D&D 5E Curse of Strahd help
texastoast
Explorer
That's a sweet reveal the way you describe it here. Just make sure you think through some of the questions it raises, since the authors of the book didn't do it for you, this being a change. Why is she disguising herself as a man? Does whatever magic she uses change her voice? Was the person who attacked your character's clan male or female? If female, why was your character able to recognize her? If male, then what gives? Was she masquerading as Ricatvio then too, in which case should your PC have recognized him immediately? I totally get not wanting to get overloaded with NPCs, just be sure you don't make changes that make no sense to your players.
For what it's worth, I'll chip in with what I'm doing with Rictavio. He is the party's named ally, which they've figured out, and they hung out at the tower one night, during which Ezmerelda showed up. Rictavio shared some background Barovia information and gave each party member a relevant magical item from his treasure chest in the tower. He also gave the party a Sending Stone so that they could stay in touch, and told them he and Ezmerelda had business to attend to while they went on their way. For instance, today, while they're at the winery, he sent a message informing them that something went down in Vallaki last night (Strahd's attack on the church and his attempt to find Ireena in the Baron's, but as he's in the Tower now, Rictavio doesn't know details.) He's definitely an important part of our story, and he's a valuable source of information, but he's not always hanging around, which I'm very happy about.
This may be how you're doing it already, but I wanted to point out that according to the RAW the fated ally can only give inspiration when in the presence of Strahd. Given that the party's whole fight is in some sense against Strahd, the enemy of Strahd assisting them on any facet of their adventure (ie not just in his presence) seems totally reasonable, but I'm always a fan of making changes on purpose, not simply due to losing track of the game's (copious, innumerable) factoids and rules.
I took what I found was the preponderance of the advice and let my party split themselves up after clearing the winery. The group escorting Ireena etc. back to Krezk encountered a pack of 3 dire wolves, one of whom was Deathfang (I panicked, having neglected to think of a name, and picked something kind of cliche), an old, scarred dire wolf known in these parts, who had been the one to separate Ireena and Izek and take Izek's arm. It turned into a bit of a comedy of errors, as my warlock took a chance and cast Fear while Izek and Ismark were in melee with the wolves, and thus in the AoE; they both failed their saves, and two of the three wolves made theirs. I proceeded to forget that it was a concentration spell and didn't know how to dispel it, so round after round Izek would attempt to run away, the wolves would get attacks of opportunity, he would fail his save, be knocked prone, and the whole scene would keep repeating. I figured out midway through that I was doing it wrong and that all my Eldritch Blasting ended the Fear spell, and everybody came back to the battle. Being at range gave Izek a chance to show off his weird fire attack, which brought about some wide-eyed gasps at the table. Eventually we emerged victorious, and Ireena jumped down from the wine wagon to give a "my hero!" hug to Izek, which after a little uncertainty he figured out how to receive (he doesn't get a lot of hugs), and a ray of unclouded sunlight fell briefly upon them. (As I've mentioned, I'm trying to build the "points of light" idea into my campaign, that if we can make enough people happy and optimistic, it'll undermine Strahd's power, which will have mechanical effects down the line.) That elicited a "What is going on?!", which I think was a win.
Wepwawet
Explorer
Because it's much more effective at hiding her identity. Plus, elves tend to be a bit androginous and half-elves have some of that (males often are more pretty than handsome), so it's an easier disguise for a woman.
I expect my table will be amused by this reveal (my table has most of the letters in LGBTQS)
Of course! It's a magic Hat of disguise self and voice
At the time of the attack she wasn't masquerading at all, but the character was very young and only saw zombies, fire and death. He wouldn't be able to see the monster hunter commanding the horde. During play the player/character guessed (very correctly) because I described Rictavio turning pale and perplexed when he finds out that he's from that lost clan... Which apparently was a lot more obvious than I thought it would.
But you're right there are more questions (these are the easy ones), like why would Rictavio be attacked by Strahd's minions if the disguise is working so well...
Oooh! Strahd was scrying on the Vistani that attacked the party, he saw everything! Maybe. (The joy of being a DM is coming up of explanations for anything).
Yup, still need to work of that NPC fusion. Luckily the party will be busy with other stuff for a few sessions.
BTW, I plan on Ezmeralda finding out about the Heart of Sorrow (@pukunui 's version with the sunlight immunity) and tell the party. Hopefully they will have fought him by then.
Like Charlie's Angels! That's a cool idea, mine is the Raven gramps, don't know yet wether I want to have him flying and spying for the party.
Dang it!
Yeah that sounds more like it. I already told them about the error. I'd have given them inspiration for finding him anyway, so.
I'm doing that too, but only when they get rid of a major evil. It only happened at the end of Death House yet... What mechanical effects are you thinking of?
EDIT: The reason reroll with inspiration felt right at the time was that one player kept on rolling really bad, under 5, even with advantage. Now I know that's not how inspiration works, but in cases like that I may allow it...
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texastoast
Explorer
Basically what is in this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...-structure-in-CoS-(spoilers-also-really-long) I'll just quote from the second post:
These little temporary pinpoints of light that have happened so far (specifically in my campaign, when the party return Arrabelle to Luvash and just now when they defeated Deathfang) are foreshadowing more than anything. When the party can accumulate enough of these effects in a given area, the sun will start to shine there, and effects like those above will start to take effect in the affected area.
I also want this to be a prerequisite to the final outcome I'm interested in, which is enabling the party to permanently eliminate Strahd. I personally find it unsatisfying that the party will (if all goes well) the party will kill Strahd and leave Barovia, only for him to return and resume his dominion. I get the cruelty/irony of the curse trapping him in this small domain for eternity, but I'd still like a way to free the land from him, even though the PCs will probably never even know that they didn't permanently do so unless someone like Madam Eva tells them. I only have a rough idea, but I'm thinking that once they've brought sunlight to the land and destroyed Strahd, they can do something with the dark powers in the Amber Temple to end Strahd's immortality, or maybe seal him up as a vestige, unable to menace Barovia, which maybe somehow pops into another plane at that time.
texastoast
Explorer
This is maybe a dumb question, and if I'd tried to actually engage my PCs in combat with Strahd maybe I'd know the answer already, but how do they successfully run away from him if he doesn't want them to? I don't have books in front of me, but isn't he plenty fast if they try to straight up run away? Do they hole up inside a residence and refuse to admit him? Wouldn't he be able to charm his way into whatever he wanted if the victims were low level?
Thinking about fighting Strahd reminds me that I want him to drop in on my party again soon. But I'm concerned/confused about one thing. Half of my split-up party is presently on the way to Krezk with Ireena, so they may allow her to reunite with Sergei. If that happens, the way I understand it, her soul is gone from Barovia and she is forever lost to Strahd. According to the book he knows about it when this happens. What would his disposition toward the PCs be at that point? According to the book he's focused on destroying them in retribution, right? They're level 5; they can't fight him yet. How do I RP him in a way that allows the party to continue living? Would he still have any interest in them outside revenge? Maybe Tatyana's escape from Barovia adds to his sense of urgency about finding a successor to take over ruling the realm so that he too can escape in the hopes of rediscovering her? That's a little convoluted but it's the best first thought I have for why he wouldn't just eliminate the party at his earliest convenience.
pukunui
Legend
In my case, it's because I've not had Strahd attack them first, and they have been careful to avoid attacking him in return. Perhaps by "run away" I just meant "avoid engaging him in combat".
Here's a quick run-through:
At the beginning of the campaign, the PCs fought some Strahd zombies on the road between the gates and the village. As they were fighting, Strahd rocked up in his carriage and watched. As they cut down the last zombie, he got out, slow-clapping, and approached them. He warned them that "she" belonged to him and then proceeded to charm one of the PCs temporarily (so that they could see how tough his charm DC is).
Later, he appeared again while the PCs were attempting to bury Ireena's father in the graveyard. Bat swarms swirled about and wolves attacked and Strahd watched again, calling to Ireena to come to him.
Another time was when they were at Yester Hill. They weren't able to stop the ritual that created Wintersplinter, instead focusing on chopping down the Gulthias tree. Strahd noticed them as the tree toppled over but they fled down the hill, and I didn't have him pursue, wrapped up as he was in his memories of the past.
The next time, I had him show up in Krezk while they were sleeping at the Krezkovs'. They had just found the sunsword, and I randomly determined which PC was on watch when Strahd knocked on the window. It just happened to be the PC with the sword. He charmed the PC, who fended off his request to be invited in by stating that, since it wasn't his house, it wasn't his place to invite someone in (he's a lawful-minded ex-watchman). Instead, Strahd asked him to come out through the window. He bit the PC and drained him to unconsciousness. The player asked if anything was missing when he came to. I asked if his PC had the sword on him. He said yes, so I said yes, the sword was gone. I'm so mean.
Their most recent meeting with Strahd was just last session, as detailed above. Strahd was just arriving at Wachterhaus to formally bestow the burgomaster-ship on Lady Wachter. The PCs were already there, planning on attacking her, when he showed up, so they beat a hasty retreat, nervously chatting with Strahd as they passed on the path outside. (That night, Strahd organized St Andral's Feast.)
My group got Ireena to Krezk and let her go with Sergei's spirit in the pool at level 5, too. Yes, the text states that Strahd drops all his other goals and seeks to kill the PCs from that point on, but all he does is send them an invite to the castle ... which makes it clear to me that he still wants to torment them a bit before killing them. So in my game, he's still being cordial to them every time they meet outside the castle, but he's also been reminding them that he's waiting for them to come to the castle. He's been leaving the carriage at all the crossroads, and sending minions to stop them from taking paths that lead away from the castle (whereas they come across nothing on any path leading towards it).
Wepwawet
Explorer
My points of light appear briefly and the sky goes back to normal grey. Except at night, the clouds opens up. I had the Druid (highest Int) roll to notice that the constellations are completely wrong.
I haven't decided yet on what to do after they cause enough points of light... I don't want it to become too easy... Maybe simply have periods of sunlight during the day, like moving clouds in the sky.
I want that too, finish Strahd permanently. I haven't thought about the dark powers much, but that's an idea, a final bigger boss in the Amber Temple (just like Final Fantasy, when you think you're done there's still the real baddie to fight). Mme Eva could be the one to tell them...
After slaying Strahd (and maybe the dark powers) I was thinking of having the players step out of Barovia through the fog into wherever they want in the multiverse. Like, this is a demi plane, overlapping many other planes, which is the way the Vistani travel and bring visitors. So, if the campaign lasts that long I can use this as a jumping point to a high level campaign (Sigil perhaps?). And this demi plane slowly fades way, either merging into somewhere in the FR, or totally disappears when the last soul leaves that land.
Wepwawet
Explorer
If they're high enough level you could have Strahd come to them without worrying so much about deaths.
Like, if these adventurers don't come to me, I'll bring the fight to them.
Have them learn the true power of Strahd von Zarovich. He doesn't go inside churches and residences only out of etiquette, but he's pretty annoyed by now. Remember, he owns this land, every single house too. Every vampire suffers from residence forbiddance, but he acts it out just to give the people an illusion of safety.
Have him fall one or two characters and then leave. Hopefully they won't die from death saves.
If you have him harass the players like that they'll know that they have to go to Castle Ravenloft and kill him.
I think it's perfectly in character for him. "If they're not coming here to play I'll play with them outside and force them to come"
I'm also doing the 'points of sunlight' bit for my campaigns after each time the party does something "good"-- clouds open and reveal the sun for a few moments, then they close back up. This has happened several times now because of all the stuff I added to the game that would take this into account (things like adding in the 'three fanes' concept from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.) And in order to keep the parties up to date I ended up re-writing and expanding the Tome of Strahd handout, which talked about all of these things plus what would happen were they to accomplish all the cleansings of the realm-- basically the clouds open permanently and finally revealing sunlight to the land. At that point Strahd would no longer be able to venture out of his castle during the daytime, and windows in the castle suddenly become much more important.
In my CoS games there are four "levels" of Strahd abilities that the groups can take down:
- Destroying the Heart of Sorrow in the tall tower of Castle Ravenloft eliminates Strahd's buffer pool of HP.
- Cleansing the three ancient magical fanes (the Megaliths of St. Andral at Old Bonegrinder, the Menhirs of St. Markovia at the Ruins of Berez, and the Obelisk of St. Ecatarina at Saint's Hill-- what was called Lysaga Hill in Expedition) cuts off Strahd's additional power from the Land and I switch from the more powerful CR 17 Strahd statblock someone made here on EN World to the regular CR 15 statblock in the book.
- Consecrating the four holy sites in the valley (the Church of St. Ecatarina in the Village of Barovia, the Monastery of St. Andral in Vallaki, the Abbey of St. Markovia in Kresk, and the Chapel within Castle Ravenloft) opens up the sky to sunlight permanently and prevents Strahd from walking his land during the day.
- And finally, if all seven magical sites are cleansed and consecreated (the three fanes and four holy sites), then the Morninglord is metaphysically released from his bonds in the Baratok Valley and he regains his power and standing. At that point, should someone then kill Strahd in his coffin then the Vampire Lord is destroyed permanently as the Morninglord's positive energy blankets the land.
Suffice it to say... one of my groups has done a good job thus far accomplishing these things... the other group not so much.
The Blood Hunter in the former group has been willing to make deals with Baba Lysaga and Baba Morgantha to assume control of the two of the three fanes (gaining the Queen of Air and Darkness as an Archfey patron in the process) and the Paladin of the Morninglord has made it his duty to cleanse all the locations and release his god from bondage in the Valley-- thus far the Megaliths, Menhirs, and the Church of St. Ecatarina are consecrated and they're about to cleanse the Monastery). In the latter group? The Archfey warlock has been reticent to make deals with his patron, the Queen of Air and Darkness, or the Baba sisters... and the rest of them are more interested in just surviving than actually trying to do anything. Which has been fun to watch them flailing about anyway... but they're just having a more difficult go of it. LOL.
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