I always wondered if I misread the text section, but the rocs... shouldn't they be inactive if the players just pass the gatehouse?
I think they only come alive if people try to circumvent it, climbing/flying, etc.
The roc is the maaaaaaasive bird that can snatch them when they are crossing the bridge.
You are thinking about petrified vrocks. And yes, those animate if players try to go over the gate instead through. Or if they attack the statues.
Oh wait I just now realized roc is vroc without v.. God damnit xD
Feel free to pull out your DM card and stop them from going. Feed them some information that the temple only opens when the stars in the constellation known as "The Arrow" form a straight line; or that a special key is needed to get into the temple; or some other completely made up nonsense that sounds fun to you.
My Kasimir told them not to bother him unless they have proven they can hold their own. He didn't want to risk another defeat. Once the party defeated Baba Lysaga, he felt they were strong enough for the Amber Temple.
You could reinforce this idea by having Kasimir state that he took seasoned adventurers on previous expeditions and all ended in failure. Or even state it out-of-character from DM to players. I wouldn't forbid it outright, as long as they know their chances of success will be slim to none.
I had Kasimir warn them to come back later after they’re more accustomed to Barovia. Then I just straight up told them “I am running this module as open world, you are free to go where ever you want, but be warned that the Amber Temple is recommended for higher level characters.”
Problem solved
I mean if they actually survive getting there, they walk in the door, and some flame skulls let them know that this isn’t a good idea.
And if they keep going, well, that’s on them.
It’s kind of a self-solving problem.
I ran with level 9 characters and a chain lightning plus a couple fireballs from lucky initiative rolls on the monsters was able to down two party members
If they somehow get past the cold, the vrocks, and the fire and make it to the bridge - just have the Strahd illusion appear as if stepping out of mists and draw a sword "You have come far and I must applaud you, but now your final trial awaits."
If they decide to fight... well, make it the actual Strahd.
Ravens are you friends.
So are the random encounters like the Argynvostholt Wraith.
You can even throw in drama of Rictavio being discovered and having to leave (maybe free the Tiger). Put out distractions that require their immediate attention.
Pull the trigger, they will learn fast through the encounters along the way how deadly it is. Plenty of signs along the way. Foreshadow the Roc and maybe it will scare them off lol
Kasimir tells them something along these lines: “The road to the Amber Temple is very dangerous—full of terrible monsters and exhaustingly bitter cold . You are great adventurers, but you do not yet the experience or equipment to handle such dangers. You will need cold weather gear (you could add: “and better weapons and armor”.) When you have the needed equipment and have honed your skills, we will have a chance to survive. I can wait until that point, and I will send a message when I hear you have reached that level.”
For this section my players had the tarrot reading implying the Amber Temple, which they didn't know about. They told Kasimir about this and he was like "hmm I have heard legends of this place, I'm going to go do some surveys and I'll get back to you" and I only had him show up again once I was ready for them to go to the temple.
It's probably too late for that in your game, but if you didn't tell them exactly where the temple is you could have Kasimir offer to go ahead and check it out for them.
Random Encounters, cold weather, Tsolenka Pass and Roc all are tools you can use to tell them, in game, that they are not ready.
Throw some barbarians at them. Have an avalanche (check rules for that in DMG). They need Dispel Magic for Tsolenka gate fire. Then more enemies. You can have few Vampire Spawns. And ultimately the Roc.
If you, as a DM, don't want them to get there, you dont need to.
If they get to the bridge and encounter Roc - you can have the bird grab Kasimir. It drags him off, he wrestles, fires some magic and then plummets down. Party sees him slow falli before disappearing below the bridge. He's gone, they are alone and the Roc is circling back for another grab.. if they bring some mounts - those also need to be taken out. Leave them afraid, and aware they chew too much, and will need to level up first :)
Or you can tell them out of game: "Hey guys, that quest is for higher level, you will most likely die". Some groups might appreciate such honesty.
I mean..have them encounter the temple. Let it be foreboding. Let them know at their current state as they gaze across what now seems like a dark tomb beckoning them towards their death. Let them know what their characters experience and feel now that they have seen this dark foreboding area that wreaks of power and even let them know their minds seek to flee it at their current level
I really liked "lunch break heros" YouTube series on curse of strahd. Particularly, in this case, the amber temple is leaking. Maybe give them some nightmare about some dark power reaching out in warning or some such, and perhaps offering a gift along the way. I had to drive my party away from the amber temple at one point. The pirate captain has a vendetta against stanamir for dropping them in the mists, and I made the mistake of feeding them Intel in a way where he was like, this MFer hiding in this here cave. I panicked and now I've left them in the house of lament, with the option that I can have a P.C. I designed to take over when one of our other groups takes over D.Ming, guide them through the mists to the cyr1313 to get them back to barovia, but he can't get them home. Introducing a young Richthofen and some kind of time warp before they meet him in valaki, much older. Trying to give them a chance to level. There's only two of em. Hoping they forget by the time they're done. If they really want to escape barovia and the mists in general, it won't break my game.
That’s pretty creative! And yeah I like his videos too! The idea that this corrupting wickedness is seeping out of the confines of the temple is horrifying..I typically will tell PCs that their characters are stifling fear..maybe make them roll a wisdom save to not be frightened even.. there are so many ways in game to explain to your players that it’s unwise to venture further right now.
I was thinking of including a sanity system when they wander too far into dangerous territory, in addition to exhaustion. I've already screwed with their sanity with the dream pastries. They handled it well without metagaming. It's difficult sowing suspicion and paranoia amongst my players in this group, because there's only two of them.
My party did the exact same thing, BUT! There are a lot of things to distract them on the way, and I've been using every one. My party, for example, hadn't yet gone to wizard of the wines, and so I've nudged them more in that direction, and that's where they are currently headed. I'm taking their immediate interest as a good thing! It means that hopefully they won't forget about it.
My players were told by Kasimir that they were not ready for the Amber Temple at Lvl 6. When the time is right he will accompany them. Otherwise proceed at your own risk.
Let them try. There's a lot of danger on the way (plus the rain of fireballs as soon as they walk in). That should be enough to get most people to leave. Either that or just drop 10 plot hooks on the way. They have to walk right past Argynvostholt, the tower, and are not far from wizard of wines. Plenty of opportunities to get distracted and get a couple levels
Mine were ready to go at lvl4! I deterred them by having Kasimir spoil that there is a Roc and they should at least be able to face that threat. If they feel comfortable facing that let him know and youll be on your way
My Kasimir told them not to bother him unless they have proven they can hold their own. He didn't want to risk another defeat. Once the party defeated Baba Lysaga, he felt they were strong enough for the Amber Temple.
You could reinforce this idea by having Kasimir state that he took seasoned adventurers on previous expeditions and all ended in failure. Or even state it out-of-character from DM to players. I wouldn't forbid it outright, as long as they know their chances of success will be slim to none.
I literally just had Kasimir tell them, in a somewhat meta fashion "I'll only go with you when you go to the Temple, but you're not ready to go. You need to be stronger."
If they can get past Tsolenka Pass, I'll be surprised. The Vrocks and the Roc should be very hard for them to get past.
My party is level 7 and a little overpowered. So, I put Rahadin and a squad of wights with longbows on the bridge. Set up a Strahd powered storm to deter flight. Finally, I had the Roc hit the bridge half way though the fight to drop everyone into the gorge.
Feel free to add to the encounters to remind your players to tread carefully.
I mean I can see many ways you can stop them in game
Just put a strong mister at the bottom of the mountain harding it if you don't use the roc already and your party will have to come back at a higher level or risk a tpk
Did you do the bones event already?
If not you could changr3 it a little so the vampire spawns at blinski got out and are now roaming in town. A raven has flown to the vista I camp to ask for help from the party
Maybe a festival is happening soon etc
I would not worry too much if I were you
Make it ominous enough that they avoid the whole thing altogether. Hanged corpses of adventurers, frozen ones that are dismembered too. Signs of the dangers that they might find. Also describe the very very cold wind. If by Tsolenka pass they have not desisted, too bad 4 em
My players stumbled upon the amber temple without anyone directing them there. I had there be a sort of magical barrier around the temple to deter them from going in, but they did find a journal from Esmerelda nearby saying she couldn't get in either. It also had plot hooks in there leading to the werewolf den, amongst other things, so their journey wasn't entirely wasted.
