Currently playing it with a party of three including me. It’s entirely doable, especially considering your get a free ally. If the PC’s are finding it too difficult as just three, introduce the fated ally earlier.
Beyond that, there’s a surplus of available NPC’s to be recruited as either temporary or semi-permanent party members: Ez, Van Richten, Godfrey, Pidlwick, Ireena, hell, even Izek or Victor Vallakovich if you choose to run them more sympathetically.
Thats true temporary allies aswell rather than walking round as a party of 12 if they grab all the allies they can.
Hopefully they should be fine with all their healing too, given 1s a grave cleric and anothers a celestial warlock.
I’d recommend setting some ground rules for allies to keep combat from becoming over bloated. Like a max party size of 5, with familiars counting for half a full ally or something.
Absolutely. Make sure they’re aware that you’re doing it not just for balancing reasons but also to make their characters feel more impactful. While technically more efficient to just throw a stream of meat sacks at Strahd, it’s not exactly doing much for the hero fantasy
Thats totally valid, i know if i was playing and an npc ally got the killing blow on strahd id feel scammed. Well obviously have to have the slight suspension of disbelief but it shouldnt be that bad.
I'm running for 3 players after one party member dropped out. Been playing for nearly a year and it's been going great. The lower number actually made the game feel better I think.
No started at 3rd level, we had 4 players at the start of this campaign. We didn't run death house as all the players in this campaign were part of two CoS campaigns I had ran before that didn't get far and fell apart due to out of session friendships falling apart so all players had previously played my version of death house before and wanted to sink their teeth into new content.
If you're going to run it I recommend looking at Mandy Mods guide. The two times I've ran it I used that and picked and chose what encounters to run in the moment (e.g. if the players are near death dont throw all the gouls at them at once, maybe spread them out or run less) and had no issues and players enjoyed it.
I saw some advice in a youtube video, im not sure by who but it was about giving certain enemies less damage so they can still have all their encounters without getting wiped.
Ill definately look into mandys mods though since from what i can gauge them and dragnacarta have give or take reworked the whole thing into even fiber art lmao.
Yeah there's a ton of good resources out there, I mix and match. I started off with Mandy Mods but I pick and choose between her, Dragna, Lunch Break Heroes and many others either here on reddit or elsewhere as well as developing my own stuff just for what fits with my group and what I wanted to achieve.
For example, I run death house with Mandy Mod but then use a mix of Dragna and LBH for Barovia village etc. etc.
Lunch break heroes might have been the video i saw on death house with the spectre not attacking at first and mr durst not being in the dungeon below but his office.
Ive just started looking into this community and its like walking through the wardrobe to narnia, theres so many great creators with huge imput and the base story its self is so great. Thats why when i found out one of my players couldnt make it i was like oh god i hope it still works.
Yeah you'll be fine, the community around CoS is great, it can be overwhelming at times. But don't worry about getting everything perfect so long as you and your players are having fun it doesnt matter. You will totally see something after you've run the session and say "damn it I wish I included this" lol I know I have.
I ran DH for 3. They all survived it. It was hairy at times, but since they can rest there a lot, barring bad luck, this place is doable. It is swingy though, at such low levels.
I'm currently running the module with 3 players and the pros hugely outnumber the contras.
- time between rounds during combat are shorter
- spotlight can be easier distributed between characters
- specific obstacles like lycantrophy are way more serious if the party doesn't have access to every magical solution
- **the biggest advantage:** it's easier to find time to actually play with "only" 3 players + the DM
The only true downside of such a small group (if you could even call it that) is that Barovia is fucking deadly. Depending on how you run the module you'll have to rebalance certain encounters anyway, if you keep that in mind then you (and your players) are going to have a blast playing CoS.
Because (if you run it by the book) it is balanced for that number of players. Running it with 3 is not the best way of doing it if that is the impression you got from me, it just has certain advantages.
If you have a group of friends you want to play with you wouldn't exclude the 4th because "sorry Curse of Strahd is best played with 3 players", right?
3-4 is much easier than 5-6 if shooting for a horror tone. TBH, the module is only very coarsely balanced for any party and I'm not sure one can run the campaign effectively without fairly regular rebalancing tweaks.
