How To Play Strahd von Zarovich

kirsov Strada is my personal favorite module for fifth edition dungeons dragons I first found it about four years ago when I was still pretty new to D&D as a whole I loved the spooky gothic aesthetic and the two times I've played it were started appropriately enough on Halloween but the best part of the game for me isn't running through the lands of burrow via it's playing as that vampire bastard himself counts trod Vaughn's era vich Stroud was invented back in the 80s and is stuck around through various iterations throughout the years today is not a history lesson though today we are gonna be looking at how to play as strawed okay now I may have just said that it's not gonna be a history lesson but we need to know abstract actual history in order to know how he works for this I definitely recommend the book I Strada memoirs of a vampire as it goes way more in depth from his time as a warmongering general to a dickish vampire overlord straat Vaughn's era which was the oldest son to father King burov and mother Queen Ravan oviya he spent a good amount of time fighting in various wars in the name of all that was good and holy he ended up realizing though that he was wasting his youth conquering and decided to settle down in the land of burrow via which was named after his father he invited both his mother and younger brother Sergei to come live in the newly constructed Castle Ravenloft which was named after his mother unfortunately during that trip his mother had died leaving strata a bit distraught and the ray of sunshine that his brother was did not help that in the least Sergei was the spitting image of straat except instead of being a bloodthirsty warrior he was a kindly priest on one of his outings into the many towns of borough VIII estrade had found a beautiful young peasant girl Tatiana and attempted to woo her and make her his wife except she saw straud as an elder even called himself this baroque straud confirming that his best years were indeed behind him but the real final straw was when Tatiana fell for Sergei and the two were set to be married on top of all this straud was being pursued by an assassin and his men were also planning a coup even if straw didn't know it at that point straud in his anger and jealousy sought a way to restore his youth and win what he thought was rightfully his to this end he made a pact with death a pact of blood at with dark powers who would help him get what he deserved the day of Sergey and Tatiana's wedding is when everything crumbled straat was attacked by the assassin he killed him drank his mother's blood transforming into a vampire the COO closed in and Tatiana threw herself from the castle into the dark valley below from this day forward strawed was the Dark Lord of burrow via and the mists rolled in and none could leave without the Masters permission I'm gonna put this out here right now I am also at combat encounters so the majority of this guide is going to be specifically on how to roll placed rod as opposed to run him in the final fight so sorry in advance if that's only what you were here for but if that is only what you were here for you're missing the big picture when it comes to this guy Strada is a cold calculating bastard who's been at this game for almost 500 years now he knows what he's doing he has one goal that trumps all others and that's to find the newest reincarnation of Tatiana and make her his this time around Tatiana's soul is inside Irina colleano daughter of the burger master burrow via and directly in the shadow of Castle Ravenloft Strad has a few other goals which aren't nearly as important like finding this famous vampire hunter hiding on burro via somewhere or finding himself a successor now these things don't really take up all of his time considering he sees no real threat to his rule of burrow via and Irina really isn't going anywhere he needs some sort of entertainment and that's where the players come in the terrified peasants of the valley can only entertain straud for so long so every once in a while he sends out the mists to capture new adventures to play with other times he sends out the Bustani which are travelling wagon folk who have pledged themselves distraught I'm the only ones who can leave borough v on a whim whichever way the party arrives strata is in control from the beginning stron isn't your typical villain who waits in his castle twirling a wineglass waiting for the party to kick down his door no straw just got some new toys and he is gonna play with them some people have straw only taken interest in the party when they start causing trouble while others will have him welcome to party with open arms personally I give it a few sessions before straud shows himself properly at this point the party has probably heard about the scary vampire ruling over the land and are thinking of how to kill him definitely not expecting him to knock on the door or have him chase him down the road having him show up early will terrify the party and remind him that straw isn't just an end game for it he's a constant one stride should show up quite a few times throughout the game when you see fit usually to taunt the party and if they think they can take him you crush them into the dirt but not outright kill them they are your guests after all and that would be rude however as the party progresses through the valley solving problems as they progress straat should pay more attention to them they may have been mere playthings in the beginning but now they might pose more of a threat leaving distraught having to take more drastic measures the closer they get to the final confrontation straat should be seen as an all pervasive threat especially because he has the ability to seem a mission and this can add to the future players should be experiencing throughout the game the easiest method is through the scrying spell which can allow him to see what they're doing from practically wherever even if they succeed on the wisdoms save just asking your players to roll one can add to the paranoia the next method makes use of his nightmare bow cephalus slow wonder horse the nightmare has the ability to transport itself and up to three others into the ethereal plane allowing stride to follow immediately behind the party without them knowing and finally is using the vampire's signature ability charm when the players fail the wisdom saving throw against struts charm they regard him as a friend will gladly answer his interview questions letting the host know how he can better their stay but wait you might say what happens when the charm wears off and the PC tells the party everything that happens well you see strut is a wizard a wizard learn spells by adding once he finds in to his spell book strart has been around for almost 500 years now and definitely has fought some Wizards before so he probably has access to every single wizard spell in the game up to fifth level so he just prepares modify memory and wham-bam straud was never there in the first place other spells like non detection can keep the players from scrying on straat himself while miss tools magic aura can