D&D 5E Curse of Strahd death options

Hello Fellow RP-ers

I am a DMing CoS currently and have run into a bit of a brain fart moment and require your ideas.

I dislike the whole if you are revived then you come back with a random 'madness'...

I loved the idea of the Amber Temple and how it's full of Old Dark Deities that can grant boons etc. and I have been using this for when one of the party dies and has been regenerated such as having certain 'Old Ones' reach out for certain players when they died whilst at a low level to bring them back.

I set the scene that no gods are answering the players, practically crippling the Paladin of Ioun (with only Lathander present in Strahd's realm). He was getting miffed that his smites and healing weren't working saying that he might go into a magic class. Eventually he died from a shambling mound in the Death House.

Here is the Paladin choice for example was between Lathander and one of the old ones (Tenebrous):

[This is for you and you alone to know]

You find yourself in a dim, amber coloured room. You are surrounded by twenty black wisps of shadow, three of which are larger and darker than the others. Each one calls in demonic voices for you to touch them, some desperately screaming for your attention and others (especially the larger ones) commanding you to come towards them. [Do a perception check and state the result when asked]

--------------------------------------------Cut Here---------------------------------------------------------

[Fail]

One of the large shadows silences the others and states in a deep guttural voice “Bequeath your soul to me and I will grant you gifts of power and longevity. With these you will become greater than any other before you and will eventually have legions of minions to command. Before you pass from your mortal coil, you will become my greatest warrior of Darkness and gain all the knowledge that you desire. Do you take this offer or have your soul lost in the mists of this realm forever?”

--------------------------------------------Cut Here---------------------------------------------------------

[Success]

Behind the shadows, you notice a small beam of light. You sense it is happy that you have noticed it and talks to you clearly through the chaos of the shadowed voices. “Your first test has been passed by finding me in this place; unfortunately this is only one of many tests... Your lord and saviour Ioun has no say in this land, I hear him answering your prayers but the darkness of this realm blocks him out. Only the few worshippers of mine here grant me some sway over the land. Join me, help my servants and bring the Light back to this land. I promise, once the darkness has been defeated you will be reunited with your beloved Deity. Do you accept?”

It is at this point that one of the large shadows silences the others and states in a deep guttural voice “Bequeath your soul to me and I will grant you gifts of power and longevity. With these you will become greater than any other before you and will eventually have legions of minions to command. Before you pass from your mortal coil, you will become my greatest warrior of Darkness and gain all the knowledge that you desire. Do you take this offer or have your soul lost in the mists of this realm forever?”

Who do you choose? State “1” for the path of Light or “2” for the path of Dark when asked

--------------------------------------------Cut Here---------------------------------------------------------

[Light]

The voice states “Look for me in the churches here, give this land back its faith and as my strength grows so too will yours!”

[Your next hit has all of the smite spells you have tried but were unable to cast before this moment. The next level you gain is in the Paladin class.]

--------------------------------------------Cut Here---------------------------------------------------------

[Dark]

The deep voice cheers with a maniacal roar, leaving ringing in your ears. It commands “Destroy the churches, convert faith to fear and as my power grows, so will yours! For your ultimate gift find me in the crypt of gold!!”

[You feel part of you change, deep inside, but you aren’t sure what has happened. The next level you gain is in the Warlock class (the great old one pact).]

Now, I enjoy putting my players in life and death situations, as it builds up tension and stops them from being super heroes/gods among men, unfortunately this means that they die from time to time. In the book it says no soul can leave strahd's realm so are trapped. I am trying to put together a roll list of random things that can happen when the players die such as turning into a spirit and have to follow the party around with the ability of possessing creatures or some other thing shamelessly ripped off from the 'dice, camera, action podcast'. (listen to it if you haven't as I really enjoyed the series)

Do you have any ideas? As I'm having an aforementioned brainfart...

Thanks
G

Yep, this is almost exactly how it works in the Adventurer's League. Basically when you die, you are given the option to accept a "Dark Gift" from the powers-that-be. If you decide to take it, you roll on a table for what (generally) horrible thing happens to you when you revive. It's not madness, it's always a plus/minus - you start turning into a fish-man, and gain the ability to breath underwater, but also take disadvantage on Con saving throws outside of water. There's an expanded list on the DM Guild. Let me see if I can find the links for you.

