How Strahd Can DOMINATE Players 🧛‍♂️

why is Strahd von Zarovich often spoken of as  one of the most underwhelming Final Bosses for   one of the most popular modules of DnD 5e curse  of Strahd let's figure out what you need as the   dungeon master to make Strahd a formidable Fierce  final combatant to top off your curse of Strahd   campaign Strahd may be the land but can he stick  The Landing for your campaign today on Flutes Loot I am flutes and I've run curse of Strahd three  times for different groups with some different   techniques for how I handled Strahd each time I  kept Homebrew to a minimum I want to talk about   not homebrewing Strahd to just make him more  dangerous but how should he really be run in   the module to use his resources and maximize his  Threat Level I've come to the conclusion strata   is not as weak as he seems if you only look at his  stat block because there's a lot more information   resources minions and other things in his favor  that aren't covered in that little block that   stat block but it's spread throughout the cursive  Strahd book and I collected it all in one place in   my article that accompanies this video All About  mastering straud Von zerovich so that you can have   the best Curse of Strahd campaign possible  I highly recommend checking out that article   but I will be covering in this video specifically  how to maximize Strahd for the final boss fight I   recommend that article because I go over a lot of  things that are campaign spanning not just straud   in the final battle but the biggest selling point  I think for the article is I've taken a lot of   information and put it in one place because that  that book has so much material and it's so hard   to wrap your head around it and even if you read  it you forget so many details so having it all in   one place is a huge selling point and I really  think everyone running curse of Strahd should   bookmark the article I just wrote I'm very proud  of it like please check it out I agree flutes they   should read the article oh g'day straud I beheld  that screenshot you shared at the beginning of   the video it claimed I am a big boy this is a  thought so that I am pleased to hear you are   correcting finding the right words would silence  the pathetic players read this next time I appear   to the players to make them shake in their boots  from the Shadows just ahead of you bats swoop down   from their perches then suddenly coalesce quickly  admit of morphicing into an alluring human fairer   feature and sporting well-formed limbs there  is something Charming about this pale skinned   individual but something predatory too a blood  Drinker bent on your death or possibly undeath   that's truly evocative did you write that  yourself no my packed with the dark powers   that dScryb gave me these words of power dScryb?  what a coincidence they're sponsoring this video   they provide superb box text and immersive audio  recordings procured by profession what a helpful   service yes they are among my most favored  servants you can sign up for dscryb by using   the link and coupon in the description down below  that way they'll know flutes and Strahd sent you   Strahd and flutes so why do people think Strahd  is Weenie Hut Juniors well frankly he doesn't   play well with the usual d d 5e style from what I  understand a lot of DMS will just throw a monster   in and not do a lot of tactical maneuvering or  put in too much thought into their monsters but   Strahd as a boss monster really deserves your  attention you need to know that even if Strahd   just gets grappled he's probably dead meat unless  you have a plan if he gets paralyzed by The Amulet   of ravenkind good luck his attacks hurt but  he doesn't have the action economy to take on   a group of five adventurers of level 10 plus  unless you are smart and you think of him as   only part of the boss monster of curse of Strahd  you see Castle ravenloft is the other part of it   Strahd and Castle ravenloft have a symbiotic  haunting relationship and that should be your   boss fight think of it that way not just Strahd  you don't need those cr20 cr27 Strahd stat blocks   that are out there you just don't now before I  get into the nitty-gritty of how to make Strahd   more effective I want to have a moment to think  why do you want Strahd to be a formidable boss   your motivation should be to maximize the fun of  your players and yourself I honestly think it's   more disappointing for you as the dungeon master  if Strahd is an underwhelming last fight than it   is for the players because they can feel like  it's because they became Mighty they were smart   but you you've probably been looking forward to  running Strat as a boss monster for a long time   it's about your fun too having said that if the  players are clever enough and the stars align   their preparation with their opportunity you know  what luck is don't think you need to like fudge   dice or fudge straud's stats let them have their  win if they earn it but I'm here to make sure   that you prepare so that you can earn a powerful  Strahd boss fight at the end that you and all your   players will talk about for years so let's start  with Strahd's stat block first it's his actions he has two main attacks unarmed strikes and  bites I have found that the bite is really   something you only want to be doing if Strahd  isn't a very advantageous position because in   order to use bite you need to have Charmed someone  they need to be incapacitated or otherwise unable   to