What do you think?
Rate this book
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition
Puerta de Baldur: Descenso a Averno
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.
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.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 17, 2019
60 people are currently reading
697 people want to read
About the author
Adam Lee
57 books5 followersLibrarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
October 11, 2020
UPDATE: Check the end of this review for more thoughts after running this module for over a year
I’ve been running Descent into Avernus for 9 sessions now (about 27 hours of play time), and the party is still in Baldur’s Gate, the first location. Besides some cultists, they have heard nothing about Avernus or anything hellish. This is a testament to the main issue with the adventure, which is pacing.
No spoilers, but there are several places the characters will visit before Avernus, and as the DM, it’s a lot of work to keep them engaged. They are having fun, but I’ve had to add a good amount of backstory and personal connections to the plot in order make sure they do. We play once weekly, so 9 weeks and we aren’t past the first section. Admittedly, the first section is a fully realized quest in Baldur’s Gate that transitions to the larger story. There’s plenty to do, especially with the Baldur’s Gate Gazeteer section in the book, which is great.
But there’s no personal story hook for the party. And even if they invent one (which I had to do myself), they won’t get to Avernus for so long that they might forget which adventure they’re playing.
Simply put, this adventure is a lot of work for the DM early on, having to carry the momentum of the story by changing parts of it—or adding all new parts—in order for the players to remember Avernus at all, and to feel like they’re going to get there at some point.
I know that some DMs have just skipped the first 3 areas and dropped the party into Avernus, and I feel that’s closer to the right move. Some initial stuff in Baldur’s Gate, character intros and an initial fight that reveals the larger story, then wham, you’re there.
As it’s going with my group, we may reach Avernus in another 8 sessions, so we’d be clocking in at easily 40, maybe up to 60 hours of play before getting there. I hope I can keep their attention that long without them getting a single glimpse of the title setting. There’s an object early-ish on (8-10 sessions) that contains a devil’s trapped soul, but that’s about it.
There is also a very interesting “Dark Secret” mechanic, where the characters have all participated in a horrible act, like murder or theft. However, this is promptly forgotten, and never comes up again in the book after suggesting that you set it up. So basically, a cool idea that is left completely up to the DM to develop.
I can’t speak to the infernal war machines, devil contracts, or anything else because I haven’t had a chance to actually do any of it. It sounds cool in theory, but who knows? My players may get bored and drop off long before I ever get a chance to see Avernus, despite my best efforts.
**vague but significant spoilers for players from here until the update:**
One thing that worries me about the actual Avernus part of it is that the branching plot lines are both structured on a go-here-do-this chain of events. At each stop however—this being hell after all—they are lied to, cheated, and led on. While that’s true to the nature of devils and demons, in practice, I worry that this may be a frustrating experience.
Characters want to feel like they’re making progress, that their efforts mean something. The way the adventure is set up in the book, it seems like the party would be one or two bad sessions away from giving up entirely. Imagine a character dying (or nearly dying and suffering some disfigurement, of which there are many) after a long, arduous journey only to find that it was for nothing, a wild hellgoose chase, and the devil who sent you on it basically responds with “lol what did you expect?”
Also, the main villain is largely absent until the end of the campaign, and that is going to hurt the players’ investment into the story. Even her indirect influence is not very palpable, with Avernus functioning fine on its own while she’s off fighting the Blood War. I compare this to Strahd (which may not be fair on its surface, since he’s one of if not the best D&D villain ever, but I think it’s fair because this is D&D and they can rip off their own stories and villain traits), whose menacing presence is felt early and often. He toys with the party, scares them, turns them against each other. He even confronts them in battles they have no hope of winning, just to test them and scare them before disappearing. The main villain of DiA is MiA until the last few sessions, and in my opinion, I will need to change that, too. Which means more prep, more homebrew, more writing and planning. I have a running list of things I need to change and prep, and it’s not short.
Bottom line, I’m having fun, and my players are having fun, but it’s happening in spite of the module, not because of it... Prepping this adventure is a lot of work every week because of everything I have to change and add in order to keep the pace, and at the rate it’s running, this campaign will likely take at least 8 or 9 months to finish. That’s good, I’m many ways. But when half of that time will be spent just getting to the title setting, there’s a big risk of players falling asleep at the wheel.
UPDATE after over a year of playing nearly every week (No Spoilers)
I may have been too harsh in my review, so I bumped my original score of 3 stars to 4 stars. Here's why: nothing in the first 3 locations is anywhere near as fun as Avernus itself. That might sound obvious, but it shouldn't, given that there is a LOT that happens before you get to Avernus. But once my group got there, things really kicked up a notch.
There were 3 major things that really changed my mind:
First were the infernal war machine battles. The mechanics of war machine battles in the book are fun and lend themselves nicely to "theatre of the mind" play. I highly recommend running war machine combat this way, as it allows for some amazing free-flowing action. Throw on some Mad Max music and let chaos reign.
Second, infernal contracts. Let's face it, D&D parties are untrusting in the best of situations, so you have to be really clever to get them to sign an infernal contract (unless they already want to). Coming up with a way to get them ALL to sign the same contract was a nightmare at first, but became an RP dream come true. I was dreading infernal contracts because I just couldn't imagine a way to trick my players, nor could I think of anything to offer them that would make them sign. But I found a way, and it was extremely rewarding.
How I handled the infernal contract: weave a character's backstory in with the devil offering the deal, and make it a good deal. No tricks, or if there's a trick, it needs to be supremely subtle. This devil wants them to succeed, and it has answers to a player's past. Sprinkle in more breadcrumbs contingent on the rest of the party signing, one by one. One of the best sessions we've had in over 43 (and counting) sessions was the one where they decided, each for their own reasons, to sign the contract. To help their friend find answers, to gain power, and to defeat Zariel, they debated for well over an hour in real time and it lent itself to excellent RP opportunities.
