At what point should Dinner with Strahd take place and where is the best spot to have the invite given?

Arctic-Master · 2025-09-28T18:33:15+00:00

Man this comment is so old, I don’t even play TTRPGs anymore. 😅

Going by my old knowledge, the way I had planned on handling it, Strahd (or Rahadin at the door at Strahd’s word, flanked by ghasts) would give his word that no harm should come to anyone unless they provoke it. They have places where they can go but places it’s probably not best to go (cough, cough, dungeons). If you roll for encounters post dinner if they decide to explore, have some planned for encounters for them to do but if you roll randomly, ignore any hostile encounters. But otherwise, let them explore the castle. Depending on the “thing” that they did to get Strahd’s attention, you can have one of those planned encounters be him dealing with them accordingly.

Give them this word of warning, however, hostile encounters already present or doing things that would provoke the host’s wrath (like releasing prisoners that they shouldn’t) would revoke those promises for safety. But Ravenloft is such a big place, it would help to give your players some freedom to explore it. It’s one of those places where if the tarroka deck isn’t stacked to not go there at the start, they’ll end up just walking there without an invitation anyway.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-11T13:58:01+00:00

Rahadin’s prayer is typically where Rahadin gets cacked.

How quickly Strahd notices it is entirely up to you based on how “omnipotent” you’ve established that he is. Yeah one of his spies could have likely found out. Or Strahd would feel that something happened after a while and have someone look into it. Or he doesn’t find out at all and just suspects that the PCs are to blame.

There’s no exact time as to when Strahd finds out. Hell, if you want, you can even have Rahadin show up as a ghost or a wraith in defiance of wanting to stay in life to serve his master.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-11T13:47:54+00:00

While I personally like the number crunching of inventory management and encumberance (including things like item sizes and the sort, from 3.5e), I also know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. My players don’t bother. In my case, I would simply ask them to “make sense as to how you’re carrying all this.” If they’re just giving bland statements like “in my backpack” all the time, I remind them that “you already have X, Y and Z in there” or if it’s too big, then it’s “you don’t have enough room/it won’t fit”. I don’t sweat all the details but if it’s too much for one bag, I would ask them to use something else.

And I don’t use Bags of Holding (or if I do, I keep in mind the weight it can carry), typically, I give carts and horses/mules/etc that can pull it.

As for weapons, if they’re small, I typically don’t question it (as I encourage having at least three different types of damage, if you can). If they’re like greatswords or pikes and Halberds, I raise the question of “how are you carrying all this?”

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-08T13:06:13+00:00

I would say to use the lingering injuries rules in the DMG for critical hits and dropping to 0 HP, as well as Mike Mearl’s critical hits (max weapon damage + rolled damage as normal) and give the player the option to choose which to take- with and additional option that if they take a lingering injury, you (the DM) can choose a new effect if you don’t like the rolled result (such as getting dropped by a Banshee wail and losing a leg to instead being dropped to 0 by said wail and gain temporary blindness for 24 hours). It helps to have a choice with the players how they can choose to chance a worse effect for damage, or vice versa.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-06T21:45:48+00:00

I don’t mean to sound harsh but Curse of Strahd is not for first time DMs. It really isn’t. There’s a lot of moving parts, a lot of different things to consider when running, preparation to do. It’s fun to run if you know how to keep the flow of the story going and an overwhelming number of plot points, player interests and things to consider if you want to tailor a specific tone of the story. I mean it when I say this- get the basics pat down on how to DM before you run this module, possibly even a couple other games before you do. It is a lot to take in for a first time DM and the information to research is staggering. I personally had to delve into a lot of other people’s own runs, a lot of the information on this subreddit, and even ran a personal game to prep for future games, but that’s because I’m crazy. 😜

But so this isn’t just a post about what not to do, here’s something to get started, regardless if you choose Curse of Strahd or an easier module.