Edit: Here's the link to the Expanded list on the DMGuild. The original list was just the first four entries:
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/186...ts-Table-OPTIONAL-CONTENT?affiliate_id=925821

I like this, and celebrate your imagination.

One quibble, and I might be mistaken, but I believe Ioun is a female deity.

Rils said:

Yep, this is almost exactly how it works in the Adventurer's League. Basically when you die, you are given the option to accept a "Dark Gift" from the powers-that-be. If you decide to take it, you roll on a table for what (generally) horrible thing happens to you when you revive. It's not madness, it's always a plus/minus - you start turning into a fish-man, and gain the ability to breath underwater, but also take disadvantage on Con saving throws outside of water. There's an expanded list on the DM Guild. Let me see if I can find the links for you.

Edit: Here's the link to the Expanded list on the DMGuild. The original list was just the first four entries:
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/186...ts-Table-OPTIONAL-CONTENT?affiliate_id=925821

Click to expand...

Thanks, I can't get on to DM's Guild on my work computer but I'll certainly look it up.

Redthistle said:

I like this, and celebrate your imagination.

One quibble, and I might be mistaken, but I believe Ioun is a female deity.

Click to expand...

Yup, she is and I dropped the ball... fortunately my player was in shock from having his character die that he mustn't have noticed

Here's what I've done...

Right, this is what I've made (by made I mean I copy and pasted the 'old ones' stuff from 'A guide to curse of strahd', the expanded dark gift table and made a 'death table' using inspiration (flat out stealing ideas) from the DM God AKA Chris Perkins)

What do you think?:

Random Death occurrences
Roll d4 – Meeting (1) or resurrected automatically with a curse (2) or Dead (3) or resurrected (4)
Meeting table
In an amber coloured room the character is confronted by twenty shadowy wisps, three of which are larger than the others – Roll d20 to see which talks to player. Give a note to player with a ‘bargain’ for their life – bargain should be something similar to their gift but weaker.
• If the player accepts they are revived with the agreed bargain and obviously some downside.
• If the player declines the offer then roll on the death table.

1) Fekre, Queen of Poxes: Gift = Contagion three times. Character reeks of filth.
2) Zrin-Hala, the Howling Storm: Gift = Cast lightning bolt three times. One side of the character's face sags and loses all feeling.
3) Sykane, the Soul Hungerer: Gift = Raise dead three times. The character's eyes glow sickly yellow and they expect to be paid if they help someone.
4) Savnoke the Inscrutable: Gift = Mind blank three times. Character's eyes melt but they can still see.
5) Tarakamedes the Grave Wyrm: The character grows skeletal wings and a fly speed of 50. This character must eat one pound of bones or grave dirt each day or die.
6) Shami Amourae, the Lady of Delights: Gift = Suggestion three times. Character gains an extra finger on each hand and can't get enough pleasure.
7) Driznash, the Nine-Eyed Spider: Gift = Permanent spider climb ability. Character grows an extra eye which is blind and always open.
8) Dahlver-Nar, He of the Many Teeth: Gift = When slain the character instantly reincarnates (three times total). The character loses all of their teeth.
9) Zantras the Kingmaker: Gift = +4 to Charisma! Character won't take no for an answer.
10) Delban, the Star of Ice and Hate: Gift = Cone of cold 7 times. Character is terrified of fire.
11) Khirad, the Star of Secrets: Gift = Scry three times. Character's voice becomes a low whisper.
12) Yrrga, the Eye of Shadow: Gift = Truesight for one month. Character's eyes become starry voids and believes that all life is pointless.
13) Great Taar Haak, the Five-Headed Destroyer: Gift = Fire giant strength for 10 days. Character likes to bully others.
14) Yog the Invincible: Gift = +30 hit points for 10 days. Oily black fur covers the character's face and body.
15) Norganas, the Finger of Oblivion: Gift = Finger of death three times. Character's blood becomes like black tar.
16) Vaund the Evasive: Gift = powers of ring of evasion and amulet of proof against detection for 10 days. Character becomes twitchy and won't give straight answers.
17) Seriach the Hell Hound Whisperer: Gift = power to summon and control 2 hell hounds one time. Character knows the Infernal language.
18) The Vampyr (big shadow): Evil creatures become vampires. The character becomes an NPC.
19) Tenebrous (big shadow): Gift = Evil creatures gain the knowledge of how to become a lich. This is the sarcophagus that Exethanter the lich touched.
20) Zhudun, the Corpse Star (big shadow): Gift = Bring a dead creature to life one time. The character looks like a corpse.