Third: the difficulty. Once in hell, the encounters in the book can be quite difficult, if you choose to run them all-out. Most are either well-balanced or have clear signals that the group is outmatched and should run. However, my group consists of 3 veteran DMs and a veteran player, and they know their tactics. They run from (almost) nothing, and they either pay the price or reap the rewards. Players have fallen at the brink of death while dangerous enemies live on, cutting through the others. Players (not PCs, but the players) have frozen still, unable to decide how to deal with what's in front of them. These battles, when handled with care, can be both deadly and extremely rewarding. YMMV, of course, as it's dependent on the group.
So for those reasons, I've bumped my rating from 3 to 4 stars. It still has some motivation issues and more than a few "why did we just do that?" moments that will make the DM put in work, and I really hate that some majorly cool stuff from the Baldur's Gate section is abandoned the minute you leave the city, but it's a damn good adventure all the same.
I’ve been running Descent into Avernus for 9 sessions now (about 27 hours of play time), and the party is still in Baldur’s Gate, the first location. Besides some cultists, they have heard nothing about Avernus or anything hellish. This is a testament to the main issue with the adventure, which is pacing.
No spoilers, but there are several places the characters will visit before Avernus, and as the DM, it’s a lot of work to keep them engaged. They are having fun, but I’ve had to add a good amount of backstory and personal connections to the plot in order make sure they do. We play once weekly, so 9 weeks and we aren’t past the first section. Admittedly, the first section is a fully realized quest in Baldur’s Gate that transitions to the larger story. There’s plenty to do, especially with the Baldur’s Gate Gazeteer section in the book, which is great.
But there’s no personal story hook for the party. And even if they invent one (which I had to do myself), they won’t get to Avernus for so long that they might forget which adventure they’re playing.
Simply put, this adventure is a lot of work for the DM early on, having to carry the momentum of the story by changing parts of it—or adding all new parts—in order for the players to remember Avernus at all, and to feel like they’re going to get there at some point.
I know that some DMs have just skipped the first 3 areas and dropped the party into Avernus, and I feel that’s closer to the right move. Some initial stuff in Baldur’s Gate, character intros and an initial fight that reveals the larger story, then wham, you’re there.
As it’s going with my group, we may reach Avernus in another 8 sessions, so we’d be clocking in at easily 40, maybe up to 60 hours of play before getting there. I hope I can keep their attention that long without them getting a single glimpse of the title setting. There’s an object early-ish on (8-10 sessions) that contains a devil’s trapped soul, but that’s about it.
There is also a very interesting “Dark Secret” mechanic, where the characters have all participated in a horrible act, like murder or theft. However, this is promptly forgotten, and never comes up again in the book after suggesting that you set it up. So basically, a cool idea that is left completely up to the DM to develop.
I can’t speak to the infernal war machines, devil contracts, or anything else because I haven’t had a chance to actually do any of it. It sounds cool in theory, but who knows? My players may get bored and drop off long before I ever get a chance to see Avernus, despite my best efforts.
**vague but significant spoilers for players from here until the update:**
One thing that worries me about the actual Avernus part of it is that the branching plot lines are both structured on a go-here-do-this chain of events. At each stop however—this being hell after all—they are lied to, cheated, and led on. While that’s true to the nature of devils and demons, in practice, I worry that this may be a frustrating experience.
Characters want to feel like they’re making progress, that their efforts mean something. The way the adventure is set up in the book, it seems like the party would be one or two bad sessions away from giving up entirely. Imagine a character dying (or nearly dying and suffering some disfigurement, of which there are many) after a long, arduous journey only to find that it was for nothing, a wild hellgoose chase, and the devil who sent you on it basically responds with “lol what did you expect?”
Also, the main villain is largely absent until the end of the campaign, and that is going to hurt the players’ investment into the story. Even her indirect influence is not very palpable, with Avernus functioning fine on its own while she’s off fighting the Blood War. I compare this to Strahd (which may not be fair on its surface, since he’s one of if not the best D&D villain ever, but I think it’s fair because this is D&D and they can rip off their own stories and villain traits), whose menacing presence is felt early and often. He toys with the party, scares them, turns them against each other. He even confronts them in battles they have no hope of winning, just to test them and scare them before disappearing. The main villain of DiA is MiA until the last few sessions, and in my opinion, I will need to change that, too. Which means more prep, more homebrew, more writing and planning. I have a running list of things I need to change and prep, and it’s not short.
Bottom line, I’m having fun, and my players are having fun, but it’s happening in spite of the module, not because of it... Prepping this adventure is a lot of work every week because of everything I have to change and add in order to keep the pace, and at the rate it’s running, this campaign will likely take at least 8 or 9 months to finish. That’s good, I’m many ways. But when half of that time will be spent just getting to the title setting, there’s a big risk of players falling asleep at the wheel.
UPDATE after over a year of playing nearly every week (No Spoilers)
I may have been too harsh in my review, so I bumped my original score of 3 stars to 4 stars. Here's why: nothing in the first 3 locations is anywhere near as fun as Avernus itself. That might sound obvious, but it shouldn't, given that there is a LOT that happens before you get to Avernus. But once my group got there, things really kicked up a notch.
There were 3 major things that really changed my mind:
First were the infernal war machine battles. The mechanics of war machine battles in the book are fun and lend themselves nicely to "theatre of the mind" play. I highly recommend running war machine combat this way, as it allows for some amazing free-flowing action. Throw on some Mad Max music and let chaos reign.
Second, infernal contracts. Let's face it, D&D parties are untrusting in the best of situations, so you have to be really clever to get them to sign an infernal contract (unless they already want to). Coming up with a way to get them ALL to sign the same contract was a nightmare at first, but became an RP dream come true. I was dreading infernal contracts because I just couldn't imagine a way to trick my players, nor could I think of anything to offer them that would make them sign. But I found a way, and it was extremely rewarding.
