\ D&D" NEXT . ULESfs GHOSTS or DRAGONSPEAR CASTLE" AN EXCLUSIVE D&D* NEXT PREVIEWProject Leads jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins DBD RAD Team Grog Bilsland, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Chris hips, toe Lae, Mike Moats, Kim Mahan, Tom Olsen. Christopher Perkins, Ben Petrcor, Robert}. Schwall, Matt Sernett, Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson, Steve Winter, James ‘Wyatt, Cheis Youngs LUAU trang ane Marketing Tear (Chis Lindsay, Shelly Mazzanoble, Hilary Ross, Liz Schuh, "Nathan Stewart, Laura Tommervile Senior Creative Director Jon Schindohette ‘Act Director Kate Irwin Graphic Designer Emi Tanji Publishing Procicton Specialist Jessica Dubey Prepress Manager Jefferson Dunlap Ienmging Technitan Carmen Cheung, Production Manager ynda Callaway Cover istraton Keka Kotak Cartography Jason A. Engle Inert tastations Dave Allsop, Kalman Andrasofszky, Steve Argyle, Dave ‘Arneson, Den Beawnals, Ralph Beisner, Eric Belisle, Greg Bell, Noah Bradley, Sam Buriey, Milivo} Ceran, Conceptopali Stephen Crowe, Ned Dameron, Diesel, Tony DiTeitzi, Vincont Dutrat, Jeff Easley Jesper Esing, Wayne England, Emily Flegenschuh. Gonzalo Flores. Ken Frank Dan Frazier. Lars Grant West, Paul Guzenko, Des Hanley, Jared von Hindman, Tyler Jacobson, Michael Kaluta, Jorge Lacera, Roger Loveless, Howard lyon, Vietorla Maderna, Sawomir Manial ‘Will MeLean, Christopher Moallr, Lee Moyer, Jin Nelson, ‘William O'Connor, Erol Otus, Patrick Thomas Parnel Darlene Pekul, Steve Prescott, David Rapoza Scott Roller, Richard Sardinha, Craig Spearing, David C. Sutherland I, Gabor Satkoca, Seplien Tapp, Davld A. Teper, Beth ‘Trott, Eva Widermann, and Sam Wood SCONTENTSESEEaE, Foreword nnn i (CHAPTER 1: DAGGERFORD CAMPAIGN ae. Running the Campaign. 4 ‘Adventure 1: Fane of the Sun Swallower.vo0.00.6 Adverts ee Guat Capea ‘Adventure 3: The Fall of Ilefarn. Adventure 4: Dragonspear Castle. Deggcsfond and Beyond. CHAPTER 2: HOW TO PLAY. Basic Rules. Ability Scores. Exploration.. Combat. is (CHAPTER 3: MAGIC. Spell Descriptions... (CHAPTER 4: EQUIPMENT. Wealth oon ‘Armor and Shields.. Weapons. Adventuring Gear... (CHAPTER 5: DM GUIDELINES. Miscellaneous Rules... Encounters and Kewards.. CHAPTER 6: BESTIARY. APPENDIX: PREGENERATED CHARACTERS..... s20A6888000001 EN share o-asngs3ta es Deotng: Aagest 2072 987654321 DDenctons& Dracens, OD, Wicd ofthe Coun, Foneorre Rens, hort ofraorapen Ca ther Wards of the Coss produc ames, and hee sespertve gener hati of Wari te Goan nthe Usk odes annual thai el ch Geta nesses ee ropa} Warf The Coan. Tas mute spotted ne he copyright ls eda Une Sate America Any repro or authored ws of cana or rk ‘egratebd entaned heen palied without he express iten prison o Wats he Coase Publis by Wiad afte Coast LC. Maruficused ty Hasbro SA, Rue Emile Boéchat 312600 Deléront. Ci Via oar websteat DungensandDragonscom RPThe book you hold in your hands is NOT the next edi- tion of the Duvarons & Dracons® Releplaying Game. Ita snapshot ofa game stil in the throes of develop- ment and extensive public playtesting (over 140,000 phaytestere ac af thie writing) T's alen a celirantained ‘gaming experience-something you can pick up and play with your friends immediately, All you need are some dice, ‘The book i titled Ghosts of Dragonspear Caste Why? Because “D&D? Next Gen Con Hotness” isn't particularly evocative. Also, this product is an adven- ture first and foremost-or rather, four adventures that string together to forma thrilling mini-campaign, {fyoue curious about what a D&D Next campaign night fect Like, then dis pooduct shoul satisfy yout ‘curiosity. Lots of dungeon exploration, roleplaying ‘opportunities, and awesome surprises await! By the way if yon're a player, MONT REAT THE ADVEN. ‘TURES! Trust me when I say this: they're alot less fun, Ifyou know what happens. will say this much: The adventures take place in relatively small corner of the Foncorr=n REALMS® campaign world called the Sword Coast, which, it turns out, is just a fun place to explore. Here, the char acters’ decisions and actions can have tar reaching ‘consequences. It’s also a great place to show players and DMs how much fun it ean be to discover what made the Foncorrax Ilea1nts setting so popular in the first place: the unabashed love of detail ‘As you're probably aware, the Foxcorres Reauas has heen with we for along time, and over the yeare ‘we've seen a lot of big events wreak untold havoc ‘on the world, from the Time of Troubles to the Speliplague. The latest uber-event is called the Sun- dering, which, ironically, is as much about restoration as tis about pulling things apart. Like other world spanning events inthe setting’s history, the Sundering, 15 what happens when gods try to set things right (or ‘wrong, depending on their disposition) and, even better, when gods decide to use mortals as their agents ofchatg ‘Speaking of change, by the time this book is released, the D&D Next rules will have changed slightly hosed on the latest playtest feedback: I'you're 2 playtester, you might discover some inconsisten- ies between what's written in these pages and what appears in the latest playtest documents on the D&D ‘website. Such is the nature of print publishing! From the time this book goes to the printer to the time it arrives at the Gale Force Nine booth at Gen Con, four months will have passed. You wouldnt believe how much playtest feedback we receive and process in four months;it's truly awesome and terrifying. Whatever the differences might Le, we don't expec team lave a profound effect on the adventure overall quality of your play experince. ‘As you flip through the pages, you'll notice that we're having a bit of fan with the visual presentation By no means is this design indicative of what D&D ‘books will look like inthe future. We'te experiment ng with some ideas. but we're stil long way from seiting