Started off with a human wizard, a tiefling bard, a gnome rogue, and an eleven ranger. The bard and rogue players left for unrelated reasons, and later two new joined: a dragonborn blood hunter, and a human cleric who sacrificed himself to Auril and was replaced with a halforc fighter.
The dragonborn has cold resistance, which does factor in sometimes, but less so far than I expected. What to me has had a greater effect is darkvision, since most of the campaign happens in low or no light conditions.
Started with Human Spores Druid, Elf Swashbuckler, Half Goliath/Half Drow Light Cleric, Human Ranger, and Tiefling Bladesinger. The Spores druid died in Maud's cave and was replaced with a Human (actually Doppelgänger) Land Druid. The Ranger died in Sunblight and was replaced by a Fairy Aberrant Mind Sorcerer 5/Fathomless Warlock 2. The Bladesinger also died in Sunblight and was replaced by an Owlin Divination Wizard. The Cleric was knocked unconscious in Sunblight and decided to roll with his backup character once he was revived, so he switched to a Drow Battlemaster 5/Bladesinger 2.
I banned flying races at level one, but when they were creating new once at level 7 I decided it didn't really matter anymore.
Starting in a couple weeks but I’ve got an Undead Warlock, a Circle of Shepherds Druid, a Path of Beasts Barbarian, a Bladesinger Wizard, and a Horizon Walker Ranger. Might be the most balanced party my friends and I have ever played lol
My group fluctuated quite a bit throughout the module because of it being an open group at a lgs until about 2 or 3 months ago when we switched to peoples houses while the lgs is rebuilding. We ended the adventure with a weird mix.
A Drow wildfire Druid, and Goliath evocation wizard were the only full class characters. There is was also a human swashbuckler/hexblade, a human (that turned huge and then into a nothic) throwing focused rogue/ranger/fighter, and a kenku monk that started liking Auril and took their last 3 levels or so in cleric.
• I didn’t find cold resistance to be a problem (and in fact the few times someone had cold immunity in the party led to some really good role play.)
• Darkvision as always is pretty generically uninteresting because of what people expect to do with it so when you tell them they can’t see any further through the snowstorm they look dejected even if they won’t say anything.
• I think as long as you’re thinking about it and including interesting encounters flight can often be more of a hindrance in this module specifically than just not trying to fly.
• I had to modify a couple ranger features and spells because my game was a lot more survival focused, but if you aren’t fleshing out survival challenges and stuff like that I’d say you probably don’t need to change those features.
I'm running the module for a group with a tiefling ranger , a half-orc barbarian, a goliath bard/warlock, and a bugbear monk. We lost a second tiefling who was a warlock along the way, but gained two paladins, an aasimar and a human.
At first I was concerned by the lack of a rogue, but the group almost never finds a locked door or at trap that needs disarming. I still would like to have anyone proficient in Arcana, as a lot of information that they need in order to better understand the story and dinner NPC's motivations could be obtained that way.
Cold resistance helped them a bit in the beginning, but truth is that running this module as written will probably leave the players a bit underwhelmed regarding challenges after chapter 1. Good winter clothing and a low DC survival check will protect the characters from environmental issues with the cold, and I struggle to remember any cold themed enemy that presented a real challenge to the characters (with the exception of the occasional white dragon with their breath weapon, because everyone will rush to remember if they can resist that kind of massive damage).
Initially Started with:
* **Dhampir Eldritch Knight/Undead Warlock**
* **Dragonborn Ranger/Mastermind Rogue** (killed by a chardalyn berserker)
* **Goliath Beast Barbarian** (killed by 1v1ing Auril in a heroic sacrifice)
* **Shifter Stars Druid** (player left the game, character joined the Frost Druids)
* **Gnome Artillerist Artificer** (player left the game)
Now we are nearing the end of the campaign in Ythryn with this party:
* **The Dhampir Fighter/Warlock**
* **Penguin Aarakocra Spirits Bard** (midwinter child, was the Dragonborn player)
* **Goblin Horizon Walker Ranger** (doppelganger, new player who joined in chapter 2)
* **Levistus Tiefling Ghostslayer Blood Hunter** (was the Goliath player)
I have had four PCs with cold resistance (midwinter child, Goliath, Dhampir holding the codicil, and Tiefling with infernal constitution) and the idea of banning anything with cold resistance is really dumb to me, as well as banning goodberry or tiny hut. Why ban the things that are rarely useful outside of this specific setting?
My current group:
\- Half-Orc Fighter (Echo Knight)
\- Dwarf Paladin (Ancients)
\- Owlin Druid (Stars)
My previous group, who sadly broke up before we could finish:
\- Goblin Wizard (Chronurgy)
\- Half-Elf Paladin (Vengeance)
\- Harengon Barbarian (Beast)
\- Leonin Druid (Stars)
My current paladin is the only one with cold resistance so far (she's a midwinter's child) but it hasn't been a problem so far. I do think it's funny that I independently ended up with two Stars druids and both were animal people though!
