I'd like tips from DM's who have played through Strahd. I'm getting a lot inspiration from the high rollers play of CoS and want to incorporate it correctly into my own campaign that will be starting in 2 weeks from now.
What I've digested from the statblock and book is that Strahd is smart (int. 20) and so if he runs out of HP (which is first buffered by the Heart of Sorrow), or he runs out of legendary resistances he will make his escape. Which (I think) will not be to hard as he can use greater invisibility before shapechanging into a tiny bat before flying away. This is already hard to achieve as he has some pretty high +saves and regenerates 20 hp at the start of each turn (unless...).
The actions listed are also pretty clear he can do 2 attacks (strike, bite, charm or children of the night) and one of them can be a bite (not two). The charm Action description first part is quite clear and as I see it I would apply the standard charm condition effects:
A charmed creature can’t Attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful Abilities or magical Effects.
The charmer has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature.
With the addition that it will let him bite him/her. So I think I will use it to charm low wisdom characters and then persuade them to protect strahd, and let him bite them.
But then the spells...I've been thinking about how to use these:
And I'm thinking...why does he have such shitty spells...partly anyway. I think ray of frost (2d8) is a bit underpowered for Strahd. Sleep and fog cloud are fun and fit the flavor, especially casting it at higher levels. A big fog cloud combined with some highly perceptive children of night - sweet!
But comprehend languages, gust of wind, nondetection I don't know, the scrying I get as he might want to keep tabs on the players. Besides my doubts on these spells, I'm missing Fly and I think this spell would very much help Strahd to a) appear more dramatic b) stay out of melee attacks - I think it also very much suits him.
Would you change some spells around to alter him?
Last but not least I've had no experience with legendary actions, but the move seems pretty powerful, allowing him to move from character to character to avoid melee attacks or put himself in the position to bite.
Anything that I miss or do you have some tips? I'd like to hear them! Thanks.
I have just recently finished running CoS for my party and the final fight was unfortunately a bit disappointing. Granted, my party was ready as they could be to do the fight. They had collected all of the major magic items from the card reading and had a few companions that they brought with them and had a few of the dark gifts from the Amber temple. They were also all level 10 (the max level for the module). If it seems like the party will confront Strahd under similar conditions (max level, well prepared, several magic items), my recommendations would be the following.
1) Have Strahd dip and dive through Castle Ravenloft alot using his ability to pass through walls. This will force the party through dangerous encounters to use up some of their abilities. I did this to an extent, but refrained from having him run for too long as I was afraid of having the party get annoyed with his antics and subsequently not have any fun. In retrospect I should have kept it going at least a while longer.
2) Have Strahd fight the party at the final confrontation with some of his allies there to aid him
3) If you want the party to fight Strahd by himself, I would definitely recommend giving him a slight power boost. Maybe have Strahd currently in possession of a few of the magic items that can be found around Castle Ravenloft so the party can easily collect them if they win the fight.
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I don't think he needs a spell change. Comprehend languages is useful when players try to keep secrets during social interactions. Gust of wind is lethal if he's fighting them on the roof of the castle. Nondetection helps him stay ahead of the players as they increase in power. Use lair actions as well as legendary actions and if your players have maxed out before they head for the castle, Strahd adopts a different strategy, running and gunning, like Kaboom979 did. The Tome is basically how you get him to stop running and fight.
To clarify, my question is not about the final fight but more about how powerful he comes across in the earlier encounters. Its also not just about power but more about flair, mysticism and a bit of drama for the scenes. I feel like changing spells, flying would be more suiting for such a powerful mysterious foe.
Until you want him to fight, you don't need a stat block. Ignore it and let him do whatever you want him to do. Let him completely trash some NPC that is near the party or one-shot to 0 one of the PCs. Have yawn and say that it wasn't fun or was boring, then ignore the party a poof away.
Have him talk to the party and try to win them to his side. If they attack him early have him laugh at them.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
I am currently running this and Strahd with allies will always be a threat. My party is currently level 8.
However, I am playing Strahd intelligently and I am modifying his spell list. He has access to the amber temple that contains a library with every known wizard spell. Encountering parties like this is all Strahd has to do over the centuries (other than trying to hunt down the latest incarnation of Tatyana), so in my game Strahd has been trying out different spell options on the party. He is playing with them. He is trying to see if they are challenges worthy of his time and effort.
