I just started running a Curse of Strahd campaign. The party consists of an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, a Fighter Champion that favors polearms, A fighter/Barbarian that favors great weapons, and a pact of the blade Archfey warlock. I foresee an imbalance in the "required" magic items with the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and Sunsword both going to the Paladin. I think the Blood Spear would be enjoyed by either of the fighters. My question is what other cool weapons or armor would you suggest for the Warlock and the other fighter that wouldn't be too OP for the campaign.
Warlock: Honestly, the Sunsword could be pretty cool for the Warlock. Another good weapon for a Warlock is the Scimitar of Speed because it allows them to use a BA to attack after using their action to cast a spell. Alternatively, since your party looks a bit lacking in the healing department something like the Necklace of Prayer Beads or Staff of Healing but make it so it is only attunable by a warlock, might be useful.
Fighter: Something that plays with the idea of wooden-staking a vampire might be neat, but if you're sticking with RAW items just a +1/+2 weapon is probably sufficient for them or a Vicious Weapon would combo well with their increased critical range. Alternatively, you could have the Revenant faction give them a special set of armour that gives them advantage against charm & fear effects from undead (taking inspiration from the Dragonguard armour but designed for undead).
Barb/Fighter : I personally always like a Flametongue weapon on a Barbarian something about raging while holding a flaming sword just feels right to me (though be aware this will mean they are doing a lot of damage - though they will probably already be doing so). If they are doing a ton of damage, then you might want to consider something simple like an Adamantine weapon. Alternatively you could just take the Mace of Terror or Sunforger and turn it into a Maul instead of a mace/warhammer. Or turn the Sunsword into a greatsword for them.
Another question actually. I am considering making Ireena a Cleric to give the party a little bit of healing power but I don't want her to be too strong. What level do you think she would be?
Another question actually. I am considering making Ireena a Cleric to give the party a little bit of healing power but I don't want her to be too strong. What level do you think she would be?
Quick Tip: Don't make your NPCs follow the same rules as PCs. You can use Side Kick Rules as a framework, or customize them for exactly what you want them to do. In this case, probably the easiest thing to do is give Ireena a number of castings of Healing Word or Cure Wounds equal to the number of characters in the party per day, and scale the level of the spell by the level of the warlock's spell slots.
Well is Ireena the one that was prophesized to be helping them? If not maybe she shouldn't even be any type of fighter at all. If you do really want her to, you could make her like a level 3 cleric or something like that.
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Favoring weapons at early levels doesn't mean much, because there's plenty of room to grow, and there are tons of magic items. The hitch is where to find them, because players aren't expected to visit every location and pick up every item. Even in a fairly straightforward dungeon, players are only expected to find about 70% of what's there; simply because of missed rolls. What's more, getting something for everyone might mean going out of their way once or twice. Not only will that slow progress towards their end goal, but your players may pick up on trying to make sure everyone has something.
And they may not like that, but I do have some ideas:
The Paladin is going to have the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. It's a good idea to spread items around, and they won't need a shield with a holy symbol, so they have room for a two-handed weapon. There's a +2 Greatsword, in the possession of a revenant, in Argynvostholt that would be perfect for them.
The only polearm I can think of is the Blood Spear of Kavan, from Yester Hill, and I would actually give this to the Warlock. Kavan chooses the successor, and he prefers classes like barbarian, druid, and ranger. Druids have a historically strong connection to the fey, and a Warlock with the Pact of the Blade and an Archfey Patron is a fitting, if unorthodox, choice.
There's a Luck Blade somewhere in Castle Ravenloft, and it can take the form of a Glaive or Greatsword in the 2024 DMG. Your fighters can argue over who gets this one because they're competing for gear.
One of the things about this module, in particular, is how starved for resources the players are. There's no guarantee they get much outside of the card reading, and only two of the items are magic. The third, RAW, is just a book and plot coupon. The rest come down to dumb luck and exploration. And all this is to add to the dread as the players are forced outside their comfort zone. The prices for adventuring gear are exorbitant, and there's no smithy for new armor and weapons. The only upgrades are the ones they can find. Maybe the Vistani can craft them a Silvered Weapon (now a magic item), if the players get on their good side, but the point is they're supposed to adapt to their new surroundings. And that might mean changing up how they fight.
I mean, you have a party that, by all appearances, is unbalanced. Nobody seems particularly dexterous, intelligent, or wise. They lack a skill monkey and, in all likelihood, make poor burglars. It's okay for your players to choose this and then live with the consequences.
As written, CoS has very few magic items available until the very end of the game.
Although less relevant for your party, there are no magical ranged weapons in the module at all as far as I know (just one example).
