D&D 5e Princes of the Apocalypse

The O rder of th e G au n tlet delegation that kicks off the adventure in chapter 3
The Church ofthe Silver Flame might be organized by House Kundarak.
• Include some NPCs of Eberron-specific races. Grund
The Church of the Silver Flame is more narrowly in Red Larch (described in chapter 6) can be a war-
religious than the Order of the Gauntlet, but its overall forged; much of the town looks down on him anyway.
tone is similar. Because the Silver Flame is Thrane’s The doppelganger in the “Halls of the Hunting Axe”
state religion, characters of any class from that nation side trek could be a changeling, and it’s not difficult
might work toward the Silver Flame’s ends. to imagine the prophet Vanifer being one too. Some
of the lycanthropes and druids at Scarlet Moon Hall
The Em erald Enclave (described in chapter 3) might be shifters.
The Wardens ofthe Word or the Gatekeepers • Tweak the adventure’s background to connect it to
the Last War. Perhaps the four prophets are war ref­
The Wardens of the Wood are this faction’s logical ugees—or war criminals. And they found themselves
equivalent in Eberron ifyou’re setting Princes of picking up their elemental weapons for the first time
the Apocalypse anywhere near the Eldeen Reaches. on the Day of Mourning.
Otherwise, the Gatekeepers are a good choice.
Y o u r O w n W o rld
The Lords’A lliance
The Twelve or the Aurum If you’ve created a fantasy world of your own to serve
as the setting for your Dungeons &Dragons game,
The Twelve serves as the defender of civilization much it will workjust fine for the Elemental Evil campaign.
as the Lords’Alliance does, and its members are The servants of the Elder Elemental Eye might operate
similarly vulnerable to occasional bouts of rivalry and under different names or present themselves in new
infighting. The Aurum, while far less altruistic than the guises, but elemental corruption can strike any world at
Lords’Alliance, fulfills a similar function in the world any time. Heroes are always be needed to drive back the
of Eberron, fighting to protect the status quo and ensure forces of darkness and destruction.
that those in power stay that way.
The events ofPrinces ofthe Apocalypse take place
The Zhentarim in a thinly settled frontier, far from any kind of central
The Order ofthe Emerald Claw authority. There are no power groups that can easily
contest the rise of the elemental prophets—that’s why
Replace the Black Network with the Order of the the burden of action falls to the player characters. The
Emerald Claw, though you should downplay the easiest conversion is to take the whole Dessarin Valley
connection to Vol. and drop it into the map ofyour world. Locations such
as Red Larch or the Sumber Hills are generic enough
D ragonm arked Houses that they would fit in most D&D settings. You may want
As an alternative to the five factions, you can use to rename deities or factions to the pantheon or power
Eberron’s dragonmarked houses. Ifyou do so, groups present in your campaign, but otherwise you can
remember that many members of the houses don’t incorporate the adventure as written into a part of the
possess dragonmarks, and that even houses dominated world your player characters have not yet explored.
by one race (the half-elves of House Lyrandar, for
example) include members of other races. Alternatively, you can find a suitable place in your
world where you can arrange towns analogous to
When you start the adventure, have every character Red Larch, Womford, Beliard, and Westbridge in the
choose a dragonmarked house in addition to a race, vicinity of a desolate wilderness like the Sumber Hills.
class, and background. House Deneith functions much In this adventure, these towns are as much as 70 or
like the Order of the Gauntlet, House Kundarak serves 80 miles apart, but there is no reason you couldn’t fit
as the Lords’Alliance, House Lyrandar or House them in a much smaller area. As long as the towns are
Tharashk is equivalent to the Harpers, House Phiarlan at least a day’s travel from each other, you have enough
and House Thuranni are the Zhentarim, and House wilderness to make moving from town to town a serious
Vadalis fills in for the Emerald Enclave. decision point for the players.

O th e r E lem en ts The Sumber Hills are presented as an area of
dry badlands, but they don’t have to be hills in your
Once you’ve located the adventure in the world and campaign. Aregion of uninhabited moorland, a wide
figured out how you’re going to handle the factions, only marsh or swamp, or even a dark and haunted forest
a few tasks remain. would serve just as well as a setting for the cult outposts
and the events described in the search for the missing
• Give some of the magic items in the adventure an delegation from Mirabar. Naturally, you should select
Eberron spin by connecting them to the magic of a setting where old castles are likely to be reoccupied
dragonshards. The four elemental weapons wielded by sinister newcomers, and a huge old subterranean
by the prophets, for example, might be powered by complex could underlie the mysterious ruins.
Khyber dragonshards.

