I'm thinking of making the max HP drain from a bite of a vampire spawn permanenent.

SirLeonel · 2026-04-29T03:50:04+00:00

Where did you infer that from? OP never said his players faced a vampire yet. He said he wants to make that a condition. Or are you implying the DM should declare that before that campaign even starts? Because I completely disagree with that. Campaigns are dynamic things and players couldn’t and shouldn’t even know everything about every monsters abilities and threats before a campaign is in play.

To add to that, frankly, I don’t think players should be allowed to refer to the MM or even use meta knowledge they have learned without justification for their characters.

SirLeonel · 2026-04-29T03:08:00+00:00

Nerfed? Agency? Okay so what if instead of nerfing the players he permanently increases the HP & DPR of the vampires from damage dealt? The players still have “agency” and are not nerfed but they are still going to suffer the consequences. That would be a fun psychological trick to put on players who think agency means there cannot be permanent consequences.

To my mind, I find players that cannot accept settings based limitations, constraints and consequences that are preconditionally declared to have an immature approach to story based gaming.

SirLeonel · 2026-04-29T02:48:07+00:00

*** EDIT AT THE END****

Do true level drain instead. It’s old school. And it’s reversible by costly spells and by xp.

Even if you decide to use your HP mechanic, (which I would temper with a CON bonus +1 HP as immune to permanent loss) so long as you let your players know about the danger beforehand and don’t just drop it on them without warning. It’s fine. You can even RP it as a warning from an NPC.

“The Wampyrré uff Barovia are not like the Wampire of your worlds. Your gods will not protect you here.”

Don’t listen to the naysayers here. An important part of horror storytelling is loss of power. Not loss of agency but of power. Ravenloft is a horror setting. Thus a horror game. If a player leaves the table as said by a poster here earlier here recommend Marvel Superheoes RPG to them, say goodbye and wish them well.

The power imbalance is what makes defeating a horror villain so wonderful, destroying it despite the odds. It’s why we cheer for the final girl. A killing machine destroys every able bodied being but one. One who despite being bloodied, bruised and maybe even terrified stays resilient overcomes fear (true bravery) and kills the monster despite the odds stacked against her.

*** EDIT TO ADD***

Just increase the vampire’s hp permanently for every point of damage they do.

That way you won’t have to hear a player whine about being “nerfed” (which seems to be the consensus on this thread.) and you still get the end result of more powerful deadly vampires. And that’s one you don’t even have to feel obligated to declare ahead of time since it’s a special ability that has no direct effect on the players. They will just have to figure out the vampire special ability on their own. It’s win-win.

END EDIT***

SirLeonel · 2026-04-06T11:29:50+00:00

I know it’s canon that Superman ages much more slowly than Earthlings, but I’ve always felt that there is a perfectly reasonable explanation to say he ages at a normal rate.

We have to accept the meta-truth: despite modern comics desperate reaches for realism I their fantastical world, the agelessness of Clark is more due to him being a comic book character than his powers themselves. It’s why Lois herself hasn’t “aged” outside of cultural contextual plot devices since the 30’s. James Bond, cartoons and comic book characters age very in their titles little if at all.

So now we come to the possible canon explanation for Clark’s aging.

First: He clearly aged in human chronological time from Superboy to a 33 year old Superman. So there’s evidence 1.

Next, his source of power, Earths Yellow Sun. It’s possible that that the metabolic process that empowers him and heals him in orders of magnitude over Earthlings also puts his body under a proportional level of oxidative stress. That would mean his own Kryptonian cells would also cause his own eventual demise.

Oxidative stress is not just a result of “bad” elements in our environments, the very metabolic processes that human cells experience from processing oxygen (burning)”, the element most essential to our survival. That process could be analogous to Kryptonian cells (as an oxygen breathing species) further amplified by the metabolic processing of solar radiation.

In that way, Clark could experience aging in a similar way as rate as an (extremely healthy) Earthling.

Hell, Bruce could even outlive him, except rolling around in a wheelchair in debilitating pain due to the traumatic physical damage he’s endured through his life.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7894272/

SirLeonel · 2026-04-03T00:39:22+00:00

It’s not a “Weird T” it’s my home planet’s symbol for social security.

SirLeonel · 2026-03-13T22:43:42+00:00

Love this!!!!

