D&D 5E Curse of Strahd: Roleplaying as Strahd

[Bladecoder]

Hi,
So Im running Curse of Strahd for a group of 5 players and I think I've got everything pretty much prepaired, but I am unsure how to roleplay Strahd. I can easily treat him like any other NPC but that is kind of lame, I want him to be special and some what terrifying, and this is where I am stuck. I have also read and adapted the suggestions in the Roleplaying Strahd section of the book, but it doesn't really touch on how to make him seem intimidatingly scary. If you have any way that you made him scary or just general tips please leave them in the section below. Thanks in advance.

 

[iserith]

The players will make jokes about him sparkling in the sunlight or how easy it was to throw him a beating, so my advice is to just embrace the silliness and roleplay him how I intend to:

 

[jrowland]

Strahd can say things like,

"I will make Barovia great Again!"
"Adventurers just raided my castle! Sad!"
"I know lots of smart wizards, believe me."
"I will throw a Yuuuge party for Tatyana when she returns."
"I built the mist wall and I had the Vistani pay for it"


Terrifying

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think the best thing you can do to make him formidable is to actually have him treat the party as if they are visitors to his realm. Have him welcome them to his home with an invitation to the castle, and then when there, have him not be overtly threatening in any way.

While they are there, though, you should have him reveal some tidbits about the characters and their backgrounds and tactics and things like that. Just have him make an offhand comment about something that reveals he knows much more about the players than they would expect. That will catch them off guard.

Then, once their visit is finished, have him send them on their way. The fact that he'll invite them into his lair and chat with them and then send them on their way will go a long way to showing the PCs how little he thinnks of the threat they pose him. If they don't get that, you can have Rahadin or one of Strahd's other henchmen drive that home a little more directly.

 

[pukunui]

I'm two sessions into my campaign, and I've had Strahd show up a couple of times already.

The first time was while they were fighting some of his zombies on the road to Barovia Village. He showed up in his carriage and watched, then gave them a slow clap when they'd finished. He warned them that Ireena was his and then charmed the sole female PC in the group and gave her a good once-over before releasing her and driving off again.

The second was while they were burying Ireena's father in the graveyard. Strahd tried to lure Ireena to him while the PCs were busy fighting off some wolves. When they stopped her from going to him, he withdrew.

Not once have the players tried to attack him. I have had them tell me that they enjoy having him pop in from time to time, rather than just waiting for them at the end, as it were.

 

[Ganymede81]

I've done lots of fun stuff.

He commissioned and paid for graves for the PCs in the Vallaki graveyard.

He constantly insinuates that one of the PCs is secretly a traitor.

He paid Blinksy to put on a creepy puppet show with the PCs as puppets.

And worst of all, he gave the PCs a Deck of Many Things.

 

[JangPotatoes]

I've done lots of fun stuff.

He commissioned and paid for graves for the PCs in the Vallaki graveyard.

He constantly insinuates that one of the PCs is secretly a traitor.

He paid Blinksy to put on a creepy puppet show with the PCs as puppets.

And worst of all, he gave the PCs a Deck of Many Things.

You monster.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Yaztromo]

Have you thought about having two groups playing against each other (one group will be made of Strahd and hi lieges) or at least having one player impersonating Strahd?
This was very common at the beginning of D&D...

 

[corwyn77]

Have you thought about having two groups playing against each other (one group will be made of Strahd and hi lieges) or at least having one player impersonating Strahd?
This was very common at the beginning of D&D...

One of my players played a bard who gave a puppet show starring Strahd. That drew much nervous laughter from the crowd. Unfortunately he had to drop out of the game before anything really terrible happened to him.

 

[evilbob]

The truth is: most of your ability to RP Strahd during the moment is going to be hamstrung by the obvious nature of the plot and the infinite vampire tropes you have to work with and against. I wouldn't sweat it too badly because there's just no way you can really play him up at your table without being a professional actor. However! This isn't a bad thing; it's actually quite freeing. My suggestion is to not focus on making him scary in RP, but do things in-game that make him scary, and just allow the RP to compliment that.

