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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6994356" data-attributes="member: 7006">The reading already gave the group the Sunsword and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind... and yet they expect this reading to also mean Strahd is frozen in a single room unable to leave until they knock him down to 0 HP?  Just how powerful is Madam Eva supposed to be?If Strahd is meant to remain in the Chapel for the entirety of the fight because you think it nerfs the reading to let him beat feet once he's gone down to like half HP, then you should really come up with a really good story reason for why he can't leave.  Because otherwise it just makes Strahd look like a chump-- he's going to stand there and take a beating for no reason whatsoever.I would say this... if you want to avoid Strahd's leaving the Chapel to feel cheesy... then perhaps don't have him retreat in a direction the group can't follow (so don't go through the crack in the stairwell in mist form for example.)  Instead... give him a strong reason to leave the Chapel, but in a direction such that the party can still remain perhaps in line of sight or within earshot of him so that they can follow him through the castle for a couple rounds trying to chase him down.  Like for instance... once Strahd takes those first 50 HP of damage which get transferred to the Heart of Sorrow, and the Heart then explodes from overload... Strahd shows a momentary panic in his eyes when he hears it shatter.  He then immediately flies up to the Chapel balcony, rushes down corridor K27, through the double doors at K26, opens up the secret door on the north wall to the corridor outside K32, opens up the secret door to the guard hallway at K33, and then rushes into the tower that had housed the Heart of Sorrow moments before so that he could see with his own eyes what had happened.The party can chase him down if they want to... and then they can perhaps re-engage with him in K20, the Heart tower.  And the fight can continue there for a little bit, perhaps Strahd flies up the tower so that if the group chases him up the stairs they'll eventually have to face the animated halberds... and then after several rounds of this, perhaps he either rages or becomes overcome with agony about the loss of the Heart that he flies off somewhere else in the Castle.  But at least this way the party gets a clear indication that they did something very important, and affected Strahd in a very tangible way... and hopefully give confidence to the group that they wouldn't get mad that Strahd didn't just stand in the Chapel for six round getting beat on because some playing cards somehow forced him to do so (with absolutely no magical evidence to support it would have the ability to do that.)If you have a really good story as to why he would remain in the Chapel until he went down to 0 HP, or had a really good story to explain why he would leave... that will forgive anything that your party might feel about the situation.</blockquote>

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