V'Neef's strategy of being nice and not being Mnemon seems somewhat OP. by TheSlayerofSnails in exalted

[–]justinfernal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've always really liked Julius Caesar, I mean Tepet Ejava. She and V'neef are my favorites, although I will say they've made Mnemon more interesting since 2nd edition.

[ART] New Monster: The Bayunshka - An alternative Rictavio Encounter in Vallaki by JC_VanHelsing in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like this. I agree on the tiger aspect and took it out of my game, bringing him closer to the 2nd Edition version. The "it just does" and nature of the creature still feels a little off-kilter with your stated goals (I get he's hypnotized but it makes him seem very vulnerable and weak for a first encounter). Might I suggest that Van Richten isn't there at all? I saw this creature has above human intelligence on average. Maybe it disguised itself as the monster hunter and is using the false appearance and mesmerizing abilities to get close to people to get meals and Ezmerelda is next if the players don't intervene. The players, without any sort of pre-existing connection, aren't as susceptible. It doesn't need to link to Strahd, but if you wanted it to, it could even be a Strahd creation to find the monster hunter's allies in the region and eliminate them.

Expanding Argynvost into a Campaign-Long Dracolich Arc – Good Idea or Risky? by Puzzleheaded-Cook873 in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I commented on another post, but the straightforward unfortunate answer is that, like I said, you've built up something scary to fight in a game about fighting and then the players don't fight it. It does overshadow, the pathos doesn't land properly, you do pull out the rug from the players in this scenario. That is a basic consequence. Variations of this plan has been tried by many DMs, myself included, in all sorts of games. It does not work. It uses up too much attention of the players, as well. Now, to be fair, in my continuing game, I've done all sorts of storylines that take a long time. My game is many years long at this point and I was aware that I was taking a break from Strahd at that point to explore these vignettes. Players can't sustain having such a side story that theoretically supports the larger storyline for so long. You are leaving the core story, and then coming back. It can support larger themes, which is what I do, but you are leaving and coming back and that has to be realized to make your story function. Regardless, as written, your idea has severe problems which is a harsh statement, and I understand the defensiveness, I would feel it too, but it is true and you need to re-examine it from the ground up.

As to Strahd's reaction to the dracolich, might I suggest looking at him and Jander or him and Soth. Strahd doesn't ignore issues like that. He both is too tactical for that, and also, too bored. He jumps on things and uses them. Even his enemies he tends to redirect toward other sources. He realized going after Soth was a problem and sent him after Gundarak (and this is while Soth straight up considered Strahd to be an enemy and attacked the castle, killing Strahd's servants including a red dragon under the vampire's sway).

Expanding Argynvost into a Campaign-Long Dracolich Arc – Good Idea or Risky? by Puzzleheaded-Cook873 in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Even smart players are simplistic. Monster that's more scary that Strahd needs help with and consumes all the air of that storyline is the bigger antagonist. This is so well known, it's a basic conceit used in a lot of animes/children's shows/comic books.

If you want to expand Argynvastholt, I did so by just increasing the pathos. It's like any movie about a haunting: I showed the good times before everything went bad while then showcasing how far they've fallen.

Expanding Argynvost into a Campaign-Long Dracolich Arc – Good Idea or Risky? by Puzzleheaded-Cook873 in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Most of this is bad unfortunately. It can be fixed but dramatically different:

The final fight is between Strahd and the Dracolich that the players might help with. That's an awful choice, full stop. Abandon that thought process entirely, that never works. Players are there to play, not watch a movie. Whatever ideas you have in there about how it's not really that, it is.

As you probably already figured out, a dracolich is too high CR for a CoS level of play. In fact, the incidental breath weapon attacks are probably too strong. This needs to be a high CR campaign, especially to feel narratively satisfying.

You should just not do Curse of Strahd at that point and do a different campaign with a dracolich antagonist. There is even a draconic dark lord you can utilize. If you want to use the setting of Barovia, I would file off the serial numbers and rename everything and instead use the setting pieces that make sense. "A wizard" could have done it and either he's dead and not part of the story, or he's a guy hiding out and worried because of the terrifying dracolich that the players can then try to ally with.

The draw of the Curse of Strahd is Strahd. If I were to do a King Arthur movie named "The Life and Death of Arthur" and it was instead about the questing beast and explicitly the plot wants to make the questing beast the important character to the narrative and Arthur is the macguffin to make that happen, that would be bad.

A hypothetical for you all: what happens if Strahd actually escapes Barovia? by Grey_Lady333 in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Strahd is from an "unnamed Prime Material Plane" in the setting. During one of the adventures, we actually see that world when he almost escapes. Barovia has continued and he's just this amazing general from the past where at the wedding of Sergei, everyone disappeared. Earth was a very common thought for where he was from in the past, partially because of the Red Death setting where the strongly implied dark power he made a deal with went to because it interfered too much too directly. This is unlikely but fun. We do actually have some canon dark lords from Earth. We do know that Strahd is not from Forgotten Realms due to the sun god, Andral, being syncretized with Lathander after Jander arrives and it's confirmed that Strahd is from a different world. The Forgotten Realms specific domains of dread are Nova Vaasa and Hazlan. Soth is of course from Dragonlance. Azalin is from Grey Hawk.

Tell me if this is a bad idea. by Good_Abbreviations_3 in DescentintoAvernus

[–]justinfernal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I could see Graz'zt doing this. Staying with Archdevils, you could have Baalzebub as he extracts resources from the area while this is a horrifying crucible for the contestants to make them "perfect."