resist or you need to have them grappled in  order to Grapple a creature Strahd will have to   sacrifice one of his unarmed strikes which he only  gets two of per round not counting his legendary   actions and Strahd doesn't have great modifiers  for grappling some of his other abilities he   does have expertise in which we'll talk about  later but grappling is not something you want   to spend his turns doing if a player gets knocked  out because they've taken too much damage they're   at zero hit points then yeah go ahead and bite  them because one it does a lot of damage and two   Strahd will heal himself when he bites someone  let's also talk about Strahd's ability to shape   change he can turn into a direwolf a bat or a  cloud of mist the wolf and bat Transformations   can be really fun throughout the campaign but I  don't think they'll be very helpful in the final   battle the Miss transformation aside from being  what he transforms into if he zero hit points   and goes to return to his tomb is probably the  one that actually needs to be in your tool kit   for the final battle I hope you don't have to  use it but if Strahd gets grappled you might   consider using the Misti Forum to get away because  Strahd doesn't have a quick spell like Misty step   to preserve his action economy while escaping the  grapple trust me when I say if Strahd is grappled   and he's wasting time trying to break grapples  and then he fails to break those grapples he's   in a bad spot he needs to be mobile so he can  regenerate he's not meant to just sit there   and take it keep in mind the Mist form is also  immune to non-magical damage so if he's being   attacked by a lot of non-magical attacks like the  Barbarian just has a club you need to think would   Mist be better right now to just Escape all that  this next action Strahd has is his most important   one it's charm he is a vampire lord has one of  the most formidable charm effects in the game in   that he can use it on the same person over and  over again until he succeeds each round That's   Unique in that a lot of charm abilities usually  have a Clause that says if someone succeeds on it   they automatically succeed on it for the next 24  hours or something like that but Strahd does not   have that limitation he can use it over and over  again stride loves a captive audience because he's   gonna charm them until they love him this is one  of the points I made in my 13 lessons learned from   running this campaign three times that I wish  I used the charm ability more now I told you to   prioritize fun and I want you to know that this  could potentially ruin some of the fun for your   players because if they get Charmed they're not  going to fight Strath they are basically out of   the fight if you play your cards right Strahd will  show this charm ability throughout the campaign   so the players will try to prepare for it or at  least know that it's coming you don't want this   one to be a surprise it's a waste if you didn't  use the whole campaign because it's so much fun   you can have with it Strahd will also keep in  mind if there's people in the party that he's   learned are less susceptible to charms like if  they're an elf and they get advantage against   charm or if they're not a humanoid like if you  play a Seder as your playable species you are   counting as a fake creature so charm won't work on  you because it only works on humanoids straud's no   fool he knows if you are just going to auto  succeed against his charm and he would waste   his turn so let's say Strahd charms someone in  the party maybe the person is carrying sergey's   Sun sword that is bad because straud might just  convince them to give him the sword and they can't   use it for the fight because he just disappears  somewhere into Castle Raven Loft facing through   the walls who knows where he put it they don't all  of a sudden they lose that asset for the fight and   their friend is still Charmed for 24 hours  when Strahd feels he's ready he can start to   bite someone he's Charmed they'll start to repeat  the saving throw for the charm but maybe that's   worth it if he thinks he can finish them off and  he's got them alone that might be the time for   him to potentially end the charm and just start  tearing into them and keep in mind Strahd can use   his charm ability in like his Bat form so that's  why it can be fun throughout the campaign someone   could see a bat hanging from a tree and all of a  sudden they're Charmed by Strahd but keep in mind   he can't use charm while he's invisible because  the creature has to see him in order to be Charmed   by him Strahd can also use the charm ability to  bring a bunch of meat Shields some cannon fodder   to the final battle all of a sudden a bunch of  barovians perhaps those that the party has Allied   and befriended can suddenly be there and they're  saying no don't hurt Strahd and they make a human   wall saying don't hurt him suddenly they have  to go through their friends to get distraught   that's pretty bad blinsky looks like he'd make a  pretty good wall don't you think next is Children   of the Night which Strahd can use once per day  to summon a bunch of minions perhaps he's used   this before the final battle starts he knows  the party's coming so he summons a bunch of his   minions there with Children of the Night Before  the battle even starts ideally Strahd should never   be fighting alone unless the party fights him in  the destined location in Castle ravenloft that is   the perk of