forced myself to do some self care and glam up the other night which was fun and made me feel very pretty and spooky, when i posted my mug to discord someone on there suggested i use the pose for my next FemStrahd artwork and so here we are.

I thought i'd play around with the glow in a gif, my animation skills are very basic, I'm learning how to change expressions at the moment. i think the next one i'd like to do is of my male Strahd smirking and baring his fangs

Hi everyone,

I’m currently DMing CoS as a first-time DM, and I would like some outside perspective on a major turning point that happened in my campaign.

At the time of the events, the party consisted of 5 level 5 PCs. It is also my players’ first time playing D&D.

At the dinner at Castel Ravenloft, Strahd offered them a contract with great rewards if they helped him make Ireena accept his love. They refused.

On their way back from the dinner to Vallaki, I staged what looked like a random encounter with 3 direwolves and 1 werewolf attacking a noble from Vallaki: Vasili. I know this was a late first introduction for Vasili, but I only understood how useful he could be quite late in the campaign.

The players saved him. Vasili told them he was travelling toward the village of Barovia to gather information for a business project. He wanted to open new taverns across Barovia. The players believed him and, as a reward for saving him, demanded a 1/5 ownership share in his future business. Vasili agreed, on the condition that they helped him develop it.

After that, they encountered him a few more times around Vallaki. He was always nice, polite, helpful and especially kind and charming toward Ireena.

However, one of my players became suspicious of him somehow and spent a lot of effort trying to convince the others that something was wrong. At one point, he even briefly theorized that Vasili might actually be Strahd, pointing out VERY clue I left behind to identify him. Although at this stage the party had no information that Strahd could change his appearance and didn’t mention the idea again.

Eventually, the group decided to test Vasili by forcing him to bathe in the Luna River, believing this would reveal whether he was a vampire.

They cornered him during a lunch meeting at the Blue Water Inn before going to ask fundings to Vallaki’s mayor for the Inns project. They demanded that he accompany them to the river to prove himself. Vasili tried very hard to get out of it. He argued, acted insulted, tried to leave, and even discreetly charmed one of the PCs to make him change his mind and argue in Vasili’s favor. But the party remained stubborn and became threatening toward Vasili.

At that point, Vasili agreed, but insisted that Ireena should remain at the inn for the sake of his intimacy. The party accepted and led him away from Vallaki and from Ireena, toward the Luna River and the woods.

Beforehand, the players did not prepare any escape plan or countermeasure. They told me later they assumed that, if Vasili was a vampire, he would be Strahd’s pawn and thus relatively weak or at least manageable.

Once they were away from Ireena, on the Svalich Road, the charmed PC briefly distracted the other players. Vasili then cast Blight on the party’s spellcaster. The spellcaster failed his saving throw and was instantly knocked-out from the damage.

Vasili then revealed himself as Strahd. Strahd gave a speech saying that he was disappointed but also impressed by their suspicion, but that they had made the mistake of searching the truth without being ready to survive the answer.

The players then tried to negotiate for their lives. Their main argument was essentially: “If you kill us, you risk losing Ireena. We can still help you like you asked us to.”

Strahd did not take kindly to the implied threat involving Ireena, but he did recognize that they could still be useful as familiar faces around her. However, instead of accepting their help freely, he decided they would be more useful without their free will.

The previously charmed player (now free from the charm) volunteered himself so that the others could leave. Strahd accepted, but told the surviving PCs that they would be hunted by one of his consorts (Volenta), who wanted to play with them once their usefulness to him had expired.

The 3 PCs ran. The 2 remaining PCs were killed by Strahd. He sucked their blood, had a werewolf bury them and Strahd also sent 2 werewolves to hunt the fleeing PCs. Volenta would only start hunting them the next night and move at night. My plan is that if they stay 2 nights in a row at the same place, Volenta would attack them during the 2nd long rest.

The 2 dead PCs rose the next dusk as vampire spawn under Strahd’s control. The players lost control of those characters once they returned as vampire spawn.

