#Reddit curse of strahd update#

Not a fully functional clockwork no-arbitration needed method, of course. So I'd say ignoring the milestone method and going with the suggestions in the DMG for non-combat XPs works fine for the module. I actually had to inflate Strahd's HP a bit to make the battle more dramatic. Still, with all the artifacts and other various magic items they collected (that helm of brilliance tho) as well as having Mordenkainen on their side both the dracolich and Strahd weren't that difficult to them. And, since they never returned the dragon skull to it's resting place, I was a mean DM and had as a consequence Strahd raise the dragon as a dracolich. They ended up not doing anything with the screwed up angel dude, facing Baba Lysaga, or going to the werewolf lair. They players ended up being level 8 when they finally faced Strahd.

#Reddit curse of strahd update#

This thread being necro'd actually gives me a chance to update how using non-combat XPs worked out since we finished up that campaign last month. In the end, I think 77IM's advice is probably the best: just use the 'areas by level' chart as a guide to where the characters should be, and they'll level up at about the right pace. The best solution is probably somewhere in between, but it's hard to know what's too much and what's not enough. You'd also have to include XP from monster kills this way as well, but strictly going by 'it's worth a hard encounter' seems like you'd be conversely under-leveled. But 900 XP at level 6 is only 1/10th of the XP required to get to level 7! (Actually, a 'hard' encounter is pretty much always worth 1/10th of a level, apparently.) That seems to go back the other way and get way too slow to me.

For example: if the party is level 6, each character gets 900 XP per milestone. The other option is to use the 'milestone' rewards as defined in the DMG - where each 'milestone' is only equal to XP worth a 'hard' encounter for that level. Or you could be much more stingy with the levels, but my point above is that even giving one level for nearly every area still gets you way over level 10. So the book advice could have you at level 20 - which, maybe that's a feature not a bug for some groups - but it will certainly require effort on the DM's part to upscale the challenges to keep them relevant. And there are more places in the castle that could qualify as well that place could easily level the group a few times in my mind. killing Strahd - at that point the game is over but it's still worth a levelР”Р‡rankly, ALL of those things deserve some kind of reward in my mind. fighting Strahd in the place foretold by the cards clearing the crypts in the castle (seriously this is worth something) and/or destroying all of Strahd's vampire spawn finding the Icon of Ravenloft (it's a legendary item, too!) defeating the giant goat at Tsolenka Pass clearing out the monastery (separate from dealing with the Abbot) helping the lich in the Amber Temple, or saving the guy from the Amber Temple restoring the winery (as in, return the gems - separate from saving it) solving the puzzle of Van Richten / reuniting him with Ezmerelda / helping him with the tiger plot killing the head of the werewolves (could be separate from stopping the werewolves / saving the children) freeing Vallaki from the current burgomaster getting the 'special' NPC foretold by the cards to come with you This list gets the party to level 17, and that's leaving out a lot of other places that could also easily qualify: Sure you could cross off one or two, but that's still well over level 10 by the time you even get to the castle. lighting the beacon at the silver dragon placeР”Р„nd those are JUST the ones that make sense according to the book advice! In fact, that's a pretty strict list. discovering the way to the basement in Death House (part of intro) Here's how I could see those playing out: The book gives three (non-exclusive) examples of where you could gain levels: when the party finds one of the three artifacts (like the Sunsword), when they defeat a major villain (like the hags at the windmill), or when they accomplish major story goals (examples given are: lighting the beacon, stopping the druid ceremony, and getting Ezmerelda to join the party).

Technically, if you followed the advice in the book, the characters could be WELL over-leveled by the time they met Strahd.