attacking him there he doesn't get  the usual Minions that he automatically would   get normally Straub should treat these summons  almost like a meat shield for him as well a bunch   of swarm of bats should surround him and give him  some kind of partial cover and that is especially   true if the adventuring party is going to try to  just rush him in melee all of a sudden they'll be   torn up by a bunch of swarms of bats and maybe  he'll turn into a bat and just disappear into   the Swarms if you do want to attack with these  Beast summons they are not very powerful so they   should go only for those with low armor classes  or they will just waste their turns frankly if the   party is attacking the bats maybe have the bats  take the Dodge action they soak up more attacks next let's talk about Strahd's legendary  actions he has three of them moving very   exciting but actually probably the most  important one an armed strike so yeah he   could potentially make up to three more attacks  per round with his legendary actions in between   people's turns and then biting it costs two  of his legendary actions and is probably not   worth it unless he is Cuda grind someone who  is down on the ground he bites them he Auto   crits and heals himself a lot with the bite  and finishes them off then it might be worth   it I say move is probably his most important  one because first of all he doesn't provoke   opportunity attacks with that legendary action  and I mentioned that he needs to be mobilized   he will often be in sunlight from The Amulet  of ravenkind or the sun sword and he needs to   get out of there making them chase him through  the castle he can use some of his lair actions   at that point which I'll talk about soon he  needs to make sure he's in an advantageous   position he is not some fool-hearty general who  just runs in out of Pride to die he will not be   goaded by taunts like oh come back here you  coward why are you running that's not going   to work on him because he knows he's being smart  this also ties into Strahd's regeneration because   20 hit points per round is nothing to be shy  about retreating for it's one reason he needs   to be able to retreat he's going to be focused  down because his armor class is not that high   his hit points are not that high he needs to  be able to get out regenerate and come back let's talk about his spell casting his DC is 18  plus to hit is 10. if you're not using Children   of the Night to summon minions you might want  to start off with mirror image during the first   round of combat or maybe even beforehand  it's concentration free it's very useful   Ray of frost is his main spell attack he's  probably dealing 3d8 with Rhea Frost which   is not a lot of damage but it is a ranged attack  fog cloud is actually very useful for one thing   Strahd could turn into mist to blend into the  fog cloud and Escape without anyone noticing   but the main reason you want to use it is if  the party is getting Advantage attacking him   and surrounding him fog cloud is this equalizer  now have disadvantage to hit him he will as well   but at least then they won't just be destroying  him entirely if the party has someone like a   gloomstalker who straud may not even be able to  see in the dark because he relies on dark vision   and gloomstalkers are not visible to those with  dark vision they have to actually use light to   reveal the gloomstalker that will equalize the  field because the gloomstagger won't be able   to see Strahd at either this is only temporary  though because Strahd's not going to win in a   fog Cloud this is like a contingency plan for  him to get back into an advantageous position   to regenerate it also works really well  against a party that uses great weapon master   and Sharpshooter a lot they really need to have  advantage to reliably hit with those or at least a   normal to hit sleep is very useful if your enemies  have a low hit point person that Strahd can't   quite get to he can put him to sleep and then try  to move in and try to bite them or something like   that that would finish them off because he will  be able to bite them while they are asleep gust   of wind can be a good group push if Strahd has  a chance to throw them all out a window or off a   cliff depending on where they are fighting him in  the castle because it might be better than making   a few unarmed strikes on a certain round Fireball  is great if they're grouped up blast them greater   invisibility is good because Strahd can be unseen  and attack with Advantage because he's invisible   and that greater invisibility does not break  itself he can remain invisible while attacking   polymorph is an interesting one because a lot  of Castle ravenloft is not going to facilitate   him turning into a dinosaur with polymorph like  player characters often will and I don't know if   you want to use dinosaurs in your Gothic setting  anyway but you could just re-flavor the beasts   as vampire lord forms May maybe he should cast  polymorph on rahaden rahideen whatever you call   him he's cr10 and not actually that powerful  so if you can turn him into a giant ape all of   a sudden on the parapets of Castle ravenloft  he might just send PCS flying and make a few   bloody puddles if you know what I mean anime  objects can also be really useful for Strahd   to distract the party and deal a lot of damage as  he tries to retreat a lot of DMs like to homebrew   Strahd to have more powerful spell casting if  you do want to do that there's only like a