For example: the only thing that has terrified my players is the idea that Strahd is so strong he doesn't even have to kill them. He makes it very clear he's toying with them and could kill them if he wanted at any time. They fought him once (at the hill) where they went all-out and did some serious damage to him, killed his horse, and he retreated. He mostly used simple tactics, they knew he was coming, and he even tried to wade into melee (big mistake with this group). This made them feel pretty cool. Within the hour he attacked them again (scryed them from something he'd gotten earlier) using all his powers and spells and never even tried to hit any of them, although one of his lackeys dropped one of the players in one hit. He moved through the group without them being able to do anything about it, without them hardly even seeing him, charmed Irena, and took off without leaving tracks. They found her wandering through the woods a few minutes later, mumbling about needing to head home to the castle, and then breaking down into tears. The entire point of the attack was to show that he was not even remotely hurt, he could move through them at will, he still had a massive amount of power to throw around, he could take any one of them any time he wanted to, and he was letting them live at his pleasure (and also his lackey managed to steal the Holy Symbol, which was the primary focus of the attack but which was downplayed by all the rest of it). This was terrifying to them, and my bumbling attempts at RP during the attack were at least good enough to compliment this - which is all I needed.

 

[Flamestrike]

The players will make jokes about him sparkling in the sunlight or how easy it was to throw him a beating, so my advice is to just embrace the silliness and roleplay him how I intend to:

View attachment 79439

One werewolf! Two werewolves..! Blaah!

 

[Rils]

The trick is not to TRY to roleplay him as scary. Roleplay him as a normal guy - who is so far above the level of the PCs that he isn't remotely concerned about them. As others mentioned, his actions speak louder than his words. have him standing by while something else (zombies, wolves, etc) attack the party - and if they try to take the fight to him, he just fireballs them all. Like @pukunui, I had him show up at the father's burial as well - where he one-shotted a player with an unarmed strike; he literally slapped the PC dead in one hit. That will scare the bejeebers out of the players way more than cheesy tag lines.

When he does speak, I see it more as a condescending sort of thing - "Welcome to my home, enjoy yourselves, but don't make too much of a nuisance of yourselves or this game will end early..." They should encounter him several times before the final battle. At first, he can be nice and welcoming - after all, the PCs are there at his whim. Hhe toys with them a bit, but nothing too serious, just testing the waters. As they rise in level and get more involved in righting wrongs in the valley, maybe he issues a "stern warning" to keep their nose out of his business, and then attacks for a few rounds just to bloody them a bit before walking away unconcerned. It's only once they get the artifacts and a higher level that he really starts to take them seriously - at which point he invites them to his castle and messes with them till they go nuts or die.

 

[intently]

He should always show up with minions. Have him feed on townspeople while the pcs fight the minions.

Have him interrupt their long rests. That'll freak the pcs out... No hp or spell refresh.

 

[Bladecoder]

The trick is not to TRY to roleplay him as scary. Roleplay him as a normal guy - who is so far above the level of the PCs that he isn't remotely concerned about them. As others mentioned, his actions speak louder than his words. have him standing by while something else (zombies, wolves, etc) attack the party - and if they try to take the fight to him, he just fireballs them all. Like @pukunui, I had him show up at the father's burial as well - where he one-shotted a player with an unarmed strike; he literally slapped the PC dead in one hit. That will scare the bejeebers out of the players way more than cheesy tag lines.

When he does speak, I see it more as a condescending sort of thing - "Welcome to my home, enjoy yourselves, but don't make too much of a nuisance of yourselves or this game will end early..." They should encounter him several times before the final battle. At first, he can be nice and welcoming - after all, the PCs are there at his whim. Hhe toys with them a bit, but nothing too serious, just testing the waters. As they rise in level and get more involved in righting wrongs in the valley, maybe he issues a "stern warning" to keep their nose out of his business, and then attacks for a few rounds just to bloody them a bit before walking away unconcerned. It's only once they get the artifacts and a higher level that he really starts to take them seriously - at which point he invites them to his castle and messes with them till they go nuts or die.