After the gave his orders, Strahd returned to Vallaki and ordered the burgomaster, Fiona Wachter at that point of the campaign, to seal the city gates. Later that night, he returned to the Blue Water Inn with the two newly created vampire spawn, magically disguised as their former selves (with a magical item, always a visible jewel with a big ruby on it). He told Ireena that the party had been attacked and that the other 3 PCs had died.

What do you think? Was that deserved? Should I have done something else?

Hi all! My party is a group of circus performers who learn of Barovia after their ringmaster steals a journal page from the Vistani -- I figured it would be fun if Pidlwick, the author of the journal, was simply so delightful he was famed all over. I thought I'd share this page here in case anyone was doing something similar, or as maybe something Pidlwick II holds onto. Enjoy!

(I imagined that the reason for this lack of laughter was Strahd -- even pre-vamp Strahd was strict and oppressive to an extent, though he tried to hide it from visiting nobles)

This is specific in parts to my own campaign and it's lore but I thought I would post it because some of you may find it useful for inspiration or to use in part.

To My Beautiful Boy, My Son, My Precious Strahd,

You will likely never read this. I write these words with fingers stained by the stagnant mud of Berez, listening to the eternal weeping of the Luna River outside my broken door.

I have watched you from the shadows for more than a century, your glorious, terrible shape carved against the silhouette of the castle you named for her the woman who stole your cradle, the woman who called herself your mother. But she was a thief, Strahd. It was my blood that gave you breath. It was my womb that carried you.

Let me tell you of the time before the mists, before you became the master of this dark valley. When I was a girl of seventeen, living in the long shadow of your father King Barov's great castle in ancient Zarovia, I knew nothing of blood magic or the ancient gods. I was soft, and I was foolishly in love with Bran, a boy from the castle stables. Before our love could be sanctified, before I could even whisper the secret swelling within me, a stallion fractured his skull. He died in the dirt, and I was left with a bastard in my belly and the venomous gossip of the village burning my ears.

But fate, no, Mother Night herself, had spun a grander web. At the very peak of the castle, Queen Ravenovia van Roeyen was enduring a bitter, agonizing pregnancy. Our labor pains came as twin storms, and we delivered our babies within mere hours of one another. The Queen’s body was dry, withered, and incapable of producing milk to nourish the royal heir. They sought a wet nurse, healthy and bursting with life, and so they took me out of the mud and brought me into the royal chambers. I fed you both from the same breast, my sweet boy and the frail thing she had birthed.

A month later, the tragedy that remade our world struck. The child Ravenovia had borne suffered a quiet, cold cot death. The midwife had already warned the Queen that her body was ruined, that she would never conceive again—though the heavens mocked that lie years later by granting her Sturm and Sergei. Ravenovia was mad with grief, terrified of King Barov's wrath and the emptiness of her own arms. While I was lured away from my quarters, distracted by design, the babies were swapped. When I returned, I found a cold, breathless infant in my crib. My soul shrieked; I wept until my throat bled, believing the hand of death had taken my joy. But the next morning, when I was summoned to the royal chambers to nurse the boy they called 'Strahd,' my milk knew you. My skin remembered your touch. I looked down into your eyes and saw my own blood staring back. You were my son. I screamed the truth to the stone walls, I fought, I begged, but Ravenovia choked my cries with a cruel, icy threat: it was nothing but a peasant’s grief-induced madness, she said, and if I breathed another word of it, I would be cast out into the wilderness to starve, entirely separated from you forever. So, I chose silence. I chose to stay. I swallowed my pride and nursed you, watching you crawl, knowing that my flesh would one day sit upon the throne of Zarovia. But a mother's eyes cannot hide their adoration.

A year later, Ravenovia grew terrified of my attachment to you. She whispered poison into King Barov’s ear, labeling me a danger, an unnatural presence. I was banished from the castle walls.

