DEATH HOUSE FLOOR 1PLAYER MAP HOW TO
DEATH HOUSE FLOOR 1PLAYER MAP PC

This is the master of Barovia himself who has come to see the mettle of these new adventurers himself. That should certainly get the players' attention. If anyone attempts to attack the red-eyed direwolf, it will use spells like shield, greater invisibility, and counterspell to avoid the attacks.

DEATH HOUSE FLOOR 1PLAYER MAP PC

Generally with level 2 PCs you'd want one wolf for every PC on the table. They're only CR 1/4 but they hit for 7 damage, have pack tactics, and can knock prone on a failed saving throw. This is a special trick since wolves hit way outside of their weight class. Even if they could kill a PC with massive damage, they will hold their kill on the dire wolf's barked command. The wolves will never go in for a killing strike since Strahd himself doesn't want the PCs dead. This wolf is secretly Strahd out to take a first-hand look at these new heroes. This wolf never attacks but just watches as his wolves test the PCs. Standing behind them, watching the battle unfold is a powerful dire wolf with red glowing eyes. These wolves fight with clear intelligence they're not just mindless beasts. When the PCs find the mangled body of the messenger (be as graphic about his state of rot and disembowelment as your players are comfortable with), a pack of wolves descends on the PCs. Wolves are a good choice for this since there is a lot of wolf imagery in the adventure overall and they're a nice challenge for hte PCs. Stage an ambush around the messenger who holds the bloody note of the real Burgomeister. There's another fun approach to introduce the PCs to Barovia. If you need some handouts for this part of the game, look no further. It's a great way drop some handouts on the players with some clues as to their origins (the penmanship of Strahd and the Burgomeister are quite a bit different). Later, when the PCs find the bloody note of the real Burgomeister, it's a fun way of trapping the PCs in the land of Barovia.ĭeath House doesn't start this way on its own but there's no reason you can't run it that way anyway. It's a fun campy traditional introduction that players can have a lot of fun with even if they know it's a trap. I am a huge fan of the original introduction to Ravenloft with the Vistani dropping off the note that looks like it's from the Burogomeister but is actually from Strahd. Choose Your Introduction and Strahd's Wolves It's always easy to up the power of monsters if they're having too easy a time (hint, maximize their hit points and give them an extra attack if you want to quickly power up a 5e monster). If you want to run your adventure Dark Souls 3 style, that's up to you and your players but there's also nothing wrong with beefing up the PCs a bit so everyone has a more enjoyable time. There are some really tough monsters in this adventure and level 1 to level 2 PCs are likely to get beaten bloody if they're not super careful. Those ten hit points won't matter much at level 8 to level 20 but they will sure help out in the low levels when D&D is at its most lethal.ĭeath House is no less lethal to level 1 PCs. Experienced players often hate the over-simplified and super squishy nature of level 1 play and new players are going to hate how fast they drop to zero, or just plain die, because of their low hit points.Ĭonsider either starting the PCs at level 2 or give them ten extra hit points at level 1. I've mentioned it before and I'll say it again here level 1 is the suck when it comes to playing fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons.

DEATH HOUSE FLOOR 1PLAYER MAP HOW TO

In this article we'll discuss how to get the most out of Death House and how to use it as the springboard for our Curse of Strahd campaign. While not as general purpose or introductory as the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure included with the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set, Death House is a superbly written and fun adventure to move D&D into the realm of gothic horror. If you haven't grabbed a copy, do so now.ĭeath House is a fantastic house of horrors adventure for low level PCs and a great introduction to Curse of Strahd and the atmosphere of Barovia.

With the release of Curse of Strahd, the latest rewrite of the excellent Dungeons & Dragons adventure, I6 Ravenloft Wizards of the Coast also released the book's introductory adventure, Death House, online for free. New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Running Death House

Death house floor 1player map