Input: Hickory Branch

I'd honestly love to see perhaps not just a group of high ranking orcs and bugbears, but also at least a high end hydra and at least one handler. That monster is just too nice to be seen only once.
Also, I think upgrading a few of the bosses to have better gear / stats (boonthag having better armor and a magic great club comes to mind), giving Hungeous magic Barbarian Armor and something else protective, giving Captain Crunch a Magic Orc Shield in addition to his troll bone armor and warhammer +1, giving the Lieutenant Troll Bone Armor and a Masterwork Falchion, giving the gnoll masterwork chain armor and a masterwork weapon, and giving the two little fellas, the kobold and the goblin masterwork weapons respectively.
In terms of regular encounters there, the Half Orc Murderer can have a pair of +1 weapons, a heavy saber and a +1 Short Sword, as well as masterwork Gladiator Armor. Also, an Orc runder leader with a magic club and magic animal hide would be interesting in a fight.
At least one higher level orc with amazing archery skills and a magic bow would be good. Put these guys in a group as a last line of defense against assaults on the cave (right before you go in). I think in general, kind of a scaling of events that leads up to the big fight with Lord Hungous.
The shaman in Hungeous' cave lair would have better cleric spells and a +1 Great Mace.

Overall, an upgrade in terms of villain stats, health, and items, and monsters, would make this a very good and interesting high level adventure.

I was thinking something along the line of a few trolls there as well, kitted out with weapons and armor. Might prove interesting. Plus, I think maybe a small beast herd is mandatory. If you want to expand on the quest, dont have Kenter Nevets the village elder give it. Have some Captain from the Capital give it, and tell you to meet up with a soldier in Hommlet, a ranger that specializes in hunting such things. Then he has the option of joining you for the quest. If you do it with him, he pays you. If you do it without him, he pays you and gives you a prize (something magical of some sort that can help a soldier).

Anyway that's my thinking.

 

A sense of palpable evil has pervaded the area since the apparent "demise" of Zuggy. This pall has attracted the normal vermin. Drawn by demonic call, an army of Orcs has moved into the region and you are sent to investigate their source. Coming from the underground warren interlacing the hills, no one suspected the threat would be on this scale. No riots in the streets of Hommlet because you are the first to investigate and discover their true strength.

I think 'scaling' the monsters to keep with the original concept would be best. That is start with mass numbers of mid level troops in the eastern map and increase monster levels and classes while decreasing creature count. Keep the overall CRs gradually increasing as you go deeper. Make the snakes pretty epic and make the Minotaur immune to silence and sickness.

Start with adding HD levels and equip with masterwork non-magical items. That is like a score+ of suped up goblins greet you followed by a dozen or more bugbears then maybe another dozen orcs and bugbears. Keep the mass fights for the feeling that an army of the beasturds is occupying the area.

Follow up with a couple teams of HDed up orcs with additional barb and rog levels and +1 type gear, then orc casters (druids and sorcs) with +5 bracers and defensive spells in place protected by hill giants, ending up in the cave with the elites where the real fun starts. Elites should have primarily class levels with full HP and +2 items. Magic gear doesnt have to all be lootable to prevent monty.

 

Magic gear might not have to be lootable, but that doesn't mean I don't want it to be.

 

- The boss monsters (those that you fight in the cave) need to be buffed QUITE a bit. The orc spellcasters in that fight were pathetic. Also, the bugbear lady (boonthag?) and the gnoll need to be MUCH stronger as well, as they have always been the pushover enemies in that battle. Also, the goblin and kobold should be buffed, tiny characters like that are a bit weak.

- I very much support giving character levels to at least the boss fight enemies. They deserve it, and it would greatly help the battle. Again, remember to SEVERELY buff the spellcasters in that fight, because at level 10-11, you will have your own kickass wizard that could mop the floor with the group if they don't have magical assistance of their own.

- Spell resistance for maybe 1 or two of the strongest chars. Or you could give one of them a mantle of spell resistance. A good thing to do would be to make more of the characters in the boss fight have magical weapons to increase damage.

-Outside of the cave fight, the minotaur should get excellent spell resistance, always use stoneskin first, and up the hp and damage on him a bit.

- Make the two brown bears at the top of the map be dire bears like the one trapped at the bottom, much tougher of a fight.

- You could turn the lizards near the cave into giant frogs like in imerdys run. That would certainly give a fun challange (assuming you don't sit on the ledge above and shoot them apart.

- More characters like the orc that had the chain, he was strong. Give character levels to the orcs that have titles, and buff the normal orcs in hp and damage.

- Ogres need to be much better. I suggest changing all of the ogres in HB to the ogre chieftain found in the earth temple level of the temple, he went after your characters and did very well in battle.

- Buff bugbears.

- Goblins are pathetic, as well as kobolds, they need some serious looking at. No way is a level 10+ fight going to care about those little buggers if they arent made better.

- Gnolls are pretty weak usually. Change them into gnoll chieftain or make them all barbarian rage, and buff if possible.

 

How about utilizing more powerful undead, such as skeletal hill giants controlled by a real lower level lich? That would give you a higher CR without the monty haul. Use the above suggestions as well-perhaps replacing bears with the more bizzare creatures, being trained as war beasts by nasty master-Orc trainers with chains. Include Hydras, Owlbears, Worgs,... maybe even a young Red dragon(?!!!). The undead might consist of giant skeletons and zombies that can handle the daylight.
Explain that this group, an alliance of humanoids, beasts, undead, being coerced by their high-level leaders, are being groomed for a run at the Temple by none other than Baphomet- thus explaining the presence of the fiendish Minotaur, their REAL leader(beefed-up of course!). Perhaps he can be given some summoning powers as well (from the abyss of course-albeit nothing too-severe).
In this way you would have 3 chaotic evil factions interested in the Temple-Llolth, Baphomet and Iuz/Zugg. It would also give more credibility to the Scarlet Brotherhood wanting to investigate this region.

 

Humongous should start the battle Enlarged! He is humongous.

Oh, and I like the Hydra idea, that is a sweet monster to have only one.

 

If I was an adolecent dragon, I may take up residence in the now vacant cave.

 

There are teleporters in the castle, could be some great wizard have a similar device and has teleported in a huge number of high level evildoers, that would be believable.
A bunch of those kick ass ogres that they have on temple level 4 would be nice.
Some jelly and pudding mixed in with other critters so you might be forced to use secondary weapons.

Big trolls like Oolchrist could do the trick.
Is it possible to create a Lich or some other nasty undead like spectres, wraiths or vampires?

 

I think teleporters and such are too much for a group of monsters from assembling at Hickory Branch. I love the idea of the Minotaur being the real leader of the group, with Hungeous there to simply keep the Orcs and Gobbos and Trolls in line.
If the Mino is the real leader, he ought to have some sort of a speech with the characters as well, and be lots more badass than he is now.
I say give him a Chaotic Evil weapon, some strength modifying items, and if possible, some sort of a suit of armor (if they wear that stuff). Maybe make him one of those characters that auto-buffs himself like Terjon and Jaroo.
But a chaotic evil magic weapon is a must, like a CH EV +2 axe or something.

 

As far as I am concerned, there are already far too many bugbears in the game. "The Temple of Elemental Evil" should be renamed "The Temple of Bugbears". Adding yet more bugbears to Hickory Branch would drive me insane!

Also, I pray that the Dire Bear won't remain trapped in the pit when Hickory Branch is redone. That has always been so lame!

Playing the vanilla game first, by the time that the player kills Zuggtmoy, the player's characters would probably be at least level 12, so I recommend making the NC for the following character levels:

Hickory Branch (level 13-14 characters)
Arena of Heroes (level 15 characters)
Moathouse Respawn (level 15 characters)
Verbobonc (level 16-18 characters)
War of the Golden Skull (level 20 characters)

I'd like the new Hickory Branch to be like this: A powerful, evil wizard has taken control of Hickory Branch. He is amassing a huge army in preparation to conquer the surrounding regions. He commands an army of elite orcs (both master archers and veteran melee specialists), elite ogres (no ogre shamen because they are pathetic), giants (both hill giants and stone giants), trolls, ettins, and whatever else that you feel like adding. Squads of elite orc archers patrol the neighbouring area to prevent discovery of the wizard's army camped at Hickory Branch.
Hickory Branch is added to the player's world map when the player has a random encounter with a dying ranger whose body is riddled with orc arrows. His dying words to the player are that "There is a huge army of orcs and giants at Hickory Branch and they must be dealt with before they march on Hommlet and Nulb, because by then they would be unstoppable, and an extremely powerful wizard commands them."
Now, the final combat always takes place inside the cave (so that the player is at a disadvantage when combat starts because the player's characters are out of formation and the player can't position his/her characters in the ideal positions just before combat starts). The final combat has the new evil wizard commander and the original witch and shaman all at the left side of the cave so that they can't be slaughtered by the player's melee specialists, and Lord Hungous, Lord Krunch and all of the other original leaders (except for the kobold and goblin leaders, they get removed from the new Hickory Branch) start right next to the player's characters so that they can get lots of attacks on the player's characters.

That's how I would do the new content and the new Hickory Branch.

 

Hmmm, how about a heavy duty random encounter with a few high level Orcs, an Orc Commander, a ranking gobbo chieftain and a kobold chieftain. The Orc Commander has a note with instructions from Lord Hungeous regarding plans for Hickory Branch, etc. Also, on the note is a map that puts Hickory Branch on the main map. Could be a raiding party, with Lord Krell having a +1 Keen Falchion as the commander, and the Orc Murderers as his attack forces, with a heavy Orc SOldier wearing magic hides and a magic long bow shooting arrows at your characters. Meanwhile, the Goblin has a +1 Shortsword and the Kobold has a +1 single axe.

Edit: At this point, you could begin to encounter bands of roving Orcs and Half-Orcs, usually with a Half-Orc Murderer or an Orc Sergeant as the commander, and with the types being Runderds and soldiers, or on occassion a Shaman being the ranking commander. This would be an interesting point, showing the invasion forces at Hickory Branch has filled the surrounding areas with raiders and scouts.

Also, I would suggest that the Epic Bear not be trapped in the pit, but if he is, give him a few troll handlers that can act as support and charge the player.

 

Maybe I'm alone on this but I like Hiclory Branch the way it is - I think a Hickory Branch re-spawn would be a great idea but I would be disappointed to see it change entirely to an after-temple quest . I personally find it pretty challenging at 5th level and it fills what feel is a void in the game between clearing out the moathouse and exploring the temple . One good way to beef up the existing HB would be to get rid of all the archers , which I like because its one of the only ways to pick up a lot of arrows but are wholly ineffective , and replacing them with more melee fighters and/or low level spellcasters .

As for a veneer of continuity/believability aside from all the various forms of teleportation or adding in a high level illusionist or underground travel (since the underdark seems to allow you to go everywhere) just traveling at night is probably enough . Real world example - Battle of the Bulge , the Allies were caught complete off guard just because the Germans managed to move a ton of people and equipment at night and stay hidden during the day .

 

I like and supports gazra_1971 & Major_Blackhart's idea of not letting the poor lonely big papa bear trapped in the ruins. It would be cool if the bear walks around the map, a little surprise for the players.

 

Maybe he could have a couple of brown bear side-kicks too?