So my question is very simple. Does (and if he does then how) Irina know that Strahd is in love with her? I haven’t found any thing in the book that says so. But maybe I have missed something
I think it's implicit. I think it's also fair to say she's not interested, which can be implied by all that she has already done to spurn his affection.
Honestly, I think "love" is not the correct word in this context. Obsessed would be a better choice.
Strahd obsesses over the soul that belonged to Tatyana that he believes has been reincarnated as Ireena Kolyana. He has used his charm ability to enter her home and drink her blood twice. The next time he visits he plans to kill her and turn her into a vampire spawn consort. "Love" has absolutely nothing to do with this.
However, from Ireena's perspective, all she and her brother likely know is that Strahd has taken an unhealthy interest in her and that this will likely not be good for her. Strahd is the villainous terror that rules all of Barovia. His minions stalk the night. His wolves, bats, rats, zombies, werewolves and other servants including the Vistani spy for him. He visits creatures in his land terrorizing them. This is the context that all of the inhabitants of Barovia grow up with. This is also why Ireena's brother Ismark wants the adventurers to take Ireena away to a place of safety (if such exists in Barovia) and suggests the church in Vallaki as a possible destination. The priest in Barovia will also suggest the Abbey at Krezk as another option.
In my game, the players took Ireena with them, helped the priest in Vallaki (restored the bones) but decided to take Ireena to the Abbey in Krezk since they figured the farther away from Strahd the better. While exploring the village of Krezk, they found the blessed pool where the village gets its water and didn't interfere when they saw images in the water and Ireena reached over to touch it. This freed Ireena's/Tatyana's soul from Barovia and really irritated Strahd :) ... but there are many different ways the quest can work out. In the tarot reading for my game their ally was Strahd's bride but they freed her soul so I may have some vision appear when they hit the final battle that helps them in some way. My party is currently level 10 in the catacombs below Ravenloft and will likely reach 11 or 12 before it is done.
Honestly, I think "love" is not the correct word in this context. Obsessed would be a better choice.
Strahd obsesses over the soul that belonged to Tatyana that he believes has been reincarnated as Ireena Kolyana. He has used his charm ability to enter her home and drink her blood twice. The next time he visits he plans to kill her and turn her into a vampire spawn consort. "Love" has absolutely nothing to do with this.
However, from Ireena's perspective, all she and her brother likely know is that Strahd has taken an unhealthy interest in her and that this will likely not be good for her. Strahd is the villainous terror that rules all of Barovia. His minions stalk the night. His wolves, bats, rats, zombies, werewolves and other servants including the Vistani spy for him. He visits creatures in his land terrorizing them. This is the context that all of the inhabitants of Barovia grow up with. This is also why Ireena's brother Ismark wants the adventurers to take Ireena away to a place of safety (if such exists in Barovia) and suggests the church in Vallaki as a possible destination. The priest in Barovia will also suggest the Abbey at Krezk as another option.
In my game, the players took Ireena with them, helped the priest in Vallaki (restored the bones) but decided to take Ireena to the Abbey in Krezk since they figured the farther away from Strahd the better. While exploring the village of Krezk, they found the blessed pool where the village gets its water and didn't interfere when they saw images in the water and Ireena reached over to touch it. This freed Ireena's/Tatyana's soul from Barovia and really irritated Strahd :) ... but there are many different ways the quest can work out. In the tarot reading for my game their ally was Strahd's bride but they freed her soul so I may have some vision appear when they hit the final battle that helps them in some way. My party is currently level 10 in the catacombs below Ravenloft and will likely reach 11 or 12 before it is done.
Hm yeah you are right. Thank you for your help✨
And why playing to the 12 lvl instead 10? Wouldn’t Strahd be too weak for this lvl party?
Honestly, I think "love" is not the correct word in this context. Obsessed would be a better choice.
Strahd obsesses over the soul that belonged to Tatyana that he believes has been reincarnated as Ireena Kolyana. He has used his charm ability to enter her home and drink her blood twice. The next time he visits he plans to kill her and turn her into a vampire spawn consort. "Love" has absolutely nothing to do with this.
