D&D 5E DM HELP! My players killed Strahd too easily!

[Ath'kethin]

Don't (powerful) vampires have the whole "have to kill them in their resting place" thing, or is Strahd an exception?

This was my thought as well. Won't he just regenerate and come back?

 

[Sorin_777]

Thanks all around for the replies so far.


Yes, he does come back, there is a "misty escape" option where he turns into mists, returns to his coffin, and has to regenerate there.

It sounds like the Paladin may have been doing this wrong. You only get to use it once per round, and it costs your reaction, and you have to do it before Strahd rolls his attack. You can't wait to see if Strahd hits or misses--you have to choose to do it right away, and since Strahd is making three or four unarmed strikes per round, and only one of them will be at disadvantage, it should have minimal impact.

This was done before his attack, but we applied disadvantage to both unarmed attacks. Huge difference, thanks for this!

Waste of an action. He should have summoned them before combat, or after leaving combat but before returning with a second wave of wolves. Summoning wolves in combat is way too late. BTW, 5 wolves is a really low roll for 3d6, so partly the PCs just got lucky. (They also got lucky that the wolves arrived in Fireball formation.)

I didn't have him burn an acttion, I had the wolves running up DURING round two of combat

If Strahd thinks he is at all in trouble, you can use Legendary Actions to move away from the party, then Hide on Strahd's turn (with his +Enormous stealth modifier) and regenerate/summon reinforcements, then come back under Greater Invisibility.

I definitely needed to have made use of the greater invisibility, stealth, and regenerate... IN the same way, I could have blinked him ethereal since he was on the nightmare.

Spellcasting takes up his whole action, i.e. he gets no unarmed attacks that turn. But he does still get Legendary Actions.


Blight is a complete waste of a turn. He probably does more damage than that with his unarmed attacks.

Yikes, thanks.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If they think they "killed" Strahd by running down all his hit points, but they DIDN'T use a Natural Sunlight weapon to destroy him... then what actually happens is that when he "dies" he turns to mist form, flies back to his coffin, and then regenerates. A little while later he's back up to being completely fine.

Which actually is part of the fun. The group thinks they've "destroyed the vampire lord"... and they then get careless. They now think they have the run of the castle, not paying much attention to things anymore... then suddenly you can throw a bunch of vampire spawn at them and then like halfway through the battle, Strahd comes back. He can smile evilly and say something like "Are you so naive to think you can kill me that easily? You only know what I CHOOSE to let you know!". And then you attack the party again... this time using his insubstantiality to sink into floors, pop up from underneath party members to attack them before sinking back in again. Then if any party members Ready actions to attack when Strahd appears, they will have lost their Reactions and Strahd can then move up and down to attack them with impunity. Only attack the party members that haved used their Reactions already, and then they get no Opportunity Attacks when Strahd moves up, attacks, then sinks back down through the floor. And don't be afraid of letting Strahd sit out a couple rounds to regenerate a whole bunch of HP, and instead send some wolves, bat swarms, or zombies in to occupy their time.

Until your party finds the Sunsword or Holy Symbol and thus has a way of generating actual sunlight... the party will never be able to kill him fully. Even if they find their way to his tomb and stake his coffin... that just holds him in place. Eventually the rest of the denizens of the castle will arrive to attack the party down there and/or pull out the stake to free him. It sounds like you still have time to have fun.

 

[abirdcall]

You should go back and read the part on his tactics.

Strahd fights dirty. The players should feel like the fight is unfair because it is.

Strahd has been aware of the PCs since they entered Ravenloft. He has been scrying on them and knows their weaknesses and strengths.

He attacks from the most advantageous moment and position. This means he will attack at the end of an arduous adventuring day, perhaps while the PCs are currently engaged in a different fight and after he has charmed a PC (see below).

He knows when he is in over his head. This means that he will use hit and run tactics as needed. He could come in and attack for just 1 round at a time if he wants.

He uses his charm ability on the PC with the weakest saving throw. This is perhaps his most potent ability. Do they have the Sunsword? He could get a charmed character to get rid of it for him. Etc.

He can also cast 5th level spells. Animate Objects, Greater Invisibility, Polymorph, Fireball, etc. (For example, imagine the PCs are resting, Strahd beats their lookout's perception because he is invisible and can float through walls and such. Then for his fist action he casts a 10d6 fireball on them. Each PC takes 35/17 damage then he is gone again, and this is after a long day and they still haven't gotten a long rest. At any time he can come back and do it again for 9d6.)