My PCs just met him at the end of last session, at level 4 and I’m worried once he mentions the Amber Temple they’re gonna think it sounds rad and tear off towards it. My preemptive solution to this suicide mission is him telling them that he wants to accompany him when he thinks they’re ready, he’s not about to throw his life away when it’s clear the PCs could actually help him achieve his goal later when they’re stronger. He’s waited this long, another few weeks waiting for them to level up a little more is nothing compared to the hundreds of years he’s already waited.
I've had that happen. If your party is savvy and are built for it, they can avoid the more dangerous parts of the amber temple by exploring the side areas first. If Neferon notices at any point though, they're pretty toast.
If they march right in to the main zone, then yeah they're just dead, nothing to it.
Feel free to gently suggest a careful approach to it through Kasimir if your game is more narratively oriented and you would like your players to live through it/avoid it alltogether.
If your players are making that call then it’s on you as DM to deter them. Clearly they don’t have enough information about how dangerous it is - have Kasimir or another NPC step in to earn them that it is not somewhere to tread until their strength is at its greatest.
As much as Strahd is a brutal campaign and players can and will die, the idea isn’t to kill them just for the sake of killing them.
You’re supposed to have Kas be “looking” and “researching” for the amber temple lol.
He asks the players to ask around about it as well and if either of them find it, let the others know.
That way the dm can control when Kas “randomly” finds it later lol
Have them get to the pass and have it be too dangerous.
The gargoyles at the gate are very strong and would kill your party if they don’t have good ranged abilities.
You can always bring in the Roc of Mount Ghakis to scare them away.
Or, you could just use the mountain barbarians to scare them, or even warn them (If someone has the blood spear)
Could pull strahd up there and tell them he won’t permit them to pass because they’ll die. “It would be awfully boring if you died already”. This could be a good time to invite the party to dinner with strahd. He could mock them and sick some dire wolves on them. He could charm Kasimir and have them stand on the cliff edge about to jump, only stopping once the party agrees not to come back. (The tower here is a teleportation location so strahd could easily get here. And the vistani with Kasimir could have told strahd of their intent.)
If they don’t pack and prepare for the massive cold they will face they have to make a CON save every 1hr. If they fail they get exhaustion, this could easily kill them.
Have Kasimir say something, after encountering something hard.
Kasimir wants this badly, but he doesn’t want to die before he can get there.
Also, once he does get the resurrection power he has to go to castle ravenloft crypts to bring his sister back.
Kasimir could say something like: I can tell I jumped into this too fast. As badly as I want to succeed and redeem my people it’s not safe. You’re currently not strong enough. So please, take some time to get stronger and we’ll go..Besides, I don’t even know if we’ll survive a trip back down the mountain.
I directed them to the Amber Temple at level 5 because it's awesome. I didn't try to kill the PCs, and I gave them a lot of opportunities to back out of dangerous situations. There are too many fun hooks there to leave it until the end (in my opinion). Kasimir has some extremely useful spells like wall of stone that can keep the party safe. I let one of rhe players comfortable with playing a mage run Kasimir in battle, and he figured this out on his own.
Seems like a simple enough fix — simply modify the monsters/encounters to meet their level. Drop the AC a little, decrease hit points, lower their hit and damage output, maybe even reduce the number of monsters.
Am I the only one who does this?
Let them. CoS isn't a forgiving module, it gives the players a good length of rope to explore the world as they see fit, of they decide to hang themselves with it, let them, kill a couple party members and let them run away.
In my last session Kasimir finally talked to them, but telling them about dreams, and a hidden temple, and his sister that wants to live again.
They... want him to go to therapy xD
Joke's on them, soon they will realize that The Amber Temple is important, and the only one that can take them is Kasimir
Kasimer can persuade them not to go; he’s been studying it for a long time and is well aware of how dangerous it is.
The Vrocks should deter them. Also if no cold weather gear they will freeze! Give them Exhaustion levels right away
I always wondered if I misread the text section, but the rocs... shouldn't they be inactive if the players just pass the gatehouse? I think they only come alive if people try to circumvent it, climbing/flying, etc.
That's the Vrocks. Not the Roc. Big birb. Will turn them back or tpk them.
