Converting Ravenloft for 5e

MonsterEnvy said:

Strahd's a caster so I would use the Vampire Caster Variant.

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I was really looking forward to having Strahd cast spells, then I read the 5e conversion, which scales him down to a CR 13 regular vampire from a CR 15 spellcaster. To keep the caster variant spells my party would need to be higher level and I'd have to scale the other monsters too. It's already a stretch sicking a CR 13 against six 5th level PCs.

Instead of invisibility, I may have bats conspicuously flitting about and between the rooms, so polymorphed Strahd can spy directly on the party and take advantage of any traps as they occur. Going by the instructions in the module, Strahd is only notified by his spies of the PCs' locations at noon, 6 pm, midnight and 6 am, and he responds within two hours. It seems unlikely that characters will remain vulnerable (in the various traps) long enough for Strahd to take advantage. Instead I want him actively stalking the characters.

Haven't read the adventure, but are you really supposed to fight Strahd with 5th level characters? I sort of assumed he would just be a plot device at that point.

I don't remember enough of the details on Strahd's backstory, but as he's supposed to be The Vampire, I'd probably give him both the spellcaster and warrior variants if I were using premade stats.

Sword of Spirit said:

Haven't read the adventure, but are you really supposed to fight Strahd with 5th level characters? I sort of assumed he would just be a plot device at that point.

I don't remember enough of the details on Strahd's backstory, but as he's supposed to be The Vampire, I'd probably give him both the spellcaster and warrior variants if I were using premade stats.

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A straight 5e Vampire is CR 13 and 10,000 xp. A Warrior or Spellcaster Vampire is CR 15 and 13,000 xp; combining them would be even tougher.

There are six PCs in my party, and they'll be 5th level after finishing Phandelver. I suppose they'd level up to 6th or even 7th before the climactic fight with Strahd. I should probably add up the experience in the encounters and report back.

These are the total XP budgets for my party at different levels for a "deadly" fight (according to the Basic DMG):

Level 5: 6 PCs x 1,100 "deadly" xp = 6,600 xp
Level 6: 6 PCs x 1,400 "deadly" xp = 8,400 xp
Level 7: 6 PCs x 1,700 "deadly" xp = 10,200 xp
Level 8: 6 PCs x 2,100 "deadly" xp = 12,600 xp
Level 9: 6 PCs x 2,400 "deadly" xp = 14,400 xp

That's ignoring the x .5 modifier I'm supposed to use because it's a large party and a single monster.

Anyway, inserting a spellcasting Strahd into that Reddit 5e Ravenloft conversion that's making the rounds would require scaling all the other encounters. And also finding something else to run to bring the PCs to 7th level. The best module I've found to date for that is Castle Amber, but it's also trapping the party in a castle, and there's no 5e conversion. That whole scenario needs more time than I have.

So I'm going to work with a non-spellcasting Strahd and make the best of the straight Vampire abilities. My goal is to kill off a few of the trapped/isolated characters and have the survivors on edge...

Agglomérante said:

There are six PCs in my party, and they'll be 5th level after finishing Phandelver. I suppose they'd level up to 6th or even 7th before the climactic fight with Strahd. I should probably add up the experience in the encounters and report back.

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I've just added all the experience and modified for 6 PCs, including giving just half experience for single monsters.

Assuming they kill every creature in the module, it's 13.5K xp each, which is enough to advance characters past 6th but still well shy of 7th (20k of 23K xp).

Agglomérante said:

I was really looking forward to having Strahd cast spells, then I read the 5e conversion, which scales him down to a CR 13 regular vampire from a CR 15 spellcaster. To keep the caster variant spells my party would need to be higher level and I'd have to scale the other monsters too. It's already a stretch sicking a CR 13 against six 5th level PCs.

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Every version of Strahd beyond the original 1e has been for higher level PCs.

House of Strahd/Silver Anniversary (2e): Recommended for 11th Level PCs
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (3e): He's CR 15 (though you can whittle him down to a 12 by removing his Fane powers)
Open Grave (4e): He's a Level 20 Solo in that book.

All things considered, He should be challenging them at 11th, not 5th level. I think making him Challenge 15 is quite in line with where he's been since 2e.

Remathilis said:

Every version of Strahd beyond the original 1e has been for higher level PCs. ...

All things considered, He should be challenging them at 11th, not 5th level. I think making him Challenge 15 is quite in line with where he's been since 2e.

