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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8795765" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.*****.com/raqoASS.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><a href="https://www.dmsguild.com/product/382914/The-Multiverse-Files-Curse-of-Strahd" target="_blank">Product Link</a>Product Type: DMing Tools/BestiaryCoS-Required? YesHistory literally repeats itself in the nightmare domain of Barovia. Strahd Von Zarovich has lived a thousand lives and perished a thousand deaths, his existence played out like a demented opera for the Dark Powers. A man whose selfish desire for a woman made him lose everything, even his life and soul, as he became master of his birthright domain.But what if things turned out different? What if by some twist of fate, Strahd found himself damned in some other way, a circumstance altogether new yet no less horrific? The Multiverse Files explore various “what ifs” of Strahd’s backstory, and how it can be used to run a familiar-yet-different Curse of Strahd. Each alternative tale lays out mechanical and aesthetic changes, from the land to the monsters, as well as the relationships and tactics of certain characters in the adventure as a result of this altered Strahd.Beast of Ravenloft explores a reality where Strahd became cursed with lycanthropy, that of a wereraven’s, instead of vampirism. In this world, he pledged himself to the god Malar to gain strength in fighting the old enemies of pre-Mists Barovia. The story plays out similarly, although the tragedy of Castle Ravenloft occurs when Strahd prayed to Malar for guidance at winning Tatyana’s favor when she fell in love with Sergei instead. A bestial fury wrought of divine power descended on the Count, and the castle ran red with blood.In this world, Malar is considered a dark aspect of Mother Night, the Keepers of the Feather are an evil organization who view Strahd as a demigod servant of Malar, and Strahd’s human form is unknown to the general public which can mean that a d8 table of existing NPCs can reveal who his secret identity is in the module. The Sunsword is reflavored into the Moon Sword and is effective against shapechangers instead of undead, and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is instead the Holy Symbol of Night which can turn lycanthropes and cast the moonbeam spell.Strahd as the Beast of Ravenloft has altered stats emphasizing a mobile lycanthropic fighter. He doesn’t have wizard spellcasting like the default Strahd, instead having a few innate spells he has access to in human form. His legendary actions are focused around speed and fly-by attacks, and he also has the ability to mentally charm ravens and wereravens at will as opposed to humanoids. Although this Strahd can move faster and operate in sunlight, he is a bit lacking in who he can charm (albeit as a bonus action instead of an action) and in having less spells, even if he can cast them as part of Legendary Actions.<img src="https://i.*****.com/XYt53yJ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Dark Machines asks the question of what if Barovia was a province of Karrnath in the world of Eberron, or rather originated in that setting. Here, Strahd is a scientific general in an undead mechanical shell. He sought to win Tatyana’s hand by showing her and Sergei a mighty mobile warcastle, but its arcane engine catastrophically detonated. The explosion killed him, the couple, and everyone inside, causing the Mists to descend.In this version of Barovia, Castle Ravenloft is a mobile steampunk fortress, part of a greater plot to amass a grand army of unholy constructs to take over a Karrnath he will never see again. There are more mechanical monsters serving Strahd, the now-vanished Dragonmarked houses show their influence in rare marks in certain noble families (the Kolyanas being one of them: House Deneith), and those lured into Barovia often find themselves at an abandoned lightning rail station. The Keepers of the Feather are an underground resistance movement lead by the monster hunter Diana Van Richten, the Amber Temple is a prison housing comatose daelkyr, and the Sun Sword is reflavored as the Blade of Dol Arrah which deals additional damage to constructs instead of undead. We have a new stat block for Bloodforged (evil humanoid constructs that weaken in sunlight), and Strahd’s stat block is a lightning-wielding construct who looks human on the surface but reveals more of his mechanical nature the more he’s damaged.Escape Plan is what happens when Strahd gets genre savvy. In this timeline, the Count is not only aware of the Dark Powers, he’s been privately plotting a way out of Barovia once and for all. In this version, Strahd seeks to coax and manipulate the PCs into committing greater acts of evil as a means to have them replace him as Barovia’s new Darklord. Once that occurs, he plans on using the Zarovan Vistani to take him out of the plane. Not only that, he has also learned the true names of several imps, which he uses to stalk the party at all times as invisible spies. Strahd already killed or otherwise permanently hobbled several potential allies: Van Richten was captured, used as bait, and eventually killed to lure out Ez to turn her into a vampire spawn, the majority of the Keepers of the Feather are dead, he stole Mordenkainen’s staff and spellbook, and the undead paladins of Argynvostholt have been chained to wooden wheels at the bottom of Lake Zarovich. Strahd still cares for Ireena even though she’s no longer his primary focus, although in capturing her to keep in his castle she now knows much of its layout and inhabitants.This is Curse of Strahd on hard mode, and the book even highlights this saying that it’s better-suited for players familiar with the original 5e adventure. Strahd’s stats are the same, although there’s a sidebar giving him access to higher-level spells such as Antimagic Field as well as more “self-aware” tactics like noting which of the PCs is likeliest to use the Sunsword and will only kill a character who refuses to be corrupted.Heart of the House makes Castle Ravenloft itself the Darklord, with Strahd but a mental thrall of the building’s will to serve as the face of Barovia’s evil. The Castle has the ability to gain mental control of those who spend time inside it, and craves the attention of outsiders for some stimulation in its droll existence. Ireena is strangely immune to the Castle’s psychic puppetry, and so the darklord fills her life with tragedy in the belief that her good heart is the source of this resistance. The DM rolls 3 times on a table to determine which big-time NPCs are already puppets, which can even include the mighty Mordenkainen or even Madam Eva! The PCs can find an unlikely ally in Baba Lysaga, who raised Strahd like her son and wants to free him from the Castle’s dreadful influence.In this version, the Heart of Sorrow is the true final boss, having its own stats as a CR 15 monster which can attack with slashing grappling tendrils, an AoE frightening aura, and Legendary Actions and Resistances.Hoard of Blood posits Strahd as being an undead dragon. In this version, he was impaled on one of Argynvost’s scales when he was still a mortal human. Seeking to avoid eventual death, he performed necromantic experiments on the dragon’s corpse to heal himself, and became a dragon-vampire hybrid. This new state proved a blessing politically, as he expanded his ancestral lands’ reach to conquer all of Barovia. But this only frightened Tatyana into Sergei’s arms, repeating a tragedy we know all too well.In this version Strahd can take the form of a human, transforming into a dragon with its own stat block under certain circumstances such as being reduced to 0 HP and triggering a Phase Two Boss Battle. Strahd’s goals in this version are to accumulate more wealth for his hoard, creating “children” in the form of dragon-blood infected hybrid abominations,* and finding a way to transport Barovia back to the Material Plane so he can expand his dominion. His obsession with accumulating magic items allows him to cast divination spells on the party as they find more of the three great Treasures of Ravenloft. The undead knights of the Order of the Silver Dragon are more active in resisting Strahd’s tyranny via building siege engines in the forests and riding into town to try and recruit people. They haven’t gotten far on this last part on account of their undead nature, so they do their best to disguise themselves under full plate armor.*which are a template adding more dragon-themed abilities to an existing stat block.<img src="https://i.*****.com/l9Byws3.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Reversal of Roles is our final entry, making it so that Tatyana was the one who became the Darklord of Barovia. In this tale, she was already a vampire before she met the Von Zaroviches, and turned Strahd and Sergei against each other via courting both. This caused Strahd to kill his brother in a fit of murderous jealousy. Unlike the original Strahd, Tatyana is a villain with good publicity. Although Barovia is a gloomy and forlorn land, the general public view the Dowager Countess as a benevolent ruler eager to make the major towns good places to live via charitable investments in infrastructure. The undead in the land are controlled by her, but she claims that they’re cursed soldiers of Strahd seeking to undo everything she has built.Tatyana does believe that she is Barovia’s greatest protector…but only if she can utterly control every aspect of the people’s lives. In this campaign, she is more of a behind the schemes manipulator, using propaganda to turn townsfolk against the PCs, trying to manipulate the PCs into killing Ez, and is consumed with finding and destroying the Sunsword. Sergei exists as a dullahan with a unique stat block, unwillingly serving Tatyana as long as she is in possession of his head. Instead of the Tome of Strahd, that treasure is replaced with the Reins of Bucephalus, which casts Find Greater Steed to summon a nightmare horse of the same name with enchanted armor. Tatyana’s stat block is perhaps the most underwhelming, being that of a (still-powerful) Monster Manual Vampire, but with warlock spellcasting.Overall Thoughts: In regards to the alternate Strahds, my favorites are Dark Machines and Escape Plan. The gothic steampunk atmosphere and Castle Ravenloft as a mobile dungeon really tickle my fancy, and Escape Plan is a good reflection in-character of an immortal vampire growing increasingly obsessive over the ennui of his time-loop imprisonment. I am not as fond of the Beast of Ravenloft or Reversal of Roles; the former in that wereravens aren’t the iconic type of lycanthrope and I cannot help but feel it makes Strahd weaker overall (less magic) and also ties him too closely to a Faerunian-centric deity. As for Reversal of Roles, I feel that <a href="https://www.dmsguild.com/product/369197/She-is-the-Ancient-A-Genderbent-Curse-of-Strahd" target="_blank">She Is the Ancient</a> does a much better job of “Strahd But Female,” and the whole “female villain using seduction to do evil villain things” is a well-worn cliche.But overall, I like this product. It has a variety of interesting spins on Curse of Strahd to make for fun alternatives, and the addition of new stat blocks, magic items, and monsters is a welcome touch. The product’s page count is brief, but it feels dense in material. Its major weakness is that most DMs aren’t likely to use the product to its fullest, given that the Curse of Strahd campaign takes a lot of time to run to completion.Join us next time as we go foraging for herbs in the Svalich Woods in A Botanical Guide to Barovia!</blockquote>

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