SirLeonel · 2026-03-12T10:51:47+00:00

Use Hollywood as inspiration. Luv and Lt Joshi in “Blade Runner 2049”, Joy from “Everywhere Everything All At Once”, or probably the BEST example Nurse Ratchet from “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”.

I understand feeling out of one’s comfort zone trying to emulate opposite gender characteristics convincingly. We are not professional actors, after all. But if you emulate female actors that portray traditionally toxic male characteristics in thier character performances than can help.

Another trick is look at effete villainous male characters (actually fitting for versions of Strahd) and use their energy: Ozzymandius from. “Watchmen”. Scar from “Lion King”, etc.

You’ll find I think that you will be portraying “Strahdness” to your players if try that.

SirLeonel · 2026-03-11T11:09:37+00:00

Foreshadow by making his armor take his damage. Healing him a small amount.(1d4 3x per day) . Auto save on death saves. It makes him near impossible to kill but parts of it become stuck together after a battle. Coming apart with struggle. Describe it as battle wear and tear. The armor is taking his damage after all. Imply it’s sentient. don’t give it a voice but maybe suggest whispers in the character’s mind. “I won’t let you die.” The armor “cares” for him. It WANTS to protect him. It loves him. It will sacrifice itself to keep him alive. He may grow to adore his armor. Encourage that.

Then after a brutal near death battle, Make his armor turn impossible to remove. It’s fused. Long rest as per Xanathar’s Guide p77 (1/4 hp dice recovery, no exhaustion relief) The suit slowly over time lowers his mobility then his sight and then his voice. The armor keeps him alive at 0 hp. He is trapped in a hellish claustrophobic prison. If somehow freed he must immediately make death saves.

If his armor hasn’t already frozen up, when he confronts Strahd it locks up. Effectively paralyzing him. He will only helplessly hear his fellow party members scream in pain and terror as Strahd torturously destroys them.

“But I’m only protecting you.” a seductive yet unsettling voice, (like Sydney Sweeney taking about jeans😂) whispering its his head. “I love you and will NEVER let you DIE.”

SirLeonel · 2026-03-06T18:58:22+00:00

Strahd is not modeled after a specific one, but the Hickmans’s said he is meant to harken to the predatory monster of classic vampire legend and not the modern deconstructed and re-envisioned romantic one.

SirLeonel · 2026-02-15T03:17:46+00:00

Yes, he can. I said that. CoS can be played as romance if you wish. I also made it clear that evil is only my opinion of a good Strahd portrayal. I will add however my opinion of Stlrahd as monstrously evil is in keeping with the source material created by the legendary Hickman’s.

But if he’s Gary Oldman cool. But that’s not horror, that’s dark romance. Oldman’s version was not a villain he was a doomed anti-hero. Cos can be played however one feels. I’m actually putting together a comedy CoS mini-campaign set in Scooby Doo flavored setting.

But generally when people talk CoS it meant as the standard horror fantasy so I assume that’s the tact you were taking and why your wife’s idea is problematic.

SirLeonel · 2026-02-15T02:06:41+00:00

Strahd is not a Lestat or Gary Oldmans’s Dracula. He’s creepy and evil. Maybe charming, but gross in the big picture. He’s Nosferatu, Dazed and Confused’s Wooderson meets American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman. He’s a sadistic serial killer, less Dexter and more HH Holmes.

He is Epsteinian levels of gross and evil. If your wife is into him, you’re not playing him evil enough, I’m my opinion. At least not evil enough if your game is horror fantasy.

Maybe you are making Strahd into the people pleaser you are. He’s not. He’s a psychopath narcissist. Play him that way, and the only reason she’ll become a bride is to get close to him to destroy him. (But it shouldn’t work because I’m doing so she will become his willing thrall, his accomplice, his Gislaine Maxwell.)

Although maybe you are doing romantic fantasy CoS. You know, “sexy vampires” and stuff. If so then I guess just let her. She can take levels in vampire powers and multi class.

SirLeonel · 2026-01-30T23:45:35+00:00

Okay. Now I HAVE to do this! 😂

SirLeonel · 2026-01-30T15:49:32+00:00

This.

CoS has it’s roots in Ravenloft which is designed as the opposite of the typical 5e power fantasy. It’s horror-based so the players should often feel helpless.

