So here's our top four tips for DM's running Curse of Strahd! Sleep. Close/Lock Doors and Windows. There are many shapeshifters in Barovia, from vampires to hags to werewolves, and each has a rollable token on the Roll20 virtual tabletop. Curse of Strahd transforms Dungeons & Dragons 5e from sword-and-sorcery fantasy to a nightmarish realm of gothic horror where the master of Ravenloft awaits atop his castle as lightning flashes across the sky with blood dripping from his fangs. First of all, the Roll20 Curse of Strahd conversion includes the Castle Ravenloft maps and Tarokka deck addon, so no need to buy them separately. The material components in her summoning spell are an oat milk latte and a high fantasy novel. 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. Personally, I find it MUCH easier to do milestone based leveling in custom adventures I write myself than to try to mind-meld with a published adventure series to that deep of a level and try to just guess its intentions toward specific milestones, but maybe that's just me. I wanted them to talk to one turning into a spider, who will eventually disappear, and on their way to the Amber Temple they will be followed by hordes of little spiders, webs appearing on their tents at night etc, until eventually they face off with the spider boss and spider minions. In keeping with the logical structure of the original campaign, Curse of Strahd also finds countless ways to intertwine the larger themes of the campaign into its side adventures. Have you tried checking pg. Set in the realm of Barovia, a Domain Of Dread within Ravenloft, your players find themselves transported here and trapped. Imprisonment. But first, a warning to players: youre now treading through the Mists and into spoiler territorybeware! Use this option if you want to give your players a clear opportunity to easily kill Strahd with massive damage and/or grapple attempts without giving him an opportunity to react. Fireball. 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. Use of this option does not change Strahds CR. 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". Important to preface that the party was pretty beat up after the boss fight in the House of Lament, so they decided to rest at the Vistani Encampment (at approximately 2pm, when the sun was heavily . In Vallaki, the party has the opportunity to run into a nest of vampire spawn whilst investigating a coffin maker's shop. Easy fights are not treasured or remembered - for "main" encounters a few failed aborted attempts and near escapes makes it epic and satisfying when you finally win. [6] This module is the first released with the publisher's new focus on diversity and inclusion. He also has three level 4 spell slots and one level 5 spell slot. [4] On the development process, Perkins said: "Without the Hickmans, this project would've died on the vine" and that "the Hickmans envisioned Strahd differently than he's depicted in the original Ravenloft adventure. Even though there is not much detail about them in the book, they make great mini-bosses for the party to encounter. Then, because the woman he wanted to creepily possess fell in love with his younger (well-adjusted) brother, he murdered his brother, chased his beloved Tatyana off a 1,000-foot cliff, and made a pact with the mysterious Dark Powers to become the unholy terror he is today. This would be a fine and wholly satisfactory answer if the book gave players ways to level up to those challenges. No Phasing. The story is set in the pocket dimension of Barovia, a nightmarish domain of dread ruled by a powerful vampire: Count Strahd Von Zarovich. Use this option if you want to provide your players with a simple, traditional boss fight. (straight from pathfinder's gamemastery guide). 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. He then drains them to 0 hit points using his bite attack before stabilizing them. Not to mention Strahd's summons, legendary actions, etc. It is intended for 4 players, taking them from level 1 to 10. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. I have decided on Barbarian for my upcoming Curse of Strahd game, Im joining at level 3. A passing mention of a same-sex couple might be enough to assert that queer sexuality is a natural part of the D&D universe. Rogue turning a slip into a tumble and roll, etc. Use this option if you want to isolate a single PC in a place where Strahd can easily attack them and/or drag them away. Given that I've now completed all the official maps for the Curse of Strahd adventure, I thought it might be helpful to provide a list of the maps and links! I am creating classic rock playlists for music in curse of strahd and I need some help with Strahds Final Battle music. In this encounter, Strahds effective CR is 5the minimummeaning that a party of 5th-level PCs attuned to the Sunsword and Holy Symbol will likely face a challenging, resource-intensive final encounter. As such, Dungeon Masters running Curse of Strahd are often encouraged to modify Strahds statblock to increase his offensive and defensive capabilities. Use this option if you want Strahd to slowly chip away a single PC's hit points over a long period of time (e.g., 20 or more rounds of combat) from a position of near-absolute safety. Use this option if you want to preserve player agency and allow your players to fight at full strength without making tradeoffs or difficult decisions. If Strahd ever takes more than 21 damage in a single round, or if Strahd ever takes radiant damage, he immediately retreats to a safe location in order to fully regenerate his hit points. 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. Strahd casts fog cloud before entering combat. For groups that ride the thrill of horror and intrigue, however, this is 100% the book for your party. From what I remember, if you are simply talking about the leveling guide - they award levels for various in-game events (such as finding artifacts, or completing areas). Defenestration. View Cover Art Contents Foreword Introduction Running the Adventure Marks of Horror Ch. Unfortunately the party didn't take the hint. What would stop him from turning into a T-Rex 4 times before actually taking on the party in his true form? There are four possible adventure hooks designed to draw your players into the mists. Use this option if you would like to provide value to the Tome of Strahd and permit your PCs to win a moral and psychological victory over Strahd. Use this option if you want to allow Strahd to isolate a grappled PC or keep Strahd away from sources.of sunlight, out of sight of hostile spellcasters, and/or out of range of hostile melee enemies. Descriptions and events can be too much for young kids, so beware running this campaign with little ones. Strahd uses his Bite attack while he has a PC grappled. They should have a sense of progress and "next time we'll get em". Virtual Tabletop Journey all Demongund patrons presents the iconic Curse of Strahd - Baba Lysaga's Walking Hut recreated for use in TaleSpire! They were a party of four level 2's at this point - fighting a CR5 monster, Shambling Mound). Curse of Strahd is a 257-page adventure for D&D 5e that transports players into a horrifying pocket dimension called Barovia. The daylight spell produces light that is not considered sunlight. If at least one of your players knows the spell wall of force, Strahds CR cannot go above 9. Here are some examples we have come across so far. I even pointed out that the cleric in the party felt something deeply disturbing from the room. In Curse of Strahd, as part of the Tarokka card reading, the party are told the locations of three "treasures"; the Sunsword, the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, and the Tome of Strahd.. The adventure is firmly rooted in the horror genre and pits the players against ghosts, werewolves, and the titular vampire himself: Strahd Von Zarovich. 