How I handled the infernal contract: weave a character's backstory in with the devil offering the deal, and make it a good deal. No tricks, or if there's a trick, it needs to be supremely subtle. This devil wants them to succeed, and it has answers to a player's past. Sprinkle in more breadcrumbs contingent on the rest of the party signing, one by one. One of the best sessions we've had in over 43 (and counting) sessions was the one where they decided, each for their own reasons, to sign the contract. To help their friend find answers, to gain power, and to defeat Zariel, they debated for well over an hour in real time and it lent itself to excellent RP opportunities.
Third: the difficulty. Once in hell, the encounters in the book can be quite difficult, if you choose to run them all-out. Most are either well-balanced or have clear signals that the group is outmatched and should run. However, my group consists of 3 veteran DMs and a veteran player, and they know their tactics. They run from (almost) nothing, and they either pay the price or reap the rewards. Players have fallen at the brink of death while dangerous enemies live on, cutting through the others. Players (not PCs, but the players) have frozen still, unable to decide how to deal with what's in front of them. These battles, when handled with care, can be both deadly and extremely rewarding. YMMV, of course, as it's dependent on the group.
So for those reasons, I've bumped my rating from 3 to 4 stars. It still has some motivation issues and more than a few "why did we just do that?" moments that will make the DM put in work, and I really hate that some majorly cool stuff from the Baldur's Gate section is abandoned the minute you leave the city, but it's a damn good adventure all the same.
September 28, 2019
Absolutely flipping awesome. I can't wait to run this.
March 30, 2020
I think this is an excellent source book and a terrible module.
January 28, 2020
It may not be a popular observation to make, but the D&D mission books do have an educational mission that is not always sufficiently recognized either by those who are fond of the game or those who are hostile to it. The authors of this mission portray the politics of the world of Baldur's Gate, in which this particular mission is set, as being involved with various demonic pacts and dark spiritual matters. An understanding of the demonic aspect of a great deal of government behavior certainly does put our own contemporary political crises in a dark but accurate context, and certainly would lead us not to think too highly of our own swamp monsters just as this particular mission involves a group of heroes who uncover a very dark conspiracy which has immense consequences for the suffering people of a neighboring city who are finding their city gradually being dragged down into the first of the nine layers of hell. If there is a better reflection on the dark mood of our own contemporary age concerning the troubles that are facing us due to political and moral darkness, it would be hard to think of a more accurate reflection of the seriousness of our own times.
This book is bout 250 pages long. It begins with a pronunciation guide as well as an introductory section about the adventure and some advice to the GM/reader about how to roleplay devils. The first chapter of the book discusses the fall of Elturel and the evil that has sprung up as a result in Baldur's Gate (1), along with the way that running this chapter should level up a party of characters sufficiently to be able to take on the challenges that await below. After that the author discusses the arrival in Elturel, which finds itself being chained and slowly dragged down to Avernus and being attacked by both demons and devils (2). After that the author provides a lengthy chapter where the party is supposed to travel through Avernus in search of a way for Elturel to be freed from its burdens in such a way that does not cost the party its life or its eternal destiny (3). A short chapter then discusses the way that the Sword of Zariel can be used to help redeem the fallen angel in charge of Avernus (4) and then provides various ways that the party can successfully escape from the first layer of hell and return to their homes (5). After that the author provides a gazetteer of information about Baldur's Gate that could have easily gone at the beginning as part of the context for the adventure as well as appendices including diabolical deals (i), infernal war machines powered by souls (ii), magic items (iii), creatures (iv), infernal rapture menus (v), story concept art (vi), and infernal script (vii).
Even if this book is deeply relevant to our own times, it does not make it any more fun to read. I have to admit that my own interest in playing in adventures that involve the travels of a party of (presumably good) characters to the realms of hell to make potentially soul-destroying deals with various demons in the hope of saving people from the consequences of political treachery is limited at best. Whether as a GM or player, I tend to feel that there is enough interesting material to deal with that does not involve the darkness of various planes and their satanic inhabitants. To be sure, this sort of adventure will be appealing to a lot of people, but I don't happen to be among the people who finds this particular thing very enjoyable. Not all adventures are made for all people, though, and I certainly see reasons why people would enjoy this, especially if one had a party that was heavily skewed to the neutral or evil side that would not be so tormented by a great deal of time spent dealing with the fractious and lawful evil rulers of Avernus, a task that I would not personally relish.
This book is bout 250 pages long. It begins with a pronunciation guide as well as an introductory section about the adventure and some advice to the GM/reader about how to roleplay devils. The first chapter of the book discusses the fall of Elturel and the evil that has sprung up as a result in Baldur's Gate (1), along with the way that running this chapter should level up a party of characters sufficiently to be able to take on the challenges that await below. After that the author discusses the arrival in Elturel, which finds itself being chained and slowly dragged down to Avernus and being attacked by both demons and devils (2). After that the author provides a lengthy chapter where the party is supposed to travel through Avernus in search of a way for Elturel to be freed from its burdens in such a way that does not cost the party its life or its eternal destiny (3). A short chapter then discusses the way that the Sword of Zariel can be used to help redeem the fallen angel in charge of Avernus (4) and then provides various ways that the party can successfully escape from the first layer of hell and return to their homes (5). After that the author provides a gazetteer of information about Baldur's Gate that could have easily gone at the beginning as part of the context for the adventure as well as appendices including diabolical deals (i), infernal war machines powered by souls (ii), magic items (iii), creatures (iv), infernal rapture menus (v), story concept art (vi), and infernal script (vii).
Even if this book is deeply relevant to our own times, it does not make it any more fun to read. I have to admit that my own interest in playing in adventures that involve the travels of a party of (presumably good) characters to the realms of hell to make potentially soul-destroying deals with various demons in the hope of saving people from the consequences of political treachery is limited at best. Whether as a GM or player, I tend to feel that there is enough interesting material to deal with that does not involve the darkness of various planes and their satanic inhabitants. To be sure, this sort of adventure will be appealing to a lot of people, but I don't happen to be among the people who finds this particular thing very enjoyable. Not all adventures are made for all people, though, and I certainly see reasons why people would enjoy this, especially if one had a party that was heavily skewed to the neutral or evil side that would not be so tormented by a great deal of time spent dealing with the fractious and lawful evil rulers of Avernus, a task that I would not personally relish.
