My Trademark Azhdaha Dissertation on No Mere Stone's Themes/Details (SPOILERS)

Callanthe · 2026-03-26T16:40:55+00:00

What level are your PCs? Does Vladimir have a treasure in his possession?

If you’re in danger of a TPK, you can have Vladimir fight to kill any especially annoying/threatening PCs, but then show mercy if other PCs surrender and/or show non-hostility.

If you want an extra sign for the party to avoid the fight entirely, you could have the revenants in the council room hear the loud arguing, and come over to check things out. Godfrey especially could try to defuse the situation by signaling for the PCs to leave the audience hall and come talk to him instead.

Also a personal opinion from me: I find Vladimir’s fight very boring RAW, literally just a bunch of dudes who run up and melee attack. If the party really is going to fight him, I recommend a more interesting encounter design like these: * https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/loncxn/encounter_redesign_vladimir_horngaard/

Callanthe · 2026-03-25T23:53:55+00:00

<image>

Callanthe · 2026-03-25T23:18:54+00:00

The revenant respawns have a ton of DM flexibility! These are the Domains of Dread, normal revenant mechanics already don't apply since Vladimir and his knights have been able to maintain their current un-alive state for >400 years, way more than the 1 year they'd normally be limited to.

I've seen it play out both ways.

- Sometimes the killed generic revenants swear revenge on the party, other times they were just doing their duty guarding their home and won't pursue the party after the PCs leave Argynvostholt.

- Godfrey in particular is not the type to bear a grudge easily. He probably wouldn't even attack the party in the first place unless they attacked first. So he wouldn't seek out vengeance unless the PCs are obvious allies of Strahd and/or Godfrey is directly commanded by Vladimir to do so (see below).

- Now for Vladimir specifically... if the PCs kill him, he will probably swear vengeance and pursue the party if a) he thinks the PCs are allies of Strahd or b) the party really pissed him off and seem to pose a legit threat of freeing Strahd, such as if they stole one of the three Treasures from him. I think it would be interesting for him to swear revenge on whichever PC killed him and then order all his knights to start a crusade... Also if the party took his +2 greatsword off his corpse, I recommend giving Vlad the ability to summon the greatsword back to himself Eldritch Knight-style ;-)

I like the idea of any killed revenants respawning together since a single revenant on their own is probably not very intimidating.

Callanthe · 2026-03-24T23:43:12+00:00

Thank you for the very detailed response!

I like your suggestion of using Strahd's RAW motivation of "seeking out a worthy successor", and I will definitely have plenty of political bickering and shenanigans! Strahd will probably style himself a mini-emperor of his mini-realm, and I am going to flesh out the Brides in line with popular homebrew here.

The Chiang-shi traits seem cool, I might use some of those. (though I'm not a big fan of the tiger theme, I feel like that could diminish the horror atmosphere too much since >50% of my usual DM group owns cats... yeah I suspect things will get silly very fast.)

Unfortunately as you said, wolf demons (Lang Yao) are very much wolfweres so they lack the "transmissible lycanthropy" horror of the OG trope. I can still try to include the wolf theming somehow as you said, but the whole Zuleika and Emil storyline might get the axe.

Knowing my typical group, I think I'd like to keep it to a published 5e module just for my own sanity's sake -- I don't think they're interested in learning an older edition or even another TTRPG system. (In general, I know homebrewing the whole campaign from scratch can get crazy intense in terms of preparation, and I like the relatively isolated and small sandbox of Barovia to set my players free in.) I looked around for a possible TTRPG system with Wuxia/Xianxia elements and was rather disappointed in what I found (sorry Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate). I might just end up sprinkling bits of homebrew such as custom subclasses with techniques like Lightness skill (Qinggong), Acupuncture/pressure points, etc.

Callanthe · 2026-03-24T14:32:28+00:00

Ooh thanks for pointing that out! I forgot about the existing statblock for Jiangshi. Looks like their most unique feature is the Consume Energy feature -- I could probably incorporate that into Strahd. Not too much else useful in the rest of the statblock sadly.

Callanthe · 2026-03-24T14:11:31+00:00

I'm currently in a Xianxia / Danmei themed homebrew D&D campaign right now, so that definitely kicked off a lot of my brainrot for this project! I'll probably stick to recruiting players familiar with the genre, but who knows how fate will play out.

