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SPOILERS - Curse of Strahd Play Report
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<blockquote data-quote="RCanine" data-source="post: 6854321" data-attributes="member: 85040"><p>Phew, session three was a nail-biter. Two combats, both of which two of the five PCs spent the majority of the time on ice.</p><p></p><p>The party started off heading from the Grick room to the Ghoul corridor, and got pinned by the ghouls. This encounter is <em>terribly</em> designed; it's set in a bottleneck such that two ghouls will be forced to attack one PC, and the other two will simply twiddle their thumbs. I recommend altering it, or altering the map such that the ghouls can double-back on the PCs and flank them--the multiple winding corridors would make for a hilarious benny-hill-like scene.</p><p></p><p>So the PCs are pinned in a corridor and their only option is to provoke from a ghoul to get into a position where the melee characters can all attack, which works out for the barbarian but causes the monk to get paralyzed and then proceed to fail three consecutive saving throws even with bardic inspiration.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, since the wizard can't see anything where he is, he runs around the corridor to get a better view and falls directly into the spiked pit trap. I couldn't have done that better if I had be doing it for him. He's dying at the bottom of the pit but crits a death save.</p><p></p><p>They eventually clean up the ghouls, rest, and head into the orb room, which shall henceforth be known as the TPK room. Unless your party is heavily combat-optimized, this will likely be a TPK. Our rogue made some tactical...interesting choices, first blowing out her lantern (assuming that it would dispel the shadows), and then walking away from one, assuming she was hidden from it. I kind of love new players, because this sort of inventive catastrophe is incredible, and not something you'd get from a seasoned AL player.</p><p></p><p>The shadows have next initiative, and they knock out both the rogue and the monk, as in the darkness they have advantage. The wizard would have been downed as well (9 average damage against level 2 players 0.o). The bard faerie fire's so they can at least see, but now we're almost all the way through initiative and only one of the shadows even has damage on them, and their turn is coming up fast.</p><p></p><p>The mage decides to mage hand the orb back onto the statue, and I decide that will dismiss the shadows; I don't want everyone to die this early. The PCs have to rest again, and are completely out of spells and hit dice. After the rest, we have a hilarious RP encounter where they shake the ghosts out of the two PCs. At which point we broke for the week.</p><p></p><p>I'm at a loss at how to proceed now. The PCs are hell-bent on exploring this place, but they may not return to the orb room (despite having found the secret door), so they're in for a long run out. The mimic shouldn't be too terrifying; it's a huge HP boat is all, but the ghasts might be nasty if they get a hit or two in, and the mound will <em>definitely</em> eat someone if they decide to fight it.</p><p></p><p>But mostly I'm just concerned about the smoke, blades and rates overwhelming the PCs if they have to run through the entire house. We shall see.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RCanine, post: 6854321, member: 85040"] Phew, session three was a nail-biter. Two combats, both of which two of the five PCs spent the majority of the time on ice. The party started off heading from the Grick room to the Ghoul corridor, and got pinned by the ghouls. This encounter is [I]terribly[/I] designed; it's set in a bottleneck such that two ghouls will be forced to attack one PC, and the other two will simply twiddle their thumbs. I recommend altering it, or altering the map such that the ghouls can double-back on the PCs and flank them--the multiple winding corridors would make for a hilarious benny-hill-like scene. So the PCs are pinned in a corridor and their only option is to provoke from a ghoul to get into a position where the melee characters can all attack, which works out for the barbarian but causes the monk to get paralyzed and then proceed to fail three consecutive saving throws even with bardic inspiration. Meanwhile, since the wizard can't see anything where he is, he runs around the corridor to get a better view and falls directly into the spiked pit trap. I couldn't have done that better if I had be doing it for him. He's dying at the bottom of the pit but crits a death save. They eventually clean up the ghouls, rest, and head into the orb room, which shall henceforth be known as the TPK room. Unless your party is heavily combat-optimized, this will likely be a TPK. Our rogue made some tactical...interesting choices, first blowing out her lantern (assuming that it would dispel the shadows), and then walking away from one, assuming she was hidden from it. I kind of love new players, because this sort of inventive catastrophe is incredible, and not something you'd get from a seasoned AL player. The shadows have next initiative, and they knock out both the rogue and the monk, as in the darkness they have advantage. The wizard would have been downed as well (9 average damage against level 2 players 0.o). The bard faerie fire's so they can at least see, but now we're almost all the way through initiative and only one of the shadows even has damage on them, and their turn is coming up fast. The mage decides to mage hand the orb back onto the statue, and I decide that will dismiss the shadows; I don't want everyone to die this early. The PCs have to rest again, and are completely out of spells and hit dice. After the rest, we have a hilarious RP encounter where they shake the ghosts out of the two PCs. At which point we broke for the week. I'm at a loss at how to proceed now. The PCs are hell-bent on exploring this place, but they may not return to the orb room (despite having found the secret door), so they're in for a long run out. The mimic shouldn't be too terrifying; it's a huge HP boat is all, but the ghasts might be nasty if they get a hit or two in, and the mound will [I]definitely[/I] eat someone if they decide to fight it. But mostly I'm just concerned about the smoke, blades and rates overwhelming the PCs if they have to run through the entire house. We shall see. [/QUOTE]
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