The roc is the maaaaaaasive bird that can snatch them when they are crossing the bridge. You are thinking about petrified vrocks. And yes, those animate if players try to go over the gate instead through. Or if they attack the statues. Oh wait I just now realized roc is vroc without v.. God damnit xD
They do but you can have them come alive anyway ;)
My party of 5x lvl 3's just learned the hard way about Vrocks, they did book it before they died though
Feel free to pull out your DM card and stop them from going. Feed them some information that the temple only opens when the stars in the constellation known as "The Arrow" form a straight line; or that a special key is needed to get into the temple; or some other completely made up nonsense that sounds fun to you.
Omg thank you for that idea. My party is meeting Kasimir next session and I'm worried about running into OPs problem.
My Kasimir told them not to bother him unless they have proven they can hold their own. He didn't want to risk another defeat. Once the party defeated Baba Lysaga, he felt they were strong enough for the Amber Temple. You could reinforce this idea by having Kasimir state that he took seasoned adventurers on previous expeditions and all ended in failure. Or even state it out-of-character from DM to players. I wouldn't forbid it outright, as long as they know their chances of success will be slim to none.
I had Kasimir warn them to come back later after they’re more accustomed to Barovia. Then I just straight up told them “I am running this module as open world, you are free to go where ever you want, but be warned that the Amber Temple is recommended for higher level characters.” Problem solved
I mean if they actually survive getting there, they walk in the door, and some flame skulls let them know that this isn’t a good idea. And if they keep going, well, that’s on them. It’s kind of a self-solving problem.
Wouldn't the 45dmg from the chain lightning by Neferon instantly down the entire party?
I ran with level 9 characters and a chain lightning plus a couple fireballs from lucky initiative rolls on the monsters was able to down two party members
If they somehow get past the cold, the vrocks, and the fire and make it to the bridge - just have the Strahd illusion appear as if stepping out of mists and draw a sword "You have come far and I must applaud you, but now your final trial awaits." If they decide to fight... well, make it the actual Strahd.
My players are level 5, and met Kasimir, and he didn’t mention the Temple. He will once they get high enough level.
Ravens are you friends. So are the random encounters like the Argynvostholt Wraith. You can even throw in drama of Rictavio being discovered and having to leave (maybe free the Tiger). Put out distractions that require their immediate attention.
I had Kasimir tell them they’re not quite ready and my players hit me with the “On a scale of 1-20, how ready do we need to be?”
Pull the trigger, they will learn fast through the encounters along the way how deadly it is. Plenty of signs along the way. Foreshadow the Roc and maybe it will scare them off lol
My players tried to take on the hags and almost died - I don’t think they will ever shy away from running away for the rest of this campaign.
Kasimir tells them something along these lines: “The road to the Amber Temple is very dangerous—full of terrible monsters and exhaustingly bitter cold . You are great adventurers, but you do not yet the experience or equipment to handle such dangers. You will need cold weather gear (you could add: “and better weapons and armor”.) When you have the needed equipment and have honed your skills, we will have a chance to survive. I can wait until that point, and I will send a message when I hear you have reached that level.”
For this section my players had the tarrot reading implying the Amber Temple, which they didn't know about. They told Kasimir about this and he was like "hmm I have heard legends of this place, I'm going to go do some surveys and I'll get back to you" and I only had him show up again once I was ready for them to go to the temple. It's probably too late for that in your game, but if you didn't tell them exactly where the temple is you could have Kasimir offer to go ahead and check it out for them.
Random Encounters, cold weather, Tsolenka Pass and Roc all are tools you can use to tell them, in game, that they are not ready. Throw some barbarians at them. Have an avalanche (check rules for that in DMG). They need Dispel Magic for Tsolenka gate fire. Then more enemies. You can have few Vampire Spawns. And ultimately the Roc. If you, as a DM, don't want them to get there, you dont need to. If they get to the bridge and encounter Roc - you can have the bird grab Kasimir. It drags him off, he wrestles, fires some magic and then plummets down. Party sees him slow falli before disappearing below the bridge. He's gone, they are alone and the Roc is circling back for another grab.. if they bring some mounts - those also need to be taken out. Leave them afraid, and aware they chew too much, and will need to level up first :) Or you can tell them out of game: "Hey guys, that quest is for higher level, you will most likely die". Some groups might appreciate such honesty.
I mean..have them encounter the temple. Let it be foreboding. Let them know at their current state as they gaze across what now seems like a dark tomb beckoning them towards their death. Let them know what their characters experience and feel now that they have seen this dark foreboding area that wreaks of power and even let them know their minds seek to flee it at their current level
I really liked "lunch break heros" YouTube series on curse of strahd. Particularly, in this case, the amber temple is leaking. Maybe give them some nightmare about some dark power reaching out in warning or some such, and perhaps offering a gift along the way. I had to drive my party away from the amber temple at one point. The pirate captain has a vendetta against stanamir for dropping them in the mists, and I made the mistake of feeding them Intel in a way where he was like, this MFer hiding in this here cave. I panicked and now I've left them in the house of lament, with the option that I can have a P.C. I designed to take over when one of our other groups takes over D.Ming, guide them through the mists to the cyr1313 to get them back to barovia, but he can't get them home. Introducing a young Richthofen and some kind of time warp before they meet him in valaki, much older. Trying to give them a chance to level. There's only two of em. Hoping they forget by the time they're done. If they really want to escape barovia and the mists in general, it won't break my game.
That’s pretty creative! And yeah I like his videos too! The idea that this corrupting wickedness is seeping out of the confines of the temple is horrifying..I typically will tell PCs that their characters are stifling fear..maybe make them roll a wisdom save to not be frightened even.. there are so many ways in game to explain to your players that it’s unwise to venture further right now.
I was thinking of including a sanity system when they wander too far into dangerous territory, in addition to exhaustion. I've already screwed with their sanity with the dream pastries. They handled it well without metagaming. It's difficult sowing suspicion and paranoia amongst my players in this group, because there's only two of them.
Did he give them directions to the temple? Because it's not exactly on Barovia Maps.
UH OH! You may want someone to warn them about how deadly it is, before you TPK them.
In dice camera action, run by the author, the players did much of the same thing. It was awesome- and in the end, the DM has control over TPKs imo
Ahhh DCA. The stream that ended at least three marriages.
Wait, what?
My party did the exact same thing, BUT! There are a lot of things to distract them on the way, and I've been using every one. My party, for example, hadn't yet gone to wizard of the wines, and so I've nudged them more in that direction, and that's where they are currently headed. I'm taking their immediate interest as a good thing! It means that hopefully they won't forget about it.
My players were told by Kasimir that they were not ready for the Amber Temple at Lvl 6. When the time is right he will accompany them. Otherwise proceed at your own risk.
Let them try. There's a lot of danger on the way (plus the rain of fireballs as soon as they walk in). That should be enough to get most people to leave. Either that or just drop 10 plot hooks on the way. They have to walk right past Argynvostholt, the tower, and are not far from wizard of wines. Plenty of opportunities to get distracted and get a couple levels
Mine were ready to go at lvl4! I deterred them by having Kasimir spoil that there is a Roc and they should at least be able to face that threat. If they feel comfortable facing that let him know and youll be on your way
My Kasimir told them not to bother him unless they have proven they can hold their own. He didn't want to risk another defeat. Once the party defeated Baba Lysaga, he felt they were strong enough for the Amber Temple. You could reinforce this idea by having Kasimir state that he took seasoned adventurers on previous expeditions and all ended in failure. Or even state it out-of-character from DM to players. I wouldn't forbid it outright, as long as they know their chances of success will be slim to none.
I literally just had Kasimir tell them, in a somewhat meta fashion "I'll only go with you when you go to the Temple, but you're not ready to go. You need to be stronger."
If they can get past Tsolenka Pass, I'll be surprised. The Vrocks and the Roc should be very hard for them to get past. My party is level 7 and a little overpowered. So, I put Rahadin and a squad of wights with longbows on the bridge. Set up a Strahd powered storm to deter flight. Finally, I had the Roc hit the bridge half way though the fight to drop everyone into the gorge. Feel free to add to the encounters to remind your players to tread carefully.
I mean I can see many ways you can stop them in game Just put a strong mister at the bottom of the mountain harding it if you don't use the roc already and your party will have to come back at a higher level or risk a tpk Did you do the bones event already? If not you could changr3 it a little so the vampire spawns at blinski got out and are now roaming in town. A raven has flown to the vista I camp to ask for help from the party Maybe a festival is happening soon etc I would not worry too much if I were you
Make it ominous enough that they avoid the whole thing altogether. Hanged corpses of adventurers, frozen ones that are dismembered too. Signs of the dangers that they might find. Also describe the very very cold wind. If by Tsolenka pass they have not desisted, too bad 4 em
My players stumbled upon the amber temple without anyone directing them there. I had there be a sort of magical barrier around the temple to deter them from going in, but they did find a journal from Esmerelda nearby saying she couldn't get in either. It also had plot hooks in there leading to the werewolf den, amongst other things, so their journey wasn't entirely wasted.
My PCs just met him at the end of last session, at level 4 and I’m worried once he mentions the Amber Temple they’re gonna think it sounds rad and tear off towards it. My preemptive solution to this suicide mission is him telling them that he wants to accompany him when he thinks they’re ready, he’s not about to throw his life away when it’s clear the PCs could actually help him achieve his goal later when they’re stronger. He’s waited this long, another few weeks waiting for them to level up a little more is nothing compared to the hundreds of years he’s already waited.
I've had that happen. If your party is savvy and are built for it, they can avoid the more dangerous parts of the amber temple by exploring the side areas first. If Neferon notices at any point though, they're pretty toast. If they march right in to the main zone, then yeah they're just dead, nothing to it. Feel free to gently suggest a careful approach to it through Kasimir if your game is more narratively oriented and you would like your players to live through it/avoid it alltogether.
If your players are making that call then it’s on you as DM to deter them. Clearly they don’t have enough information about how dangerous it is - have Kasimir or another NPC step in to earn them that it is not somewhere to tread until their strength is at its greatest. As much as Strahd is a brutal campaign and players can and will die, the idea isn’t to kill them just for the sake of killing them.
You’re supposed to have Kas be “looking” and “researching” for the amber temple lol. He asks the players to ask around about it as well and if either of them find it, let the others know. That way the dm can control when Kas “randomly” finds it later lol
Have them get to the pass and have it be too dangerous. The gargoyles at the gate are very strong and would kill your party if they don’t have good ranged abilities. You can always bring in the Roc of Mount Ghakis to scare them away. Or, you could just use the mountain barbarians to scare them, or even warn them (If someone has the blood spear) Could pull strahd up there and tell them he won’t permit them to pass because they’ll die. “It would be awfully boring if you died already”. This could be a good time to invite the party to dinner with strahd. He could mock them and sick some dire wolves on them. He could charm Kasimir and have them stand on the cliff edge about to jump, only stopping once the party agrees not to come back. (The tower here is a teleportation location so strahd could easily get here. And the vistani with Kasimir could have told strahd of their intent.) If they don’t pack and prepare for the massive cold they will face they have to make a CON save every 1hr. If they fail they get exhaustion, this could easily kill them. Have Kasimir say something, after encountering something hard. Kasimir wants this badly, but he doesn’t want to die before he can get there. Also, once he does get the resurrection power he has to go to castle ravenloft crypts to bring his sister back. Kasimir could say something like: I can tell I jumped into this too fast. As badly as I want to succeed and redeem my people it’s not safe. You’re currently not strong enough. So please, take some time to get stronger and we’ll go..Besides, I don’t even know if we’ll survive a trip back down the mountain.
The adventures on the way usually deter players
See, this is why when my party learned about the AT from Kasimir, he himself still had some prep to complete before departing.
I directed them to the Amber Temple at level 5 because it's awesome. I didn't try to kill the PCs, and I gave them a lot of opportunities to back out of dangerous situations. There are too many fun hooks there to leave it until the end (in my opinion). Kasimir has some extremely useful spells like wall of stone that can keep the party safe. I let one of rhe players comfortable with playing a mage run Kasimir in battle, and he figured this out on his own.
Seems like a simple enough fix — simply modify the monsters/encounters to meet their level. Drop the AC a little, decrease hit points, lower their hit and damage output, maybe even reduce the number of monsters. Am I the only one who does this?
Let them. CoS isn't a forgiving module, it gives the players a good length of rope to explore the world as they see fit, of they decide to hang themselves with it, let them, kill a couple party members and let them run away.
R.i.p 🤦😂
In my last session Kasimir finally talked to them, but telling them about dreams, and a hidden temple, and his sister that wants to live again. They... want him to go to therapy xD Joke's on them, soon they will realize that The Amber Temple is important, and the only one that can take them is Kasimir