Curse of Strahd by hiiamtom (Inactive)

Game Master hiiamtom

Under raging storm clouds, the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind’s howling increases as he turns his gaze down toward the village of Barovia. Far below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd’s face forms the barest hint of a smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came — all according to his plan. A lightning flash rips through the darkness, but Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind fills the midnight air. The master of Castle Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited.

Allowed Character Sources - PHB, DMG (races/villainous options), SCAG, EEPG, and Unearthed Arcana. Any other source may be allowed with my review and approval. Characters start at 1st level, and use either the stat array or point buy. You cannot roll for gold to purchase starting equipment, but you can sell equipment for 1/2 price and buy additional equipment with any gold you have.

Character Creation Guidelines - Any PHB, SCAG, or CoS background. Also include all of the following with your alias' profile:

• A written character background appropriate for a 1st level character.
• All common race choices (dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, and human) will begin the game adventuring together along the Sword Coast of Faerun. You have been traveling together for between 6 months and a year.
• All uncommon race choices can either be with the adventuring band, or from any other plane/world/etc. You would be folded in with the main group separately.

Player Expectations - I am looking players who understand several simple and fundamental things about DnD or roleplaying games in general. If you do not agree with my view on these issues, this is not the game for you.

• Don't be a jerk.
• Don't stall the game because your character needs special attention.
• Try to interact with your fellow players as much as possible. It will keep people involved and increase participation.

I'll be taking 4-5 players, recruitment ends at midnight CST between 4/21 and 4/22. Thanks and good luck to everybody that submits!

Custom rules being added ASAP - internet permitting.

Copying my submission here.

Hey, hiiamtom. GM Barlowe here. Mind if I dot?

Thinking about an elf druid.

How central will the use of maps be? That is, if I am rarely (or never) able to access a map, will I still be able to participate?

Custom rules for this campaign:

• Fear/Horror/Madness (DMG) - I won't use these heavily but they are obvious shoe-ins.
• Firearms (DMG) - Barovia is turn of the 18th century technology.
• Additional Action Options (DMG) - climb onto a bigger creature, disarm, mark, overrun, shove aside, & tumble
• Additional Combat Rules (DMG) - Hitting cover, cleaving through creatures (combat will not involve maps), morale, adjudicating areas of effect, improvised damage, handling mobs, etc.
• Gritty Combat Rules (DMG and homebrew) - From the DMG: lingering injuries & massive damage. For homebrew: Death's Door replacing Falling Unconcious from the PHB, Instant Death only happens 4th level and after, stabilizing brings a character to 1 HP; see the rules below.
• Feat Modification (homebrew) - see the feats below.

Death's Door Yes, like Darkest Dungeon.
If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you are on Death's Door. You gain 3 levels of exhaustion instantly, though this cannot raise the exhaustion suffered above level 5. When you are brought above 0 hit points remove 3 levels of exhaustion.

Dual Wielder
Vou master fighting with two weapons, gaining the
following benefits:

• You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.
• You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.
• You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
• When you hit a creature with both weapons use in two-weapon fighting or with an unarmed strike from martial arts or flurry of blows, you deal an additional 1d10 damage with the final hit that lands.

Grappler
Prerequisite: Strength 13 ar higher
You've developed the skills necessary to hold your own in close-quarters grappling. You gain the following benefits:

• You have advantage on attack rolls against a creature you are grappling.
• You can use your action to try to pin a creature grappled by you. To do so, make another grapple check. If you succeed, you and the creature are both restrained until the grapple ends.
• You can grapple creatures up to two sizes larger than you within your reach.

Tavern Brawler
Accustomed to rough-and-tumble fighting using whatever weapons happen to be at hand, you gain the following benefits:

• Increase your Strength or Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You are proficient with improvised weapons and improvised weapons and your unarmed strikes count as light weapons.
• Your unarmed strike uses a d4 for damage.
• When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or an improvised weapon on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to grapple the target.

Hey, hiiamtom. GM Barlowe here. Mind if I dot?

Thinking about an elf druid.

All are welcome.

How central will the use of maps be? That is, if I am rarely (or never) able to access a map, will I still be able to participate?

I will have maps for relative position (it's unavoidable), but it's relative position only and they will be posted links to pictures.

All combat will be done theater of the mind, so will almost everything.

Handouts will also be links to pictures or private messages.

Jiggy wrote:

How central will the use of maps be? That is, if I am rarely (or never) able to access a map, will I still be able to participate?

