What you know

First of all, the promotional info:

FORGE YOUR FATE IN HELLFIRE!

Diabolical dangers await in this adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

Welcome to Baldur's Gate, a city of ambition and corruption. You’ve just started your
adventuring career, but already find yourself embroiled in a plot that sprawls from the shadows
of Baldur's Gate to the front lines of the planes-spanning Blood War! Do you have what it takes
to turn infernal war machines and nefarious contracts against the archdevil Zariel and her
diabolical hordes? And can you ever hope to find your way home safely when pitted against the
infinite evils of the Nine Hells?

● This heroic Dungeons & Dragons adventure book takes players from levels 1 to 13 as
they journey through Baldur's Gate and into Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells.
● Baldur's Gate is among the most iconic locations in fantasy culture. A mist-cloaked
metropolis on the Sword Coast, it’s a place of history and a home to heroes.
● The book introduces the infernal war machines to fifth edition D&D—battle-ready
vehicles, which you can customize as you blast off into the Blood War.
● Dungeon Masters will entice their heroes with devils' deals, designed to lure adventurers
with the ultimate temptations of power and treasure.

Also, you’re all familiar with Baldur’s Gate. I strongly recommend you read the Gazetteer
available here. Yes it’s long at 41 pages, but it will be invaluable. At least skim it. The art is nice.

We need to agree on a few things, all of which is open to discussion:

Rules

Rule 0: I make mistakes. Feel free to call me out. But be prepared to read the rule to me. If
you’re still unhappy with my ruling, we’ll discuss it after the session.

Rule 1: You are a team. Plan your character with others so you synergize. Conflict with other
party members should be at a minimum. Teamwork is necessary. This module is unforgiving
and cruel!
- 1.5 You will have a shared background - a Dark Secret "Every member of the party is
entangled in this dark secret, regardless of how new they are to the city or how incorruptible
their morals."

Rule 2: We need to agree to play the module. This means bite the hooks. If an NPC says “You’ll
need to go to Hell to do X” and you say “Fuck X” the module is concluded, and everyone moves
to Cormyr to retire to their potato farm. This module assumes you want to prevent a
catastrophe, build that into your character even if it’s only for self-interest.
Addendum 1: Avernus is Hell, and your victories will be undercut. This is the theme of the
module and not only me being a dick.

Alignment

You can play an Evil character.

- Don’t be Stupid Evil (I suggest playing Lawful Evil)
- Be complex. Maybe you like animals, or are an excellent parent, or value
friendship, but also maybe your goal is to be the tyrant lord of Baldur’s Gate.
- You also - for whatever reason you come up with - trust and rely on the rest of the party.

Don’t get too excited about playing an evil character though, the greatest rewards in the module
are for characters who are Good.
- However, it’s not called the High Road for nothing. This path is harder, and many doors
in Avernus will be closed.
- Don’t be Stupid Good.
- Even a Good character may need to negotiate with a devil instead of blindly
attacking.

Characters best suited to take advantage of the module will have flexible ethics

Tips

Characters with special hooks will be the following:

- Aasimar
- Tiefling (Especially Avernan)
- Followers of Torm, Helm, Lathander
- Opposed to Bane, Baal, Myrkl
- A warlock with a devil pact (especially an Avernian fiend)
- Dragonborn or other draconic lineage
- Follower of Tiamat
- Do you have a familiar? Consider a tressym
- Trained in smith tools or tinker tools

Expect to spend time in Baldur’s Gate. You will be there for several levels. Plan and gear
yourself up before going anywhere. In general there’s no rush to achieve your goals.

The module expects you to do more than just stand and fight. Think about using your
environment, using bystanders and thinking creatively. Your clever use of these resources will
be essential to your survival, especially at the start of the module.

On that note: Got money? Get hirelings.

This module has variant backgrounds and an additional background. Take advantage of them.

Special Rules

I will hand out character summary cards for you to fill out which will most importantly include
your background, Bonds, Flaws and Ideals.

I will be generous with Inspiration, so use it. Keep the following in mind:
If you have inspiration, you can expend it when you make an attack roll, saving throw, or
ability check. Spending your inspiration gives you advantage on that roll. Additionally, if
you have inspiration, you can reward another player for good roleplaying, clever
thinking, or simply doing something exciting in the game. When another player character
does something that really contributes to the story in a fun and interesting way, you can
give up your inspiration to give that character inspiration.

Milestone leveling. No XP. You level at story-specific points defined by the module.

“Run Away” If the party as a group decides to run away, we’ll end the combat and you withdraw
without further complication.
- We’ll move to skill checks only if one or more of you is captured, incapacitated,
seperated or other DM’s discretion situation

Let’s Talk

What would you like?

- By the book. Start at level 1. Brutal. Death is likely. Bragging rights.
- Start at level 3. Still hard, but more relaxed.
- Keith wanted firearms, which are very rare in Toril. Is this something you’d like to see
more of?
- I have never played the videogames, but they are canon. Is there something from the
games you’d like to see in BG:DiA?
- In my head canon, the Hells are connected to many planes of existence, not just Toril.
We might see beings from Greyhawk, Spelljammer, Eberron, Dragonlance, heck maybe
even our world. Are you OK with this?
- Should we pitch in and get this? It’s expensive for dice and a cookie tin, but it has
handouts and some added flavour.
- Hero Forge minis?
- If we want NPC minis I’ll need a lot of devils and demons.
- Paper minis?

Character Creation starts now

- Stat up and pick class as a group

- Discuss group background and dark secret.
- Pick background, Bonds, Flaws and Ideals
- Pick group background and dark secret as a group
- Everything else
- If characters are complete, we can talk about how the dark secret played out and how
everyone met.
- https://i.imgur.com/Cn776EM.gifv