Ludmilla Toranescu: Second Bride of Strahd
Medium Undead (Shapechanger), Chaotic Evil
Armor Class 16 natural armor
Hit Points 150 (13d12 + 52)
Speed 40 ft.
STR
22 (+6)
DEX
16 (+3)
CON
18 (+4)
INT
11 (+0)
WIS
14 (+2)
CHA
15 (+2)
Saving Throws STR +10, DEX +7, WIS +6
Skills Athletics +10, Intimidation +6, Nature +4, Perception +6, Stealth +7, Survival +6
Damage Resistances Necrotic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks that aren't Silvered
Senses Darkvision 60, Passive Perception 16
Languages Common, Sylvan
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +4
Traits

 

Regeneration. Ludmilla regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if she has at least 1 hit point and isn't in sunlight or running water. If she takes radiant damage or damage from holy water, this trait doesn't function at the start of her next turn.

Vampire Weaknesses. Ludmilla has the following flaws:

Forbiddance. Ludmilla can't enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants.
Harmed by Running Water. Ludmilla takes 20 acid damage when she ends its turn in running water.
Stake to the Heart. Ludmilla is destroyed if a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into her heart while she is incapacitated in her resting place.
Sunlight Hypersensitivity. Ludmilla takes 20 radiant damage when it starts its turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, she has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Spider Climb. Ludmilla can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Shapechanger. Ludmilla can use her action to polymorph into a wolf-humanoid hybrid, into a direwolf, or back into her true form, which is humanoid. Her statistics, other than its AC, are the same in each form. Any equipment she is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. She reverts to her true form if she dies.

Keen Hearing and Smell. Ludmilla has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Pack Leader. Ludmilla's allies have advantage on melee attack rolls against any hostile creature within five feet of her.

Queen of the Forest Folk. Ludmilla is well-versed in the magical customs of the forest folk. She has access to the following spells from the druid spell list.

At Will: Druidcraft, Speak With Animals
3/Day Each: Animal Messenger, Beast Bond, Commune With Nature, Spike Growth
1/Day Each: Guardian of Nature, Tree Stride
Actions

 

Multiattack. Ludmilla makes three attacks, only one of which can be a bite attack.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 14 piercing damage plus 7 necrotic damage. The target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and Ludmilla regains hit points equal to that amount and must make a DC14 Constitution saving throw or be infected with werewolf lycanthropy. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 16 slashing damage. Instead of dealing damage, Ludmilla can grapple the target (escape DC 13)

Reactions

Call of the Endless Hunt. 3/Day. When Ludmilla hits an enemy with an attack, she howls, beckoning a ghostly wolf to join in the fray. The Wolf Shade follows Ludmilla's orders, fighting until destroyed or until the battle ends.

Description

*For use in Curse of Strahd*
*Inspired by u/MandyMod, u/DragnaCarta, and StoneStrix*
 
Ludmilla Toranescu (Vilisevic as written): “Nature’s Death”, Mistress of the Fanes-
Ludmilla was born an inherited werewolf as described in u/DragnaCarta’s post. I’ve decided to make the werewolves and forest folk share cultural similarities because of their mutual worship of the Fanes (see u/MandyMod’s post). In short, the Fanes are the embodiment of nature’s power in Barovia. By corrupting their shrines and stealing their power, Strahd can control the weather and beasts of the valley. The Forest Folk and Werewolves aren’t allies or anything, but because they follow the same deities, The Ladies of the Fanes, they share the language of Druidic and in a roundabout way, believe in the same natural order. For the werewolves, this manifests in believing themselves a different breed that naturally sits higher on the food chain and worshiping the absent goddess of the Mountain Fane, who has been stripped of her power and held captive for centuries. It was she that made the first Barovian werewolves; they worship her more out of gratitude than piety and it’s held to be more of a piece of distant folklore than belief. It’s been generations since she was last seen and though the pack respects tradition, many quiet wonder if she was ever anything more than a myth.
The Forest Folk are much more fervent in their devotion but are utterly unaware that Strahd was behind the Ladies’ fall from power. As the one that controls the forces of nature, most see him as the Ladies’ successor and believe that if they follow Strahd, they may one day see the return of their goddesses. Some families suspect foul play but they learned quickly to keep their doubts to themselves. The vast majority only speak Druidic, including civilians and berserkers and shun Barovian society in keeping with their traditions.
Ludmilla Toranescu was the most accomplished amongst them when her people offered her to Strahd as a bride. She was descended from one of the eldest werewolf tribes on her father’s side, earning fealty for her ferocity in battle. Her mother was a priestess of the Forest Folk that believed in forging a lasting bond between the peoples and came to love the pack’s alpha as her mate. As such, Ludmilla was raised as a true believer in the Fanes. With the weather growing impossibly desolate and the wildlife uncontrollably hostile, it was decided that she wed this ageless king that seemed to inherit the forces of nature. Like her mother, she would be a bridge between peoples and create harmony across the realm. The difference was that her peace would be sealed with death. She agreed to wed Strahd only after he slew her in combat. Her sheer strength seemed to give her an advantage in the outset, but in the end, brute force lost to tactics forged in centuries of battle. She died as an alpha, the wolf's blood drained from her down to the last drop, and she woke as a spawn, her people bound in service to the King.
Ludmilla’s forceful personality and lust for life endeared her to Strahd for a time before she grew restless at court. Her status as spawn prevented her from outright rebellion, and without the freedom she had enjoyed in her past life, she was resigned to bitterness and bursts of anger at those she knew Strahd considered expendable. The only joy that remained to her was the rare nights she could leave the cacophony of court to return to the forest and mountains she treasured more than anything.
Ludmilla is the tallest and physical strongest of the brides. She has a selection of Druid spells, but by far, her greatest power is her werewolf form. She can turn into an alpha werewolf and when the need arises (as it hasn’t in centuries) she can rally the werewolves and forest folk to fight for Strahd. Kiril follows her out of his unquestioned commitment to strength but her own nephew countless generations removed has his doubts that she desires to serve Strahd or if there’s anything of her true self left in there.
If Strahd is revealed to have desecrated the Fanes, she will turn on him in blind fury, potentially dying and in the best-case scenario for her, escaping in defeat after suffering severe wounds, too far under his influence to actively fight him again. Were Strahd to die, she would not be aggrieved, viewing herself as the apex predator and terrorizing the settled lands she had come to resent. If Strahd dies and the Fanes are restored, she is at peace and is content to live beside the Huntress as her foremost priestess and protector. In that case, her alignment would shift to Chaotic Neutral.

Previous Versions

Name Date Modified Views Adds Version Actions
Ludmilla Toranescu: Second Bride of Strahd
3/27/2020 2:37:10 PM
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Monster Tags: Shapechanger

TheThirdCharles

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