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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8280745" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Is it, though? Or perhaps, must it be, though?I get what you're saying here. But given that the DM has essentially unlimited resources and full understanding of everything that's happening in the game, and given that Strahd is supposed to be a tactical master....couldn't the DM simply come up with something that counters the party's maneuvers? I mean, if their big advantage is that they somehow get to stop and rest before confronting him....that gives him a whole day to prepare as well, no?So is a DM wrong for having that matter? Should his decision-making be beholden to rewarding the players for skilled play (give them a rest so that they can face Strahd at full strength)? Or should it be to the fidelity of the fiction that's been established (have Strahd proactively prepare for the coming confrontation as a master strategist would)?The mention of Strahd has me thinking of when I ran Curse of Strahd as part of my 5E campaign. Thinking back on it now, I think my primary goal there was to portray him as a deadly adversary. That no matter how much they prepared or what resources they could obtain (Sunsword, Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, etc.) he would still be dangerous and capable. And that's what I did.....I played that bastard to the hilt, with all the advantages I had as GM.Rewarding player skill wasn't really a worry for me at that time. I didn't undo things that they acheived; for instance, they had the Sunsword and I let it work the way it was meant to. But I didn't have Strahd try to go toe to toe with the character who had the sword; instead, he sent underlings after him, and they attempted to disarm him. And so on.I don't know if I'd change my answer to the question being posed, and I don't think that these two GM roles were in opposition at the time of our climactic battle with Strahd, but I have to say that I think at that time, the story was absolutely far more important in my mind than anything else.Perhaps it's not so clear cut as I originally thought.</blockquote>

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