OB1
Jedi Master
Been DMing a CoS campaign for two PCs (Paladin and Cleric) on and off for the last year. Over the long holiday weekend, we finally finished, and in the climatic battle, they defeated Strahd in a single round. The PCs were 11th level.
They loved it, I loved it, and we agreed it was one of the best APs we've ever played.
For the last year, the PCs ground their way across Barovia looking for the three items they needed to defeat Strahd, and everywhere they went, he harassed them, killed their allies, undid their accomplishments, and always got away. They grew to hate the Devil Strahd over that year.
Over the weekend, with the Sword and Amulet in hand, Strahd was no longer able to attack them directly, instead going wherever they weren't to wreck havoc on the people the PCs had tried to help, trying to break the PCs spirit and get them to give up.
Instead, the plan backfired, and the PCs stormed Castle Ravenloft.
They were lucky to face Strahd in his parent's crypt, where he could not easily escape. He won initiative and tried to charm the Cleric (to turn her against the Paladin) but was thwarted by the Devotion Paladin's aura. Two smites (one a crit), a spiritual weapon attack and a hit with the sun sword, and Strahd was dead when he started his second turn in the sun swords daylight.
My players erupted in a cheer and a fair bit of cursing surrounding the death of the Devil Strahd.
When I asked them during wrap up if they thought the final battle was anticlimactic, they said not at all. That they had been so worried that after everything they'd done in the campaign that it could end with them dead and Strahd winning, they were simply relieved when they took him out so quickly. They had thought they were going on a suicide mission with almost no chance to defeat him. To have survived, and then returned to the Sword Coast with a handful of children from the Werewolf den, was more than they had wished for.
Curious if anyone else had a similar experience of an easy defeat of Strahd that left your players feeling joyous!
They loved it, I loved it, and we agreed it was one of the best APs we've ever played.
For the last year, the PCs ground their way across Barovia looking for the three items they needed to defeat Strahd, and everywhere they went, he harassed them, killed their allies, undid their accomplishments, and always got away. They grew to hate the Devil Strahd over that year.
Over the weekend, with the Sword and Amulet in hand, Strahd was no longer able to attack them directly, instead going wherever they weren't to wreck havoc on the people the PCs had tried to help, trying to break the PCs spirit and get them to give up.
Instead, the plan backfired, and the PCs stormed Castle Ravenloft.
They were lucky to face Strahd in his parent's crypt, where he could not easily escape. He won initiative and tried to charm the Cleric (to turn her against the Paladin) but was thwarted by the Devotion Paladin's aura. Two smites (one a crit), a spiritual weapon attack and a hit with the sun sword, and Strahd was dead when he started his second turn in the sun swords daylight.
My players erupted in a cheer and a fair bit of cursing surrounding the death of the Devil Strahd.
When I asked them during wrap up if they thought the final battle was anticlimactic, they said not at all. That they had been so worried that after everything they'd done in the campaign that it could end with them dead and Strahd winning, they were simply relieved when they took him out so quickly. They had thought they were going on a suicide mission with almost no chance to defeat him. To have survived, and then returned to the Sword Coast with a handful of children from the Werewolf den, was more than they had wished for.
Curious if anyone else had a similar experience of an easy defeat of Strahd that left your players feeling joyous!
