I think the biggest thing that would make Strahd irredeemable would be his lack of will to change. This would make sense for an immortal character stuck in his ways, and I think it makes it more realistic and tragic to suggest that Strahd *could* change and be redeemed (that anyone, in theory, could), but it is just something that he refuses to do, a character flaw.
I have an idea for an adventure where the PCs defeat a witch and find Sturm, the second Von Zavorich brother, revealing that the witch was Strahd's former lover who mistook the brothers, he eventually finds Tatiana's current incarnation and falls in love with her.
Pardon me while I steal this and run with it, because the horrible dramatic irony of Strahd ONCE AGAIN 'losing' her love to his brother is ABSOLUTELY GENIUS!
Luckily my dm didn't make Strahd at all redeemable, But we did not know anywhere near as much of the lore as you just presented. This was very informative. I would love to see more videos like this.
This is a great summary of his backstory - it will save those running the campaign from listening to the (admittedly well-written and still worth a listen) "I, Strahd" audiobook if they're not keen on the idea. I agree that Strahd is evil, though my interpretation is "Every villain is the hero of their own story" ideology. For example - sure Strahd has done genocidal things, but that's the conquest he grew up with from his father, so it's a normalized thing for him and is a means to conquer your enemy. He didn't do it out of love of killing or wanting to make others deliberately suffer. Yes, it's still killing and I'm not defending that, but there's a nuance of separation with intent. What I'm trying to get at, is there are shades of "Evil" and I feel playing him in that way provides a far more developed villain that has human complexities and layers to them rather than a more static "He is evil because he wants this and does bad stuff to get it. The end." that others and the Curse of Strahd campaign portrays him as.
I get the impression from the early interference by Baba Lysaga he would have kind of a fey touch but coming from a Hag it's probably a dark glamour which nurtured his magic Talent but also kind of doomed him to be a miserable sonofa because I can imagine such gifts would give him more wisdom but it would be a cynical kind of enlightened knowledge he would get no joy out of The Craft thus further reinforcing his dower and Grim personality but you mix that with Dracula style military training and the idea that he was born to rule he really didn't have much of a chance at being a decent person
I think the biggest thing that would make Strahd irredeemable would be his lack of will to change. This would make sense for an immortal character stuck in his ways, and I think it makes it more realistic and tragic to suggest that Strahd *could* change and be redeemed (that anyone, in theory, could), but it is just something that he refuses to do, a character flaw.
I have an idea for an adventure where the PCs defeat a witch and find Sturm, the second Von Zavorich brother, revealing that the witch was Strahd's former lover who mistook the brothers, he eventually finds Tatiana's current incarnation and falls in love with her.
Pardon me while I steal this and run with it, because the horrible dramatic irony of Strahd ONCE AGAIN 'losing' her love to his brother is ABSOLUTELY GENIUS!
Luckily my dm didn't make Strahd at all redeemable, But we did not know anywhere near as much of the lore as you just presented. This was very informative. I would love to see more videos like this.
This is a great summary of his backstory - it will save those running the campaign from listening to the (admittedly well-written and still worth a listen) "I, Strahd" audiobook if they're not keen on the idea. I agree that Strahd is evil, though my interpretation is "Every villain is the hero of their own story" ideology. For example - sure Strahd has done genocidal things, but that's the conquest he grew up with from his father, so it's a normalized thing for him and is a means to conquer your enemy. He didn't do it out of love of killing or wanting to make others deliberately suffer. Yes, it's still killing and I'm not defending that, but there's a nuance of separation with intent. What I'm trying to get at, is there are shades of "Evil" and I feel playing him in that way provides a far more developed villain that has human complexities and layers to them rather than a more static "He is evil because he wants this and does bad stuff to get it. The end." that others and the Curse of Strahd campaign portrays him as.
I get the impression from the early interference by Baba Lysaga he would have kind of a fey touch but coming from a Hag it's probably a dark glamour which nurtured his magic Talent but also kind of doomed him to be a miserable sonofa because I can imagine such gifts would give him more wisdom but it would be a cynical kind of enlightened knowledge he would get no joy out of The Craft thus further reinforcing his dower and Grim personality but you mix that with Dracula style military training and the idea that he was born to rule he really didn't have much of a chance at being a decent person
@@LongfusedbombasticBarbarian An interesting thing is that Lysaga actually isn’t a hag, she’s a blessed cleric of the Night Mother pretty much.
we just finish a Curse of Strahd campaign this was awesome.
Nice work!
I like dance moms AND your content, nothing wrong with that recommendation.
make more bg3 videos
Lol dance moms
He needs a movie but not done with woke fools.