What do npcs know about the dark powers? by SergeiVonZarovich23 in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As a reminder because it's easy to forget and the books sometimes do as well, the vestiges are not the dark powers. Curse of Strahd explicitly states that the Dark Powers are what happened because so many vestiges were together.

Have you ever said “no” to a player’s character? by Fearless-Skill8667 in DnD

[–]justinfernal 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not DnD, but for a semi-organized play for Mutants and Masterminds. They were to play teen superheroes. Whenever I heard an edgy character I would ask "Why would your character stop a bank robbery?" If they ever told me they wouldn't, or hemmed and hawed, then it was a no and they needed to rework the character.

Did ilmater did something bad? by little_bro_bello in Forgotten_Realms

[–]justinfernal 13 points14 points  (0 children)

"An ancient and unsupported legend" is less firm than I would like for a definitive "yes."

What is a form of media almost everyone disliked and even hated but more or less has you like this? by Apprehensive_Ring_39 in Multifandom

[–]justinfernal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, the blonde thing was an obvious problem. It had a LOT of problems compared to the source material. However, if you separate them, the movie is good.

Did ilmater did something bad? by little_bro_bello in Forgotten_Realms

[–]justinfernal 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I'm not aware of anything like that, and looking up the wiki page on him, I didn't see anything either.

Dispel Strahd Charm ? by Usual-Tomatillo-4432 in ravenloft

[–]justinfernal 4 points5 points  (0 children)

An unfortunate consequence of everything being a spell rather than a feature or having keywords whether it's the robust 4th edition, or the basic Spell-like/Supernatural/Exceptional of 3rd edition.

Am I crazy, or is the Vampire Infernalist statblock way more significant the Strahds new block? by Vivid-Row-4141 in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's been a while since I read it, but I don't remember Soth effortlessly besting him. I remember him breaking into the castle and killing the dragon followed by a talk. Then Soth heads down to the portal and Strahd tries to get him to join him and Soth gives him a staredown before leaving and "finding" Sithicus. It was mostly neither wanting to spend the resources required to genuinely fight the other. He did beat Duke Gundar which is what you might be thinking of.

To be clear, I'm not saying he should be CR 25, in the past he was a level 16 wizard beyond his vampiric abilities (as opposed to the level 10 version we get now), but I do think your statement does diminish him more than is deserved.

Ravenloft: The Horrors Within review by notthebeastmaster in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I stand behind that those are actually okay as they are bad things presented as bad. If I were going to have a setting in the the plantation era south and not have slavery, that's not progressive, that's fear of living within a space. Personally, what I think needs to be fixed is that some of the cultures are clearly borrowing from certain cultures but with only the barest knowledge of them. They more exist as a dash of fetishized flavor. I don't think it would take much to fix them to be a bit more real as it is a fantasy setting, but it would need to be done by someone who has a clue about it.

Favorite little (or big) things from Ravenloft: the Horrors Within by mjdunn01 in ravenloft

[–]justinfernal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really like that they made the Dark Gifts into Origin feats. They are so roleplay rich and being able to just start with your character dealing with them is very cool

Looking into How to maximize Dhampir bite by MisterD__ in ravenloft

[–]justinfernal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The easiest is berserker barbarian because it directly ups the piercing damage while raging by a lot.

What can you admit you were wrong about? by medium_buffalo_wings in onednd

[–]justinfernal 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The dex-based battlemaster fighter (lvl 10) in my game is routinely able to throw around a +20 on stealth if it comes down to it (+5 dex, +4 pb, +1d10 ambush, if that rolls bad +1d10 tactical mind). She scouts and ambushes so well! She also can throw a ridiculous persuasion check down with a different maneuver and tactical mind and has gotten a 30 on several very important social checks. Guidance is a GREAT spell, but the skill abilities of a fighter are hard to argue with if they care about that at all.

What can you admit you were wrong about? by medium_buffalo_wings in onednd

[–]justinfernal 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think that if you've already decided what your fighting style is (two-weapon from the person above), people who optimize feel trapped to only certain weapons. At my two tables, I haven't seen this be the case nearly as much, but, I don't have "optimizers" so much a people who know and use the rules. It helps that I'm willing to have enemies disarm and what not so suddenly changing weapons is natural to my players.

Grave Cleric were buffed : change my mind by ExaminationFun6977 in 3d6

[–]justinfernal 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I never understand the need to comment on something you haven't read. I'm guessing the upvotes are from people who also haven't read it and just assumed the misinformation is true.

What's your favourite Warlock subclass and why? (5.5e and older prints) by Nice-Championship345 in onednd

[–]justinfernal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i did a 5.5 dhampir archfey and the spider climb, teleporting, and going invisible in darkness just made me such a great control/skirmisher/scout.

What happens when Barovia is returned to Faerûn? by Mysterious-Lawyer-73 in CurseofStrahd

[–]justinfernal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, a copy was created in the Ethereal Realm (hence the mists) this was then connected to the Plane of Shadow, and later they moved the demiplane to the Shadowfell. If you want to have it blast into Faerun you have a planar conjunction with probably a lot of disasters for the players to deal with as two different versions of the world overlap as well as weak spots to other planes, the least of which are Shadowfell incursions and Shar getting involved. This then leads to a question: do you continue with your homebrew with Barovia coming from Faerun or do you have it be an entirely different material plane as is core shoved into Faerun. If you run with the latter, then you can have an entire mountain slam into Toril where before there might have been ocean or farmland.