the look and fee! of our books going forward. All I can says that we're trying to learn from our past successes and failures ‘The art appearing inthis book comes from all past editions ofthe D&D game, and we mixed in some D&D Next concept art ust to keep things fresh. Its really a chance for us to say, “Look where D&D has ‘gone before!” and “Let's see where we can go fram here!” On pages 280-281 is one of my favorite works fof art the winning entry fram aur reront DAT) Net ‘Character Sheet Contest, as voted by the fans and a select panel of judges. Anyone who thinks character sheet design isnt an art form clearly hasnt tried to Create onel Props to Brian Morgen for taking top prize. Let me conclude by saying: A lot of wood elves died to bring you this product. (A lot of treants, too.) We hope you put it to good use and have a rollicking good time stomping around the Sword Coast. Give Isteval ry regards! this book oF the Christopher Perkins D&D Senior Producer May 2013CHAPTER 1: DAGGERFORD CAMPAIGN Daggerford is a small but important Sword Coast town where fledgling adventurers can make names for themselves. Ir a great starting point for a campsign because there's so much territory around Daggerford toexplore, and the town is within reasonable traveling distance of three very important cities: Neverwinter and Waterdeep to the north, and Baldur's Gate to the south, In short, the Sword Coast is where the action is. Players can choose from the pregenerated charac: ters starting on page 267 or create their own using the D&D Next rules. Some of the player characters might be lifelong residents of Daggerford or hail from farms for estates within the surrounding Delimbiyr Vale (also knowns the Shining Valley). You can use the mate- rial in the “Town of Daggerford” section (page 134) to help players flesh out interesting backgrounds for their local characters and forge ties with NPCs who can serve as mentors and trainers. Other characters might be travelers passing through town, on their way to some other destination when they are drawn to Dag sgerford by the promise of adventure. Daggerford is. in many ways, the quintessential rural town, complete with monster infested hills, spooky forests. ruined castles and mansions, and for Jorn swamps. What makes Daggerford stand out are the colorful NPCs and the memorable dungeons that the player characters get to explore. To get a feel for what this mini-campaign has to offer, here are the parts you should review first: + The “Running the Campaign” section below. + The “Personalities of Daggerford” section (Page 135), which introduces several NPCs that could have interesting tes to fledgling adventurers + The map of Delimbiyr Vale on page 141, Daggerford contains all the trappings ofa typical ‘medieval settlement built on the shore ofa river that flows out to the sea. Itsan excellent kick-off point for a D&D® campaign because ofits proximity to thrill ing adventure locations such asthe Lizard Marsh, the High Moor, the dwarven dungeons under Mount Ilefarn, and the ruins of Dragonspear Castle. Dag: gerford is situated along a well-traveled trade road that connects two ofthe Sword Coast's greatest cities: WHAT THE PLAYERS DON'T KNOW Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. Alot of caravans and ‘gossip pass through town, creating even more opportu nities for adventure and intrigue. ‘tthe end of this long chapter, you'll find a com- plete description of Daggerford and its inhabitants, ineluding colorful nonplayer characters (NPCs) that ‘can serve as trainers and mentors for fledgling clerics, fighters, rogues, and mages. As the DM, you are free to develop these NPCs or substitute them as you see fit. The end of this chapter also includes information ‘on other areas of imcerest near Daggerfor along, with random encounter tables you can use in ease the play ‘ers want to explore other locations and pick up some ‘extra experience points (XP) or loot! ‘The bulk ofthis chapter is devoted to adventures. ‘The four adventures in this book are designed to take characters from Ist level to 10th level, Each adventure requires at least 8 hours to play, and ideally you'll have reliable group of players with whom you can run the ‘adventures in sequence, creating a short but memo- rable D&D Next campaign. Everything you need to run the adventures is included in this book, including the basie game rules and character crestion rules. You'll ind magic em {descriptions at the end of chapter 5 and monster statis tics in chapter 6. ‘While each adventure hac is own story to tell, there are some overarching plot elements that connect them. These are described in the next section ("What the Players Don't Know”). When you're ready to begin the campaign. go to the “Where to Begin...” section, ‘WHAT THE PLAYERS Don’t Know Somewhere along the Sword Coast, tar rom their homeland, the Red Wizards of Thay are building a secret fortress. The fortress includes an academy built ‘atop magical portals connected (o four elemental nodes—vaults of mmense elemental power. The Red Wizards intend to harness this energy and use it to threaten and cubjugate the cites of the Sword Coast ‘The elemental portals were built many years ago by seeret society of bored, wealthy, unscrupulous Netherese nobles who founded a cult dedicated to the Elemental Princes of Evil. When the cult's activities began attracting unwanted attention, its leaders sealed the portals with four elemental keys, dismantled the cult and its temple, and fled. The keys were hidden in scry-proof altars dedicated to the Elemental Princes of Ait, Barth, Fire, and Water and buried underground. ‘The Red Wiaarus researched the deed elem tal cult, spoke tothe spirits of former members, and tracked the four elemental keys to the Sword Coast, swhero the leaders ofthe elemental cult had retired long ago. The Red Wizards dispatched operatives to