March 28, 2020
Dates read = dates run.
There’s a lot of great ideas with this but the pacing and execution is baaaad. Get Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes instead and write your own adventure to save yourself the time put towards this. It’s not a “pick up and run” adventure that a lot of newer dms would want from Wizards, especially so late into 5e’s life. There are indeed some real cool moments but you’ve gotta get through the padding, fetch quests and everything else before you get to any meat. There’s a whole lot of fat on this campaign and it’s a real disappointment too.
There’s a lot of great ideas with this but the pacing and execution is baaaad. Get Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes instead and write your own adventure to save yourself the time put towards this. It’s not a “pick up and run” adventure that a lot of newer dms would want from Wizards, especially so late into 5e’s life. There are indeed some real cool moments but you’ve gotta get through the padding, fetch quests and everything else before you get to any meat. There’s a whole lot of fat on this campaign and it’s a real disappointment too.
![Profile Image for [Name Redacted].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1347082397i%2F287915._UY200_CR0%2C0%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
December 17, 2021
A module in which a refugee crisis leads to riots & rampant lawlessness because powerful elites, bitter that they aren't in complete control over their nation, secretly pay for rioters & activists & murderers to discredit the local constabulary so they can demand the cops be de-funded so that the cops will quit so that those elites can seize power in the vacuum thereby created...and then literally sell their city to Hell.
And this was released in 2019.
Oof.
And this was released in 2019.
Oof.
September 19, 2019
If I'm being honest, it's 4.75 stars, because there are still a few things I'll need to edit and change, but this is easily the coolest adventure I've ever read. More detailed review after I've run it.
July 3, 2020
I’m totally counting this as a book, I read it, my dnd group played through, and I’m hurting on books for my yearly goal
I know, I know! The ethics of this reading goal are called into question—with good reason.
Regardless, I’m counting it.
I know, I know! The ethics of this reading goal are called into question—with good reason.
Regardless, I’m counting it.
March 11, 2023
A fun adventure but the first chapter is tricky to run and needed lots of additions in order to make it work for my play-group.
July 31, 2023
My two new favourite NPCs: the imps Pins and Needles.
February 26, 2024
Wonderful module. After over a year, we finished last weekend. Can’t recommend enough.
March 11, 2024
So many paths to take. A well made adventure. The maps could be better but they are functional. Nice infernal artwork.
November 2, 2019
Really sick premise with bad followthru. The baddies don’t scale very well, the adventure isn’t written with much inspiration, and even the hellish and celestial loot kinda feels like “meh.” I took my time, and I really enjoyed the accompanying map, but this just wasn’t my favourite module.
April 13, 2024
A D&D adventure where the characters start in the infamous city of Baldur's Gate, fighting evil cults, and are eventually drawn into plumbing Avernus, the first layer of Hell, to try to rescue a city dragged into this profane underworld by the fallen angel, Zariel.
I didn't really care for this adventure, it's just not as balanced and gripping as I'd hoped. That said, if you start your adventure with the actual quest into Avernus, it might be worth your time (3 stars?). The starting adventure in Balder's Gate, however, is absolute trash. The player's are railroaded at every turn, into a series of confrontations with unbalanced encounters that will probably kill half the party or more. Player characters will have to be optimized and lucky to survive. Being smart is not going to make a big difference, because in practically every encounter the bad-guys will be waiting to ambush the group, even if they have NO IDEA the group is coming. Yeah, later on in hell, where everyone is eternally suspicious and at war, the group might be able to catch some enemies by surprise; invading the cult HQ in Baldur's Gate and taking them by total surprise, they are almost always ready for the group for no logical reason! Later, in Avernus, PCs have a lot of freedom to decide where to go and what to do. In the introductory adventure it's just a series of fights and dungeon crawls that you must do or the corrupt city watch will break your kneecaps. This sounds like the exact opposite of fun to me, and pretty much every Youtube review I watched also felt that it was awful, tacked on possibly because of the name recognition of Balder's Gate, or to try to raise said recognition for selling other products and games. At the end of the book is a guide to Baldur's Gate, with a number of adventure hooks for DM's to use. It's not bad, but it feel like an insult to include adventure hooks better than what the main adventure uses, and to have detailed descriptions of a city that the group will NOT explore in this adventure.
After entering Avernus things get a lot better, as PCs can do far more interaction and make their own choices, in addition to having much higher stakes (rescuing themselves and a whole city from Hell!), as compared to being told what to do "or else". There's a lot of clever monsters and situations too, including some unexpected allies (philosophical vulture demon?) and scenarios (Mad Max in Hell is certainly intriguing!). It does have problems though. Many of the encounters are going to be extremely dangerous and challenging, and in some cases the group will have to be discreet, or some major demon or devil will obliterate them. There is the constant risk of being turned evil or losing all memory, which sounds gripping in a story, but in a game of D&D it means just losing your character. One chapter has the group being obliged to make a series of deals to get anywhere. Which fits with the vibe Hell, certainly, but six or seven "fetch me X and I'll give you Y" mini-quests in a row sound really dull to me. There's an occasional feel that the authors did not work together very well, as later in the book the PCs can get useful information if they help a demon, but an NPC traveling with them guilts them for doing so.... even though said NPC didn't say a damn thing back when the group was wheeling and dealing with various devils and demons the chapter before!
In short, the long slog through hell feels exhausting, but the right group would enjoy it. The short shafting through Baldur's Gate is crud and no one should do it.