• Connect the economy of the Dessarin Valley to the
dragonmarked houses. Kaylessa runs Red Larch’s
inn, the Swinging Sword, on behalf of House
Ghallanda, and many of the town’s wagonwrights
are affiliated with House Lyrandar. The missing

Aft er w or d F ir e c u l t is t s

For the Elemental Evil story, we tried to bring the ar e mast er s
elemental cults to life in a way that we’d never done
before. We also wanted to make sure that each cult had o f t he f o r g e.
its own identity and recurring motifs. Water cultists
have scaly skin. Air cultists use elemental devices,
such as balloon packs and wingwear,to fly. Fire cultists
harness the forge to create all sorts of fiery implements
and weird ironworks. Earth cultists meld their
flesh with stone.

Because the cultists are insane, it’s easy to imagine
many crazy ideas. Water cultists riding giant walruses!
Earth cultists with purple worm hatcheries! It’s all good.
This appendix contains a sampling of the concept art
we commissioned for the Elemental Evil story, not all of
which ended up in this adventure. Sometimes we went
in directions that proved too wacky for our tastes, but
hopefully you’ll see something here that inspires you.

—Chris Perkins

A e r is i K a l in o t h 's W a t e r c u l t is t s s h u n a r m o r , b u t
t h e y l ik e s w o r d s l in e d w it h s h a r k s '
o b e s s s io n w it h w in g e d
e l v e s m a n if e s t s a s a t e e t h a n d s h ie l d s m a d e f r o m g ia n t

s e t o f il l u s o r y w in g s . c r ab shel l s.

T h e m y s t e r io u s V iz e r a n D e V ir

c r e a t e s f o u r m ig h t y w e a p o n s

im b u e d w it h e l e m e n t a l p o w e r .

G ia n t V u l t u r e s a r e

po pul ar mo un t s amo n g

a ir c u l t is t s .

A n a ir c u l t is t u s e s

a bal l o n pac k t o
at t ac k f r o m
a b o v e w h il e
s t a y in g o u t o f

mel ee r an g e.

A ir c u l t is t s c a n

g l id e t h r o u g h t h e
a ir u s in g w in g w e a r
and pr ef er t o
at t ac k at r an g e
w it h c r o s s b o w s

o r j a v e l in s .

A ir b e a c o n s

a r e f l o a t in g
st r uc t ur es
t hat do ubl e
a s a v ia r ie s f o r

a e r ia l m o u n t s .

Ear t h c u l t r o bes

c o n s is t o f t h in r o c k

t il e s , f o r m in g a f a b r ic
o f f l e x ib l e s t o n e .

E a r t h c u l t is t s

u s e a v a r ie t y o f
b u r r o w in g m o u n t s

Ear t h beac o n s ar e

s t o n e c it a d e l s a t o p
n at u r al c r ag s o r

p il l a r s o f r o c k . t h e y

usual l y appear o f f
t he beat en t r ac k near

bar r en c an yo ns, r o c ky
h il l s , o r m o u n t a in s .

F ir e c u l t is t s b in d

f ir e e l e m e n t a l s t o
t h e ir w e a p o n s a n d

w a r m a c h in e s .

A r a z e r b l a s t 's a r m o r

is f u s e d t o t h e s k in a n d

c a n 't b e r e m o v e d . t h e
w a r r io r 's c h e s t c a v it y

h a s a n o p e n h o l e w it h

a h e a r t o f l iv in g f l a m e .

A f ir e c u l t is t a s t r id e

a g ia n t f ir e l iz a r d

F ir e b e a c o n s t y p ic a l l y h a v e s m o k e o r f ir e
is s u in g f r o m t h e ir t o p s , a n d s t r u c t u r a l l y
t hey r esembl e t o r c h es o r l amps.

Co n c ept s f o r Gar
S h a t t e r k e e l 's
a r t if ic ia l c l a w .

W a t e r c u l t is t s s o m e t im e s h a v e w e b b e d
d ig it s a n d w e a r g o w n s m a d e f r o m k e l p .
T h e y c u l t iv a t e b a r n a c l e s o n t h e ir s k in
a s a f u r t h e r a c t o f d e v o t io n .

W a t e r c u l t is t s

t a m e a v a r ie t y o f
c r eat ur es t o ser ve

a s m o u n t s , in c l u d in g
g ia n t w a l r u s e s .

Wat er beac o n s ar e

u s u a l l y b u il t n e a r
nat u r al so u r c es o f
w at er and o f t en
r e s e m b l e s g ia n t

f o u n t a in s , c o n c h
shel l s, o r anemo nes.

W h a t H a p p e n s N e x t?

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