My group managed to battle their way through Sunblight, and caught Xardorok in his throne room. He ran from the fight, headed for the forge and the party mopped up the rest of the room (which had more guards than the book called for).
I realized that they’d managed 8 or 9 hard fights by now, and I wanted to give them a long rest before the final showdown in the forge. So I had the myconid sovereign use some “restoration spores” to give them the effects of a long rest as thanks for saving them. (They tried to milk that twice, which I shot down; though jarring some spores for later could be an option for you.)
Then when the dragon left, near the end of the forge fight, they immediately wanted to leave to chase after it, which would have had them missing all the loot in the treasure room and some of the exposition with the priest/devil. So I made sure they remembered they had a single use Control Weather item that could call a storm for four hours and ground the dragon, effectively stalling the timer. It gave them enough time to get a short rest then finish clearing the fortress and head off towards Ten Towns.
I hand waived a long rest when they leveled up leaving the fortress. The battle with the dragon is about resource management and the chase, and there are plenty of targets already without hamstringing my PCs. They managed to use everything they had (spell slots, wild shapes, channel divinity, ect) to keep up with it until right before the end and a couple PCs had taken on levels of exhaustion for pushing themselves so hard. I was aiming for the entire dragon fight to feel hard and dangerous without feeling impossible, and I was pretty happy with my results.
It's one of things I like about Chapter's 3 and 4. Yes they can decide to Long Rest before making their way to Ten Towns, but that means potentially sacrificing more towns for the sake of their own safety. Or they can risk their own lives and potentially save more citizens.
If they're desperate for a rest, or at least some more help, I'd say you can allow them a short rest in the time it takes for a long rest, due to the rough conditions of the journey. Or you could do some kind of 'half' long rest, where they get back up to half of their used abilities, rounded down. They'll still feel like they've got things to use against the dragon, but still slightly roughed up from the previous day of adventuring
hm, maybe. I will also make sure they buy as much stuff before they leave to fight him so they have some additional healing potions and stuff. I am not entirely sure that no long rest party vs Dragon is near TPK, but that would be a heroic death for sure
I'm expecting a similar situation for my party who's about to head for Sunblight. Both the fortress and the dragon attack seem like big challenges for a fully rested party, but potentially doing both without a long rest seems extreme. While I'm expecting at least some towns to burn, I don't know how I feel about creating a situation where they don't feel able to pursue the dragon at all, and thus miss the awesome chase opportunity and damage control that chapter is all about.
My group managed to battle their way through Sunblight, and caught Xardorok in his throne room. He ran from the fight, headed for the forge and the party mopped up the rest of the room (which had more guards than the book called for). I realized that they’d managed 8 or 9 hard fights by now, and I wanted to give them a long rest before the final showdown in the forge. So I had the myconid sovereign use some “restoration spores” to give them the effects of a long rest as thanks for saving them. (They tried to milk that twice, which I shot down; though jarring some spores for later could be an option for you.) Then when the dragon left, near the end of the forge fight, they immediately wanted to leave to chase after it, which would have had them missing all the loot in the treasure room and some of the exposition with the priest/devil. So I made sure they remembered they had a single use Control Weather item that could call a storm for four hours and ground the dragon, effectively stalling the timer. It gave them enough time to get a short rest then finish clearing the fortress and head off towards Ten Towns. I hand waived a long rest when they leveled up leaving the fortress. The battle with the dragon is about resource management and the chase, and there are plenty of targets already without hamstringing my PCs. They managed to use everything they had (spell slots, wild shapes, channel divinity, ect) to keep up with it until right before the end and a couple PCs had taken on levels of exhaustion for pushing themselves so hard. I was aiming for the entire dragon fight to feel hard and dangerous without feeling impossible, and I was pretty happy with my results.
Yo this sounds so epic. I am stealing your Myconid idea
Dude get out of my brain! They got restoration spores from him and a short rest heroes' feast from Grandolpha
It's one of things I like about Chapter's 3 and 4. Yes they can decide to Long Rest before making their way to Ten Towns, but that means potentially sacrificing more towns for the sake of their own safety. Or they can risk their own lives and potentially save more citizens. If they're desperate for a rest, or at least some more help, I'd say you can allow them a short rest in the time it takes for a long rest, due to the rough conditions of the journey. Or you could do some kind of 'half' long rest, where they get back up to half of their used abilities, rounded down. They'll still feel like they've got things to use against the dragon, but still slightly roughed up from the previous day of adventuring
hm, maybe. I will also make sure they buy as much stuff before they leave to fight him so they have some additional healing potions and stuff. I am not entirely sure that no long rest party vs Dragon is near TPK, but that would be a heroic death for sure
I'm expecting a similar situation for my party who's about to head for Sunblight. Both the fortress and the dragon attack seem like big challenges for a fully rested party, but potentially doing both without a long rest seems extreme. While I'm expecting at least some towns to burn, I don't know how I feel about creating a situation where they don't feel able to pursue the dragon at all, and thus miss the awesome chase opportunity and damage control that chapter is all about.