Curse Table (Roll d20 when a character is resurrected)

1) The character’s eyes melt away, leaving empty sockets. He or she has disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks, but gains blindsight out to a range of 60 feet. The character is blind beyond this distance.
2) The character develops gills. He or she can breathe underwater, but has disadvantage on Constitution saving throws when not fully submerged.
3) The character’s skin is cold and clammy to the touch. The character gains resistance to cold damage and vulnerability to fire damage.
4) At night, the character can spend 1 hit die to move through solid objects as though they were difficult terrain. A character who ends his or her turn inside an object takes 5 (1d10) force damage. The character counts as an undead creature for the purpose of spells and effects (such as turn undead).
5) The character's tongue forks like that of a serpent. The character cannot speak the truth. Lying comes naturally, granting the character advantage to all Charisma (Deception) checks, but imposing disadvantage to all Charisma (Persuasion) and Charisma (Intimidation) rolls.
6) Countless insects have taken residence in the character’s ears, imposing disadvantage to Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing. As an action, the character can pull an insect from their ear, which can be consumed by any character to restore 1 hit point. A character can only benefit from eating one of these insects once per long rest (eating additional insects provides no benefit, and instead sickens the character).
7) The character develops a bestial awareness, granting the character keen sight advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight and hearing. Animals (wild and domestic) are threatened by the character, and consider him or her hostile and predatory. The character suffers disadvantage on all Wisdom (Handle Animal) rolls.
8) The character awakens with a parched feeling in their throat, and their face has lost any semblance of a mouth. The character no longer needs to eat or drink and gains the ability to communicate telepathically with any creature within 30 feet with whom they share a language, but otherwise cannot speak.
9) The character grows an additional face on the back of their head. At inopportune times it begins to argue with the character, giving him or her disadvantage on Wisdom (Persuasion) and Dexterity (Stealth) checks. While the second face is uncovered the character cannot be surprised, except when incapacitated.
10) The character awakens with a hunched back. This condition gives the character advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) rolls, but disadvantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks and Dexterity saving throws.
11) The character’s lungs burn as if from acute smoke inhalation, and the character exhales wisps of smoke with every breath. The character suffers disadvantage to all Dexterity (Stealth) checks due to a constant, irritating cough brought on by this affliction. As an action, the character may cough up a billowing cloud of foul-smelling smog in a 10 ft. radius. This smog heavily obscures the area, and dissipates after 1 minute (or 1 round in a moderate wind). Once this ability has been used, the character must finish a short or long rest before it can be used again.
12) The character's body emits a putrid odor that smells of heavy spices, mixed with an undertone of rot. The character gains resistance to poison damage, but emits an involuntary cloud of stench whenever they are hit by a melee attack. Any creature within 5 feet of the character must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the character’s stench for 24 hours.
13) The character’s hand of choice erupts with searing pain (which quickly fades to a dull throb), as a network of jagged, recently-healed wounds appears from wrist to elbow. As a bonus action, you can flex the muscles of your scarred limb causing the wounds to tear open and shed bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet for 1 hour. While shedding light, the character’s arm is wracked with lancing pain making it impossible to hold or manipulate objects with the injured limb. The character must finish a short or long rest before it can be used again.
14) The character’s feet change to resemble those of a giant ape. Due to this change, the character is unable to wear footwear. The character’s speed is reduced by 10 ft., but they now ignore difficult terrain while their feet are bare.
15) The character hears whispers from an unseen malevolent source, which taunts the character with truth, mistruth, and horrors beyond reason. One per long rest the character can listen to the voices. Doing so gains them the benefits of an augury spell.
16) Itchy, cankerous boils and cysts erupt over the character’s body. These sores are a constant distraction, and impose disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks. When subject to an attack that deals acid damage, the fluid in a few of the cysts drains away, granting resistance to the attack.
17) The character's nose lengthens and becomes pointed. The constant flow of mucus and sniffling to keep the snot from dripping to the floor causes the character to suffer disadvantage on all Wisdom (Investigation) checks, and grants advantage on saving throws versus inhaled poisons.
18) The character’s hands become icy cold and take on a sickly grey complexion. The character’s unarmed attacks now deal cold damage in addition to any other damage types. Additionally, their hands are nearly numb with cold; as a result, they suffer disadvantage on Dexterity checks that rely on the use of their hands.
19) The character’s face lengthens and contorts into a wolflike muzzle and the bones in their legs elongate into powerful, canine limbs. While this increases the character’s speed by 10 ft., the character is often mistaken for a werewolf unless they take special care to conceal their deformities through use of a disguise kit, or the target of a disguise self spell.
20) The character grows a thick coat of scraggy wolf-like fur, which grants them advantage on Constitution saving throws made to resist the effects of cold weather. They also gain resistance to bludgeoning damage from nonmagical weapons that are not made of silver. Unfortunately, the character also develops a painful allergy and mental aversion to silver, which causes them to break out in blistering rashes on contact. When exposed to silver or in base physical contact with silver, the character suffers disadvantage on all attack rolls and Dexterity checks for 1 minute.

