Most player characters know they are trapped, and the Mists of Ravenloft are an omnipresent reminder of the stakes of their adventure and the challenges they must overcome. Should my party have been doing these encounters or should they have run away? [14], In 2017, Cecilia D'Anastasio, for Kotaku, highlighted the inclusion of queer characters in Curse of Strahd and wrote "what was a scattering of queer characters throughout the years formalized into a guiding principle with 2016s Curse of Strahd, an adventure that has players take down the vampire Count Strahd. If you use this option at least twice per 10 rounds, increase Strahds CR by 1 if employing No Phasing (see above), and decrease Strahds CR by 2 if not. Use of this option does not change Strahds CR. Virtual Tabletop Journey all Demongund patrons presents the iconic Curse of Strahd - Baba Lysaga's Walking Hut recreated for use in TaleSpire! Strahd casts the ray of frost cantrip. Perhaps if they run into a bad area again I'll pull in some other outside factors to help keep them aware. Curse of Strahd is an adventure book for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. So here's our top four tips for DM's running Curse of Strahd! [] While modifications do fix things like the stereotyping of the Vistani people as 'uncivilized' and heavy drinkers, the module still gives the Vistani abilities to curse and hypnotize players or cast spells like Evil Eye, which, along with unrevised art that heavily conjures stereotyped imagery of the Romani, leans into tropes that suggest the Romani have mystical, dangerous powers, tropes that have been used in the past to target Romani for persecution". and our Thats good advice - I'v been slowly working through the book to make sure I get all the connections correct. Use this option if you want to separate the character from their allies and tax their health and/or resources before they can reunite with the others. My L4 party is doing Death House, and I do not have to scale original stuff meant for L1-3 much. I built a cabin, gain a level. The Dark Powers are formidable entities that, even restrained in the Amber Temple, still influence the world around them. " If you use this option, increase Strahds CR by 2 for each PC with a Wisdom saving throw modifier of +2 or less. Strahd takes the hide action using his +14 to Stealth (Dexterity) checks. Of course, a highly strategic or well-equipped party will likely face a somewhat easier encounter, while a novice or ill-prepared party will face a correspondingly harder encounter. Once in Barovia, the PCs are free to explore the entire region in search of aid in their battle against Strahd as well as several powerful relics strewn throughout the land. Why did US v. Assange skip the court of appeal? Even though there is not much detail about them in the book, they make great mini-bosses for the party to encounter. The random nature of the location of magical items in the module also can make some encounters much harder or easier. There is, as always, a driving main quest that keeps the action moving forward, but each stop along the way brings moral and ethical dilemmas to the partyand Strahd is always watching, waiting to see which party members evidence a dark side that he can play off the others". This is what I have so far https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5mgM5oI1_wWjMitfseiljKhUGVZJu_dd Please help, Scan this QR code to download the app now, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5mgM5oI1_wWjMitfseiljKhUGVZJu_dd. The wind's howling increases as he turns his gaze down toward the village of Barovia. It's a great adventure - but it can also be a bit overwhelming and hard to run, especially if it's your first time as a DM. Lets assume that Strahd uses his No Phasing strategy and does not expect to retreat upon taking damage, setting his default CR to 6. Figure out what your players care about and what leans into the aspects of play they enjoy, and make that narrative happen in the cards. No content creator has published a comprehensive guide to customize Strahds Rules-As-Written tactics to perfectly suit a partys preferred play experience and skill leveluntil now. The shadows at the statue, the two ghasts, and the shambling mound stand out as all potentially being fatal encounters. Mirror Image. This would be a fine and wholly satisfactory answer if the book gave players ways to level up to those challenges. In general, Strahds CR cannot go below 5. Why does the narrative change back and forth between "Isabella" and "Mrs. John Knightley" to refer to Emma's sister? He also has three level 4 spell slots and one level 5 spell slot. Strahd fails to use his Charm ability, either because the players have the Icon of Ravenloft, the party includes a Paladin with the Oath of Devotion, or the DM has chosen not to use the ability. Tracy found an old daguerreotype [an early type of photograph captured on a silvered copper plate] [sic] that captured the look of Strahd in his mind, and we used that image as a reference to create a new look for the vampire". The specter and the animated armor might seem obvious threats, but the shadows that surround