D&D 5E (2014) Curse of Strahd (and limitations on 1st level play)

[MatthewJHanson]

Wall of Blights. Summon @MatthewJHanson .

Yes, why didn't I think of that! It's going in book 2!

 

[Mort]

Wall of Blights. Summon @MatthewJHanson .

You know, that could be rather nasty . It's essentially a living wall so it could consciously provide full cover only to those it wants too - a big advantage.

If any of my players wander over here, nothing to see here - shoo!

 

[Mort]

Yes, why didn't I think of that! It's going in book 2!

I take Zelle and Venmo.

Kidding,

But I did just back your Kickstarter.

 

[dave2008]

The party hasn't yet left the Winery, so they will have to deal with the 30 blights outside now. (Of course, they can safely rest inside and go completely nova on the blights the next morning.)

Wait, you would let them do this? Sometimes it feels like you are trying to make things harder on yourself.

 

[Mort]

Wait, you would let them do this? Sometimes it feels like you are trying to make things harder on yourself.

Yeah, this is RAVENLOFT. Resting anywhere but extremely safe areas should be subject to random encounters or worse.

As I said in my last post, here it's worse. The party, if the rest here, should be in for a very nasty, unrestful, night.

 

[Flamestrike]

The party knows from talking to a group of survivors that the Winery has been overrun with druids and their plant-like minions. Ranger has cast Pass Without Trace so the group can enter the building - basically undetected. They stealth into a room that is packed with 24 twig blights and a druid overseeing everything on scaffolding.

Twig blights have Blindsight 60' radius.

From Crawford re Stealth v Blindsight:


As soon as a hidden PC came within 60' of a Twig blight, they're automatically revealed.

Initiative is rolled when the party breaks into the fermentation room. Each twig blight has 4 HP and AC 13. The Paladin is killing two a round with his multiattack. The Artificer drops a shatter spell in the midst of the creatures - and even if they save for half damage, they die anyway (that's one third of them dead). Rogue is killing one a round with Sneak Attack. Cleric is killing one a round with Sacred Flame. The paladin has a 19 AC, so I am rarely hitting him.

There are 24 of them, so 24 attacks at +3 or 12 at +3 (with advantage). Id be rolling initiative in 4 blocks of 6 to ensure they spread out among the PCs.

Still, they're not a credible threat for a party of 5th level PCs. A speedbump and nothing more.

Personally I wold have dropped a dozen of them, and replaced them with a Shambling Mound (a heavy hitter to go with the dozen remaining mooks).

The Ranger gets the drop on the druid on the scaffolding. One shot, second shot with colossus slayer. Dead druid before she got a chance to even cast a middling produce flame spell.

Presuming you mean NPC Druid (CR 2) that's not a credible threat for that party. Still, you could have (and probably should have) bumped his Dex by 3, given him a Darkwood breastplate and shield (AC 18), and upped casting to 3rd level slots, with conjure animal, wither and bloom added, and doubled his HP (or something similar).

That makes him around CR 3.

When Im stuck I just double the HP, add +2 to AC and every d20 roll the creature makes, increase all damage dice by a step, and if a spell caster just add in an extra levels worth of spells (cherry picking a few good ones).

And that's basically a typical encounter. All of the enemies are dead - usually before we go around the table.

It was a trifling encounter for 5th level PCs. Due to the low CR of the twig blights you wouldn't multiply for difficulty due to them being in the encounter (they're a speed-bump only) leaving you with an Easy encounter (and likely the only encounter for the day, so barely 1/10 of that days expected XP budget).

With a sandbox you need to think on your feet a bit more and amend your encounters on the fly to present a challenge. For example. simply by replacing a Twig Blight (plant monster CR 1/8) with a Shambling Mound (plant monster CR 5), and doubling the HP of the Druid, bumping his saves, to hit, AC and skills by +2 and giving him access to a few spells of 3rd level and a CL of 5, you get the exact same encounter, just with a more appropriate difficulty.

 

[Retreater]

Yet they run away from encounters? Can you describe a combat encounter the party were allowed to engage with?

They were running away at level 1, and then again at level 3. So far with one session at level 5, they haven't had the need to run away.

At level 1, they stuck and fought it out with a few berserkers (random encounter) and had essentially a TPK - they were saved by Vistani.
At level 2, they had a close call with a shambling mound, but defeated it (an NPC veteran helped a bit).

 

[Retreater]

They have a Paladin, don't they? Does this Paladin have a high Dexterity? Is this Paladin not in heavy armor? Is this Paladin actually proficient in Stealth? Even with a +10 for Pass Without Trace... this Paladin should be rolling all Stealth checks with Disadvantage,

Yeah. And the cleric too.
The Passive Perception of the blights was a 9 ... no way that could fail.

From Crawford re Stealth v Blindsight:

Sorry. I don't think to check Jeremy Crawford's Twitter before every combat. But good to know for future reference.
But even so, fighting a mass of 30 twig blights would be another speed bump encounter.

If the druid ducks behind cover, casts heat metal, has the twig blights form a wall around him and then snipes from a distance. Likely a MUCH tougher fight.

Except what's good for the goose...
That druid can be sniped by the ranger in a turn, just like he was on the balcony in my game.

 

[Mort]

Except what's good for the goose...
That druid can be sniped by the ranger in a turn, just like he was on the balcony in my game.

Does the ranger have sharpshooter (a feat I dislike, btw)? If not, at least he's shooting through cover rather than straight. And if he's the one being effective (Paladins are notoriously bad at range) then he's the one getting mobbed by blights.

Still probably an easyish fight, but might make the party pause for a bit.

 

[Retreater]

Does the ranger have sharpshooter (a feat I dislike, btw)? If not, at least he's shooting through cover rather than straight.

We're not using feats. But if he doesn't have the feat and we apply cover, then the enemies are also applying cover - because they also don't have feats. So it's a -1/-1 to each side, effectively a moot point.

And if he's the one being effective (Paladins are notoriously bad at range) then he's the one getting mobbed by blights.

Those blights have to get past the paladin, the cleric, and the rogue first. And that ain't happening.