After the party had defeated the death house, Strahd looked them over wondering if they would be interesting new toys. (The party saw him watching from down the street).
After the party defeated the hags at Old Bonegrinder and later the vampire spawn in the coffin makers shop in Vallaki and returned the sacred bones to the church he definitely became interested.
Strahd became quite irate when the party traveled with Ireena to Krezk to find her a safe place to stay and then she escaped Barovia when exploring the village and encountering the pond. The party became a much larger focus of his interest after that.
There have been several encounters driven by Strahd.
At Yesterhill, Strahd came to see the animation of the tree blight (and observe the party in action ... wondering if they would defeat the tree being created in his image). The druids were very excited, the barbarians and druids fought the party while the party tried to stop the ritual. After 10 rounds the tree blight awakened and landed several solid hits on a PC. At this point the party druid pulled out the Gulthias Staff they had recovered from the druids at the winery and subsequently identified it ... and promptly broke it ... instantly killing all blights within 300' including the tree blight. The party mopped up the druids after that and recovered the gem. Strahd cast a fireball on the party before leaving a bit disappointed that the druids had failed but also a bit hopeful that he might have more fun ahead.
On the way to Berez, a pack of dire wolves lead by a werewolf waylaid the party while Strahd was present ... he tested out his new spell Banishment to see how well it worked. Upcast, it sent two characters away for the fight. The rest fought well but were knocked out (Strahd did not want them actually dead at this point), the two who were banished came back to find the three other party members with grievous wounds but still barely breathing.
A horde of Strahd zombies attacked the party while they were trying to long rest after defeating the witch in Berez.
Strahd, riding his nightmare, personally approached them on the road after Berez while they were on their way to Krezk, inviting them to visit him at Ravenloft if they dared and casting a fireball on the party from 150' as a farewell gesture before flying off. Strahd is planning on taking them out at Ravenloft since it makes it easier for him to convert them to vampire spawn or leave their remains in the crypts as another group of failed adventurers. He will likely continue to play with them a bit until they decide to come for a visit since he might as well extend his fun as long as possible.
The werewolf pack hasn't yet put in an appearance so Strahd may call on those allies soon to put the party in their place.
====
The way I interpret it, Strahd is an evil bored vampire, most of the plane of Barovia derives from his own mind. The only "real" creatures here are the ones with souls that end up trapped here. This number has increased over the centuries as creatures enter Barovia and their souls can't leave. The only really interesting things he has to do are to torture the inhabitants but they are so weak that this gets boring quickly or to play with the adventurers when they find their way to Barovia. Strahd is confident. He doesn't consider any of them a threat. Consider that in the last year he defeated one of the greatest known wizards .. Mordenkainen is broken, hiding in the mountains. What threat can a party of adventurers offer in comparison but if they can last for a bit then he can have some fun with them.
I expect the party may be a bit beyond 10th level by the end of the adventure though at the moment they only have Von Richten's tower, the Amber Temple and Ravenloft as major destinations ... and Mordenkainen and the were wolves as significant encounters unless I add some more. However that is still a lot of content. They have not yet run into Esmeralda (they are currently trying to figure out what to do with the insane abbot after bringing him the dress he asked for) ... so they may encounter her there.
They have also found the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. Their ally was Ireena but she is gone now. However, the adventure gives little or no guidance on what an ally can actually do and the power of the allies varies significantly so I think the main role would have been distraction to slow down Strahds action economy.
Anyway, I'd suggest adjusting Strahd in the encounters to match up with the party ... he should be a fearsome figure and appear very difficult to defeat so that the party doesn't take him too lightly.
I would highly recommend reading the "Fighting Strahd" chapter from the Elven Tower guide to running Curse of Strahd. In that chapter he analyses all of the questions you're wrestling with and proposes solutions for how to run combat with Strahd.
The main thing I took out of it is that Strahd is smart and can be a very formidable opponent but the DM has to play him like he's smart or he'll go down quickly. Right at the beginning of the book it says that the DM's job is to keep Strahd in play for as long as possible!
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Hi there,
I'd like tips from DM's who have played through Strahd. I'm getting a lot inspiration from the high rollers play of CoS and want to incorporate it correctly into my own campaign that will be starting in 2 weeks from now.
What I've digested from the statblock and book is that Strahd is smart (int. 20) and so if he runs out of HP (which is first buffered by the Heart of Sorrow), or he runs out of legendary resistances he will make his escape. Which (I think) will not be to hard as he can use greater invisibility before shapechanging into a tiny bat before flying away. This is already hard to achieve as he has some pretty high +saves and regenerates 20 hp at the start of each turn (unless...).
The actions listed are also pretty clear he can do 2 attacks (strike, bite, charm or children of the night) and one of them can be a bite (not two). The charm Action description first part is quite clear and as I see it I would apply the standard charm condition effects:
With the addition that it will let him bite him/her. So I think I will use it to charm low wisdom characters and then persuade them to protect strahd, and let him bite them.
But then the spells...I've been thinking about how to use these:
Cantrips (at will): mage hand, prestidigitation, ray of frost
1st level (4 slots): comprehend languages, fog cloud, sleep
2nd level (3 slots): detect thoughts, gust of wind, mirror image
3rd level (3 slots): animate dead, fireball, nondetection
4th level (3 slots): blight, greater invisibility, polymorph
5th level (1 slot): animate objects, scrying
And I'm thinking...why does he have such shitty spells...partly anyway. I think ray of frost (2d8) is a bit underpowered for Strahd. Sleep and fog cloud are fun and fit the flavor, especially casting it at higher levels. A big fog cloud combined with some highly perceptive children of night - sweet!
But comprehend languages, gust of wind, nondetection I don't know, the scrying I get as he might want to keep tabs on the players. Besides my doubts on these spells, I'm missing Fly and I think this spell would very much help Strahd to a) appear more dramatic b) stay out of melee attacks - I think it also very much suits him.
Would you change some spells around to alter him?
Last but not least I've had no experience with legendary actions, but the move seems pretty powerful, allowing him to move from character to character to avoid melee attacks or put himself in the position to bite.
Anything that I miss or do you have some tips? I'd like to hear them! Thanks.
I have just recently finished running CoS for my party and the final fight was unfortunately a bit disappointing. Granted, my party was ready as they could be to do the fight. They had collected all of the major magic items from the card reading and had a few companions that they brought with them and had a few of the dark gifts from the Amber temple. They were also all level 10 (the max level for the module). If it seems like the party will confront Strahd under similar conditions (max level, well prepared, several magic items), my recommendations would be the following.
1) Have Strahd dip and dive through Castle Ravenloft alot using his ability to pass through walls. This will force the party through dangerous encounters to use up some of their abilities. I did this to an extent, but refrained from having him run for too long as I was afraid of having the party get annoyed with his antics and subsequently not have any fun. In retrospect I should have kept it going at least a while longer.
2) Have Strahd fight the party at the final confrontation with some of his allies there to aid him
3) If you want the party to fight Strahd by himself, I would definitely recommend giving him a slight power boost. Maybe have Strahd currently in possession of a few of the magic items that can be found around Castle Ravenloft so the party can easily collect them if they win the fight.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I don't think he needs a spell change. Comprehend languages is useful when players try to keep secrets during social interactions. Gust of wind is lethal if he's fighting them on the roof of the castle. Nondetection helps him stay ahead of the players as they increase in power. Use lair actions as well as legendary actions and if your players have maxed out before they head for the castle, Strahd adopts a different strategy, running and gunning, like Kaboom979 did. The Tome is basically how you get him to stop running and fight.
To clarify, my question is not about the final fight but more about how powerful he comes across in the earlier encounters. Its also not just about power but more about flair, mysticism and a bit of drama for the scenes. I feel like changing spells, flying would be more suiting for such a powerful mysterious foe.
Until you want him to fight, you don't need a stat block. Ignore it and let him do whatever you want him to do. Let him completely trash some NPC that is near the party or one-shot to 0 one of the PCs. Have yawn and say that it wasn't fun or was boring, then ignore the party a poof away.
Have him talk to the party and try to win them to his side. If they attack him early have him laugh at them.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
I am currently running this and Strahd with allies will always be a threat. My party is currently level 8.
However, I am playing Strahd intelligently and I am modifying his spell list. He has access to the amber temple that contains a library with every known wizard spell. Encountering parties like this is all Strahd has to do over the centuries (other than trying to hunt down the latest incarnation of Tatyana), so in my game Strahd has been trying out different spell options on the party. He is playing with them. He is trying to see if they are challenges worthy of his time and effort.
After the party had defeated the death house, Strahd looked them over wondering if they would be interesting new toys. (The party saw him watching from down the street).
After the party defeated the hags at Old Bonegrinder and later the vampire spawn in the coffin makers shop in Vallaki and returned the sacred bones to the church he definitely became interested.
Strahd became quite irate when the party traveled with Ireena to Krezk to find her a safe place to stay and then she escaped Barovia when exploring the village and encountering the pond. The party became a much larger focus of his interest after that.
There have been several encounters driven by Strahd.
At Yesterhill, Strahd came to see the animation of the tree blight (and observe the party in action ... wondering if they would defeat the tree being created in his image). The druids were very excited, the barbarians and druids fought the party while the party tried to stop the ritual. After 10 rounds the tree blight awakened and landed several solid hits on a PC. At this point the party druid pulled out the Gulthias Staff they had recovered from the druids at the winery and subsequently identified it ... and promptly broke it ... instantly killing all blights within 300' including the tree blight. The party mopped up the druids after that and recovered the gem. Strahd cast a fireball on the party before leaving a bit disappointed that the druids had failed but also a bit hopeful that he might have more fun ahead.
On the way to Berez, a pack of dire wolves lead by a werewolf waylaid the party while Strahd was present ... he tested out his new spell Banishment to see how well it worked. Upcast, it sent two characters away for the fight. The rest fought well but were knocked out (Strahd did not want them actually dead at this point), the two who were banished came back to find the three other party members with grievous wounds but still barely breathing.
A horde of Strahd zombies attacked the party while they were trying to long rest after defeating the witch in Berez.
Strahd, riding his nightmare, personally approached them on the road after Berez while they were on their way to Krezk, inviting them to visit him at Ravenloft if they dared and casting a fireball on the party from 150' as a farewell gesture before flying off. Strahd is planning on taking them out at Ravenloft since it makes it easier for him to convert them to vampire spawn or leave their remains in the crypts as another group of failed adventurers. He will likely continue to play with them a bit until they decide to come for a visit since he might as well extend his fun as long as possible.
The werewolf pack hasn't yet put in an appearance so Strahd may call on those allies soon to put the party in their place.
====
The way I interpret it, Strahd is an evil bored vampire, most of the plane of Barovia derives from his own mind. The only "real" creatures here are the ones with souls that end up trapped here. This number has increased over the centuries as creatures enter Barovia and their souls can't leave. The only really interesting things he has to do are to torture the inhabitants but they are so weak that this gets boring quickly or to play with the adventurers when they find their way to Barovia. Strahd is confident. He doesn't consider any of them a threat. Consider that in the last year he defeated one of the greatest known wizards .. Mordenkainen is broken, hiding in the mountains. What threat can a party of adventurers offer in comparison but if they can last for a bit then he can have some fun with them.
I expect the party may be a bit beyond 10th level by the end of the adventure though at the moment they only have Von Richten's tower, the Amber Temple and Ravenloft as major destinations ... and Mordenkainen and the were wolves as significant encounters unless I add some more. However that is still a lot of content. They have not yet run into Esmeralda (they are currently trying to figure out what to do with the insane abbot after bringing him the dress he asked for) ... so they may encounter her there.
They have also found the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. Their ally was Ireena but she is gone now. However, the adventure gives little or no guidance on what an ally can actually do and the power of the allies varies significantly so I think the main role would have been distraction to slow down Strahds action economy.
Anyway, I'd suggest adjusting Strahd in the encounters to match up with the party ... he should be a fearsome figure and appear very difficult to defeat so that the party doesn't take him too lightly.
I would highly recommend reading the "Fighting Strahd" chapter from the Elven Tower guide to running Curse of Strahd. In that chapter he analyses all of the questions you're wrestling with and proposes solutions for how to run combat with Strahd.
https://www.elventower.com/fighting-strahd-tactics-and-strategy/
The main thing I took out of it is that Strahd is smart and can be a very formidable opponent but the DM has to play him like he's smart or he'll go down quickly. Right at the beginning of the book it says that the DM's job is to keep Strahd in play for as long as possible!