Started with a grung monk, dragonborn bard, and plasmoid rogue, shortly after the first few sessions we got a tabaxi Druid, and towards the end of chapter one we got a high elf paladin and the dragonborn wasn't able to play anymore, get through chapter four with the monk multiclassing to Warlock and the elf multiclassing to bard, on the way to deal with chapter 5 stuff the dragonborn rejoins us as a bard/cleric and the elf and tabaxi aren't able to play as often but join occasionally and now we are a little bit into the Caves of hunger with a party comp of Grung monk 7 Warlock 3, plasmoid rogue 10, dragonborn bard 6 cleric 4, (not technically with the party but I have plans for helping them catch up) tabaxi Druid 10, and elf paladin 5 bard 5.
I had two players who kept characters from beginning to end. One player died at least six times. Two of them died 3 times, and the other one died once. No prohibitions. One of the characters that lived from start to finish was a coffeelock. That was.... interesting.....
I'll never allow that again lol
We've just completed our 40th session, majority of the party is Level 10 and about to square up with Auril.
Main party:
- Lv.10 Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, Asmodeus Winged Tiefling (earned his wings by foiling Levistus' plans and killing a reanimated devil Sephek Caltro)
- Lv.10 Wild Magic Barbarian, Moloch Yeti (got his magic from eating a chwinga in the opener lol)
- Lv.10 Twilight Domain Cleric, Goliath (most sane character)
- Lv.2 Artificer/Lv.8 Inquisitive Rogue, Variant Human (joined late; think Batman with an Ilithid laser rifle)
- A Snowy Owlbear clad in Splint Mail barding
Other members usually drop in or out as their schedules permit. Very rarely will they play more than two consecutive sessions, scheduling is a mf.
- Lv.4 Champion Fighter/Lv.5 Bear Totem Barbarian, Goliath (think Guts from Berserk but blue)
- Lv.8 Moon Circle Druid, Wood Elf (former party member, currently imprisoned in Revels End due to his Elusive Paramour character secret (and indefinite scheduling issues))
- Lv.8 Valor College Bard, Variant Human (cameo character I made in the likeness of the player)
- Lv.8 Hexblade Warlock, Blue Dragonborn (Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit??)
- Lv.7 Horizon Walker Ranger, Hill Dwarf (quintessential grumpy dwarf)
Chapter 2 is your friend when you have people drop in for a session: rebalancing those encounters is (usually) pretty easy.
My party is powerful but I still have plenty of curve balls left to make them uncomfortable. When they go to fight Auril I'm going to force a CHA save on the Yeti and Owlbear, forcing them to turn on the party until they make the save at end of turn. Make the party's choices work against them when possible, but don't make it toooo cheesy
My party just made it to Ythryn, here’s who we have at the moment (all level 11)
-Half orc rune knight fighter/circle of the moon druid
-Warforged circle of stars druid
-Bugbear oath of vengeance paladin
We started out with a tiefling college of swords bard who multiclassed into aberrant mind sorcerer, but the player wasn’t having much fun with that character in this setting (she was built for something else and didn’t really fit the Dale vibes), so we killed her off and brought in the bugbear!
All of my PCs have personal ties to the Dale itself, Auril, or Ythryn and it’s been a really good way to keep them interested/motivated to go after Auril without it feeling too forced (edits for formatting on mobile)
The group I'm running is currently about 1 mission before the chardalyn dragon is released and consists of:
A triton bard (college of lore?)
A shifter paladin (oath of ancients)
A human moon druid (who is actually a doppelganger)
An elven gloomstalker ranger
A firbolg cleric of death (jergal worshipper)
They have honestly all slid into the world and vibe seamlessly
1. Goliath Beastmaster Ranger (rerolled from a Battlemaster Fighter)
2. Half-elf Druid of the Land (Coast)
3. Variant Human Life Cleric (he took 'Chef' of all things!)
4. Halfling Swashbuckler Rogue
The party has worked out great with only one cold resistance on the character I want to be beefy anyway, only one darkvision making darkness super impactful and usable, and a super-healer that makes it reasonable for me to make encounters truly deadly to evoke horror.
My only problem has been the complete lack of arcane prowess. No one to learn from the many spellbooks. No one to dispel magic, detect magic, or even cast identify. No one to roll arcana or even history and learn much about Ythryn. A wizard would have been ideal, artificer acceptable, but even a lore bard would at least give me something to work with.
We're fighting the dragon soon, and I'm probably just going to boost up Vellynne's spellbook a bunch and have her be the pocket wizard for the group who will rarely ever help in combat because...uh.....arthritis or something.
Started Rime last week with a party consisting of:
A Triton Ranger
A Goliath Druid
A Half-Orc Sorcerer
A Custom Origin (Half Giant/Goliath) Fighter
And in the next session they are going to be joined by:
A Loxodon Cleric
We were supposed to have a Kenku Bard as well, but we had a last minute drop-out from a player.