In addition, if you run it as written, some of the magic items are only available after the characters have gone into the castle and then back out into the world to follow up - but by the time the characters are high enough level to go into the castle and explore, they are already high level and will likely end the module by dealing with Strahd before being able to obtain these items.
ring of regeneration and the head of a dragon for Argynvostholt are examples
I modified my run through by putting the dragon head in the basement of the wizard of wines winery having been stolen from the castle during the uprising that occurred a few months previously. I also took the item that leads to the ring from the crypt in the basement of the castle and gave it to the priest in Vallaki who was related to the saint and had him give it to the adventurers as a reward for dealing with the threat to the chapel, recovering of the stolen stone etc. Ring of regeneration might be very useful for your party with so little healing available.
Also, what rules you are using make a difference. The 2024 character rules and 2024 monster manual have significant differences that impact CoS in particular. 2024 has removed the entire "resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing except from magical weapons". Creatures are now either resistant to BPS or not. The only benefit from normal magical weapons is the +1/+2/+3 to hit and damage. This makes the sunsword even more valuable since it does radiant damage.
As an example, the vampire spawn in 2024 have no resistance to BPS damage while the 2014 are resistant to BPS from non-magical attacks. So using the 2014 rules, a magical weapon was essential to deal with the vampire spawn and other undead while using the 2024 rules, there is relatively little difference since the only benefit from the magical weapon is the +1 etc.
2024 werewolves are the same. In 2014 they were immune to BPS damage from non-magical attacks - that has been removed so that now werewolves are as vulnerable to any weapon damage as any other creature. This means that CoS run under 2014 rules really needs the characters to have magical weapons to be effective against the creatures in the module while under the 2024 rules, magic weapons are far less required - fun to have but resistance to BPS damage is a lot less common and the key to bypassing it is not a magical weapon but the ability to use your weapon to do a different type of damage (like a pact of the blade warlock with their pact weapon).
Even full vampires do not have resistance to BPS damage so the mundane greatsword a character might have from the beginning of the game will be equally effective against Strahd at the end of the game.
So, if you are using the 2024 rules then magical weapons are fun but not required.
-----
Other than that, if you want to include magical weapons and don't mind homebrewing parts of the module to add them then I'd go with ones that aren't too powerful but perhaps have an interesting effect or a spell once/day.
Barovia is very poor. Gear is difficult or impossible to find. Only items up to 25gp are available in stores. This means that the chain mail, scale mail, splint, breastplate or whatever the characters start with stands a very good chance of being the same armor they end with unless you modify the module. The only plate mail in the adventure is a set of +2 plate in the basement of the castle for example - which is end game if they find it at all.
If you want to lean into the really restrictive nature of the supplies available in Barovia then you may not want to add any magic items.
So a while back I made a Homebrew item (it might be in the HB Database) called the Suncore. This was my replacement for the Sunblade. In essence, rather than a specific blade, the Suncore is JUST the hilt/handle. When the weapon is attuned to a character, it takes the form of a specific weapon that suits the spirit of the wielder, often with a vision of righteousness and justice that occurs during the attunement. So in one game, it was claimed by a paladin who preferred flails and became a glowing sun at the end of a red hot chain. In another it manifested as a Kasuri Gama, the sickle and chain weapon for a party monk.
Ironically said monk was a 1920's debutante who had learned how to brawl after being tossed around between a few dozen "proper boarding schools". Up until then her preferred weapons had been her fists, her umbrella, and her hat pins.
Either way this was how I got around "what weapons go to who?" and instead allowed the party to figure out who needed a little DPS boost.
Last thought: In one game's final battle I also completely ignored the rules for Attunement. After beating Strahd once, the party chased him back up to the chapel for a final showdown. There they did a "take a shot, bonus action toss" and each turn a turn with the Suncore before the paladin went in for the killing blow. Was it RAW? Awhecks no. Was it epic, fun, cool and left all of us going YAHH BOY!? Youbetcha.
Another question actually. I am considering making Ireena a Cleric to give the party a little bit of healing power but I don't want her to be too strong. What level do you think she would be?
Specific to this: I ran Arabelle as a DM-PC with the party and always kept her specifically at 5th level for the campaign. So while the party did level up and grow into their powerbase, her usefullness seemed to fade compared to the party. Don't know if that worked or not; it's what I did.
There is +2 Plate armor in Castle Raven loft but the characters won't even find this until late late game. Blood spear is great. Ezmerelda D'Avnir has some neat magic items not to forget about. Vladimir Horngaard has a +2 Greatsword. I don't really know what kind of gear would be good for a warlock anyways, I'm not really sure where they stand, whether they are spellcasters of melee. Any of the previous are pretty generic gear that is straight from the module.
