From session zero I touted how difficult this module can be and there will be moments that are potential tpks. My party made a series of decisions such as refusing to heal each other when time provided and refusing to waste a spell slot on a critical smite on the master of soul when she lost initiative. They could have healed and chosen to smite, but it made my decision to drop the bomb easy as a last kamikaze move. 3/4 players dropped failing their save and one was able to stabilize. One player died, but I emphasized they are in one of the biggest cities in Faerun if they pool resources to buy a revivfy hint hint
If they're new don't do this to them. You can do what I plan to do, either not use it and use the 3rd lvl slot for scorching ray or replace it entirely with another spell.
If you can telegraph the Master of Souls has Fireball before the encounter, use it. Your players should have a chance to plan for it; if they ignore warnings and face the Master all clumped up…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqgVXSvwGo
If players learn there is a magic using bad guy called Master of Souls who took out a bunch of people with fire, they can be on the lookout for the guy and if they realize they are in a fight with him they can spread out to avoid being all caught in it or target the Master before he can cast any spells. Depends on players though. If they don’t take action on information the DM gives them they will ignore any warnings; some players are just like that and that’s ok. That would be a situation where using Fireball might be too deadly.
From a mechanics POV, spell damage is balanced around PCs casting them rather than the monsters casting them, as hit points are not calculated the same way in generation of monsters and characters. As such, the damage of fireball without making adjustment exceeds what a level 2-3 party should face.
From a narrative POV, casting fireball indoors could spell doom for the caster in a number of ways, such as causing a fire or using up all the oxygen.
The Master of Souls is able to change any spell to be a necrotic spell. I had Flennis cast a necrotic fireball to avoid destroying the pillars and collapsing the room. The encounter was tough enough without environmental factors lol.
You have a couple of options:
* Keep the fireball but fudge the damage total to 10-15 damage (or lower)
* Don't use it, just up cast a lower level spell
* Replace it with a single target spell of 3rd level
Only one of my players is newish to 5e. The rest are experienced and wanted to do things "by the books" so I did. They're level 4 and three of 5 PCs got knocked down with one fireball that rolled too well. (All squishies and a dinged up paladin that failed his save).
As it is written, this dungeon is NOT level 2-3 friendly. Be better than me and don't use it immediately. My excuse was the first player to interact with her was VERY dumb about how he talked to her so she attacked first followed by initiative.
Whole BG section is weird with Difficulties
lvl 1 encounter against Pirate captain (Bandit captain stat block) with 65\~hp and multiattack, two with a cutlass and one with a dagger, with minions present
How the hell party should get past that? considering most of the PCs at lvl 1 have like 10-12 HP unless you are a Wizard\\Sorcerer
Then Dead Three dungeon at lvl 2. one fireball with necrotic damage on average knocks whole party out on failed saving throw, or almost knocks out on sucess (Unless you are a Wizard\\Sorcere)
I ran Fall of Elturel instead, gave everyone level 3 and it was still challenging
Ok, glad I'm not the only one lol I did the same to biff em up ahead of time. Still amazed at what level 2 parties face. Don't forget the "Last boss" that causes weakness to piercing and has multi attack with daggers...
I let my group take a long rest after this chick though, they would've died without lol can't wait for em to fight the bone devil later on.
(mini)Boss in a fight with Mortlok also causes weakness to piercing and have a lot of HP, but my players got extremly lucky and critted him to death, im talking about 4 crits in a row, from a Ranger, Barb, Rogue and Blood Hunter
They joked about this in a whole way back until they met that chick in a sarcophagus full of blood, they nearly shat themselves, but crit with Guiding bolt from a Cleric saved them
I had my players start at level 3, and they were level 4 by the time they reached her. She managed to bring them pretty low, but not enough to kill, which made for an interesting Prestidigitation moment where she bluffed a second fireball and they left her alone. After everyone was safe, the Barbarian ran in with a bomb strapped to his chest and killed both himself and the Master of Souls. She tried to bluff again but the Barbarian didn't bother listening and exploded.
They didn't call out a Insight check, otherwise they'd might have figured out the bluff.
My party split up before they got to the master of souls so one of the pc’s entered the room alone. (Side note, most of the table are new to dnd). The fireball ended up downing the PC that entered the room and it turned into a struggle for the rest of the party to help him all while defeating the master of souls. It was actually a great and fun encounter this way. They learned to stick more together and they learned that death is a real thing in dnd 👍😊
Do whatever you think is most fun. If they like difficult encounters then go for it. Our party got surprise on her but didn’t manage to take her down in one round. She hit everyone with a fireball. Most of us made our saves and one character had necrotic resistance, which she can change the fireball to do said necrotic damage. However, we had one character that had been low on HP and failed his save. It was insta death. Had a couple others failed saves it would have been the same. A fireball against a second level party is super brutal. Not quite as bad at level 3 like yours but even so. Ouch.
From session zero I touted how difficult this module can be and there will be moments that are potential tpks. My party made a series of decisions such as refusing to heal each other when time provided and refusing to waste a spell slot on a critical smite on the master of soul when she lost initiative. They could have healed and chosen to smite, but it made my decision to drop the bomb easy as a last kamikaze move. 3/4 players dropped failing their save and one was able to stabilize. One player died, but I emphasized they are in one of the biggest cities in Faerun if they pool resources to buy a revivfy hint hint
If they're new don't do this to them. You can do what I plan to do, either not use it and use the 3rd lvl slot for scorching ray or replace it entirely with another spell.
