Is Icewind Dale's Cold-Hearted Killer Quest Broken?

[@Bysentenial]

step 1: start in Targos and give your party the mission to travel to caer konig and make it seem time sensitive step 2: tell the party that torgs is in termalaine and will be there for a few days before heading to lonelywood and then after that will have to come back through termalaine so they know where he is and hvae plenty of time to do other stuff step 3: kill your party with a frost giant on mammoth random encounter when they decide to go directly to kelvin's cairn

[@highlanderwins3328]

This is good advice. I ran Cold Hearted Killer not as "the first quest", but the mini-boss of the first arc of a three-act story.

[@TheGeekPantheon]

That's a good idea! I like it.

[@wunksta]

Yeah I think that is the best way to run this quest. It should be a slow burn mystery where the players eventually become the hunted, leading to paranoia. It would be a waste to have Sephek resolved in the first few sessions.

[@MrCannibalMan]

And all of this is taking into account a solo Sephek. If the caravan he guards for gets dragged in, it becomes even more deadly.

[@dittmar104]

now I want to Solo Sephek

[@Mr_Welch]

The problem is if they ran the scenario repeatedly they were going to get better at killing them because they would know his ability that his tactics and would plan accordingly. A party that has never experienced him is not going to have the foresight to disperse and say out of range

[@envytee9659]

He implies as much in the video. He explicitly notes that the level 1 kill was the last encounter of the night and thus the players had time and experience with the encounter.

[@qb6180]

Some of Icewind Dale quests on low lvls look...challenging. On our lvl 1 we were fighting a giant CR4 + two his friends CR2. Somehow we killed those and got lvl2. Then another quest for lvl2 party. A boss-mammoth and 2 his friends with 20 aoe cold damage each. In retrospect, there were ways to split these enemies and beat them, or to use diplomacy or stealth, but we made some stupid decisions. In total 2 of us were killed, 4 escaped.

[@therandomninja5]

I was concerned about the difficulty of this encounter. I had my players tackle the Termalaine Gem Mine first getting them to level 2 before even beginning Cold Hearted Killer. I left Torg’s location up to a die roll and it turned out they were heading into Targos the same day the party had arrived there. I’ve been wrapping my head around this fight, and we are running this encounter either tonight or the following session depending on the PCs’ choices. I’m more comfortable with them at level 2 but I’m still wary about a tpk. We already lost one character in the mines, killed by the grell, so the players understand the risks involved in Icewind Dale. This video has given me some ideas. I do wish I had purposely drawn it out longer like you suggested.

[@tmcdon]

For some reason, I really enjoy your discussion. You love of D&D really shines through! I think my only concern on the topic is: if you're the DM and you have issues with how a written encounter might be too difficult or inappropriate for level X characters, then change it. Having said that, there's nothing wrong with tough, deadly encounters. The only time you might not want to TPK a party or kill a character is if you are running games for brand new players. Anyhow, really like your videos and really love the energy and passion you communicate for the game.

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Totally agree with you thoughts on how to handle a difficult encounter. I made this because the discussion was about it being "ridiculous" according to some that a $50 adventure go released that had to be immediately tweaked by DMs. So I wanted to do a deep dive into the encounter to see if that was true. Thanks for the kind words!

[@makemelaughyouants]

You tubers are just nitpicking and complaining for clicks now.

[@ChristnThms]

It goes to show, once again, just how big of an impact a strategic approach can have. Anything that denies targeting or mobility to the enemy is truly crippling.

[@TheAirRon]

This is super good advice, and I really liked that you had some data to support your findings. Thank you!