This is why Strahd is CR 15.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Until your party finds the Sunsword or Holy Symbol and thus has a way of generating actual sunlight... the party will never be able to kill him fully. Even if they find their way to his tomb and stake his coffin... that just holds him in place. Eventually the rest of the denizens of the castle will arrive to attack the party down there and/or pull out the stake to free him. It sounds like you still have time to have fun.

As I read the rules, this isn't quite true. Vampires have the special ability of turning to mist and not going unconscious at zero HP, but there is nothing that makes them invulnerable to further damage while in mist form. Technically there's not even anything that prevents them from needing to make death saves, although it would be silly to do so. As I read the rules, two good crits from a magic weapon, or three Fireballs, would be able to kill a vampire at 0 HP.

In fact, that's exactly how I ran it the last time a vampire in my game got into a fight with a red dragon. The vampire did not win that exchange.

 

[Ganymede81]

I'll reiterate what the others have said.

Strahd was bested... this time. He'll return to his castle and regenerate to full power with time. Then, he'll have revenge on his mind and, being the genius that he is, will avoid making those same mistakes again. Maybe now is the time that Arrigal receives a letter with instructions to eliminate the PCs.

If you want to put the fear of the Night Mother into the players, one of Arrigal's crossbow bolts will do that.

 

[Ganymede81]

Technically there's not even anything that prevents them from needing to make death saves, although it would be silly to do so.

His description says that he turns into mist instead of falling unconscious. That seems to indicate that he does the whole Misty Escape thing instead of the death save rigamarole.

Plus, take note of what it says in the epilogue: "When Strahd is reduced to 0 hit points, he turns into mist and retreats to his coffin (see the Misty Escape class feature in the vampire stat block). The vampire must be in his resting place to be utterly destroyed."

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

His description says that he turns into mist instead of falling unconscious. That seems to indicate that he does the whole Misty Escape thing instead of the death save rigamarole.

Plus, take note of what it says in the epilogue: "When Strahd is reduced to 0 hit points, he turns into mist and retreats to his coffin (see the Misty Escape class feature in the vampire stat block). The vampire must be in his resting place to be utterly destroyed."

Right, it is "instead of falling unconscious," meaning that he does not go unconscious and assumes Misty Escape form. Nothing about Misty Escape form makes him invulnerable to anything except normal weapons. It seems indisputable that he remains subject to insta-death from massive damage; it's possible that he may also be vulnerable to death from accumulated failed death saves, but that's a DM judgment call, subject to the DM's judgment of what is cool.

But that section of the epilogue you quote is interesting. It implies one of two things: either (1) Strahd gets special rules, or (2) it's broadly referring to the existing rules, without detailing the exceptions. Since we know that a normal vampire does have exceptions (it can clearly be destroyed outside its resting place if it's in sunlight or running water), there is no possibility that (3) normal vampires can only be destroyed in their resting places.

In the context of a Strahd-oriented campaign, #1 is probably the most entertaining interpretation. If you're running Curse of Strahd more as an extended one-shot inside of an existing campaign, #2 might be preferred. Strahd also has enough special-snowflake-ness via his spellcasting and improved attacks and Crystal Heart Whatsitcalled, he doesn't need any more bonuses to be an episodic villain.

 

[Ganymede81]

Right, it is "instead of falling unconscious," meaning that he does not go unconscious and assumes Misty Escape form. Nothing about Misty Escape form makes him invulnerable to anything except normal weapons. It seems indisputable that he remains subject to insta-death from massive damage; it's possible that he may also be vulnerable to death from accumulated failed death saves, but that's a DM judgment call, subject to the DM's judgment of what is cool.

The regular monster rules are what eliminate death saves, etc.

"A monster usually dies or is destroyed when it drops to 0 hit points." - Monster Manual, Page 7.

Misty Escape is what prevents Strahd from being destroyed at 0 hit points.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

The regular monster rules are what eliminate death saves, etc.

"A monster usually dies or is destroyed when it drops to 0 hit points." - Monster Manual, Page 7.

Misty Escape is what prevents Strahd from being destroyed at 0 hit points.

You can't wrest Misty Escape to support that line of reasoning. If we're into strict readings here, then that means a Vampire's Misty Escape actually does nothing. Since Misty Escape substitutes for falling unconscious, and monsters die at zero HP instead of falling unconscious, then only PC vampires can benefit from Misty Escape.

There is nothing in Misty Escape that makes the vampire immune to injury or death while in mist form.