D&D 5E Curse of Strahd help

texastoast said:

I've seen it suggested elsewhere that the lost gem is in the Abbott's flesh golem bride. I like that idea and I'm leaning toward running with it. I don't know exactly what it's doing in there; maybe its magic makes her more believably human in some way than a regular flesh golem. (I actually don't know much about flesh golems at all yet.) I don't know how to hint at that fact, or how it might be rediscovered. The PCs aren't likely to fight the bride are they?

Click to expand...

That would fit the 10 year time frame. To make the best bride golem he can he's taking it very slowly and picking only the best parts he can find.

texastoast said:

I'm not in love with the gem powering Strahd's Heart of Sorrow; wouldn't it be much older than the 10 years the gem has been missing? Plus I love the art in the book showing the spiral staircase with the heart at the top; that thing looks way too big and impressive to be powered by a magic pinecone.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought about the 10 years too. Maybe Strahd got fed up with Adventurers almost killing him (like Mordenkainen) and decided to develop an extra level of protection. The gem can be in the center of the Heart, which is a crystal grown around it (the book implies it's a crystal, doesn't it?). However it can perfectly be an actual oversized organic heart, with the gem in the center powering it. I like the idea of the characters slashing at it and blood gushing out.

texastoast said:

I do like the idea that it's at Old Bonegrinder. Sounds like you're doing a Fewer Dead Children variant where the pastries are made from fruit not children's teeth? (In which case why is it called Old Bonegrinder?) I think that's an elegant solution to a couple of problems. In my case we whizzed past the windmill trying to get to Vallaki before dark, and we never encountered Morgantha in Barovia in the first place, so we will probably never even visit the windmill. I doubt they'll ever be east of the Castle again.

Click to expand...

Oh no, there are Loads of Dead Children. The book says the secret ingredient for the dream pastries is ground children's bones. Apart from that they're normal mince pies, which are made of fruit. The hags eat the children and leave only the bones.

EDIT: Actually, Strahd would also be the best at stealing the gem so effectively that no one has a clue where it went. And he would have known about the gems. After that Baba Lysaga could have learned about something being stolen and how the vineyard got weaker and eventually find out about gems.

Regarding the hags, a healthy orchard next to the dark windmill would be extremely suspicious, there are ravens everywhere after all. Being hags it will look much cooler if it's a crooked and sickly orchard with tiny fruit.

I'm inclined to put it in the Heart of Sorrow, it's a simple and efective solution.

pukunui said:

New question from me: A returning player is bringing in a new PC, and I'm trying to figure out how best to introduce him to the campaign. He's a life cleric, [...] and he's got a bit of a "reluctant servant" vibe going on, so I'm thinking, if he's gonna be like Jonah, then Barovia can be his whale.

At the same time, he's got the "sucker for a pretty face" flaw, which is just begging for a run-in with a beautiful vampiress ... maybe one of Strahd's (former) brides.

I'm also thinking, since the other PCs are currently in Vallaki, that I'll have the mists bring him in to the middle of Barovia, just outside the town gates, rather than forcing him to trek, on his own, all the way from either end of the valley into the middle.

Click to expand...

"sucker for a pretty face" is a great hook that could be used to good effect a number of times. Like straight away, with Lady Wachter - don't show the picture on page 112, describe her as mature but in good condition, alluring... give the new player the chance to help counter the murder-hobo tendencies that seem to be there with other player(s), and see if it can create some interesting role-play. Gertruda in the Castle is another obvious one, but pretty much all the female NPC's are easily usable as "pretty face" candidates, not just the female vampire spawn.

Adventurers are drawn into Barovia "all the time", so adding new PC's is easy. Personally I'd introduce the new PC already *in* Vallaki - they have been drawn into the mists and outside Vallaki in as you describe, but already they have wandered into town, found the local church, got a little bit of background info about what's gone on lately, and eventually they find the other PC's. A "vision" or suchlike that hints at their destiny being to defeat Strahd, or something similar - personally, not to my taste, too heavy-handed in terms of trying to force future story/plot; by all means the PC might suspect that his God has sent him to Barovia as some kind of Test of Faith or suchlike, but personally I'd leave the actual reason unstated. As for the fate of his/her old companions, we'll never know (unless you need a new PC, in which case yes a new one is miraculously found wandering nearby).

I don't know that you need too much other back-story - the 'default' set-up is really simple - you are trapped, and have to kill Strahd in order to escape. So unless there's some majorly elaborate set-up that's been added for the existing PC's, I think adding a new PC is really simple for the DM; anything the player wants to add (prior and/or during play) is up to them. In our game, the PC's backgrounds varied from elaborate and/or weird, to virtually non-existent, and they were all completely fine; some of the background stuff gave me opportunities to enhance the adventure, others fell by the wayside; either way the bulk of the story was what played out around the table.