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, as this guide uses it, Challenge Rating means The approximate minimum level that the average five-character party must attain in order to defeat Strahd in a challenging, resource-intensive encounter with no character deaths after obtaining the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, the Sunsword, and the Tome of Strahd. and our Cant Use Charm. Each heading in this guide will direct the Dungeon Master to either pick one option among several mutually exclusive choices, or to select and prioritize multiple options from among several.competing choices. She's either a Damsel Scrappy who steals much of the module's focus while lacking a compelling personality to justify protecting her, or she's a likeable character with a good amount of characterization, and someone the players can see as . Use this option if you want to deal a decent amount of damage to a number of PCs simultaneously, punishing them for grouping up, forcing them to separate, and reducing their resources. So this is kind of filling in middle space between what they would normally do and what we would normally sell". Cookie Notice Dynamic lighting is included for Plus and Pro subscribers with the Curse of Strahd module, and youre able to add your own Jukebox tracks in the VTT sidebar. This scenario most closely resembles that run by novice DMs encountering Strahds statblock for the first time. It has also been updated to reflect Wizards of the Coasts June 2020 errata. We find that more exciting (not that there are not ways to act tactically to adjust deadliness). . Am I missing something here - or is this the proper sequence? 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. What experiences have you had running Strahds RAW statblock in combat? Doesn't Use Charm. Petty. 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. Reading it you get the impression that the adventure without extra pre-work anticipates a leveling structure based on milestones. Much of their threat depends on the party composition and their ability to output magical damage. Knowing a few of my players had been through it before, I dec. Open/Unlock Doors and Windows. 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. Wrathful. Pace it well, let them have a victory or two to avoid too much frustration. At least one character is capable of casting wall of force to imprison Strahd and does so successfully on the first round of combat. The Dark Powers delight in tormenting villains as much as they do innocents, the Mists equally confound both predators and prey, and Darklords frequently exhibit hubris or other exploitable flaws. The book does suggest that milestone-based leveling might be best, but only throws out a few examples of appropriate milestones, leaving the DM to really have to do a lot of thinking about how to award for various things. However, it is entirely possible to run St. Andral's Orphanage as a stand alone adventure or incorporate it into another campaign. Dont forget cosmetic spell modifications (outlined in chapter 2). This official /r/CurseOfStrahd YouTube channel will be used to store many . Do you have any memorable stories, comments, questions, or critiques? You can read our full guide to Strahds history, his personality, and how to run him at the table HERE. Support me on Patreon! This is the whole point of an XP system: to make that a little easier to deal with. It's worth noting that the book's illustrations of the Vistani still evoke Romani culture, and some players may still associate certain abilities (such as their ability to cast curses or hypnotize players using an 'Evil Eye') with outdated cultural stereotypes".[9]. By contrast, a party of 10th-level PCs will face a difficult, grueling encounter that risks draining their resources dry and killing at least two characters. Set in the Ravenloft campaign setting, the module revolves around the vampire Strahd von Zarovich and the Demiplane of Dread that serves as his prison. Curse of Strahd is an adventure module for the 5th-edition of Dungeons & Dragons, published by Wizards of the Coast in 2016. The section I reference also has the minimum average level for players in those areas. As with many pre-written adventures for D&D, it was a bit like reading a choose-your-own-adventure book from front to back, rather than following the breadcrumbs. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. 6 of Curse of Strahd under character levels? Even if they survive to the final basement battle and reveal, the chase upstairs and the houses own mechanisms may well kill them. Strahd uses his lair action to close and lock one or more doors and windows. Strahd pulls a grappled or incapacitated character to an open window and pushes them out, letting them fall down to the castle courtyard below. and our . Each option is accompanied by a brief description, a proposed justification for its use, and its prospective impact on Strahds challenge rating. It's fairly easy to tweak encounters, although as a warning it is also not too hard for the PCs to wander off-track and bite off more than they can chew! Strahd casts greater invisibility before entering combat. For a very well-thought-out expansion on the implications of each of these plot hooks, Reddit user u/DragnaCarta has put together this excellent post on the r/CurseofStrahd subreddit, which is probably the single best D&D community subreddit in existence. Why did US v. Assange skip the court of appeal? 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. The following options refer to the lair actions that Strahd may select on initiative count 20 of combat while in Castle Ravenloft. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? They tend to go [] in the hundreds of dollars. I have been running a campaign using the milestone leveling guide, but as a rule I've been leveling with location in mind. In this scenario, Strahd fights like a hit-and-run guerilla, slowly wearing the partys resources down until he is either successfully grappled or somehow incapacitated. Use this option if you want to allow Strahd to fight at full strength while within sunlight (i.e., by inflicting the blinded condition against PCs who refuse to look at him) and increase his survivability against damaging attacks and vision-based spells (e.g., hold monster).
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