Death in Freeport

NOTE: This page reflects additional notes compiled during my 3.5 revision of Death in Freeport (which was released as a PDF by Green Ronin, and later printed as part of the Freeport Trilogy: 5-Year Anniversary Edition). All notes given here refer to the original D&D v.3.0 module.

Quotes from the Green Ronin forums are given in indented, italicized text. The original poster is credited in [brackets] at the end of each quote.

p. 8, The Press Gang (statistics on p. 24): The EL should be about 6 (per DMG, p. 101, Table 4-1).

Was it really intended that the press gang should not have Martial Weapon (Sap)? I must admit that after I made a couple test runs of the encounter, the -4 penalty on the press gang's attack rolls would give the PCs a better chance (when I attempted to run the combat, the press gang defeated the characters I designed twice, but I had forgotten to impose the -4 penalty). The only way I was able to win the combat was to use the munchkin characters in the back. [Center, 5/13/2001, GR forums: "Re: Freeport Troubles"]

Either change the Skill Focus to Martial Weapon Proficiency (Sap) (for Profession +4), or impose a -4 nonproficiency penalty (for total Atk -2).

p. 9: Note that Brother Egil's stats are given in Terror in Freeport (p. 27).

p. 11, A. Main Deck: The EL should be 3 (4 orcs) or 4 (5 orcs).

p. 12, C. Crew Quarters: The EL should be 2 (2 orcs) or 3 (3 orcs).

pp. 13-14, Milos Speaks:

As per page 14 of ‘Death in Freeport’, Lucius’ journals and travel logs are in the Temple of Knowledge. The priests are trying to decipher them, but it’s slow going because the books are in a totally unknown language.

    The problem? Comprehend Languages. It’s a first-level spell for clerics and wizards, and it lets you read any language for the duration. Kind of solves the mystery straight away.

    I quickly hedged when the boys pointed this out, and said that the books were in also written in code, which was the hard part to decipher. But still, that’s a fairly major hole – if the books were so easily decipherable. Lucius would never have been kidnapped. [Patrick O’Duffy, 11/15/2001, "The mysterious books in Death of Freeport"]

The problem goes beyond just deciphering the unknown language(s). Lucius’ collection consisted of many strange works gathered during the “missing time” in which he was possessed, not just the travel logs mentioned in the “to do” list. (And note that he still has his own, “unpossessed” diary: Handout A for Location 1, pp. 10-11.) Understanding the language and understanding the content are two different problems—these documents surely contain much occult (and Lovecraftian!) lore, which requires much study to comprehend. Likewise, even after the temple has completed its study of these works, Thuron is likely to restrict access to them in order to protect the public (cf. Prof. Armitage in Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror”).

    And lastly, bear in mind that the source of information here is Milos, the main villain of this adventure. Not all he says is to be trusted. (And Thuron has his own secrets to protect—see Terror in Freeport.)

pp. 14-15, Yellow Shields at Sunset: The EL should be 4.

pp. 18-21, Location 4: References in the text to nearby areas should be changed from 4A, 4B, 4C, etc., to 1, 2, 3, etc.

p. 18, Area 1, Wine Cellar:

In DiF, Location 4 Area 1 (Wine Cellar), it states that Milos has an alarm on the concealed entrance and that if he's not onsite, he uses a scroll of teleport to get to the temple proper. Milos is a Cleric 3 and Sorcerer 1, so his casting level with alarm is 1 (allowing the alarm to last only up to two hours). There is an easy way around this: Milos could have a familiar keeping watch that would alert him of any unauthorized intruders.

    The scroll is another issue. Milos has a charisma of 13. Teleport is a 5th level spell, so the minimum caster level is 9. The first problem is that a sorcerer needs at least a charisma of 15 to use a scroll for a 5th level spell. Okay, we can bump the charisma to 15. The second problem is the need for a caster level check (D20+1 with a DC of 10). That's a 40% chance of failure, so just assuming he made the roll is a bit generous. One possibility is for Milos to have a staff of passage with two charges left, but I think it would be a bit conspicuous for him to carry such a thing about. [Center, 5/13/2001, "Re: Freeport Troubles"]

[In the 3.5 revision, author Chris Pramas solved this problem by replacing the teleport scroll with a wand of dimension door with 3 charges.]

pp. 18-19 (Area 2) and 19-20 (Area 4): The average hp for degenerates is 5, so raise the listed hp by 2 each (to 3, 5, 6, 6, 6).

pp. 19-20, Area 4, Treasury: The EL should be 2 (4-6 skeletons), 3 (7-8 skeletons), or 4 (4-8 skeletons + 5 serpent people).

p. 21, Area 7, Temple of the Unspeakable One: The first paragraph should NOT be boxed.

p. 22, Tactics:

In DiF, Milos is said to cast Shield of Faith, but this results in a deflection bonus which does not stack with his ring of protection. [Paul Anderson, 5/18/2001, "Re: Errata & Notes: Death in Freeport (spoilers!)"]

