Hey all. I started a Curse of Strahd game for a few friends almost 2 years ago now. Just before getting to the final encounter everyone asked if there was a way to make the campaign go to level 20. So I set to work creating a whole second half to the adventure which has, for the most part, been received positively and with much praise. They just got to level 18 so I have decided to start working on a new leveled up Ravenloft and Strahd. I have been overly generous with magic items and flexible with some homebrew stuff (not to mention two of my players are powergamey as hell lol) so the group is pretty damn strong and I think the 5 of them at level 20 could probably handle a CR30 threat. The issue is, I can't decide how I want some of Strahd's abilities to be set up. The current one I am pondering on is called Blood Puppet. Strahd targets one creature within range, they make a save, and on a failure that creature's body follows Strahd's commands until the end of it's next turn. So it's sort of like a shorter more direct version of normal Strahd's Charm action. I'm not sure if I want it to be an action, bonus action, or legendary actions. Also, I'm not sure if it's strong enough to warrant a recharge time or not. Even the saving throw has me conflicted because it seems like a Wis save but it kind of seems like it could be a Cha save. I'm kind of rambling at this point but I would love any input I can get on this.
Most charm/mind-control abilities are Wisdom saving throws, but DCs for CR 30 creatures are usually ~DC 25, so only players with both proficiency in the save and advantage on it would be likely to save from it. Taking control of a PC is generally not very fun for that PC so it should be only 1-target per round (so once per action, as a bonus action, or as a 2-cost legendary action), and there should be something to encourage Strahd to target different PCs with it.
The main problem with Strahd vs a level 20 party are his extremely low damage and hit points for his CR. He's meant to largely rely on lackeys & traps within the castle.
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Hey all. I started a Curse of Strahd game for a few friends almost 2 years ago now. Just before getting to the final encounter everyone asked if there was a way to make the campaign go to level 20. So I set to work creating a whole second half to the adventure which has, for the most part, been received positively and with much praise. They just got to level 18 so I have decided to start working on a new leveled up Ravenloft and Strahd. I have been overly generous with magic items and flexible with some homebrew stuff (not to mention two of my players are powergamey as hell lol) so the group is pretty damn strong and I think the 5 of them at level 20 could probably handle a CR30 threat. The issue is, I can't decide how I want some of Strahd's abilities to be set up. The current one I am pondering on is called Blood Puppet. Strahd targets one creature within range, they make a save, and on a failure that creature's body follows Strahd's commands until the end of it's next turn. So it's sort of like a shorter more direct version of normal Strahd's Charm action. I'm not sure if I want it to be an action, bonus action, or legendary actions. Also, I'm not sure if it's strong enough to warrant a recharge time or not. Even the saving throw has me conflicted because it seems like a Wis save but it kind of seems like it could be a Cha save. I'm kind of rambling at this point but I would love any input I can get on this.
Most charm/mind-control abilities are Wisdom saving throws, but DCs for CR 30 creatures are usually ~DC 25, so only players with both proficiency in the save and advantage on it would be likely to save from it. Taking control of a PC is generally not very fun for that PC so it should be only 1-target per round (so once per action, as a bonus action, or as a 2-cost legendary action), and there should be something to encourage Strahd to target different PCs with it.
The main problem with Strahd vs a level 20 party are his extremely low damage and hit points for his CR. He's meant to largely rely on lackeys & traps within the castle.