As far as I recall, the Cryovain encounters prior to the end are to set the tone and feeling for the adventure. Cryovain is dangerous and a large threat to the people in the countryside (even though they are only a young dragon).
If the dragon ends up in the same location as the party, it is an opportunity to demonstrate the power of the creature, not TPK and end the adventure. You are the DM, you decide what happens.
1) Cryovain could be bored so they play with the PCs ... maybe knock one or two to zero hit points. Carve initials in them. If the dragon isn't hungry then they probably won't bother eating them and the dragon certainly doesn't consider them a threat.
2) Perhaps better than a direct encounter with the PCs, have some NPCs present in the location, perhaps a wagon with a couple of guards and have the PCs watch the dragon kill all the NPCs and then carry off the ox or horses pulling the wagon since the dragon is hungry. The dragon should use its breath weapon, strafe, mostly stay out of melee range unless it can drop on an opponent and grab them or kill them then fly up again. The dragon isn't the brightest but it can use some tactics.
Anyway, the point of an early dragon encounter isn't to kill the party, it is to intimidate them and show them the reason their abilities will be needed and although they can't do much now, hopefully with some experience they might be able to help defeat the dragon.
I just got done running this adventure. I will let you know how I ran Cryovain. First off, remember an encounter with Cryovain does not have to result in a fight (which, yes, would 100% be a TPK vs. level 1 PCs). I played Cryovain as arrogant, cruel, and vindictive, but also curious. He would rather mess with the PCs than outright kill them. He thinks of himself as the apex predator of the area (which he really is) and he believes he can always kill them at any time, so why not have fun with them first? He will try to deceive them, might try to pit them against each other, he might send them into areas of danger or refuse to let them pass, whatever he thinks would be fun at the time. I also had the orcs and anchorites worship him, and he enjoys messing with them just as much as anything else.
My party's encounters with Cryovain were as follows:
Heard rumors of a dragon in the area in the local inn/tavern in the first session
Saw him flying in the distance
First actual "encounter" was on their way back from one of the quests, they were level 2 or 3, Cryovain approached, landed right in front of them, demanded to know what they were doing and where they were headed, and let them survive only if they each gave him 50 GP (which was almost all their money at the time). Playing the school bully role here. This really made them mad but they didn't want to face a dragon.
They saw him a couple hundred yards away encounter a group of about 40 orcs. The orcs fell to the ground and started bowing to him and begging for their lives. He killed about half of them with his breath and then flew away laughing. This had the dual purpose of showing his nature, and mechanically showing the players the power of the breath attack, and also the shape of the breath attack to try to avoid (in my adventure I made Cryovain a young blue dragon so his breath weapon was a line, not a cone - more on that later).
Cryovain stole the blacksmith's shipment of iron ingots, and as a result the blacksmith could not make new weapons or armor for a long while (it was a big shipment), not that the iron had any value to Cryovain, he just took it to be mean.
Near the end of the adventure, the PCs and pretty much the whole town of Phandalin was taking refuge in Axeholm after they had cleared the area out. Cryovain found out and posted up right outside, charging 100 GP for anyone to pass. This made hunting/gathering very hard for the citizens, and gave the PCs a "ticking clock" to defeat him before the town's rations and supplies ran out. The party was able to sneak past with the help of a few invisibility spells.
Last encounter was the final battle. Due to the other events of the story, the players were super excited (and nervous) to finally face him, and it was a fun and memorable battle! The paladin grappled Cryovain as he took to the skies, and struck the final blow in midair, nearly falling to his death afterwards.
I did tweak a few things in the adventure. Much of the credit is from this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/e77dmi/dragon_of_icespire_peak_revised/ which does a great job of making everything in this adventure come together. If you are worried that it's too late to implement this, it's really not. I didn't even find this resource until I was 3 or 4 sessions in. I was able to integrate almost all of it, and the one thing I decided to retcon was that Cryovain was a young blue dragon instead of white (remember that white dragon you guys saw in the sky the other day? Turns out it was blue!) This seems like a huge thing to just change, but honestly, at the table it was not a big deal and by the end of the adventure I think they had forgotten about the retcon. You can totally run with a young white dragon as written, but a young blue dragon helps integrate the story a little better.
The one other thing I would recommend is, focus less on the mechanics and specifics, and more on telling a fun story and getting the players into it. The adventure is about a dragon; it's even in the title. Let the players see the dragon! Even if it doesn't come up on the random encounter table, you are the DM, and can craft the story as you see fit. I did a little bit of rolling for encounters, and if the dice came up "Cryovain is here" I would go with it, even so, all but 1 or 2 of the Cryovain encounters above were "planned." And, even if you are the type of DM who goes more strictly by the dice rolls (not my style but perfectly valid, everyone is different) I would say, have a few ideas in mind for what Cryovain will do when he shows up. Having a planned idea, even for what Crovain is after and what his personality is, will help a lot in shaping a memorable encounter.
One last thing, for the passive perception question above, unless the PCs are under cover or hiding, or if it is night, I wouldn't worry about blindsight or passive perception or anything. If they are out in the open the dragon sees them. If they notice him flying from far away, and try to hide, I would have the PCs roll stealth and let Cryovain either roll perception or use his passive perception.
Just to build on BK_Silzs comment. The first my players saw Cryovin was the very first time they left town to head out to the first adventure, I described a crisp summers day that felt colder then expected (nature roll), the start of the effect of the white dragons environmental impact. As the party walked one of them spotted what seemed like a bird high in the sky, a second later they realized this bird was much higher and further away, soaring in a wide sweeping arc.
I described the contrails forming from its wings, describing it like a plane flying high up. As it for lower the keenest sighted could make out water freezing on its body and then ice breaking off as it moved. The party hid under brush, watching the dragon, it suddenly dived, seemingly in their direction before ducking out of sight and lifting up carrying a large deer in its claw. It circled once more and then headed off.
I didn’t roll ever for Cryovins appearance, after 20+ years of DMing I dislike random events or encounters, so I planned out there contact with him, after the 2nd adventure the party came back to Phndelvin ti find the after effects of an attack, a favorites NPC was seriously injured (leading to the manticore adventure to go get healing for her).
White dragons tend to like hunting worthy prey and I run them like cats, toying and playing before the final kill, so Cyrocin toyed with the party seeing them as being beneath his efforts to try and kill (similar to strahd in CoS).
I'm guessing I wouldn't have to warn anyone viewing this of a "spoiler alert" being this section is for DMs only? 😬
Question to anyone who has run this game:
If you roll on the Dragon Location Table & Cryovain ends up in the same location as your level 1 PCs...
Do you follow the rules & have Cryovain engage the PCs even if this may very well result in a TPK?
As far as I recall, the Cryovain encounters prior to the end are to set the tone and feeling for the adventure. Cryovain is dangerous and a large threat to the people in the countryside (even though they are only a young dragon).
If the dragon ends up in the same location as the party, it is an opportunity to demonstrate the power of the creature, not TPK and end the adventure. You are the DM, you decide what happens.
1) Cryovain could be bored so they play with the PCs ... maybe knock one or two to zero hit points. Carve initials in them. If the dragon isn't hungry then they probably won't bother eating them and the dragon certainly doesn't consider them a threat.
2) Perhaps better than a direct encounter with the PCs, have some NPCs present in the location, perhaps a wagon with a couple of guards and have the PCs watch the dragon kill all the NPCs and then carry off the ox or horses pulling the wagon since the dragon is hungry. The dragon should use its breath weapon, strafe, mostly stay out of melee range unless it can drop on an opponent and grab them or kill them then fly up again. The dragon isn't the brightest but it can use some tactics.
Anyway, the point of an early dragon encounter isn't to kill the party, it is to intimidate them and show them the reason their abilities will be needed and although they can't do much now, hopefully with some experience they might be able to help defeat the dragon.
Thanks for this awesome advice David42 🙏🏾
Seems I still have a world of learning to do 😓
But having fun learning nonetheless
I'm about to figure out some logistics here & write them in my notes
The range of his breath weapon which I believe is 30 ft.
Try to determine how high he flies before visibility of targets/prey which I believe can be determined by Blindsight, correct?
Then see how his Passive Perception which I think is 16 would come into play
To be honest, I also have to refresh myself on exactly how to use Passive Perception 😩
I just got done running this adventure. I will let you know how I ran Cryovain. First off, remember an encounter with Cryovain does not have to result in a fight (which, yes, would 100% be a TPK vs. level 1 PCs). I played Cryovain as arrogant, cruel, and vindictive, but also curious. He would rather mess with the PCs than outright kill them. He thinks of himself as the apex predator of the area (which he really is) and he believes he can always kill them at any time, so why not have fun with them first? He will try to deceive them, might try to pit them against each other, he might send them into areas of danger or refuse to let them pass, whatever he thinks would be fun at the time. I also had the orcs and anchorites worship him, and he enjoys messing with them just as much as anything else.
My party's encounters with Cryovain were as follows:
I did tweak a few things in the adventure. Much of the credit is from this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/e77dmi/dragon_of_icespire_peak_revised/ which does a great job of making everything in this adventure come together. If you are worried that it's too late to implement this, it's really not. I didn't even find this resource until I was 3 or 4 sessions in. I was able to integrate almost all of it, and the one thing I decided to retcon was that Cryovain was a young blue dragon instead of white (remember that white dragon you guys saw in the sky the other day? Turns out it was blue!) This seems like a huge thing to just change, but honestly, at the table it was not a big deal and by the end of the adventure I think they had forgotten about the retcon. You can totally run with a young white dragon as written, but a young blue dragon helps integrate the story a little better.
The one other thing I would recommend is, focus less on the mechanics and specifics, and more on telling a fun story and getting the players into it. The adventure is about a dragon; it's even in the title. Let the players see the dragon! Even if it doesn't come up on the random encounter table, you are the DM, and can craft the story as you see fit. I did a little bit of rolling for encounters, and if the dice came up "Cryovain is here" I would go with it, even so, all but 1 or 2 of the Cryovain encounters above were "planned." And, even if you are the type of DM who goes more strictly by the dice rolls (not my style but perfectly valid, everyone is different) I would say, have a few ideas in mind for what Cryovain will do when he shows up. Having a planned idea, even for what Crovain is after and what his personality is, will help a lot in shaping a memorable encounter.
One last thing, for the passive perception question above, unless the PCs are under cover or hiding, or if it is night, I wouldn't worry about blindsight or passive perception or anything. If they are out in the open the dragon sees them. If they notice him flying from far away, and try to hide, I would have the PCs roll stealth and let Cryovain either roll perception or use his passive perception.
This was an amazing read... Thank you 🙏🏾
Just to build on BK_Silzs comment. The first my players saw Cryovin was the very first time they left town to head out to the first adventure, I described a crisp summers day that felt colder then expected (nature roll), the start of the effect of the white dragons environmental impact. As the party walked one of them spotted what seemed like a bird high in the sky, a second later they realized this bird was much higher and further away, soaring in a wide sweeping arc.
I described the contrails forming from its wings, describing it like a plane flying high up. As it for lower the keenest sighted could make out water freezing on its body and then ice breaking off as it moved. The party hid under brush, watching the dragon, it suddenly dived, seemingly in their direction before ducking out of sight and lifting up carrying a large deer in its claw. It circled once more and then headed off.
I didn’t roll ever for Cryovins appearance, after 20+ years of DMing I dislike random events or encounters, so I planned out there contact with him, after the 2nd adventure the party came back to Phndelvin ti find the after effects of an attack, a favorites NPC was seriously injured (leading to the manticore adventure to go get healing for her).
White dragons tend to like hunting worthy prey and I run them like cats, toying and playing before the final kill, so Cyrocin toyed with the party seeing them as being beneath his efforts to try and kill (similar to strahd in CoS).
This was great
And describing Cryovain like a cat gave me a clear vision on how I could run him - Thanks for this
Also, what don't you like about random encounters? 🤔