Especially if you are entering a campaign half way through, I've found that a minimal amount of back-story is actually best - you really just want the new PC to get on with helping out the already-established P's and their story lines, not suddenly change the whole dynamic and/or bog it down with new exposition.

[MENTION=40592]hastur_nz[/MENTION]: Yes, that is about where I am at with my thinking. I don't want to give the new player a big info dump about Barovia and all that. I'd like her to experience it firsthand and find out for herself, through play, what it's all about. I thought I'd leave it up to the other players to fill her in on what they've experienced too.

By the way, she's just picked Selûne (the FR deity of the moon) as her character's patron. I'll see if I can work that into the story in anyway ... eg. Perhaps the Pc comes to regard Mother Night as an aspect of Shar, Selûne's evil twin.

EDIT: Actually, come to think of it, I could just give her the werewolf hunting hook, since she's coming from Faerûn and her deity has a thing about lycanthropes (she likes good ones, doesn't like evil ones).

Wepwawet said:

EDIT: Actually, Strahd would also be the best at stealing the gem so effectively that no one has a clue where it went. And he would have known about the gems. After that Baba Lysaga could have learned about something being stolen and how the vineyard got weaker and eventually find out about gems.

Regarding the hags, a healthy orchard next to the dark windmill would be extremely suspicious, there are ravens everywhere after all. Being hags it will look much cooler if it's a crooked and sickly orchard with tiny fruit.

I'm inclined to put it in the Heart of Sorrow, it's a simple and effective solution.

Click to expand...

I like it; I agree, simple and effective. There's also a pretty good chance the PCs find the gem, which is either a pro or con depending on your goals. Does the gem just fall out when they destroy the Heart?

Preparing for my next few sessions, I realized I made a mistake a while back, and I would appreciate y'all's advice on how to handle it. Rictavio/Van Richten, the party's fated ally, gave them a Sending Stone so they can keep in touch while he's not with the party. His first message to them was to inform them about the commotion in Vallaki he observed from the Tower at night after the PCs had left. The commotion was the St. Andral's Feast event. I realized, though, that because of how much IRL time passed, I failed to realize that he was sending that message on the day following the night the PCs spent in the tower with him. So it doesn't make any sense that he observed this last night and didn't tell everyone in the morning, but rather told them later that day via sending stone.

My first instinct with these kinds of mistakes is to rewind and be like, "that didn't happen." But I think doing that undermines the immersion of the game in the name of perfectionism, so I think it's the wrong approach. I'm thinking in this case to just sweep it under the rug, figuring that if I didn't realize this til now, my players, who are much less fluent in the game events than I am, will never realize it. Still, I suppose I'd prefer to have some kind of idea to explain it, either preemptively or after they notice. I also kind of need to know what night that attack in Vallaki occurred on, because it's the catalyst for the regime change there, and I need to know what the status of the city is going to be when the PCs return there (they're now looking for a wedding dress).

New situation: My group has continued to ignore Strahd's invitations, warnings, and waiting carriages. Last session, they went and dealt to the hags at Old Bonegrinder, killing the daughters but not the mother, and then went to spend the night at Madam Eva's Vistani camp on their way to retrieve the sunsword (for the second time) from the River Ivlis Crossroads.

I have already resolved that one of the PCs will be visited in the night by Morgantha. But I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, should happen to the other PCs. Would the Vistani in Madam Eva's camp let them rest? Or would they try to capture them and take them to Strahd? Should I have the Vistani watch while some of Strahd's minions come to harass them? (Strahd himself, I think, will be too busy having some fun with the former PC the others failed to stop from being charmed and whisked off to the castle right in front of them.)

Any ideas? Game's on Friday ...

If you really want to freak the players out... cheat.

Now, you're not really cheating because you are the DM, granted... but when I say "cheat", I mean have a bit of fun with the setting that isn't "by the book" and see what they choose to do with it. If it were me... I might have some fun with them by letting them spend the night at the Tser Pool encampment with the Vistani and let them try and take a rest. But then during the night... the mists approach. Yep... I'd have the wall of mist start moving in and around them... maybe coming up from the Ivlis Marsh and/over the Village of Barovia. Then... as I presume there will be someone in the party on watch, they'll try and get everybody up and then try and hightail it out of there. The Vistani of course can just sit there and enjoy the party's panic, as the Vistani can survive in it no problem. At this point, your group will probably either to bargain with the Vistani to protect them as the mist envelops them... or they try and make a run for it. Of course... since the mist is coming from the south the only way for them to run is north along the river, until eventually they reach a dead end right at the Tser Falls right underneath the bridge. At that point, you have them get sucked into the mist.