characters, the ghouls in maze-like corridors, the mimic door that prevents escape, and the ghasts guarding needed supplies are even more deadly. I defeated the big story foe in the area, gain a level. Then, he built a gigantic gothic monstrosity of a castle because of his gigantic (gothic) unresolved mommy issues. Icovered the Tarokka reading in another article, but it solidifies the structure of your Curse of Strahd campaign from here, and in short, my advice is: rig it. Note that this list assumes that Strahd will always save at least one legendary action use after for the turn immediately preceding his own in order to move out of sunlight before the start of his turn and ensure his continued regeneration. Is Curse of Strahd really hard, or am I DMing it wrong? Curse of Strahd is an adventure module for the 5th-edition of Dungeons & Dragons, published by Wizards of the Coast in 2016. It then attacked them back. Dynamic lighting and the Jukebox are your best friends in a horror game. Creeping Fog is perhaps the easiest lead into Death House if you deposit your player characters near the village of Barovia, but also the least ceremonious. Curse of Strahd has a specific leveling style all its own. If run deficiently, Strahds CR effectively craters to 5; if run optimally, his CR easily surmounts 20. Now, I realize there was some obvious deficiencies on these monsters that make them slightly easier in general - for instance the first boss fight, they could have easily kited him around the room and never given it the chance to attack (his movement was only 20ft per round). Strahd constantly lures the PCs to new locations throughout the castle, moving the scene of battle to monster- or trap-filled chambers (e.g., the gargoyles in K7 or the elevator trap in K61), while reserving multiple safe spaces to regenerate his health fully before returning to the fray. If you use this option on at least one-third of rounds in combat, reduce Strahds CR by 2. Bite. He also has three level 4 spell slots and one level 5 spell slot. Wiki Le Monde des Royaumes Oublis (French), The Blade of Truth: The Uses of Logic in the War Against Diabolist Heresies, as Fought by the Ulmist Inquisition, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. "Dungeons & Dragons: Curse of Strahd Revamped Announced for October Release", "Curse of Strahd - RPGnet d20 RPG Game Index", "D&D's Ravenloft returns with the help of its original creators", "Curse Of Strahd Interview With Chris Perkins", "Curse of Strahd Revamped | Dungeons & Dragons", "One of Dungeons & Dragons' best campaigns is getting two extravagant new reprints", "Popular D&D tabletop campaign Curse of Strahd is being re-'vamped', "Exclusive: First Look at D&D's 'Curse of Strahd Revamped' Collector's Edition", "This Week's Bestsellers: March 28, 2016", "Best-selling Books List | Back issue 03/28/16", "Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Curse of Strahd", "Feel the Horror in 'The Curse of Strahd', "Dungeons & Dragons Promises To Make Its Adventures More Queer", "Dungeons, Dragons, and Vampires: Curse of Strahd Black Gate", "The Mary Sue Gift Guide for the Dungeons & Dragons Fan", "Dungeons & Dragons Returns to Ravenloft With Curse of Strahd Revamped", "D&D's Culturally Sensitive Strahd Revamp Is Here, But It'll Cost You [Updated]", Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes, Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff, Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Curse_of_Strahd&oldid=1146122728, Role-playing game supplements introduced in 2016, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, The Creatures of Horror book, describing new monsters, A double-sided poster-sized map of Barovia and Castle Ravenloft, 12 postcards themed around locations in the adventure, This page was last edited on 22 March 2023, at 22:10. Here is a hint: If you DON'T want your players to investigate something, do not describe it in details. The module also includes the Tarokka card decks using the Roll20 interface to shuffle and deal, as well as the deck of illusions, which appears in the adventure. But Curse of Strahd also involves plenty of exploration and and social interaction, so Bards, Druids, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues, Purple Dragon Knight Fighters, Samurai Fighters, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and anyone with the Prodigy feat can be huge assets outside of combat too. By contrast, a party of 10th-level PCs will likely slaughter Strahd within two rounds. I have decided on Barbarian for my upcoming Curse of Strahd game, Im joining at level 3. In addition to a softcover adventure book, the boxed set includes the following:[1], Curse of Strahd was written by Jeremy Crawford, Laura Hickman, Tracy Hickman, Adam Lee, Christopher Perkins, Richard Whitters, and was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2016. The following options refer to the legendary actions that Strahd might employ immediately after a given creatures turn while in combat. Strahd uses his Unarmed Strike attack against an adjacent PC. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Be warned that, without the Heart of Sorrow, Strahd will likely die within 1-2 rounds due to sunlight and high-damage attacks, and may struggle to meaningfully damage the PCs. However, it is entirely possible to run St. Andral's Orphanage as a stand alone adventure or incorporate it into another campaign. Use this option if you want to threaten a particular low-HP target and/or grapple a PC who you plan to separate from the party. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. As a result, they defeated every mini-boss and side quest and advanced to level 11 in the first half of the castle before the final encounter with Strahd. I am however following the setup/plot within the actual setting exactly. I'm looking for more ideas for bosses or minibosses to sprinkle through Barovia. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. The short version is that he was a mortal warlord who murdered an entire valley full of people because of his unresolved daddy issues. Privacy Policy. Hence, assuming the party did head in and end up in fight against the three hags, having the raven summon help in the form of a swarm or a wereraven may be one solution to avoiding a TPK. Use this option if you want to provide your players with a multi-stage boss fight that artificially inflates Strahd's hit points, providing for a longer, more satisfying finale that ends as soon as the PCs successfully grapple or incapacitate him. 2: The Lands of Barovia Lay of the Land Barovians Vistani Have fun storming the castle! Keeping level 1 characters alive is no small task, and "Death House" monsters have high armor classes and hit hard. Hit-and-Run Phasing. There was not much room for exploring, they simply followed the road and noted that this was one of the places they were recommended to visit. By contrast, a party of 10th-level PCs will face a slightly easier encounter, expending fewer resources and facing lower risk. Strahd always focuses his damage on a single target at a time, and prefers to target wounded enemies over healthy ones. Instead, they separated, two distracted the coffin maker, whilst the remainder broke into his house. Strahd attempts to always maintain a distance of at least 40 feet from any hostile melee combatant who has a Strength (Athletics) modifier of +4 or greater. This is the whole point of an XP system: to make that a little easier to deal with. Which only now gets them level 5 but they have been fighting CR 5's most of the way, with the occasional CR 1-3. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Taunting works well on my playersget that grudge match on. The shadows, however, are extremely avoidable and are essentially a consequence of a lack of caution. Tease, taunt, humiliate - Yes. I personally feel that without such a threat, the player paranoia and tension necessary to maintain an effective horror theme can end up being lost or diminished. Also to note. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Jeremy Crawford, Laura Hickman, Tracy Hickman, Adam Lee, Christopher Perkins, Richard Whitters. Use of this option does not change Strahds CR. Use this option if you desperately need to deal a tiny bit of damage to an isolated, low-AC, low-HP PC outside of sunlight, or if you want Strahd to waste his lair action. The adventure is firmly rooted in the horror genre and pits the players against ghosts, werewolves, and the titular vampire himself: Strahd Von Zarovich. Want to support my work and get cool perks like personal campaign advice, mentoring, DMing resources, homebrew TTRPG encounters, & early access to guides? Why did DOS-based Windows require HIMEM.SYS to boot? At this point the party was level 3, fighting against 3 CR 5s (Hag Coven, Night Hags). It was a rocky start but I had a blast and now, the better part of a decade later, I play, write, and write about tabletop RPGs (mostly5e, but also PBtA, Forged in the Dark and OSR) games for a living, which iswild. In this scenario, Strahd fights to swiftly neutralize threatening targets, isolate and eliminate weaker enemies, and reduce the partys resources through a lengthy war of attrition, ending only if he is either successfully grappled or somehow incapacitated. Curse of Strahd runs to level 10, but if you level your characters every time the texts suggest you do (typically at the end of a chapter), theyll be massively overleveled for the titular villain and climactic end of adventure fight. [19], Jon Ryan, for IGN, wrote "the updates to the adventure itself mostly consist of previously-published amendments to the book, such as tweaks to an additional character option or corrections of printing errors, but the most notable updates are to some items that were deemed insensitive or offensive after the original publishing []. Passing negative parameters to a wolframscript, one or more moons orbitting around a double planet system. They survived by sheer luck since I rolled poorly on attack rolls. 10 Defenestration. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Strahd casts the sleep spell, placing the sphere such that it will only impact a specific wounded target. What happens in Curse of Strahd if the players destroy Strahd's coffin or prevent him from returning to it? Use this option if you would like to allow your players to turn a difficult fight into an easy one by properly provoking Strahd. Fall damage: a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet fallen to a maximum of 20d6. However, part of running a module is accepting a loss of control. Use this option if you want to incapacitate a low-Wisdom PC or NPC and/or prevent them from using the Sunsword to generate sunlight. Ashton Duncan started as a Roll20 content conversion contractor with Curse of Strahd five years ago and is now a product manager. The entire time I was reading this I kept thinking that your descriptions were validating the players that they were on the right track and should continue investigating. Friendly Reminder: You can get 140+ pages of Curse of Strahd guides for free! Curse of Strahd sees the player characters transported by the supernatural mists of Ravenloft from wherever they are (the adventure assumes theyre somewhere on the Sword Coast near the city of Neverwinter, but you can start the campaign anywhere) and into the valley of Barovia. On top of that, this is a horror campaign - it is not unreasonable that if the characters poke around the dark corners of Barovia whilst uninformed of what lies within, they may end up angering something much more powerful than themselves. So far, my players have been most impressed/engaged when fighting a "boss," just a unique enemy they had not seen before who had enough health and hit super hard so they had to really consider their tactics as individuals and as a group. Be forgiving when they run, chase and play with them like a cat would, for the fun of it, but let them escape. Conjure Specter. In particular, my party found the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind quite early and it made the Coffinmaker's house encounter fairly trivial. :). Strahd is the Darklord whose dominion is Barovia, but beyond him are the Dark Powers, the omnipotent and immortal beings that control the Mists of Ravenloft and all of the Domains of Dread, each housing its own horrible Darklord. Use this option if you want to incapacitate a low-HP PC or NPC without worrying about death saving throws or to automatically incapacitate a tiny polymorphed PC for easy transport to the dungeons. Curse Of Strahd is one of the best campaigns for Dungeons & Dragons. @DaveMunger Indeed, a quite difficult campaign to be sure. March 15, 2016. Note: u/JaeOnasi made a helpful CR calculator based on this guide here. Note that the use of a Lair Action other than phasing can allow your players to restrain and/or kill Strahd within 1-2 rounds unless he has a clear escape route and ample distance (60-90 feet) separating him from the majority of the party. This module was designed to be inserted into the main Curse of Strahd campaign, in the centralized town of Vallaki. As it stands, it sure seems to throw a whole lot of level 5+ stuff, right off the bat, with few opportunities, other than random encounters, to actually get characters there. If youre a new GM preparing to run Curse of Strahd, youll need to know: your players can either start at third level, or they can run through the introductory adventure "Death House." Use of this option does not change Strahds CR. Use this option if you want to dramatically increase Strahd's ability to avoid his most potent weaknessgrapplesand force your players to waste spell slots casting dispel magic. He repeats this process each time the character returns to consciousness until the max hit point reduction kills them, then directs Cyrus or another of his servants to bury the body in the courtyard to ensure it becomes a vampire spawn. The box set definitely will enhance your Curse of Strahd experience, and the box alone makes for a great display piece on top of your bookshelf or in the D&D corner of your room". Strahd flees combat as soon as a PC casts a powerful Concentration spellsuch as Haste or Polymorphand returns only once those spells have ended, even if that takes multiple minutes or an hour. Lets also assume that his preferred actions include ray of frost (+2 CR), unarmed strike, and fireball; that his preferred legendary actions include unarmed strike and move; that he cannot use charm (+1 CR); that he primarily uses the phasing lair action; that he prefers to isolate characters via defenestration; that he prepares between consecutive combats by using the hide action (+1 CR); and that his responses to provocation are stoic. Stoic. The following options refer to the frequency with which Strahd chooses to use his Charm ability in combat and the means by which the players avoid or resist it. In my many times through Curse of Strahd as a marathon, in one night, and as a long campaign, Ive had the most fun running and playing in games with pre-chosen rather than randomized Tarokka readings. Adventurers are mysteriously drawn to the realm of Barovia which is surrounded by deadly fog and ruled by the vampire wizard Strahd von Zarovich. [] Play is easy, and intuitive, given youve familiarized yourself with the adventure ahead of time. rslogix 5000 message path configuration,

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