However, from Ireena's perspective, all she and her brother likely know is that Strahd has taken an unhealthy interest in her and that this will likely not be good for her. Strahd is the villainous terror that rules all of Barovia. His minions stalk the night. His wolves, bats, rats, zombies, werewolves and other servants including the Vistani spy for him. He visits creatures in his land terrorizing them. This is the context that all of the inhabitants of Barovia grow up with. This is also why Ireena's brother Ismark wants the adventurers to take Ireena away to a place of safety (if such exists in Barovia) and suggests the church in Vallaki as a possible destination. The priest in Barovia will also suggest the Abbey at Krezk as another option.
In my game, the players took Ireena with them, helped the priest in Vallaki (restored the bones) but decided to take Ireena to the Abbey in Krezk since they figured the farther away from Strahd the better. While exploring the village of Krezk, they found the blessed pool where the village gets its water and didn't interfere when they saw images in the water and Ireena reached over to touch it. This freed Ireena's/Tatyana's soul from Barovia and really irritated Strahd :) ... but there are many different ways the quest can work out. In the tarot reading for my game their ally was Strahd's bride but they freed her soul so I may have some vision appear when they hit the final battle that helps them in some way. My party is currently level 10 in the catacombs below Ravenloft and will likely reach 11 or 12 before it is done.
Hm yeah you are right. Thank you for your help✨
And why playing to the 12 lvl instead 10? Wouldn’t Strahd be too weak for this lvl party?
I'm making a couple of adjustments to Strahd since he has been motivated to study by encountering this party. :) (.. and if anyone playing this game happens to notice ... I suggest you not read the spoiler below :) ).
As for leveling ...
I've been using milestones to level up based on the guidelines in the book and the party appears to be made up of completionists. We've played 26 sessions so far, each about 4 hours. The book suggests leveling up when they find the items in the prophecy plus each major accomplishment.
Between the Death House which takes them to 3rd level, Old Bone Grinder, the Wizard of Wines Winery, Yester Hill, the various quests in Vallaki, the salvation of Tatyana in Krezk as well as the Abbot, the witch in Berez, the Amber Temple, and the 3 quest items - that totals 13 possible levels or more before you hit Ravenloft (depending on how many of the items are in Ravenloft - in my case 1). So I held them down to 10 levels just based on the milestones in the book.
They are currently in the Catacombs and entered there through the windows beneath the overlook (they looked in the front door but didn't enter since they wanted to explore first) - they also knew from the prophecy that the item they were looking for was likely in the crypts and they had seen the model of Ravenloft at the Amber temple. They also figured the crypts were beneath the castle. They will probably hit level 11 in the next session or two.
As for balancing the fight against Strahd, it will be a challenge to make it difficult but not a TPK.
Strahd is intelligent - this is key. He won't be stupid.
There are two ways to balance the encounter - add minions, boost Strahds ability, or both. One of the characters recently left the party so they are down to 4+Esmerelda as an NPC.
1) Strahd could be supported by other vampires or vampire spawn. He regularly turns failed adventurers into vampires so he could definitely have a few of these to assist him. If I give him strong minions I may only increase his AC and hit points a bit.
2) On the other hand I could also make some changes to Strahd .. (there is a good modification to Strahd turning him into a CR17 creature available on the internet - it might be a bit over tuned for my use but there are good ideas there).
- Strahd has plate armor that he wore in battle and has turned into Animated armor. There is no real reason why he would not wear this instead of letting it wander around on its own - this can bump his AC to 21 from 16.
- Strahd's hit points listed as the standard for a vampire - he could easily have more.
- the heart is listed to absorb 50 hit points - this could also be more
- Strahd could use a magical sword associated with the armor - to give him additional attack options.
- Strahd has been studying at the Amber Temple for centuries, the only reason he isn't a higher level caster is because he isn't motivated. These characters have proved such an interesting challenge that Strahd may have spent the last week or two studying (he hasn't been pursuing the characters other than to re-issue his invitation to visit the castle - which the characters followed up on). He has access to every spell from the Player's handbook so his prepared spells should be optimized for the encounters. I am considering bumping him to an 11th level caster with 6th level spells ... he is particularly eying Tenser's transformation as an option since he would like to see these adventurers fall before his sword before turning them at his leisure.
- the characters have a number of items that can emit sunlight. However, Strahd has both fog cloud and darkness spells available to him as a counter. Strahd will also have counterspell and shield on his spell list (what intelligent self respecting wizard wouldn't? :) ).
Strahd can also go through walls so if the combat isn't going well he will leave and try to surprise them again later. Either way, I think it will be a challenging fight and should be a decent climax to the module. I expect the characters to be level 11 or possibly 12 by then (but most likely 11 and will reach 12 after defeating Strahd, if they defeat Strahd).
I'd probably adjust the milestones at higher levels so it's not always 2 milestones per level. Though I'm currently running it with a party of 6 which means I probably have to keep the PCs a bit underleveled (though a bunch of problems in the adventure kind of need greater restoration..)
Honestly, I think "love" is not the correct word in this context. Obsessed would be a better choice.
Strahd obsesses over the soul that belonged to Tatyana that he believes has been reincarnated as Ireena Kolyana. He has used his charm ability to enter her home and drink her blood twice. The next time he visits he plans to kill her and turn her into a vampire spawn consort. "Love" has absolutely nothing to do with this.
However, from Ireena's perspective, all she and her brother likely know is that Strahd has taken an unhealthy interest in her and that this will likely not be good for her. Strahd is the villainous terror that rules all of Barovia. His minions stalk the night. His wolves, bats, rats, zombies, werewolves and other servants including the Vistani spy for him. He visits creatures in his land terrorizing them. This is the context that all of the inhabitants of Barovia grow up with. This is also why Ireena's brother Ismark wants the adventurers to take Ireena away to a place of safety (if such exists in Barovia) and suggests the church in Vallaki as a possible destination. The priest in Barovia will also suggest the Abbey at Krezk as another option.
In my game, the players took Ireena with them, helped the priest in Vallaki (restored the bones) but decided to take Ireena to the Abbey in Krezk since they figured the farther away from Strahd the better. While exploring the village of Krezk, they found the blessed pool where the village gets its water and didn't interfere when they saw images in the water and Ireena reached over to touch it. This freed Ireena's/Tatyana's soul from Barovia and really irritated Strahd :) ... but there are many different ways the quest can work out. In the tarot reading for my game their ally was Strahd's bride but they freed her soul so I may have some vision appear when they hit the final battle that helps them in some way. My party is currently level 10 in the catacombs below Ravenloft and will likely reach 11 or 12 before it is done.
Hm yeah you are right. Thank you for your help✨
And why playing to the 12 lvl instead 10? Wouldn’t Strahd be too weak for this lvl party?
I'm making a couple of adjustments to Strahd since he has been motivated to study by encountering this party. :) (.. and if anyone playing this game happens to notice ... I suggest you not read the spoiler below :) ).
As for leveling ...
I've been using milestones to level up based on the guidelines in the book and the party appears to be made up of completionists. We've played 26 sessions so far, each about 4 hours. The book suggests leveling up when they find the items in the prophecy plus each major accomplishment.
Between the Death House which takes them to 3rd level, Old Bone Grinder, the Wizard of Wines Winery, Yester Hill, the various quests in Vallaki, the salvation of Tatyana in Krezk as well as the Abbot, the witch in Berez, the Amber Temple, and the 3 quest items - that totals 13 possible levels or more before you hit Ravenloft (depending on how many of the items are in Ravenloft - in my case 1). So I held them down to 10 levels just based on the milestones in the book.
They are currently in the Catacombs and entered there through the windows beneath the overlook (they looked in the front door but didn't enter since they wanted to explore first) - they also knew from the prophecy that the item they were looking for was likely in the crypts and they had seen the model of Ravenloft at the Amber temple. They also figured the crypts were beneath the castle. They will probably hit level 11 in the next session or two.
As for balancing the fight against Strahd, it will be a challenge to make it difficult but not a TPK.
Strahd is intelligent - this is key. He won't be stupid.
There are two ways to balance the encounter - add minions, boost Strahds ability, or both. One of the characters recently left the party so they are down to 4+Esmerelda as an NPC.
1) Strahd could be supported by other vampires or vampire spawn. He regularly turns failed adventurers into vampires so he could definitely have a few of these to assist him. If I give him strong minions I may only increase his AC and hit points a bit.
2) On the other hand I could also make some changes to Strahd .. (there is a good modification to Strahd turning him into a CR17 creature available on the internet - it might be a bit over tuned for my use but there are good ideas there).
- Strahd has plate armor that he wore in battle and has turned into Animated armor. There is no real reason why he would not wear this instead of letting it wander around on its own - this can bump his AC to 21 from 16.
- Strahd's hit points listed as the standard for a vampire - he could easily have more.
- the heart is listed to absorb 50 hit points - this could also be more
- Strahd could use a magical sword associated with the armor - to give him additional attack options.
- Strahd has been studying at the Amber Temple for centuries, the only reason he isn't a higher level caster is because he isn't motivated. These characters have proved such an interesting challenge that Strahd may have spent the last week or two studying (he hasn't been pursuing the characters other than to re-issue his invitation to visit the castle - which the characters followed up on). He has access to every spell from the Player's handbook so his prepared spells should be optimized for the encounters. I am considering bumping him to an 11th level caster with 6th level spells ... he is particularly eying Tenser's transformation as an option since he would like to see these adventurers fall before his sword before turning them at his leisure.
- the characters have a number of items that can emit sunlight. However, Strahd has both fog cloud and darkness spells available to him as a counter. Strahd will also have counterspell and shield on his spell list (what intelligent self respecting wizard wouldn't? :) ).
Strahd can also go through walls so if the combat isn't going well he will leave and try to surprise them again later. Either way, I think it will be a challenging fight and should be a decent climax to the module. I expect the characters to be level 11 or possibly 12 by then (but most likely 11 and will reach 12 after defeating Strahd, if they defeat Strahd).
Yeah such changes will raise difficulty 😅
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So my question is very simple. Does (and if he does then how) Irina know that Strahd is in love with her? I haven’t found any thing in the book that says so. But maybe I have missed something
I think it's implicit. I think it's also fair to say she's not interested, which can be implied by all that she has already done to spurn his affection.
Irina is aware that he's a creepy stalker though probably not why.
Honestly, I think "love" is not the correct word in this context. Obsessed would be a better choice.
Strahd obsesses over the soul that belonged to Tatyana that he believes has been reincarnated as Ireena Kolyana. He has used his charm ability to enter her home and drink her blood twice. The next time he visits he plans to kill her and turn her into a vampire spawn consort. "Love" has absolutely nothing to do with this.
However, from Ireena's perspective, all she and her brother likely know is that Strahd has taken an unhealthy interest in her and that this will likely not be good for her. Strahd is the villainous terror that rules all of Barovia. His minions stalk the night. His wolves, bats, rats, zombies, werewolves and other servants including the Vistani spy for him. He visits creatures in his land terrorizing them. This is the context that all of the inhabitants of Barovia grow up with. This is also why Ireena's brother Ismark wants the adventurers to take Ireena away to a place of safety (if such exists in Barovia) and suggests the church in Vallaki as a possible destination. The priest in Barovia will also suggest the Abbey at Krezk as another option.
In my game, the players took Ireena with them, helped the priest in Vallaki (restored the bones) but decided to take Ireena to the Abbey in Krezk since they figured the farther away from Strahd the better. While exploring the village of Krezk, they found the blessed pool where the village gets its water and didn't interfere when they saw images in the water and Ireena reached over to touch it. This freed Ireena's/Tatyana's soul from Barovia and really irritated Strahd :) ... but there are many different ways the quest can work out. In the tarot reading for my game their ally was Strahd's bride but they freed her soul so I may have some vision appear when they hit the final battle that helps them in some way. My party is currently level 10 in the catacombs below Ravenloft and will likely reach 11 or 12 before it is done.
Hm yeah you are right. Thank you for your help✨
And why playing to the 12 lvl instead 10? Wouldn’t Strahd be too weak for this lvl party?
I'm making a couple of adjustments to Strahd since he has been motivated to study by encountering this party. :) (.. and if anyone playing this game happens to notice ... I suggest you not read the spoiler below :) ).
As for leveling ...
I've been using milestones to level up based on the guidelines in the book and the party appears to be made up of completionists. We've played 26 sessions so far, each about 4 hours. The book suggests leveling up when they find the items in the prophecy plus each major accomplishment.
Between the Death House which takes them to 3rd level, Old Bone Grinder, the Wizard of Wines Winery, Yester Hill, the various quests in Vallaki, the salvation of Tatyana in Krezk as well as the Abbot, the witch in Berez, the Amber Temple, and the 3 quest items - that totals 13 possible levels or more before you hit Ravenloft (depending on how many of the items are in Ravenloft - in my case 1). So I held them down to 10 levels just based on the milestones in the book.
They are currently in the Catacombs and entered there through the windows beneath the overlook (they looked in the front door but didn't enter since they wanted to explore first) - they also knew from the prophecy that the item they were looking for was likely in the crypts and they had seen the model of Ravenloft at the Amber temple. They also figured the crypts were beneath the castle. They will probably hit level 11 in the next session or two.
As for balancing the fight against Strahd, it will be a challenge to make it difficult but not a TPK.
Strahd is intelligent - this is key. He won't be stupid.
There are two ways to balance the encounter - add minions, boost Strahds ability, or both. One of the characters recently left the party so they are down to 4+Esmerelda as an NPC.
1) Strahd could be supported by other vampires or vampire spawn. He regularly turns failed adventurers into vampires so he could definitely have a few of these to assist him. If I give him strong minions I may only increase his AC and hit points a bit.
2) On the other hand I could also make some changes to Strahd .. (there is a good modification to Strahd turning him into a CR17 creature available on the internet - it might be a bit over tuned for my use but there are good ideas there).
- Strahd has plate armor that he wore in battle and has turned into Animated armor. There is no real reason why he would not wear this instead of letting it wander around on its own - this can bump his AC to 21 from 16.
- Strahd's hit points listed as the standard for a vampire - he could easily have more.
- the heart is listed to absorb 50 hit points - this could also be more
- Strahd could use a magical sword associated with the armor - to give him additional attack options.
- Strahd has been studying at the Amber Temple for centuries, the only reason he isn't a higher level caster is because he isn't motivated. These characters have proved such an interesting challenge that Strahd may have spent the last week or two studying (he hasn't been pursuing the characters other than to re-issue his invitation to visit the castle - which the characters followed up on). He has access to every spell from the Player's handbook so his prepared spells should be optimized for the encounters. I am considering bumping him to an 11th level caster with 6th level spells ... he is particularly eying Tenser's transformation as an option since he would like to see these adventurers fall before his sword before turning them at his leisure.
- the characters have a number of items that can emit sunlight. However, Strahd has both fog cloud and darkness spells available to him as a counter. Strahd will also have counterspell and shield on his spell list (what intelligent self respecting wizard wouldn't? :) ).
Strahd can also go through walls so if the combat isn't going well he will leave and try to surprise them again later. Either way, I think it will be a challenging fight and should be a decent climax to the module. I expect the characters to be level 11 or possibly 12 by then (but most likely 11 and will reach 12 after defeating Strahd, if they defeat Strahd).
I'd probably adjust the milestones at higher levels so it's not always 2 milestones per level. Though I'm currently running it with a party of 6 which means I probably have to keep the PCs a bit underleveled (though a bunch of problems in the adventure kind of need greater restoration..)
Yeah such changes will raise difficulty 😅