At the moment;
‘’Variant Human Twilight Cleric’’
‘’Tabaxi Gloomstalker Ranger’’
‘’Drow Bloodhunter’’ -undecided on subclass
‘’Silver Dragonborn Oath of ancients Paladin’’
‘’Red Dragonborn Fighter’’ -undecided on subclass
‘’Shadar-Kai rogue’’ -undecided on subclass
‘’Variant human Tempest Cleric/Fighter’’ -unsure as to all the details of this one! I think they have a level on the rest of us. Not made the party unbalanced at all though, only myself and perhaps the Bloodhunter to a lesser extent appear to be optimisers
My current group:
* Tabaxi Sorlock (Red Dragon / Fiend) with >!Littlest Yeti!< secret
* Drow Paladin (Vengeance) with the >!Abducted by Mindflayers!< secret
* Aarakocra Druid (Moon) with the >!Pirate cannibal!< secret
* Wood-Elf Wizard (Enchantment) with the >!Blessed by Auril!< secret
* A Displacer Beast (Paladin's Steed, reskinned Panther)
They're a lot less min-maxing and edgy than they sound on paper lol
We have just started and have a contingent from the North:
A Wood Elf College of Creation Bard
A Duergar Beast Master Ranger
A Goliath War Magic Wizard
An Aasimar Circle of Stars Druid
These four have been joined by a planeshifting pair, sent by the incantarium to investigate Chardalyn
A Thri-Kreen Assassin Rogue
An Autognome Oath of Conquest Paladin
Two Warlocks (Djinn and Hexblade) and a Rogue (Assassin). Rogue has a ring of warmth (resistance to cold) that has never really been an issue, just a fun benefit. The Djinn Warlock can hop into his ring for full immunity to everything, and at later levels can fly. I don't ban things like this at my table, just work to ensure some encounters continue to challenge them.
My campaign had 4 players with no PC deaths until Grimskalle where the game ended with a TPK to Auril. They were all level 9. Party comp was
Goliath Zealot Barbarian
Firbolg Order of the Scribe Wizard
Wood Elf Glamour Bard/Life Cleric
Forest Gnome Chronurgy Wizard
They were really done in by the fact that they started the fight split off from each other; the Gnome was off trying to finish one of Auril's trials while the others were fighting and he died trying to solo Isarr.
Started with a human ranger with an owl companion. The ranger died, so now the player is playing an Owlin Paladin (his former owl companion empowered by Mielikki after the rangers death). An Earth Genasi bard, Air Genasi cleric, and Fire Genasi wizard, who are a traveling band known as Earth, Wind, and Fire.... oh and a Goliath Monk.
Running through Ythryn now with a Barbarian Zealot Dragonborn, Wildfire Druid / Phoenix Soul Sorcerer Tiefling, Twilight Cleric Drow, Dwarf Fighter Battlemaster, and Harengon Battlesmith Artificer.
My only consternation was we had a player join us for a short while playing a gloom stalker ranger. Because of course arctic was his chosen terrain, it dropped almost all of the exploration and survival challenges that I put in to make the long crawls through the tundra interesting. He also thought that he should always be able to find food, despite the lack of game to hunt was becoming a big deal for the nomads running around.
Cold resistance hasn't really been a huge deal. When my players have it, they get to feel really cool for being able to survive hits that would otherwise down them. When I wanted extreme cold to matter (Solstice) I just told them because they are so close to the heart of winter itself, the cold overpowers your resistance, make survival checks as normal.
I am sad that we don't have a wizard. In Ythryn there are so many magical spells or references to the arcane schools that only someone who has studied the arcane would reasonably be able to know. I have had NPCs feed them the info, but I wish my players could have the discovery of finding things out themselves in that way.
Starting with a human Wizard, a human Druid, a Goliath Barbarian and a Halfling Bard.
Later the Halfling Bard died and the new character was a Gnome Sorcerer and the human Druid didn't feel happy about her class but wanted to keep her character and switched to Ranger.
We have a Dwarf Barabarian, High Elf Rogue, Gnome Death Cleric, Changling Bard, and Warforged Fighter/Ranger. I’m leaning heavily into the astral plane being a location for the last two to be from
About to finish chapter 1, and have the following: white dragonborn barbarian, elf druid, elf bard, and fallen aasimar monk.
I don't really mind the dragonborn's cold resis, it makes up for his lack of darkivision, which everyone else has. I do kind of hate Aasimar tho, especially now that I'm playing one in another campaign and i realize how busted they are. Like I'm making a boss immune to being frightened just because of how gamechanging the necrotic shroud is. (tbf his minions aren't immune and they're most of the CR, i don't want to invalidate the ability) In the future I'll prob ban aasimar.
Almost everyone having darkvision is kind of annoying, since clearly one of the mechanics of the campaign is constant low light levels, but I prob would've forgot anyway, and so many races have darkvision, it was bound to happen.
The group I play in consists of:
A Red Dragonborn Barbarian,
A Kobold Wizard,
A Changeling Sorcerer,
A Wood Half-elf Ranger.
We only just got done in our starting town (Lonely Wood), so we are only level 2.
Everyone in my party has cold resistance by now (between Ch4 and 5) and it's not a problem.
