tell the playerwhathappens. Likewise, if there'sno way
anyone could accomplish the task,justtell the playerit
doesn't work.
Otherwise, answer these three simple questions:
Whatkindof abilitycheck?
Howhard is it?
What's the result?
Usethe descriptions of the abilityscores andtheir
associated skills in the rulebookto helpyoudecidewhat
kindof abilitycheckto use.Thendetermine howhard
the taskis so thatyoucanset the DC for the check.The
higher the DC,the moredifficultthe task.Theeasiest way
to set a DC is to decidewhether the task'sdifficultyis easy,
moderate, or hard,anduse thesethree DCs:
Easy(DC10).An easytaskrequires a minimal levelof
competence or a modicum of luckto accomplish.
Moderate (DC15).A moderate taskrequires a slightly
higher levelof competence to accomplish. A character
witha combination of naturalaptitude andspecialized
training canaccomplish a moderate taskmoreoften
than not.- Hard (DC20).Hard tasks include anyeffortthatis
beyondthe capabilitiesof mostpeople without aid or
exceptional ability.Evenwithaptitude andtraining, a
character needs some amount of luck-or a lot of spe-
cialized training-to pulloff a hardtask.
Theoutcome of a successful checkis usuallyeasyto
determine: the charactersucceeds at whateverhe or she
set out to accomplish,within reason. It's usuallyequally
easyto figureout whathappens whena character failsa
check:the charactersimplydoesn't succeed.
GLOSSARY
Theadventure uses terms thatmightbe unfamiliarto you.
A fewof theseterms are described here. Fordescriptions
of rules-specificterms, see the rulebook.
Characters.Thistermrefers to the adventurersrun
by the players.Theyare the protagonistsin anyD&D
adventure. A groupof characters or adventurersis
calleda party.
NonplayerCharacters(NPCs).Thistermrefers to
characters runby the DM.Howan NPCbehaves is
dictated by the adventureandby the DM.
BoxedText.At variousplaces, the adventurepresents
descriptive textthat's meant to be reador paraphrased
aloudto players. Thisread-aloud textis offsetin boxes.
Boxedtextis mostcommonly usedto describe rooms or
present bitsof scripteddialogue.
StatBlock.Anymonster or NPCthatis likelyto be
involvedin combat requires gamestatistics so thatthe DM
canrunit effectively.These statistics are presentedin a
format calleda statistics block,or stat block.You'llfindthe
statblocks needed for thisadventure in appendix B.
Tenday.In the ForgottenRealms, a weekis ten days
longandcalled a tenday. Eachmonth consists of three
ten days-thirty daystotal.MAGIC ITEMS AND MONSTERS
Whenever the textrefers to a magicitem,its nameis
presented in italic type.Fora description of the itemand
.its magicalproperties, see appendix A.
Similarly, whenever the adventuretextpresents a
creature's name in boldtype,that's a visualcuedirecting
youto the creature'sgamestatistics in appendixB.ABBREVIATIONS
Thefollowing abbreviations are usedin thisadventure.DC = Difficulty Class
gp = gold piece(s)
sp = silver piece(s)
cp = copper piece(s)XP = ei<perr6,ce points
pp = platinum piece(s)
ep = electrum piece(s)Background
Morethan fivehundred years ago,clansof dwarvesand
gnomes madean agreement known as the Phandelver's
Pact,by whichtheywouldshare a richminein a wondrous
cavern known as WaveEchoCave.In addition to its
mineral wealth, the minecontained greatmagical power.
Human spellcasters allied themselves withthe dwarves
andgnomes to channelandbindthatenergyintoa great
forge(calledthe Forgeof Spells),where magicitems could
be crafted.Times weregood,andthe nearbyhuman town
of Phandalin(pronounced fan-duh-lin) prospered as well.
Butthendisaster struck whenoresswept through the
North andlaidwaste to all in theirpath.
A powerful forceof ores reinforced by evilmercenary
wizards attacked WaveEchoCaveto seize its richesand
magictreasures. Human wizards foughtalongside their
dwarfandgnome alliesto defend the Forgeof Spells, and
the ensuingspellbattle destroyed much of the cavern.
Fewsurvived the cave-insandtremors, andthe locationof
WaveEcho Cavewaslost.
Forcenturies, rumors of buried riches haveattracted
treasure seekers andopportunists to the areaaround
Phandalin, but no onehaseversucceeded in locating the
lostmine.In recent years, people haveresettled the area.
Phandalin is nowa rough-and-tumble frontier town.More
important, the Rockseeker brothers-a trioof dwarves-
havediscovered the entranceto WaveEcho Cave,andthey
intend to reopen the mines.
Unfortunately for the Rockseekers,theyare not the only
ones interested in WaveEchoCave.A mysterious villain
known as the BlackSpider controls a network of bandit
gangs andgoblin tribes in the area,andhis agentshave
followed the Rockseekersto theirprize.Nowthe Black
Spider wants WaveEcho Cavefor himself,andhe is
taking steps to makesureno oneelseknowswhere it is.Overview
LostMineof Phande1veris divided intofourparts. In part
1, "GoblinArrows," the adventurersare on the roadto
the townof Phandalin whentheystumble intoa goblin
ambush. Theydiscover thatthe goblins(whobelongto the
Cragmaw tribe)havecaptured theirdwarf friendGundren
Rockseeker andhis escort,a human warrior named Sildar
Hallwinter. Thecharacters mustdealwiththe ambushers
andthenfollowtheirtrailbackto the goblins'hideout.
Theyrescue Sildar andlearn fromhimthatGundren
andhis brothersdiscovered a famous lostmine.Sildar
knows onlythatGundren andhis maphavebeen takento
somewhere called"Cragmaw Castle."
In part 2, "Phandalin," the charactersarrive in
Phandalin to findit terrorized by the Redbrands,a gangINTRODUCTION3