I'm about to have both of my groups reach Yester Hill in Curse of Strahd, and although I've made a few changes to make the event darker and less cartoonish, I'm definitely keeping the tree blight. I've never used one before, so I was hoping to get some input from DMs who have and what suggestions you might have to make it truly frightening (I have my own, but you never know what other twisted minds can come up with). For a bit of context, in my version of CoS, the forest folk want to kill or remove all the "settlers" and "colonizers", and they venerate Strahd not because they like him, but because he "became one with the land" (he really hasn't, he's just a very powerful wizard, but that's what they believe).
These are the changes I'm doing: there's no statue, only another tree (the sleeping Fhomoir) connected to the Gulthias tree thorugh its roots; the gem is embedded in the bark of Fhomoir, its light fading with every turn; the druids are mid ritual already and chanting in a language the characters don't understand (druidic) which translates to "We place our wrath in you! Fhomoir! Fhomoir! Rise at last!"; the fight is first against the berserkers, followed by the smaller blights and finally Fhomoir (the tree blight) if they don't manage to stop the druids in 4 turns (it's going to be rough, but they can do it and if they don't, they'll by captured and handed to Strahd, which gives me the chance to have the dinner scene); Fhomoir is vulnerable to sunlight, as well as the Gulthias tree (which doesn't need to be uprooted, just set on fire after reducing it to 0 hp and it will never stop burning unless it's putt off).
Thanks everyone!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm about to have both of my groups reach Yester Hill in Curse of Strahd, and although I've made a few changes to make the event darker and less cartoonish, I'm definitely keeping the tree blight. I've never used one before, so I was hoping to get some input from DMs who have and what suggestions you might have to make it truly frightening (I have my own, but you never know what other twisted minds can come up with). For a bit of context, in my version of CoS, the forest folk want to kill or remove all the "settlers" and "colonizers", and they venerate Strahd not because they like him, but because he "became one with the land" (he really hasn't, he's just a very powerful wizard, but that's what they believe).
These are the changes I'm doing: there's no statue, only another tree (the sleeping Fhomoir) connected to the Gulthias tree thorugh its roots; the gem is embedded in the bark of Fhomoir, its light fading with every turn; the druids are mid ritual already and chanting in a language the characters don't understand (druidic) which translates to "We place our wrath in you! Fhomoir! Fhomoir! Rise at last!"; the fight is first against the berserkers, followed by the smaller blights and finally Fhomoir (the tree blight) if they don't manage to stop the druids in 4 turns (it's going to be rough, but they can do it and if they don't, they'll by captured and handed to Strahd, which gives me the chance to have the dinner scene); Fhomoir is vulnerable to sunlight, as well as the Gulthias tree (which doesn't need to be uprooted, just set on fire after reducing it to 0 hp and it will never stop burning unless it's putt off).
Thanks everyone!