r/VecnaEveofRuin

Ok so i have 2 younger brother 10 and 13, who enjoy stranger things and in turn become interested in DnD. They have recently asked me if I could teach them how to play and possibly DM for them. Which I don't have a problem with I have played DnD on and off since I was their age (28 now) and feel I could show them a good time. My problem is I noticed the Stranger Things: Welcome to the Hellfire Club is only levels 1-3, Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye is level 3, and Vecna: Eve of Ruin is 10-20. I was curious on what the community would suggest to fill in the missing levels. I've considered starting with Welcome to the hellfire club to teach them the basics and how to play. Then go into the prequel. Followed by doing a "memory wipe" erasing their characters memory and starting them over at level 1 and starting Tombs of Annihilation and then going into Eve of Ruin. Is this a bad idea or would it work and keep the joy and interest high.

Hey!

I'm just starting to run this campaign as a follow-up to our Descent Into Avernus campaign. Unfortunately, it's looking like I'm going to be moving close to the end of the year, and I want to do what I can to keep this campaign succinct so we can ideally complete it before I move away.

I already have some enemies who will be working against the party that they have personal grudges with thanks to events of the previous campaign. I intend to have them, as a well as Kas, possibly, working against the party, to retrieve the rod pieces as well. I will use this to skip some chapters, namely Eberron and Krynn, as those have the least personal connections to our party. Have an encounter closer to the end where they will earn the other rod pieces, and leave that there.

Any other suggestions on ways I can speed along the campaign without losing some of the better moments? My party are never the type to get super distracted and are good at sticking to the objective, so for the most part as long as I can keep them on track we will likely move fairly quickly.

Is the last given Long rest location before Kas betrays, before the Vecna fight or somewhere else I am not seeing?

My players did good about avoiding every fight in the tomb and didn't take a ton of damage from the traps and finished the session right as the crypt opened to see the Rerak on the throne.

Looking at the False Lich stat block and I'm convinced they will streamroll it so fast they won't get a chance to hear how unhappy he is.

I think I will use the Acererak stat block from ToA but remove a level 9 spell slot and his magic items.

I might also add in a lair action or two for funsies.

Anyone else do something like this and can offer tips?

Ok here's my problem in a few words.

At level 20 the party will have a sorcerer with subtle spell and an archdruid which, if you don't know, will have the ultimate "I win" button:

Archdruid

At 20th level, you can use your Wild Shape an unlimited number of times.

Additionally, you can ignore the verbal and somatic components of your druid spells, as well as any material components that lack a cost and aren't consumed by a spell. You gain this benefit in both your normal shape and your beast shape from Wild Shape.

So, besides having infinite wildshapes (which is already incredible and not absolutely super OP), Vecna won't be able to use counterspell on him either. What do I do? Do you think it will be too easy for them? What do you recommend?

Without spoiling the campaign, what’s a good way to think about damage types? Is a PC built around poison or necrotic going to be worthless? is doing radiant damage basically mandatory?