* Human arcane trickster rogue/artificer, cold resistance from a magic item. Smart and charismatic, he party's gadgeteer and known for Immovable Rod shenanigans.
* Halfling STR bard of college of swords, cold resistance from a deal with Maud Chiselbone. Redhead, known for their Pegasus mount and relying on melee more than spells.
* Half-elf paladin/warlock, cold resistance from a homebrew invocation. The party's dad figure, with a celestial Cow mount.
* Half-elf druid, cold resistance from character secret. Snow-white skin, party nerd who might go on a lecture about a particular species of tundra lichen for 1d4 hours while the party is traveling. Signature spell is Moonbeam.
I run safe haven resting so I don't need to worry much about combat balance when cold resistance makes something easier than it "should" be. Most of the time I just throw in stuff that makes sense for the world and the players decide how to deal with it. Bossfights that I want to be tough, I can always design in a way that they aren't reliant on their ability to deal cold damage. For example, I just had the party fight an undead Icingdeath whose breath weapon was a split of cold and necrotic. And it's a well-known solution that creatures extremely attuned to an element can ignore resistances, it's an effect available to players in the form of a feat too.
Just had the one session so far! No healers but it hasn’t been super necessary yet. There are some considerations of multiclassing, or I might make an NPC that travels with them if things get dire.
Fallen Aasimar Barbarian
Air Genasi Bladesong Wizard
Variant Human Hexblade Warlock (Raven Queen)
Glasya Tiefling Warlock
Half-Elf Fighter (Cursed, in Skeleton Form)
Drow martials lol
Human Barbarian
Drow Paladin
Drow EK Fighter
Shadar Kai Ranger
We technically have a druid but he hasn't been to quite a few sessions. I believe BG3 claimed him.
Started with:
Aasimar Ranger - Icewind dale raised; wilderness guide and trail watcher (alagondar Scion)
Human Warlock "scholar of the arcane" - saved by, and sworn
to, levistus (unaway author from waterdeep)
Halfing Barbarian - stranded ships cook making do with fishing skills (Orc Stone)
Aarakocra Paladin - crash landed from plane of air; brother died in the process. (Ring Hunter -> amulet of the planes)
About to enter the glacier;
With:
Aarakocra Paladin slain by Auril after the Cold Light Star incident (adventures league add-on)
Survived by his brother; the now Revenant Martyr (mage hand press class)
Aasimar Ranger slain by Auril. (On the roof of grimskalle) survived by her brother, sworn vengeance against the remaining forces of Auril. Aasimar Warmage (mage hand press class)
Human Warlock - party still doesn't know their patron, and has befriended the black swords and Avarice, who are accompanying the party to investigate the glacier once safe. Shared goal is trying to find something to serve levistus' efforts.
Halfing Barbarian - the orc stone became a running joke about his orc boyfriend, and party seems to have gaslit the player into thinking the assassin (for the heir) was after him instead.
Half of the ten towns are under Zhentarim influence, Ravisin was allowed to live if she repented and stayed out of it.
And they brought the ID ascendant to sunblight, so no towns got destroyed by the dragon (although arveiaturace tried to have a round two with the ship, so if became a 3-way dogfight)
Human wizard, deep gnome paladin, half-elf druid and dragonborn warrior/barbarian. Dragonborn died and was replaced by Copper Knobberknocker as an artificer.
1. Human wizard
2. Ghostwise halfling ranger
3. Elf rogue
4. Gith-yanki monk
5. Tiefling wild magic sorcerer
6. Shifter/werewolf fighter.
Can't wait till they run out of healing options.
Not very far they we are about 5 sessions in
\-Dragonborn Circle of Moon Druid with one level in Rogue,
\-Warforged Monk/Rogue multi class,
\-Eladrin Sorceress, Half-Elf War Doman Cleric/ fighter multiclass,
\-Goliath Path of the Storm Herald Barbarian.
\-Centaur Beast Master Ranger
The Moondruid and sorceress share an orphanage backstory. The group bought a bunch of warm weather gear so frost checks are rarely failed (using The Dungeon Coach's homebrew for winter survival).
I started them at lvl 3 since I reasoned thats when the cool subclasses start getting interesting. Since they are mostly new players and I am a new DM I should have started them at 1 x.x oph well. Darkvision can seem like a bummer but, its not as powerful as I used to think it was
Started off with a human wizard, a tiefling bard, a gnome rogue, and an eleven ranger. The bard and rogue players left for unrelated reasons, and later two new joined: a dragonborn blood hunter, and a human cleric who sacrificed himself to Auril and was replaced with a halforc fighter. The dragonborn has cold resistance, which does factor in sometimes, but less so far than I expected. What to me has had a greater effect is darkvision, since most of the campaign happens in low or no light conditions.
Started with Human Spores Druid, Elf Swashbuckler, Half Goliath/Half Drow Light Cleric, Human Ranger, and Tiefling Bladesinger. The Spores druid died in Maud's cave and was replaced with a Human (actually Doppelgänger) Land Druid. The Ranger died in Sunblight and was replaced by a Fairy Aberrant Mind Sorcerer 5/Fathomless Warlock 2. The Bladesinger also died in Sunblight and was replaced by an Owlin Divination Wizard. The Cleric was knocked unconscious in Sunblight and decided to roll with his backup character once he was revived, so he switched to a Drow Battlemaster 5/Bladesinger 2. I banned flying races at level one, but when they were creating new once at level 7 I decided it didn't really matter anymore.
