I'm considering withholding disclosure of charm effects from the players for the purpose of surprise. Strahd will be in disguise for a lot of his interactions with players, so I do not want arise suspicions right away. In fact, I want him to be hiding in plain sight as a helpful NPC for a good part of the early game. Unlike the charm spell, the charm effect in his stat block doesn't say if creatures know if he attempts to charm them or that they've been charmed after the effect ends. There are no VSM components that would necessarily give it away. In fact the book specifically says that most people charmed by him have trouble remembering the interaction.
If he attempts to charm players, instead of asking them to make a saving throw, I'm thinking I'd simply ask for a D20 roll while I factor in the modifier to see if they save. Or possibly disguising it as an insight check, but that may be a bit too deceitful as a DM. Of course, Strahd is intelligent, duplicitous, and manipulative. He wouldn't overtly make someone do something out of character. That would expose him to the characters and players alike. Not until he's ready. Not until he's had his fun.
Other effects I am considering this with are:
lycanthropy: At the end of the day, have the bitten player roll a D20. If they fail, they're haunted by violent visions. Each day after that they become more and more irritable until the full moon, when they change uncontrollably.
dream pastries and possible addiction (before anyone asks, everyone gave this topic a green light on the session 0 consent card). If they fail the check, they have nightmares and take a level of exhaustion each day until they either pass the con save, have another, or are cured with lesser restoration. But each time they have another Dream Pastry, the con save DC gets higher, and they need to eat more to avoid exhaustion.
You can make a hidden roll from a player's character sheet that's in your campaign in DDB I usually only do this when I'm checking to see if a player's character would know something that a player has missed and whether to give them a prompt or hint
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
The biggest problem with these types of effects is that the player will likely know that the character is charmed even if the character does not simply because the DM forces the character to do certain things as a response to the charm. As a result, rolling in secret for saves doesn't really accomplish much since the charm effect quickly becomes obvious when it impacts the characters allowed actions.
When I ran this, I had Strahd appear to the party fairly frequently, either as just a figure or silhouette in the distance watching the party or occasionally directly interacting with the party, usually to show them how pitiful they were and to prove to himself that they obviously weren't much of a threat.
My thought is, I'm not going to make players do things outright, because as your mentioned, the players will figure that out. Just as an adventuring party might figure it out. I'd primarily use it as a tool for manipulation. I'm trying to prop him up as a trusted NPC. Like if they start to question his motives or make insight checks, the charm effect would override it. Things like gaining their trust for finding out more details about Ireena, Rictavio, Ez, or the Keepers, etc.
Or if he did make the characters do something, it would be at night when they think they're sleeping and have either no memories, or a hazy fugue like dream. I'd primarily use it to sow discord and toy with the party.
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I'm considering withholding disclosure of charm effects from the players for the purpose of surprise. Strahd will be in disguise for a lot of his interactions with players, so I do not want arise suspicions right away. In fact, I want him to be hiding in plain sight as a helpful NPC for a good part of the early game. Unlike the charm spell, the charm effect in his stat block doesn't say if creatures know if he attempts to charm them or that they've been charmed after the effect ends. There are no VSM components that would necessarily give it away. In fact the book specifically says that most people charmed by him have trouble remembering the interaction.
If he attempts to charm players, instead of asking them to make a saving throw, I'm thinking I'd simply ask for a D20 roll while I factor in the modifier to see if they save. Or possibly disguising it as an insight check, but that may be a bit too deceitful as a DM. Of course, Strahd is intelligent, duplicitous, and manipulative. He wouldn't overtly make someone do something out of character. That would expose him to the characters and players alike. Not until he's ready. Not until he's had his fun.
Other effects I am considering this with are:
You can make a hidden roll from a player's character sheet that's in your campaign in DDB
I usually only do this when I'm checking to see if a player's character would know something that a player has missed and whether to give them a prompt or hint
You might want to arm your Strahd with Arcanist's Magic Aura / Nystul’s Magic Aura
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
The biggest problem with these types of effects is that the player will likely know that the character is charmed even if the character does not simply because the DM forces the character to do certain things as a response to the charm. As a result, rolling in secret for saves doesn't really accomplish much since the charm effect quickly becomes obvious when it impacts the characters allowed actions.
When I ran this, I had Strahd appear to the party fairly frequently, either as just a figure or silhouette in the distance watching the party or occasionally directly interacting with the party, usually to show them how pitiful they were and to prove to himself that they obviously weren't much of a threat.
My thought is, I'm not going to make players do things outright, because as your mentioned, the players will figure that out. Just as an adventuring party might figure it out. I'd primarily use it as a tool for manipulation. I'm trying to prop him up as a trusted NPC. Like if they start to question his motives or make insight checks, the charm effect would override it. Things like gaining their trust for finding out more details about Ireena, Rictavio, Ez, or the Keepers, etc.
Or if he did make the characters do something, it would be at night when they think they're sleeping and have either no memories, or a hazy fugue like dream. I'd primarily use it to sow discord and toy with the party.