I will have maps for relative position (it's unavoidable), but it's relative position only and they will be posted links to pictures.

All combat will be done theater of the mind, so will almost everything.

Handouts will also be links to pictures or private messages.

The reason I ask is that every mapping solution I've ever seen anyone use has been filtered at my workplace, which is where I do most of my posting. So if you post a link to an image of a map/handout, and I'm not able to view the link for a few days, will that be an issue?

I think we can work around it. I also ways post a picture with a text description of the events, along with relative positions. I just think the Curse of Strahd maps are fantastic, so I will be using them even if they are not required.

Looking to submit a dwarven paladin for this game....will get crunch and background up ASAP

There's a part of me that wants to make a dragonborn bard and yell "F#$* YEAH!!!" all the time. Not sure if I'll actually go that route, though. Hmmm....

Still trying to drum up interest. I'll extend the deadline if need be.

Dragonborn would probably be lynched as a monster if the Bavarians saw what they looked like. I remember playing a Bavarian Cleric in Ravenloft a few years back and when he saw the Dragonborn for a first time accused it of being a Demon and tried to kill him until the party was able to explain what he was.

If that's the case, that seems like something worth mentioning in the "Character Creation" section... O_o

It's a little different because it's not the expanded Ravenloft setting, any non-human is considered bizarre and/or grotesque to the human-only Barovians but there are no immediate mob attacks or anything.

EDIT

Also, check the "Uncommon Races" box on page 33 of the PHB which talks about the reactions of the people in Forgotten Realms. This will be much like the reaction you receive in this adventure, but it applies to every single non-human race.

Dotting for interest. Do you mind if I (re)use an existing alias?

Here is the crunch for my dwarven paladin. Hope he is ok. Will work on background next.

I don't mind re-use at all.

Copying my submission here as well.

Dotting this.

Copying my submission here as well.

Lathander is the "Pelor" of Forgotten Realms, but I wouldn't mind you sticking with Pelor - I'm not exactly super strict on setting canon or anything.

I am practically brand new to play-by-post (haven't done this since before 3.5 came out), so hopefully that won't be any problem. Not new to 5th edition, though. Played and DM'd off and on since the PHB came out. So, hopefully that wouldn't be a problem if I do get picked.

Here's Balandusk for consideration. You said Unearthed Arcana was available for use, so I thought I would give the revenant subrace a try. Since it is just "playtest material", if it ends up badly, I would have no problem changing it out.

Geth wrote:

Copying my submission here as well.

Lathander is the "Pelor" of Forgotten Realms, but I wouldn't mind you sticking with Pelor - I'm not exactly super strict on setting canon or anything.

I'm happy with that. To be honest Pelor is just the name I'm most familiar with not any real sticking point for me - but Lathander the Morning Lord looks more "right" for my glorious light.

Also, general question as I'm not particularly familiar with 5th edition. Is the "Healer" feat worth it? It seems pretty good as just a nice way to heal that doesn't require spells or rests and a dedicated doctor flavor is kinda nice - but would something more like the Shield Mastery one [not looking at my books sorry] be more helpful in general?

It depends what you are going for. As a cleric Healing Word is a bonus action and at range, so it's better for stabilizing at the expense of a spell slot, and you can recover pretty well with resting an hour past level 3.

The healer feat is amazing for Thief Rogues who can use a healer's kit as a bonus action with their expanded use of cunning action, but for a cleric is isn't as good. In my particular game Healer is not as worth it because you don't fall unconscious at 0HP.

If you want to use a shield or be close to combat, the War Caster feat is probably the best choice. It allows you to have both hands full and still cast your spells - like a shield and a mace or whatever. It also lets you cast spells as attacks of opportunity and gives advantage on concentration checks.

All, I'm extending the deadline until Monday for those who dotted for interest but have not submitted.

I only have four submissions and need at least 5.

This is legoguy4492, from GM Barlowes previous recruitment. Dwarf barbarian. I traded some starting gear to get my spiked armor.

Presenting Mythandir the Sage.

Trinket Roll: 1d100 ⇒ 83 = A bit of folded cloth that, when unfolded, turns into a stylish cap

This is Daniel Stewart Have put together this alias with crunch and short background for my submission. Hope this helps!

Forgot trinket :P
trinket: 1d100 ⇒ 98
A jar containing lard with a label that says griffin grease

Consideer using gothic trinkets! You can use the same roll and choose the one you like better.

Players
Emron
Bazim
Mythandir
Balandusk
Urrnir

OK guys, gameplay and discussion is going up.