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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9159846" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gQ613J4.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><a href="https://www.dmsguild.com/product/439153/Orphans-of-the-Multiverse-Lost-in-Barovia" target="_blank">Product Link</a>Product Type: DMing ToolsCoS-Required? YesOf the various innovative ideas in Curse of Strahd, one of the more notable ones is the concept of the Destined Ally, a randomly-determined NPC in Madam Eva’s Tarokka reading who will aid the party in their fight against Strahd Von Zarovich. Orphans of the Multiverse is a product which provides five more allies for that campaign, but what separates them from the others in the default adventure is that they’re all like the PCs in being adventurers from other campaign settings. And like adventurers, they are built using the rules for PCs save for one, and three of them have different stat blocks reflecting different levels of power at 3rd, 7th, and 10th level.Orphans of the Multiverse writes from a standpoint that all such Orphans are present in the adventure and some can affect each other’s personal stories. Additionally, new Tarokka entries (but no card graphics) are provided for each of them for Madam Eva’s reading, as well as a general “Orphan” card if only including one such NPC from this book in the campaign. We also get a Quick Reference table outlining each Orphan’s basic details, their goals, personality traits, and where to find them in the module. We also get a table for an Example Basic Adventure Sequence outlining the Orphans’ various quests and what the PCs could do to earn their respect and trust. Additionally, virtually every NPC here has a weapon capable of overcoming the damage resistance and immunities of various monsters in the module, particularly silvered weapons. Even the less martial characters, such as Omiros the bard or Myriani the rogue, both have +1 weapons.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/TT42T9S.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Kaylee Forestwatcher (Firbolg Twilight Domain Cleric) comes from the Forgotten Realms setting, having grown up in Luruar.* Although not an elf, her fascination with the moon led her to becoming a cleric of Sehanine Moonbow where a temple of wood elves helped train her into a priestess. She ended up in Barovia after reports of werewolves caused the temple to send out an investigation party to research and deal with the threat. The plan didn’t survive contact with the enemy, and Kaylee’s allies were picked off in hit and run tactics before a mysterious hooded figure told her to follow a path to survive.*or the Silver Marches depending on the timeline.Kaylee could be a recent arrival to Barovia, like the PCs, or has been there for a while. This also affects her mental state based on the Seven Stages of Grief, where an early entry will have her trying to stay positive, but this would wane over time as the cruel realities of Barovia sink in. Kaylee and her goddess have no love for Strahd’s monstrous servants, and she is interested in finding a way to end his threat and heal the land. Her personal quest involves finding her friends and giving them a proper burial, as well as hunting down the werewolves who killed them who happen to be from the Werewolf Den. Should she not be a Fated Ally, she may wish to stay in the Village of Barovia and help out the locals or travel through the land of her own accord.In terms of stats Kaylee is a Twilight Cleric, meaning that she is extremely strong. <a href="https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/cleric/subclasses/twilight/" target="_blank">Others elsewhere have talked about why it’s so powerful,</a> so I won’t repeat myself. Even at level 3 she is a great utility character, possessing a good assortment of spells, limited invisibility, can grant one other creature advantage on initiative, and has a good general-purpose Channel Divinity. She also comes equipped with a silver longsword, providing the party with a means of bypassing the werewolves’ physical damage immunity. At higher levels she gains bonus equipment in the form of diamonds for casting revivify or raise dead.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/F1eMEHt.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Myriani Reymaer (Astral Elf Thief Rogue) was part of a pirate crew of the spelljammer galleon known as the Pelican. Everything fell apart when they crash-landed in Lake Zarovich after encountering a strange misty formation in Wildspace. Over time the local horrors saw the rest of her crew go missing or dead, and Myriani went insane and started hallucinating that they were still with her on the ship. The Pelican is inoperable and requires a spellcaster to fly it (which Myriani is not), and even if it became fully functional it won’t be able to part the Mists. PCs can find her on the boat offshore in Lake Zarovich, and while she will initially hide from them should they board the ship, the elf will express interest in who they are once it’s determined they are not monsters. Her personal quest involves helping repair the ship and finding someone to fly it. She may also venture out onto dry land in search of treasure in Barovia, particularly the Tarokka treasure results which can put her as a rival if she’s not the Destined Ally.At this point in the book we start to see what I refer to as padded page count. The book gives an overly-detailed explanation of what Myriani does should the party steal anything from the vessel, which is a 4 step process involving multiple skill checks on both the PC and her side which occur over the couple of in-game hours, along with an entire page’s worth of quote boxes for sample conversations with each dead crew member. While Myriani is perhaps the most egregious example in this book, Orphans of the Multiverse suffers in having its text being needlessly detailed, like mentioning that Jovie’s abandoned cabin will require a light source or darkvision to see inside…when the preceding boxed text notes that there are no lights or signs of current habitation inside. Or being stilted, where a list of facts and events are separated into their own individual sentences where they could be easily combined into one.In terms of stats, Myriani is a 10th level Rogue with the Thief subclass. She has proficiency in quite a lot of thief-related stuff and has high modifiers to such rolls, meaning that she is an excellent scout. Perhaps moreso than Arrigal due to her darkvision, and being an astral elf she has limited-use short range teleportation ability.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/jvS1OyV.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Jovie (Warforged Champion Fighter) is a warforged fighter who was built during the tail end of the Last War. When they could not be used as a soldier, they found new purpose as a city guard in Stormreach, and ended up in Barovia in a similar manner to Kaylee: investigating werewolf attacks in the jungles near town. But their failed sojourn into the domain took a turn for the worse when they were attacked by druids, who murdered the warforged’s allies and stripped them of parts to use as grim trophies. Jovie managed to survive by playing dead in the mud. Unable to return to Stormreach, Jovie found an abandoned shack near Lake Luna which they inhabited for a long time. Growing depressed, they find their rest periods growing longer, with nothing more than woodcarving to whittle away the time, until they effectively “shut down.” In its current state the shack is full of small wooden statuettes of warforged, druids, blight monsters, and Jovie who appears as a strange armored figure in the corner. PCs who touch or interact with Jovie will have them reactivate, attacking in a panic but can be reasoned with via skill checks. Jovie currently has no purpose, and the PCs need to give them one, but making a logical connection between defeating Strahd and being able to return home is necessary to convince the ally that this is more than a fool’s errand. The warforged’s personal quest includes hunting down the druids and blights who killed their fellow constructs, and to give them a proper burial.Jovie is a Fighter with the Champion subclass. Due to this, they are really only good at fighting, but interestingly Jovie has something that neither warforged nor the subclass has: blindsight out to 10 feet as well as a higher-than-usual amount of skill proficiencies at higher levels: 8 skills at 7th and 10th levels, to be precise. That being said, Jovie is really only good for melee combat, as their Dexterity is a meager 10 and their Fighting Style is Great Weapon Fighting.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/X33C1nM.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Omiros (Satyr College of Eloquence Bard) is a satyr from the world of Theros, who married an alseid known as Dori. They both became local heroes of their homeland, the Scola Vale, and entered Barovia unexpectedly after the Mists settled in a sunny clearing they were resting in after one of their quests. Dori, whose essence was tied to the land itself, found herself dissolving as she was forced into this new plane of existence, leaving Omiros alone and devastated. The satyr eventually made contact with the people of Krezk, winning them over by using his musical and magical talents to help out the people. But he found himself unable to sing some of his old joyful songs, and when Strahd himself paid a visit to the village out of curiosity for its newest inhabitant, Omiros decided to lay low and keep his presence a secret from all but a trusted few. He was afraid of attracting the darklord’s attention again after the many dreadful stories he heard of Barovia’s ruler.PCs can encounter Omiros if they manage to gain the trust of the village’s Burgomeister, likely after spotting a goat-footed person leaping clear over the wall and bringing it to the guard’s attention or via mentioning Madam Eva’s Tarokka reading. The satyr’s personal quest involves finding and retrieving a hand drum given to him as a wedding gift; it was stolen by the Belview family and is currently being held in the Abbey of Saint Markovia.As an Eloquence Bard, Omiros makes a great face for the party, where his Expertise is in Performance and Persuasion skills. He is overall a great support character, ranging from his new and improved uses of Bardic Inspiration from his subclass plus spells such as Faerie Fire, Enhance Ability, and Invisibility. He also has two unique abilities not present in either his default race or subclass: Boon Aura grants adjacent allies advantage on saves vs the charmed and frightened conditions, and Companion’s Protection lets him take the blow of an adjacent ally once per long rest.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/u9z9vlX.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Zrevek (Kapak Draconian Assassin, unique stats) is our final Orphan in the book. He is a kapak draconian in the service of the Red Dragonarmy, part of a special task force charged with extraplanar exploration to give Takhisis’ servants hidden refuges to bolster their forces. Upon discovering Barovia, he was the first, and last, scout through the dimensional portal as it closed behind Zrevek. Separating him from the rest of his team, he happened to meet Strahd early on in Barovia. While the vampire count made pretenses of respectful friendliness, the draconian is fearful of the man and has taken to camping out on an island in the middle of the Ivlis River due to knowledge that vampires cannot cross running water.Zrevek is very much lawful evil, and hopes to relay information about Barovia to his commander in the Red Dragonarmy so that they can mount an extraplanar invasion. While the idea has crossed his mind, Zrevek is aware that Strahd’s single-minded pursuit of Tatyana and general arrogance means that he will never submit to Takhisis.* He is encountered extra early in the campaign, being in the River Ivlis southeast of the Village of Barovia, and will hide his true motives from the PCs by claiming that he ended up in Barovia while on a patrol to protect his hometown. If he is not a Destined Ally, then he may be a competitor in seeking out the treasures from Madam Eva’s readings in hopes of using them to overthrow Strahd himself. Should Strahd be defeated, Zrevek will pull an Arrigal and use a Sending Stone to make contact with his superiors, who will open a Gate spell sending through draconian soldiers. If Myriani and the Pelican exist in the campaign, they will attempt to destroy the spelljammer vessel to prevent it from leaving and spreading knowledge of Barovia’s existence to other planes.*Takhisis is the Dragonlance cosmology’s Tiamat equivalent and the primary goddess worshiped by chromatic dragons and the Dragonarmies.In terms of stats, Zrevek is a CR 8 kapak draconian. He is pretty hardy, with 87 hit points, 17 AC, and proficiency in a variety of Rogue-like skills such as Deception, Investigation, and Stealth plus Religion and Survival. He can’t fly, but he can glide, and also has a natural climb speed. In terms of offense Zrevek’s main feature is that he can multiattack with two daggers which can deal bonus poison damage and paralyze targets on a failed Constitution save should both daggers hit. He gains Legendary Actions and 2 uses of Legendary Resistance only when fighting the PCs after Strahd is defeated. And he can explode into acidic chunks upon death, but that’s really an afterthought given it does a measly 2d6 damage.As far as Destined Allies go, Zrevek is pretty formidable. He starts play being quite strong, and he is very good at being a scout with darkvision, a good array of skills, and alternate movement speeds. His base movement is pretty fast at 40 feet, and while he can’t deal the raw damage output of Arrigal nor will he be as broadly useful as major spellcasters such as Victor, drawing Zrevek as a result is by no means a dud like it would be with Clovin Belview or Stella Wachter. That being said, the alternate ending may be of an acquired taste. Should the Dragonarmies invade Barovia, the book says that they will be even more ruthless than Strahd, which both kind of nullifies the PC’s victory over the Count and also downplays his status as major threat in the campaign by going “there’s an even worse baddie right around the corner, but the campaign’s over!”Overall Thoughts: I’m of two minds when it comes to this product. On the plus side, I do like the idea of populating Barovia with outlander adventurers who haven’t yet joined the March of the Dead, and unlike some of the weaker or more overpowered choices in the default adventure them being in line with existing PC creation rules means that they are less likely to feel totally useless or outshine the party. There is an exception regarding Kaylee being a Twilight domain cleric, but the other Orphans are pretty good at what they do and will be welcome additions to the party.On the minus side, this book has rather stilted text that feels off when reading, and Zrevek is encountered far too early for a being of his power as a Destined Ally. Additionally, using full PC rules results in some rather bulky stat blocks, which gives the DM more to juggle in combat unless a player volunteers to run them. I’d recommend this product if any of the Orphans sound intriguing enough to put in your own Curse of Strahd campaign. If not, I’d give this book a pass.I’m going to take a short break for the time being. I want to take some more time to work on a book I’ve been meaning to review for quite a while now…Join us next time as we Rule 63 the Curse of Strahd campaign with She Is the Ancient!</blockquote>

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