I didn't really care for this adventure, it's just not as balanced and gripping as I'd hoped. That said, if you start your adventure with the actual quest into Avernus, it might be worth your time (3 stars?). The starting adventure in Balder's Gate, however, is absolute trash. The player's are railroaded at every turn, into a series of confrontations with unbalanced encounters that will probably kill half the party or more. Player characters will have to be optimized and lucky to survive. Being smart is not going to make a big difference, because in practically every encounter the bad-guys will be waiting to ambush the group, even if they have NO IDEA the group is coming. Yeah, later on in hell, where everyone is eternally suspicious and at war, the group might be able to catch some enemies by surprise; invading the cult HQ in Baldur's Gate and taking them by total surprise, they are almost always ready for the group for no logical reason! Later, in Avernus, PCs have a lot of freedom to decide where to go and what to do. In the introductory adventure it's just a series of fights and dungeon crawls that you must do or the corrupt city watch will break your kneecaps. This sounds like the exact opposite of fun to me, and pretty much every Youtube review I watched also felt that it was awful, tacked on possibly because of the name recognition of Balder's Gate, or to try to raise said recognition for selling other products and games. At the end of the book is a guide to Baldur's Gate, with a number of adventure hooks for DM's to use. It's not bad, but it feel like an insult to include adventure hooks better than what the main adventure uses, and to have detailed descriptions of a city that the group will NOT explore in this adventure.
After entering Avernus things get a lot better, as PCs can do far more interaction and make their own choices, in addition to having much higher stakes (rescuing themselves and a whole city from Hell!), as compared to being told what to do "or else". There's a lot of clever monsters and situations too, including some unexpected allies (philosophical vulture demon?) and scenarios (Mad Max in Hell is certainly intriguing!). It does have problems though. Many of the encounters are going to be extremely dangerous and challenging, and in some cases the group will have to be discreet, or some major demon or devil will obliterate them. There is the constant risk of being turned evil or losing all memory, which sounds gripping in a story, but in a game of D&D it means just losing your character. One chapter has the group being obliged to make a series of deals to get anywhere. Which fits with the vibe Hell, certainly, but six or seven "fetch me X and I'll give you Y" mini-quests in a row sound really dull to me. There's an occasional feel that the authors did not work together very well, as later in the book the PCs can get useful information if they help a demon, but an NPC traveling with them guilts them for doing so.... even though said NPC didn't say a damn thing back when the group was wheeling and dealing with various devils and demons the chapter before!
In short, the long slog through hell feels exhausting, but the right group would enjoy it. The short shafting through Baldur's Gate is crud and no one should do it.
June 23, 2022
Unlike some of the campaign books I've also DM'd this book, the adventure now in its last few sessions. For a range of reasons I've modified the campaign (my players are level 15 for a start), and it seems I'm not unique in that.
Descent is a heavily criticised adventure. Some of this is fair, some less so. From the outset I loved the tone and scope of the adventure: I mean a whole city is pulled into Hell and the adventurers go try and free it. In the way are initially cultists and laterally all the devils and demons you could ever want. The first issue is character experience and survivability against what should logically be a high level challenge (as my players are). So to buff them up pre-Hell we have a whole section in Baldurs Gate. They follow a strange paper trail to noble cultists and get some early devil action, and clues to the bigger plot of where Elturel the disappeared city is.
After a slightly contrived way of getting to Avernus, the players spend time in (H)Elturel and then finally get onto Avernus following the lead of an amnesic holyphant companion as she regains memory. The Avernus chapter is badly structured with some great encounters, and two possible routes with far too many video game style fetch quests before the enjoyable Bleeding Citadel, and the suprisingly flexible finale.
So what's good? The theme and tone is great. It feels epic, it has some great fiends in it, and some excellent encounters. The Helturel city floating above Avernus is so well flavoured. I like the themes of redemption, of devil deals, and of loyalty. Aspects of the plot are great (a stolen damned city, driven by revenge).
But ...
Perhaps moreso than other WotC adventures there's some glaring plot holes, shaky background, and illogicality to the whole thing. For some groups they won't care, but for others it'll feel really unsatisfactory. Many of the chapters are very railroady, peaking at the tiresome fetch quests of the Avernus chapter. It's pitched at too low a level as written IMO, and has definitely benefitted an upscale for my game.
It's all very fixable, but that needs work and, really, if you throw £40 at a book it shouldn't need much extra.
I used some tips from Justin Alexandra (Alexandrian.net site) for rewriting the history of the Hellriders and Zariel, and tweaked Elturel accordingly. I used some ideas to make Baldurs Gate a murder mystery, and brought players into Elturel at the start of the adventure and nearby when it 'disappeared.'
From Eventyr games (via DMs Guild) I altered the Avernus chapter into more of a sandbox and nodal structure.
I'd highly recommend both resources to make the adventure more cohesive and enjoyable.
Overall it's a great idea, with loads of challenging content, and I'm really glad I've run it. But with the effort that's needed to alter it, I'd only give it 3 stars.
Descent is a heavily criticised adventure. Some of this is fair, some less so. From the outset I loved the tone and scope of the adventure: I mean a whole city is pulled into Hell and the adventurers go try and free it. In the way are initially cultists and laterally all the devils and demons you could ever want. The first issue is character experience and survivability against what should logically be a high level challenge (as my players are). So to buff them up pre-Hell we have a whole section in Baldurs Gate. They follow a strange paper trail to noble cultists and get some early devil action, and clues to the bigger plot of where Elturel the disappeared city is.
After a slightly contrived way of getting to Avernus, the players spend time in (H)Elturel and then finally get onto Avernus following the lead of an amnesic holyphant companion as she regains memory. The Avernus chapter is badly structured with some great encounters, and two possible routes with far too many video game style fetch quests before the enjoyable Bleeding Citadel, and the suprisingly flexible finale.
So what's good? The theme and tone is great. It feels epic, it has some great fiends in it, and some excellent encounters. The Helturel city floating above Avernus is so well flavoured. I like the themes of redemption, of devil deals, and of loyalty. Aspects of the plot are great (a stolen damned city, driven by revenge).
But ...