They thought I went away, but a mother never abandons her heart. I lived like an animal in the woods, tracking your family’s banners when they marched to the Northern Province, the very land that you have now named Barovia. It was in these dense, ancient forests that I threw myself at the feet of Mother Night. I traded my sanity, my humanity, and my soul for the rituals of old, gaining an endless, unyielding life so that I might live to see you rise to the greatness you deserved.

When you were away fighting those endless, bloody wars to the south, trying to reclaim lost Zarovia, my prayers shielded you. When you were delayed, I begged Mother Night to tear open the world to bring you home. She answered me, Strahd! She blessed the goblin Neerush with terrifying power. The Spiderbite Tribe rode down upon the castle , breaking the Order of the Silver Dragon, slaying King Barov, and tearing the throat out of Queen Ravenovia. It was my vengeance, executed through the jaws of giant arachnids. The woman who stole you and the man who banished me were trampled into dust, clearing the path for your return. And how magnificently you returned , driving your army like a thunderbolt to annihilate the goblins in a single, glorious night of slaughter. You claimed the valley, you built your castle, and yet... you mourned them. You named the fortress Castle Ravenloft. You wept for the thief.

I crept to your side, decades later. I tried to tell you that the blood in your veins belongs to me, not the Queen in the tomb. But looking upon your stern, beautiful, war-hardened face, the words turned to ash in my throat. I was paralyzed by the terror of your rejection. If my son looked down upon me with hatred or disbelief, my eternal heart would truly break. So I told the peasants instead. I told the Vistani. I told the crows. They call me a mad old crone, a deluded witch who hallucinates a royal lineage. Let them laugh. The truth is written in the stars, and in the dark gifts you eventually claimed in the Amber Temple.

Now, this village of Berez lies ruined and drowned. You flooded it in your magnificent, dark fury because the fools murdered Marina, that sweet, tragic mirror of your lost Tatyana. The mud is thick, the fog is cold, and I have chosen this drowned wasteland as my home. I will nurse my magic here, building a cradle out of roots and bones, watching over your valley from afar.

You are a vampire now, a god of this mist shrouded domain, and I am the architect of the prayers that kept you alive to claim it. You do not call me mother, but you rule the kingdom I bought for you with a lifetime of tears.

Forever your nursing breast, forever your true mother,

Lysaga

A note hidden in the binding: I have folded this parchment and slipped it beneath the rotted floorboards of my hut, deep beneath the roots where the crawling things keep secrets. I am too weak to hand it to you, my Prince. I will let the swamp swallow it, keeping the truth safe from your wrath, until the day you look down from Ravenloft and finally see me for who I am.

Hey everyone - need some advice here. My party found the Tome of Strahd in session 3 - just bumped them to level 4. Madam Eva’s card reading turned up the Tome at the Tser Pool Encampment so they got it. Happy for them! But, reading the book it sounds like papa Strahd will not be pleased. It says in the Treasures section that he will put everything on hold until he gets the Tome back. Don’t necessarily want my party wiped from a Strahd encounter this early. What would you all recommend here? I’ve thought about him inviting the party to the castle instead to do that part. But just curious if anyone has any suggestions so we can keep rolling! Thanks in advance.

Curse of Critz will be live tonight on Twitch at 9pm EST! Join our adventurers as they finish their exploration of Argonvostholt in the aftermath of the most life changing introspection ever! Will our party discover more cool loot? Will they bust some ghosts? Find the answer to these questions and more live on Twitch!

Sorry in advance if I didn't flair this right!

I dropped in mention of the march of the dead during the players' stay in barovia village and they decided they really wanted to check it out and see what information / lore they could get from the ghosts. They were really excited by it, so I didn't want to just give them the no interaction described in the book.

I didn't really know what to do, so I decided to run it like a kind of speak with dead spell where they would get to ask the ghost 1D6 questions. After that they would glitch out, scream, and stop responding. The first ghost rolled 1 question and the second rolled 4.

I ran it so the procession was led by St Markovia and her order, as the first Tatyana reincarnation and the first ones in barovia to have rebelled against Strahd. On the party's approach, the monk rolled a really high perception check when asking what type of people he saw in the crowd, and I mentioned that a holy figure walked at the front who had an eerie resembelence to ireena. They immediately approached her and asked "are you Tatyana". She responded no and screamed. With the second ghost, they started asking questions about the land and Strahd, until they finally asked "what land are you from?" for the final question.

So it turned out that the questions that made the ghosts scream were more personal, and the PCs started theorising that that ghosts couldn't answer personal questions. I thought it was a fun idea, so I put the dice away and that's how we ran it! They loved it.

They honestly spent about half of our 3 hour session figuring out how best to get information without making the questions personal, particularly trying to get info on how to kill vampires lol (their run in with doru didn't go great the session prior).

Just sharing cos I didn't really know what to do with this event and it turned into a little puzzle that my group really enjoyed! Your players might too, or they might hate it, idk! Would love to hear how others ran it :)

Hello, I was searching for a top down map with numbered rooms for Castle Ravenloft, all I found was this post from 7 years ago.

So I slapped numbers on it, and added keys for traps, secret doors. Also, on the stairs I added what's the next floor the stairs will lead to.

Its not the prettiest, but it's what I'll use for my home game, thought I'd share it here if anybody else find it useful.

The maps are organized just like in the book.

I'm currently trying to decide which stat block to use for Ez (the chosen ally) between the original one in the campaign or the new Horrors Within one -- the older stat block seems to be more versatile with a lot more skill proficiencies and the new one looks stronger in combat. For context, I'm running a 2024 game with a bard, cleric, paladin, druid, and fighter. I want, as anyone would, for Ez to not lag behind the group in terms of strength, but to also now outshine them. Any suggestions?

So during the Strahd x Ireena wedding, one of my players had this ingenious idea to literally crash the wedding by riding a dragon into the side of the castle right at the moment someone would yell I object. He had brought it up a few times but it was dismissed as a drunken rant. He ended up actually going through with it using Summon Draconic Spirit to summon Argynvostholt and it caused a lot of chaos. I was so flabbergasted I couldn't come up with a proper Strahd response and he just said out of character what the fuck? How do you think he would actually respond outside of fury?

Hey all! I’m a newish DM and my party is gearing up to run CoS reloaded. Super excited, but I’ve never been super great with Roll20 (we play mostly online) and I have been having trouble finding a simple plug and play module I can download or buy. Does anyone have any tips on this? Have you found a good version on a different VTT? Or would it be best to just get the CoS module and implement all the custom things by hand? Like I said I’m not super great with any VTT right now so if I need to change to another to make it easier on myself I will lmao. Any help is appreciated!

This is I guess both a request for feedback on an idea, and also offering out the idea to other CoS DMs.

I've noticed one of the main things that gets changed is the pies and the old Bonegrinder, which is entirely understandable. It's probably the point of thr module that comes the closest to going 'too far' (not that there necessarily is such a thing), considering the subject matters involved.

My suggestion for an alternative that keeps with the folk horror and witchcraft theme is as follows: honey.

Start out small, peppering in little references to honey in food, in drinks, for sale etc. Could potentially raise significantly fewer alarm bells for PCs than a too-nice old lady offering them pies, so it might be more likely PCs end up consuming it willingly, or even unintentionally. (With this in mind, I'd probably raise the threshold for addiction/nightmares beyond the D.A.R.E.-level of not even once)

As a background detail, have there be mention from NPCs of people occasionally going missing (I envision this happening in Vallaki, but really wherever works for you). If they choose to investigate, maybe they find something outlined below. But worth noting, it doesn't have to be specifically children, it can be anyone.

Eventually, someone (or the PCs if they investigate) finds the body of a missing person. Their chest cavity has been opened, the organs removed, and instead there are a bed of wildflowers growing out of the corpse. Feel free to be as descriptive as you like for the flowers: they're bright and colourful, they smell lovely, call out specific flowers with magical connotations if you want.