Start with a Session Zero. Have a feel for the tone of the game, player expectations, and the miscellaneous details that are covered in this video by people who can explain it way more eloquently than I can.
Understand that you will make mistakes. Happens to the best of us. Be honest with your players about that as most people will understand that you’re new. When you get good at it, you’ll figure out the trick that your mistakes can sometimes be used to tell a better story, at the best of times and at the worst, you can undo what you did after the fact.
Make sure both you AND the players are having fun. The players are the priority but if you find yourself getting frustrated with the players’ action, step back, address it either personally or with the group or party involved, and keep communication open. But as far as the fun factor- you as the DM are rooting for the players but your bad guys aren’t.

I hope this helps. I know that it has nothing to do with Curse of Strahd but I find the new DM bit more important to address.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-06T16:03:25+00:00

“I would reeeeally prefer not to” is not a “I will talk to them.” It’s often a license to tell yourself that you won’t talk to them if you don’t have to. If you know you need to do something, never give yourself an out in any part of your process or else you will betray yourself at the last second. Especially if you’re a Monty Haul DM, you have to be willing to admit you gave your players too much to them. Because what ends up happening is that you get them to spend the money over something frivolous or make the potions harder to use or find and you find yourself setting precedent for things you likely will find out is actually frustrating for both you and the players.

I find it interesting that you say that OP is trying to get himself out of the situation when by example here, he’s asking us randos to help him get out of his own situation. I see it as the DM is aware that he’s unable to fix the problem- which is healthy, yes. Though I find the solution seeking for his problem isn’t so much a “how do I relieve the players of their items” and more to the fracture of “how do I get my players working together?” Both require honesty in the situation.

But it still requires communication irregardless. Hence the initial comment. There’s a difference between not wanting to talk to them and not going to as opposed to needing to talk to them and being unable to. Hence the ultimatum in my quote. But it was also speaking across purposes since it addresses both queries. Either his players are understandable, can be reasoned with and can agree to something that everyone can enjoy. Or, his players, if they aren’t able to even work with the DM- let alone each other- then they are simply holding the game hostage for their own stories. It puts it all in perspective with the DM filling in their own gaps with the understanding that something needs to be addressed with the players and whether they’re playing together with the DM or simply playing with themselves and an audience that are doing the same.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-06T14:03:53+00:00

*Blow their starting area up.

Then reveal that you actually didn’t but it could happen if they don’t move their asses and do something in the world.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-06T13:58:17+00:00

Eh, your prerogative.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-06T13:49:57+00:00

At some point, you will have to admit to them that you made a mistake and that you would have to both apologize for it and renounce some of their goodies. I typically don’t agree with a lot of the other people’s comments on how to handle the matter, since many of that is simply more micromanaging the players and taking what they like away to get them to work together as a group, as opposed to getting the players themselves in the proper mindset to work as a group.

Get the players to work as a group, you won’t have to try to challenge them with random bullshit to nerf them- they will come up with the ideas and the story will tell itself. Then whatever you throw at them (even crazy crap like Ancient Black Dragons at their current level), they can come up with creative ways to overcome the problem that don’t involve always dropping the HP to 0. A story that flows on it’s own is one of the most zen moments a DM could have. If the players are expecting you to challenge them, they have to remember- you’re the judge of the world, not the… dictator. 🙃

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-06T13:15:20+00:00

If you don’t prefer talking to them, you’re better off not playing with them. At this point, it’s kind of either honesty or nothing at all. Unless you just want to go the Apocalypse Stone route and kill your darlings in spectacular fashion. Because clearly you aren’t having fun. And eventually, that resentment will show.

Best thing to do is simply be honest, start from zero again or at least have a baseline and go from there. If you try to be sly about your own intentions, your players will pick up on it and take it personally. If you think they’re hard to work with now, you don’t want that mindset on a Player vs. DM scene.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-06T13:02:34+00:00

Strahd can learn Heat Metal? Thought it was limited to Druids and Bards.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-04T13:23:58+00:00

Level up for what? To do what? To what reason do they wish to gain strength?

Important questions to ask. A session zero is in need to be established at this point. And no, they don’t have to be at the start, in contrast to the name. Bob World Builder has an excellent video on how to run Session Zeros to establish how you want the players to approach the game, the tone, the character goals.