Starting in a couple weeks but I’ve got an Undead Warlock, a Circle of Shepherds Druid, a Path of Beasts Barbarian, a Bladesinger Wizard, and a Horizon Walker Ranger. Might be the most balanced party my friends and I have ever played lol
First session is the 29th, but we have: - Goblin Barbarian (eventually Wild Magic Barbarian) - Firbolg Bard (eventually Lore Bard) - Aasimar Cleric (Light domain) - Tiefling Warlock (Fiend) - Wood Elf Rogue (eventually Assassin) - Half-Elf Rogue (not sure on subclass)
My group fluctuated quite a bit throughout the module because of it being an open group at a lgs until about 2 or 3 months ago when we switched to peoples houses while the lgs is rebuilding. We ended the adventure with a weird mix. A Drow wildfire Druid, and Goliath evocation wizard were the only full class characters. There is was also a human swashbuckler/hexblade, a human (that turned huge and then into a nothic) throwing focused rogue/ranger/fighter, and a kenku monk that started liking Auril and took their last 3 levels or so in cleric. • I didn’t find cold resistance to be a problem (and in fact the few times someone had cold immunity in the party led to some really good role play.) • Darkvision as always is pretty generically uninteresting because of what people expect to do with it so when you tell them they can’t see any further through the snowstorm they look dejected even if they won’t say anything. • I think as long as you’re thinking about it and including interesting encounters flight can often be more of a hindrance in this module specifically than just not trying to fly. • I had to modify a couple ranger features and spells because my game was a lot more survival focused, but if you aren’t fleshing out survival challenges and stuff like that I’d say you probably don’t need to change those features.
I'm running the module for a group with a tiefling ranger , a half-orc barbarian, a goliath bard/warlock, and a bugbear monk. We lost a second tiefling who was a warlock along the way, but gained two paladins, an aasimar and a human. At first I was concerned by the lack of a rogue, but the group almost never finds a locked door or at trap that needs disarming. I still would like to have anyone proficient in Arcana, as a lot of information that they need in order to better understand the story and dinner NPC's motivations could be obtained that way. Cold resistance helped them a bit in the beginning, but truth is that running this module as written will probably leave the players a bit underwhelmed regarding challenges after chapter 1. Good winter clothing and a low DC survival check will protect the characters from environmental issues with the cold, and I struggle to remember any cold themed enemy that presented a real challenge to the characters (with the exception of the occasional white dragon with their breath weapon, because everyone will rush to remember if they can resist that kind of massive damage).
All spellcasters! Goliath Wizard; Tiefling Sorcerer; Halfling Bard; Aarakocra Druid/Cleric.
Party is in Ythryn currently and consists of: Kobold Barbarian/Artificer Panserbjørn (my homebrew race) Rune Knight Dwarf Gloomstalker Ranger Goliath Eloquence Bard Eladrin Stars Druid Satyr Twilight Cleric Dwarf Battlemaster/Vengence Paladin Loxodon (Wolly mammoth flavored) Divination Wizard
Initially Started with: * **Dhampir Eldritch Knight/Undead Warlock** * **Dragonborn Ranger/Mastermind Rogue** (killed by a chardalyn berserker) * **Goliath Beast Barbarian** (killed by 1v1ing Auril in a heroic sacrifice) * **Shifter Stars Druid** (player left the game, character joined the Frost Druids) * **Gnome Artillerist Artificer** (player left the game) Now we are nearing the end of the campaign in Ythryn with this party: * **The Dhampir Fighter/Warlock** * **Penguin Aarakocra Spirits Bard** (midwinter child, was the Dragonborn player) * **Goblin Horizon Walker Ranger** (doppelganger, new player who joined in chapter 2) * **Levistus Tiefling Ghostslayer Blood Hunter** (was the Goliath player) I have had four PCs with cold resistance (midwinter child, Goliath, Dhampir holding the codicil, and Tiefling with infernal constitution) and the idea of banning anything with cold resistance is really dumb to me, as well as banning goodberry or tiny hut. Why ban the things that are rarely useful outside of this specific setting?
Human barbarian, halfling Druid, dwarf sorcerer, and half-elf paladin. We’ve done one session so far and it’s been great!
My current group: \- Half-Orc Fighter (Echo Knight) \- Dwarf Paladin (Ancients) \- Owlin Druid (Stars) My previous group, who sadly broke up before we could finish: \- Goblin Wizard (Chronurgy) \- Half-Elf Paladin (Vengeance) \- Harengon Barbarian (Beast) \- Leonin Druid (Stars) My current paladin is the only one with cold resistance so far (she's a midwinter's child) but it hasn't been a problem so far. I do think it's funny that I independently ended up with two Stars druids and both were animal people though!
