The way I run the werewolf’s immunity, is that *narratively* they heal/regenerate that nonmagical damage almost immediately. So the only way for them to kill one another would be to take them down to 0 HP before the start of their own turn. This manifests as duals between werewolves basically being pointless, but if a pack teams up against another werewolf, they can execute.
I also made the Werewolves and the Druids in conflict. Strahd allows them to fight each other in skirmishes in the woods to control the population of each. But both groups will obey Strahd’s commands.
I wrote an article about Krezk and how the Martikovs would be invested in that town for several reasons. If werewolves poach kids from Krezk, the Martikovs would get involved, for sure!
Let's talk about the werewolf curse. In my game, their bodies are running at full speed all the time, filled with adrenaline, leading to an almost magical version of Roid Rage. If they don't eat live animals every day, they run the risk of going insane, and then they will attack anything -- even their own pack. So, the Curse isn't being super strong, super fast, having super senses, healing from pretty much all wounds, living forever, able to eat anything and not get sick (can 100 werewolves eat a dragon and destroy it in 1 round?), or anything cool like that. The Curse is that you can't stop. You can't relax. Everything is NOW. Long-term goals aren't really a thing in the den, no one's reminiscing "Back in my day, we had antelopes as big as an elephant," it's all emotions, as opposed to Strahd's 500-year plan. Kiril loves being cruel, that's why he's a monster, not because he's a werewolf.
Great video. I love the werewolves too, and I agree that they play too small a role in CoS. When I run this again, I'll watch this video again and give them a much bigger role in the story.
My party should be here next session. One of the cages children will be a player character’s brother who went looking for him. I’m also upgrading Kiril to a Loup Garou. The brother will seemingly be fine but will turn at the next full moon.
Sounds fun! You've probably already thought about it, but I recommend thinking about what the players can do with the brother when rescued and his curse is removed. I also recommend establishing a reason that Kiril is more powerful, such as Strahd granting him power or consuming the bones of St. Andral. Good luck! :)
One of the ways I’m incorporating the werewolf den is that I’m going to have them kidnap the party’s adopted son, Walter Durst, and they have to go save him (there’s a lot more to it than that, like sacrificing the time they need to help someone else, making them choose between their son or their ally) (also I made it so Walter was a real kid, but he’s magic and cursed so that he ages 5 years every 10 or so days until he dies). Now the players have an actual reason to go there!
It's fantastic, and you're in for a treat! It was character art commissioned by the CurseofStrahd subreddit for the 8 most important NPCs of the module: www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/ngh1im/the_first_8_npc_portraits_for_the_rcos_community/
In my campaign, Strahd and the werewolves are completely in tandem. The Vistani go out and charm others to lure them into Barovia and give them unto the werewolves. You know, like Stone Giants 😅
As I search my memory for the specifics, there may not have been a blood eagle specifically in the game. Maybe it was in one of the lore books or something, but I DEFINITELY learned about blood eagles when I was completing the quests around Red Eagle, the Foresworn/Reachman hero. I believe his name "Red Eagle" is a direct reference to blood eagles. Again, I don't remember what it was specifically, but something about the lore in the game either directly taught me about blood eagles or it prompted me to learn about real-world lore about it.
Lycanthropy is such a cool concept to bad it’s easily removed in RAW. Some very good ideas here mate The description of the change was perfect. I too focus on the horror of it when describing the change to highlight the difference from a druids magical wild shape ability. In my world the priesthood of the moon goddess has a ritual to transform a turned lycanthrope into a natural lycanthrope. Because turned lycanthropes in my world go insane from the forced changes and violent impulses that drive turned ones. But natural lycanthropes keep their sanity as well as they control their change. Take care
One way to make removing the curse to be impactful is to treat it like removing lycanthropy from a Loup Garou. From Van Richten’s Guide: “Loup Garou Lycanthropy A Humanoid who succumbs to a loup garou’s lycanthropy becomes a werewolf. This form of lycanthropy can’t be removed while the loup garou that inflicted the curse lives. See the Monster Manual for details on lycanthropy. Once a loup garou is slain, a remove curse spell cast during the night of a full moon on any afflicted werewolf it created forces the target to make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. On a success, the curse is broken, and the target returns to its normal form and gains 3 levels of exhaustion. On a failure, the curse remains, and the target automatically fails any saving throw made to break this curse for 1 month.”
One idea I had: Davian Martikov and Skennis were best friends in Vallaki. When Strahd came to collect the taxes, Skennis mocked him and Strahd arrested them both. He took them through the teleportation circle. In the teleportation room of the castle Davian broke free and grabbed a handful of sand. He grabs Skennis with his other hand and throws the sand into the brazier. The two are transported to the Amber Temple. Mortally wounded and afraid of Strahd’s pursuit, they find themselves at the base of a Sarcophagus. They touch it and make a pact with a Dark Power. They are healed. Additionally, each one is cursed with a separate form of lycanthropy. Strahd eventually finds them, but amused with their curse, leaves them alive. Davian fights the curse while Skennis embraces it. The Wereravens and the Werewolves have a pact not to do harm to one another.