Death Table (roll d6 – Odd rolls mean the character is dead and its soul has drifted into the mists)

2) The character is dead; their soul floats unseen above their corpse. The character now gains the following features: insubstantial, cannot take damage of any kind, movement speed of 20ft (4sq) and can attempt possession 1/day (DC 13 Charisma saving throw or be possessed)
4) The character wakes up in an unknown place surrounded by fog. There are moaning and crying noises in the distance but you cannot see their source. (character is dead to rest of the party)
6) A character becomes an undead version of what they where (option a. for good/neutral characters and option b. for evil)
a. The character’s skin turns to a cold bluish/grey hue, they are aware that they have died and come back seeking revenge on those that have caused evil to befall the land. The character has only one year to exact revenge. When its adversary dies, or if the revenant fails to kill its adversary before its time runs out, it crumbles to dust and its soul fades into the mists. The character gains the following attributes:
i. Divine justice – the character can sense evil as if the detect good/evil spell is constantly on. If the character’s body is destroyed, its soul flies forth to seek out a new corpse in which to resume its hunt.
ii. Undead Nature – The character no longer requires air, food, drink, or sleep.
iii. Damage Resistances – necrotic, psychic
iv. Damage Immunities – Poison
v. Condition Immunities – Charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, stunned
vi. Turn Immunity – The character is immune to effects that turn undead
vii. Regeneration. The character regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If the character takes fire or radiant damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the character's next turn. The character's body is destroyed only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate.

b. The character’s skin and hair turns stark white and their eyelids open to reveal glowing red eyes. They are aware that they have died and feel an intense hunger to consume the life of others. The character retains all knowledge from before the transformation and retain their autonomy but must consume at least one life per day or crumble into dust. The character gains the following attributes:
i. Shadow of the Grave - Humanoids slain by the character can rise as zombies under its control (Max 2).
ii. Undead Nature - The character doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.
iii. Sunlight Sensitivity - While in sunlight, the character has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
iv. Damage Resistances - necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
v. Damage Immunities - poison
vi. Condition Immunities - exhaustion, poisoned
vii. Life Drain. Once per turn when the character hits with a melee attack they can use a bonus action to ‘life drain’. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. A humanoid slain by this attack rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the character's control, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed. The character can have no more than two zombies under its control at one time.

I've also been thinking about character death options in CoS. I like your final list, I'm sure it will work great in your game, but there's too many options for me...

