This is my first time posting and I wanted to see what others thought about this. I'm running Curse of Strahd right now and we're nearing a final confrontation so I want to settle this question before it comes up in game. My question really revolves around Misty Escape which goes like this:
Misty Escape. When he drops to 0 hit points outside his coffin, Strahd transforms into a cloud of mist (as in the Shapechanger trait) instead of falling unconscious, provided that he isn’t in running water or sunlight. If he can’t transform, he is destroyed. While he has 0 hit points in mist form, he can’t revert to his vampire form, and he must reach his coffin within 2 hours or be destroyed. Once in his coffin, he reverts to his vampire form. He is then paralyzed until he regains at least 1 hit point. After spending 1 hour in his coffin with 0 hit points, he regains 1 hit point.
Now, the Big Bad Count has his host of legendary and lair actions he can take in a fight but my main question is can he take them while in mist form? Both legendary and lair actions stipulate that they can't be taken while the creature is incapacitated, which would obviously be the case ifhe were unconscious. So, since he's still conscious he should be able to take actions even though he's at 0 HP, right?
Considering two of his legendary actions are attacks that he totally couldn't do in mist form (Bite and Unarmed Strike) it may seem like a small thing but his other legendary action is "Move. Strahd moves up to his speed without provoking opportunity attacks." This turns his gentle rolling mist speed of moving 30 feet per round into a Turbo-Nos Ultra-Suped-Up movement speed of 120 feet per round. Legendary actions would also give him a major boost in escaping since one of them lets him melt through castle walls so even if they penned him in with a Wind Wall, he could just melt through the floor to go take his nap. He could also trap everybody in a room while he mists away or summon a shadow or specter to cover his retreat.
That's my first question. My second question is, if he hits 0 and turns into a fart, do the lair actions persist through his mistiness? I'm almost positive they do, since he isn't dead, but I figure better be safe than sorry. My third question is, can he maintain concentration if he hits 0? Obviously he would follow concentration checks just like everyone else when he took damage but could his animated Beauty-and-the-Beast objects still protect him, or his fog cloud cover him, or even better, could he stay invisible like this?
My fourth and probably most important question is: how should I deal with him taking damage while escaping misty-ly? He's immune to all nonmagical damage and has advantage on three big saving throws, but that doesn't mean he can't be hurt, especially against magical weapons. I'm assuming he follows the same rules of death saves like every PC would which makes him pretty vulnerable. If they do get lucky enough to turn him to mist, just how much can and should his mist form be able to take before going kaput?
i have always run situations such as you describe as, can't initiate anything new until regains 1 HP, but anything which is already running doesn't end, with the exception of movement, so he retains his 120 foot move, he retains the ability to dissolve through the walls, but only as far as it concerns returning to his coffin. when he's in mist form all his toys can still act as normal. (he's supposed to be a nightmare to finish off, He's always been supposed to be a nightmare to finish off right back to first edition D&D) i also apply the thought that he can take damage in mist form, the result of this damage is to leave him in mist form on 0 HP unless a single hit does 1 more than his total HP to start with i.e. 145 hp of magical damage in 1 shot. he's not subject to death saves because his ground state at 0hp is 0hp and stable with a 2 hour countdown till death. hope that helps you make your players lives troublesome, (they're supposed to remember strahd as a nightmare without end don't let us dms down :) )
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All plans turn into, run into the room waving a sword and see what happens from there, once the first die gets rolled
During the final fight with Strahd, the players will (hopefully) have two sources of sunlight available to them. If Strahd drops to 0 while in sunlight, he dies on the spot, no mist involved. As for his legendary actions, I don't see why he wouldn't have the movement one. Lair actions might be another deal entirely, as logically, Strahd would have to see what he's affecting with said action or at least have a solid idea of where it is relative to himself. I don't know what his senses are like in mist form.
I solved it! The problem I was running into was I was looking at an earlier printing of the Monster Manual in reference to lair actions and legendary actions. I took a look at a newer printing that contains the silver bullet (pardon the pun) that answers this question. The legendary actions section stipulates "[A legendary creature] can forgo using [it's legendary actions], and it cannot use them if it is incapacitated or otherwise unable to take actions." The lair actions similarly says that "[A creature in it's lair] can't [take lair actions] while it is incapacitated or otherwise unable to take actions." And Strahd's statblock says that "While in mist form, Strahd can't take any actions, speak, or manipulate objects." That also means he can't Dash on his turn while in mist form which is an issue in and of itself.
I'm inclined to believe that his lair actions and concentration spells can persist in mist form because he's still alive (well, undead) and he's not incapacitated. I think I'm gonna make him invulnerable to bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing in his misty escape form too just because I don't understand how one could slash, smash, or bash a bunch of mist, even with a magical weapon. Thanks for the help all!
Hello all,
This is my first time posting and I wanted to see what others thought about this. I'm running Curse of Strahd right now and we're nearing a final confrontation so I want to settle this question before it comes up in game. My question really revolves around Misty Escape which goes like this:
Now, the Big Bad Count has his host of legendary and lair actions he can take in a fight but my main question is can he take them while in mist form? Both legendary and lair actions stipulate that they can't be taken while the creature is incapacitated, which would obviously be the case if he were unconscious. So, since he's still conscious he should be able to take actions even though he's at 0 HP, right?
Considering two of his legendary actions are attacks that he totally couldn't do in mist form (Bite and Unarmed Strike) it may seem like a small thing but his other legendary action is "Move. Strahd moves up to his speed without provoking opportunity attacks." This turns his gentle rolling mist speed of moving 30 feet per round into a Turbo-Nos Ultra-Suped-Up movement speed of 120 feet per round. Legendary actions would also give him a major boost in escaping since one of them lets him melt through castle walls so even if they penned him in with a Wind Wall, he could just melt through the floor to go take his nap. He could also trap everybody in a room while he mists away or summon a shadow or specter to cover his retreat.
That's my first question. My second question is, if he hits 0 and turns into a fart, do the lair actions persist through his mistiness? I'm almost positive they do, since he isn't dead, but I figure better be safe than sorry. My third question is, can he maintain concentration if he hits 0? Obviously he would follow concentration checks just like everyone else when he took damage but could his animated Beauty-and-the-Beast objects still protect him, or his fog cloud cover him, or even better, could he stay invisible like this?
My fourth and probably most important question is: how should I deal with him taking damage while escaping misty-ly? He's immune to all nonmagical damage and has advantage on three big saving throws, but that doesn't mean he can't be hurt, especially against magical weapons. I'm assuming he follows the same rules of death saves like every PC would which makes him pretty vulnerable. If they do get lucky enough to turn him to mist, just how much can and should his mist form be able to take before going kaput?
Thanks in advance!
i have always run situations such as you describe as, can't initiate anything new until regains 1 HP, but anything which is already running doesn't end, with the exception of movement, so he retains his 120 foot move, he retains the ability to dissolve through the walls, but only as far as it concerns returning to his coffin.
when he's in mist form all his toys can still act as normal. (he's supposed to be a nightmare to finish off, He's always been supposed to be a nightmare to finish off right back to first edition D&D)
i also apply the thought that he can take damage in mist form, the result of this damage is to leave him in mist form on 0 HP unless a single hit does 1 more than his total HP to start with i.e. 145 hp of magical damage in 1 shot.
he's not subject to death saves because his ground state at 0hp is 0hp and stable with a 2 hour countdown till death.
hope that helps you make your players lives troublesome, (they're supposed to remember strahd as a nightmare without end don't let us dms down :) )
All plans turn into, run into the room waving a sword and see what happens from there, once the first die gets rolled
During the final fight with Strahd, the players will (hopefully) have two sources of sunlight available to them. If Strahd drops to 0 while in sunlight, he dies on the spot, no mist involved. As for his legendary actions, I don't see why he wouldn't have the movement one. Lair actions might be another deal entirely, as logically, Strahd would have to see what he's affecting with said action or at least have a solid idea of where it is relative to himself. I don't know what his senses are like in mist form.
I solved it! The problem I was running into was I was looking at an earlier printing of the Monster Manual in reference to lair actions and legendary actions. I took a look at a newer printing that contains the silver bullet (pardon the pun) that answers this question. The legendary actions section stipulates "[A legendary creature] can forgo using [it's legendary actions], and it cannot use them if it is incapacitated or otherwise unable to take actions." The lair actions similarly says that "[A creature in it's lair] can't [take lair actions] while it is incapacitated or otherwise unable to take actions." And Strahd's statblock says that "While in mist form, Strahd can't take any actions, speak, or manipulate objects." That also means he can't Dash on his turn while in mist form which is an issue in and of itself.
I'm inclined to believe that his lair actions and concentration spells can persist in mist form because he's still alive (well, undead) and he's not incapacitated. I think I'm gonna make him invulnerable to bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing in his misty escape form too just because I don't understand how one could slash, smash, or bash a bunch of mist, even with a magical weapon. Thanks for the help all!
Moving itself is an action, so the line about not being able to take actions makes it so Strahd can't move while in mist form.
Moving is very much not an action according to the rules.