D&D 5E Demon Lord Summoning Ideas

[Luke Dodds]

Hey guys Im currently planning the second part of my campaign and I could really do with some help.

The necromancer villain they killed earlier has come back as a lich, unknown to the party and regrowing in strength, building his army.

The lich directly serves Orcus who's goal is to open a portal into the Shadowfell from the Abyss so he and his armies can go through and conquer the Shadowfell from its current ruler, The Raven Queen, effectively making him a god.

Summoning a Demon Lord is no easy thing so Im wondering what kind of ritual/way I can do it?
Maybe:

• corrupting a current portal that goes somewhere else
• finding pieces of Orcus scattered in the world/planes
• summoning some of his lieutenants first

All ideas are very welcome.

*Im about to send the party into Curse of Strahd so I was thinking of playing off that the Lich or Orcus himself made a deal with the dark powers or there is an artifact in the Amber Temple they need*

 

[pogre]

Perhaps your villain gathers a coven of spellcasters to help enable him to cast such a powerful spell. This could be a mechanism to help your PCs learn that something major is afoot.

 

[Kurotowa]

Look at it this way. There are no rules for this sort of thing because they run on pure Plot Power. So, don't ask for ideas about the ritual. Ask about ideas for how the PCs will discover the plot and have an avenue to thwart it.

However, I'm not sure you want to complicate CoS by throwing in outside schemes they need to worry about on top of everything native to the book itself. But if you do, make sure to consider how Strahd and the Dark Powers feel about this outside meddling.

 

[Luke Dodds]

That could work.
He needs other Orcus disciples/clerics

 

[dave2008]

4e has a whole adventure path based on Orcus invading the Shadowfell and killing the Raven Queen. I suggest you look at that.

 

[Luke Dodds]

Look at it this way. There are no rules for this sort of thing because they run on pure Plot Power. So, don't ask for ideas about the ritual. Ask about ideas for how the PCs will discover the plot and have an avenue to thwart it.

However, I'm not sure you want to complicate CoS by throwing in outside schemes they need to worry about on top of everything native to the book itself. But if you do, make sure to consider how Strahd and the Dark Powers feel about this outside meddling.

I am asking for ideas about the ritual, Im sure im not alone in this question so if anyone has ideas or has done something like this before (likely) then im asking for guidance.
im not looking to mix it up/add too much in, just make it relevant to the current plot.

Do you have any ideas on a ritual or how the players would discover it?

 

[Luke Dodds]

4e has a whole adventure path based on Orcus invading the Shadowfell and killing the Raven Queen. I suggest you look at that.

Thanks I will!
Didnt realize there was something like this

 

[Croesus]

I haven't played CoS, but if the players are supposed to slay Strahd, a really nasty idea is to tie the summoning of Orcus to Strahd's death. The lich completes all the other requirements of the ritual, but the last piece is for some reason beyond his power. The lich (behind the scenes) assists the PCs in such a mission.

A few possibilities:
- The PCs kill Strahd, celebrate their victory, then learn that Orcus is arriving with his army. The PCs now have to defend the Shadowfell.
- The PCs learn of the ritual. They have to defeat the lich before they can defeat Strahd.
- The PCs learn of the ritual and find some way to defeat Strahd without slaying him.

 

[Luke Dodds]

I haven't played CoS, but if the players are supposed to slay Strahd, a really nasty idea is to tie the summoning of Orcus to Strahd's death. The lich completes all the other requirements of the ritual, but the last piece is for some reason beyond his power. The lich (behind the scenes) assists the PCs in such a mission.

A few possibilities:
- The PCs kill Strahd, celebrate their victory, then learn that Orcus is arriving with his army. The PCs now have to defend the Shadowfell.
- The PCs learn of the ritual. They have to defeat the lich before they can defeat Strahd.
- The PCs learn of the ritual and find some way to defeat Strahd without slaying him.

Dammmmn I never thought of that.
Thanks that's a cool idea!

 

[Kurotowa]

Do you have any ideas on a ritual or how the players would discover it?

Not sure how these would fit with the complications of CoS, but...

One route is the Collection Quest. Opening the portal requires a ritual with X number of ritual foci, all of which are unique objects of mystical significance (though not necessarily innate power). There's a list of X+Y potential foci. The PCs get clued in by investigating the series of thefts and robberies and are able to reverse engineer the list and its use, or maybe thwart a theft and get info from the thieves. Then it's a race to collect objects themselves and deny the lich the magic number needed. Though obviously that's just a delaying tactic until they can defeat the lich itself.

Another route is Keymaster and Gatekeeper. This is like a scaled down version of Collection Quest, where there's just two or three vital pieces needed but they're harder to get. Stuff like "The unbeating heart of Strahd von Zarovich" and "The birthplace of the mortal woman who became the Raven Queen". Less travel and investigation, more big fights over key items or information.

Yet another is Hit The Books. This is where you roll back the villain's progress so that they don't know how to achieve their goal either, and the point of contention is their attempt to learn how such a ritual might be attempted at all. At this point the PCs are more likely to trip over enemy agents as they scour the planes for tomes of forbidden knowledge or attempt alliances with dark figures in return for their knowledge. This might actually work best with the CoS framework, where you don't want to distract the party too much from what's already going on in Ravenloft.