3 man team for strahd, can we do it?

[SMac8988]

Without giving me much information, I'm avoiding spoilers the best i can, how strongly does this campaign's suggested 4 man team factor?

Currently I will be heading into this setting with my wife, a brand new players, and a friend with minimal experience rping. A friend is story telling it so I can play, since I am the normal dm.

We are going to start level 1 in the mansion, I had ran their group through this part as a side mission but never went further past it so I know most of it.

Our party, as of now without me swaying anyone, is:

A half orc outlander paladin, going devotion at level 3. Running with a great axe for those rare crits and probably going to take defensive style to get the ac bump.

A halfling druid, my wife, who is undecided past this. She is leaning towards moon, for the shape change and the benefits from fighting in my auras.

And a tiefling wizard, undecided on school. He plans to make him incredibly cheep, almost a dumpster diver for his components to his spells. I assume alchemist but can't be sure.

So what's our chances of not getting brutilized horribly day one?

[mgshamster]

Without giving me much information, I'm avoiding spoilers the best i can, how strongly does this campaign's suggested 4 man team factor?

Currently I will be heading into this setting with my wife, a brand new players, and a friend with minimal experience rping. A friend is story telling it so I can play, since I am the normal dm.

We are going to start level 1 in the mansion, I had ran their group through this part as a side mission but never went further past it so I know most of it.

Our party, as of now without me swaying anyone, is:

A half orc outlander paladin, going devotion at level 3. Running with a great axe for those rare crits and probably going to take defensive style to get the ac bump.

A halfling druid, my wife, who is undecided past this. She is leaning towards moon, for the shape change and the benefits from fighting in my auras.

And a tiefling wizard, undecided on school. He plans to make him incredibly cheep, almost a dumpster diver for his components to his spells. I assume alchemist but can't be sure.

So what's our chances of not getting brutilized horribly day one?

Depends on if your DM runs the optional level 1-2 intro. Mine ran it, and I doubt we would have survived the "boss" encounter if he hadn't given us an NPC healer. Granted, I was the party healer as a ranger, so we had very minimal healing. And that intro is considered very challenging for low level characters.

Considering you have a paladin and a Druid, you might be better off than we were.

[Elminster298]

I have never played or even read through Strahd yet so I can't say specifics, however... I have heard it can be pretty intense in a couple portions so extra healing might be a pretty good idea. Asking if the wizard would be willing to go theurgy would be a solid choice. That puts all three with healing, two solid tanks(if the druid goes moon), and solid damage both physical and magical. The only real downside I can see would be action economy since four people allow for a better balance per round of damage/control/ healing than three. If the person DMimg gets the feel that things are just a bit too tough they can always just scale the encounters back a touch on the fly.

[khachaturian]

You can run the module... but you are going to die unless by DM fiat. I wouldn't worry about healing so much in 5E with the short-rest HD mechanic and fact that you have access to a druid who can cast goodberry. The main concern other than the relative lack of playing experience in your party is the fact that you do not have access to a reliable source of damage

Paladin- can nova with smite, but this is a very limited resource

Druid- circle of the moon gives you access to a supply of HP that the monsters need to get through, but they will get through them fast. Can spec out to be a decent grappler, but not really an adequate source of damage

Wizard- can do some nova damage, but again, I'm not seeing a real source of damage.

[Belac93]

Play with the dark gifts rules (every time you die from levels 1-5 you come back with a curse/gift), and in the mansion, run. Don't fight if you don't have to, don't try to reason with anything, and don't poke your nose in a room if you can bypass it.

If you are not careful to the point of level 1 AD&D wizard being followed by house-cats paranoia, you will die. Possibly several times.

[busterswd]

Don't be afraid to run, be aware of your surroundings, and don't pick fights needlessly. Even certain random encounters will tear you apart early on. There are also some VERY deadly chapters and pre-made encounters, that if played intelligently, can be challenging even for a higher level, normal sized party that's not prepared.

I don't think you'll be able to finish the campaign unless your DM goes easy on you. The whole feel/design of Strahd is that you're stuck in a deadly, foreign realm, with few ways to get help.

[Sir cryosin]

Two words magical damage. Your Channel divinity to turn your weapon magical your going to use that all the time you can if not you want to have your concentration on the spell magic weapon. Because everything and I mean everything has resistance to non-magical weapons.

[SMac8988]

I know it's meant to be hard, I'll maybe talk to him prior to see if maybe we can each start with like a basic piece of magic gear or something to buff us up till our levels allow us to maintain.

I am concerned about the experience level of the group, but also think it could make it really fun. Fear and near death experience forge good players in my experience. Long as people actually care about the character they made.....

[djreynolds]

It's good group, but the DM may have to tone it down slightly. One more body would help, not too much magic out there, so moon druid will be of help as will sacred weapon. Maybe a monk or bard, but there are NPC available.
We're on the final leg. Good luck

[Maxor]

We are in the end stages of it now... Personally I feel the whole thing after the mansion was designed for levels 4-6. We came in with characters from our homebrew world at a mix of second and third. Seemed very deadly at first evened out and now save for a few nasty save or go down attacks on characters feels like a bit of a walk through now that we are at 8 and 9.


I would strongly recommend having another divine character, You can only attune one item and some of the items in this book really are useful against undead and require a good divine character.

[dejarnjc]

I'm running this now and before I began the module I read a few guides on how to keep a party alive through Death House. The easiest and most simple answer is to simply bump the party level up by 1 for each section of the house. This has worked tremendously for me, as my players would not enjoy losing their PCs, and has still created rather tense fights.

With 3 PCs and playing the module as is, your party will most likely die unless you play very, very strategically and take a number of long rests.

[SMac8988]

I'm running this now and before I began the module I read a few guides on how to keep a party alive through Death House. The easiest and most simple answer is to simply bump the party level up by 1 for each section of the house. This has worked tremendously for me, as my players would not enjoy losing their PCs, and has still created rather tense fights.

With 3 PCs and playing the module as is, your party will most likely die unless you play very, very strategically and take a number of long rests.

Would having like a low level magic item? Or being slightly better equipted work as well?

Like full plated tank or some scroll one time use spells?

[dejarnjc]

Would having like a low level magic item? Or being slightly better equipted work as well?

Like full plated tank or some scroll one time use spells?

Hmm...full plate on the tank might be almost too much of a buff but then it might not be. It's really hard to say to be honest. The main problem that stands out to me is that even with better equipment, it will only take a couple lucky die roll to potentially kill a player. If your party is OK with replacing PCs or doing some sort of resurrection then that's not really a problem but mine didn't really like the idea of losing their PCs so early (and neither did I) so I bumped em up a level.

[RulesJD]

1. A three man team would require a Paladin and a Druid, so you're good there.

2. I love Wizards, but don't be one on a three man team. You aren't going to be useful enough. Go Cleric instead. I'd personally recommend Tempest Cleric for damage or Life for healing, you're going to need it.

Mostly you need Cleric because of radiant damage + Spirit Guardians. SG is a show-stopper in CoS, same with Moonbeam for the Druid (instantly wins any fights against Werewolves, etc).

[JackOfAllBuilds]

I would strongly recommend having another divine character, You can only attune one item and some of the items in this book really are useful against undead and require a good divine character.

Characters can attune to up to 3 items that require attunement, unless this is a specific rule from CoS

[ad_hoc]

I think you will be fine.

The adventure is primarily exploration and social interaction.

Don't be afraid to run from or talk your way out of fights.

[uraniumrooster]

It'll be challenging, but with the right tactics you guys should be fine.

As the more experienced player and a paladin, you'll probably want to take on a leadership role both in RP and OOC. Try to guide the others on combat tactics and positioning. As a small party, it will be even more important for you to ration your resources, conserve spell slots, limit your exposure to damage, focus fire on one foe at a time, etc. It might behoove you to use your 1st level slots on Divine Favor rather than smiting - 1d4 radiant on all attacks for a minute can end up being a lot more effective than 3d8 on a single attack, especially against vampires since it can take away their regeneration every round.

If your druid goes Circle of Moon, their beast form should be your primary tank starting out, or your paladin if the druid runs out of Wildshapes. A Large size beast should be able to block most halls and doorways, and most of the harder encounters in the mod take place indoors against enemies without any ranged attacks, so try and use that to your advantage.

I would advise your Wizard to go Necromancy. I recommend they get Chill Touch early, as it can come in very handy against Vampires. They're resistant to necrotic damage, but it prevents them from regenerating when the party isn't able to hit them with radiant damage that round. Later on, the wizard will be able to bolster your small party with a small horde of undead minions, and you can pretty much coast the rest of the way. If they're not keen on Necromancy, maybe try and talk them into being an Elf for Bladesinger (or your DM into allowing a Tiefling Bladesinger), as that would make them a lot more resilient and survivable for your small party.

[SMac8988]

I've heard level 10 is about the average end game level for this module, idk if that is true but.....

I had planned in my characters back story that he would have been barbaric in the past. I was going to ignore this and just have him start as a level 1 paladin. But, and I'm away from my books, could it be beneficial to start as a barb, do 3 levels then switch to paladin. Get bear totem so I am more a tank, and still get the constant smite and aura from paladin for the big fight.

From what I heard I'd be level 3 leaving the haunted house intro, which is a minor beginning part.

Soo? Is that a terrible idea?

I rolled my stats and they are more then good.

Like in order, 17, 15, 18, 12, 14, 16. After the bumps from half orc. I cleared it with the dm and he said he is ok with me keeping them. So ya... idk if I really need the stat bumps, feats maybe but should be ok for a bit.