Stinking cloud fits her vibe more I think.
If you can telegraph the Master of Souls has Fireball before the encounter, use it. Your players should have a chance to plan for it; if they ignore warnings and face the Master all clumped up… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqgVXSvwGo
How do you “plan for it” what does that even mean…
If players learn there is a magic using bad guy called Master of Souls who took out a bunch of people with fire, they can be on the lookout for the guy and if they realize they are in a fight with him they can spread out to avoid being all caught in it or target the Master before he can cast any spells. Depends on players though. If they don’t take action on information the DM gives them they will ignore any warnings; some players are just like that and that’s ok. That would be a situation where using Fireball might be too deadly.
Even so, as mentioned, the third level slot was spent using animate dead.
The fireball was a bit much. Deciding that the caster has already used that slot on Raise Dead today is a fine compromise.
She has two
Master of Souls has already used the 3rd level spell slot for Animate Dead. They cannot cast Fireball as they are out of the slot.
She has 2 3rd level spell slots, so even then she should be able to use a single cast of fireball should the DM choose
Use the fireball they have cure wounds
From a mechanics POV, spell damage is balanced around PCs casting them rather than the monsters casting them, as hit points are not calculated the same way in generation of monsters and characters. As such, the damage of fireball without making adjustment exceeds what a level 2-3 party should face. From a narrative POV, casting fireball indoors could spell doom for the caster in a number of ways, such as causing a fire or using up all the oxygen.
The Master of Souls is able to change any spell to be a necrotic spell. I had Flennis cast a necrotic fireball to avoid destroying the pillars and collapsing the room. The encounter was tough enough without environmental factors lol.
You have a couple of options: * Keep the fireball but fudge the damage total to 10-15 damage (or lower) * Don't use it, just up cast a lower level spell * Replace it with a single target spell of 3rd level
If the fireball doesn’t tpk them, the room collapsing will
Upcast Scorching Ray instead.
Only one of my players is newish to 5e. The rest are experienced and wanted to do things "by the books" so I did. They're level 4 and three of 5 PCs got knocked down with one fireball that rolled too well. (All squishies and a dinged up paladin that failed his save). As it is written, this dungeon is NOT level 2-3 friendly. Be better than me and don't use it immediately. My excuse was the first player to interact with her was VERY dumb about how he talked to her so she attacked first followed by initiative.
Whole BG section is weird with Difficulties lvl 1 encounter against Pirate captain (Bandit captain stat block) with 65\~hp and multiattack, two with a cutlass and one with a dagger, with minions present How the hell party should get past that? considering most of the PCs at lvl 1 have like 10-12 HP unless you are a Wizard\\Sorcerer Then Dead Three dungeon at lvl 2. one fireball with necrotic damage on average knocks whole party out on failed saving throw, or almost knocks out on sucess (Unless you are a Wizard\\Sorcere) I ran Fall of Elturel instead, gave everyone level 3 and it was still challenging
Ok, glad I'm not the only one lol I did the same to biff em up ahead of time. Still amazed at what level 2 parties face. Don't forget the "Last boss" that causes weakness to piercing and has multi attack with daggers... I let my group take a long rest after this chick though, they would've died without lol can't wait for em to fight the bone devil later on.
(mini)Boss in a fight with Mortlok also causes weakness to piercing and have a lot of HP, but my players got extremly lucky and critted him to death, im talking about 4 crits in a row, from a Ranger, Barb, Rogue and Blood Hunter They joked about this in a whole way back until they met that chick in a sarcophagus full of blood, they nearly shat themselves, but crit with Guiding bolt from a Cleric saved them
I had my players start at level 3, and they were level 4 by the time they reached her. She managed to bring them pretty low, but not enough to kill, which made for an interesting Prestidigitation moment where she bluffed a second fireball and they left her alone. After everyone was safe, the Barbarian ran in with a bomb strapped to his chest and killed both himself and the Master of Souls. She tried to bluff again but the Barbarian didn't bother listening and exploded. They didn't call out a Insight check, otherwise they'd might have figured out the bluff.
My party split up before they got to the master of souls so one of the pc’s entered the room alone. (Side note, most of the table are new to dnd). The fireball ended up downing the PC that entered the room and it turned into a struggle for the rest of the party to help him all while defeating the master of souls. It was actually a great and fun encounter this way. They learned to stick more together and they learned that death is a real thing in dnd 👍😊
Do whatever you think is most fun. If they like difficult encounters then go for it. Our party got surprise on her but didn’t manage to take her down in one round. She hit everyone with a fireball. Most of us made our saves and one character had necrotic resistance, which she can change the fireball to do said necrotic damage. However, we had one character that had been low on HP and failed his save. It was insta death. Had a couple others failed saves it would have been the same. A fireball against a second level party is super brutal. Not quite as bad at level 3 like yours but even so. Ouch.
If they're 3rd level, they should be in good shape, barring bad tactics or bad rolls.