[@MrCyrus1677]

Guys.... maybe they don't take him on at level one? Nothing says you have to give them this hook right from the get go of your campaign. I just finished my second session with my party last night and they got the quest AFTER they helped the dwarves in Bryn Shander. So they are currently second level. After helping the dwarves, they meet Hlin in the Northlook and get the quest to find and "take care of" Sephek Kaltro. Naturally, the set out to gather any information on Torgga's current location. After talking to a merchant and paying 5g for the information in Bryn Shander, they all purchased axebeaks with the 50gp gems they earned from the dwarves and set out for Bremen, which is where Torrga's was last seen. With axebeaks, it only takes a few hours to get to Bremen from Bryn Shander. Stopping in Targos to give their mounts a break at the stable, they immediately encounter Boy and take up the quest to go find Garret and his party at Kelvin's Cairn. We left off about halfway through that encounter and they will most likely complete it before heading off to Bremen. All in all, it's going to eat up another day of their time since they took a long rest in a small tunnel they discovered up in the Cairn. Torrga's might move on from Bremen in that time. They make a circuit among the Ten Towns so chasing after the caravan is part of the hook in my opinion. Maybe they catch them after going to Bremen and handling the quest there, putting them at level 3. But the idea that this quest has to be given at level one and completed at level one is not what I got from the campaign. It's meant to get the characters out of their starting town and exploring the rest of Ten Towns.

[@Azn_Bran]

Exactly. I had them pick this up at the start however the caravan is wandering through towns so I have them chasing the caravan and getting sidetracked with other quests while they are on the hunt. That way they will be level 3 by the time this happens.

[@calebgilliam-scott2474]

I agree. I had my party start by being all drawn as part of the lottery, and summarily incarcerated over there being multiple of the same lottery ticket suggesting some cheating going on. Hiln pays for their bail and in return wants the characters to track down Torgs and Sephek, only she knows they move around a lot and don't know where they are at current. Some dwarves who just came into town are known to have dealings with them however, and might have a travel itinerary or similar.... cue the party doing the foaming mugs quest, obtaining the travel schedule and having to chase down Sephek as Torgs move from town to town, all the while picking up and doing little side quests along the way.

[@stevevondoom4140]

in dragon of icespire peak one of the first encounters is with a manticore perched up high.... at lvl 1 . some fights are meant to teach you out of the gate humility and the value in running off/not fighting to the death when obviously outgunned.

[@ryanjackson6298]

When I've run Icespire Peak, I've removed that quest from the board until they finish one of the other two so they're level 2 before they have the chance to fight it

[@michul7850]

My party got owned by that manticore. We ended up retconning the quest and came back later for revenge. Still almost killed us but we got him!

[@PartridgeQuill]

Just discovered your channel here, and I really love it. I'm blown away that you don't have more subs! Your quality and articulation are immaculate. Keep up the great work!

[@memorylapsedm8262]

If I may, you may have noticed that Icewind Dale is a sandbox game within the first couple of chapters, which means that the PC's could encounter something that's out of their league. I really don't think DM's nor PC's are used to this kind of gaming style for D&D 5E because there hasn't been a true sandbox game introduced yet for 5E. The rules of a sandbox game needs to be explained to the players that it's going to be little be more like the real world, where they could stumble upon something that they need to stay clear of, pick their battles wisely, and to scope things out if they can so they don't get into trouble. Sandbox games need to be ran differently from what DM's are used to, and also, the DM has to be willing to let the PC's make that mistake if they don't pick up what you're putting down. I know it sounds mean because "the story is more important than anything else in the game", but what if a character death is a part of the story? It's a great lesson learned for PC's that sometimes they just need to scope things out for a while to get a feel of what they're dealing with (i.e. offer the PC's an oppertunity to do so without putting themselves in danger knowing that they can keep their distance but have a way of escape so an actual encounter doesn't occur), or if they do find themselves in a situation that's too much to handle, THAT THEY ARE INDEED NO DEMIGOD/SUPER HERO AND MUST RUN TO SURVIVE OR DIE RATHER THAN JUST ALWAYS TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK. Some things are meant to be ran from. Yes, they are above average which makes them a hero, but there's a big difference between being a hero and that of a super hero (i.e. which is another term for demigod). For sandbox games you need the players to create at least 3 characters each before the first session so that they always have 2 extra on hand and they can just jump rate back in the game. After the session they can create another if the one they were using gets snuffed out and had to take one of the spare characters they had on the back burner for this kind of situation. This way they always have at least 2 extra on hand, they don't get quite as attached them, yet they are able to stay immersed in the game and continue on without much fuss.

[@BrodyWoelke]

I think it’s the best quest in Icewind dale depending on how your frame it, my players loved being hunted by nearly immortal ice killer who can regenerate.

[@WexMajor82]

The Death House of CoS has the exact same problem. TPK makers. A paladin or a rogue change the combat a lot. As can a caster with Chill Touch (he basically deals 5 more damage).

[@tylerbarnick8750]

Lol I wouldn't know, because our DM homebrewed it so the man had 100 HP and three henchmen. Almost everyone went down aside from an NPC, Our Rogue who got frost bite after losing her boot, and Our Warlock who sniped at him the whole time as well as used an Orc spirit stone that helped us defeat the boss and help saved the whole party. That was one of the wildest first level bosses I've ever fought.

[@nicholasjackson8709]

If you have 4-6 players it isn't horrible over 1st lvl. But it also says he doesn't have a problem submitting to the party. If your party doesn't want to murder everything(rare for me) it is a decent encounter. Actually killing is pretty difficult for lvl 1 pc's

[@toddmarlie1604]

the party is not supposed to fight him, if the party ends up in a fight, with a guy who willingly gave himself up. Willingly would be captured, and bound. then that's the party's fault. When the party fucks up, there should be consequences.

[@Gearin4keeps]

It could also be the DMs fault for only betting on combat encounters.

[@bonzwah1]

I think he's part of the clumsy attempt at "horror" that this module was advertised as. I think the idea is to scare the party and make them run. The way they wrote stephik, I wouldn't make him give chase as a GM.

[@clarencepsaila4743]

I really like this video, and I think it is the Players responsibility to be cautious and not die! So if they go after him wrecklessly I'd get some NPC's to give warnings and elicit some of his powers - but if they ignore they should die because it's really part of the game to have constant danger. I plan to run it in such a way that a player who dies can roll up ONE new character but that's it. Fear and chance of death really makes this campaign come to life

[@desktopadonis5646]

In our level 2 case the barbarian kept on him and me the rogue would flank nonstop. So every attack by the main damage dealers had advantage. He would misty out and we just bum rushed to flank again. The cleric backpacked the barb and I danced like disco

[@fanboygamer3e]

I don’t think anything’s too much for a level one party if their smart enough. Playing through the Dragon Queen’s Hoard has taught me that much.

[@YannieUzumaki]

Ran this encounter for combat heavy 5e vets. They ignored all the quests I gave them on the way to Sephek too. I didn't really have a problem running a no punches pulled campaign, since the random encounter table spawned an ice troll for the level 1 party that killed a PC. But they kept after Sephek, cornering him in a Termaline stable after nearly being talked out of combat by Sephek himself. The fight was one that was decided by inches. The margins were razor thin, and the rolls were 1s and 2s off being the difference between life and death. Sephek being 1 damage off of killing the ranger. The fighter dodging an attack by 1 AC, and after 3 turns, the party was all down save for the wizard, who used burning hands to take Sephek's 4 HP down to 0 and stop his regen. The next turn, Sephek would have had an easy time of downing the wizard and completing the TPK, and the party lost an NPC ally to failed death saves as the wizard struggled to stabilize allies. But man, what a memorable encounter. I know that a lot of the conversation around this fight is to not run it at level 1, but it ended up making a tense, very close and memorable fight for us, probably closer than any high level BBEG final encounters we've had. My advice is to run the encounter and quest as written. Put the party on the trail and offer them the town quests to get their level up, but don't stop them from fighting Sephek at level 1 if they end up trying that route.

[@DragonsFlame3476]

I have a plan to run this for my group. I’m going to start them with the mission of as a group deciding to find the serial killer however all they know is that the deaths are at different towns. No one in the towns will talk to them until they raise their reputation. For every quest they do they will gain a new piece of information about the killer. (Abilities, how to find him etc) I may or may not put them on a chart to roll on. That way by the time they get enough information where I decide they can catch up to him they will be a little more leveled and have some base information. Now the quests themselves won’t give the information but someone else might be more forthcoming with information for someone they’ve heard of.

[@hammerhiem75]

You have 12 lvl 1-4 quests at your fingertips. You need 4 of them, 5 at the most. If you don't like one don't use it. personally I'll be running it as a Frost druid chain first, doing Bremen > Dougan's Hole > Lonelywood, then head into Duragar territory with Caer Konig, then some PC secret stuff with the Pirate ship (Zero Rum as the party is running out of Bremen) and Illithids (Distress Signal) and Yeti's (hunt for the red Yeti, which with tie in the launching chapter 3 when the dragon attacks. During all this I will be weaving in Chardalyn as the hook into the rest of the campaign through the Frost Druids early and then trailing clues as they follow the secrets along in chapter 2. You can't just run the 12 quests as one shots, you need to work in an actual story and reason for them to be moving from one to the other.

[@The-0ni]

I just ran this for a blind group of 5 lvl 1 PCs (Dwarf Wizard, Elf Rogue, Elf Druid, Aasimar Cleric, and Half Elf Paladin). The only casualty initially was the 16 STR Wizard who charged into battle (Don’t ask) and Sephek died quite quickly...Until he regenerated and then killed the Druid. It was then the party who sold all their torches and had no way to set him on fire gave up and said okay you TPK’d us.

[@hqueso]

I'm confused- how are people thinking this is an encounter that is even set up for 1st level characters? The description even states that if you want to randomly select where the villain will be encountered, roll on the random town table with the caveat that you should "Roll again if the result is the adventure's starting town." While not as clear as it could be, this, plus the description of the adventure requiring the party to find out where the caravan currently is, the indication is clear enough that the adventure is initiated at 1st, but will be finished after leveling at least once. If the caravan is one town away, that gives the party two chances (starting town and the next town over) to do a side quest and gain 2nd level. If two towns away, they could conceivably be 3rd just by doing quests laid at their feet for entering the town. Figure in the possibility of the party going the wrong way and coming across even more side quests, one has to practically ignore the adventure design to have this encounter happen at 1st. If a DM wants to do that, that's fine, but I find it to be a waste to end this quest line so quickly.

[@michaellittlefield6906]

I'm planning to run this adventure soon and my thoughts on how to handle Sephak is to use a witness of one of the murders to give the party information on his teleportation and regenerating abilities. Then another npc as an informant to give them insight about Sephaks whereabouts, and provide a place for them to ambush him where it is warm to counter his regeneration. If they ignore all of this then they will earn a tpk.

[@spooderous]

I keep seeing this and just can't agree. The way it is set up, is you can go from town to town until you find him. A long the way you can take other quests and level up. I do NOT think this was intended for level 1's, though it's do able if you're lucky.

[@smithtacular700]

I bet Ebberon has central air.....

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Totally. Bind an Ice Mephit and a Fire Mephit into your home, done!

[@pauliboy1031]

This is my first campaign as a DM, and the book doesn't state that you have to give them those quest, you can choose between those or any other from the settlements, i just gave them that mission after they reach lvl 3 and now they are looking for sephek while having some other troubles around.

[@orandor6249]

Thank you for that video - I was really having a hard time seeing how this can be an initial quest for 1st level players. I plan on running this campaign for to groups, one group is going to be almost entirely of new players so I won't give them this one to start with. The other group will be continuing with their characters after finishing Lost Mine of Phandelver, so it might actually be interesting to let them start at a higher level (I think they should end LMoP around level 5) with this quest in addition to the guards of the caravan.

[@Oldlard]

If your characters are meeting Sephek at level one then that is on the DM, pure and simple.

[@joshrogers4909]

It blows my mind that that shadows on is face are on the same side as the half of his face that is glowing from the light...

[@bleekskaduwee6762]

Glad you made this video as I was going to use this as a first adventure for a new party with 2 first timers but after watching this I am going to do my original idea of starting the party off in Luskan or Waterdeep and then have them do minor quests on the way up to icewind dale.

[@Ragdefender]

Not needed. There are other quests in ten towns that can level them up before they meet Sephek. Simply don't let them find Sephek until they're in a level you believe they have a chance.

[@dittmar104]

@@Ragdefender or let them find him and run away

[@benlittle627]

I let my party do the Chwinga quest first, they took a few as pets. They take everything as pets, including snowy owlbears

[@cameronf5893]

Thanks for the info! Glad I found your channel. I find your personality and cadence inviting :)

[@Dalipsingh111111]

What annoyed me most about icewind dale was that the module suggested Bryn Shander as starting town if you dont want it to be random and the quest leads you halfway to Kelvins Cairn. The City of Targos is like 2 hours away from it and the most obvious choice for players. The Targos Quest leads you to Kelvins Cairn. I Just switched the quests of Targos and Termalaine (clearing out a gem mine) and called it a day. It was practical, since now the journey to Kelvins Cairn from Termalaine doesnt take forever.

[@hilaryflowers7594]

So... having a wizard's Familiar scouting around gives the PCs at a minimum, surprise protection. If you allow variant humans, you can have someone with Alert (and someone with Observant) - but I think Alert is more important, especially if you have the Familiar scouting ahead. Tactics is a force multiplier. It's not unexpected that the same encounter could break two completely different ways based on tactics.

[@hilaryflowers7594]

Having the jump on the enemy can give your side time to set up an ambush, where you can have 3/4th cover AND get surprise - massive difference.

[@hilaryflowers7594]

Chill Touch - On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and it can’t regain hit points until the start of your next turn - could help with this specific encounter, especially if multiple PCs use it.

[@hilaryflowers7594]

A Protection Fighter could help out the squishy.

[@hilaryflowers7594]

The PCs should have the chance to do research on this guy, to find out his abilities. This would be a huge help in planning how to deal with him.

[@sariusmonk]

It is not a level 1 quest, it's given at the start, to do alongside other quests.

[@shrapnelsponge]

I nerfed the heck out of him for the party's first encounter, but I have decided to have him come back as a recurring villain for the first arc, where the party meet him across the chapter and he'll be his CR3 for the second encounter and finally CR4-5 in his final form.

[@Coach522]

Great insight for this DM about to run the adventure. And YES, encounter summations & suggestions for them are greatly appreciated.

[@quonomonna8126]

we had a large party of 8 and caught him in the act and overwhelmed him with numbers, surprise, and good tactics, no one in the party died

[@WhyYouMadBoi]

Huh a party of 8 vs a cr 3 yeah I'm sure a party of 8 would take out most things.

[@quonomonna8126]

@@WhyYouMadBoi are you adding to or taking away from the conversation here? are you helping or hurting? what is the purpose of your existence, worm?

[@izcenine80]

Party of 8... combat encounter took 8 hours.

[@izcenine80]

@@quonomonna8126probably the most neckbeardy response I’ve read for days.

[@rogerwilco2]

Well, if you play an encounter multiple times then sure, it will become a lot easier than when they don't know what is coming.

[@meikahidenori]

I ran it as is however I gave my players plenty of opportunity to talk to him as he's pretty interesting and can be brought around to not engage in combat. We had him temporarily align with the PCs in my game thanks to a clever Artificer and it gave them a future advantage later on in the campaign when they started having problems in one of the towns. We changed the setting to fit in Eberron so my players are used to NPCS not always being what the seem at first as everyone they meet has deep secrets from the Last war they don't want to be reminded of, but I can see it would be a bit harder if you have a party that just doesn't question an NPCS code of ethics and just takes them at the word of what other NPCs tell them they're like.

[@susandrew7217]

Started running this.... Dougans hole- 2 winter wolves (CR 3 each) and a mammoth (CR 7) I know how to tweak encounters so i got by... but jesus. this things all over the place.

[@toddgrx]

Thanks so much for this video... I’ve read RotF and was wondering how I’d start the game and move the flow without killing my PCs

[@357Dejavu]

I ran this last night for my home group. It consisted of 6 players. They where all level 2. The sorcerer was dead but every one else was up and some took no damage. The sorcerer was knocked out round 1. Round two the sorcerer was back up but was out right the same round. After that between grapple and rogue sneak attacks he went down fairly quickly with out taking any one else with him.

[@johnharrison2086]

Chris Perkins is incapable of writing encounters for tier one. He probably wrote this one.

[@hqueso]

How is this not suitable for tier one? If presented as written, the party will have done 1-3 side quests before they corner the bad guy, making them level 2 or 3 by the milestone rules assumed. Sure, if you ignore how it is set up and just make it the first thing the party encounters, it would be bad design. But that's not how it is written. The only problem I see with the writing is that it should have more clearly indicated that the climax of the quest is not to be done immediately, but after several town quests encountered while tracking down the villain. There are plenty of indirect indications of that, but it could have been made clear.

[@heathenpride7931]

The quest isn’t suppose to be completed at level 1, there’s a reason the guy isn’t in the starting town. It’s meant for the party to complete at 3rd or 4th level

[@clarencepsaila4743]

Another idea: We are just completing Stormwreck Isle after which the players will be level 3/4 - I was thinking of having Runara mention a friend from one of the ten towns which absolutely needs urgent help, get them to go there and start the story from there with the players already at level 3 - Would u think that works?

[@jimmybrook7119]

Just change things to make it a fair fight, you know like be a DM. Stats aren’t carved into a stone tablet, you’re not going to hell if you mess with ‘official’ content.

[@billthecanuck]

it's not broken at all. just dont use it if the PC's in your game aren't prepared for it. I ran it with a group of 4 level 1's but they were a balanced party with 2 sources of fire (druid and wizard) and 2 sources of heals (druid and cleric). they managed to win the fight just barely but still doable. If the pc's in your game aren't up to par for that, wait and throw it at them at level 2, and start them off somewhere else.

[@layedout778]

Sounds like a wonderful Module! I like my players to learn how to pick they're battles...so if they died, their other group can be inserted with PRE KNOWLEDGE ENEMY TACTICS from a failed encounter. But...Point taken. I think I would run fight @ 2nd level at least. Thx

[@kholtsclaw5266]

I would stress the weird stuff about him, like the fact that at some point he would have come into a town in the Dales nearly dead partly frozen. He was possessed and it isn't like he behaves normal. Finding him shouldn't be that hard but observation should raise some flags that this person isn't what he appears to be.

[@Trashloot]

I rly love this style of video. Much love for this vid.

[@loucavida]

You said he can cast misty step only 3 times per day, but my Fantasy Grounds Module says "At will", is that right? Is there a limit of three times? Were do you see it?

[@davidclark155]

I've run this twice and both groups found really exciting ways not to get into a fight

[@TheDMNMOR]

Do tell.

[@_kolbeans_3051]

more videos like this please

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Good to know you liked it!

[@aaronsalinas3854]

Base goblins if done right can kill a party of lvls 5s. So lvl 1 is extremely deadly if you are a good DM. Nothing is wrong if players plan traps or ambushes. Get creative.

[@brucemartin1420]

My lvl one party demanded hard mode for this campaign so i didnt hold back i got so close to killing them so many times fighter got knocked down three times druid got knocked down once paladin got knocked down once i didnt roll below a ten they ended up dealing the fire damage with firebolt cantrip over time. Sephek tried to run away but was caught and at this point i kept the turn order going which was a warning to my players. As once an npc is caught i generally let them free reign and question the bad guy but the way i ran it made them nervous. The fighter jumped and cleaved sephek with a heavy hit from an axe. Sephek stands back up even though he was clearly just killed and then one more firebolt rolled 6 damage just enough to melt away his 5 hp regen the paladin lay on hands med evac was what floated my party through this fight.

[@chrisredmane2895]

I would love to see more encounter based videos. I think the adventures and books don't teach you well enough how to get the most out of your encounters.

[@brianholdbrook5504]

If I have a party of 6 level one’s do we think they’ll be fine due to action economy?

[@joshuastepanek7045]

No

[@Lycaon1765]

GET THE CHILL TOUCH CANTRIP

[@michaellittlefield6906]

Firebolt will stop him from regenerating too.

[@scottburns8690]

Start the party at level 2?

[@Tehgreatgamer]

Just my opinion, but as written, it's a stupid quest anyway. Here's a murder mystery, but here is an NPC that straight tells you who did it, why, and how. It's just dumb, and not dramatic. I turned it into a chase. Party was sitting in the bar in Bryn Shander, and saw a blue flash. A few minutes later someone screams. Walked outside to find a dead body in the street. Rp, and investigating. Party figures out that since they went out the west gate, there was only one place he would be heading. They found Torrga as they were bundling up their sleigh. Confrontation. Killed two of Torrgas guards. Torrga surrenders, and they get info out of them. Then que wild west showdown in the street, with wind blowing, snow falling, and spells flying. I gave Kaltro a thick southern drawl.

[@daniellarsson4308]

In general WoTcs Encounters are far too easy for its level when you take into consideration UA classes etc. Which they need to do. If you play basic PHB players you will likely be rolled by the new encounters coming out of official modules. That said, I think its a much more fun way to play this if they have a prelude of chasing through doing a few prior missions and also raising the level to 2 or 3. A party of level 3 should not even loose a single player towards him if he is alone. At 2nd level, should hardly be possible to loose. At 1st, yeah its deadly. A wizard that picks up the Blade Singer class for example, will be immune to his damage unless he perform a critical hit. 16 Dex, plus mage armor, plus Blade singing with say 14, 15 intelligence, and the spell shield, gives the character an AC of 23 the turns he can cast shield, which will be one turn due to spell slots, but that turn should be enough. But if its a long combat as it seems to be it will be extremly hard for a lower level party. A fighter with Chain mail plus shield, and with protection or Interception fighting style. Btw..the Interception fighting style will pretty much neglect an entire attack from Sethek. Its important to build characters with High AC, good Defences and solid damage output.In this specific case I would say its wise to pick Variant Human as a race for that extra feat which could be shield Master or Sentinel for example. Bless should be the spell to cast. Healing spells in general during combat is seldom worth it, apart from level 1 where they actually heal for a heap, but I would say Bless on the party is the most important aspect of taking on this battle at level 1.

[@Nero1920]

You should consider this .. not every PC is a min-maxer and even picks charakters who are heavy on ac or picking heavy combat skills ;) I mean you are right about your points, but UA on my table isn't allowed just the books I have (almost everything, accept eberron content).

[@Galf506]

full disclaimer : I am commenting based on title and premise. I can't watch 22 minutes about this now especially since the answer would take at best 30 seconds NO IT IS NOT. Since it's not for level 1 parties. A casual reading of the quest would reveal that it's just a tool to get players to start moving across the Ten-Towns and pick up easier quests (or harder, if they're clueless). Rime of the Frostmaiden has plenty of quests that are not easily feasible for level 1 parties, because - big surprise - chapter 1 is a sandbox for levels 1 to 4 so you can pick quests that are good for level 4, but not for level 1. The Cold-Hearted killer quest is meant for a level 2 party: they investigate at level 1, pick up another quest along the way, reach level 2 and finish the starting quest.

[@MrCyrus1677]

Exactly! Give them the hook later if you feel it's a huge concern. But I agree that the party should be at LEAST level 2 to take this on. If you do it right, they'll be level 3 and they will have a much easier time with it. Read the campaign folks. The information is right there in the quest description.

[@galleon1924]

Sounds like the pcs where not really optimized. Wizards don't disengage they shocking grasp and move or chill touch to get rid of regenerate and give disadvantages. Tpks don't really happen optimized parties.

[@MrBrianofarrell]

great video, really like this content.

[@granttrain3553]

LOL My first level party are hunting a CR9 creature. They know enough not to fight fair.

[@razorboy251]

I don't think the quest is broken in terms of being too deadly (though it certainly can be), but I think it could have been a lot better. For example, there is no significant sense of mystery (the party is told by the NPC who the perpetrator is). Sephek's motivations aren't terribly interesting and could use more interesting details to it.

[@HowtoRPG]

Very interesting.

[@ethanpercival216]

A nice video, thanks!

[@devinthunderstrike]

Your data is flawed. The pc's had knowledge of the enemy after the 2nd battle. That affects every encounter after that.

[@killfear]

4:02 - lol cold pun

[@joshuastepanek7045]

What's their freaking problem with low level encounters ??? Descent into avernus had 10 pirates and a cr 2 fighter at level one this time you can get 2 frost wolves (cr3) at lvl 1 !!!! Only viable starting quest are Bryn Shander and Bremen seriously

[@Ulfhamr-v7u]

Why wouldnt a mage and a ranger NOT know to attack from range? Sounds like the huntards in wow who think they're melee fighters

[@irontemplar6222]

Honestly. No. Hes not OP. Much like death house. If you understand tactics and use them the only way you will die is abysmal dice luck, and even then you could and should still win. If anything my biggest problem with 5e modules is how easy mode everything is.

[@Esoni12]

Geek the mage....

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Lol

[@dragonmaster613]

my Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan) would be good against this guy, due to Crimson Rite of of the Flame.

[@tengwarsenna]

Cool video! (I'll see myself out)

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Chill out with the puns :)

[@CuiBap2]

Why the cold shoulder?

[@1faraday]

I started my players at level 2 since generally level 1 is just too squishy and just not fun for classes like Paladins, admittedly they haven't got to Sephek yet so this is pretty useful

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Glad you liked it and good luck with the rest of the adventure!

[@Bondanalloy]

what really?! i was trying to figure out a good battleground place to make the encounter more challenging lol

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Haha if your party is 3rd level or higher then go for it. But if they are 2nd or 1st level then you won't need any help making this encounter hard.

[@Malle472]

Skipped both of the intro quests as they didn't match the theme of the rest of the book. Hunting a serial killer sets up the players to think the campaign is about solving crime, it's not, and the other quest with the tiny elemental creatures is too silly and cute to sell the idea of a dark and isolated north. Ended up running the Bremen quest as session one and we got a really good mood going.

[@josefelix4152]

But dnd is meant to be flexible... just lower the bad guys rates a little, no Brainer ... don't use regeneration.. etc etc don't make it so literally

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Oh I totally agree! But the arguments that were occurring were around the idea that if we are paying so much for an adventure why should we need to fix it ourselves. I don't really buy into that thinking, but that's where it came from.

[@daniellebramhall-smith8438]

za prvé 😍❄❄❄

[@Subcomandante73]

Most of the adventure is unbalanced lazy writing. As a DM you have to fix pretty much the whole thing. CHK is not the worst thing in this mess of a book. You have to play the CHK so dumb it is insulting.