Fix this by changing his spells as follows: move cause fear to cleric spells; change domain spell to cause fear; add shield to sorcerer spells. Note that he can spontaneously cast inflict light wounds with any 1st-level cleric spell except for the domain slot; the extra cause fear spell can be used for this, or as a second fear attack.

    Combat Casting adds +4 to Milos's Concentration check, NOT to the DC.

p. 24, Pirate: Swim should be -2 (to include -6 penalty for 29 lbs. gear). Add Listen +1, Spot +1 to skills.

p. 24, Sailor: See notes for page 8. The press gang is also missing 5 skill points; Knowledge (Local: Freeport) +4 would seem appropriate. If using the house rule of +3 for Skill Focus (as suggested in Freeport: The City of Adventure, p. 123), then raise Profession (Sailor) to +7 [unless that feat is deleted entirely, per notes for p. 8].

p. 24, Yellow Shield: Move Silently should be +0 (2 ranks max. cross-class, +0 Dex, -2 armor & shield).

p. 24, Aggro: Init should be +1 (Dex), not +0. Intimidate is not a class skill for fighters, so reduce it to +2 (2.5 ranks).

p. 25, Belko: He is missing 4 skill points; give him Spellcraft +4.

p. 25, Milos: His level and Int give him 21 skill points, but his skills only total 20 points (including cross-class costs for 1 rank each of Disguise and Escape Artist). The adventure implies that he has Knowledge (architecture and engineering), but no skill is listed (and this skill is cross-class for both his classes). He has one feat too many; the +2 from Alertness has not been added to Spot, so that may be the best choice for deletion. [See the Serpent People page for more on this race.] See also notes for pages 18 (Wine Cellar) and 22 (Tactics).

p. 25, Rittoro: None of his listed skills are class skills; reduce them to Intimidate +4 and Spot +4 (2.5 ranks each), and delete Search.

p. 25, Captain Scarbelly: Intimidate and Profession are not class skills for fighters, so reduce them to +4 and +2, respectively (3 ranks each). His Swim modifier should be -4 (to include -10 for 51 lbs. gear.) Per the tables in the DMG, pp. 184-185, weapons with special abilities must have at least a +1 base enhancement bonus. Change the battleaxe accordingly--either to simple +1 or to +1 keen. (Note that the latter is exceptional for his level.)

p. 27, Serpent People Characters: See the Serpent People page for detailed notes on this race.

p. 29-30, sample characters:

Which brings up the third question: why are the sample characters so powerful? They aren't just powerful, they are off of any scale I could conceive. If they were the playtest characters, it is no wonder I had so much trouble with the press gang. [Center, 5/13/2001, "Re: Freeport Troubles"]

p. 29, Rollo:

The problem with Rollo having a shield was corrected in TiF (gnomes are too small to use the Hooked Hammer with one hand). His damage bonus in DiF should be updated to +4 (1.5 times STR modified for a two-handed weapon).

    One final thing with Rollo: you left out his cantrips. In an adventure like this, they could come in handy (though that 25% chance of spell failure for armor would be a liability). [Center, 5/13/2001, "Re: Freeport Troubles"]

Rollo's skills do not include armor check penalties (-4 to Climb and Jump, -1 per 5 lbs. gear to Swim). Add Hide +2 to skills (0 ranks, +2 Dex, +4 size, -4 armor).

p. 29, Malevir: Light mace damage should be 1d6-1.

p. 30, Alaina: Shortsword damage is 1d6+2 with her primary attack, 1d6+1 with the offhand attack. She should have 44 skill points, but was only given 43. [Raise Listen to +3?]

p. 30, Thorgrim: He should have 12 skill points, but was only given 11. [Max out his Heal at +6?]

3.5 Revision

Death in Freeport Revised was released June 2004, and is available through RPGNow or in print as part of the Freeport Trilogy: 5-Year Anniversary Edition.