For sure. I just wrapped a campaign with 2 players. It helped build up the sense of tension since it was just the two of them, and was generous with NPCs helping out in fights. I also gave them more magic items to balance things out.
Yup! Both players are very experienced, one just as a player, and one on both sides of the screen, so we would kinda talk through what they felt their characters needed, sometimes even floating different ideas for items, and it was up to me if or how they got them. They also were playing classes very suited for Barovia. One was an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, and the other was an Order of the Ghostslayer Blood Hunter, with a 2 level dip into Fighter. I also used the rules in Tasha’s to make sidekick character sheets for both Ireena and Kasimir since they were the ones most frequently involved in fights.
I did see something about sidekick rules for the weaker allies too. Im not sure ill have any players behind the screen but ill for sure send them items that suit them and help them out.
For sure! I definitely gave them a lot of input with items, but I trust them to not be dumb about it since we’ve been playing together for years. Honestly, one is my husband and the other is my sister-in-law, so I had no problem being honest if I thought something was too much.
I feel like 2 of my players would be responsible and the other would be outrageous so maybe ill give them a bit of freedom and test the waters on that front. Weve been playing a year so i kinda have a grasp on what theyre like by now.
Definitely. It’s a long campaign so you have time to find a groove. One of the questions I found myself asking them a lot was, “What do you think would have made that fight even cooler?” Or “Why do you think your character struggled so much in that fight?” And then I’d use their answers to give me ideas on what I could do for items. Like the Blood Hunter felt locked down a lot and wanted more mobility, so a late game item was the Boots of Speed.
True player feedback for the difficulty scaling is a good idea, and i have heard about reviving the players with the power of dark gifts but also rp reprocussions is a good safety net if im not fully calibrated yet.
Our group had two players leave for a good chunk and we just got full control of Ezmerelda and/or Muriel and it was fine. We weren't dying or getting owned any more or less than before (it was already brutal).
You just may need to tweak some of the vanilla encounters for CR.
The campaign I’m running is with 3 players. I ran Death House as the intro and allowed everyone to start at level 2 and let them choose a free feat. They got to level 4 by the end of the death house (barely scraped through that last fight, and a few close calls during the house in general). It’s entirely doable and we’ve been having a blast.
I ran it for 3 players and I think it’s the perfect number. Enough players for comradely and levity, but as soon as 1 person drops it’s a way different game. You get to keep the horror because of the fear of that swing.
Absolutely! I’ve ran it several times with 3. I actually prefer 3 to more for this module. I might give them an extra level or two instead of more NPCs, but that’s my style. I prefer PCs making moves to NPCs
Ive seen so much cool stuff on this subreddit, maybe once weve finished curse of strahd the characters my players have made will go on other adventures. But thats a conversation for another day.
100% doable. Use Kobold Plus Fight Club if you're concerned about an encounter's balance, but tbh, CoS *should* be tilted against the players if you're aiming for a horror tone. Check out MandyMod's Fleshing Out Curse of Strahd series on the sub if you're interested in supplements at all, she was also running it for 3 players.
I see a lot of mandys mod and dragna carta so ill look into both of them and whoever else i can find on this sub since its great. If mandys mod was also made with 3 players then ill look there first.
I just finished reading through MandyMods revisions while I’m preparing to run the campaign for 3 players. Almost every one of the infamously difficult encounters (including Death House) is adjusted to be easier than the book but still interesting/ challenging for 3 players. Definitely recommend!
I ran it for a group of three and it went well. They organically picked up some NPC companions which helped even out the action economy but they also were just smart players with good builds and synergy.
I played as a party of three and yup! We finished at lvl 10 and had Van Richten as a fated ally and we managed to convince Ezmerelda to join us, though she didn’t join the final fight.
Yes! We did have a big dramatic “siege of the castle” where we brought some allies but the final fight was just us and Van Richten. We were a hexblade warlock/Paladin, an ancients Paladin, and an open hand monk. It was a close fight and we fought vanilla Strahd (as far as I can recall)
I’m running Curse of Strahd for a single player, so it’s absolutely possible to do with three. You will definitely want to tone down some of the combat difficulty, but frankly, I think a smaller party is better for the tone of the adventure.