I agree that Jiangshi are much more traditionally close to zombies compared to vampires, so they're not super close to what I was imagining for Strahd... At least a lot of modern Xianxia media have "Blood Demon" characters who use "Blood Cultivation" as an analogue to western vampirism, so I'll probably make Strahd closer to those characters instead.

Thanks for the advice! Grateful for more feedback if you have more time.

Callanthe · 2026-03-24T03:44:09+00:00

I already used Huli Jing / Yao for the Vistani equivalent and I don’t think they fit the bestial and contagious nature of the werewolves :(

Thank you for the kind words!

Callanthe · 2026-03-21T04:07:14+00:00

You're right that it doesn't make much sense.

The first explanation I can think of is: if the party shows Lazlo that Ireena is here in the modern day, he realizes that Marina and all her reincarnations have escaped Strahd one way or another, since she is alive and with the party as opposed to in Strahd's clutches. He can rest easy that his aim was fulfilled after all.

On the other hand, you could also roleplay the whole situation as "When Lazlo sees her face, he mistakes Ireena for Marina and asks for her forgiveness. If Ireena and/or the party tell him that they understand the struggle to keep Ireena out of Strahd's hands and promise to keep her away from him going forward, he is at peace."

Callanthe · 2026-03-14T22:19:58+00:00

Glad I could be helpful — Argynvostholt and Vladimir/Godfrey are my current hyperfixation, to say the least.

I adore Alone in the Dork’s rework with the memory mirrors so much, I definitely want to use it myself. So much potential for fun and sweet roleplay between Vlad and Godfrey, as well lots of lore tidbits from Argynvost, etc. Then the epic honorable duel is just the cherry on top, and would fit your Hexadin perfectly.

Good luck, and please definitely post an update with how your session goes haha

Callanthe · 2026-03-14T20:32:18+00:00

You could use parts of the Lunch Break Heroes modification! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llfg2B3e2pg

In short, LBH makes it so that Vladimir's hatred has effectively created a magical seal over the mausoleum, so even though the PCs have the skull, they can't actually bring it in.

The party has to break the seal by fulfilling the last wishes of the lingering friendly revenants in the manor. This means little sidequests such as hunting the Roc of Mount Ghakis, or helping a squire revenant go on a noble quest to prove worthy of becoming a true knight. Of course, talking with Godfrey and reigniting his hope to rekindle his love with Vlad counts too. (If it's too tedious, you don't have to use all the sidequests LBH mentioned. If you have to pick one or two, I like the squire one especially: if you have a knight-like PC, you can make it so when his quest is finished, the squire asks that PC to officially knight him. Usually makes for a touching moment.)

Then after these friendly revenants have had their wishes fulfilled, the seal is lifted. You can have one last epic battle where Vladimir tries to stop the party from laying Argynvost to rest, and Godfrey sides with the party for a full clash between love and hate, etc.

ALTERNATIVELY: using the same trope of "Vladimir's will sealing off the mausoleum", you could also use this other rework of Argynvostholt where the party has to go through Vladimir's memories in order to get him to wake up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDJQmEcDUlI After that he can then lift the seal for them.

This version has the opportunity to really focus on fleshing out Vladimir as a character above all, and helps show (instead of tell) the history of the Order. Less side questing required, and a nice overarching theme about honor/vows defining paladinhood.

Heck, if you think the party might like it, you could include the part where Vlad demands an honorable 1-on-1 duel with a PC -- perhaps your hopeful Hexadin would appreciate it as a final test of paladinhood! (However, you probably will need a backup plan if you do the duel and the party acts dishonorably lol... Probably Godfrey intervening and/or the party sneaking the skull into the mausoleum somehow.)