few   spells that I recommend anything else might be a  little bit of Overkill like you could have some   fun obviously but these ones I think are good ones  if you do want to Homebrew him disintegrate so he   can get out of wall of force counter spell misty  step absorb elements featherfall and shield I   also like the dream spell so I'd probably throw  that in as well let's talk about Strahd's Lair   actions which are the main critical reason you  want him to fight in Castle Ravenloft foreign and Castle ravenloft together should be the  final boss fight if the players can get him   to fight elsewhere they are much better off the  most important layer action is being able to   freely move through walls doors and floors and  ceilings of castle ravenloft that's incredible   because he can easily Retreat he can easily  force him to go into other rooms and try to   get into a better position and regenerate he  can pop through a wall to slash at someone   and then pop back out it lasts the whole round  if he chooses this layer action on initiative   20. the next one is that he can Will doors  and windows and things to suddenly shut or   open and when he shuts them he can Will them to  be magically locked with a dc-20 strength check   to get them open if you get the wizard alone in a  room and you can auto lock that door and Strahd's   alone with him not gonna last long Strahd can  also summon a specter which I think you should   flavor to be someone who died in the campaign  probably a character that the players killed   It's a Good callback to have a specter of that  person arrive and then summoning a shadow from   someone I really don't think you're going to be  using the Specter and the shadow but the shadow   one is really cool because you actually pull the  Shadow from them and the person loses their Shadow   until it's restored to them regardless of whether  they defeated or not almost always your default   should be that Strahd can move through walls and  everything unless you have another good reason   to switch that that's the layer action you're  choosing each round because you only get one   that should be your default now let's move on  to Strahd's more passive abilities and details Misty Escape if Strat is reduced to zero hit  points he turns to mist and starts flowing back   to his tomb this does not happen if he is in  flowing water or in sunlight I have found that   players get really excited if they realize keeping  him in sunlight made it so he couldn't go back to   his tomb and regenerate it's a roulette down for  you but the players will love it it specifically   says in the ability that he can't do it if he is  in sunlight when he's reduced to zero hit points   he just gets destroyed then there's spider climb  he has a very formidable climbing speed which in   Castle ravenloft is sometimes just as good as  flying this allows him to get out of reach of   melee combatants and maintain advantageous  positions I recommend using the rules from   Tasha's for falling on someone as straud might  opt to fall from above and pounce on someone so   that they become prone together then he stands  up and just starts wailing on him regeneration   20 hit points per round and with Strahd's  abilities to get in and out of combat 20 hit   points means within less than a minute he's back  and ready to go the Regeneration stops if he takes   radiant damage or is in sunlight so he's going to  avoid those things he's much more durable if he   doesn't have to worry about them but it is fun  for you as the DM to try to work around those   problems and see how Strahd would get around  them seriously if the party's cleric puts up   Spirit Guardians and tries to keep straud in  it before he can get grappled or something   Have him just Retreat wait out the spell he is  smart he knows how long these spells will last   and if he doesn't he'll just wait until he  can peek in he can literally just like poke   his head up through the floor somewhere and see  what's going on or he can have one of his spies   go look one of his minions so he can wait out  those spells those spells that are just gonna   wreck him doesn't even have to deal with him  Strahd does not have any condition immunities   that's a big problem because grappled restrained  petrified stunned paralyzed all those things are   going to ruin him he's really gotta be on top  of his game and save his legendary resistances   seriously he gets three legendary resistances  and he should not use them on things that aren't   going to make him dead in the water a fireball he  doesn't care he can just regenerate it right back   if the Amulet of ravenkind is being used to  try to paralyze him grappling can still get   him but anything with a saving throw he can try  to prevent it with legendary resistance do not   waste them even getting hit with Sunbeam just take  the full damage if he fails because he just needs   to peace out and get out of there anything that  tries to lock down his movement that's what you   need to worry about most Strahd has expertise in  Arcana perception and stealth skills I know this   because if you just do the math you figure out  that he has a plus five proficiency bonus and   the stats that go with those skills obviously  expertise he's got double the proficiency bonus   for those skills it's unfortunate he doesn't have  acrobatics or Athletics in there but having a high   stealth is great for him sneaking around and  getting the better of people getting ambushes   especially if he's invisible