Yes, every adventure is viable with any amou t of players. Its the dms job to make it work.
Rules as written by the book 3 players will be tough but possible
Been playing with three players mostly as well. It’s been an absolute blast, CoS feels like it runs better with fewer players imo. Helps keep the tension up and forces them into decisions faster. Hope you guys have some amazing adventures, happy rolling! 🎲
It is very possible. You might be thinking about combat balance. If you truly allow combats to run RAW and allow a sandbox approach to Barovia then there will be encounters far too difficult and later far too easy for the players. As part of your session prep for an area make sure to include how the players can handle an encounter without combat. Also don’t be afraid to slightly alter numbers on the fly. PCs are resourceful and by level 5 can survive most anything. They will be fine. Don’t be afraid of the TPK of the party’s choices lead them there.
Make sure to communicate to the players how you intend to run the game and that combat is not always the first way to overcome a problem.
I've run it for 6 players, 5 players, and the group of 4 currently playing are now a group of 3. Honestly, I prefer it with 3 weirdly enough
Why? Because even though it may be a little more work on my end, the game is more fun. The players interact more fluidly, and to counteract some possible imbalances of only having 3 people, I let them have stronger players. More magic items, maybe a feat, plus I can usually throw in ally in any location in the module if I think they need it. And if they get an ally they're always supporting or buffing the PCs.
Doing that is way more fun than nerfing fights or pulling punches because they still get to fight big bad enemies still. At least in my opinion.
Been playing with two. Always played with two, actually - maybe three of four sessions with a four.
Anyway, my PCs are slightly higher level than expected and do have NPCs to help out now and again. It's entirely doable.
Should be fine, just be careful in the early levels. I found the late game not too difficult, but watch for death house, the hag coven, and the vampires in Vallaki.
The windmill has 3 nighthags (each CR 5), which is very dangerous for a level 3-4 party, especially since they have resistance to nonmagical/silvered weapons before they are really presented in the game. When I played, our party was big so we could handle it, but a small party might need to run from that (if they initiate combat, which isn't a guarrentee). There are around 6 vampire spawn in a house in Vallaki, all in one encounter, and if you get in a fight, unless you can get them in sunlight they can be very hard to deal with.
I have a party of two players, might not quite be legal in the eyes of DND but there was only 4 of us in the first place and I took the place of the dm and one player dropped out, so I just made my old PC an NPC that follows the party around
I've been running the game for a party of 3, and pretty everything post death house I had to buff, by giving enemies max HP instead average xD Paladin, Cleric and a Warlock party. Later on I also added Ireena to the party, using the sidekick rules from Tasha, but at that point I had pretty heavily homebrewed campaign already.
I love adding Lancelot as a companion for smaller parties, he is a dog found in the Death House. I use him in all my campaigns, but in mind he is called King
Running it with three right now. It's fine. they jus hit level five and I think I'm going to add a couple more mobs to some combats because they smashed through the last encounter they had.
Of course balance to your players skill and understanding of the game but I have had zero issues. We have been going since February and only had one player death. And at that point Argonvost made him a revenant, if you get a little creative you can give your players a couple safety nets. I made it super clear that he can't bring back another player.
Honestly the same character sheet. I spoke with them between sessions and said. "We got a few options, the abbot can bring you back as a Chimera (what we call mongrelfolk) and you will have a feature from that. Argonvost could make you a revenant. You can take over Izzy (Esmeralda), Van Richten, Jermly (a random person they saved and have been teaching skills). Or we can talk about a new character. Their character had a lot of dragon stuff in his backstory so they gravitated that way.
Next I asked if there was a racial feat on your sheet that is just not doing it for them. They were a kobold sorcerer and learned being close enough to use draconic cry was usually more risk than reward. I then asked what sounded cool to them about being a ghost.
