D&D 5E Is Strahd hard to defeat?

[MonsterEnvy]

If Strahd (or any vampire) is reduced to 0 hit points while in sunlight, their Misty Escape trait doesn't function and they are instantly destroyed. The holy symbol of ravenkind can produce sunlight in a 30-foot radius for 10 minutes, twice a day. So a smart party will engage Strahd someplace where he can't easily escape while corporeal, then wail on him, then whip out the holy symbol and finish him off.

Yes that would defeat him. But the problem is engaging Strahd or preventing him from running and waiting out the clock on his weakness. (Also finding the Holy Symbol as it can be in a lot of different locations) Added on the party does not get to pick were Strahd is engaged. They can find him in one random location. The rest of the time he will appear out of nowhere and ambush them picking the best times. (He is also pretty guaranteed a surprise round.)

 

[Tyranthraxus]

If Strahd is such a devilish, cunning opponent, by all accounts likely to kill the party with surprise and traps and so on... why would the party even go in his castle? They would wait until he is outside sometime, and ambush him, instead. Would have to be one hell of a reason to go inside the castle (as you may guess, I don't have the adventure)

Have you met most players? THe art of retreat in the 2016 game is a thing of the past and by the time the party TRIES to retreat its far too late. Too many rpgs have establish a win or die falacy in most gamers ethos.

Strahd should turn up multiple times to harass and humiliate the party. In fact the adventure state that the party will encounter him multiple times.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, the number of times the PCs have actually retreated in all my years of gaming can be counted on one hand.

In my running of the original, the PCs ended up all getting knocked out by some poison gas, if I recall correctly. They woke up having been placed in beds by Strahd, each with the tell-tale bite marks of having been fed upon. Sure, he could’ve easily killed them all, but it was more fun and terrifying this way.

Have you met most players? THe art of retreat in the 2016 game is a thing of the past and by the time the party TRIES to retreat its far too late. Too many rpgs have establish a win or die falacy in most gamers ethos.

Strahd should turn up multiple times to harass and humiliate the party. In fact the adventure state that the party will encounter him multiple times.

 

[Ranthalan]

The holy symbol of ravenkind can produce sunlight in a 30-foot radius for 10 minutes, twice a day.

In the original it could only be used once per week. When I ran my party through it last summer, the cleric rolled a 1 to determine number of rounds of sunlight. Whoops.

 

[77IM]

In the original it could only be used once per week. When I ran my party through it last summer, the cleric rolled a 1 to determine number of rounds of sunlight. Whoops.

CORRECTION: It can be used at most twice per day. Sunlight costs 5 charges of a 10-charge item, and it regains (I think) 1d6+4 charges per day. So, it can reliably create sunlight only once per day.

 

[JonnyP71]

CORRECTION: It can be used at most twice per day. Sunlight costs 5 charges of a 10-charge item, and it regains (I think) 1d6+4 charges per day. So, it can reliably create sunlight only once per day.

This is one part of the adventure which has been made a fair bit easier than the original.

The original Holy Symbol of Ravenkind flared once per week for 1d10 rounds, and needed 10 rounds to kill Strahd. So it effectively had a 10% chance of killing him - because the PCs would not get a chance to use it twice!

Regarding PCs not retreating, that's something I set my stall out on pretty early in any D&D campaign - I give my group a reality check. There will always be several early encounters which a group simply cannot win if they plough headlong into them, and 5E Ravenloft would (and *should*) be exactly the same. Staying true to the 1E original, it would be no holds barred from me, and the party would fail if they did not play cleverly and cautiously. Pity then that one of my players has already bought CoS!

 

[Trevor Bright]

I concur. Straight up battles are not favouring strahd or the standard vampire. When considering CR damage is really not all that counts. Neither are hp. And 144 hp are a lot to go through in a battle. A group of level 7 characters has a hard time doing that much damage in a single round. I think it is level 11 when they start to be dangerous. Before that they need to somehow have to surprise him.
Actually there is an upgraded version of strahd here at enworld. I would discoirage using that except against extreme powergamers. IF PCs are playing so well they can force a battle, they should be able to win.

Do you have a link to that version of Strahd?

 

[BookBarbarian]

Do you have a link to that version of Strahd?

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3285-Check-Out-This-Beefed-Up-CR17-Strahd!

Here you go.

 

[Trevor Bright]

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3285-Check-Out-This-Beefed-Up-CR17-Strahd!

Here you go.

Aw you rock! Thanks!!

 

[BookBarbarian]

Aw you rock! Thanks!!

Happy to help!