At this point... start having the party make CON saves as the mist begins choking them out. I'm sure they'll run around looking for some way to escape... but don't let them find one. Give them three or four rounds of failing saves and taking damage, and then just as they think they are goners... they hear the sound of horse clops and carriage wheels. And then from within the mist a carriage arrives with a large Z on the door, which reaches the group and the door opens silently. At that point, they have a choice, either remain in the mist (and basically killing themselves)... or they get into the carriage and inside they find they can breath again. But of course the door is now locked on them and they can't get out... but the carriage does find its way out of the mist and forceably take the party up to the Castle. And when they arrive, they find Big Z. standing at the front door, and he says quite calmly (but darkly)... "It's not polite to ignore an invitation for dinner. Now let's go inside and have a nice meal, shall we?"

Are people gonna yell "Railroad!"? Sure. But occasionally a railroad is good for the benefit of pushing the story forward, especially when you've given the party multiple times to do whatever they wanted. And besides... this is Strahd's f-ing land... if he wants to railroad his people, he's allowed to. It's why He is the Land after all. LOL!

DEFCON 1 said:

...At that point, they have a choice, either remain in the mist (and basically killing themselves)... or they get into the carriage and inside they find they can breath again. But of course the door is now locked on them and they can't get out...

Click to expand...

That's not a choice, you are proposing that the PC's get forced to visit the Castle, which for many players could lead to immediate resentment, especially as the precedent has been set that they can, to a degree, choose their own path.

The answer of 'what do the Vistani do' is already set, IIRC... the PC's and Vistani have had one or more run-ins already? I can't remember, but likely the Vistani don't feel up to the job of personally capturing the PC's and taking them to Strahd - most likely, at best a number of Vistani will die, most likely all of them will because the PC's will fight tooth and nail to avoid capture. Madame Eve won't help them either.

By all means, have a group of Strahd's "Creatures of the Night(TM)" ambush them, say right after the PC has had a good nightmare courtesy of Morgantha. They may or not make the connection(s), but it doesn't really matter; once you are giving that PC a nightmare haunting every night, the clock is slowly ticking, maybe helping force them to the end-game. No doubt, Madame Eva and the Vistani will watch from a safe distance, and it should be obvious that they not being targeted and they are not going to help (or hinder) the PC's - they are Neutral, in this regard, even though technically they serve Strahd in their own ways.

[MENTION=7006]DEFCON 1[/MENTION]: I don't know that I want to cheat quite like that. They're going to go to the castle as soon as they get the sword, so I'm not in a rush to force them there.

I've been meaning to have Arrigal attempt to steal the holy symbol off the party (they got it from the Vistani treasure wagon, and I figured Arrigal would've gone off to Strahd to report the PCs' activities, only to be told off by Strahd, who recognized his description of the prize they took from the wagon, and ordered to retrieve it). This is probably the first chance he'll really get, as this is the first time the PCs have spent the night out in the open.

See, I think this is a case of people being too used to video games and expecting D&D to work like that.

In video games you always have the main quest ("you need to go urgently to Haureasqwe, they're being attacked by a dragon!") and lots of side quests. And you can spend in-game weeks doing side quests until you pick the (incredibly urgent) main quest. No problem.

D&D worlds should behave in a more "realistic" way. Like, caves aren't all lined with burning torches for the players to see clearly, they're dark, pitch black. You don't find healing potions in random boxes or in skeletons that have been dead for centuries. You find them where it makes sense, because they're valuable things and any other sentient creature would have seen it before and taken it.

Strahd should feel insulted after so many ignored invitations. He's lawful, he's a noble with etiquette. People that don't respect his rule should be punished. It's not railroading, it's what a proper vampire lord would do.
Your characters can always try to escape as soon as they're in the castle, but Strahd should force them in.

Wepwawet said:

Your characters can always try to escape as soon as they're in the castle, but Strahd should force them in.

Click to expand...

How does he force them in? And he has already punished them. He met them on the road, charmed one of them, bit her in front of the others, then took her away on his nightmare without them being able to stop him. Sure, maybe he's a little annoyed that they haven't accepted his invitation, but he's just shown them that they're powerless to stop him. They think that will change if they can re-find the sunsword, however.

For me, this is all somewhat beside the point. I am looking specifically for advice on what could / should happen to the PCs while they attempt to take a long rest at Madam Eva's camp. I've told them already that the Vistani aren't offering any of their wagons, and the group agreed that they would just bed down in the open. This is the first time in the whole campaign that they have not spent the night indoors in a relatively safe location.

Should I let them have a long rest? Should I have some Strahd minions show up at some point? Perhaps even repeatedly? Should I have the Vistani do something? These are the questions that I would like to focus on right now.