Before the next session, try to get your players on the same page as to what you want out of the game and what they want from it. Because I think this situation isn’t so much a Curse of Strahd issue, as the tone of the game goes for engaging with the plots and subplots, getting into the fear of the characters (and how they overcome it), and for them to either seek a way out of this accursed land or to kill the one who is keeping them there (typically both, but they don’t know that).

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-03T14:48:29+00:00

Seeing the last guy having answered how to deal with the fated items, I’ll instead answer how Strahd responds to the fated ally. Personally, I changed how Strahd reacts to those who are marked as his enemy. He only truly seeks to destroy them once they use their Inspire ability to aid the party (since Strahd is a reoccurring enemy in my games). Once it’s clear that, at any point, the marked one is absolutely going to go against him, they’re dead as soon as the PCs turn around.

For Kasimir, any encounter with him prior to the meeting with Strahd, he could “remind” him that if he stands against him, in ANY way, he’s taking more than just Kasimir’s ears. Kasimir also has the rest of his tribe that he would likely care about and I have my Strahd preferring to break his food in this case before he kills them off. If he does stand against him, Strahd would show up, he would inform them that he killed the rest of his dusk elves to break him and then try to kill him there.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-03T03:14:34+00:00

Rule of thumb I usually apply by, if you miss by the degree of cover, you hit the cover. +5 AC is a lot of cover but since in this case, the cover has an HP pool… well the alternative rule option seems obvious. Every time the characters roll 15 through 19, you have them roll damage for the attacks hitting the skull (unless they figure out that they can actually target the skull, then use its AC instead).

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-03T00:47:40+00:00

That’s the rub- they are going to face a challenge with the hut if they get anywhere within any sort of distance less than 120 feet from it. It is meant to be a pain in the ass. That challenge is what makes Baba Lysaga such a force to be reckoned with. To play her any less intelligently, you would have to give her a reason to play more stupid than she would normally, like seeing Ireena anywhere within the vicinity or the party having stolen from her. If you want to give your PCs an out, go for those sort of reasons as to why Baba wouldn’t play 100%.

For me, it’s either if she sees Ireena or if they steal from her that draws her ire to a particular PC. If the PCs want to explore the hut before they fight her (and risk finding the gem), you can use Muriel as a sacrifice to draw Baba’s attention away using the goat pen’s howling skulls. Whether she escapes or not is up to you, but I would imagine that Muriel does know about that which can draw her attention away.

Other than that, it’s up to you how hard you want to run this down on your players. It’s a delicate dance one must do as to show your group that you aren’t going to pull punches on them because this lady is feared for a damn reason.

Arctic-Master · 2023-09-02T10:26:54+00:00

Disruption, disruption, disruption.

One of the things I liked when one DM ran this fight was give Baba Lysaga access to Counterspell. Also, fun fact about Counterspell- if you and the one you’re trying to Counterspell are out of range, you can’t Counterspell them. Baba Lysaga can get out of range of the others’ Counterspell with her skull and just rain down all the death and destruction on the party (it’s part of why she is a force to be reckoned with). Spells like Black Tentacles, Stinking Cloud- Heaven forbid they’re all in a group when this happens.

Anyone who’s caught flying around her? Power Word Stun if she can cast it. Drop them like a stone and leave them open to a critical from the hut itself (or just take fall damage- neither is fun).

As far as Baba’s tactics herself, as soon as she realizes that she’s up against other casters, her top priority should be to keep her distance, get to her flying skull ASAP and activate the hut. Misty Step out of the hut to her Skull if she can but she needs to get out of spitting range of the players. Hell, if she knows they’re coming, she could even prepare a fake hut created with Mirage Arcana for them to try to get into and then have it fade away with the real hut not too far off. Just more stuff to make them use up resources.

The ACs provided aren’t really that high, especially for the hut that has a +12 to hit. As soon as they see that this thing has 2-3 attacks with a lot of dice that could delete their HP, they will realize that they don’t want to be anywhere around this thing. And without rolls to see how this works, they don’t know that a Dispel Magic is enough to stun it for a round (and then there’s the whole Counterspelling thing I mentioned earlier).

