Baldur’s Gate: Decent into Avernus is one of the latest Dungeons & Dragons prewritten campaign setting books by Wizards of the Coast released September 17th 2019. Baldur’s Gate is a city that sits on the sword coast that is loaded with corruption and packed with people. There is not a whole lot of time that will be spent in the city though as the players descend into the first realm of the 9 hells named Avernus.

Avernus is the level where prideful or violent souls are sent to. In this plane of existence, Zariel, a fallen Angel is able to hold the neighboring city of Elturel in Avernus. While all this is going on the players goal is to defeat Zariel and do it in a Mad Max like style driving around in massive iron machines called War Machines.

What to Expect

The story can be a bit long so if you are looking for a shorter campaign then I suggest that you look elsewhere. Also, if you are playing with younger children I would not recommend this book either. I would say that Dencent into Avernus is for the more mature adults out there that want this dark themed adventure. This would be a good campaign book to get feedback from your group before diving into it.

If you are wanting something dark but not hellish. I would recommend going through the Curse of Strahd campaign book. Easily this is still my favorite 5th Edition Campaign book so far and is more accessible to everyone. It still has dark gothic themes, but nothing that pop culture has not embarrassed at this point with werewolves and vampires. Check out that review: https://www.dickwizardry.com/articles/curse-of-strahd-review . Decent into Avernus cranks that evil and dark vibe up another notch.

Decent into Avernus is meant for players between levels 1 to 13. Along with character creation this time, players will have a Dark Secret that is shared by the party that makes them all guilty of some crime. How fitting as they are all supposed to be residents of Baldur’s Gate. The rule is that at least 1 living person knows of this dark secret that is shared by the group. So no shiny “Do nothing Wrong Paladins” here. 

The Art

The campaign book also comes with a double sided map. This will be useful to show the players in the game. Like in Curse of Strahd, I would have the main portion of the map laid out in the middle of the table when not in combat to give everyone a reference point and scope to the world that they are adventuring in.

Speaking of the map, the overall art style nails the theme that this book has. Very dark imagery that is really well done of hellish landscapes and evil corruptible images of characters that really make it easy for me as a DM to role play the NPC that the group is interacting with. There are also a few pages in this book that are two page full body art pieces. One of which is from the upcoming Baldur’s Gate 3 video game. You can check out that trailer here: https://www.dickwizardry.com/articles/2019/6/9/baldurs-gate-3-teaser-released This is something that I didn’t see much of in other campaigns but are really cool to show the players when the time arises.

The combat maps are relatively limited but get the job done. I appreciate how simple they are as in Yawning portal there were maps that were somewhat hard to understand when trying to map it out onto the white board my group uses.

The Story

The story starts when the group of players are hired to investigate the happenings of Elturel, a nearby city that has disappeared. The guard is called the Flaming Fist. They are a corruptible series of mercenaries. 

This campaign has a lot of different endings based on how the players interact with some characters and monsters and choices that they make throughout the campaign.

The book contains a large portion of information on Baldur’s Gate. This is really appreciated if you are wanting your characters to visit this city from outside this campaign book. It’s basically a 2 in 1 feel where the campaign is there, but here is how to set up Baldur's gate city.

The campaign itself is rather linier. There are decisions that are made along the way, but this is not so much a sandbox feel that some other campaign settings in 5th Edition have been. The consequences of a lot of the decisions really come into scope around the end of the campaign so it’s important to emphasize the importance of a decision that is made by the group when they make one of these big story points so they know why something happens to them down the road.

The Combat

The Mad Max theme of the campaign is not something I really care for. It’s very different and I think that this will be really enjoyable to some, but this does not fit my personal playstyle and enjoyment for playing a high fantasy game. This type of playstyle is built in a way that it can be utilized outside of this campaign as well so if you are interested in War Machines and want to use it outside of this campaign, you totally can.

The combat in this campaign is a mix of the War Machine combat as well as traditional combat. I would say that since we played with experienced D&D players that the combat still needed to be doctored up slightly but was much better as a good amount of combat came from the war machine experience which no one had ever played before.

The Extras

There are a healthy amount of magic items for players to get in this campaign book which is always a great reward and getting new items for Dungeons & Dragons that players can use outside of this campaign is always fun.

There are a bunch of creatures that are also at the end of the book that are not in the monster manual. It’s always nice to have these books that have much more themed monsters. This makes it easy to find creatures for players to fight inside this campaign and outside.

This campaign also came out with its own dice and other handouts kit. I personally never go for this item, but if you want to give the players more physical campaign related items this might be a cool thing for you to get. It comes with a map, dice and dice tray, and some cards that are double sided that have story content on demons and devils from the blood war. you can pick up your own with our affiliate link here: https://amzn.to/32TrT0Z

The DM Screen

The DM Screen for this book is a nice thing to have as a Dungeon Master. I used to be against getting these, but as a dungeon master, I have to say that it really improves the ease of prep time for each campaign giving me access to random encounter tables and maps. Those simple things make the enjoyment of running the campaign all the better. I would wish though even though Wizards would never do it, that they include a cheaper cardstock version of a DM screen with the book instead of this thicker version. They are nice but what would be nicer is that they just include both together. DM’s are usually the ones buying these books anyway. You can pick up yours with our affiliate link here: https://amzn.to/33NTqT6

The Miniatures

This set also was released with some new miniatures. Not every campaign comes out with new miniatures. If you are playing this campaign specifically, it might be fun to pick up some themed miniatures for your play group, especially if you are getting the massive war machine miniature. The quality of the miniatures is at the same level as all other Wizkids releases. The paint job gets the job done and is nothing special but the molds are what take the prize.

The Verdict

Descent into Avernus is the first campaign setting that I was not completely thrilled with for 5th Edition that I have played so far since Hoard of the Dragon Queen. That being said, this campaign is one that can totally fit other groups playing style. So Once again I should really stress that if you are looking to pick this campaign up, be sure to ask your players and let them know that this is a darker tale that takes players into the first layer of the 9 hells and that there are really different combat mechanics.

I personally will not be coming back to this book for the campaign, but will use the information of Baldur’s Gate for future adventures up and around the sword coast with my group.

Source: https://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/baldursgate_descent