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where you're going to die in CoS (spoilers)
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<blockquote data-quote="evilbob" data-source="post: 6869651" data-attributes="member: 9789"><p>Great points; well said. And the windmill is the perfect example, I agree. I suppose the authors fully expected the party to go about stopping the hags in a way that didn't involve direct conflict; they go out of their way to warn the characters (DC 11 to interpret a warning = you will get it) and talk about the hags being open to bargaining and assuming the characters are there to trade. In fact, "stopping the hags" might not even be something they thought the characters would do. Although, this does conflict strongly with the presumed party reaction to seeing children being prepped for murder, along with the hags' mindset of wishing to continue without issue. But it's absolutely a litmus test.</p><p></p><p>And it's set apart from some of the other over-the-top encounters because there's no stated or implied backdoor. With the Baba Lysaga, for example, they can defeat her without battle if they can simply disrupt her ritual (which leads to all sorts of creative solutions). Strahd is specifically set up to be beaten with the magical items you are directed to find. Even the vampire spawn coven is something that can be more reasonably tackled once you get appropriate information (like "create water" a few times and then rip the roof off and see where that gets you as the water runs over them - or simply "find the sunsword first"), although it may also work against them as this might be the first time the party discovers that sunlight in Barovia isn't sunlight. (Or you can rule that the spawn simply are inert during the day - the rules are not specific - making the whole thing trivial.) Most of the others can be run from and tried from different angles. But the hags are a bit different. You could still easily justify that defeated PCs are captured instead of killed, but there's no secret weapon to stopping them. (Even burning down the windmill jeopardizes the ones you're trying to save.) It's a very difficult problem and the direct method is intentionally the wrong one.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="evilbob, post: 6869651, member: 9789"] Great points; well said. And the windmill is the perfect example, I agree. I suppose the authors fully expected the party to go about stopping the hags in a way that didn't involve direct conflict; they go out of their way to warn the characters (DC 11 to interpret a warning = you will get it) and talk about the hags being open to bargaining and assuming the characters are there to trade. In fact, "stopping the hags" might not even be something they thought the characters would do. Although, this does conflict strongly with the presumed party reaction to seeing children being prepped for murder, along with the hags' mindset of wishing to continue without issue. But it's absolutely a litmus test. And it's set apart from some of the other over-the-top encounters because there's no stated or implied backdoor. With the Baba Lysaga, for example, they can defeat her without battle if they can simply disrupt her ritual (which leads to all sorts of creative solutions). Strahd is specifically set up to be beaten with the magical items you are directed to find. Even the vampire spawn coven is something that can be more reasonably tackled once you get appropriate information (like "create water" a few times and then rip the roof off and see where that gets you as the water runs over them - or simply "find the sunsword first"), although it may also work against them as this might be the first time the party discovers that sunlight in Barovia isn't sunlight. (Or you can rule that the spawn simply are inert during the day - the rules are not specific - making the whole thing trivial.) Most of the others can be run from and tried from different angles. But the hags are a bit different. You could still easily justify that defeated PCs are captured instead of killed, but there's no secret weapon to stopping them. (Even burning down the windmill jeopardizes the ones you're trying to save.) It's a very difficult problem and the direct method is intentionally the wrong one. [/QUOTE]
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