and then perception  makes it hard to sneak up on him but don't forget   that even he in the dark with dark vision will  get a minus five to his passive perception so   instead of a 22 he'd be a 17. I have a video  an article about surprise and about Stealth as   well if you want to check those out that'd be good  for you to review Strahd does have resistance to   non-magical piercing slashing bludgeoning damage  from non-magic and resistance to necrotic damage   not immunity this means that the party is having  their attacks resisted that is really so if he's   resisting the party's attacks that does make his  effective hit points much higher that works out   very well for him Straub doesn't want to go up  against magic items magic weapons hurt so he will   try to use his charm effect to get people to give  up those weapons do not forget about the heart of   Sorrow that I'll talk about a little bit later  and it gives him 50 extra hit points but he does   not want that heart of Sorrow to die unless it's  the final battle then maybe he would let it die   Strahd's dark vision of 120 feet is more than the  average 60-foot dark vision which means he could   potentially stay out of range and keep an eye  on folks while they cannot see him lurking in   the shadows again his stealth is really high we  also need to talk about Strahd's four vampiric   weaknesses the first one is forbidance which says  he can't enter someone's home unless they invite   him in but he can overcome that pretty easily  with a charm second is he is harmed by running   water which I interpret as anything of a stream  River anything that is Flowing with water it deals   20 acid damage to him at the end of his turn a  druid player that I was running the game for used   the Maelstrom spell which creates a Whirlpool  of water essentially and was very pleased to   see that Strahd was taking acid damage from  it as well as having his movement limited the   third weakness is a stake to the heart if he's  stabbed by something wooden through his chest   he becomes paralyzed specifically in his coffin  and then sunlight hypersensitivity which is the   vampire's most famous weakness the sun Strahd  will suffer 20 points of radiant damage if he   starts his turn in sunlight remember that the  running water and the sunlight will both disable   his regeneration for a round so he really wants  to avoid those things it's easier for him to get   out of running water because he doesn't take  damage until the end of his turn so he has a   bit of a grace period but sunlight he needs to  be a little bit more clever with his legendary   actions if he uses a legendary action to  move before his turn comes up then he can   avoid taking the radiant damage he might almost  at the speed of light retreat with his legendary   action to Dart away and if he can avoid being in  that sunlight he's going to be much better off now let's talk a little bit about castle Raven  Loft itself it's impossible for me with the time I   have to do a full full review of like every single  room in Castle ravenloft and everything that can   be used to Strahd's Advantage but I'll hit on some  highlights first remember straud knows this castle   inside and out he should use every Advantage he  has there one of the coolest ways to handle the   end game fight is to have Strahd Force the battle  to move through the castle it would be great to   start it off up in the towers and have it slowly  progress as Strahd can just move through floors   very easily with his lair actions to the catacombs  where perhaps the battle reaches its climax it's   not easy to pull off but it's probably the coolest  way to run the battle the most satisfying and it   also makes Strahd the most formidable because  it shows he and the castle together are the   boss fight it also gives straudmore room to catch  players in bad positions when they're stumbling   through the castle and lock them in a room alone  with him and maybe some other vampire spawn   who can just destroy somebody let's talk about  Strahd's tomb itself his resting place he does   not want anyone to get in there he doesn't want to  fight them as evidenced by the traps he has there   and his wives that lie and wait there to defend  his tomb the traps here are fairly deadly there's   teleport traps that are right outside the tomb  that can put the PCS into a Switcheroo with a   white one of those Undead creatures that's lying  in one of the crypts nearby with a bunch of other   whites so one of your PCS ends up in a Dusty  coffin surrounded by a bunch of other whites   in a strange place they have no idea where they  are super dangerous plus whoever is back there   where the teleportation happened in front of the  Tomb there's now a white standing there so if the   party's wizard gets surprised by all of a sudden  their Ally next to them is a white that is very   hostile to them that's really gonna put them on  the back foot that's Crips number 14 by the way   that has the whites in it Crypt number 32 also  has a teleportation Alcove where if someone steps   there they get teleported to strath's tomb where  they will be behind a heavy porticolus and they'll   be alone with Strahd's wives who are probably  going to be hungry and maybe Strahd will be in   there too I mentioned the heart of Sorrow earlier  it's in area number 20 of Castle ravenloft I like   to point out that there are halberds on the  walls near the heart that will come to life and   fight the party and keep in mind those are able  to do