Strahd von Zarovich - How to master a recurring villain
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- In this episode, Ellie, Jarred, and Will use the infamous villain Strahd von Zarovich as a template to talk about greater design philosophy in using a recurring villain in your campaign. Learn how to elevate your BBEG from the likes of Saturday morning cartoon villains to cosmic terrors who pose an ever-present threat to your party!
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but InViSiBilItY dOEsn'T gIvE StEalTH aDvAntAGe
I think the most important things about recurring villains (which y'all touched on) are the points of:
1. Why can't they be defeated early
2. What is their motivation that keeps putting them at odds with the party
3. What stops them from simply eliminating the party right away
And of course, to make them interesting. How to keep each fight interesting especially. If you build them kind of like a multi-phase villain it helps, instead of just not using all their available options
Also, Strahd is a big showing of how formatting should be changed with OneDND. "its shadow detaches from it and becomes a shadow". That makes perfect sense on DNDBeyond where it's a tagged word with a different color and a link to the stat block. But in the printed book? Not even capitalized or bolded or italicized?? ick
there are a lot of popular freemium guides for remixing CoS and some of them involve killing the dark power that resets everything as a way to break the loop, the way Ellie was talking about.
As someone who wasn't the biggest fan of having to lean on Strahd playing around whenever it otherwise be logical for him to nuke a level 4 party, I'm opting for an alternate fallback where having been reset so many times has driven him completely insane and causes him to take unorthodox actions trying to find a way to break the loop on his own.
He just starts showing up eating toast with lamp oil and wearing a grass skirt. 'I will stop at nothing to break free from here'
Oh, good thought. Like Halaster used to be in Undermountain. Have the guys done Halaster before?
I may have run Strahd as an arrogant yet emotionally distant asshole before, but if I run him again, he's definitely gonna be eating chips outside the party's tent. Thanks, Will!
Idea 1: Strahd sleeps the group if they are all able to be under its effects range and then he walks around inspecting the adventurers before picking one at random and waking them with a gentle slap on the cheek to propose to them a little moral quandry. for example which of the group should be the last to die XD
Idea 2: Strahd sleeps the group if they are all able to be under its effects range and when they awaken they are in a new setting and they all hear a howl in the distance as Strahd has let his pups (wolves, werewolves, dealer's choice) out to hunt.
Wild Idea for Strahd, reflavor him as a Dhamphir and either roll or pick from a hunger or make your own but then you could get something crazy like a Strahd who devours cerebral spinal fluid, finger and toes in a soupy dish served chilled, or even a Strahd the satiates his hunger on the dreams of his victims driving them further and further into despair as they give up on their goals and future. Making those with strong wills or that hold onto hope last longer. and being a Dhamphir gives him Spider Climb which is an upgrade to the climbing mechanic he has in his stat block.
Spider Climb
You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. In addition, at 3rd level, you can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free.
^ this seems to me to be a great RP thing as well as in combat as he might monologue while pacing on the ceiling and gesturing with his hands, or he could grab you and bring you up to the ceiling so you can discuss the issue face to face.
and of course feel free to make this as tense as possible for the players and uncomfortably close for the person he chooses so they feel his presence even more so.
Love that you guys did this! I’m running CoS right now; my players are in Vallaki and just recovered the bones of St. Andril and are intending to go to the Wizards of Wine next session. I’m thinking about giving them face time with Strahd very soon.
I hope this helped then!