Death House (Curse of Stahd pre-adventure) Help

[jaappleton]

So my group finally started Curse of Strahd, and after speaking with the DM, we decided to begin with Death House in order to get a proper feel for the overall adventure before delving into CoS proper.

Our party consists of:

Grung Rogue
Dragonborn Druid (Me)
Human Fighter - Dual Wield
Human Fighter - Crossbow Expert
Changeling Sorc - Cold Dragon
Drow Monk

That's right: No Cleric, and no Paladin. I know, I know.

Let me begin by saying this is our DMs first time running a published module. Every other time has been homebrew.

Our first session was last night and it was AWESOME.

We got up to the Suit of Animated Armor on the upper floors, which we handled with no issue before calling it a night due to time.

Now, from when CoS was first released, I read some forum posts elsewhere about aspects of it. I don't know what happens in it word for word, where everything is, etc. Never read the adventure. But there's some stuff I do recall. I legit never thought I would be a player in it, I figured with my DM typically doing homebrew I'd never get a chance to play.

So, to prevent metagaming, my Druid is actually a Bear that's been transformed into a Humanoid, and my Wild Shape lets me go back to my true form. My Intelligence is 5. So if anything seems vaguely familiar to me, the player, I typically have my character do a 'bear thing', like simply lean up against a post and scratch my back against it, giving the others a chance to do their thing and figure stuff out. And if we miss out on something, so be it. That's life.

That said... I, as a player, recall what's in the basement. The final encounter, should we refuse the desires. And I can't help but think... Is it possible to beat that encounter?

If my DM goes by the module, I think we'd be lv3 after we leave the House. Meaning we'd be lv2 in the basement. We're a party of 6, yes, but that last encounter down there seems to be a very tall order even for a fulled rested group.

I also know that if you refuse the House's desires and run, it changes the upstairs, and I'm not sure that's a better route to take.

The final encounter in the basement is supposed to be extremely difficult, no doubt. It sets the tone for the whole CoS adventure: Sometimes, the best option is to run for your life. Everything here is deadly, and that's a lesson best learned early.

So, should we face it, is the last monster down there even defeatable with this party? Or is that simply there to be a lesson learned?

[Madfellow]

Your DM might interpret this encounter differently, but it seems to me that the safest thing to do would be to run from the monster, but never outrun it. Keep strafing and attacking it as you flee from the house, and let it chase you until you make it out.

Again, your DM might interpret it differently, but I believe that's the safest course of action. Don't let it catch up to you and get into melee, because that's almost certain death, but never let it out of your sight either.

Good luck.

[Avonar]

It's a tough encounter, but we beat it with a 4 person party without losing anyone (Rogue, Paladin, Wizard, Bard). It just took some clever kiting and manouvering. Definitely not impossible, especially if you have a six person party.

[jdolch]

Now I don't know how much you actually want to be spoilered so i am going to use a Spoiler tag. Be aware if you open it you WILL get spoilers. So open at your own risk!

(All of this assumes, of course, that your DM doesn't change the adventure) The last encounter is really meant 2 ways: First your party has to decide whether to sacrifice a life (which would probably mean doing something truly evil) or to face the consequences. Then, if you refuse, you have to learn that there are things that you can't fight. Even if you manage to kill the mound without losing anyone you have to make your way back outside which is also no small feat, even on the shortest route you have to go through rooms filled with poison gas and multiple Doorway Scythe Traps that can't be avoided afaik, and that is IF you know which is the shortest route AND realize that you can go through interior walls.

BUT this is not the only deadly encounter in the house. There are multiple instances that can easily lead to a TPK because these encounters are deadly and can go sideways very quickly.
There are 2 Ghosts upstairs in the House, that if engaged are very strong adversaries for a level 1 Party even before you reach the cellar.
If your Party is too greedy and take the orb of Strahd, they are going to fight 4 shadows. These have a cumulative STR Debuff and it becomes a death spiral very quickly, depending on party comp (Your party has 2 fighters, so ... yeah).
You are ambushed by 4 ghuls which are pretty strong and well ... ambush you.
In the final bedroom of the cellar there are 2 Ghasts hidden in the wall and a mimic disguised as a doorway. You don't have to go there at all but it's probably worth it because there is among other loot a +1 Cloak of Protection in there.



The no paladin/cleric thing will probably make your life harder down the road but in Death House it doesn't matter.

[Laserlight]

We beat it without serious damage. Sword & board pally, tempest cleric, TWF ranger, ranged rogue, divine soul.

Of course, our DM seems to have decided to run CoS on easy mode, so YMMV.

[Captain Bob]

Totally possible to beat, but in fairness we did lose a person out of our own 5 person party. The big thing as many others have mentioned previously, is how lethal critical hits are in low levels - we lost a Paladin to a natural 20 from the biggun down there. You guys will probably be ok if you're taking some of the hits in wildshape, that expanded health-pool will be extremely valuable throughout the module, let alone in that encounter. That said, one of your less-durable party members could bite the dust if they aren't careful.

[NecroDancer]

Yeah our party ran