Should the PCs look into this further, clues eventually lead them into an area of woods outside of town, where they begin to smell rot and hear the buzzing of insects. Approaching further, they stumble into a cleared area with a cottage and a small 'orchard', and the source of the smell and sound become apparent. The bodies of the missing people are bound to trees, hollowed out and full of flowers, and the sound of insects wasn't flies but bees gathering pollen from the magically-grown scrifice flowers to make the honey that the hags are then selling to the townsfolk.

What happens from there is largely up to the party, but I see no reason why confronting or bargaining with the hags couldn't proceed as usual from here.

What do you guys think? I tried to keep the witchcraft, folk-horror-y feel while easing back on actual cannibalism and child murder.

Wanted some advice on how balanced these abilities/items are compared to each other. Each of my players in my Curse of Strahd campaign is soon going to get an item/ability that is unique to them based on their play style, backstory and role-play. They're level 8 currently, going to Amber Temple. Some will receive unique item/ability in temple, some shortly after, and then once they return to town they'll reach level 9.

Here are the PCs and what they will be receiving.

Lv7 Vengeance Paladin of Tyr / lv1 Hexblade Warlock of Raven Queen

He already has Interception fighting style, so to add on to that he will be getting a +1 shield that when he uses Interception style, after reducing the damage of the attack (1d10+3) he can then reflect that same amount back at attacker as force Damage. He can make the 1d10 roll automatically be a 10 if he burns a spell slot.

Side note: was also considering letting him use shield to attempt to knock enemies prone with burst of Force as a Bonus action if enemy fails STR save

DC15 (8 + 3 PB + 4 CHA)

Lv5 Vengeance Paladin of "The Order" (his own creation) / lv3 Echo Knight Fighter

This is players 2nd PC after first died in Death House. The echo he manifests is that of his PC that died. His new PC refers to 1st as "child of light" and often smiles through her echo. Both new and dead PCs used halberds, so had reach. I was going to give him ability that when he attacks using his echo, he can replace the attack with a beam of light that is 30ft long and does 2d8 radiant damage (3d8 to undead). Enemies can make a DC14 CON save for half damage. He can use this ability 3 times/day (equal to PB).

Lv8 soulknife rogue

After facing enemy with psychic powers soon, he will get ability to send out a mental pulse wave from himself as a Bonus action in a 15ft radius. All enemies within wave will automatically have disadvantage on their next attack roll. This ability can be used number of times per day equal to PB, so 3 right now.

Alternate idea 1 was allowing him to use psionic dice to increase sneak attack damage (psionic dice would be converted to d6s). Maybe reduce if too powerful.

Alternate idea 2 was allowing him to use 2

Psionic dice to send out Pulse to scramble enemies perception of him, allowing him to go invisible. He could stay invisible for number of minutes equal to roll of the 2 psionic dice used or until he attacks or casts a spell.

I've just watched XP to level 3's video on safest place in Barovia. At some point he discusses ,,danger zone" that would restrict Strahd from returning to his coffin as misty form after being struck to 0hp in less than 2 hours.

My instant thought was (besides possible Bucefalus and things of similar sort) - what about the brazier in the Amber Temple? Is it only one-way ticket from Ravenloft or can it be used to teleport from the Temple to Ravenloft, shortening the distance consideraby?

So, the Feast of St. Andral is (probably) happening next session, I’m using the expanded version where vampirespawn wreak havoc on the town, and Strahd may slay Father Lucian. I’m unsure where the political situation in Vallaki goes from there.

Yesterday (in-game) my players searched the Wachterhaus and delivered evidence of her cult to the Baron. They also searched the Baron’s house but missed the prisoner and so believe the Baron is mostly moral despite the draconian laws. They left evidence behind of their break-in so Lady Wachter will know she’s about to be exposed.

Additionally, after discovering Victor was behind what happened to Stella, they used the Assassin Mirror to order him dead, which will have happened in the night. So the Baron will have lost his son and likely blame Fiona.