Of course you could also incorporate items of your own into the campaign according to who needs it the most and give it to them after some thorough exploration or maybe after defeating a boss.
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I just started running a Curse of Strahd campaign. The party consists of an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, a Fighter Champion that favors polearms, A fighter/Barbarian that favors great weapons, and a pact of the blade Archfey warlock. I foresee an imbalance in the "required" magic items with the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and Sunsword both going to the Paladin. I think the Blood Spear would be enjoyed by either of the fighters. My question is what other cool weapons or armor would you suggest for the Warlock and the other fighter that wouldn't be too OP for the campaign.
Warlock: Honestly, the Sunsword could be pretty cool for the Warlock. Another good weapon for a Warlock is the Scimitar of Speed because it allows them to use a BA to attack after using their action to cast a spell. Alternatively, since your party looks a bit lacking in the healing department something like the Necklace of Prayer Beads or Staff of Healing but make it so it is only attunable by a warlock, might be useful.
Fighter: Something that plays with the idea of wooden-staking a vampire might be neat, but if you're sticking with RAW items just a +1/+2 weapon is probably sufficient for them or a Vicious Weapon would combo well with their increased critical range. Alternatively, you could have the Revenant faction give them a special set of armour that gives them advantage against charm & fear effects from undead (taking inspiration from the Dragonguard armour but designed for undead).
Barb/Fighter : I personally always like a Flametongue weapon on a Barbarian something about raging while holding a flaming sword just feels right to me (though be aware this will mean they are doing a lot of damage - though they will probably already be doing so). If they are doing a ton of damage, then you might want to consider something simple like an Adamantine weapon. Alternatively you could just take the Mace of Terror or Sunforger and turn it into a Maul instead of a mace/warhammer. Or turn the Sunsword into a greatsword for them.
Thanks, all great ideas. I was already considering the Sunsword as a greatsword but wasn't sure. I like the Armor idea as well.
I'm planning on running Strahd soon, so if the party goes down a similar path, I'll keep this in my mind.
Another question actually. I am considering making Ireena a Cleric to give the party a little bit of healing power but I don't want her to be too strong. What level do you think she would be?
Quick Tip: Don't make your NPCs follow the same rules as PCs. You can use Side Kick Rules as a framework, or customize them for exactly what you want them to do. In this case, probably the easiest thing to do is give Ireena a number of castings of Healing Word or Cure Wounds equal to the number of characters in the party per day, and scale the level of the spell by the level of the warlock's spell slots.
Hmm ok well I have never had an issue doing it my way in the past.
Well is Ireena the one that was prophesized to be helping them? If not maybe she shouldn't even be any type of fighter at all. If you do really want her to, you could make her like a level 3 cleric or something like that.
"Uh, I have Illusory Script. I think I can read that."
Favoring weapons at early levels doesn't mean much, because there's plenty of room to grow, and there are tons of magic items. The hitch is where to find them, because players aren't expected to visit every location and pick up every item. Even in a fairly straightforward dungeon, players are only expected to find about 70% of what's there; simply because of missed rolls. What's more, getting something for everyone might mean going out of their way once or twice. Not only will that slow progress towards their end goal, but your players may pick up on trying to make sure everyone has something.
And they may not like that, but I do have some ideas:
One of the things about this module, in particular, is how starved for resources the players are. There's no guarantee they get much outside of the card reading, and only two of the items are magic. The third, RAW, is just a book and plot coupon. The rest come down to dumb luck and exploration. And all this is to add to the dread as the players are forced outside their comfort zone. The prices for adventuring gear are exorbitant, and there's no smithy for new armor and weapons. The only upgrades are the ones they can find. Maybe the Vistani can craft them a Silvered Weapon (now a magic item), if the players get on their good side, but the point is they're supposed to adapt to their new surroundings. And that might mean changing up how they fight.
I mean, you have a party that, by all appearances, is unbalanced. Nobody seems particularly dexterous, intelligent, or wise. They lack a skill monkey and, in all likelihood, make poor burglars. It's okay for your players to choose this and then live with the consequences.
As written, CoS has very few magic items available until the very end of the game.
Although less relevant for your party, there are no magical ranged weapons in the module at all as far as I know (just one example).
In addition, if you run it as written, some of the magic items are only available after the characters have gone into the castle and then back out into the world to follow up - but by the time the characters are high enough level to go into the castle and explore, they are already high level and will likely end the module by dealing with Strahd before being able to obtain these items.
ring of regeneration and the head of a dragon for Argynvostholt are examples
I modified my run through by putting the dragon head in the basement of the wizard of wines winery having been stolen from the castle during the uprising that occurred a few months previously. I also took the item that leads to the ring from the crypt in the basement of the castle and gave it to the priest in Vallaki who was related to the saint and had him give it to the adventurers as a reward for dealing with the threat to the chapel, recovering of the stolen stone etc. Ring of regeneration might be very useful for your party with so little healing available.
