Running into one with 4-5 level 5 PCs. I don't think taking it on directly will work, though it hasn't acted yet.
Is it thinkable to reason with it? It's neutral good, Strahd is lawful good. Would the argument that taking Strahd out would help its position, maybe throw in a scroll or two that I've collected, have a snowball's chance of working?
Ultimately it’s up to your DM, but it never hurts to try and bargain if you’re in an encounter you don’t think you can fight your way through. Yugoloths (the broader class of fiend aracanoloths are a part of) are Neutral Evil mercenaries in main lore, so they’re typically open to bribes, though they set high prices and don’t come with guarantees they’ll stay bought.
I'd say that Arcanaloth in particular might be open to parley. However, if I remember the encounter correctly, the text explains that it can't move from one very specific location with a quite limited field of view... The party is never required to fight it, only to survive a few of its attacks if and when they pass through its field of vision.
It is certainly possible in general to negotiate with an arcanaloth; if you look at the writeup of the arcanaloth in the MM, it's pretty explicit that they're negotiators.
However, there's two problems with negotiation in this specific case:
As written, the arcanaloth attacks the PCs without warning from a hidden position within a cloud of darkness. It's hard to negotiate when your first encounter with a creature is it casting chain lightning on the entire party.
Negotiation requires the PCs have something the arcanaloth wants, and the module is entirely silent on what the arcanaloth wants. Or even why it's attacking the PCs in the first place.
Running into one with 4-5 level 5 PCs. I don't think taking it on directly will work, though it hasn't acted yet.
Is it thinkable to reason with it? It's neutral good, Strahd is lawful good. Would the argument that taking Strahd out would help its position, maybe throw in a scroll or two that I've collected, have a snowball's chance of working?
Yes, they are intelligent.
Ultimately it’s up to your DM, but it never hurts to try and bargain if you’re in an encounter you don’t think you can fight your way through. Yugoloths (the broader class of fiend aracanoloths are a part of) are Neutral Evil mercenaries in main lore, so they’re typically open to bribes, though they set high prices and don’t come with guarantees they’ll stay bought.
I mean... you have better odds surviving a peaceful negotiation than direct combat, if nothing else.
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I'd say that Arcanaloth in particular might be open to parley. However, if I remember the encounter correctly, the text explains that it can't move from one very specific location with a quite limited field of view... The party is never required to fight it, only to survive a few of its attacks if and when they pass through its field of vision.
It is certainly possible in general to negotiate with an arcanaloth; if you look at the writeup of the arcanaloth in the MM, it's pretty explicit that they're negotiators.
However, there's two problems with negotiation in this specific case: