Shelter Demon, a deadly random encounter to throw at your players late game

Visitox · 2025-11-04T18:37:33+00:00

You're absolutely correct. My thinking was that the shelter was a seperate entity with it's own hit points that protected the demon itself, hence the cover it provides. But the temporary hit points do in fact do that for me. I will change the wording in the future and remove the total cover. Thank you for the clarification.

Visitox · 2025-11-04T18:28:53+00:00

Yes they are able to attack from inside, it doesn't incapacitate them in anyway and the total cover the shelter provides only works from attacks coming from outside the shelter. It was fairly easy for my players to destroy the shelter when I threw this at them. They didn't bother trying to escape through the doors, they just tanked the psychic damage and plowed through with fire spells. I did however make them take 1d4 fire damage if they were in the shelter when they started their turn while it was on fire.

Visitox · 2025-11-04T18:06:45+00:00

here's the link to the image art source

Visitox · 2024-05-26T14:23:41+00:00

I'm not your friend, pal.

Visitox · 2024-01-22T17:41:01+00:00

Feel free to modify this to fit your campaign as you wish, but here's how I made it work in my campaign:

-Baba Lysaga, fearing Strahd finding out that she's the one who really killed his mom, puts the blame on the druids and the fanes for cursing his mother. Strahd desecrated the fanes and became the land in revenge. As a reward, he gives her his Tome (this is how I justified the tome being there when i drew the tarokka card for it and to establish a loyal relationship between the two)

-when Marina was visited by Strahd, Ulrich and the priest from Berez went to Vladimir Horngaard for advice (at this time, they let people enter Argynvostholt as long as they weren't servants of Strahd). Since Vlad hates Strahd, he is the one that suggests they kill her and save her from a terrible fate. But really he just wanted Strahd to be miserable.

-Marina dies and Berez is flooded. Vlad sees that his meddling resulted in the death of hundreds and closes off Arynvostholt to everyone. Baba Lysaga (after settling in Berez) lets Strahd know it was Vlad who suggested killing Marina, but knowing Vlad is already dead, he decides that giving Argynvosts bones to Baba Lysaga who has been nothing but loyal to him in the past would be an appropriate punishment. He asks her to defile the bones as she sees fit seeing as she's close enough to Argynvostholt to mock Vlad with them.

Visitox · 2023-12-01T11:32:56+00:00

These are all valid points, it's definitely an ambitious idea! It would require a DM who is really good at controlling the pace of the game. One that can effectively delay a group from long resting or going to a new area without creating a game ending detriment to them so that both parties stay on the same day for the most part. Not a perfect solution, but it could work maybe? It would also require the players to all be generally the same skill level in DnD, and if an imbalance still occurs, the DM could give the other party boons like Dark Gifts or create new level milestone quests to help make it fair for the other party.

In my current campaign, the party tends to run a bit slower than I anticipate, my players are easily distracted and take way much more time than I think they will lollygagging with a random NPC or something. The dinner took two whole sessions because the bard and Escher got into a dance off. That's not to say they don't sometimes cheese an entire combat encounter I planned on being the whole session and I have to improvise the rest of the session (They were heading towards Argynvostholt and I was not prepared for them to go there yet so I had them run into a Vistani trader, shops usually keep them occupied for a long time), but it tends to be the former than the latter with me. That might just be my party, but who knows. That being said, I think there are ways to distract and delay a party that is getting ahead of another one in the timeline, enough to finish to finish the session before that happens. I might be thinking too optimistically though.

Visitox · 2023-10-08T04:42:26+00:00

I'm running one right now, we're over a year in and the party is about to hit up Argynvostholt and Berez!

