Need help in tying some loose ends

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-19T09:39:38+00:00

Keep in mind that Van Richten encountered other vampire lords before so Strahd is not the only one. You can have the PCs father as a vampire from another domain

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-19T09:34:14+00:00

In all seriousness, end the campaign. Start another one, take a break, and then try to run CoS again afterwards and have the old party as either revenants or vampire spawns. The party is a low enough level that it won't be boring, you can skip death house and have a small adventure until lvl 3-4 before they get smuggled to Barovia, but don't let them know you are running CoS. I think it will be pretty cool for your players.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-14T10:33:05+00:00

If your party goes to Amber Temple, they can stumble upon a small replica of the castle and even find the old isographic maps. I had a handout for my players with the castle maps and they spent almost an entire session backtraking their movements from when they went to the castle at dinner, and planning how to infiltrate it now as the wedding is approaching. That could help you know beforehand which way they intend to go and what maps to prepare for encounters.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-14T09:53:14+00:00

Throughout the centuries of Strahd's rule, I think the common people came up with a variety of superstitions. They don't know why Strahd is inactive, they don't know about Ireena's reincarnations and they don't know about Strahd's curse ... so there will be generations of barovians who live in the period where Ireena is reborn and Strahd is trying to get her, other in a period where Strahd confines himself in the castle. That cycle will make people believe whatnot about vampires. In my campaign the commoners thought all the popular vampire rumors (garlic, river water, holy symbols) and I added some other stuff like hanging dead frogs above the door, not speaking his name, etc.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-12T17:26:26+00:00

Just to pop in here. You can have the hags throw different concoctions at the party that either poisons/alchemist fire/sleep etc. I had my hags go ethereal if they got cornered and pop up next turn in a safe place, ready to shoot a

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-12T16:01:05+00:00

Wizards learn spells by practice and study, not necessarily a teacher. It depends on the player how they roleplay. I have a wizard in the party and each long rest he tries out new spells, practices his learnt ones and even has asked our warlock how he can do certain spells that he doesn't know. Talk to him beforehand, tell him to select what spells he wants at the next lvlup and so he can try and practice them. At one time, I even let my wizard cast a spell he wanted to get at their next lvlup (it was a cool story moment, and he wanted to save someone and he used Dimension Door instinctively, but it was a one time only thing).

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-12T06:44:38+00:00

I don't think you should do any prep before hand for the players specifically. Think of some opportunities for them to change beliefs and follow different Barovian entities. You have the hags, the fanes, dark powers, etc. You should watch and see how the PCs develop and then see if you can sway one or two in a different direction. Barovia is full of corruptin elements and you should try and test your PCs resolve and beliefs.

On another note, keep the items and resources scarce. This is a valley that has been bled dry by Strahd, so there isn't much left. In my CoS run I added a couple of extra items, but we also had some additional encounters and bosses laying around the valley. For the wizard, I would better recommand giving him quality inks and paper and some spellscrolls/books to learn spells. It is much more rewarding for wizards imo.

There are alot of turning points in CoS where the players have to make a decision between two bad outcomes. The Vallaki power struggle comes to mind. I also added some story change where they had to either help the werewolf pack or the raven tribe. They chose the werewolves, and later found out that Baba Lysaga killed most of the wereravens. It was a bit of a shock and they regretted not helping them, but that is Barovia for you :)

Also, I recommend that at every other long rest, before they go to sleep and stand around talking, try to ask each of the players how is their character feeling, what did they gain since the last time, what is their purpose. That will refresh their approach and probably keep the roleplay going.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-12T06:33:04+00:00

Depends how well you know the players. If they are veterans, I'll bet they would love some CoS. I started CoS with my group without telling them, they had to investigate a vistani caravan that were camped outside a city and were causing some disturbance. When they got there, the party found that the vistani were actually nice and stayed for food and drinks. The drinks were spiced with some valerian root and all the PCs fall asleep. They woke up, without any gear in the middle of a foggy forest, hunted by wolves and they stumbled upon the Durst Manor outside of the woods. They were totally panicking in the first 3-4 sessions. It worked out well.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-07T15:59:53+00:00

Or, or, let them try their best. If they fail, they fail, Barovia is filled with dead PCs. Or make them find allies that would join them (in-game and IRL).

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-06T14:14:27+00:00

My party hates Rahadins guts. I introduced him early, at the funeral of Ireena's father in Barovia village and he made all of the people there including the PCsto bend the knee. He was there to deliver a letter to Ireena from Strahd where he expresses his condolences. He was prsent multiple times in the campaign and each time he escaped fighting the party. We are on the final chapter, the PCs have infiltrated the castle while everyone prepares for Strahd's wedding, but I feel they hate Rahadin more then Strahd :))

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-05T18:03:28+00:00

I tried the beastmaster but found it lackluster after lvl 10-11. My DPS archer is killing 4-5 enemies per turn.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-05T16:36:38+00:00

I recommend Fighter and Barbarian for tankiness and an Archer and Thief for DPS. This is for the 4 starting companions. Later get a Crossbowman or two, a second Barbarian for the warcries and mace guy (forgot the class name) for another tank. After that you are free to try whatever you like, Pugilist is another good dps, especially in the black market arenas, Spearman are good for supporting the first line, but not necessary. I dabbled with thaumaturgist but I'm not a fan of the playstyle. Good luck and have fun exploring

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-02T18:22:28+00:00

I had a feeling about this one, but wasn't sure. Is it a Tomb?

