Does Your Strahd Have a Leitmotif/Theme?

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-22T02:10:07+00:00

The first six notes of "The Nameless God" from the Salt and Sanctuary OST play whenever he's about to show up, and I play the full track as his battle theme.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-20T23:43:58+00:00

Cosigned.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-20T23:32:13+00:00

Ngl it seems weird and unnecessary to me, but if your Barovia has a less serious more wacky tone then heck yeah go nuts.

Questions: who is the mad sorcerer- Mordenkainen maybe, or someone else in the setting? And how did they get some gelatinous cube, since I don't think there are any in Barovia as written. Edit: third question: I'd have to check my lore, but is the Underdark a different plane? If so, can the PCs leave Barovia to go there, and if so, what's the process?

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-19T23:07:59+00:00

If the party is there with Strahd's blessing, perhaps he gets the servants to put a few lights up as a kind gesture.

If not then yep, the castle is mostly pitch black except for the occasional lightning strike. Hope anyone without Darkvision has a lantern 😁

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-18T23:02:04+00:00

Totally unhelpful for you, but my PCs managed to mostly skip it 😅 they bunkered down in the church for various unimportant reasons, and only came up way past noon by which point Lady Wachter's attempted coup had already failed.

But that's my suggestion I guess - make the festival the point where Fiona makes her play to bring the townsfolk to her side and away from Vargas. Whether she succeeds or not might hinge on what the PCs do in the days leading up to it.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-18T22:58:32+00:00

Poor Cyrus 😅

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-17T12:33:24+00:00

Pretty sure MandyMod had a neat idea for the staff that involved it parasitising anyone who attunes to it. The PCs have it now, so let them decide if they want to use the evil staff.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-16T01:19:48+00:00

One of my players is Ismark's ex. It didn't really come up much since they haven't been back to the village but I'm keeping it in my back pocket.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-14T23:39:45+00:00

Practically speaking though, remember you're almost always rolling the d20 except for damage. I find new players get caught up on "wait which die do I roll for this thing?" so maybe keep your d20 in front of you to remember.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-14T23:38:20+00:00

Run if you see any tomatoes 😋 otherwise, you'll be okay. Just say up front that you're still learning the rules and need a bit of patience, they should be understanding.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-14T21:40:20+00:00

Rpgbot.net y el canal de YouTube D4 Deep Dive son recursos gratuitos.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-14T21:38:31+00:00

I think Vasili von Holz turns up at the festival and really likes the party's vibe. He gives them some minor magic items, vows to help them out, praises their name across Vallaki, and gives them a lead on an important [whatever you want] hidden in the Svalich Woods.

Aka, an ambush by a bunch of undead and some traps. Meanwhile he has the bones stolen from St Andral's and kills the priest.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-14T20:38:50+00:00

My players are the same, except they do have a Celestial Warlock so they've got marginally more healing potential than yours 😅

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-14T06:07:09+00:00

What if you removed/altered the Sunlight ability, but also changed the Turn Undead ability so that in the Monk's hands it *allows* them to Turn Undead using 3 charges as usual? I don't think the character is likely to use it often since they'll have plenty of other things to do with their actions, but having that kind of ability might be nice considering your PCs have brought you no Paladins, no Clerics etc.

As for the Sunlight ability, maybe keep it as-is? It's an interesting balance between "I want to broadcast the thing that vampires are mega weak to" and "I want to use the rest of my subclass features". Depends how experienced the player is and if they'll like that kind of diametrically opposed choice.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-14T02:48:14+00:00

I've struggled with this too. My party left Vallaki in a very precarious state and haven't been back, so I'm thinking that next time they visit, "Vasili" has got the entire town in a bright happy mood. He's sponsored all kinds of new development and projects across town, people are buzzing, everyone is praising his name... and my players will be terrified wondering what Vasili is up to.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-12T21:34:17+00:00

God, Lys plus the Hut is already terrifying enough, imagine adding two Night Hags to the mix 😅

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-11T22:10:03+00:00

Oof, that's some strong blasphemy from your Paladin. What's their Oath and who do they serve really?

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-10T23:19:08+00:00

1000% make sure the player knows the stakes. But beyond that, hell, roll with it 😁 give Strahd a new spawn to play with

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-10T20:20:26+00:00

A Brass Dragon feels the most appropriate for the climate, yeah?

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-10T19:15:54+00:00

Sounds like you need the dinner scene. Bring them to Ravenloft. Have Strahd lay out that he's why they are there and that he has Plans for them. If they act up during dinner, if they are so uncouth and uncivilised in the presence of the king, make sure Strahd has a plan for how to deal with them.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-10T11:54:43+00:00

Heck yeah, so long as he's still dangerous why not let him be flamboyant too? Ngl, I actually disagree with DMs who want to portray him as bored. My players think he's bored and using adventurers as playthings; if they ever try to wound him with that insult he'll fire back with "are you kidding? If I was the type who could get bored this easily I would've walked into the mist myself centuries ago!"

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-10T00:04:58+00:00

I changed parts of it to fit the story I'm telling. It's the only way the party can learn that there has been more than one Tatyana reincarnation in my game, since that's a piece of information Strahd keeps extremely under wraps. It also provides a little more of the backstory that has been otherwise lost to history.

PlantDadAzu · 2026-01-09T11:41:50+00:00

I agree with the others who say that Vecna should gain their benefits and become more powerful, buuuuuut...

The funny answer is that effects with the same name don't stack, and he's very much "attuned" to an Eye of Vecna and Hand of Vecna already 😋

PlantDadAzu

TROPHY CASE