Word of Wizards - Steal This Hook! New Stuff

Today's hooks are about using themes and ideas from the upcoming Player's Handbook 2. While the book is mainly for players, that doesn't mean that DMs can't use them for adventure ideas too. There are 3 hooks that utilizes the new races and classes from the book as a central theme to get your players involved with them.

The first one is a captain of an army urging the players to head towards a druid's grove that can play a part in stopping a goblin invasion. There are suggested story elements on what role does the grove really play in the invasion, the members of the opposing army and the real identity of the druid. A twist would be that the whole plot is a wild goose chase but I think that doesn't really bring up the whole 'introducing the new classes' theme. I particularly like the one turning the grove into a site of an ancient power and also a gate (possibly to the Feywild).

The second hook involves a gnome bard singing tales about adventurers exploring a forgotten tomb which in the end he claims to be the only survivor from that band. The plot is developed based on the credibility of his tale and whether what he says is true or not. The suggestions given are whether there really is a tomb, the current inhabitants of the tomb or if the whole thing is just a farce and wishful thinking of the players who aim for seeking the riches and spoils of a forgotten tomb. Then again, the tale could be spin to involved criminal elements. While bard's tales is a very common plot hook to get adventurer's running towards the nearest dungeon, I think it would be fine to intertwine between the adventuring element and the criminal element together. Perhaps the gnome bard who is part of a thieves guild wanted the players to do the legwork and get the treasure to steal it under their noses.

The third one is the most straightforward of them all. The PCs find a wreckage of caravans and tracks caused by bigfoots. An armed lady who was there first tells them that it was caused by goliath barbarians. What would cause these goliaths to be so viciously cruel or was it really their handiwork and who's this lady?

As a special extra, this article also included the stats of a couple of wondrous musical instruments that act as implements for bards, so be sure to check those out.