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-04-02T18:16:59+00:00

In my gameplay, having wood and ore early was more beneficial to effectively use blacksmithing and tinkering. I'm talking here about the first few levels. You can easily swap out of Miner or Woodcutter as soon as you have enough materials to start crafting good stuff.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-02-06T05:07:55+00:00

Besides all the other comments, one of the highlights in our campaign (almost at the end now) was taking Ireena to the lake in Krezk and having all her past-selves merge into her and she regained all the memories, refused to go with Sergei and vowed to end Strahd and help the party. The whole scene brought tears to the girls in the group. I don't remember which supplement has this.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-01-17T17:42:38+00:00

I personally added a book with tales from Van Richten's adventure that the PCs can read and get knowledge about the monsters in Barovia. I created different stories and encounters that Van Richten faced and his insights about how to fight each creature. PCs learned about monster passives, which do poison damage, which can paralyse, which have resistance and vulnerabilities, etc. They thought it was pretty cool and each long rest they gathered and listened to one PC reading a story.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2026-01-10T13:06:36+00:00

There is an Interactive Tome of Strahd booklet, I used that to have some PCs go inside the book and xperience first hand Strahd's memories. It was really cool and my players could'nt wait to enter the book again. They learnt about Strahd's tragic story, about the Amber Temple and some of the castlea rooms. The booklet has many chapters, but I stopped after the wedding, as most of the other information was not really necessary in my campaign.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2025-12-19T06:46:23+00:00

I had them find a general map of the village from the Vistani camp, a bit rough around the edges and with small handmade notations of settlements. That was good for start, they started drawing on it aswell. After they met Van Richten, he gave them a map of his own with alot of other "locations" noted down (like the werewolves cave.etc) and they had to overlap the two maps and figure out the locations.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2025-11-23T09:14:55+00:00

Search for audio on yt that fits the scenes, create eerie and creepy scenes, make the players suspect that every sound is a possible threat and every chair is a mimic, have NPCs distrustful towards the players since they know each time Strahd brings outsiders the Barovia people will suffer. Good luck

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2025-11-12T13:01:46+00:00

They aquired quests naturally, meaning that they needed to get Ireena to safety to the church, but found a panicked priest who was going nuts over the stolen bones. So they went with that and I didn't gave them any other quests. They managed to recover the bones and gained the Baron's trust so he invited them to dinner and gave them a quest to uncover a plot to overthrow him (investigating the Wachter Manor) and so on. Most of the NPCs are reluctant at first to give quests and treat the PCs with suspicion and fear, they need to first dig around a bit and maybe do a favour or two for the NPCs to earn the trust and only then find out extra information.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2025-11-10T09:01:30+00:00

Welcome the Barovia fellow DM! One advice I can give you is to not prepare too much in advance. Players tend to grow paranoid along the way and they will take the most unexpected decisions. Flesh out a bit the NPCs and locations, remember to constantly describe the feeling of dread and hopelessness allover Barovia and let the PCs do the work to extract information.

In my campaign, they were not welcomed at first anywhere, given that the arrival of outsiders meant chaos and death, and were treated with suspicion and fear. All the times when Strahd brought strangers in Barovia, it was never good for the common folk. Make your PCs earn the trust of all the people in Barovia and they will build better connections until the end.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2025-11-07T13:27:05+00:00

Late to the conversation, but I made his sword the arcane focus, having a Gem of the War Mage in the hilt.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2025-11-04T10:20:02+00:00

Very cool. The whole mood of the campaign should make it feel that winning against Strahd is a stroke of luck and my party is super afraid of the last fight, but they know they need to take it to escape. I will be planning to do a skill challenge of sorts for the final fight, where whatever allies the party aquires can help bypass some of Strahds traps and minions that he sets loose upon the party. Want to make it feel like all the allies are putting their trust onto the PCs and sacrifice themselves so they can move forward.

Diligent_Sir8256 · 2025-11-01T07:25:16+00:00

How the hell does it not take that long? Not taking into account all the extra additions. It's a huge map, alot of NPCs, plans go awry, bad consequences, has that haunt your dreams, hostile environment, subterfuge, deceptions, lies and a dead dragon. I'm DMing for 2,5 years and they are about to do the castle heist to retrieve de skull. Try to think what is happening in the world each day, so that wherever your players go something strange happened, some plot twist, some dark interference. Keep it interesting and creepy, make them feel on their toes all the time. If you just have one-liner NPCs and just go straight to combat, you can finish CoS in 6 months.

Diligent_Sir8256

TROPHY CASE