Search results

Actually, thinking it through, I can think of one reason why they put in the Strahd's sister bit: because they just wanted to have a reason - any reason - for Madame Eva to 1) be in Barovia, 2) help adventurers, 3) have been doing both for a while. In the original module, she's just there as a...

(Derailing the thread just a little...) Here's another unique wrinkle: I'm using my suggestion from this thread to replace the dead kids in Death House with live ones. This brings up a whole new angle: technically the windmill is theirs. They even have documentation to prove it! I'm not...

Here's a potential explanation for the third wine gem: the late burgomaster of Barovia actually stole the 3rd wine gem 10 years ago when he went to visit the other towns (maybe he was invited to a "festival" at Vallaki...). Although he's since used it to nourish a small garden, he originally...

I think this has come up in this thread before, but: Seriously, Madam Eva is Strahd's sister and Ireena is Izek's sister? Really? They felt the need do to that? Soooooo unnecessary...

I know! It's both super fun because it's so open-ended and also maybe it would have been nice to include a few other ideas. :) Some justifications are particularly bad ("they all went insane and killed each other because reasons, the end"). Others are better because they imply some very bad...

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)...

Yup. I'm pretty sickened by one side of this conversation (I guess I won't say which so it doesn't get worse) so I'm done with this thread.

That's one perspective, sure. But many of these encounters aren't like that, which is the entire point of that opening quote and two paragraphs. It's not "taking a risk" to walk into a room and suddenly be attacked by 6 vampire spawn when you're level 4. It's simply the writer killing you...

I disagree. You only critically fail or succeed 5% of the time, regardless. But either way, it's not important, and certainly not counting crits / 1s on skill checks is the precedent.

One other point to remember: D&D (as already mentioned) tends to focus on combat more than some other systems; this means you need to resolve lots of rolls quickly to keep them practical (plus it's just a good idea). Rolling a handful of dice and then examining each result is something you...

This is sort of an indirect way to solve the problem: lessen the binary nature of each roll by using multiple skill rolls to affect a single outcome. (Like skill challenges in 4.0, which may have been trying to do exactly the thing we're talking about.) It's a good idea, but it still relies...

I think that's why people have been suggesting it: that seems like a decent way to work it. And tying it into the normal d20 roll means nothing else changes or has to be adjusted. So far no one seems to have come up with anything substantially different. Which is fine - maybe there's not...

Excellently put. It's a combination of in-story urgency combined with the likely level 3 party going up against a ~CR 11+ challenge that means that unless you change something the PCs will die. (Or get captured, etc.) On that note, just to tie in my original list, here is my new thread about...

There's "deadly" (as defined in the DMG for encounter guidelines) and then there's: one or all of your party will absolutely be killed here, baring some extreme circumstances. I started a list in this thread of likely places the party would encounter a TPK in CoS. But as I started to expand...

This is what I posted originally.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think this would work as a general rule though because the vast majority of DCs in D&D (including AC and skill checks) are between 13 and 15. (If they aren't, it sure feels that way.)

No. I've done all those things. These are my conclusions. You can disagree but please stop trying to "fix" D&D for me when it's not broken. You've gotten distracted by the word "type." I was saying "job." Job is right. D&D starts by telling you to think about your job. Other games start...

This... thread has gotten quite creative.

I was mostly talking about the 3.5 Ravenloft (lots and lots of save-or-die traps and unfair tricks which would just kill you on a bad roll) but CoS (not just Death House) should chew through some PCs as well. The options are well-needed but also great additions.

But it's not, though - and therein lies all the difference. Granted, you picked one fair example - Tremere wizards - but the others could easily play against type. (Maybe many Brujah didn't chose not to be fighters, but they could.) I mean think of this: what class is a Malkavian? Or a...