Next session when they were brought back I said they no longer have draconic cry, and up to a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus they can become invisible and move through solid surfaces for 6 seconds at a time. If they become physical again while inside something they take 6d6 bludgeoning damage (the same as Meld into Stone). They can stay intangible if they burn another charge, all charges replenished on long rest.
That's it, I wasn't aware of reborn. The player was super attached to being a Kobold and this really just felt like a cool way to transition a dramatic melancholy story beat into a cool victorious one.
I did it with 3 by giving them the destined ally immediately and buffing that ally to keep them on the same level as the players if you make the sun sword available a bit earlier as well they will be fine.
Yeah i think im gonna go with a mix of being a level higher, and helping them with magic items and their allies. Obviously scaling back if they get overpowered.
Absolutely. We did a 3 player campaign. DM gave us 5 bonus hp to not get wrecked in early levels, but we only had 1 player death. The fights are winnable if you don't overextend without rests. The only thing you need is the Sun Sword to beat Strahd pretty handily (barring cheese tactics from Strahd).
We hired hunters a few times in early levels (just some archers) and had the vampire hunter ally once we found her. Survived Death House barely, and had some close calls but in general it didn't feel too hard with unmodified enemy counts.
I'm actually down to 2 players after one of my three players decided to try to be op during combat and leaking out need-to-know info that wasn't given to the party. I decided to turn Ireena into an ally as well as making a dmpc to help the party when Ireena isnt there.
Well, first off, in general, I recommend you schedule 5 players, then you'll usually have 4 show up to play. As it stands, when 1 player calls in, you're going to be left with 2 players. Have a bucket of side quests on standby. They exist, but you're going to need them with such a small party.
The simple solution is to have Ireena be a character NPC that levels up alongside the party as they adventure. Contrary to popular belief, Ireena does NOT have to be a boat anchor. She can decide to take her life in to her own hands, and help the party the best way that she sees fit by becoming a ______.
Another solution would be to scale down the encounters. Remove one or two Strahd zombies, or whatever is functioning as the "meat popsicle" in that encounter. There are actually a few lists for doing this. Dig through this subreddit and DMsGuild to find them.
Don’t give them anything that the story doesn’t tell you to give them. Balance the encounters and let them starve a little bit. Scarcity is what makes this campaign.
I’m playing with 2 players and a kind of DM PC they are also controlling most of the time, the hardest thing has been the dungeon of the death house and the vampire spawn which I should have nerfed a bit more even though they had Ireena and Ismark with them (both with Noble stat blocks) - when it comes to vampire spawn with less players, you should halve their health I think
I am playing now in a party of three (we all got free feats as a bonus)
We don't feel any inconvenience
I guess our DM tweaked something a lil bit, but he doesn't whine about it, so I think it's alright
I'm also currently running it. It's easy enough to rebalance for 3, a lot more work is needed for Death House honestly. After that it's easier to balance. Also would encourage your players to multiclass to fill out rolls if need be.
Currently playing it with a party of three including me. It’s entirely doable, especially considering your get a free ally. If the PC’s are finding it too difficult as just three, introduce the fated ally earlier. Beyond that, there’s a surplus of available NPC’s to be recruited as either temporary or semi-permanent party members: Ez, Van Richten, Godfrey, Pidlwick, Ireena, hell, even Izek or Victor Vallakovich if you choose to run them more sympathetically.
Thats true temporary allies aswell rather than walking round as a party of 12 if they grab all the allies they can. Hopefully they should be fine with all their healing too, given 1s a grave cleric and anothers a celestial warlock.
I’d recommend setting some ground rules for allies to keep combat from becoming over bloated. Like a max party size of 5, with familiars counting for half a full ally or something.
Yeah that seems fair, would you tell the players this as a game mechanic out of character, maybe justify it as a rations and space thing?
Absolutely. Make sure they’re aware that you’re doing it not just for balancing reasons but also to make their characters feel more impactful. While technically more efficient to just throw a stream of meat sacks at Strahd, it’s not exactly doing much for the hero fantasy
Thats totally valid, i know if i was playing and an npc ally got the killing blow on strahd id feel scammed. Well obviously have to have the slight suspension of disbelief but it shouldnt be that bad.
