Storm King's Thunder: Prepare to Die Edition

*Last Updated 7/27/2018*

Welcome to Iron Seer's inaugural RPG campaign!  This is the "campaign" post and will periodically be updated.

Exposition

On the Sword Coast, betwixt Waterdeep and Daggerdale, there is a small forest called the Arden.  There, nestled along the river, is a town called Nightstone.  The ruler of Nightstone, Lady Nandar, has put a call forth to adventurers to aid with marauding goblins and entreat with hostile elves.  Our players, intrepid and bold, begin the game en route to Nightstone to meet with Lady Nandar and accept the assignments.  Mostly so they could eat.

Rulebooks & Addendums

The amount of material available for a D&D game is staggering.  We could never make a full list of everything that we'd allow in the game, so we're not going to try, but these resources will be invaluable in developing your characters.  This list contains references to material that has already been added to the campaign, and material that COULD be added to the campaign.  Feel free to go out there and dig up weird, cool stuff for your characters and pitch it to the Dungeon Master.  Chances are, I'll allow it and we'll link that material here.

• Wizards of the Coast Rulebooks
• Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
• Elemental Evil Adventurer's Guide
• Online Resources
• D&D Wiki System Reference Document
• D&D 5e Wiki
• Unearthed Arcana
• Unearthed Arcana:  The Mystic

Adventurers

Current

• Briar Silverleaf, Wood Elf Rogue
• Nivesil, Lightfoot Halfling Dragon-blood Sorcerer
• Berry Blessedhammer, Shield Dwarf Paladin of Gorm
• Starman, Maztican Air Genasi Cleric of Eha
• Softhands, Tiefling Barbarian
• Ikki Popp, Maztican Air Genasi Stone Sorcerer

The miniature gallery for this adventuring party can be found here.

A post-mortem for the campaign can be found here.

Session Logs

1. Part 1
1. Nightstone
2. Orc Attack
3. Nandar Keep
4. The Dripping Caves
5. The Tower of Zephyros
2. Part 2
1. Triboar
2. Attack on Triboar
3. Part 3
1. The Road to Yartar
2. Yartar to Calling Horns
3. Noannar's Hold to Everlund
4. Part 4
1. Silverymoon
2. The Zymorven Axe
3. Xantharl's Keep
4. Eye of the All-Father
5. Great Worm Cavern
6. Return to the Eye of the All-Father
5. Part 5
1. Yakfolk Village
2. Inside the Yakfolk Village
3. Escape from Yakatraz
4. The Mines of Ironslag
5. Salamander on Duty
6. Intruder Alert!
6. Part 6
1. Into the Maelstrom
2. Court of the Storm Giants
7. Part 7
1. What to Do About Wooden Nickels
2. Casino Night
3. Eyes in the Sky
8. Part 8
1. Doom of the Desert

Top 8 Reasons the Elementalist is Best

Inspirobot knows what your hobbies are.

In my first vignette for Frostgrave, the Enchanter will take on the Elementalist for the treasures of the frozen city!  I've taken some time and assembled the warbands, begun on the terrain and patiently await new supplies to complete the projects.  Today we'll turn our eyes to the Elementalist spell list and see what makes this spellcaster the best!

Yes, I believe they are all best so get over it.

The Elementalist isn't as subtle as the Enchanter, and during my first campaign I found that they can be monstrous hand-to-hand combatants.  The havoc they can wreak isn't limited to hand-to-hand, but a flurry of Elementalist spells can really give you an edge over unprepared opponents.

The aligned schools of the Elementalist are Chronomancer, Enchanter, and Summoner.  The opposed list is Illusionist.  An interesting thing to note that though Enchanters are opposed to Chronomancers, the Elementalist draws a connection to both of those as aligned schools.

Top 8 Reasons the Elementalist is Best!

