The Psionic Goblin Brawlers and Commanders are also a great treat to throw into any campaign if you feel like the regular Goblins just aren't doing enough to challenge your party. A goblin is suddenly no longer the butt of the joke when they're dealing 4d6 psychic damage on a 30-foot radius sphere. Who Is Phandelver and Below For? Despite these teething problems, Phandelver and Below does a lot right. It balances classic D&D tropes with creative surprises excellently – yes, there are Mind Flayers, but not as we know them. Almost every recognizable monster you meet has a secret twist, and the new creatures introduced are unique in the most horrible ways possible. After 8 years of D&D 5e releasing a massive number of adventure and sourcebooks adding different creatures and races to 5th edition, it was a nice change to see a city so close to the hustle and bustle of the Sword Coast feel like a better representation of what is around it. Retains the beloved Lost Mine of Phandelver quests that unfold into a brand-new adventure with classic D&D themes and a tinge of horror

Any good D&D campaign can comprise bits and pieces of other ideas. Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk present many great ideas and story beats that can be used in a one-shot or your homebrew campaign. Plant tidbits of information early and often. If the players are invested in figuring out the connections they form, the rewards are all the sweeter! The Lost Mine of Phandelver has been remade. You'll still run the same adventure for the most part, but you'll notice a few improvements and changes along the way. This portion of the adventure is also self-sustainable, and you can choose to end the adventure here if you'd like. This is suggested if you have players not necessarily interested in body horror or mutation elements of the following adventures. This existing relationship may come in particularly handy at some tables. Whether by unfortunate dice rolls or a party that neglects to invest in Wisdom (who needs Perception?), the players have ample opportunity to miss a goblin trail leading to the first real quest that sets the story in motion. Or perhaps other character motives see the party hasten to Phandalin instead of chasing this lead immediately. In either case, the plot thread may be handed directly to them by Elmina Barthen, owner of the town’s biggest trading post: Gundren is missing! Gold is a great motivator, but isn’t the real treasure the friends we rescued along the way? PaintPhandalin As IdyllicAlternatively, for someone who loved The Lost Mines of Phandelver and wants to own it in its most complete form, this is your book. It certainly has a "special edition" vibe about it in the same way you might get excited for the anniversary LP of an album you already own. Accompanying Gundren from Neverwinter is Sildar Hallwinter, a middle-aged human and member of both the Lords’ Alliance and Waterdeep’s griffon cavalry. Players will find Sildar captured and held prisoner in the goblin hideout. He knows quite a lot of information that will thoroughly set up the adventures to come (see more below), and readily provides it to the characters once safely rescued. (Is a person in need not enough to encourage your players?Perhaps his mild fame precedes him, and a reward is all but guaranteed.)

Presents a bestiary with approximately two-dozen new creatures that showcase psionic magic, mutates , and more Each story beat also leans heavily into what you might expect when you're a new player. You'll encounter bandits, and combat dragons, before delving deep into dungeons. Plus, there’s all that brand-new content in the final two-thirds of the book – including new DnD monsters and corruption mechanics that warp the familiar town of Phandalin. Plot hooks setting up the rest of the DnD campaign have also been woven into the original adventure. Hamon says the goal was to channel nostalgia for Phandelver while also offering fresh new 5e encounters. Although Wizards of the Coast are keeping things a surprise for us, it's clear that something terrible is going on underground. This "something" involves corrupting magic coming from the depths, that seeps upwards. Because it's strongest at source, it's there that It not only mutates monsters, but also corrupts players thanks to an optional "corruption" mechanic that is featured in the book. This mechanic is largely flavour but it adds immersion, bringing the existential threat directly to the players directly in an unavoidable way.No new races or subclasses to do with these threats is a strange omission, but it may also be as OneD&D is ramping up for 2024 there's less of a desire to add new options for character creation that are going to immediately be contradicted/invalidated. Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk Review | Final Thoughts There is always an option to just start with the new content halfway through the game, though there's a chance you won't have those same connections with the NPC of the world. Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk is something that Wizards of the Coast really seem to be describing as a labour of love, arguing that this is visible in the artwork, the layout of the book, and the care and attention they're giving to the remaster of a 2014 classic. The inception of the story was apparently driven by a desire to preserve Phandelver as a hardcover book, and it's something they hope will look fantastic on players' shelves for years to come. Most Read

The obelisk in 2016's Storm King's Thunder is only mentioned and not seen. Players visiting the village of Nightstone will learn that it got its name from a large obsidian megalith that stood in the center of the village square. This stone obelisk had been covered in strange magical glyphs, but by the time the players arrive during the DnD campaign, cloud giants have stolen it. Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk manages to remind players why The Lost Mines of Phandelver is one of the best adventures for new players. With a healthy mix of combat, investigation, and getting lost in the small area Phandalin players get to experience a quintessential high fantasy adventure. Some characters have been reimagined, such as Reidoth the Druid who is now a woman, and there are some completely new characters, including a tattooed dwarf from Neverwinter who is in Phandalin visiting her sister, and an archaeologist gnome who stumbled into a trap and became artificially aged. From chapter five onwards, Phandelver and Below is a gradual decline into insanity. It plays upon the D&D community’s affection for Phandalin, dangling the idyllic setting and its wholesome inhabitants on a thread and leading you further into darkness. The writing is atmospheric, the encounters are varied, and the details that embellish every corner are excellent.At least, that’s true in the first half. Phandelver and Below gives inconsistent support for DMs throughout, sometimes offering copious amounts of hand-holding, and other times expecting a veteran level of DMing knowledge. Lost Mine of Phandelver has a simple but strong hook, launching players into the action with immediate combat that then opens up a larger driving goal for the party. Transformations are a great way to not only keep your group involved in the story and its evolution but can also provide fun moments for roleplay and give your players an advantage if you allow them. Creating Characters For Phandelver And Below The Shattered Obelisk