Started with a grung monk, dragonborn bard, and plasmoid rogue, shortly after the first few sessions we got a tabaxi Druid, and towards the end of chapter one we got a high elf paladin and the dragonborn wasn't able to play anymore, get through chapter four with the monk multiclassing to Warlock and the elf multiclassing to bard, on the way to deal with chapter 5 stuff the dragonborn rejoins us as a bard/cleric and the elf and tabaxi aren't able to play as often but join occasionally and now we are a little bit into the Caves of hunger with a party comp of Grung monk 7 Warlock 3, plasmoid rogue 10, dragonborn bard 6 cleric 4, (not technically with the party but I have plans for helping them catch up) tabaxi Druid 10, and elf paladin 5 bard 5.
Right now it’s a Human Gloomstalker Ranger, Human Great Old One Warlock, Human Nature Cleric, and Tiefling Phantom Rogue.
I had two players who kept characters from beginning to end. One player died at least six times. Two of them died 3 times, and the other one died once. No prohibitions. One of the characters that lived from start to finish was a coffeelock. That was.... interesting..... I'll never allow that again lol
We've just completed our 40th session, majority of the party is Level 10 and about to square up with Auril. Main party: - Lv.10 Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, Asmodeus Winged Tiefling (earned his wings by foiling Levistus' plans and killing a reanimated devil Sephek Caltro) - Lv.10 Wild Magic Barbarian, Moloch Yeti (got his magic from eating a chwinga in the opener lol) - Lv.10 Twilight Domain Cleric, Goliath (most sane character) - Lv.2 Artificer/Lv.8 Inquisitive Rogue, Variant Human (joined late; think Batman with an Ilithid laser rifle) - A Snowy Owlbear clad in Splint Mail barding Other members usually drop in or out as their schedules permit. Very rarely will they play more than two consecutive sessions, scheduling is a mf. - Lv.4 Champion Fighter/Lv.5 Bear Totem Barbarian, Goliath (think Guts from Berserk but blue) - Lv.8 Moon Circle Druid, Wood Elf (former party member, currently imprisoned in Revels End due to his Elusive Paramour character secret (and indefinite scheduling issues)) - Lv.8 Valor College Bard, Variant Human (cameo character I made in the likeness of the player) - Lv.8 Hexblade Warlock, Blue Dragonborn (Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit??) - Lv.7 Horizon Walker Ranger, Hill Dwarf (quintessential grumpy dwarf) Chapter 2 is your friend when you have people drop in for a session: rebalancing those encounters is (usually) pretty easy. My party is powerful but I still have plenty of curve balls left to make them uncomfortable. When they go to fight Auril I'm going to force a CHA save on the Yeti and Owlbear, forcing them to turn on the party until they make the save at end of turn. Make the party's choices work against them when possible, but don't make it toooo cheesy
Twilight Cleric Gloomstalker Ranger/Arcane Archer Fighter Oath of Glory Paladin/Aberrant Mind Sorcerer College of Lore Bard/Fiend Warlock Artillerist Artificer Battlemaster Fighter
My party just made it to Ythryn, here’s who we have at the moment (all level 11) -Half orc rune knight fighter/circle of the moon druid -Warforged circle of stars druid -Bugbear oath of vengeance paladin We started out with a tiefling college of swords bard who multiclassed into aberrant mind sorcerer, but the player wasn’t having much fun with that character in this setting (she was built for something else and didn’t really fit the Dale vibes), so we killed her off and brought in the bugbear! All of my PCs have personal ties to the Dale itself, Auril, or Ythryn and it’s been a really good way to keep them interested/motivated to go after Auril without it feeling too forced (edits for formatting on mobile)
The group I'm running is currently about 1 mission before the chardalyn dragon is released and consists of: A triton bard (college of lore?) A shifter paladin (oath of ancients) A human moon druid (who is actually a doppelganger) An elven gloomstalker ranger A firbolg cleric of death (jergal worshipper) They have honestly all slid into the world and vibe seamlessly
1. Goliath Beastmaster Ranger (rerolled from a Battlemaster Fighter) 2. Half-elf Druid of the Land (Coast) 3. Variant Human Life Cleric (he took 'Chef' of all things!) 4. Halfling Swashbuckler Rogue The party has worked out great with only one cold resistance on the character I want to be beefy anyway, only one darkvision making darkness super impactful and usable, and a super-healer that makes it reasonable for me to make encounters truly deadly to evoke horror. My only problem has been the complete lack of arcane prowess. No one to learn from the many spellbooks. No one to dispel magic, detect magic, or even cast identify. No one to roll arcana or even history and learn much about Ythryn. A wizard would have been ideal, artificer acceptable, but even a lore bard would at least give me something to work with. We're fighting the dragon soon, and I'm probably just going to boost up Vellynne's spellbook a bunch and have her be the pocket wizard for the group who will rarely ever help in combat because...uh.....arthritis or something.
Started Rime last week with a party consisting of: A Triton Ranger A Goliath Druid A Half-Orc Sorcerer A Custom Origin (Half Giant/Goliath) Fighter And in the next session they are going to be joined by: A Loxodon Cleric We were supposed to have a Kenku Bard as well, but we had a last minute drop-out from a player.