Perhaps moreso than other WotC adventures there's some glaring plot holes, shaky background, and illogicality to the whole thing. For some groups they won't care, but for others it'll feel really unsatisfactory. Many of the chapters are very railroady, peaking at the tiresome fetch quests of the Avernus chapter. It's pitched at too low a level as written IMO, and has definitely benefitted an upscale for my game.
It's all very fixable, but that needs work and, really, if you throw £40 at a book it shouldn't need much extra.
I used some tips from Justin Alexandra (Alexandrian.net site) for rewriting the history of the Hellriders and Zariel, and tweaked Elturel accordingly. I used some ideas to make Baldurs Gate a murder mystery, and brought players into Elturel at the start of the adventure and nearby when it 'disappeared.'
From Eventyr games (via DMs Guild) I altered the Avernus chapter into more of a sandbox and nodal structure.
I'd highly recommend both resources to make the adventure more cohesive and enjoyable.
Overall it's a great idea, with loads of challenging content, and I'm really glad I've run it. But with the effort that's needed to alter it, I'd only give it 3 stars.
Read
July 17, 2021Like everyone says, the infernal war machines in this are indeed full Mad Max: Fury Road, a totally unhinged proposition, riding spiked motorcycles and other insane vehicles at full tilt across the fiery wastelands of hell. This is Extremely My Shit, and absolutely glorious. The problem is everything else in the book.
The Baldur's Gate section at the start, apparently added midway through production, indeed feels tacked on. A huge slew of content that has very little to do with the later hell adventure, all of which could take a dozen sessions to get through, none of which is particularly inspired or interesting. I have no connection to this place as a setting, so I found the massive worldbuilding document included here a pretty big waste of pages. If you wanted to run this as written, my advice would be to start in Elturel as the city is dragged into hell; that's an opening and a half, not doing grunt work for some shitty mercenaries in a generic town. The only good thing in this long opening section is the wizard who was polymorphed into an otter and then decided that he liked it, so now he's an otter all the time. He's potentially the best NPC in any module tbh.
Once in hell, there's some good bits and pieces, at least when they're considered into isolation. I'm certainly a fan of the night hag who runs a chop shop, and many of the other devilish characters would be great fun to play, all of them vying for power and trying to tempt the players into just the worst deals and contracts. But as a campaign? Absolutely not. The structure is horrendous, full of going to a place for a vague reason only, once there, to be told that, oh, no, actually you need to go to a different place for that vague reason, and so on and so on and so on.
And although there's many possible permutations for how the campaign can end, most of them do not directly involve or centre the player's actions; it'd be like ending with a cutscene. Completely unsatisfying. The highs here are extraordinary, with the potential for, well, this. But the lows are some of the worst design I've seen in any of the official modules so far. Pick up what you can and run.
The Baldur's Gate section at the start, apparently added midway through production, indeed feels tacked on. A huge slew of content that has very little to do with the later hell adventure, all of which could take a dozen sessions to get through, none of which is particularly inspired or interesting. I have no connection to this place as a setting, so I found the massive worldbuilding document included here a pretty big waste of pages. If you wanted to run this as written, my advice would be to start in Elturel as the city is dragged into hell; that's an opening and a half, not doing grunt work for some shitty mercenaries in a generic town. The only good thing in this long opening section is the wizard who was polymorphed into an otter and then decided that he liked it, so now he's an otter all the time. He's potentially the best NPC in any module tbh.
Once in hell, there's some good bits and pieces, at least when they're considered into isolation. I'm certainly a fan of the night hag who runs a chop shop, and many of the other devilish characters would be great fun to play, all of them vying for power and trying to tempt the players into just the worst deals and contracts. But as a campaign? Absolutely not. The structure is horrendous, full of going to a place for a vague reason only, once there, to be told that, oh, no, actually you need to go to a different place for that vague reason, and so on and so on and so on.
And although there's many possible permutations for how the campaign can end, most of them do not directly involve or centre the player's actions; it'd be like ending with a cutscene. Completely unsatisfying. The highs here are extraordinary, with the potential for, well, this. But the lows are some of the worst design I've seen in any of the official modules so far. Pick up what you can and run.
January 1, 2023
D&D hot potato
*Disclaimer: I have only read this, have not yet run the campaign for a party
As many other reviewers have said, the party is just passed from one NPC to another until they're led to the final battle/plot. It's disconnected side quest after side quest with very few returning NPCs. This tried to do way too much and left a lot of really fantastic concepts half developed.
If you're a new DM that wants a lot of structure or you don't have time to rework a large part of the adventure, this isn't a bad module to use. The NPCs are interesting, the plot is relatively quick paced, and you'll be able to lead the party through the plot, giving them some free will but for the most part, they'll have to follow the module. This could also be helpful for a party that doesn't have a lot of initiative (ie. needs someone to lead/make decisions). But if you have strong willed players like I do, I see a lot of conflict occurring.
If you, like me, don't want to be caged in like this, be prepared to spend hours reworking the plot, especially the beginning in Baldur's Gate, to make it more of a free world for the characters. One of the biggest edits I'll be making is the character's motivations. This module never really gives a reason why this party is doing anything, other than that NPCs (who are of much higher level) tell them to. Like dude, just do it yourself. Why have level 4 characters do it? Why these characters? What do they have in common? The dark secret part is a half-@ssed attempt to tie them all together.
Once you get into Avernus, it's a string of "I'll help you if you do me a favor" from NPC to NPC. What if you have lawful good characters in the party? Are they really ok doing so many favors for demons and devils?
Summary:
-It's the books way or the highway (i.e. the party is forced to do x, y, and z or be killed)
-The lore is great
-There were too many good ideas that weren't utilized well (the infernal war machines, the Wandering Emporium, the politics of the demon lords)
-Is going to take a lot of work to make it playable for my DMing style
*Disclaimer: I have only read this, have not yet run the campaign for a party
As many other reviewers have said, the party is just passed from one NPC to another until they're led to the final battle/plot. It's disconnected side quest after side quest with very few returning NPCs. This tried to do way too much and left a lot of really fantastic concepts half developed.
