Quick question on setting the DC for a check (spoilers for Curse of Strahd)

[Odessa333]

Hey there. I'm running Curse of Strahd, and my players (six of them, all level 6) are about to enter Berez. Baba is there with her moving hut. Baba and the hut are both are CR 11, and working together they can do some serious damage to the party. What's going to make this encounter 'deadly' or 'easy' is that the hut is weak to Dispel magic, a spell two of the party members have (Wizard and warlock). The wizard spends a round doing an arcana check anytime anything potentially magical shows up, so I KNOW she will be doing an arcana check on the moving house.

That said, what kind of information do I give out, and what kind of DC's should I set for this knowledge? I feel they risk TPK without using dispel magic, so on one hand I want them to know this is an option. On the other hand, I don't want to just give them the answer on a silver platter and remove the challenge altogether.

I'm trying to find the right balance, and would love advice/suggestions on how to do this properly. Thank you for your time!

[Specter]

Say the hut is fueled by something inside it, which is true, on a low check. On a high check, specify that it's fueled by magic, weak to a DM. That's how I'd run it.

[Aembrosia]

I like 10+spell level causing the magic if the player knows the spell. 15+spell level if they dont.

[Leith]

If your player is perpetually rolling arcana checks every time they encounter new magical phenomena maybe it's because you don't offer enough information up front. In essence you've trained the player to believe that the only or best way to learn these things is to make a skill check. Not that this is so bad you should never do it but I have a better way.
My suggestion is to give the PCs the opportunity to learn of the weakness in an earlier encounter. A journal from another adventurer or notes about magically animated objects. If the players figure it out and use the weakness, then great, but it is entirely reliant on them and the choices they make rather than an arbitrary die roll.

[Odessa333]

If your player is perpetually rolling arcana checks every time they encounter new magical phenomena maybe it's because you don't offer enough information up front. In essence you've trained the player to believe that the only or best way to learn these things is to make a skill check. Not that this is so bad you should never do it but I have a better way.
My suggestion is to give the PCs the opportunity to learn of the weakness in an earlier encounter. A journal from another adventurer or notes about magically animated objects. If the players figure it out and use the weakness, then great, but it is entirely reliant on them and the choices they make rather than an arbitrary die roll.


Interesting idea, though since this house was only recently enchanted this week or so, I don't see an old journal existing at this point. I've debated having the NPC spying on the place give an info dump, but I feel that takes all the challenge out of it. I'm not sure what I'll do, but the game starts in 10, so I better run ;)

Incidentally, the character in question spends a round in most fights looking for weaknesses, and strategizes before doing anything as an RP gimmick; it's not something I require to make a knowledge roll.

[Vogonjeltz]

Hey there. I'm running Curse of Strahd, and my players (six of them, all level 6) are about to enter Berez. Baba is there with her moving hut. Baba and the hut are both are CR 11, and working together they can do some serious damage to the party. What's going to make this encounter 'deadly' or 'easy' is that the hut is weak to Dispel magic, a spell two of the party members have (Wizard and warlock). The wizard spends a round doing an arcana check anytime anything potentially magical shows up, so I KNOW she will be doing an arcana check on the moving house.

That said, what kind of information do I give out, and what kind of DC's should I set for this knowledge? I feel they risk TPK without using dispel magic, so on one hand I want them to know this is an option. On the other hand, I don't want to just give them the answer on a silver platter and remove the challenge altogether.

I'm trying to find the right balance, and would love advice/suggestions on how to do this properly. Thank you for your time!

A House on chicken legs that walks around. That's all too obviously magical; No check required.

I'd be shocked if the players even asked.