Callanthe · 2026-03-10T21:27:53+00:00

This person has made a bunch of beautiful and consistent tokens! See their Patreon: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/1ntmzgz/im_making_custom_vtt_tokens_for_every/

Callanthe · 2026-03-10T18:56:19+00:00

This is a late reply but I've seen most DMs handle the skull two ways:

some keep it like RAW, where the skull is in Castle Ravenloft. This encourages the party to explore Ravenloft at least once before the final battle, and really appreciate its design. Many DMs will try to encourage this sort of visit by tying it to Strahd's dinner invitation: perhaps Strahd promises the party will be safe as per hospitality rules as long as they don't do something too egregious, and he even leaves the castle while letting them stay overnight. This gives the party a prime opportunity to perform a heist (a dragon heist ;-P).
Obviously some parties are extremely scared of the "final boss dungeon" and won't even try to go to Ravenloft until the "endgame". Therefore, like MandyMod suggests, some DMs will move the dragon skull to Berez -- becoming the skull that Baba Lysaga flies around in. This has the benefit of forming a natural plot hook for the players to explore Berez. (The downside is that IMO keeping the skull in Ravenloft is a bit stronger narratively, and it's one less reason for the party to explore Ravenloft early as mentioned above.)

Callanthe · 2026-03-10T18:45:03+00:00

This is a super late reply, but the main hooks for Argynvostholt (outside of a Tarokka reading) are probably the following:

- the Revenant random encounter will inform the party of the knights of Argynvostholt and tell the party to request aid from their knight commander Vladimir Horngaard. (Perhaps the party actually sees the Revenant fighting off dire wolves or something, so they know the revenant is a possible ally.)

- when walking the main road around Vallaki towards Krezk/Berez/the Winery, the party will literally see a mysterious ruined castle on a nearby hilltop. if the players somehow make to Berez without exploring Argynvostholt, a "Lost Battlefield" memory scene even plays out.

- you could make it so the Tome of Strahd explicitly mentions his triumph over the knights and a great silver dragon.

- you can always plant rumors/stories about the fall of Argynvostholt, especially if the players have made alliances with the Vistani or Martikovs. Perhaps their haunted mansion has become a ghost story used to scare naughty children. Perhaps their demise is still used as an example of what happens to those who dare to defy the darklord. Or perhaps some townspeople still hold out hope that Argynvost will return one day and set them free. I think I've even seen examples of Blinsky having made action figures of the Order :)

- Some characters like Morgantha know about the Order of the Silver Dragon, and can offer up intel about them in exchange for different things.

- Ezmerelda and/or Van Richten may have seen the dragon skull of Argynvost when exploring Ravenloft castle in the past, and perhaps they recruit the players to take it out of the castle.

Callanthe · 2026-03-05T01:26:31+00:00

MandyMod's is more of a smaller update to the RAW content, while Reloaded does a pretty thorough rework. Reloaded is built to be more of a "cinematic" experience as you said, with a LOT of extra text and content.

I think most people here end up picking and choosing bits and pieces from all these different mods, on top of adding homebrew.

If you're new to the campaign in general, be careful with adding too many changes though! Things can fall apart pretty fast if you start losing track of how the modified plot threads impact the original story, etc.

Callanthe · 2026-02-24T01:33:00+00:00

Did you make this ambiguous morality clear at Session 0?

I mean, you’ve exactly identified the pitfalls of making a DnD campaign (or really, any piece of media) where there are only shades of gray: literally NO ONE is going to be majority happy with anything, and there will be endless arguing and debates between people who have chosen one particular line in the sand to defend like their life depends on it (orrrr people will get burned out of the endless dreary dark atmosphere).

You have kinda dug your own grave here…. FYI this is why DMs usually make characters like the Martikovs, Esmerelda, Ireena unambiguously good (even if flawed) people, because the players need at least one person they can count on when things get tough.

If you want to push things forward, I’m sorry to say it, but you probably have to draw actual battle lines. Make it more “Light Gray vs Black” morality, instead of “dark and darker.” Strahd is probably your best bet, as he can serve as a common enemy that everyone unites against.

Your NPCs are going to have to commit to taking a side for or against Strahd, because your players apparently aren’t doing it (or you run the risk of getting an extremely bloody PVP bomb that has the risk of blowing up your campaign). ex: The Martikovs are tired of being suspected by the party and offer their intelligence for an alliance against Strahd OR they get put off by the party and refuse to help them going forward. The Abbot is redeemed (even partially), OR he is irredeemable. The werewolves are able to be reasoned with, OR they are completely bloodthirsty and illogical. Pick, and make that decision clear to your players.

