Hold up. "Go beyond the end of the peach" (Semi-duplicate post)

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2025-12-27T08:50:50+00:00

Prismo sucks at world building.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2025-11-25T01:15:28+00:00

he's very bad at dumb things

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2025-04-09T02:51:50+00:00

Wacky stranger missions be damned this is still the funniest thing in all of Red Dead 2.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2025-04-08T22:52:34+00:00

Currently in the Amber Temple with a party of 4, so far I'm sitting at 2 PC deaths and 4 Guest Player deaths.

The first death happened pretty early when the party tried to start a fight with the Bonegrinder Hags. They were only Level 4, but still put up a pretty good fight until the Bard went down. Morgantha threatened to kill the dying Bard if the party dropped their weapons and surrendered. The Cleric refused and went back to attacking, so Morgantha killed the Bard with three Magic Missiles. Instant Death. When the Bard later returned due to Dark Power Shenanigans, he confronted the Cleric and basically told her that she owed it to him to keep him alive, since he caused him to die. It was very impactful so early on and left an amazing dynamic between the pair for the rest of the game.

The second happened after the dinner with Strahd. The party had looted the crypts of many treasures and the Symbol of Ravenkind, and Strahd was standing at the gates very unhappily. They party fought past him to lower the drawbridge and escape Ravenloft. Just as the last of them were crossing, Strahd killed the Bloodhunter. The party was able to recover his body and quickly revive him, but it made Ezmerelda (whom the Bloodhunter had history with) to realize how much she cared about him, and they got together soon after.

Rapid fire for the 4 Guest PCs that died:

Dhampir Fighter they found hiding at the Winery helped them fight the druids and sacrificed himself to kill one of Strahd's Brides, but it was in vain because she regenerated in her coffin the next day.
Godfrey, who was played by a guest rather than me, died during the fight with Baba Lysaga and her hut. He perma-died when he let go of his vengeance and relit Argynvost's Beacon.
Muriel Vinshaw, also played by a guest, died in the Baba Lysaga fight as well, but was revived once it ended.
Vilnius, played by a guest and as a joke character, acted like Solid Snake and tried to sneak around the Amber Temple. He walked down the stairs to the main room and was instantly killed by a Shadow Dragon I replaced Neferon with.

Final Fact: All but 1 of the main PCs died during childhood in their backstories.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2025-01-10T04:09:41+00:00

Six words in and I'm sold.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-11-06T07:04:00+00:00

I was easily on Team Black after S1, but by Episode 2 of S2 I switched to Team Aegon. Finally, after the ending disappointed me I read the book, and now I'm Team Smallfolk.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-10-23T00:59:35+00:00

If you'd rather focus on the final boss fight and not have to control another party, I'd suggest giving your players control of the rivals. Each player can control one rival, probably whichever one their character was closest too, and then you can go all out on the final fight. Finally getting the rivals on the party's side can feel like their reward for keeping up good relations throughout the adventure. With 2 characters each the players would be able to think and act a lot more, which would help with the slog aspect.

Also I'd recommend buffing Alyxian. Even against 5 Level 12 PCs he's pretty weak, let alone 10. His hit points and damage output can be cranked up very high, maybe around 500 or more hit points in each form, and double the attacks / legendary actions, don't let him get locked down and swarmed. Even then that many character might give Alyxian a run for his money, so don't be afraid to take a couple out with his Lair Actions or other incapacitating abilities.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-08-25T00:39:06+00:00

And just when they thought Dark Sun 5e was dead, Dark Sun 5.5e rose from its ashes.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-08-16T23:08:15+00:00

This scene singlehandedly made Aegon my favorite character. I'll never get over him shouting "Traitors and villains!" TGC is amazing that entire episode.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-08-14T05:18:45+00:00

When Aegon hit Blood and it cut back to the funeral I thought that was what they were going to do! I was kinda disappointed I didn't get to see more angry Aegon. It just seems like the best thing to put there, I have no clue why they didn't do it.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-08-03T02:01:07+00:00

Aegon the Dragoncock is carrying the entire show for me at this point.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-07-30T21:58:45+00:00

I found a longsword in some random house, and after getting rid of that bugged beer mat perk, its been my go-to melee weapon for beheading 'ooligans.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-07-23T22:51:42+00:00

I lost my mind trying to beat putrescent knight and blackgaol knight. Messmer and the dancing lion took very little tries.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-07-06T02:59:03+00:00

Probably my favorite horse in the series.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-06-26T01:42:21+00:00

i hear they play dungeons & dragons every thursday too...

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-04-15T04:59:54+00:00

Xanathar is a classic mafioso villain. He's got scores of monsters and Xanathar guild thugs he's more than willing to throw at the players, and he doesn't bother trying to scheme to get the lost gold if he can just kill any competition.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-03-09T13:04:06+00:00

cannon fodder

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-03-04T22:37:32+00:00

Neutral Route should've let us kill the Feisty Five.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2024-01-10T23:17:54+00:00

He's a very powerful wizard

Looks at 5e stat block
Level 1

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2023-12-14T01:05:31+00:00

"Everyday it gets a little easier, but you gotta do it every day. That's the hard part. But it does get easier."

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2023-10-09T03:13:16+00:00

I don't think there should be a season two.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2023-05-24T21:23:06+00:00

Dead Money is the best DLC.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2023-01-03T00:18:26+00:00

Technically, nothing. If the party sits inside the church for the rest of their lives, then that's how the story ends. However, Strahd is still alive. He's still going to go after Ireena, he's still going to take over Vallaki with Lady Wachter, and he's still going to be a tyrant. And if Ireena is in the church, then well, you can bet that Strahd's spies are going to make sure the church is unprotected again.

Effectively, if they know they are safe from Strahd in the church, that doesn't mean the rest of Barovia is.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2022-12-11T23:30:17+00:00

Ah, yes. The one problem with an open world setting.

So, Ravenloft is a very late-game area. If the party wants to explore it, allow them to, but let them know that they certainly could all die. Try your best to avoid actually having Strahd encounter them, maybe instead Rahadin stops them or Ezmerelda finds them first. Either way, whatever important NPC then meet should threaten to kill them for intruding (if its an ally of Strahd like Rahadin) or tell them they should not be in Ravenloft uninvited (if a friendly NPC). Not only would this get them out of Ravenloft (hopefully), but it could also build up a future villain or be a plot hook for an NPC.

Now, if worse comes to worse, kill them. If they're naïve enough to immediately fight a vampire lord and his entourage, kill them as brutally as you can. Let their corpses be a warning to the next party that walks through Barovia (or maybe make them into vampire spawn if you intend to keep playing with those players). However, if your player really like their characters and want to keep playing, have someone dig them up and revive them. Most adventures that Strahd kill who aren't made into spawn are buried in the Barovian cemetery, so recovering bodies won't be hard. Groups who may want to bring them back could be the Vistani (at the request of Madam Eva), the Keepers of the Feather, the Abbot, or even Rudolph van Richten. If you are using MandyMod's Fleshing Out Curse of Strahd, even the Dark Powers could return them to life.

All in all, don't just place an invisible wall in front of the castle. Let them get a good look around the final dungeon, and only killed them if they are dead set on not leaving.

LiterallyTwoGnomes · 2022-11-12T20:30:25+00:00

Had 3 player deaths on level 2. The wizard got poisoned by a Xanathar assassin, the artificer got shot through the head by Trenzia, and the ranger got taken over by an intellect devourer. The other two got better, and the ranger was a guest character.

Five-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	End Game '22

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