D&D 5E where you're going to die in CoS (spoilers)

[Remathilis]

I like the mummy idea, another very dangerous but less up front deadly. There's a good chance anyone infected with rotting fist won't be able to get to a remove curse in time, though, as it's a 3rd level spell and that's 2 more levels of adventuring after Death House. You could give them to means to cast it a few times in some of the treasure in the house, though, scrolls and such.

I might have to toss a scroll of Remove Curse into a treasure pile somewhere. The big advantages are a.) its slow and they can outrun/evade him in melee. 2.) Its vulnerable to fire, which the cleric of light loves to use and 3.) Its got a heckuva lot less hp (even with resistance). The idea of being chased by this monster in the catacombs trying whittle it down with spells and ranged attacks should be terrifying enough (and the primary melee combatants have good Con saves; we might lose someone, but that's straight up better than the TPK that the SM is.

If they escape and still need a healer, there is always Jeny Greenteeth. :evil:

 

[Saeviomagy]

All you have to do to make the mound beatable is to not have it break the rules for large creatures in small spaces. If you remove that rule breakage, the fight becomes massively easier, and you also avoid an annoying 'gotcha'.

 

[Agamon]

I think the best option is to have the Death House drop out of the sky on top of the hag coven. Then 3 gnome vampire spawn can show up and sing, "Follow the Old Svalich Road"

 

[DEFCON 1]

I think the best option is to have the Death House drop out of the sky on top of the hag coven. Then 3 gnome vampire spawn can show up and sing, "Follow the Old Svalich Road"

We represent
...the Bonegrinder Guild
...the Bonegrinder Guild
...the Bonegrinder Guild

And in the name of
...the Bonegrinder Guild

We'd like to welcome you to Baro-vi-AH!

 

[Psikerlord#]

I usually love a sandbox - but, hmm, this sounds rather harsh. And sadly - if I have my ravenloft right - the party cant really leave and just go do other stuff for a year leveling up - the mists and all that?

 

[Agamon]

I usually love a sandbox - but, hmm, this sounds rather harsh. And sadly - if I have my ravenloft right - the party cant really leave and just go do other stuff for a year leveling up - the mists and all that?

You don't have to leave Barovia to avoid the stuff that's out of your league.

None of the really bad stuff is active, it's all reactive. So you can set up warning signs for the players if they sniff around where they shouldn't be. Except Strahd, and when he wants to deal directly with the PCs, he just invites them to the castle.

 

[Wuzzard]

My players did not have a problem surviving Death House. A few dropped on the way out though, but were healed.

 

[evilbob]

Agamon has a fair point, but looking at the content, it's actually sort of hard to get from level 3 to about level 5. A lot of stuff is set up to be workable past level 5 or so, but those very early levels are when you are most vulnerable. Then again, some things are just deadly no matter your level - it's just that you'll likely survive long enough to run away when you're a higher level.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I think these are why AL has rules for the Dark Powers bringing low level characters back to life (for a price). Also the recent UA with revenants as a player race. I'll use one or both of these options with my own group.

 

[evilbob]

I think these are why AL has rules for the Dark Powers bringing low level characters back to life (for a price). Also the recent UA with revenants as a player race.

Oh, absolutely. Spot on.