keep his undead present hidden from all those pesky paladins constantly spamming divine since every five feet one of the fun things I like about playing strawed is working with certain members of the party there is no guarantee that all party members are gonna be good Samaritans who will walk the old lady across the street for nothing but a thank you so take advantage of that strawed should be able to mold those morally gray pcs to do his own bidding Strad might tell the party the only way he's letting them we burrow via is if they give him Irina of course most of the party's probably gonna object to that but if one or two of them decide is a good idea and do just that straw is gonna reward that by parting the mists when the group is ready and maybe a magic item or two now this is gonna off the rest of the party but at this point straw doesn't really care what happens to them so long as they don't crash the wedding now at any reasonable point during this campaign the count will invite the party to dinner at the castle this could be after they find one of the turoque items if they successfully deliver Irina to kresk or some other major event that invitation means that the party has really caught strods eye and that might not be for the best the books sort of glosses over dinner at straws with an illusion playing host for a bit before disappearing that's boring dinner at the castle should probably be an entire session in itself have an actual meal for the party congratulate them on things they did for the betterment of the valley like supplying kresk or vilaça with wine or dealing with the child killing hags let's trod show his favoritism for certain pcs with gifts let him show his utter superiority but be civil it's unbecoming of a host of teca's guests unless they attack first in that case prepare your spell's in case of an attack counterspell dispel magic wala force can help you control the course of the evening my most recent dinner party went as such the party was a nervous wreck anything could have been the tipping point there straud was civil he gave them a little history lesson about the valley thanked the party and gave some gifts one of the paladin's in the party was a revenant who became more and more nihilistic the longer he stayed away from his target when suddenly straud brought the man to the Paladin in chains ready to be killed needless to say that led to a very important choice finally dying and leaving the party or leave the man an obvious weak spot around so he could deal with the real problem the artificer also got a gift this player was using XP to level threes artificer which can increase your AC by integrating actual armor onto your body this player was given strods old plate mail which raised his AC to like 23 making him an absolute tank well in the final battle strog took his armor back significantly hurting the pc and dropping his AC to like 10 needless to say straat had thought of everything when they entered the castle their slogan was rip and tear but straat had them so terrified that they didn't even try when he was mere feet away now there's one part I haven't mentioned yet because it's my absolute favorite way to placed rod and that's by using a man named see Levon Holtz in the book of the Celia strods alter-ego that he used to corrupt the abbot in the abbey of st. markovia he can though be used a little bit more than that Vasily is what I'd like to think strawed would have become if he hadn't been at war for so long he's a warm person friendly all now partly due to his charm and willing to help those who need it he's the opposite of most Peruvians who heard our in gray my most recent game of curse estrade I used Vasily beautifully I started this game with the mysterious visitors hook the party had refused to follow the Destiny back to Madame Ava but managed to get lost in the woods returning to dagger furred and effectively got caught the mists before long they were set upon by a pack of wolves who chased them down the road that was until they met Vasily who led them all into his convenient little hunting cabin off the side of the river with the Wolves gone Vasily gave them the short you're all trapped here sorry about that anything I can do to help and was the exposition dump about Perrault via and strawed the party had two paladin's who kept divine sensing everywhere so magic aura was integral to this plan the next morning Vasily led the party towards burrow via helping as a guide and slowly gaining the trust of the players in town he made his excuses saying that they'd have to get to Valachi on their own and disappeared into the rain the party found ease mark and Irina traveled with them towards Valachi that was until ease mark had to take back the kids they found at the windmill to burrow via in vilaça VAM at Vasily again at the blue water Inn where he was the ray of sunshine in a land that desperately needed it it was at this point he met Irina who in turn wanted nothing to do with him then there was a tiny little incident involving the burning down of the burger just mention and that kind of led the party to realize now was as good time as ever to go get wine for the in from The Wizard wines in their haste do they forgot to bring Irina with them Irina who was livid that she had even been on this trip in the first place was made angrier by the fact that she had been seemingly abandoned in swooped Vasily to be that shoulder to cry on when the party had returned with the wine Vasily had taken control of the town and was doing well with Irina well could I just have had strods showed up and take Irina all the parties away well yeah but where's the fun of Matt straat had never really gotten any courting done with Irina and drinking his brother kind of met he'd never really get the chance the party felt safe in the knowledge that a trusted friend was taking care of her and left at that now comes the part in the story where I should say that everything came together but being Dungeons and Dragons of course it didn't the party was expected to come back from dinner estrade where I read and Vasily were said to be married the plan was that during the wedding ceremony Vasily would change back into strut bite Irina and fly off leaving a bunch of his spawn to clean up his mess leading into the final for a what those bastards never left the castle they killed one of his consorts vandalized the place and then dive-bomb straat from the highest tower I hope this little guide helps you in your own games in the future place tried however you want if none of what I said sounds appealing I'm not forcing you or anything just keep in mind that no matter how far ahead you plan someone is going to derail everything and set you back to square one all you guys had to do was leave the castle with him in dramatical would have been amazing

Channel: Ben Staub

Views: 40,698

Keywords: D&D, Curse of Strahd, Strahd von Zarovich, Strahd, Dungeons and Dragons, DND, How to, Ravenloft, vampire, RPG, TTRPG, Gothic Horror, Spooky, Ben Staub, Staub, 5e, 5th Edition, Dungeons and dragons 5e

Id: tCqlrNH2pd0

Length: 12min 13sec (733 seconds)

Published: Tue May 26 2020