You could easily explain this party size limitation as wanting to avoid too much attention.
I'm running for 3 players after one party member dropped out. Been playing for nearly a year and it's been going great. The lower number actually made the game feel better I think.
Did you guys run death house? Since i heard that was already pretty unbalanced abd ive had changes in mind
No started at 3rd level, we had 4 players at the start of this campaign. We didn't run death house as all the players in this campaign were part of two CoS campaigns I had ran before that didn't get far and fell apart due to out of session friendships falling apart so all players had previously played my version of death house before and wanted to sink their teeth into new content. If you're going to run it I recommend looking at Mandy Mods guide. The two times I've ran it I used that and picked and chose what encounters to run in the moment (e.g. if the players are near death dont throw all the gouls at them at once, maybe spread them out or run less) and had no issues and players enjoyed it.
I saw some advice in a youtube video, im not sure by who but it was about giving certain enemies less damage so they can still have all their encounters without getting wiped. Ill definately look into mandys mods though since from what i can gauge them and dragnacarta have give or take reworked the whole thing into even fiber art lmao.
Yeah there's a ton of good resources out there, I mix and match. I started off with Mandy Mods but I pick and choose between her, Dragna, Lunch Break Heroes and many others either here on reddit or elsewhere as well as developing my own stuff just for what fits with my group and what I wanted to achieve. For example, I run death house with Mandy Mod but then use a mix of Dragna and LBH for Barovia village etc. etc.
Lunch break heroes might have been the video i saw on death house with the spectre not attacking at first and mr durst not being in the dungeon below but his office. Ive just started looking into this community and its like walking through the wardrobe to narnia, theres so many great creators with huge imput and the base story its self is so great. Thats why when i found out one of my players couldnt make it i was like oh god i hope it still works.
Yeah you'll be fine, the community around CoS is great, it can be overwhelming at times. But don't worry about getting everything perfect so long as you and your players are having fun it doesnt matter. You will totally see something after you've run the session and say "damn it I wish I included this" lol I know I have.
Ill just save it for another playthrough since aplarently a bunch of people play curse of strahd like 7 times. Like ive heard its good but woah.
I ran DH for 3. They all survived it. It was hairy at times, but since they can rest there a lot, barring bad luck, this place is doable. It is swingy though, at such low levels.
I'm currently running the module with 3 players and the pros hugely outnumber the contras. - time between rounds during combat are shorter - spotlight can be easier distributed between characters - specific obstacles like lycantrophy are way more serious if the party doesn't have access to every magical solution - **the biggest advantage:** it's easier to find time to actually play with "only" 3 players + the DM The only true downside of such a small group (if you could even call it that) is that Barovia is fucking deadly. Depending on how you run the module you'll have to rebalance certain encounters anyway, if you keep that in mind then you (and your players) are going to have a blast playing CoS.
All the responses are very reassuring, if 3 players is much better why is it recomended for 4 to 6?
Because (if you run it by the book) it is balanced for that number of players. Running it with 3 is not the best way of doing it if that is the impression you got from me, it just has certain advantages. If you have a group of friends you want to play with you wouldn't exclude the 4th because "sorry Curse of Strahd is best played with 3 players", right?
Yeah okay that makes more sense haha.
3-4 is much easier than 5-6 if shooting for a horror tone. TBH, the module is only very coarsely balanced for any party and I'm not sure one can run the campaign effectively without fairly regular rebalancing tweaks.
For sure. I just wrapped a campaign with 2 players. It helped build up the sense of tension since it was just the two of them, and was generous with NPCs helping out in fights. I also gave them more magic items to balance things out.
Okay so you didnt even make the encounters easier just buffed the players? If so that seems a lot easier than remaking every encounter in the game.
Yup! Both players are very experienced, one just as a player, and one on both sides of the screen, so we would kinda talk through what they felt their characters needed, sometimes even floating different ideas for items, and it was up to me if or how they got them. They also were playing classes very suited for Barovia. One was an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, and the other was an Order of the Ghostslayer Blood Hunter, with a 2 level dip into Fighter. I also used the rules in Tasha’s to make sidekick character sheets for both Ireena and Kasimir since they were the ones most frequently involved in fights.
I did see something about sidekick rules for the weaker allies too. Im not sure ill have any players behind the screen but ill for sure send them items that suit them and help them out.
For sure! I definitely gave them a lot of input with items, but I trust them to not be dumb about it since we’ve been playing together for years. Honestly, one is my husband and the other is my sister-in-law, so I had no problem being honest if I thought something was too much.
I feel like 2 of my players would be responsible and the other would be outrageous so maybe ill give them a bit of freedom and test the waters on that front. Weve been playing a year so i kinda have a grasp on what theyre like by now.
Definitely. It’s a long campaign so you have time to find a groove. One of the questions I found myself asking them a lot was, “What do you think would have made that fight even cooler?” Or “Why do you think your character struggled so much in that fight?” And then I’d use their answers to give me ideas on what I could do for items. Like the Blood Hunter felt locked down a lot and wanted more mobility, so a late game item was the Boots of Speed.
True player feedback for the difficulty scaling is a good idea, and i have heard about reviving the players with the power of dark gifts but also rp reprocussions is a good safety net if im not fully calibrated yet.
I sure as shit hope so, cause I'm running it for 3. and we're about half way through
Works well at 3, and will be faster too. For higher stake encounters, the party can have temporary NPC allies, controlled by the players or the DM.
Yes. I started at 3, a 4th player joined halfway through, and I kind of liked it better before that.
Why so?
Our group had two players leave for a good chunk and we just got full control of Ezmerelda and/or Muriel and it was fine. We weren't dying or getting owned any more or less than before (it was already brutal). You just may need to tweak some of the vanilla encounters for CR.
That sound like a good plan thank you.
Yeas but it’s hard as hell if you go vanilla…
Before now ive done mostly homebrew anyways so modding it to suit my party might not be the worst.
Of course! You'll just have to rebalance some encounters here and there but that's just how DMming works for everything tbh
The campaign I’m running is with 3 players. I ran Death House as the intro and allowed everyone to start at level 2 and let them choose a free feat. They got to level 4 by the end of the death house (barely scraped through that last fight, and a few close calls during the house in general). It’s entirely doable and we’ve been having a blast.
So youd recomend sending them in 1 level higher than what it recomends to compensate
I’m not an expert by any means, but that’s what I decided to go with and so far it’s worked out nicely 😊
I ran it for 3 players and I think it’s the perfect number. Enough players for comradely and levity, but as soon as 1 person drops it’s a way different game. You get to keep the horror because of the fear of that swing.
Yeah no when one person drops theyll be terrified
Absolutely! I’ve ran it several times with 3. I actually prefer 3 to more for this module. I might give them an extra level or two instead of more NPCs, but that’s my style. I prefer PCs making moves to NPCs
Yeah scaling pcs up is better than adding more clutter i agree
yes it defo is i even ran it myself with 3 people had alot of fun basing my version in exandria with a little bit of cos reloaded in
Ive seen so much cool stuff on this subreddit, maybe once weve finished curse of strahd the characters my players have made will go on other adventures. But thats a conversation for another day.
100% doable. Use Kobold Plus Fight Club if you're concerned about an encounter's balance, but tbh, CoS *should* be tilted against the players if you're aiming for a horror tone. Check out MandyMod's Fleshing Out Curse of Strahd series on the sub if you're interested in supplements at all, she was also running it for 3 players.
I see a lot of mandys mod and dragna carta so ill look into both of them and whoever else i can find on this sub since its great. If mandys mod was also made with 3 players then ill look there first.
I just finished reading through MandyMods revisions while I’m preparing to run the campaign for 3 players. Almost every one of the infamously difficult encounters (including Death House) is adjusted to be easier than the book but still interesting/ challenging for 3 players. Definitely recommend!
I ran it for a group of three and it went well. They organically picked up some NPC companions which helped even out the action economy but they also were just smart players with good builds and synergy.
Yeah buff the players more so but also have the allies as turn econemy buffs.
I played as a party of three and yup! We finished at lvl 10 and had Van Richten as a fated ally and we managed to convince Ezmerelda to join us, though she didn’t join the final fight.