Thanks this was very helpful

 

[77IM]

I'd make Strahd downright helpful. Have him bail the party out of their first few TPKs. When the group foolishly assaults the windmill, for example, and gets their asses handed to them by the hags, have Strahd rescue the PCs. Have him send the party on quests. Have Strahd appear especially delighted whenever the group descends into typical murder-hobo behavior. Killing the revenants, for example, should make Strahd positively light up with glee.

Nothing is scarier in an RPG than having a patron who you KNOW is out to screw you, but you just can't figure out how...

 

[Ganymede81]

One of my players played a bard who gave a puppet show starring Strahd. That drew much nervous laughter from the crowd. Unfortunately he had to drop out of the game before anything really terrible happened to him.

When our bard had to leave the group, we worked together to make it memorable: he betrayed the group at a key confrontation. It would have been more fun if he didn't spend the entire fight failing Hold Person saves.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Strahd pulls adventurers into his realm to play with them, and perhaps find one to take his place so he himself can escape the mists. He should be supremely confident. He should exude menace.

All the best aspects of Darth Vader should apply. Have him speak little, but to great affect. Have him rarely get his own hands dirty, but when he does have him show displays of casual but focused brutality. Have him offer great power in exchange for the players services and don't even bother making threats.

 

[Sammael]

Strahd pulls adventurers into his realm to play with them, and perhaps find one to take his place so he himself can escape the mists. He should be supremely confident. He should exude menace.

All the best aspects of Darth Vader should apply. Have him speak little, but to great affect. Have him rarely get his own hands dirty, but when he does have him show displays of casual but focused brutality. Have him offer great power in exchange for the players services and don't even bother making threats.

^This. Excellent advice. Strahd doesn't need to threaten - PCs should get the feeling that they are so far beneath him that he doesn't consider them as threats at all - rather, he believes they can be useful or entertaining to him.

Also consider the following:

- Strahd is not only an ancient vampire, he is also a tactical genius with a myriad plans and contingencies as well as a powerful arcane caster - so he pretty much has everything covered. The way I envision him, his one weakness (aside from Tatyana) is when things deviate from his plans and when PCs do unpredictable things.

For instance, if he learns they own (and have read) the Tome of Strahd he will likely lose it and replace his cool, calculating veneer with screaming rage. Same applies if PCs somehow harm Ireena, or allow her to be harmed by monsters, or if they let her reunite with Sergei. But, in order for this to play out right, they must first meet Strahd's composed, calculating, civilized persona several times - that will make his frenzied self even scarier.

- Strahd is bored after 400+ years of solitude. He needs distractions. As long as the PCs are providing some entertainment, he will let them live (unless they commit one of the capital offences noted above). Perhaps PCs should occasionally even receive gifts from him as "payments" for "their services." This should confuse or enrage the hell out of the players.

- Drop liberal clues about Strahd's past. I am writing a series of detailed excerpts from the Tome for that purpose - to share some of his history with the PCs and also make them think he has a human, redeemable side to him (he never got his father's approval, he wasted his youth on the battlefield, he made horrid decisions justified in the name of war). When they learn the full truth about the monster he later became because of those actions, it will make him even more horrifying. One story that got my players in particular was the punishment of dusk elves, where he had Rahadin slay all their females, effectively killing off their entire race. That's Hitler-level stuff and should make even the most jaded players a bit nervous.

 

[Seaners]

Would appreciate you sharing anything you develop.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I would also add, consider delaying having the party meet Strahd directly for a while. Let the mystique build a bit, have the party see a mysterious figure in the distance. Sometimes when they are being attacked by Strahd's minions, and sometimes when nothing is happening at all. It never hurts to keep players anticipating what will happen.