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🛒Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus is a module for the fifth edition of D&D and was released in September 2019. Overall, the adventure is recommendable, however the story is hindered by the partially inadequate connections between the adventure locations. Nevertheless, the adventure convinces with great NPCs and an exciting setting. The players must save the city of Elturel in the campaign, which was magically transported to the first layer of Hell by the Archduke of Hell Zariel. If the players are not successful, Elturel will be pulled into the river Styx by long chains, causing all mortal beings in Elturel to perish.
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Start in Baldur’s Gate
The module, which was developed for characters of levels 1-13, begins in Baldur’s Gate and thus at a location that is very well known in the D&D universe. It’s positive to highlight that much information around Baldur’s Gate is provided and thus a good entry into the campaign is possible. Unfortunately, the later story in Avernus has little to do with the events in Baldur’s Gate. For this reason, I would start my next Avernus campaign directly at level 5 and in Elturel.
Avernus as DM: Welcome to Hell
In Avernus, the story really begins. After the party is teleported to Elturel by a spell, they must first escape from the burning city, which is also still under attack. Initially, we spent several exciting sessions in the High Hall of Elturel, where the players meet various NPCs and hatched a plan for escape. Here the adventure shows various options for escape, such as climbing down the chains. My players decided to build a balloon. Subsequently, the party must visit various locations to find Zariel’s lost sword, with which Elturel can be saved. The journey through Hell offers many diverse locations and NPCs, such as an encounter with the famous wizard Mordenkainen, rescuing a unicorn, or crossing the Styx alongside an undead ferryman.
Descent into Avernus: Strengths of the Adventure
But the adventure can convince especially with the background story around Zariel, Lulu and their former companions, who are now undead or have been transformed into devils through Zariel. In particular, the encounter with Haruman, a former general of Zariel and devil, remained memorable for my players. Also, the events that led to the teleportation of Elturel into Hell could be well understood by my players and thus became somewhat experiential. Even though Zariel doesn’t speak with the players as often as other final bosses (e.g. Strahd von Zarovich in the adventure 🛒Curse of Strahd) within the campaign, but only appears at the end of the story, my party could build a relationship with her, since the background story is well explained.
Also positively noteworthy is the detour to Idyllglen, which takes place late in the story. Through various waves of enemies without the chance for a Long Rest, the players find themselves here in a new situation that otherwise occurs rather rarely in the campaign.
Finally, my party also took a liking to the post-apocalyptic looking Infernal War Machines.
Descent into Avernus: Weaknesses of the Adventure
I would like to criticize especially the missing connection of the adventure locations. For my players, it often felt as if they were just being sent from A to B to C without actually getting closer to their goal.
I also don’t consider the travel mechanics within Avernus provided in the adventure to be suitable, since more or less the dice decide whether you find your destination. The players could thereby encounter strong enemies too early, which is why I decided on a rather linear story progression.
Finally, I want to criticize that no map material is available for some important locations and the adventure thereby leaves the Dungeon Master alone during planning. Especially for the last sessions around the final battle for Elturel, no maps are provided. This made it difficult for me to appropriately represent the exciting framework in which the last session takes place. However, the end of the story is well chosen, since it doesn’t necessarily have to lead to a fight between Zariel and the party. But this could also be a point of criticism for other Dungeon Masters, because the concluding boss fight at the end of the story is absent.
Descent into Avernus: My Conclusion
Overall, I rank Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus in evaluation between Princes of the Apocalypse on the lower end and Curse of Strahd at the upper end. The Dungeon Master must put a bit of work into the campaign and compensate for some weaknesses, otherwise nothing stands in the way of an exciting campaign through the interesting background story of Zariel and the encounters with her former companions.
If you need further information, then also read Jonas’s review of Descent into Avernus. He evaluates the adventure from a player’s perspective.
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