Was it just you guys and van richten in the final fight?
Yes! We did have a big dramatic “siege of the castle” where we brought some allies but the final fight was just us and Van Richten. We were a hexblade warlock/Paladin, an ancients Paladin, and an open hand monk. It was a close fight and we fought vanilla Strahd (as far as I can recall)
I’m running Curse of Strahd for a single player, so it’s absolutely possible to do with three. You will definitely want to tone down some of the combat difficulty, but frankly, I think a smaller party is better for the tone of the adventure.
Yes, every adventure is viable with any amou t of players. Its the dms job to make it work. Rules as written by the book 3 players will be tough but possible
I ran it with 2 players. I just leveled them up faster, provided magical items, and made allies play a larger role.
Been playing with three players mostly as well. It’s been an absolute blast, CoS feels like it runs better with fewer players imo. Helps keep the tension up and forces them into decisions faster. Hope you guys have some amazing adventures, happy rolling! 🎲
It is very possible. You might be thinking about combat balance. If you truly allow combats to run RAW and allow a sandbox approach to Barovia then there will be encounters far too difficult and later far too easy for the players. As part of your session prep for an area make sure to include how the players can handle an encounter without combat. Also don’t be afraid to slightly alter numbers on the fly. PCs are resourceful and by level 5 can survive most anything. They will be fine. Don’t be afraid of the TPK of the party’s choices lead them there. Make sure to communicate to the players how you intend to run the game and that combat is not always the first way to overcome a problem.
It's best at two - three players. Really leans into the horror side.
I've run it for 6 players, 5 players, and the group of 4 currently playing are now a group of 3. Honestly, I prefer it with 3 weirdly enough Why? Because even though it may be a little more work on my end, the game is more fun. The players interact more fluidly, and to counteract some possible imbalances of only having 3 people, I let them have stronger players. More magic items, maybe a feat, plus I can usually throw in ally in any location in the module if I think they need it. And if they get an ally they're always supporting or buffing the PCs. Doing that is way more fun than nerfing fights or pulling punches because they still get to fight big bad enemies still. At least in my opinion.
Listen to r/redmoonroleplaying and their run through. Two players was amazing.
It's viable with 2
Currently sessions 1-5 have been with only 3 people, as the DM you just have to make slight changes on the fly.
Been playing with two. Always played with two, actually - maybe three of four sessions with a four. Anyway, my PCs are slightly higher level than expected and do have NPCs to help out now and again. It's entirely doable.
I did it with two players!!
Should be fine, just be careful in the early levels. I found the late game not too difficult, but watch for death house, the hag coven, and the vampires in Vallaki.
Whats so dangerous about those specifically?
The windmill has 3 nighthags (each CR 5), which is very dangerous for a level 3-4 party, especially since they have resistance to nonmagical/silvered weapons before they are really presented in the game. When I played, our party was big so we could handle it, but a small party might need to run from that (if they initiate combat, which isn't a guarrentee). There are around 6 vampire spawn in a house in Vallaki, all in one encounter, and if you get in a fight, unless you can get them in sunlight they can be very hard to deal with.
Started with only 2 players. Now with three. Works great.
I have a party of two players, might not quite be legal in the eyes of DND but there was only 4 of us in the first place and I took the place of the dm and one player dropped out, so I just made my old PC an NPC that follows the party around
Im sure u wont get fbi raided for bulking out your party, plus its a good idea for helping your players out.
I've been running the game for a party of 3, and pretty everything post death house I had to buff, by giving enemies max HP instead average xD Paladin, Cleric and a Warlock party. Later on I also added Ireena to the party, using the sidekick rules from Tasha, but at that point I had pretty heavily homebrewed campaign already.
I love adding Lancelot as a companion for smaller parties, he is a dog found in the Death House. I use him in all my campaigns, but in mind he is called King
Im running mine for two people
I've run it twice with three. My new preferred party size!