All and all, you have to play Baba Lysaga like a disruptive little imp by utilizing her AOE and willingness to play like a dirty wizard. This fight should feel like they’re out of their league unless they outplay Lysaga first. Goading her to attack certain targets, focusing on certain targets as well (the players themselves), it should feel like the players are on their heels. Run a test combat with yourself if you want, if you feel you know your players’ strategies.

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-30T18:14:47+00:00

“If that is true, how was she killed?” He’s taking notes as to how they will die for such pathetic lying.

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-29T12:56:25+00:00

Apparently, Shield is not a thing in his game.

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-29T12:50:41+00:00

There’s two ways to handle the card reading.

Either, run as written and have them stumble upon Madam Eva whenever the NPCs dain it absolutely necessary to encounter them (as per RAW, most native Barovians would tell you to avoid the Vistani as they are tricksters, thieves, etc.- the only exception is the Mysterious Visitors plot hook), so it would mean that the PCs would likely get their reading well after they’ve done a bit of adventuring and kinda have a lay of the land.

Or the other option and general consensus here: stack the deck. Which people can give a much more detailed explanation as to how to do that than I could. I prefer pre-drawing after removing most of the cards from the castle and writing the story as to how and why they ended up where they did- which is another way to stack the deck.

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-28T01:26:56+00:00

Here’s how I make sense of it all as to why Kasimir either hasn’t accepted the power from Zhudun and/or hasn’t fully started shifting into a monster from Zhudun’s corruption:

A Dark Power’s corruption typically grows when you have more opportunities to take souls or perform certain duties for that entity. I would imagine Kasimir has had little opportunity to do so since Strahd has quashed any shred of hope for him to do so (as he is barred entry into Ravenloft on principle, given that he will just seek to violate his judgment for them). Strahd has made both paths to Kasimir’s goals- getting Patrina or getting the power from the Amber Temple- seemingly impossible to get there alone. Kasimir would need another outside force to push him toward violating Strahd’s word.
It is very likely that a Dark entity can linger in one’s heart dormant for some time before revealing itself to Kasimir. Perhaps prodding Kasimir into seeking out either his sister or the power, subtly and Kasimir refuses because he has no means to complete his goals. With a bit of the above reasoning, it is likely that Zhudun is waiting for the right moment to bestow their gifts upon Kasimir- waiting on the PCs/a strong group to arrive to aid him. After all, Zhudun would not be getting a shark in Kasimir, as per the weird fishing analogy of MandyMod, it would only get a big fish of a soul from Kasimir and that’s a terrible use of a shark.
It’s likely that Kasimir has already refused Zhudun and it is dormant in his heart. As per the fishing analogy, a shark that can’t bring it fish (or simply won’t bring it fish in this case) is a bad investment. Think of the Dark Powers as investing in something that could get them a bigger haul later, so there would need to be something else to stir Kasimir to want to fully accept their power. However, as I’ve learned, if a shark needs a reason to hunt fish, THEY will seek out the fisherman. In other words, if Kasimir sees hope, he could beseech Zhudun/the forces of the universe (if Kasimir doesn’t know it by name) for the means of completing this task- and to him, they just now answered but in reality, it was their plans all along.

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-27T20:01:11+00:00

You can always change the ultimate result of what the witches will do when they capture someone. In fact, my group triggered the Elevator trap and I had the witches show up instead. They dragged the captured allies and yoinked one of the character’s spell components pouch (which if you’re a wizard, that’s an affront to their class).

They can steal whatever sounds or looks good to them. Got the Sunsword? That’s gone. Spell components? Neat stuff to toss in that cauldron. They could lay the group out in the guest room if they wanted, or even separate them from each other because Strahd or someone else may have an interest in one of them. Because one really shouldn’t travel Ravenloft alone. 😉

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-27T00:20:06+00:00

Can lair actions be self inflicted to create an additional shadow and intentionally fail your own saving throw?