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All things considered except that the existing and incredibly convenient 5e conversion is adapting the original AD&D, is for 5th level (next adventure, after Phandelver!) and has in-text stats blocks for all these encounters:

key number Encounter
p.3 1 Strahd
k7 2 wyverns
k8 4 gargoyles
k20 1 guardian of sorrow
k28 2 banshees
k32 1 vampire
k35 2 wraiths
k40 10 giant spiders
k47 1 guardian portrait
k56 7 witches
k65 3 zombies
k69 10 skeletons
k72 1 shadow demon
k75 1 werewolf
k76 12 ghouls
k78 2 stone golems
c4 1 ghost
c7 1 specter
c14 15 wights
c20 1 vampire spawn
c21 1 banshee
c27 3 phase spiders
c31 1 mimic
c38 3 hell hounds

The 5e vampire has such cool ideas. I'm really glad the first time the players face a 5e vampire that it's Strahd.

As a generic vampire, Strahd can summon 2d4 warms of bats once a day (each a medium-sized creature). It's excellent cover for surprise and/or retreat. If the swarm's timed with an attack on the party where a PC's already restrained (move 0), Strahd can remain in bat form to deliver his draining bite, camouflaged by the rest of the bats chewing on the party for 2d4 damage/round. Ditto if a PC's incapacitated.

I'd love to hear what other people have planned for Strahd or have done in the past!

So, my party will be 6th level when confronting Strahd as a basic (but CR 13) 5e vampire. The imbalance is supposed to be met these (AD&D unique) artifacts:

Sunsword
The sunsword is a magical longsword. Its blade is a form of crystal glassteel, held by a platinum hilt and guard. It glows with dim blue light most of the time.
The sunsword is a +2 sword against all creatures except undead. When within 30 feet of any undead, the blade suddenly glows brilliant blue. The blade is +3 vs. undead (to hit and damage). When used against vampires, the blade flares and sparks when it hits, inflicting 10 additional points of damage per hit.

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Holy Symbol of Ravenkind
The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is an ancient platinum medallion that was once worn by the High Priest of Ravenloft. It is a powerful lawful good symbol.
The holy symbol is shaped like the sun, with a large crystal embedded in its center. Around the crystal are many holy symbols of light and truth. When presented forcefully toward any undead creature, the medallion adds +2 to the cleric's "turn undead" roll. When presented against vampires, however, it flares with the light of the sun for 1-10 rounds. Remember that vampires are destroyed by exposure to direct sunlight for 10 rounds. Vampires cannot move or attack while the medallion flares. Other creatures are not be affected by the medallion. The medallion can only be used once per week.

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And here's a cinematic weakness from the 5e vampire:

Sunlight Hypersensitivity
The vampire takes 20 radiant damage when it starts its turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

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I figure that's more than enough.

The Sunsword's +3 to hit will be at advantage while the symbol's flaring for 20 hp of flesh-searing radiant each round. Assuming the owner of the holy symbol knows it's effectively a one-shot deal (and doesn't blow it on the maid vampire), and the player rolls (blindly) a decent flare duration on a d10, a 7th level party will easily take out a paralyzed Count (AC 16, HP 144).

Those artifacts are so powerful it makes me want to restore Strahd's spells. Maybe some of them ...

Remathilis said:

All things considered, He should be challenging them at 11th, not 5th level.

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Yeah, you're right. Strahd is supposed to attack frequently before the party finds the artifacts.

I've just run through the numbers and the 5e vampire will overwhelm a party of six level 5 PCs over successive attacks. It just will. And there's no way Strahd can stalk the party to take advantage of every opportunity. His attacks are lethal enough as laid out in the module.

In the 1e Ravenloft, Strahd attacks the party up to four times a day, within two hours of hearing spies' reports at 6am, noon, 6pm, midnight; but only if he knows their location, a 60% chance. So roughly twice a day, either himself or a pack of zombies or wolves.

Going by the module: "Strahd attacks a single PC for 5 melee rounds, then leaves."

So a 5e vampire drains for 10 hp (3d6) per bite. +9 to hit, assuming the target's grappled. Weak characters targeted first. Strahd would for sure be using his legendary action extra bite attack on a few of those rounds. He's regenerating for 20 hp/round while simultaneously regaining the 10 hp or 20 hp he's draining from the PC. He can effectively shrug off 30-40 hp of damage a round while draining some poor level 5 PC's maximum hp total.

In other words, each time Strahd ambushes the party he's draining one of the 5th-level PCs hit points to zero. He just is, unless the party is incredibly lucky or creative each time he attacks.

The problem with the Reddit 5e conversion is that, while the rest of the adventure's encounters are balanced, the 5e vampire is just way too tough to run by the book.

I'm going to save Ravenloft for later and give some thought to how to scale the rest of the encounters.

My players are now expecting Ravenloft. I may surprise them with Castle Amber instead ...

Probably a good idea. I'd rather make a party wait to be terrified with a chance of success, than nerf Strahd down to something they could handle.

Sword of Spirit said:

Probably a good idea. I'd rather make a party wait to be terrified with a chance of success, than nerf Strahd down to something they could handle.

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Yeah, except now I'm scrambling for a 5th level adventure. Sigh.