Also, what rules you are using make a difference. The 2024 character rules and 2024 monster manual have significant differences that impact CoS in particular. 2024 has removed the entire "resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing except from magical weapons". Creatures are now either resistant to BPS or not. The only benefit from normal magical weapons is the +1/+2/+3 to hit and damage. This makes the sunsword even more valuable since it does radiant damage.
As an example, the vampire spawn in 2024 have no resistance to BPS damage while the 2014 are resistant to BPS from non-magical attacks. So using the 2014 rules, a magical weapon was essential to deal with the vampire spawn and other undead while using the 2024 rules, there is relatively little difference since the only benefit from the magical weapon is the +1 etc.
2024 werewolves are the same. In 2014 they were immune to BPS damage from non-magical attacks - that has been removed so that now werewolves are as vulnerable to any weapon damage as any other creature. This means that CoS run under 2014 rules really needs the characters to have magical weapons to be effective against the creatures in the module while under the 2024 rules, magic weapons are far less required - fun to have but resistance to BPS damage is a lot less common and the key to bypassing it is not a magical weapon but the ability to use your weapon to do a different type of damage (like a pact of the blade warlock with their pact weapon).
Even full vampires do not have resistance to BPS damage so the mundane greatsword a character might have from the beginning of the game will be equally effective against Strahd at the end of the game.
So, if you are using the 2024 rules then magical weapons are fun but not required.
-----
Other than that, if you want to include magical weapons and don't mind homebrewing parts of the module to add them then I'd go with ones that aren't too powerful but perhaps have an interesting effect or a spell once/day.
Barovia is very poor. Gear is difficult or impossible to find. Only items up to 25gp are available in stores. This means that the chain mail, scale mail, splint, breastplate or whatever the characters start with stands a very good chance of being the same armor they end with unless you modify the module. The only plate mail in the adventure is a set of +2 plate in the basement of the castle for example - which is end game if they find it at all.
If you want to lean into the really restrictive nature of the supplies available in Barovia then you may not want to add any magic items.
So a while back I made a Homebrew item (it might be in the HB Database) called the Suncore. This was my replacement for the Sunblade. In essence, rather than a specific blade, the Suncore is JUST the hilt/handle. When the weapon is attuned to a character, it takes the form of a specific weapon that suits the spirit of the wielder, often with a vision of righteousness and justice that occurs during the attunement. So in one game, it was claimed by a paladin who preferred flails and became a glowing sun at the end of a red hot chain. In another it manifested as a Kasuri Gama, the sickle and chain weapon for a party monk.
Ironically said monk was a 1920's debutante who had learned how to brawl after being tossed around between a few dozen "proper boarding schools". Up until then her preferred weapons had been her fists, her umbrella, and her hat pins.
Either way this was how I got around "what weapons go to who?" and instead allowed the party to figure out who needed a little DPS boost.
Last thought: In one game's final battle I also completely ignored the rules for Attunement. After beating Strahd once, the party chased him back up to the chapel for a final showdown. There they did a "take a shot, bonus action toss" and each turn a turn with the Suncore before the paladin went in for the killing blow. Was it RAW? Awhecks no. Was it epic, fun, cool and left all of us going YAHH BOY!? Youbetcha.
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Specific to this: I ran Arabelle as a DM-PC with the party and always kept her specifically at 5th level for the campaign. So while the party did level up and grow into their powerbase, her usefullness seemed to fade compared to the party. Don't know if that worked or not; it's what I did.
"Teller of tales, dreamer of dreams"
Tips, Tricks, Maps: Lantern Noir Presents
**Streams hosted at at twitch.tv/LaternNoir
It does say in the module that Ireena is a noble with 14 hit points.
"Uh, I have Illusory Script. I think I can read that."
There is +2 Plate armor in Castle Raven loft but the characters won't even find this until late late game.
Blood spear is great.
Ezmerelda D'Avnir has some neat magic items not to forget about.
Vladimir Horngaard has a +2 Greatsword.
I don't really know what kind of gear would be good for a warlock anyways, I'm not really sure where they stand, whether they are spellcasters of melee. Any of the previous are pretty generic gear that is straight from the module.
Of course you could also incorporate items of your own into the campaign according to who needs it the most and give it to them after some thorough exploration or maybe after defeating a boss.
"Uh, I have Illusory Script. I think I can read that."