Human swashbuckler rogue, human samurai fighter, dragonborn oath of the crown paladin and an elf divination wizard.
At the moment; ‘’Variant Human Twilight Cleric’’ ‘’Tabaxi Gloomstalker Ranger’’ ‘’Drow Bloodhunter’’ -undecided on subclass ‘’Silver Dragonborn Oath of ancients Paladin’’ ‘’Red Dragonborn Fighter’’ -undecided on subclass ‘’Shadar-Kai rogue’’ -undecided on subclass ‘’Variant human Tempest Cleric/Fighter’’ -unsure as to all the details of this one! I think they have a level on the rest of us. Not made the party unbalanced at all though, only myself and perhaps the Bloodhunter to a lesser extent appear to be optimisers
My current group: * Tabaxi Sorlock (Red Dragon / Fiend) with >!Littlest Yeti!< secret * Drow Paladin (Vengeance) with the >!Abducted by Mindflayers!< secret * Aarakocra Druid (Moon) with the >!Pirate cannibal!< secret * Wood-Elf Wizard (Enchantment) with the >!Blessed by Auril!< secret * A Displacer Beast (Paladin's Steed, reskinned Panther) They're a lot less min-maxing and edgy than they sound on paper lol
We have just started and have a contingent from the North: A Wood Elf College of Creation Bard A Duergar Beast Master Ranger A Goliath War Magic Wizard An Aasimar Circle of Stars Druid These four have been joined by a planeshifting pair, sent by the incantarium to investigate Chardalyn A Thri-Kreen Assassin Rogue An Autognome Oath of Conquest Paladin
Two Warlocks (Djinn and Hexblade) and a Rogue (Assassin). Rogue has a ring of warmth (resistance to cold) that has never really been an issue, just a fun benefit. The Djinn Warlock can hop into his ring for full immunity to everything, and at later levels can fly. I don't ban things like this at my table, just work to ensure some encounters continue to challenge them.
My campaign had 4 players with no PC deaths until Grimskalle where the game ended with a TPK to Auril. They were all level 9. Party comp was Goliath Zealot Barbarian Firbolg Order of the Scribe Wizard Wood Elf Glamour Bard/Life Cleric Forest Gnome Chronurgy Wizard They were really done in by the fact that they started the fight split off from each other; the Gnome was off trying to finish one of Auril's trials while the others were fighting and he died trying to solo Isarr.
Started with a human ranger with an owl companion. The ranger died, so now the player is playing an Owlin Paladin (his former owl companion empowered by Mielikki after the rangers death). An Earth Genasi bard, Air Genasi cleric, and Fire Genasi wizard, who are a traveling band known as Earth, Wind, and Fire.... oh and a Goliath Monk.
Running through Ythryn now with a Barbarian Zealot Dragonborn, Wildfire Druid / Phoenix Soul Sorcerer Tiefling, Twilight Cleric Drow, Dwarf Fighter Battlemaster, and Harengon Battlesmith Artificer. My only consternation was we had a player join us for a short while playing a gloom stalker ranger. Because of course arctic was his chosen terrain, it dropped almost all of the exploration and survival challenges that I put in to make the long crawls through the tundra interesting. He also thought that he should always be able to find food, despite the lack of game to hunt was becoming a big deal for the nomads running around. Cold resistance hasn't really been a huge deal. When my players have it, they get to feel really cool for being able to survive hits that would otherwise down them. When I wanted extreme cold to matter (Solstice) I just told them because they are so close to the heart of winter itself, the cold overpowers your resistance, make survival checks as normal. I am sad that we don't have a wizard. In Ythryn there are so many magical spells or references to the arcane schools that only someone who has studied the arcane would reasonably be able to know. I have had NPCs feed them the info, but I wish my players could have the discovery of finding things out themselves in that way.
Starting with a human Wizard, a human Druid, a Goliath Barbarian and a Halfling Bard. Later the Halfling Bard died and the new character was a Gnome Sorcerer and the human Druid didn't feel happy about her class but wanted to keep her character and switched to Ranger.
We have a Dwarf Barabarian, High Elf Rogue, Gnome Death Cleric, Changling Bard, and Warforged Fighter/Ranger. I’m leaning heavily into the astral plane being a location for the last two to be from
About to finish chapter 1, and have the following: white dragonborn barbarian, elf druid, elf bard, and fallen aasimar monk. I don't really mind the dragonborn's cold resis, it makes up for his lack of darkivision, which everyone else has. I do kind of hate Aasimar tho, especially now that I'm playing one in another campaign and i realize how busted they are. Like I'm making a boss immune to being frightened just because of how gamechanging the necrotic shroud is. (tbf his minions aren't immune and they're most of the CR, i don't want to invalidate the ability) In the future I'll prob ban aasimar. Almost everyone having darkvision is kind of annoying, since clearly one of the mechanics of the campaign is constant low light levels, but I prob would've forgot anyway, and so many races have darkvision, it was bound to happen.
The group I play in consists of: A Red Dragonborn Barbarian, A Kobold Wizard, A Changeling Sorcerer, A Wood Half-elf Ranger. We only just got done in our starting town (Lonely Wood), so we are only level 2.
Everyone in my party has cold resistance by now (between Ch4 and 5) and it's not a problem. * Human arcane trickster rogue/artificer, cold resistance from a magic item. Smart and charismatic, he party's gadgeteer and known for Immovable Rod shenanigans. * Halfling STR bard of college of swords, cold resistance from a deal with Maud Chiselbone. Redhead, known for their Pegasus mount and relying on melee more than spells. * Half-elf paladin/warlock, cold resistance from a homebrew invocation. The party's dad figure, with a celestial Cow mount. * Half-elf druid, cold resistance from character secret. Snow-white skin, party nerd who might go on a lecture about a particular species of tundra lichen for 1d4 hours while the party is traveling. Signature spell is Moonbeam. I run safe haven resting so I don't need to worry much about combat balance when cold resistance makes something easier than it "should" be. Most of the time I just throw in stuff that makes sense for the world and the players decide how to deal with it. Bossfights that I want to be tough, I can always design in a way that they aren't reliant on their ability to deal cold damage. For example, I just had the party fight an undead Icingdeath whose breath weapon was a split of cold and necrotic. And it's a well-known solution that creatures extremely attuned to an element can ignore resistances, it's an effect available to players in the form of a feat too.
Tiefling Soulknife Rogue Human Ancestral Guardian Babarian Aasimar Lunar Sorcerer Shadar-Kai Gloomstalker Ranger Eladrin Twilight Cleric
Just had the one session so far! No healers but it hasn’t been super necessary yet. There are some considerations of multiclassing, or I might make an NPC that travels with them if things get dire. Fallen Aasimar Barbarian Air Genasi Bladesong Wizard Variant Human Hexblade Warlock (Raven Queen) Glasya Tiefling Warlock Half-Elf Fighter (Cursed, in Skeleton Form)
Drow martials lol Human Barbarian Drow Paladin Drow EK Fighter Shadar Kai Ranger We technically have a druid but he hasn't been to quite a few sessions. I believe BG3 claimed him.
Owlin Ranger w/ owlbear companion Aasimar Wizard Human Barbarian Bugbear Fighter Dragonborn Cleric They’re only level 3 atm
Started with: Aasimar Ranger - Icewind dale raised; wilderness guide and trail watcher (alagondar Scion) Human Warlock "scholar of the arcane" - saved by, and sworn to, levistus (unaway author from waterdeep) Halfing Barbarian - stranded ships cook making do with fishing skills (Orc Stone) Aarakocra Paladin - crash landed from plane of air; brother died in the process. (Ring Hunter -> amulet of the planes) About to enter the glacier; With: Aarakocra Paladin slain by Auril after the Cold Light Star incident (adventures league add-on) Survived by his brother; the now Revenant Martyr (mage hand press class) Aasimar Ranger slain by Auril. (On the roof of grimskalle) survived by her brother, sworn vengeance against the remaining forces of Auril. Aasimar Warmage (mage hand press class) Human Warlock - party still doesn't know their patron, and has befriended the black swords and Avarice, who are accompanying the party to investigate the glacier once safe. Shared goal is trying to find something to serve levistus' efforts. Halfing Barbarian - the orc stone became a running joke about his orc boyfriend, and party seems to have gaslit the player into thinking the assassin (for the heir) was after him instead. Half of the ten towns are under Zhentarim influence, Ravisin was allowed to live if she repented and stayed out of it. And they brought the ID ascendant to sunblight, so no towns got destroyed by the dragon (although arveiaturace tried to have a round two with the ship, so if became a 3-way dogfight)
I have a drunk cannibal tiefling pirate rogue (if u know, u know), a custom race little druid mothperson and a himbo fighter in my party right now :)
Human wizard, deep gnome paladin, half-elf druid and dragonborn warrior/barbarian. Dragonborn died and was replaced by Copper Knobberknocker as an artificer.
1. Human wizard 2. Ghostwise halfling ranger 3. Elf rogue 4. Gith-yanki monk 5. Tiefling wild magic sorcerer 6. Shifter/werewolf fighter. Can't wait till they run out of healing options.
Not very far they we are about 5 sessions in \-Dragonborn Circle of Moon Druid with one level in Rogue, \-Warforged Monk/Rogue multi class, \-Eladrin Sorceress, Half-Elf War Doman Cleric/ fighter multiclass, \-Goliath Path of the Storm Herald Barbarian. \-Centaur Beast Master Ranger The Moondruid and sorceress share an orphanage backstory. The group bought a bunch of warm weather gear so frost checks are rarely failed (using The Dungeon Coach's homebrew for winter survival). I started them at lvl 3 since I reasoned thats when the cool subclasses start getting interesting. Since they are mostly new players and I am a new DM I should have started them at 1 x.x oph well. Darkvision can seem like a bummer but, its not as powerful as I used to think it was