So we're playing through this adventure in my D&D campaign (3rd edition). We've been slugging the whole way through it, all the way from 4th level. The average party level is 12 now, we've been playing this one adventure for a semester and a half.
This is the worst book adventure I've ever played.
The plot is good, the throwback to the old ToEE is good, and the dungeon is fairly well laid out. However, the overriding theme through the dungeon, from day one all the way through the top of the High Cleric's Tower near the end of the adventure has been "Don't touch ANYTHING." The DM will read a room description, and it will include an item like a tapestry or basin of water. Touching, looking into, or even rolling a Search check on most of these items triggers a saving throw to avoid level drain, ability loss, immediate death, or worse (and yes, there's worse).
Tonight, while doing a general search of a room, I set of a Symbol of Insanity with no saving throw. I then failed two search checks on two doors (the DC was 28) and set off two Glyphs of Warding for 4d4 damage each.
We fought a level 14 cleric twice. The first time, he was in a room with Forbiddance, which meant that only characters making a successful Will save could even enter the room. His first action was to summon two air elementals. After we finally beat him and he worded away (no equipment for us), the Sorc entered the room to search it, since nobody else made their save. He rolled a search, and triggered a Death Symbol, no saving throw.
The second time, the Cleric opened with Destruction on me (destroys your body and equipment, if you make a Fort save you "only" take 10d6 damage) and I failed the save. Next round, the Barbarian failed her save vs. Slay Living. The fight went for 2 hours, and again he worded and left us nothing.
The final fight for this branch of the adventure was with a single level 15 cleric. He had all the regular buffs, except forbiddance (thankfully). However, upon entering his room, we were all required to make a Will save. Everyone who failed saw an image of their most loved one being sacrificed on an altar, and required a second Will save. Failing the 2nd save meant they spent the first few rounds trying to save their loved one, not fighting. Everyone, regardless of the results of those throws, made ANOTHER Will save to avoid being transfixed for 3 rounds (unable to act) upon entering the room.
The Barbarian failed all 3 Will saves, and was out for the entire fight dealing with the above effects. The Sorc was transfixed. The evil cleric (different one from above) opened with a horizontal Blade Barrier. I quaffed fly and haste, and flew around trying to Bull Rush him into the blade barrier. I natural 20'd my second roll and still failed. Long story short, we won because of a summoned Huge Earth Elemental, and the fact that the Paladin landed one amazing hit: Critial hit + Divine Sacrifice maxed out + Smite Evil for a total of 70 damage.
I searched the altar after the fight. The first time, I was drained of 5 strength and 6 con, Fortitude DC 26 (my modifier is +10, giving me about a 25% chance of success). The second time, I failed another Fortitude save DC 24 or so and was sucked into the altar, all my possessions falling on the ground. It will take two Wishes or Miracles to recover my body. This came right after I spent about 80,000 gold (a good draw off the Deck of Many Things helped) on defensive items, from a Scarab of Protection to a Cloak of Resistance +5... none helped whatsoever.
One of my first characters in the adventure was a Cleric who was drained of 16 permanent Constitution from traps over the course of one session, cutting his life short abruptly.
We found a Tome of Vile Darkness, which cost the Paladin tens of thousands of experience and very nearly killed my character completely.
We found an intelligent door, and the module gave no clear way to pass it. The only method given was to be disguised and have Undetectable Alignment and Undetectable Thoughts active the first time you encounter the door.. who walks around like that?
We were taken by surprise by a single Elder Earth Elemental, who squashed my level 10 Dwarven Fighter in one massive, 80-damage critical hit.
In order to get as far as we have, the DM had to provide the party with instant, unlimited access to True Resurrection, Wish, and Miracle for the purpose of reviving characters. Often we'll slug through a fight and use 90% of the proceeds to resurrect anyone who failed a saving throw during the fight or made a search check in the room afterwards.
So to summarize, this is an exciting adventure completely RUINED by the constant threat of instant death or despair looming over our heads. All of the players are afraid to touch things, search, open doors, read books, or take treasure for fear of being instantly killed or being drained of experience or ability points. In addition, the enemies we fight are 4-7 levels above us, giving them access to spells against which we have no defense yet (like Destruction and Wall of Force). Several of the more deadly traps involve imprisonment or destruction of the character's soul, so you can't protect against them with Death Ward. Finally, 90% of the fights in the last few sessions have been against upper level clerics with insane armor class and spell resistance, who have access to domains and abilities PCs don't get to use. The cleric in the final fight above had a 35 armor class and spell resistance of 27... our party's Sorcerer had a 25% of getting a spell through.
If you're a D&D player and are considering running this adventure, don't. The dungeon map is absolutely colossal, and the players will wander around literally for months unable to figure out the puzzles because they're afraid to search for clues. It's like playing on a mud with instant death rooms, you're afraid to explore zones because any room you enter could cost you your entire set.
There are also no towns or convenient safe points in the entire module, so characters rack up tens of thousands of gold worth of treasure with nothing to spend it on until they can Teleport to the city, a week's walk away. Any crafting feats the characters take are worthless, since they're in this one dungeon from level 4 through 14 with no time to stop to spend a week making items.
Thanks for reading
- Ragorn
a.k.a Cactrot, the Reluctant Rogue
[This message has been edited by Ragorn (edited 09-30-2002).]
