I have two player that want to run CoS as two vampire slaying brothers in search of strahd. But the adventure seems super deadly for 4 players let alone 2. I was wondering what you guys recommend to make this happen without just scaling every single encounter if possible.
If your players seem savvy enough to handle this, and they probably are, they could each get a hireling of some kind. These could be folks that you RP for them and they just get to use in combat, or you could have the players RP them too. Now you've just doubled the party size!
For CoS specifically, one easy pick for that is whoever Madame Eva (or Ezmerelda) declares as the ally against Strahd. Once they find that character (Ireena when I DMed this one), you can have the players create a character sheet for them and roll them as a normal PC. Then you can RP them but have them control the character in combat. They can also double as a guide to the area if they know it well, and they typically already have a good motivation to join up. Just make sure that they don't take center stage, since that's the job of the players!
There are a bunch of characters in CoS that can join up. Basically anyone that could be Strahd's enemy can be the ally of the party. You can also change it up, having a different ally appear at different encounters. This also allows you to scale different combat encounters in interesting ways, since you can adjust how many characters are there. Have your standard party of three (players + enemy of Strahd) plus up to three other allies, which might be different each time. Now you can design encounters of hugely varying difficulties.
This all hinges on your players being willing/able to control multiple characters in combat and your willingness to consistently RP some NPCs that follow the gang around. You can tinker with this idea, but I think you get the gist of it.
There's a lot of things that could make the game a lot harder than just having less people.But there are easy fixes for many. For example the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind requires attunement by a cleric or Paladin but if neither of these vampire slaying brothers are one of those classes, I'd say vampire hunters wielding a holy symbol works well. Another bit of advice, I say if they don't hide or are bad at hiding that they are vampire hunters and they get as far as Vallaki, have Rictavvio take them under his wing. Van Richten in old editions and stories would always work with allies aligned with his goals and he's lost many of them. The Keepers of the Feather are another good ally. If they prove they can be trusted and that they have a real chance of success perhaps a wereraven can save them from a bad situation. Perhaps another bad situation (stealing from Dice Camera Action and Chris Perkins here a bit.) is instead of being killed, you allow a brother to be captured(If that enemy works for Strahd. Or is Strahd) They wind up in Strahd's castle. Which is hella deadly but if they can start at or get to a higher level then a potential wereraven ally could help them escape(mayhaps turning them into a wereraven if they can be trusted). Or put him in the dungeon and make Emil Toranescu not ready to betray the player at an opportune moment.
I think Allies are a great bet i this adventure to help you can you tell? Ireena and especially Ismarck(who is a Veteran) can be great help as they have weapons and training. Ismarck more so can act as somewhat of a 3rd party member in trying to save his sister. And she doesn't have to be the damsel in distress. She has noble stats. If neither of the brothers is persuasive, she can be persuasive.
Best advice if you don't want to scale back encounters to be weaker, give them chances and every opportunity to know when a fight is too tough. Experienced Vampire Hunters might know that a pack of 4 Vampire Spawn might be too much at low level. Suggest to your players they do a bit of stuff to help them escape bad fights. There is no shame in running. The Mobile feat is great for that. If one has rogue levels then cunning action disengage is great. Or allow them to enter Barovia at a higher level than Level 1. Or both. Don't give them magic items, they can find plenty in the adventure. But starting at level 3 or 5 or something is a good start. And even though it's a level 1-10 adventure, allow your party to get above 10 if they complete enough milestones to do so. They'll need it.
Played as written, it’s probably too difficult for two characters who aren’t very over-leveled for it.
Using the campaign guide as your source and tailoring it for a more intimate, horror-driven game seems much more doable.
Combats should be avoided and the players should be encouraged to outthink their adversaries instead of trying to kill them. The game shouldn’t be on fighting monsters, but more on gathering information and soaking in the lore and atmosphere. The focus should be on role-playing and subterfuge and not boisterous acts of derring-do. Levels aren’t gained through combat, but through the uncovering of new texts and manuscripts that detail the weaknesses and points that need to be covered. Through techniques that teach the characters how to cast more spells and channel those energies safely. Through practice and experience of infiltrating the castle to learn its layout.
Basically, I’d do a re-write of the module as a gothic horror adventure. Like Ravenloft was always intended to be.
Wow thanks a lot guys I appreciate all the input. I’m stealing a little bit from all of you mwahah. I have read the old Ravenloft and I think I’m going to try and do what you said MarkSkar. Make them earn xp through exploration and recon learning as much as they can before they fight if they have to at all. And I think im going to give them hirelings just to start so they can make it through death house (I want to run it selfishly i know I could skip it) and Then have them use the NPCs as fellow group members.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I have two player that want to run CoS as two vampire slaying brothers in search of strahd. But the adventure seems super deadly for 4 players let alone 2. I was wondering what you guys recommend to make this happen without just scaling every single encounter if possible.
