pukunui
Legend
Not only that, but the MM itself even has a sidebar in its introduction entitled "Modifying Creatures" that points you to the rules in the DMG.
D&D 5E Strahd is not a typical vampire
- Thread starter dave2008
- Start date
dave2008
Legend
The 3rd page of the MM also has a sidebar on modifying creatures
EDIT: Ninja'd by Pukunui, but I did add what page!
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ExploderWizard
Hero
I think that all of the cool big bad guys in the MM such as the mummy lord, lich, vampire, etc. should be modified to suit the campaign. These are the types of creatures that I can't envision there being enough of in a given world to be generic. The stat blocks given in the MM serve as a great template or base for such creatures but a DM needs to develop them a bit .
One of the campaigns I am running now features a pair of elder vampires as the main villains. I used the vampire template in the MM as base and built them from there. These elders have powers and abilities the "standard" MM vampire doesn't and the spawn that they create are also more powerful. In addition, a ritual is required to permanently destroy them, else they will simply re-form and exact revenge. The ritual needed is in a book that I added to the treasure trove of Iggwilv converting the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth to 5E. The final battle with these villains, should the party survive the caverns to fight it, will be quite memorable.
One of the campaigns I am running now features a pair of elder vampires as the main villains. I used the vampire template in the MM as base and built them from there. These elders have powers and abilities the "standard" MM vampire doesn't and the spawn that they create are also more powerful. In addition, a ritual is required to permanently destroy them, else they will simply re-form and exact revenge. The ritual needed is in a book that I added to the treasure trove of Iggwilv converting the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth to 5E. The final battle with these villains, should the party survive the caverns to fight it, will be quite memorable.
MrHotter
Explorer
I'm glad that even the vampire spawn can be something that can scare a party if they meet one. A 4E adventure had a group of minion (1 HP) vampires in one encounter and that did not sit very well with me. I like my vampires to be rare and frightening. When I ran the encounter, I kept the stats and changed the name an appearance.
Why? So players could kill him and take it?
dave2008
Legend
Why? So players could kill him and take it?
No, so he could kill the players and take their toys! Really it is a feel. He is a spell casting vampire that is hundreds of years old and he doesn't have some magic equipment / weapons / armor he could use? He has a lot of items in his castle, why not use them? And he traditional has a +4 sword of some type I believe (should be +2 or +3 in 5e).
Like most master villains he underestimates the adventurers, so he doesn't bother taking his magical gear out of storage.
AaronOfBarbaria
Adventurer
He doesn't have a sword in my copy of I6, so I'm not sure how "traditional" a sword-wielding Strahd really is.
In fact, Strahd being anything more than "a slightly above-average vampire" and "also a 10th level magic user" always feels out of place for me.
dave2008
Legend
Good point - he had it in 3e, but not in 4e. Though he looks pretty awesome with a sword in this official 5e image of him. Since this is, IMO, the best Strahd image ever, I would have liked the text to support it.