shove attacks and there are no railings on   those stairs and it's a long fall those halberds  are probably better off trying to shove someone   off the side than just slashing at them Strahd  will also sense when the heart is being damaged   and he will send vampire spawns who appear there  so that's a good place for Strahd to utilize his   minions and leverage his resources area k-47  has the guardian portrait which is a portrait   of Strahd but this is not just some painting with  some eyeballs that look you up and down as you   pass by this painting can cast counterspell crown  of Madness hypnotic pattern and telekinesis those   are all great spells and if Strahd can utilize  that painting while the PCS are chasing him   it's gonna be really useful for him especially  the counter spell you might even have multiple   different poses and portraits of Strahd around  the castle in advantageous positions so that they   can support him with spells in dire need hypnotic  pattern is a big one because it can knock out half   the party or more or less but there's also a rug  of smothering in that room I think the best place   for Strahd to fight the party if I were to pick  one place would be in the catacombs because he   can get them to go into some of the crypts that he  knows what's inside of them because he can phase   through all the walls so he can go in and out of  Crips no problem but the players will have to try   to break open each Crypt and see what's inside  sometimes it's a Banshee sometimes it's spiders   they don't really know what they're gonna get but  Strahd can do a lot of damage down there while   having plenty of places to hide and recuperate I  think the best advice I can give you with Castle   ravenloft is to maybe pick a friend and just  do like a solo dungeon crawl through there and   just see how well you can describe each room  how well you can get down the layout and which   rooms go where it's really is difficult it's it's  Labyrinthian if you don't practice running Castle   ravenloft you will fumble running the castle that  will feel like a big disappointment to yourself   when you're running these final fights and trying  to make castle ravenloth part of the fight you'll   just feel like you had a missed opportunity I  know it's difficult in person to like get all   the maps right but at least know where the players  are going so that you can at least do theater of   the mind with vtts it does make it somewhat easy  year but I found even when I ran this with roll   20 it was still difficult for me to know which  stairs go where you gotta practice gotta practice   seriously you gotta practice one way that I found  that I was able to practice was I had one of the   player characters get captured after they picked  a fight with Strahd at one point and Strahd when   they tried to surrender said well this one's  coming with me though and they just had to do   like groundskeeping Duty with Cyrus Bellevue for  a few days the player actually tried to map out   the castle from memory like as I described it  because I didn't give them the map next let's   talk a little bit about minions of Strahd first  of all straud literally is never alone unless he's   in his tomb he might be or he's in the destined  locations from the taroka card reading because his   vampire minions it specifically says whenever he  appears he just rolls to see what his crew is his   Entourage this is actually a big reason to want  to fight straud in the Destin location so that   he doesn't just start off with five direwolves  or a bunch of Strahd zombies which make a lot of   attacks it's possible for him to roll a 19 or 20  and get none of them but usually he's going to end   up with some Posse straud's main pet is bucephalus  the fiery nightmare fiendish horse it actually has   104 hit points make sure you don't miss that  104 hit points that's actually the maximum hit   points for a nightmare it's immune to Fire and  when Strahd rides it Strahd has a resistance to   fire it's Hooves deal a good bit of damage and  it has ethereal strides so it can actually help   Strahd Escape because they can just go to the like  the Ethereal plane the Border ethereal whatever   to become Out Of Reach all of a sudden and the  nightmare bucephalus can fly 90 feet it can run   60 feet and fly 90 feet it's incredibly fast if  Strahd is fighting the party on bucephalus good   luck to them they should probably try to destroy  bucephalus as quickly as possible bucephalus is in   Crypt 39 in the catacombs so again that's a good  place for Strahd to fight because he can pull out   bucephalus and start flying around the catacombs  then there's Strahd's animated armor that patrols   up in area k-46 the parapets of Castle ravenloft  its armor class is huge its hit points are a   little bit more than bucephalus but a little less  than Strahd's resistance is immunities condition   immunities it just doesn't deal a ton of damage  I've had a lot of fun having Strahd plant that   armor somewhere in the campaign so that one of  the Marshall characters wears it and then and the   final battle finds out oh I shouldn't be wearing  this this is Strahd's armor and now it's working   against me that was really fun it's playing the  long game for sure it also has blind sight that's   very useful so essentially I think Strahd should  use this armor not to wear it though I think   it's much more useful animated it could stand in  front of straud like a bodyguard and give straud   cover and it can try try to Grapple anyone that  gets close but the armor is just a really good   Ally more so than just giving straud a little bit  more armor class I mean it depends but that's my   opinion Strahd zombies are very powerful zombies  because they can make three attacks one with   bite and two with claws that can surprise players  because their challenge rating one not one-fourth   or whatever the regular zombie is so these things  they can really tear into someone really quickly   they only get plus three to hit so like they're  still just zombies but if they surround somebody   that's gonna be tough Strahd might also prepare  for the final battle if no one's figured out that   he is Vasily Von Holtz basily could give false  information and seem like an ally and tell the   players there's an ally that's going to meet them  in a certain place in the castle or something in   some way betray them and set them up in a bad  position and if they trust facili they're gonna   end up in a really bad spot now I mentioned Tim  earlier I call him rahadin because I like it but   rahad and some say Strahd's right-hand man his  wingman his Chamberlain is a formidable foe to   throw in to a Strahd final battle on his own he  often gets killed by the party throughout the   Adventure especially because he needs to be a  skirmisher but he's not as good as Strahd is I   mean he has Misty steps that's good and he has  Phantom Steed so he can make a good getaway and   rahideen also makes three attacks which is really  good plus he gets his bonus action deathly choir   like he's no slouch but if people can focus  him down he will go down quickly that's his   main thing he's also stealthy Like Strahd is so  the two of them could do Ambush titles together   and give high fives after they slit someone's  throat rahadin also has mask of the wild which   allows him to potentially hide in dim light in  the dark because that counts as lightly obscured   which it says mask of the wild does it darkness  is a naturally occurring phenomenon so it works   I also mentioned earlier that Strahd could cast  polymorph and rahideen to turn him into something   very formidable and have a lot of extra hit points  valid tactic there's a lot of other allies struck   could potentially have like the barovian witches  they could cast invisibility spells cast sleep   on weekend PCS because you don't need a high  spell casting modifier to utilize sleep foreign levels should the party be for a satisfying  end battle they become very dangerous to level   9 when they get things like wall of force and so  keep that in mind if they fight Strat at level 8   they'll probably die if you use all these tactics  but if they're a little bit higher level they have   a few more tools and survivability thresholds  that it'll probably be a really good fight I   personally run where I usually had the end game  between like level 10 to 14. and it also depends   on the character's choices right I like to run the  campaign with a lot of urgency so that things keep   moving they don't have infinite time to just go  do every single Quest before the end game kind of   happens to them and like I said Strahd can force  them to go to the castle by slowly taking their   allies Charming them putting them in the dungeons  or having dinner with them at the castle while   they're Charmed but Strahd is not going to let  the players just do what they want if there's   something he wants them to do he's gonna make it  happen so things to look out for that would get   Strahd destroyed wall of force plus sunlight from  the Sun sword or the Amulet of ravenkind because   sunlight goes into the invisible wall of  force and it's possible that it blocks the   floor ceiling everything in a dome so he won't be  able to escape it he'll just get cooked microwave   style he'll be dead before wall of force is done  you could say like oh he tries to cast fog Cloud   maybe that makes it so the sunlight doesn't  hit him this is all very much a gray area like   does fog Cloud block sunlight when Strahd casts  polymorph does he lose his weakness to sunlight   players won't like that I almost guarantee it I  haven't tried it but polymorph usually suspends   things like that so if Strahd casts polymorph  on himself while he's in a wall of force and   becomes a beast maybe he's got a chance it just  feels like vampires shouldn't be able to suspend   their weakness to sunlight so I don't think people  would like that very much and I bet as I say that   he was a dmer like no I'm not going to do that  that feels a little gamey and you're probably   right sergey's Sun sword is a Strahd killer  for sure it deals the radiant damage and it   creates sunlight the holy symbol of ravenkind  creates the sunlight most players will likely   waste the charges on trying to hold vampire on  just Strahd instead of like Strahd in a group   of vampire spawn and Strahd can just legendary  resistance that away it's the sunlight you gotta   worry about powerful destined allies like Godfrey  with the sun sword will terrify Strahd because   they could 1v1 him very easily Casimir is also a  problem especially if he revives Patrina because   she's an archmage with time stop and stuff so  that's a bad news basilka is also very strong   but at least he can use fire to try to scare  her and make her berserk then you also gotta   watch for if the party tries to make Strahd mad  and loses cool which even if something happens   to Irina dark Powers keep killing her off he can  be vengeful but I don't think he'd lose