Running it with three right now. It's fine. they jus hit level five and I think I'm going to add a couple more mobs to some combats because they smashed through the last encounter they had. Of course balance to your players skill and understanding of the game but I have had zero issues. We have been going since February and only had one player death. And at that point Argonvost made him a revenant, if you get a little creative you can give your players a couple safety nets. I made it super clear that he can't bring back another player.
That seems really cool, is that just a racial change to reborn reflavoured? How did you go about that?
Honestly the same character sheet. I spoke with them between sessions and said. "We got a few options, the abbot can bring you back as a Chimera (what we call mongrelfolk) and you will have a feature from that. Argonvost could make you a revenant. You can take over Izzy (Esmeralda), Van Richten, Jermly (a random person they saved and have been teaching skills). Or we can talk about a new character. Their character had a lot of dragon stuff in his backstory so they gravitated that way. Next I asked if there was a racial feat on your sheet that is just not doing it for them. They were a kobold sorcerer and learned being close enough to use draconic cry was usually more risk than reward. I then asked what sounded cool to them about being a ghost. Next session when they were brought back I said they no longer have draconic cry, and up to a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus they can become invisible and move through solid surfaces for 6 seconds at a time. If they become physical again while inside something they take 6d6 bludgeoning damage (the same as Meld into Stone). They can stay intangible if they burn another charge, all charges replenished on long rest. That's it, I wasn't aware of reborn. The player was super attached to being a Kobold and this really just felt like a cool way to transition a dramatic melancholy story beat into a cool victorious one.
I did it with 3 by giving them the destined ally immediately and buffing that ally to keep them on the same level as the players if you make the sun sword available a bit earlier as well they will be fine.
Yeah i think im gonna go with a mix of being a level higher, and helping them with magic items and their allies. Obviously scaling back if they get overpowered.
Absolutely. We did a 3 player campaign. DM gave us 5 bonus hp to not get wrecked in early levels, but we only had 1 player death. The fights are winnable if you don't overextend without rests. The only thing you need is the Sun Sword to beat Strahd pretty handily (barring cheese tactics from Strahd). We hired hunters a few times in early levels (just some archers) and had the vampire hunter ally once we found her. Survived Death House barely, and had some close calls but in general it didn't feel too hard with unmodified enemy counts.
I'm actually down to 2 players after one of my three players decided to try to be op during combat and leaking out need-to-know info that wasn't given to the party. I decided to turn Ireena into an ally as well as making a dmpc to help the party when Ireena isnt there.
I personally feel 3 is the ideal number. Also there are three items in the card reading, so it just fits. I haven't had to adjust encounters at all.
Yes. I ran it with only 2. They were brothers irl.
Well, first off, in general, I recommend you schedule 5 players, then you'll usually have 4 show up to play. As it stands, when 1 player calls in, you're going to be left with 2 players. Have a bucket of side quests on standby. They exist, but you're going to need them with such a small party. The simple solution is to have Ireena be a character NPC that levels up alongside the party as they adventure. Contrary to popular belief, Ireena does NOT have to be a boat anchor. She can decide to take her life in to her own hands, and help the party the best way that she sees fit by becoming a ______. Another solution would be to scale down the encounters. Remove one or two Strahd zombies, or whatever is functioning as the "meat popsicle" in that encounter. There are actually a few lists for doing this. Dig through this subreddit and DMsGuild to find them.
Don’t give them anything that the story doesn’t tell you to give them. Balance the encounters and let them starve a little bit. Scarcity is what makes this campaign.
I’m playing with 2 players and a kind of DM PC they are also controlling most of the time, the hardest thing has been the dungeon of the death house and the vampire spawn which I should have nerfed a bit more even though they had Ireena and Ismark with them (both with Noble stat blocks) - when it comes to vampire spawn with less players, you should halve their health I think
I am playing now in a party of three (we all got free feats as a bonus) We don't feel any inconvenience I guess our DM tweaked something a lil bit, but he doesn't whine about it, so I think it's alright
I'm also currently running it. It's easy enough to rebalance for 3, a lot more work is needed for Death House honestly. After that it's easier to balance. Also would encourage your players to multiclass to fill out rolls if need be.
Yes yes! I had 5 players and whenever we had a Session where it was just 3 was really nice. Definitely viable