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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jezter6" data-source="post: 3117570" data-attributes="member: 6567">**** SPOILERS BELOW ****I'll start out by saying I never played I6, although I've had some forays into ravenloft, as one of my old D&D group friends was obsessed with Strahd in a not so healthy way...but I'll leave that for another topic. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I'll agree that Strahd is pretty weak for the level 10 full magic party. I think, though, that you might be misreading some of it.First, it says you might gain "three, or maybe four" levels...which doesn't ensure your 6th level party comes out 10th...not that 1 level might make all the difference.Also, the way that comes off is that you'll get all those levels after completing the whole book, which means after Strahd. So maybe even then you could come out level 9 only after you beat Strahd.I'll disagree there. To me, the whole book screams spooky fun. Depending on the motivations of Strahd chosen, it can be much more than just a monster hunt. IIRC it does say somewhere that you can't leave if Strahd doesn't want you to, and that he controls the mists, although I didn't see stats for it. Personally, I would require some sort of high Navigation and/or Survival check to try and navigate the mists, and if they fail, they just end up right back where they started (or for some additional fun...somewhere else on the map completely).Really, I think it depends on the group. If you're running Age of Worms, then 'just another undead adventure' this might end up being. If you're running a lower magic game where vampires are scary, then it's got a better shot at being 'Ravenloft' instead of just another place to go turn undead and kill some zombies.I'm not too ashamed of paying $35 for it off the shelf. Since I didn't 'need' it, I could have waited, but it looked cool enough to pick up the day it came out, so I did. I would have liked more out of it, but I'm not disappointed. Like I said, I didn't have I6, so I didn't have any preconcieved notions walking into tihs.As for Strahd just sitting around, it all depends on how you play him, and what motivations he has. In more than one motivation, he's looking to use the PCs to rid him of other enemies, or to make his undead minions. I'd want more powerful undead minions if I were to have them. Also, Strahd doesn't know the PCs right out the gate. He sends his own spies and cohorts out to harass them, size them up, etc etc. Winning those battles is going to give them XP and make them more powerful by default, it's not Strahd just sitting around. It is a given, however, that Strahd will not let them stand in vigil inside the chapel. The book even states Strahd's tactics for attacking while PCs are holding vigil.If you play the insane Strahd, it might just be his ego that is letting the PCs get more powerful. Or he might just be nuts. Or you skip off the book a little and either 1) change his stats, that way nosy players don't know what to expect 2) Make him more active, but allowing him to escape (which he does quite often inside the castle).Personally, I like it, and it's inspired a lot of creative juices for other things. Well worth my $35.</blockquote>

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