If you're a new DM that wants a lot of structure or you don't have time to rework a large part of the adventure, this isn't a bad module to use. The NPCs are interesting, the plot is relatively quick paced, and you'll be able to lead the party through the plot, giving them some free will but for the most part, they'll have to follow the module. This could also be helpful for a party that doesn't have a lot of initiative (ie. needs someone to lead/make decisions). But if you have strong willed players like I do, I see a lot of conflict occurring.
If you, like me, don't want to be caged in like this, be prepared to spend hours reworking the plot, especially the beginning in Baldur's Gate, to make it more of a free world for the characters. One of the biggest edits I'll be making is the character's motivations. This module never really gives a reason why this party is doing anything, other than that NPCs (who are of much higher level) tell them to. Like dude, just do it yourself. Why have level 4 characters do it? Why these characters? What do they have in common? The dark secret part is a half-@ssed attempt to tie them all together.
Once you get into Avernus, it's a string of "I'll help you if you do me a favor" from NPC to NPC. What if you have lawful good characters in the party? Are they really ok doing so many favors for demons and devils?
Summary:
-It's the books way or the highway (i.e. the party is forced to do x, y, and z or be killed)
-The lore is great
-There were too many good ideas that weren't utilized well (the infernal war machines, the Wandering Emporium, the politics of the demon lords)
-Is going to take a lot of work to make it playable for my DMing style
July 26, 2021
This is a curious book. The first part takes place in Baldur"s Gate and the second part in Avernus the first layer of Hell. The two parts, even though there is a through plot, do not feel very connected. Some of the choices are strange. You must save a city that has been sucked into hell, but this is not Baldur's Gate guaranteeing a minimum of player investment. I found the first four levels in Baldur's Gate a bit dull, although it is useable. Levels 5 through 6 are curiously uninspired for a city sucked into hell, but useable. However, levels 7 through 13 that take place in Avernus are excellent. It is a unique vision of Hell partially inspired by the Mad Max movies. It is quite open and sandboxy and the DM will have to do some work and interpretation. However, I think it would be a barrel of monkeys to play and it is different and interesting. It's for a DM that wants to work but it should be a lot of fun.
There is also quite a bit of appendix material. There is a very good gazetteer of Baldur's Gate. The adventure ideas are better than what is in the actual material and you could run quite a good campaign set in Baldur's Gate using it. There is also material on the Mad Max style vehicles and contracts with Devils. All that is very well done. There are new monsters and magic items too, although most of the monsters have been published elsewhere, which was a little disappointing.
Overall, there is good material here for two campaigns, but I do not think that I would put them together the way they are in this book. I would say this is a great book for raiding material from, but with the exception of levels 7 through 13, which are excellent, I would not do this completely as written.
Not a good staring campaign book, but handy for the creative DM.
There is also quite a bit of appendix material. There is a very good gazetteer of Baldur's Gate. The adventure ideas are better than what is in the actual material and you could run quite a good campaign set in Baldur's Gate using it. There is also material on the Mad Max style vehicles and contracts with Devils. All that is very well done. There are new monsters and magic items too, although most of the monsters have been published elsewhere, which was a little disappointing.
Overall, there is good material here for two campaigns, but I do not think that I would put them together the way they are in this book. I would say this is a great book for raiding material from, but with the exception of levels 7 through 13, which are excellent, I would not do this completely as written.
Not a good staring campaign book, but handy for the creative DM.
September 28, 2023
So after running this campaign with a few friends and giving it a handful of days for me to think about it, I've come to the conclusion that the problem isn't with the campaign itself, it's the way that the details were handled.
Without divulging too much of the story, I just cannot justify the beginning portion of this campaign. At the time of me writing this review, my team was TPK'd thrice and almost TPK'd twice after that. Enemy scaling and leveling was much too difficult, the cave system to scrap what remnants of a story there is was abysmal, and nothing really contributed to the story of "hey guys, let's LITERALLY decent into HELL, who's with me?" unless my DM forced it upon us. Many times I felt that the lack of context gave way to certain issues that created lots of party confusion as to what the hell we were actually supposed to be doing. Then the ending came and it's like "oh, so we're done now?" Again, not the worst campaign I have played, but still probably the most demanding in terms of patience and...well, level two dungeons that have fireball. But that's just my take.
Without divulging too much of the story, I just cannot justify the beginning portion of this campaign. At the time of me writing this review, my team was TPK'd thrice and almost TPK'd twice after that. Enemy scaling and leveling was much too difficult, the cave system to scrap what remnants of a story there is was abysmal, and nothing really contributed to the story of "hey guys, let's LITERALLY decent into HELL, who's with me?" unless my DM forced it upon us. Many times I felt that the lack of context gave way to certain issues that created lots of party confusion as to what the hell we were actually supposed to be doing. Then the ending came and it's like "oh, so we're done now?" Again, not the worst campaign I have played, but still probably the most demanding in terms of patience and...well, level two dungeons that have fireball. But that's just my take.
November 27, 2024
This is one of several 5E books that my best friend gave me.
This books is a campaign module that takes players into Avernus, one of the 9 Hells featured in Forgotten Realms lore. Specifically, an entire city - Elturel - is taken to this layer of the Hells, and the players need to find out why it happened and how to restore Elturel to the surface world.
It's a great story and features a great double-sided map, but its real claim to fame is that it ties into the excellent video game Baldur's Gate III as it takes place just bit before the game's story takes place. Anyone who has played the video game will recognize several of the characters and events featured in this book as they set a lot of the backdrop for Baldur's Gate III. My only complaint is the maps. Apparently a few years after 5E was launched the maps scattered throughout each module were changed from colorful, highly detailed maps to maps that are empty outlines of the represented area. They feature color in the lines but it's a single color and that makes it kind of difficult to make out the details. Great book otherwise.
This books is a campaign module that takes players into Avernus, one of the 9 Hells featured in Forgotten Realms lore. Specifically, an entire city - Elturel - is taken to this layer of the Hells, and the players need to find out why it happened and how to restore Elturel to the surface world.
