My party got utterly destroyed in a fight with over a dozen enemies that felt really unfair. Our party got butchered in two rounds of combat and the survivors had to retreat ... only half of the PCs that ran got chased down by a tree monster and died anyway. So, four out of six PCs died (including mine), Ireena got captured, and Ireena's brother is dead too. The only survivors are a dragonborn paladin and the crazy artificer/ranger who calls himself a space marine The DM wants us to roll up new characters and keep going with Curse of Strahd, so I guess that's what we're doing.
Only I don't know what we're supposed to do now that Strahd has "won" now that he's got Ireena. Or how the DM is going to handle the artificer's plan to "conduct guerilla warfare against the druids". Heck, I don't even know what sort of character I should roll up
Maybe I've just got Dead Character Blues, but I'd really appreciate whatever advice you lovely denizens of the mist can provide. Thanks in advance.
If Strahd is still around, you can cancel his victory by destroying him for good, and maybe even rescuing Ireena.
If he has somehow left Barovia, you could try to follow him to seek revenge.
Or maybe your party could stay in Barovia and try to clear out all the other nasty monsters to make it a better place to live. Take over Castle Ravenloft?
Your party has a dragonborn paladin and a ranger/artificer (presumably human)? Okay, cool.
I'd suggest coordinating with the other players who lost PCs and making a new roster of PCs designed to fit together for combat effectiveness. I don't mean making killing machines without personality. I just mean that if the campaign has been tough in the battle department, making an optimized combat team (think about how they can work together for greater oomph in fights) may be a good idea.
I don't know 5E well at all, so you should look to someone else for specific advice on that count.
If you already had good combat teamwork and characters with powers that combined nicely, then I'd chalk the near TPK up to bad luck. Sometimes the baddies win a big fight.
In any case, maybe the new PCs should enter play all knowing one another? That saves the DM work.
A family of fearless vampire hunters?
Barovian woodcutter clan?
A team of Dilinsya assassins who had been turned into trees with a massmorph spell, and have been awakened to hunt Strahd?
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
I can't imagine the DM would let Strahd leave just because he got Ireena. Presumably, Strahd's gotten Tatyana's soul-body before and he's still trapped ... but then again our DM wants me to roll up another Ravenloft native so I can keep being "Miss Explains the Setting" so he doesn't have to read up on the fluff ...
Admittedly, our previous team didn't mesh too well together, and the fight that killed us played against our weaknesses. I'm still not sure how we were supposed to beat six druids and six berserkers, but whatever the answer was it was something our team didn't have. Our actual teamwork could also use some work. The only one that regularly tries to coordinate what we're doing is the ranger/artificer. I'm just as guilty as the rest of the group for not always listening to him
Thanks for helping me out, Ewancummins. I'll try to get hold of the other players and coordinate some character efforts.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
The DM wants us to roll up new characters and keep going with Curse of Strahd, so I guess that's what we're doing.
