combination of melee and spellcasting, but I still think he is a challenging foe. But as I said before, your suggestions are good, and would make him even more deadly than he already is.

As for Ahandar:

SirKently wrote:the answer is right but the math is wrong. Just so others don't get confused, a Sorcerer 20 gets 6 3rd level spells, his charisma of 26 will give him 2 bonus spells, and the ring will double the base of 6 to 12, for a total of 14. The ring doesn't double bonus spells due to stats or specialization.

Right. Heh, I realized my mistake just a few minutes ago, but you beat me to the punch before I could change my post.

SirKently wrote:Thanks again for the reply.

No problem.

If you plan to run this adventure, I would suggest that you change the scale of the Great Beast to 1 sq.=15' so the adversaries will fit into the rooms they are listed in.

But he could cast spells if he slung his shield, a move action that does not draw an attack of opportunity. Of course, he couldn't make a full attack on the round he slings his shield, but he could certainly cast spells that require somatic componets with his off-hand.

Slinging a shield does draw an attack of opportunity, and if he started with the shield ready, it would take two move actions to sling it and he wouldn't be able to cast spells.

Ultimately, it comes down to how the DM wants to play him. Elgor is not perhaps optimized for a combination of melee and spellcasting, but I still think he is a challenging foe.

This is true, guess I just like to really optomize my adversaries to get the most out of them.
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