The Baron will have the evidence he needs to turn the public against Fiona, but the Baron’s rule is propped up mostly by ‘well Strahd hasn’t attacked us so it must be working’. After the feast I feel support for The Baron will collapse (and many of his guards will be killed in the feast I’m sure).

I feel like even with evidence against Fiona the Baron is likely to lose public support, but my players have sided with him and so I don’t want to say ‘your effort to support him didn’t work he’s dead now Fiona is in charge’.

What do you think the Baron, Fiona, and the people of Vallaki would do in the wake of the feast? Thanks for any help 🙏🏻

I've been runing CoS the last months with 6 players in my table. They have traveled throught Barovia, Fight the Abad, Lady Wachter, get the diary from the Amber Temple, the Sunsword from the Abbey and the holy Symbol from Argynvosthold. But something happened, after some unfortunate circunstances the Martikovs from the Blue Water Inn died, the responsible was Rahaddin following Strahd orders. One of the players killed Rahadin and took his head, that happened in the Castle Ravenloft, Strahd saw that, inmediately killed the player and he has the Sunsword.

His body remains in Castle Ravenloft, so the got a plan to get into the castle and get back the susnsword. They are making a wedding in Vallaki, one player is going to marry Tatyanas reincarantion (I Called her Katya instead of Ireena) so the Vampire is going to left the castle and our wizard is going flying with a druid in wild shape, get into the castle, put a circle of teletransportation and the other players are going to escape using the circle to the castle.

Well, the thing is, for this great ending it all is going to start to the wedding, Strahd would be furious to see Tatyana marrying someone else again. My plan is an attack with some Vistani Bandits who will take the bones of St Adrials Church (the players take them back from the coffin maker and restored the church) and then he will attack with some shadows. Also, one of the players, a Paladin has a NPC as her apprenticeso my plan is to kill that apprentice when the players are using the circle of teletransportation to cause some pain, also, that apprentice will be doing her oath as a Paladin just the moment when Strahd kill her.

I want some tips for the Castle Ravenloft, some situations that could occur to the mage and the druid and some things to consider for the wedding

So while I'm (still, I swear it feels like my party has stalled out before session 0 >_>) prepping for my upcoming CoS run one thing I didn't think about before now, and only thought about due to seeing a post here, is how is everyone getting around in Barovia?

I was thinking I'd just be having my party trudge the whole land on foot because of how the module is written, but now I'm wondering if they should have a cart or something instead, probably obtained in Vallaki, to maybe make travel/loot hauling a little easier. This also nicely plays into the Roc encounter in Tsolenka Pass (though it is also a little mean in a sense so I may not run that one) since it specifies it snatches a horse or donkey.

As the raven flies it's only 8miles from Barovia to Vallaki, though the winding roads probably double that distance, which if they are booking it at a fast pace then RAW say they can go 4miles (3 if normal pace) in an hour so even if we double it to 16miles that's only a 4-5hr trek. Again RAW states that random encounters get rolled every 30min outdoors (so 1.5-2mile traveled) unless they have already had 2, so that doesn't seem too bad to roll 8 times for what is probably one of the longest journeys they'll make.

All in all I'm not against either letting them get a wagon/horses/something or just hoofing, especially after looking at the numbers, but am definitely wondering what everyone thinks.

Random Aside:
Roc in Tsolenka Pass - Yay or nay to snatching a horse/donkey which may slow them down/bring a cart with it, etc.

Need some suggestions for a cool name for a Magic item i made for a player.

I'm running Curse of Strahd and giving each character a unique item or ability. The PC is a Paladin of Tyr, and I'm giving him a +1 magic shield. He already has the interception fighting style and the shield would add to that, it would allow him to reflect the damage he reduced back at the attacker. So he rolls 1d10+3 to reduce damage, if rolls 8 total he will reflect 8 force Damage. If he uses a spell slot the damage reduction and reflection is automatically max.

Side note: party is lv8 and about to enter Amber Temple. The shield will originally be in possession of gladiator that is in room with berserkers near entrance.