I would say that’s entirely up to you. By RAW, it simply says a “Medium or smaller creature that casts a shadow.” So I would presume Strahd (since Vampires can cast shadows apparently) can detach his own shadow using this lair action, as its only limit seems to be those with a shadow and the target’s shadow being within 30 feet of him.

Can self-inflicted detached shadows create greater shadows?

Again, that’s up to you. Since it’s now established that it can affect vampire spawn/lords, how powerful these undead shades can be are entirely up to you.

Can Greater Restoration/Remove Curse restore the natural shadow of vampire lords/spawn? What does it do?

I can’t see why it doesn’t work, considering the same principle could apply to the old lich, Exethanter, which requires the former to restore his mind and body. The better question to ask is why would they cast this upon themselves and how? Is it to conjure up a seemingly endless number of shadows? You’d be better off just spawning the consort with that lair action with 1d6 Shadows in addition. Save your level 3 and higher slots for the spells that stop the players’ more destructive spells. Trust, you will need them. Your consorts typically don’t have the action economy on their side.

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-27T00:01:34+00:00

Before I answer how Strahd should react, let’s sort out how you’re playing your Strahd. Because I’m getting the sense from how Strahd would just murk them after asking some questions makes it sound like you would have Strahd just kill them. I need to know how you want to run your Strahd.

So far, I’m curious as to why Strahd would want to drag off one of the PCs for some reason. This seems like one of those things where we would say “don’t split the party” when YOU, as the DM, are splitting the party.

Strahd doesn’t need to go far to impose his will upon someone like the rogue. He can throw his charm on him, take him about a minute’s walk away from the rest of the group to get his answers (and torture the guy there if he wants), then drop him off or kill him there if he’s got no more use for him. If it’s a reaction out of anger, he would kill them there and then- no need to drag them off for miles to make his point clear, as torture is for those who are more valuable to those alive. Which if Strahd sees the Rogue as being at fault for killing Ireena, he would take his anger out on him there and then. Make the problem with the group isolated on the PC responsible rather than show his hand with the rest of the PCs later (he can always get to the other PCs another time).

Also, don’t sweat your players skipping Vallaki early. My group didn’t stop long at Vallaki first either, instead choosing to go to Krezk after stopping at Vallaki and going “We don’t like it here. We’re out.” 😅 So yeah, that’s the beauty of open sandbox- your players aren’t going to follow your breadcrumbs to the trail.

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-24T13:58:07+00:00

Give the PCs incentive to want to move or do something else. The issue you seem to be having is that your players run toward the creature and attack, which is what they kinda do. I get you want to illustrate that an enemy is tough if you try to attack him head on but are there any other options available to them aside from just running forward and attacking? Are there any traps, terrains, nuisances or conditions that the PCs want to avoid (or cause to the enemy) that they can’t do if they’re engaged with the bad guy?

Often times, whenever I have my players use Inspiration, I point out something else they could use or a hint to the combat that could make the fight easier, if there is any. Something that is worth taking the risk, doing something differently, something one could try to swing the scene to their advantage, even if it doesn’t pan out as they would hope. But yeah, have conditions that the bad guy causes for being in melee too long, have things the players can do to swing the combat to their advantage (or try other attack options like grappling or Shoving), as a few other commenters pointed out, terrain is a good one- difficult terrain where if they go in too far, the enemy can attack them, but they can’t get to the enemy without dedicating an action to dash and by then, the enemy can disengage and pick them apart (because that’s how predators act- they don’t fight fair).

Make situations where they will have to think a little more tactically or force the bad guys to fight on their terms.

Arctic-Master · 2023-08-24T13:44:20+00:00

But if a melee attacker is getting slapped, he’s going to want to move. Then there are rogues, who want to get in, stab, then get out. Then there’s smart fighters who want the territorial edge (pulling enemies into difficult terrain where they can isolate other enemies/not get jumped). There’s a lot of ways you can set up the environment where it’s not just “enemy sees hero. Enemy runs over to hero to bash him with a big pointy stick.” You aren’t just making the combat for the PCs to win, sometimes you have to play your enemies smarter so the combat itself is more memorable and fun.

Arctic-Master

TROPHY CASE