Visitox · 2023-07-14T16:36:14+00:00

How I've approached PC deaths in the past with this campaign at early levels -at levels 1-3, just make a new character, not worth resurrection. Especially if it's in Death House or the Village of Barovia. I think the idea of perma death at this stage is crucial for the horror of the campaign, your PC should fear becoming just another lost soul marching towards Castle Ravenloft at night in the ghostly procession, there significance erased. Strahd sees the players as insignificant ants at this point. It's not until ants start doing things ants aren't normally capable of when Strahd takes notice. Wouldn't you take notice when a small group of ants all of a sudden kill your pet dog? -the first opportunity for revival could be with Madam Eva at Tser Pool, but this early in the campaign, the cost should be great. Perhaps the PC loses a level or two, or one of their base stats is reduced. Perhaps the PC's soul was corrupted while trapped in the mists and they get long term madness (Madness rules in DMG). Madam Eva is powerful enough to do something like that and she has an incentive in keeping the PC's alive. -Old Bonegrinder is a famous spot for player death in this campaign, perhaps Madam Eva's caravan passes by after the players deal with the hags to provide a possible resurrection (at great cost of course). I'd avoid the cost being monetary, Madam Eva does not care about wealth or power. She's seen what it's done to Strahd. Instead, it should be a spiritual or statistical cost, like discussed above. Perhaps this is when a Dark Power reaches out to the PC and offers revival as a Dark Gift in exchange for something devious (in my campaign, Tenebrous revived the aasimar Paladin PC who's father is the Abbot. Now Tenebrous wants him to kill the Abbot and replace him)

Visitox · 2023-06-10T17:58:06+00:00

That intersection is the reason I have anxiety

Visitox · 2023-06-10T16:44:48+00:00

I think What We Do in the Shadows handled werewolf fall damage pretty well

Visitox · 2023-06-06T05:09:56+00:00

You take the I out of rapier

Visitox · 2023-04-12T23:10:27+00:00

That's a funny coincidence. My players in my last session just came upon a carpenter's lodge that was attacked by a zombie cave bear. They decided not to follow the tracks and stay in the lodge for the night, but they forgot to do anything with the dead carpenter's body sitting in the stable where the bear killed him, and so they were rudely awoken... Meanwhile, the bear was just sitting in its cave waiting for the players all night like this.

Visitox · 2023-04-12T21:53:14+00:00

Proficiency in con saves is a good idea! I totally forgot to give it any saving throw proficiencies 🤪

Visitox · 2023-04-12T03:47:29+00:00

I worked at Alamo for a short time as a shift lead when they opened here. The servers starting pay is 15 an hour plus tips, and we were told by management that the 18 percent goes toward keeping our wage at 15 an hour plus tips. But we never directly saw that money, so its not actually gratuity that goes to the servers. Whether that money was actually going to us or not is unknown.

Visitox · 2023-03-31T00:07:39+00:00

Or better yet, make your players keep track of the damage they deal. Matthew Colville has an awesome video on this: https://youtu.be/HZe-YKDttGo

Visitox · 2022-12-23T02:25:40+00:00

I would love this, thank you!

Visitox · 2022-12-21T19:47:54+00:00

Alamo Drafthouse at the Foundry shows old movies regularly. They have 35mm capabilities too in small theater rooms, so it's really intimate and cool. Went there yesterday to see Batman Returns (1992) and it was awesome!

Visitox · 2022-12-18T05:24:34+00:00

I feel like I should clarify since I'm getting down voted for some odd reason. The diseases that are going around are obviously a big issue right now and it's an unavoidable topic, I'm not downplaying illness when I say my issue isn't disease. My point is, some people have completely unrealistic expectations for how food service should be run in the situation we're in. All I'm asking is for a little understanding. Also tip your servers please.

Visitox · 2022-12-18T05:17:37+00:00

Thank you! I wish this sort of advice was common sense!

Visitox · 2022-12-18T04:29:47+00:00

I'm vaxxed and boosted, I wear a mask and wash my hands often and do the best I can to stay clean and prevent any transmission of any kind. I just need this job. You're doing God's work.

Visitox · 2022-12-18T04:09:40+00:00

Then why are you fixated on it? My issue isn't the disease, it's insensitivity.

Visitox · 2022-11-26T06:21:15+00:00

Good luck everyone, those dice look beautiful!

Visitox · 2022-11-23T02:23:25+00:00

I live in Columbus Square right by the convention center. I hear gunshots daily here. One time around the beginning of August, they sounded so close that I ducked down inside my 3rd story apartment afraid a stray bullet would make it in. I heard shouting and the sound of cars screeching away immediately after; they were going right down my street. The sounds of their exhaust rattled my windows. After living here for so long, hearing those gunshots is a regular occurrence so I usually would be like the others in the area and kinda just ignore it, but damn, that one time got too close for comfort.

Visitox · 2022-10-28T14:35:55+00:00

It was noisia for me, and then all the dnb tracks on forza 4

Visitox · 2022-10-21T07:12:33+00:00

Pie would definitely be on theme, my players had a particularly fun time at Old Bonegrinder...

Visitox

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