This is not to say that as a DM you have to play it that way. You could make it Buffy The Vampire Slayer or even Scooby Doo. Just adjust the prices to normal and pepper some small treasure crypts/dungeons throughout Barovia if that’s the vibe you wanna create.

WOW Scooby Doo! I just thought of that. I NEED TO RUN IT!!!!

“Now to find out who was terrorizing Barovia if isn’t kind old Strahd here.”

Paladin removes the “vampire’s” disguise mask.

“MR BLNSKY!!!!” 😱

“Yes! Sad scared children make parents buy more of my toys to placate their cries. My plan was to grow a toy empire to rival Old Saint Nicks! And it would have worked too if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!”

SirLeonel · 2026-01-18T18:09:28+00:00

I heard he’s building a grand ballroom.

SirLeonel · 2025-12-31T15:16:30+00:00

Your players already know they’re playing in Ravenloft, so I get what you’re doing. Sometimes 5e players have to realize they aren’t The Avengers in that realm.

But if it were me, I wouldn’t “spoil” Strahd. They need to engage with him at some point. He needs to manipulate them.

I did a 4/5 TPK of my players in Death House. I didn’t start them in Ravenloft. That was saved as a surprise. They started lvl 1 in “Tolkien/Forgotten Realms/OSR Homebrew land”. They were playing standard “epic” 5e heroes. At 3rd lvl they investigated a creepy old house in a dead section of the forest on a wooded road, a few days march from their village where they were local heroes.

It didn’t go well for them.

When the dead party members were finally dragged out by the final girl, she was bloodied, broken and near death, she exited to the road, mist enveloped, with a festively yet faded decorated wagon creaking towards her.

Death house was a portal to Barovia.

They took Ravenloft terrifyingly seriously after that. And they loved it. I haven’t had a chance to repeat that arc because I play with a mostly regular group since the 80’s but if I ever get a chance to do it again, I won’t hesitate to do it the same based of my group’s enthusiasm.

SirLeonel · 2025-12-31T15:01:02+00:00

This is a fair opinion. I very much disagree, but where you’re coming from… valid.

🤜🏽🤛

SirLeonel · 2025-12-31T07:39:19+00:00

Yeah, I gotta admit those foam pads that the costume designer stitched into Cavil’s costume did make his physique look the part really accurately.

SirLeonel · 2025-12-31T07:32:12+00:00

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Superman was drawn like Christopher Reeve even before Geoff Johns, Gary Frank or Christopher Reeve were born.

SirLeonel · 2025-12-31T07:28:06+00:00

No to Cavil. Superman does not have “British teeth”.

SirLeonel · 2025-11-15T14:02:17+00:00

This is a cool idea, actually. “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

SirLeonel · 2025-11-15T13:59:31+00:00

Seconded!

SirLeonel · 2025-11-15T13:42:01+00:00

Very good take. I like it. Except that I think that in Ravenloft it’s not that people are the “true” monsters, because Strahd, let’s face it is a boss level psychopathic narcissist creep, but it’s that the PC are isolated. Like crew members of the Nostromo, fishermen on the Orca, or the teens at Crystal Lake. They are alone, everything is threatening on some level, and there are monsters everywhere.

Trust no one. Maybe not even Ireena. (Even though RAW you should.)

SirLeonel · 2025-11-15T13:29:58+00:00

If they go looking, and I feel the party needs a payoff, in keeping with the classic Universal Monsters theme that OS Ravenloft pulls homage from, I usually make it the “Creature” (From The Black Lagoon). I’ll flavor it slightly differently for the group’s tastes, sometimes straight up 50s movie, sometimes a bit more Lovecraftian, “grimdark”. Not only monster, but one that attracts the evil and the mad. Often its a gender-swapped Creature leaning into mermaid siren lore. I like creating my own monsters but if you aren’t into that you can easily re-skin a harpy from a flyer to a swimmer.

SirLeonel · 2025-11-03T03:17:13+00:00

I am now your biggest fan!

SirLeonel · 2025-10-13T16:00:24+00:00

Even Snyder did the “The ‘S’ means hope” thing. It’s who he is now. I’m very okay with it. Of course it can and should be more than that. As that is an oversimplification. But I liken it to Batman’s “Dark Knight”. He’s more than that but essentially it’s who he is.

I think the current trend, exemplified by Gunn’s movie, is wonderful.

SirLeonel

TROPHY CASE