D&D 5E What Am I In For With This Party?

[Ancalagon]

It certainly is a *tough* party - abjuration wizards have temp HP, dwarf is dwarf, paladin has aura etc... but do they have any decent ranged attacks?

 

[iserith]

It certainly is a *tough* party - abjuration wizards have temp HP, dwarf is dwarf, paladin has aura etc... but do they have any decent ranged attacks?

I don't believe so. And it's not a mystery that there's a dragon fight. LOL

 

[Coroc]

Hm since you ask .... Are you sure the theme is Viking?

If someone would introduce this Party to me and say: "guess what overarching theme these are created for?"
then i would answer: "Oh is it planescape or are you are doing an Anime themed D&D night?"

Yea i did not overlook that theres one MCd Berserker.

What i do miss is a skald, a runebased sorcerer or wizard, a druid, a bear totem barbarian, a shamanic flavored cleric, maybe a stormsorcerer etc.

 

[iserith]

Hm since you ask .... Are you sure the theme is Viking?

If someone would introduce this Party to me and say: "guess what overarching theme these are created for?"
then i would answer: "Oh is it planescape or are you are doing an Anime themed D&D night?"

Yea i did not overlook that theres one MCd Berserker.

What i do miss is a skald, a runebased sorcerer or wizard, a druid, a bear totem barbarian, a shamanic flavored cleric, maybe a stormsorcerer etc.

Some players are better at playing to the theme than others.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Some players are better at playing to the theme than others.

You can lead a player to a Viking-themed table, but you can't keep stop him from playing a ninja.

 

[Dausuul]

I was only being partially facetious with my first post in this thread (fyi to everyone else, I was planning to play a ranger in iserith's game, but wasn't able to make the planned date and time). The big weakness I see is a party without much ranged DPR and a boss monster that can fly.

Yup, that was my reaction too. If the dragon takes to the air and strafes them with its breath weapon while staying out of melee range, they will have a lot of trouble.

How you address this as DM will depend on how sophisticated your players are. If they're savvy enough to recognize their weakness, and figure out a way to force the dragon to engage them on the ground, you can just roll with it. If not, however, you might want to set things up so they can face the dragon in a relatively confined part of its lair.

 

[iserith]

If not, however, you might want to set things up so they can face the dragon in a relatively confined part of its lair.

But then they wouldn't learn any valuable lessons.

 

[Dausuul]

But then they wouldn't learn any valuable lessons.

Well, there is that.

Again, however, this depends on the players. Some players will take a lesson from this: "Man, we need ranged combat options." Other players will just be upset that the fight was so one-sided. Not everyone approaches D&D as an opportunity for self-improvement. Some folks just want to roll dice and hit monsters.

Only you know which category your players fall into, of course.

 

[iserith]

Well, there is that.

Again, however, this depends on the players. Some players will take a lesson from this: "Man, we need ranged combat options." Other players will just be upset that the fight was so one-sided. Not everyone approaches D&D as an opportunity for self-improvement. Some folks just want to roll dice and hit monsters.

Only you know which category your players fall into, of course.

I would say those "upset" players need to up their game. Victory is earned, not given.

I've played with 4 of the players before, so I know they're up for the challenge. The fifth one (the dwarf cleric) is a pick-up player with less experience than the others. But he says he mostly DMs, so I imagine he'll just be grateful for the opportunity to play!

 

[iserith]

The wizard, paladin, and cleric all died. The barbarian and monk survived only because we came up against the game's hard stop in real time and ended it in narration. Those who died made it into Valhalla while those who survived continue to stalk to the Midgard realm, trying to prove themselves before the gods.

I'd share more details, but I'm scheduling a third run of this adventure and don't want to give away any spoilers. If you're interested in playing, hit me up.