1. Call Storm
• A good reason not to rely on missile weapons from your soldiers.  Also a good reason not to worry about enemy missiles, if both your spellcasters Call Storm!
2. Destructive Sphere
• A good defensive maneuver for spellcasters, it's range makes it somewhat of a last ditch effort if you're surrounded and able to cast a spell.  Generally speaking, however...in order to make use of the Area of Effect (3") you need to get at least two models with it.  However, since it hits friendlies as well remember to keep this in the bag until you need it.
3. Elemental Ball
• A powerful ranged area-of-effect spell, remember that 1.5" isn't very much.  However, the range is quite long, and with a few levels you can make this your go-to spell.
4. Elemental Bolt
• Against single targets, this is your best ranged attack spell bar-none.
5. Elemental Hammer
• This spell is dependent upon damaging your opponent in hand-to-hand, but the bonus is quite tasty and well worth it.  Depending on if you want to focus on ranged spells or hand-to-hand, consider this one as your main spell over Elemental Bolt.
6. Elemental Shield
• Every little bit helps, and this can mean the difference between life and death...especially if you cast it repeatedly as needed.  Together with Elemental Hammer this can make your spellcasters quite beastly if you've spent levels on their Fight score.
7. Scatter Shot
• While scatter shot is not as indiscriminate or powerful as Destructive Sphere, it has plenty of upshots.  The range is four times as much and it only targets enemy models, however, the attack bonus is +0.
8. Wall
• Your primo utility spell for controlling the flow of combat.  Get an enemy in the right spot with your Elementalists, and cut off their reinforcements!  Divert enemies away from treasure, or to your waiting soldiers!

Doff!  My Elementalist is a barbarian from the frozen north, so I can't decide if I want a fire or ice-themed warband yet.  To fit this spellcasters' savage disposition, my three initial spells will be Elemental Hammer, Elemenal Shield and Wall.  This will grant some pretty meaty combat spells, which I'll probably help along with a few from the Enchanter school (just to make his nemesis feel bad) such as Strength or Enchant Weapon!

Waiting on a box of Frostgrave Barbarians to fill out this warband with appropriately attired barbarians. Wouldn't want anyone to freeze to death before they are killed in a more spectacular fashion - even if that's just freezing to death at an incredible rate due to the spells in this list.

Top 8 Reasons the Enchanter is Best

Inspirobot wants you to acknowledge these truths.

The Enchanter is up first on my palette of wizard bands for Frostgrave, so I thought I'd take a minute and offer some thoughts on the Enchanter school.

In Frostgrave, each wizard type (of which there are ten) has a corresponding school of eight spells.  These aren't the only spells available to wizards, as all the other schools can be learned with varying levels of difficulty based on whether or not they are aligned with your school.

For the enchanter, those aligned schools are Witch, Sigilist and Elementalist.  The Chronomancer school is opposed, and the others are neutral.  With that in mind, let's take a look at the Enchanter spells...or the Top 8 Reasons the Enchanter is Best.

1. Animate Construct
• In my opinion, this is one of the best spells in the game.  These constructs can be used as warband members, unlike demons and most undead.  They stay with the warband until they are destroyed and you aren't limited to one per caster.  
2. Control Construct
• You can control enemy or NPC constructs, but only one at a time.  This doesn't interfere with your ability to control your own constructs.
3. Embed Enchantment
• Enchant Armor and Enchant Weapon spells can be made permanent.  Speaks for itself, really.
4. Enchant Armor
• Every little bit helps.
5. Enchant Weapon
• A little more complicated than Enchant Armor, I'd say make sure all the basic weapons in your warband are embedded before using this spell on single arrows.  Although that definitely has it's place.
6. Grenade
• The Enchanter's attack spell has a small Area of Effect with it.  The attack bonus is modest, but Grenade is also fairly reliable - especially after a few levels are spent on improving it.
7. Strength
• Another passive increase to Fight score (much like Enchant Weapon) this one is not permanent, nor is it cast on a weapon.  Another way to stack bonuses, and not unwelcome.
8. Telekinesis
• One of the best utility spells in the game, this is the preferred method of getting treasure out of difficult ruins, especially if they are on a higher level.  Trust me, it takes far less time.

Three of your beginning spells have to be from your own school.  For me, Animate Construct is absolutely vital, as will be seen when I reveal the warband.  However, Grenade and Telekinesis are probably more important than the other spells at first, giving me a weapon and a tool.

We'll be taking a closer look at other wizard spell lists as I get close to building that warband.  I've already got most of the models, but I'm trying to get them all painted and based at this point.  Frankly, this project will take a couple of years, but I'm in gear!