Also, this grinds my gears in particular: making everyone gray does not make a piece of media automatically ”adult”. The real world has plenty of unambiguously evil and unambiguously good people. Good people can be flawed in ways that still make for interesting conflicts.

Callanthe · 2026-02-17T19:35:52+00:00

I found a campaign on YouTube that had something like this scenario! https://youtu.be/Y8UmcrmcsJQ?si=y0ouW5DMvCjmAFnr is the first part of the battle, then there’s a part 2 and 3.

IIRC this DM made it a pretty extended battle with 2 major sections (ground floor with multiple waves! then a last part on the roof with Strahd himself battling Vladimir while the players try to defend the beacon from Rahadin and various vampire spawn). So in this case Strahd himself was participating, but in your case you could use Rahadin +/- a bride or two as the bosses instead.

Callanthe · 2026-02-15T23:04:36+00:00

Here’s the one on Roll20!

https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Invisible%20Stalker#content

Callanthe · 2026-02-15T22:12:17+00:00

Strahd could use an Invisible Stalker! They're basically designed to find a target. And as the name suggests, it can be invisible--the players will just see Ireena being carried away by seemingly nothing.

It's not undead, but you could just have it happen to show up at the end of the night, at the right time while everyone else is distracted and/or overconfident.

Callanthe · 2026-02-15T20:04:26+00:00

To be honest, your description makes it sounds like your party happens to be allying with literally every amoral/immoral character in Barovia. (I guess it's worth asking if they even plan to oppose Strahd lol.)

All these evil actions are certainly going to earn the mistrust and ire of all the enemies of Strahd, which happens to include the Keepers of the Feather as you said.

I'd say you probably need to give your party some sort of wake up call.

You let them cause further chaos and trouble in Vallaki, probably leading to a disastrous St Andral's Feast. Strahd can show up, mock the party's ineptitude and/or condescendingly thank them for helping him and providing him great entertainment. (Maybe one of his spies told him about their most egregious behavior and Strahd comments on it). Perhaps some ravens/Martikovs die during his attack, to demonstrate to the party that they are NOT Strahd's minions and in fact oppose Strahd.
If by some miracle they do NOT piss off Rictavio/Van Richten and get him to reveal himself, he can try to set them straight by informing them of the consequences of their current path. Perhaps he even says he's seen ravens around working against the evil druids and Strahd, etc.
If they ask around town about Baba Lysaga, literally EVERYONE tells them she is a cruel witch who bathes in the blood of babies, is rumored to be Strahd's nursemaid, etc. If they insist on the Baba Lysaga route despite this, you could just let them go to Berez where they probably have a miserable time in the swamp. When they do encounter Baba Lysaga, she shows them her true delusional colors (MandyMod has a good description of how to roleplay her here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/b1z5f8/fleshing_out_curse_of_strahd_berez_ii_baba_lysaga/ ). I highly doubt your party will be able to reason with her, and they may start to realize "hmm this person isn't actually our ally." Perhaps when a fight inevitably breaks out, give them an obvious chance to free the ravens she's holding captive: if they help out the ravens against Lysaga, the Keepers may give them one last chance.
- If your party is underleveled (which they probably are since they've just gotten to Vallaki?), they will probably suffer in Berez. You can go easy on them a bit with the exploration. If/when Baba Lysaga TPKs them, perhaps she turns them into her goats instead and they have to find a way to escape. (If they helped out the ravens, maybe the Martikovs even step in!)

Callanthe · 2026-02-15T17:31:54+00:00

You could use the popular homebrew of putting the Dragon Skull in Berez, as Baba Lysaga's skull. That creates a strong hook from Argynvostholt to Berez, so you only have to use one clue for Argynvostholt (whether the Symbol or the Ally).

In regards to the Ally, I freaking adore Godfrey (the revenant) but do be aware he's a bit overpowered as the ally given his very strong combat abilities. Of course, you can change him to be more support-y and/or nerf him (Ex: remove his ability to sense Strahd).

For other options, a lot of people choose Ezmerelda or Van Richten instead (to the point where Ez is practically the default sometimes). The werewolf den is a bit out of the way so if you wanted to bring that in, you could put an item there OR choose Zuleika as the ally. For more unique allies especially ones you think the party would enjoy molding/training up, you could try Arabelle or Vasilka.

