So I'm looking to do the one two punch that XPtolvl3 suggested of replacing Death house with just running Dragon heist to get the PC's to lvl 5 AND starting the players near Krezk Vs. Barovia. BUT my question is, since they'll be starting at a higher level, how would I adjust the actual town of Barovia to not just be Childs play for the PCs? My back ground is as a newer player AND DM so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
The town of Barovia is more something to get the flavor of the setting across than an area that's supposed to actually be hard, so I probably wouldn't bother with adjustments; just make sure Morgantha doesn't get killed (if the PCs attack, have her immediately go ethereal and run away).
I'd still start the game in the village of Barovia after the characters emerge from the mists. If there are combat encounters you can bump up the difficulty. However, there are fairly essential plot lines that initiate in Barovia that you probably don't want to skip.
- Ireena and rescuing her from Strahd actually may be the driving force behind the characters traveling to Krezk (and/or Vallaki).
- the church and the priest's son
- the seller of "sweets" and their connection with children (the previous poster mentioned her - you don't want the characters to kill her off). You may need to bump up the difficulty of the mill when the characters get there anyway.
- visiting the Vistani camp on the way from Barovia to Vallaki is an important element since that is usually where the card reading is introduced which shapes some of the future adventure.
- keep in mind that if you start at level 5 and follow the mile stone leveling suggestions (and your players tend to be completionists) that you could reach level 13 or more by the end of the module so you will likely have to make Strahd much more powerful (and give him some allies) for the final encounter. In my case, the characters were level 11 or so for the final encounters and I started using the Deathhouse so they were level 3 in Barovia. I significantly increased Strahd's power level and added allies to keep it interesting.
- the seller of "sweets" and their connection with children (the previous poster mentioned her - you don't want the characters to kill her off). You may need to bump up the difficulty of the mill when the characters get there anyway.
Having all three at the mill is plenty difficult for level 5.
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So I'm looking to do the one two punch that XPtolvl3 suggested of replacing Death house with just running Dragon heist to get the PC's to lvl 5 AND starting the players near Krezk Vs. Barovia. BUT my question is, since they'll be starting at a higher level, how would I adjust the actual town of Barovia to not just be Childs play for the PCs? My back ground is as a newer player AND DM so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
The town of Barovia is more something to get the flavor of the setting across than an area that's supposed to actually be hard, so I probably wouldn't bother with adjustments; just make sure Morgantha doesn't get killed (if the PCs attack, have her immediately go ethereal and run away).
I'd still start the game in the village of Barovia after the characters emerge from the mists. If there are combat encounters you can bump up the difficulty. However, there are fairly essential plot lines that initiate in Barovia that you probably don't want to skip.
- Ireena and rescuing her from Strahd actually may be the driving force behind the characters traveling to Krezk (and/or Vallaki).
- the church and the priest's son
- the seller of "sweets" and their connection with children (the previous poster mentioned her - you don't want the characters to kill her off). You may need to bump up the difficulty of the mill when the characters get there anyway.
- visiting the Vistani camp on the way from Barovia to Vallaki is an important element since that is usually where the card reading is introduced which shapes some of the future adventure.
- keep in mind that if you start at level 5 and follow the mile stone leveling suggestions (and your players tend to be completionists) that you could reach level 13 or more by the end of the module so you will likely have to make Strahd much more powerful (and give him some allies) for the final encounter. In my case, the characters were level 11 or so for the final encounters and I started using the Deathhouse so they were level 3 in Barovia. I significantly increased Strahd's power level and added allies to keep it interesting.
Having all three at the mill is plenty difficult for level 5.