In my case I want:

• A quick ressurection option. As a Revenant (VGtM);
• Reincarnate, Raise Dead and Resurrection should be the best option (if they have the money). Consider that Raise Dead and Resurrection both give you -4 to every check! Fades in 4 days.
• An actual penalty for quick resurrection. Mild enough, but more than a RP nuisance;
• The character's spirit to wander disembodied for a while, able to possess people 1/day (DC 13 Cha. check, adv. against soulless NPC, disadv. if they have a soul...);
• Without the Vestiges. My group has an item in the Amber Temple, they'll meet them there. Also, the vestiges are imprisoned, they're not supposed to wander outside of their urns. Plus, those gifts are a lot more positive than negative;
• It would be cool if I could use the Tarokka cards to find out what happens.

This is what I'm thinking:
When the character dies they feel themselves stand up, but then see no body. They can float around, everything is blurred and gray (like when Frodo puts the ring on), they can see that some people feel hollow (without soul, easy to possess), other people have a faint glow inside.

However, how should I present the choice to the player? To either take back their body or wait to be brought back. I can simply ask the player... But is there a cooler in-game way to present it?

If they go with quick, they feel drawn to their body after a few hours, as time goes on they feel pulled harder and harder, and after 24 hours they rise as a Revenant.

I then ask them to pick a card for the ressurrection curse. Removable with Greater Restoration.

So, I came out with a list in between Shadowfell Despair and Indefinite Madness. 14 effects for each of the major Arcana. Some of them are:

• Apathic: Disadv. on initiative checks
• Limp: 5 ft movement penalty
• Forgetful: Disadv. on knowledge checks (Arcana, History, Nature, Religion)
• Hallucinations: Disadv. on Perception checks
• Weak: Disadv. on Athletics (Strength) checks
• Clumsy: Disadv. on Acrobatics (Dexterity) checks
• Mute: You can't speak

These are intended to hinder exploration only, without making a character underpowered, especially in combat.

And then there are the Dark Gifts from AL... I think I can mix them all together, most Dark Gifts give a situational advantange with bigger disadvantages, should work alright... This way I could use most of the deck!

Oh, Mme. Eva has Raise Dead! I just need to give the characters a hint... but how?

Ahm... I forgot what my question was

[MENTION=56398]Wepwawet[/MENTION]: Yes, Madam Eva knows raise dead, but she "never gives aid and never asks for any." (p 37)

However, van Richten has a scroll of raise dead and the Abbot can cast it as well (and will do so up to three times if the PCs get him a wedding dress for Vasilka).

pukunui said:

[MENTION=56398]Wepwawet[/MENTION]: Yes, Madam Eva knows raise dead, but she "never gives aid and never asks for any." (p 37)

However, van Richten has a scroll of raise dead and the Abbot can cast it as well (and will do so up to three times if the PCs get him a wedding dress for Vasilka).

Click to expand...

Well, yeah but i really dont want to play the Monastery... I'm hoping that the players wont be interested in going there.

And I like Mme Eva, she might raise someone if asked very nicely.

Wepwawet said:

Well, yeah but i really dont want to play the Monastery... I'm hoping that the players wont be interested in going there.

Click to expand...

What don't you like about it? My players latched on to the idea of the monastery as soon as they first heard it mentioned (although one of them in particular was hoping it would be a nice place). They also ended up letting Ireena escape with Sergei via the pool in Krezk.

And I like Mme Eva, she might raise someone if asked very nicely.

Click to expand...

I dunno. I see her as representing Fate in a way. She's meant to be impartial. She sets things in motion and then doesn't get involved again.

I like the madnesses.

The one time I ran through Curse of Strahd as a player, I was an aristocratic Lawful Good high elf wizard with a need to save the "commoners" and a horror of ever doing anything impolite, let alone anything evil.

Then I died and was resurrected with the "you now really enjoy killing people" madness.

This led to the best six or so sessions I've ever had with 5e, and the most fun character exit I've had in D&D: I chose to play the situation out as a descent into insanity, as my character became increasingly addicted to killing sentient beings and increasingly tormented by the intense euphoria he experienced when doing so.

Finally, within the Amber Temple, my character killed one too many Nothics, turned a permanent corner into full crazy, and began to attack his best friend in the party. When she defended herself, I received a mild piercing injury and saw my own blood on her dagger, experienced a final epiphany and, finally, slit my own throat while cackling "The ultimate rush!"

Everyone at the table agreed it was awesome and "totally Barovia" -- and none of it would have happened without the random madnesses!