In this room, it’s a hidden pit trap. Starting with the combat encounter–there are three giant rats that await characters who come rushing in. The Sunless Citadel is one of the greatest intro adventures in all of D&D–and now you can try it for free on D&D Beyond, Roll20, and Fantasy Grounds. Puzzles can be traps, secret doors, actual puzzles, anything that rewards the player for thinking or interacting with the world in a not necessarily combative way. So here the puzzle element is fairly easy–it’s the Survival check to spot the footprints (and potentially the perception check to spot the rats). But the exploration does yield more information–sometimes that’s enough. It’s the first time the players encounter something that isn’t a rat. The player characters explore the Sunless Citadel, where they encounter a kobold named Meepo. A rough-hewn stairwell zigs and zags down the side of the ledge, descending into darkness. Another way you can think of this is–what purpose is the room. This one is a great example of how failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and of other ways to encourage players to explore: The narrow stairs empty into a small courtyard, apparently the top of what was once a crenellated battlement. Only now it looks like someone was fighting them. The druid is a 4th-level spellcaster. Sand, rocky debris, and the bones of small animals cover it. The encounters are dynamic, there are traps, and things get fairly complex, but there’s a definite build towards the difficult fights. And though it’s easy to find, it’s still rewarding to the players. The stairs led to a paved courtyard (a part of the roof of the sunken Sunless Citadel). D&D 5e 2. With ready to be used maps filled with monsters that are waiting for adventurers, items that you can give to party and traps ready to be sprung, this companion will allow you to focus on the … The Sunless Citadel, written by Bruce R. Cordell, was the first published adventure for the third edition of the D&D game. Running the Sunless Citadel. Evil has taken root at the citadel’s core, which is deep within a subterranean garden of blighted foliage. Lurking in this room are three giant rats, who hide iand ambush the characters if they become aware of them. In Room 12 the players encounter the Tomb of a Failed Dragonpriest, who was imprisoned for delving into profane magic and turning himself into a troll. So already it begins building a mystery. It’s a tutorial level, but a well-done, disguised one that lets the players experience these things organically. The skeletons animate and attack. The staff has 10 charges and regains 1d6 + 4 of its expended charges daily at dusk.. It’s great for players and GMs alike–there’s a little of everything in this dungeon. And then there’s the puzzle component. This encourages fledgling GMs to look at how the rats might become aware of the players. This is an eight module adventure path. The Sunless Citadel: #5e #DnD One-Stop Stat Blocks #rpg @bandofmisfits March 23, 2017 June 21, 2020 Frylock Leave a comment As promised yesterday, I’ve completed the one-stop stat blocks for the recently-released preview of the Sunless Citadel, as it will appear in the upcoming Tales of the Yawing Portal . Three giant rats are a grand total of CR 3/8…they do an average of 2 damage with any given attack, and are hitting AC 15 (which is a pretty good baseline) only on a 13+, so they’re only hitting 35% of the time. They might become aware of the characters–and if they do, the GM gets to have them ambush the players. !” while adding to the sense of immersion–the PCs aren’t the only ones with apparent agency in the world. So with three rats, it’s likely that they’ll output 2-4 damage per round between the three of them–which isn’t even a threat to a wizard anymore. There are traps, secrets to discover and puzzles to solve. That brings me to the puzzle component of the room. This is another recreation of the Sunless Citadel by Bruce R. Cordell. Sunless Citadel just makes it easier to do that to beginners. What 'type' or variant of game will it be? Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). There’s also a lone, non-random giant rat here, though it is hidden in a pit trap. But it’s equally likely they haven’t picked up on that yet. This does a couple of things–it rewards them with a little bit of extra narrative information (there are rats here, which they might notice before they get attacked) and it alerts them to the fact that they aren’t the only humanoids to come through here recently. Room 3. This dungeon has a reputation for being one of the best intro to D&D modules you can pick up. The subterranean citadel, though impressive, seems long forgotten, if the lightless windows, cracked crenellations, and leaning towers are any indication. Room 4. Here are some examples. Spellcasting. They’re there to surprise players and let them know that, hey, you’re entering dangerous territory and can expect to be attacked. The players walk down to the top of the fortress–again reinforcing the monumental collapse that brought it here–and then they are immediately given a destination. The room is littered with debris, and if players can’t pass a check, they fall into a debris lined cavity. By this point the players will have had some combat, had a chance to search for traps, secret doors, and learned that their actions carry consequences (though not always game-ending ones) and by the time they’ve gotten actually inside the dungeon, done everything they’ll need to succeed in the dungeon at least once. Sunless Citadel Maps Outdoor and overland maps my brain can work out how to do, for some reason dungeon maps I might as well be using crayons and construction paper. A tower stands on the west side of the courtyard. There’s a lot to unpack in this room. You may also purchase individual magic items. A much simpler DC 10 Investigation check clues the players in to the narrow catwalk around the pit, as well as figuring out how the mechanism of the pit works. Especially since the rat had climbed into the pit to feed on the goblin–another moment for the GM to pick up on how the creatures might interact with the dungeon–they are an active part of the environment. Room 2. A hollow tower of loose masonry reaches thirty feet into the air, but the intervening floors and stairs are gone, except for a couple of crumbled ledges. All of these are great lessons to learn, but the dungeon doesn’t beat you over the head with it–it just lets players learn the lesson (likely the hard way) but when the stakes are nice and low. They signify that something bad happened here–these archers were cursed with undeath when the citadel sunk. Here was a lookout station for the Sunless Citadel. This is the hardest fight yet at CR 3/4 (total)…but by this point the players will likely only be down a few hit points, so they should still succeed–but this should be the first time they’re not certain from the outset. The Sunless Citadel. It gets them thinking and on the lookout. This is a great prompt for players. Check it out: Room 1. Sunless Citadel is one of those moduels that I would always hear about but never got the chance to play. Now let’s look at the narrative aspect of the room. Meepo's tribe are eager to have their captured dragon returned. As for the fighting, the rats aren’t much of a threat–but they’re not meant to be. This is where they really play up the sunken citadel motif. ©2021 Wizards. This initial post is is to gauge interest. Flipping to their stat block, they have a +0 perception bonus–but unless the players are being especially stealthy, the rats’ passive perception of 10 should be more than enough to hear the players’ approach. A dungeon crawl through a published adventure … After all it’s only a DC 10 acrobatics check to make every 10 feet (and failing by 5 or more is needed before you fall in, so odds are this will never happen). D&D: The Sunless Citadel Is Free On Popular Online Platforms. These are the first non-rat monster the players can encounter. The modules are loosely tied together by having clues and hints to the power and history of the Dragon. No combat component in this room, but man talk about some narrative components. Even when not actively being used, it’s important to consider how players might interact with a room. Here are some notes for my use. The Sunless Citadel is an adventure module for the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. This pit is hidden a little more thoroughly. It’s a DC 15 Perception check to spot it, which is still within the range of possibility for first level characters, though by no means guaranteed. First introduced in 3rd Edition, the Sunless Citadel has proved to be a fantastic introductory adventure for many a hero. Just to make sure that any players who never set off the pit trap still get the foreshadowing of goblins in the Citadel. There’s a reason the room is here, and that these particular monsters are in it. Either way, it again reinforces the idea of checking for traps–and even players that fall in the pit and get trapped there with the rat will likely survive (though they’ll take more than a little damage after falling 10 feet and being nibbled on). In which our protagonists begin their first quest. Alex Lockhart (alexlockhart7) United States Ohio. Shatterspike in 5e. As most readers undoubtedly recall, there was far more than enough D&D material to spend money, even before the OGL content glut. The party has now completely explored the first level of The Sunless Citadel apart from a few rooms in the kobolds' territory. Moving the goblin that’s pinned to the wall reveals the word Ashardalon in draconic runes (Ashardalon, in addition to having a board game all about him, was the big bad of the campaign [of which the Sunless Citadel was only the first in a long line of adventures]). You have the skeletons who were clearly hanging out for a purpose. And once you find it the door is trapped–although not very severely. Subscribe to BoLS Prime. Though it means little now–it’s great foreshadowing and is unique enough to make the players take notice. This isn’t the normal world anymore–something happened here. Ashardalon is a Colossal Dragon so you get to break out that D&D Miniatures Colossal Red Dragon miniature at the end of this path. This is how you make your dungeon feel real–it’s an element that helps immerse players in the world of the game. This post extrapolates on an encounter in the early areas of the Sunless Citadel for DnD 5th Edition as found in Tales From the Yawning Portal. Next we get the narrative component. This image is licensed under Creative Commons NonCommerical 4.0. When that city was destroyed during the cataclysm, it fell into a rift that opened in the earth. Kyle Maxwell Adventure 2017-08-08 10 Minutes. It’s a DC 10 check–so odds are good that even if the players don’t have someone proficient in survival, they’ll pass the check. D&D 5E Next Game Will Be : 1591052400: Total Players Needed : 6 ... Now known as the Sunless Citadel, its echoing, broken halls house malign creatures. Posted by Alex Lockhart. Now there’s no monsters in this area–this is just a transition room, but it suggests to the GM that hey the players might move here during the fight (how many fights have you had that stayed central to a single room). I use a simple spreadsheet to track monster hit points during encounters to save a little time and keep my sha Little details like that add to the overall cohesiveness of the dungeon. This site works best with JavaScript enabled. The rats aren’t just there waiting to activate when the players arrive. Modules included are: The Sunless Citadel … And yet…. This is the first place you get to see the impact of the citadel’s collapse–evident from the ruined tower–but there are also four goblin bodies. The Sunless Citadel is designed to be easily located in what-ever setting the DM prefers. The Sunless Citadel: re-imagined to the latest edition of D&D! Three wooden doors lead from this area. The Sunless Citadel, by Bruce R. Cordell, was originally published in 2000 as a beginning adventure for the third edition of the D&D game. Embers crackle in the hearth of the Driftwood Tavern as the sun sets, painting the horizon with the beautiful, deep reds and purples of a summer sunset. The buried citadel has sunk so far into the earth that the battlement is now level with the surrounding floor. We want that. It has been lightly retooled for 5e in Tales from the Yawning Portal, which is a great book with some really odd up-front decisions that I can’t resist … Its evil makes beasts visibly uncomfortable while within 30 feet of it. Nov 3, 2020 - Explore Chris Reyna's board "Sunless Citadel" on Pinterest.