his cool   he does lose his cool but does he get himself  killed necessarily I don't know if he did that   and someone pillaged sergey's tomb I think he  loves Sergey more than anyone that was the price   he paid to I don't know buy Tatiana from the  deal with the dark Powers sort of thing from   his perspective it says he cries in sergey's Tomb  sometimes so I think he loves Sergey and he'd get   really mad if someone pillaged that tomb which  has some really nice plus two armor by the way so if you want to make Strahd more dangerous  use these tactics if you're going to Homebrew   him honestly don't do it too much maybe give  him some Battle Master stuff a few more spells   and higher level spells but you really don't  have to do much to make him really formidable I   really believe that so let me summarize my tips  for running the final Strahd fight review the   adventure material especially review the article  I wrote it'll give you a lot of other things about   like fun quotes from Strahd or Strahd encounters  throughout the campaign among other things but   you do want to review it for all the things I  just went over plus it has like the stat blocks   for the different minions and all those sorts of  things I just mentioned it's really useful plan   out the encounter where is Strahd gonna be what  are his tactic gonna be to open up the fight kind   of make yourself some cue cards with some flows  of like what what does he do if he's an advantage   what does he do if he's on his back foot and he  needs to retreat where is he going to go next in   the castle where are the most important places for  him to go where the traps he can make the players   get into like take inventory of all those things  and write them down from familiarize yourself with   the rules that matter like stealth if Strahd  tries to hide while he's invisible what's that   going to look like how does grappling work because  that's a big part of dealing with Strahd because   he can grapple and bite people too just know your  stuff like look at all the abilities and think oh   what are some rules that interact with this what  do I need to know review what player character   information Strahd has because he's been using  spies and other ways to gather information about   them he should know a lot of their strengths and  weaknesses and you just need to write down what   does Strahd know versus what do you as the DM  know he's not omnipresent he's not omniscient   so he doesn't just automatically know everything  he needs to earn that knowledge just like the   players do remember to set the mood you know play  some music if you're online you probably already   had to figure this out throughout the campaign  but you know get some ways to get some good maps   in there I have a link to one that I used in my  article that I really think is worth the like   10 bucks I think on the on the DM's Guild it's  really good maps and then practice the encounter   like actually run it through with some monsters  against Strahd use the player characters if you   know them well enough and you could run them and  try to see how well they would do against drugs   if you really want to nail this final fight don't  be afraid to practice don't just like cerebrally   think about it actually do some run-throughs and  see how it feels and see how quickly Strahd goes   down if the Battle Master with crossbow expert and  Sharpshooter and all those Maneuvers superiority   dice wins initiative and has Advantage for some  reason how much of Strat is left after that turn   you know you want to know that kind of stuff by  using all the information I gave and exploring to   find your own methods and deciding if you do  need to Homebrew a few details but not going   too far I think you're going to really prepare  a good final battle that you and your players   are going to enjoy and it's really going to make  you talk about it for so long it's going to be a   very fond of memory for you what questions do  you have for me for running Strahd did you do   all of these things and it still wasn't enough  tell me more and tell me all the details because   I never know how much Strahd was home brewed  what room he was in was he in the castle what   player characters had did they have magic items  there's so many variables it's hard for me to   say when someone says oh Strahd tpk'd us versus  we played with Strahd for a few rounds because   he was so pathetic like that's like the whole  gamut the whole range of people's experiences   with Strahd I don't always know why because they  don't give me all the information I really do want   to hear about it I love this module I enjoy  running Strahd very much and I like talking   about the module with people I hope I was able  to help you so that you can have more joy with   your friends that's ultimately what we do flute  sloot for is help you make lasting friendships and   Lasting memories have a good Adventure this  weekend and I'll see in the next video bye

Channel: Flutes Loot

Views: 46,198

Keywords: D&D, DND, dungeons & dragons, roleplaying, rollplaying, roll play, role play, DM, GM, game master, dungeon master, 5th edition, 5e, 5 edition, PC, advice, advise, optimized, optimize, optimization, rules explained, TTRPG, tabletop RPG, flutes, flutz, flute, lute, loot, curse of strahd, strahd von zarovich, ravenloft, barovia, ireena, tatyana, rahadin, beucephalus, godfrey, sergei

Id: SEUDjwu25oU

Length: 35min 33sec (2133 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 15 2023