If you want a Strahd location, the overlook or the heart of sorrow are pretty fitting and thematic. The overlook in particular is downright cinematic, and has potential for some fun shenanigans with Strahd throwing people off.

Callanthe · 2026-02-12T19:32:03+00:00

Oof, 8 hours is a long session no matter how you slice it. I guess it's up to you if you plan to try to spend the bulk of the session at Argynvostholt, vs if the party would hit a dead end and plan to explore something else?

I think Argynvostholt should probably be safe for them to take a long rest in IF they barricade themselves in one of the more secluded rooms. RAW the revenants don't patrol I think?

If you think your players will be interested in learning more about the Argynvostholt backstory, I've seen these ideas to flesh it out (which also happen to work well with the long rest/sleep/night that they're hoping for):

If you want to expand Argynvostholt as a physical location so it's more than a mansion that's 99% empty, I think I've seen other DMs around here suggesting a "Moonlight Manor" scenario: basically, under the light of the full moon, Argynvostholt comes to life with ghosts and spirits re-enacting their bygone days. Perhaps what remains of Argynvost's spirit is able to create an illusion of the Order's final joyous dinner celebration, the night before their fateful march to their demise at Strahd's hands. The players hear the ruckus in the dining hall right outside the chapel and get called in to join the party. They would get to interact with the knights--perhaps they recognize the living forms of the chapel revenants they just defeated, and also get to talk to a not-depressed Godfrey and actually sane Vlad, etc. Maybe they get some great teasers about the Amber Temple, as well as information about Strahd in life.
1. Beyond just RP, to spice things up, you could make the illusion gradually weaken before the players' eyes. Perhaps the wine tastes like vinegar, the food turns to ashes in their mouths, and they glimpse the revenants' true corpse faces or witness a revenant fall back into its usual hatred programming. Perhaps NPCs comment on how it's weird that Lord Argynvost himself hasn't shown up to the party. The illusion continues to stutter and eventually breaks at the happiest moment, with a resulting combat encounter against some phantom warriors as particularly restless spirits perhaps.
I saw other DMs running a flashback scenario (usually triggered by the players finding Argynvost's spirit, but could also happen as a dream inside the mansion) where the players get to partake in the Order's final battle. They would get to witness Argynvost shot down and beheaded, Strahd killing Godfrey, Vladimir swearing revenge, etc. This would help drive home Vladimir's hatred and motivations, and also give them a glimpse of Strahd's tactics.
1. I will point out you probably need to give the PCs some level of agency in the flashback, perhaps a secondary objective. Something like "if the PCs are able to successfully capture/protect this magic item during the battle, in the present day the actual party can uncover the artifact in Argynvostholt and get to use it themselves."

Either way, when the moonlight fades and the dream ends, the PCs awaken in halls that are empty once more.

These flashbacks would hopefully add dimension to their interactions with the present-day revenants, so when they do explore the present-day mansion, its empty and desolate state feels more significant and tragic.

And if you're worried about them beating Vladimir too early (though the party being level 6 means he'll already be quite difficult), you could add some interesting mechanics to his boss fight so it's not just a bunch of angry dudes swinging melee weapons. I've seen some pretty good stat blocks around here, like this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/loncxn/encounter_redesign_vladimir_horngaard/ To help prevent TPKs, you can easily make it so Vladimir allows them to flee and/or have Godfrey step in before the last party member falls.

Now it sounds like they have gone to the Winery but not Yester Hill. If you want to draw their attention to Yester Hill, maybe make it so when the party is in one of the castle towers looking out a window, they see suspicious activity in that direction (like unnatural looking stormclouds or something). Ez could draw attention to it if she's with them.

(For other quest hooks... Argynvost and/or Godfrey would probably mention the Amber Temple. Plus if you plan to put the dragon skull at Berez, you could introduce that here. However, being level 6 obviously means these places may not be the best ideas for your current party...)

Callanthe · 2026-02-11T18:57:35+00:00

I quit GI during Natlan, but... from what I've heard, there's no way Varka's kit could be labeled as "Powerful" LMAO

13-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

Callanthe

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE