5e Tier 1 Difficulty

[Xombiemike]

My 4 players are level 3. I'm running them through Death House as part of Curse of Strahd. One encounter includes 5 shadows. These things nearly wiped the party, and would have if it wasn't for the cleric turning undead, reviving the downed PCs and retreating.
With a cleric, sorcerer, rogue and fighter I'm surprised they are having so much trouble with a published adventure. I trust those when it comes to encounter difficulties. They are constantly trying to take short and long rests to get their health and abilities back.

Is it just me or was 5 shadows just a terrible mistake for the difficulty?

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[thethain]

Death house... maybe the name should have hinted. It is an intro into Curse of Strahd which is a very unforgiving campaign if you run it as written and playing the NPCs as intelligent.

Another fun part is the specter can 1 shot kill (not unconscious) a player if they are unlucky. Also if they decide to fight at the end instead of run, they will probably die to the end boss.

 

[thethain]

Also Shadows are listed at 1/2 CR(same as an orc) which means 5 of them isn't unreasonable for a party of 4-5 level 2-3 characters. But the fact they could all gang up one person and attack before the players means they are much more dangerous than mere CR would suggest.

 

[iserith]

Five shadows against four 3rd level PCs is only Hard difficulty. I know my PCs handled it fine.

 

[Sacrosanct]

It wasn't the shadows that I found to be the problem in that house. It was the CR5 Shambling Mound that our 2nd level party encountered. Yeah, I know you don't HAVE to encounter it, but the chances are good if any PC explores the place (which is every party I've ever been in).

 

[Xombiemike]

Yeah, another thing to consider is that as written the characters would be encountering these shadows at level 2. They get the jump on the PCs. They drain strength and have resistance...

As for the shambling mount yet to be encountered, why would the PCs not kill it? They get railroaded into the house and forced to stay there. They are obviously pushed toward this end boss, and would likely conclude that to even be allowed to leave they need to do something which is defeat the boss. If they try to skip the Death House the mists deny them. I'm not running it that way, but that's how it's written.

It's like this adventure is written to show the players that sometimes they need to run, but it basically forces them to stay there.

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[iserith]

It wasn't the shadows that I found to be the problem in that house. It was the CR5 Shambling Mound that our 2nd level party encountered. Yeah, I know you don't HAVE to encounter it, but the chances are good if any PC explores the place (which is every party I've ever been in).

My PCs rammed the shambling mound with a car.

I don't remember how they ended up with a car, so that should give you an idea of how much Jameson I had that session.

 

[DEFCON 1]

It's like this adventure is written to show the players that sometimes they need to run, but it basically forces them to stay there.

Welcome to Ravenloft! Please enjoy your stay!

 

[robus]

When I finally get run Death House that shambling mound is going to be a flesh golem with the head of the missing baby and it'll be looking for its mama....

 

[vpuigdoller]

I played thru one death house run and three party members dies of five. Only me (wizard) and a rogue survived it. One of the deaths was due to a shadow.

we were five originally, two fighters and a ranger died.