It's a great story and features a great double-sided map, but its real claim to fame is that it ties into the excellent video game Baldur's Gate III as it takes place just bit before the game's story takes place. Anyone who has played the video game will recognize several of the characters and events featured in this book as they set a lot of the backdrop for Baldur's Gate III. My only complaint is the maps. Apparently a few years after 5E was launched the maps scattered throughout each module were changed from colorful, highly detailed maps to maps that are empty outlines of the represented area. They feature color in the lines but it's a single color and that makes it kind of difficult to make out the details. Great book otherwise.
March 19, 2025
While I like the concept of the campaign (which is why I'm running it!) there's a lot of problems with the structure of it as written here, so I've found the need to supplement things with material from the DMs Guild to resolve that, including a prequel one shot "The Fall of Elturel" that's a prequel to both this and "Tyranny of Dragons" that has a better way of hooking players into the story than the default "railroaded by the Flaming Fist" way.
Also, there are some elements in the third and fourth chapters that sound great but can be almost entirely skipped by accident, so I'm using some Eventyr games content to restructure and include them (plus adding a couple of extra encounters).
Outside of the campaign/module, the Baldur's Gate Gazetteer has a lot of useful information about the titular city that has a lot of handy hooks/ideas for homebrew adventures...
Also, there are some elements in the third and fourth chapters that sound great but can be almost entirely skipped by accident, so I'm using some Eventyr games content to restructure and include them (plus adding a couple of extra encounters).
Outside of the campaign/module, the Baldur's Gate Gazetteer has a lot of useful information about the titular city that has a lot of handy hooks/ideas for homebrew adventures...
March 9, 2020
Super interesting! I love the setting of Baldur's Gate! The gazette is an amazing resource and they give you so much info to work with. I will say that the beginning does railroad the party a bit. I don't feel like this is a spoiler since it's the beginning of the story, but stop reading here if you don't wish to know.
The very first part of the adventure they're supposed to help out a leader of the Flaming Fists. Cool. The problem arises when they don't. The leader is supposed to be tyrannical, so if they don't agree to help him out, or they accept but don't go through, you're supposed to send wave after wave of Flaming Fist until the party accepts. I don't want to coerce my friends into playing D&D. The introduction should be interesting enough that they want to play.
The very first part of the adventure they're supposed to help out a leader of the Flaming Fists. Cool. The problem arises when they don't. The leader is supposed to be tyrannical, so if they don't agree to help him out, or they accept but don't go through, you're supposed to send wave after wave of Flaming Fist until the party accepts. I don't want to coerce my friends into playing D&D. The introduction should be interesting enough that they want to play.
September 9, 2020
I love the devils and demons mythos in Faerun. Its some of my favourite lore to read. Avernus did not let me down in that department.
Other than to know the name Baldur's Gate from video games and the Sword Coast Maps I knew very little about the city. I loved reading about it. It is a dark and lawless place just brimming with possible campaign hooks. This book introduces a lot of neat hooks and side quests in the city but also is a great inspiration for stories to take place in the corrupted streets. Even if I didn't enjoy the demons/devils information reading about Baldur's Gate makes this a book worth picking up!
Other than to know the name Baldur's Gate from video games and the Sword Coast Maps I knew very little about the city. I loved reading about it. It is a dark and lawless place just brimming with possible campaign hooks. This book introduces a lot of neat hooks and side quests in the city but also is a great inspiration for stories to take place in the corrupted streets. Even if I didn't enjoy the demons/devils information reading about Baldur's Gate makes this a book worth picking up!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2020
I skipped every edition of D&D after AD&D, so I wasn't familiar with the original edition of Baldur's Gate. Of course, I'd seen the video game and had heard people talk about it.
I bought this to add to my campaign rather than as a play through adventure module. I like some of the creatures, the idea of the soul coins as a source of "fuel", and that magic will work differently in a world that is essentially hell.
Lots to work with here if you want to play it as a stand-alone, or if you just want to add to your long-running campaign.
I bought this to add to my campaign rather than as a play through adventure module. I like some of the creatures, the idea of the soul coins as a source of "fuel", and that magic will work differently in a world that is essentially hell.
Lots to work with here if you want to play it as a stand-alone, or if you just want to add to your long-running campaign.
May 25, 2020
I'm not saying the players in this adventure will end up riding adamantine war motorcycles across the burning fields of the Nine Hells to claim the blade of a fallen angel and battle Zariel the Archdevil as hordes of demons wage an eternal blood war... but I'm not NOT saying the players in this adventure will end up riding adamantine war motorcycles across the burning fields of the Nine Hells to claim the blade of a fallen angel and battle Zariel the Archdevil as hordes of demons wage an eternal blood war.
October 19, 2021
Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus is an adventure module for the fifth edition of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. It will serve as a prequel to the video game Baldur's Gate III.
Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (PDF-Online Reading-Download-Summary-Review): https://www.toevolution.com/blog/view...
Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (PDF-Online Reading-Download-Summary-Review): https://www.toevolution.com/blog/view...
December 11, 2023
Baldurs Gate part was amazing and there is so many situations and options explained in this book. You could literally run a whole campagin with information from this book about Baldurs Gate. But man avernus part was somehow just dry and it didnt have any character, I mean some more experienced DM could run it better propably but it was just meh.
December 4, 2019
Some of the reservations I had when reading this were thankfully alleviated when I started DMing it. It's less linear than I thought and more...modular, I guess?...in certain spots. A lot of fun, regardless.
November 13, 2020
As an adventure it is a complete fiasco. The story does not make sense. After 5 or so session I had to switch to homebrewing the rest of the adventure, using the book just as a collection of lore, mechanics, monsters, and encounters. It is a good collection, though.
November 28, 2020
Ran this campaign from January to November. Lots of fun and good stuff, though the ending leaves so much to be desired that I rewrote everything for my players. Still, good stuff that helped my group through a hard year.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews