Also gathering up all the villagers to do detect evil is not an easy feat, even in the starting town there are powerful NPC's and even non powerful ones are not going to want to be told what to do by an adventure who is likely to be Strahd's next playtoy. The townspeople fear Strahd way more they would the newest in a long line of would be heroes.
D&D 5E Curse of Strahd and Paladin's Divine Sense
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Satyrn
First Post
If I'm the paladin in that situation, and I think it's not going to be a fun thing to round up the villagers this way, then I wouldn't suggest it. If the idea all pops up some how, then I'd say my paladin feels it highly improper ( for some reason) to do so and suggest something else, like a sort of door to door search, or something fun.
Or just leave it up to the DM to adjudicate it all in some fun way.
There are opportunities to do this in CoS - say during some kind of festival... You could even manage it surreptitiously. I would consider that smart play; you are using Divine Sense for exactly the reason it was made. This adds to the adventure rather than detract from or disrupt it.
Fanaelialae
Legend
As GX.Sigma pointed out, the spell Nystul's Magic Aura will hide a vampire from Divine Sense. There might be other spells or magic items which can do so as well.
However, particularly in a paranoia inducing setting like Ravenloft, I wouldn't have the villagers follow the PC's directives unless the PCs had proven themselves deserving of trust beyond a shadow of a doubt. For all the villages know, the PCs could be the very vampires who have been killing townsfolk!
G
Guest 6801328
Guest
I love this. The players start trying to "round up" the villagers, and a rumor spreads that it's for some evil reason. Instead of a docile crowd they face a lynch mob.
Warmaster Horus
Explorer
Nystul's Magic Aura can mask this as well, and is permanent if cast every day for a month.
AaronOfBarbaria
Adventurer
Thanks for pointing out something I hadn't noticed about that spell.
Hussar
Legend
That's cool. Never noticed that one. Considering Strahd's age, I'd say that's a pretty easy solution.
Saeviomagy
Adventurer
The paladin detect evil is
1) effectively a spell: in previous editions casting it required you to engage in a very obvious ritual. At the very least, I would consider it to be a noticeable thing that the paladin is doing.
2) A limited number of times per day: if a paladin is throwing it out every time a group of people are gathered, he'll run out quick
3) Not infallible: as others have pointed out a bunch of spells will block it or give false results. For fun have strahd cast nystul's on other people to make them show up as undead.
4) Irrelevant: it's rare that people won't work out or already know that Strahd is a vampire.
For the "I gather everyone in the town square and detect evil" plan
1) How often does absolutely everyone show up to a meeting, even an important one? So you've got the culprit (maybe, see above) and some others who don't show.
2) This is a useful shortcut to rule out everyone who you would probably never investigate anyway. Lets face it: a game where you have to actually investigate 100 villagers would get tedious quickly.
3) a paladin rolls into town and asks that the entire town attends a meeting? Every slightly shady or guilty person in town doesn't show up because they don't want to be subjected to the inquisition.
4) The culprit stages a diversion or frames someone because it's pretty obvious what's happening when a paladin rolls into town and asks for a town meeting. If a vampire removes his finger and puts it in someone's coin purse, will it still ping as undead? Probably.
1) effectively a spell: in previous editions casting it required you to engage in a very obvious ritual. At the very least, I would consider it to be a noticeable thing that the paladin is doing.
2) A limited number of times per day: if a paladin is throwing it out every time a group of people are gathered, he'll run out quick
3) Not infallible: as others have pointed out a bunch of spells will block it or give false results. For fun have strahd cast nystul's on other people to make them show up as undead.
4) Irrelevant: it's rare that people won't work out or already know that Strahd is a vampire.
For the "I gather everyone in the town square and detect evil" plan
1) How often does absolutely everyone show up to a meeting, even an important one? So you've got the culprit (maybe, see above) and some others who don't show.
2) This is a useful shortcut to rule out everyone who you would probably never investigate anyway. Lets face it: a game where you have to actually investigate 100 villagers would get tedious quickly.
3) a paladin rolls into town and asks that the entire town attends a meeting? Every slightly shady or guilty person in town doesn't show up because they don't want to be subjected to the inquisition.
4) The culprit stages a diversion or frames someone because it's pretty obvious what's happening when a paladin rolls into town and asks for a town meeting. If a vampire removes his finger and puts it in someone's coin purse, will it still ping as undead? Probably.
Mercule
Adventurer
IIRC, this was the solution in the original I6. I no longer have a physical copy, but I believe that's what the amulet pictured is supposed to be.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
What it really comes down to is your conception of Barovia. Are vampires and other undead roaming the town like some kind of Victorian Vampire the Masquerade? In such a case, using Divine Sense won't help you much, as at any given time, a half dozen or more creatures could pop up on your divine radar, and you have no idea who's who. In such a setting, would the vampires even conceal themselves? Would walking into any wealthy area of town basically put you under the assumption that vampires outnumber the living?
Divine Sense is great if you're looking for the odd man out, who is running and hiding from you. It's less useful when they're not hiding and there's more than one.
Divine Sense is great if you're looking for the odd man out, who is running and hiding from you. It's less useful when they're not hiding and there's more than one.
Jester David
Hero
Considering he's called "the devil Strahd" and identified as a "vampyre" in the opening handout I don't think this will be an issue.
View attachment 76574
"Helga, look at that guy over there. Does he look suspicious to you? Kinda creepy?"
"No Sir Oatheart, stop thinking everyone has evil in them around here. It isn't polite."
"Seriously? I'm going to use Divine Sense. That guy is clearly up to something."
"Dude! That's profiling, you're a Paladin of Good Faith! Isn't that crossing some line in your oath?"
"Ugh. Fine. I'm sure that pasty-skinned, pointy-eared, pointy-TOOTHED, caped Count is perfectly innocent."
"Glad we agree. Now come on, he invited us over for dinner. And he was hitting on me earlier too, said I looked delicious. The charming ol' guy."
Savage Wombat
Adventurer
My party used detect evil on the first stranger they met on the road. (Mind you, he looked kind of creepy.) This resulted in the rogue attacking him from behind while the rest of the group was talking to him.
Not that it worked. My hand to god, I rolled the highest possible option on the wandering monster table for the very first check...
Not that it worked. My hand to god, I rolled the highest possible option on the wandering monster table for the very first check...
Retsamikol
Villager
I always understood that paladins were anathema in ravenloft as the lord of the domain ALWAYS knows their exact location due to their aura, and would actively hunt them down as soon as they set foot in their realm! Hence I never aloud paladins in ravenloft as it was an instant tpk
This one. I used Strahd as NPC helper in the party and this one helped to make the paladine suspects go away.
It was funny to have THE man inside sabotaging the party (it was a nice gimmick for two sessions, then after a bad wound he "suffered", he had to stay down for a day of rest at the bluewater inn. And Ireena attening him while the party had a hint to go to the revenant's mansion. The sheer face of terror when Horngaard told them that Strahd once used that same tactics years ago was pure gold, and so was the race to Vallaki)
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