I'll jump in early and take the easy answer.
If your players seem savvy enough to handle this, and they probably are, they could each get a hireling of some kind. These could be folks that you RP for them and they just get to use in combat, or you could have the players RP them too. Now you've just doubled the party size!
For CoS specifically, one easy pick for that is whoever Madame Eva (or Ezmerelda) declares as the ally against Strahd. Once they find that character (Ireena when I DMed this one), you can have the players create a character sheet for them and roll them as a normal PC. Then you can RP them but have them control the character in combat. They can also double as a guide to the area if they know it well, and they typically already have a good motivation to join up. Just make sure that they don't take center stage, since that's the job of the players!
There are a bunch of characters in CoS that can join up. Basically anyone that could be Strahd's enemy can be the ally of the party. You can also change it up, having a different ally appear at different encounters. This also allows you to scale different combat encounters in interesting ways, since you can adjust how many characters are there. Have your standard party of three (players + enemy of Strahd) plus up to three other allies, which might be different each time. Now you can design encounters of hugely varying difficulties.
This all hinges on your players being willing/able to control multiple characters in combat and your willingness to consistently RP some NPCs that follow the gang around. You can tinker with this idea, but I think you get the gist of it.
Good luck with whatever ends up working!
There's a lot of things that could make the game a lot harder than just having less people.But there are easy fixes for many. For example the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind requires attunement by a cleric or Paladin but if neither of these vampire slaying brothers are one of those classes, I'd say vampire hunters wielding a holy symbol works well. Another bit of advice, I say if they don't hide or are bad at hiding that they are vampire hunters and they get as far as Vallaki, have Rictavvio take them under his wing. Van Richten in old editions and stories would always work with allies aligned with his goals and he's lost many of them. The Keepers of the Feather are another good ally. If they prove they can be trusted and that they have a real chance of success perhaps a wereraven can save them from a bad situation. Perhaps another bad situation (stealing from Dice Camera Action and Chris Perkins here a bit.) is instead of being killed, you allow a brother to be captured(If that enemy works for Strahd. Or is Strahd) They wind up in Strahd's castle. Which is hella deadly but if they can start at or get to a higher level then a potential wereraven ally could help them escape(mayhaps turning them into a wereraven if they can be trusted). Or put him in the dungeon and make Emil Toranescu not ready to betray the player at an opportune moment.
I think Allies are a great bet i this adventure to help you can you tell? Ireena and especially Ismarck(who is a Veteran) can be great help as they have weapons and training. Ismarck more so can act as somewhat of a 3rd party member in trying to save his sister. And she doesn't have to be the damsel in distress. She has noble stats. If neither of the brothers is persuasive, she can be persuasive.
Best advice if you don't want to scale back encounters to be weaker, give them chances and every opportunity to know when a fight is too tough. Experienced Vampire Hunters might know that a pack of 4 Vampire Spawn might be too much at low level. Suggest to your players they do a bit of stuff to help them escape bad fights. There is no shame in running. The Mobile feat is great for that. If one has rogue levels then cunning action disengage is great. Or allow them to enter Barovia at a higher level than Level 1. Or both. Don't give them magic items, they can find plenty in the adventure. But starting at level 3 or 5 or something is a good start. And even though it's a level 1-10 adventure, allow your party to get above 10 if they complete enough milestones to do so. They'll need it.
Played as written, it’s probably too difficult for two characters who aren’t very over-leveled for it.
Using the campaign guide as your source and tailoring it for a more intimate, horror-driven game seems much more doable.
Combats should be avoided and the players should be encouraged to outthink their adversaries instead of trying to kill them. The game shouldn’t be on fighting monsters, but more on gathering information and soaking in the lore and atmosphere. The focus should be on role-playing and subterfuge and not boisterous acts of derring-do. Levels aren’t gained through combat, but through the uncovering of new texts and manuscripts that detail the weaknesses and points that need to be covered. Through techniques that teach the characters how to cast more spells and channel those energies safely. Through practice and experience of infiltrating the castle to learn its layout.
Basically, I’d do a re-write of the module as a gothic horror adventure. Like Ravenloft was always intended to be.
Wow thanks a lot guys I appreciate all the input. I’m stealing a little bit from all of you mwahah. I have read the old Ravenloft and I think I’m going to try and do what you said MarkSkar. Make them earn xp through exploration and recon learning as much as they can before they fight if they have to at all. And I think im going to give them hirelings just to start so they can make it through death house (I want to run it selfishly i know I could skip it) and Then have them use the NPCs as fellow group members.