I'm modifying werewolves, based on the modified wereraven statblock in Van Richten's Guide. Instead of being immune to nonmagic weapons that aren't silver, they regenerate 10 hitpoints at the start of their turn. This healing doesn't function if they have been struck by a silver weapon or a critical hit since their last turn. I'm also modifying the curse itself so it's not as easy to get, but much harder to cure (with a note that there are many strands of the werebeast curse, and the Barovian strand might differ from the one in Kartakiss) In my campaign, you become a werewolf either by being born as one, through a ritual that is complicated enough to not happen by accident but simple enough to be forced upon a child, or by being bitten by Kiril, who I have modified considerably and whose wolf/hybrid forms are Large instead of Medium. Remove Curse will temporarily suppress the condition, but to be fully freed, you need to upcast Remove Curse as the full moon rises after drinking an alchemic blend. The exact formula for the medicine varies by werebeast strand. The party would theoretically be able to create it during downtime, but not with Strahd breathing down their neck. Alternatively, the heart stone of a Night Hag can be grasped in place of drinking the potion.
@@FlutesLoot I've also changed the hags of Old Bonegrinder somewhat. They are unique to Barovia, but Morgantha does possess a heartstone of a night hag. This would give players a motivation to hunt down the coven.
yo a mad hatter werewolf also the mad hatter from Alice in wonderland is a sterotype of the people who made the big hats and went crazy, because they worked with mercery. If you wanna learn more about mercery serce for japanese village mercury
The way I run the werewolf’s immunity, is that *narratively* they heal/regenerate that nonmagical damage almost immediately. So the only way for them to kill one another would be to take them down to 0 HP before the start of their own turn. This manifests as duals between werewolves basically being pointless, but if a pack teams up against another werewolf, they can execute.
That's a cool method I hadn't heard of before!
I also made the Werewolves and the Druids in conflict. Strahd allows them to fight each other in skirmishes in the woods to control the population of each. But both groups will obey Strahd’s commands.
I wrote an article about Krezk and how the Martikovs would be invested in that town for several reasons. If werewolves poach kids from Krezk, the Martikovs would get involved, for sure!
Let's talk about the werewolf curse. In my game, their bodies are running at full speed all the time, filled with adrenaline, leading to an almost magical version of Roid Rage. If they don't eat live animals every day, they run the risk of going insane, and then they will attack anything -- even their own pack. So, the Curse isn't being super strong, super fast, having super senses, healing from pretty much all wounds, living forever, able to eat anything and not get sick (can 100 werewolves eat a dragon and destroy it in 1 round?), or anything cool like that. The Curse is that you can't stop. You can't relax. Everything is NOW. Long-term goals aren't really a thing in the den, no one's reminiscing "Back in my day, we had antelopes as big as an elephant," it's all emotions, as opposed to Strahd's 500-year plan. Kiril loves being cruel, that's why he's a monster, not because he's a werewolf.
Great way to handle it!
Great video. I love the werewolves too, and I agree that they play too small a role in CoS. When I run this again, I'll watch this video again and give them a much bigger role in the story.
You won't regret it! They're a fun faction when they get a little love. And thank you :)
My party should be here next session. One of the cages children will be a player character’s brother who went looking for him. I’m also upgrading Kiril to a Loup Garou. The brother will seemingly be fine but will turn at the next full moon.
Sounds fun! You've probably already thought about it, but I recommend thinking about what the players can do with the brother when rescued and his curse is removed. I also recommend establishing a reason that Kiril is more powerful, such as Strahd granting him power or consuming the bones of St. Andral.
Good luck! :)
Really love your CoS Videos! Keep it up✌🏻
Thank you!
One of the ways I’m incorporating the werewolf den is that I’m going to have them kidnap the party’s adopted son, Walter Durst, and they have to go save him (there’s a lot more to it than that, like sacrificing the time they need to help someone else, making them choose between their son or their ally) (also I made it so Walter was a real kid, but he’s magic and cursed so that he ages 5 years every 10 or so days until he dies). Now the players have an actual reason to go there!
That's the first I've heard of incorporating Walter outside of Death House! Very cool
Where can we get the character art u use? That Abbot is the best I've seen
It's fantastic, and you're in for a treat! It was character art commissioned by the CurseofStrahd subreddit for the 8 most important NPCs of the module: www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/ngh1im/the_first_8_npc_portraits_for_the_rcos_community/
@@FlutesLoot Thank you so much!
In my campaign, Strahd and the werewolves are completely in tandem. The Vistani go out and charm others to lure them into Barovia and give them unto the werewolves. You know, like Stone Giants 😅
Skyrim had a blood eagle? I don't remember that. I learned about it from the show Vikings.
As I search my memory for the specifics, there may not have been a blood eagle specifically in the game. Maybe it was in one of the lore books or something, but I DEFINITELY learned about blood eagles when I was completing the quests around Red Eagle, the Foresworn/Reachman hero. I believe his name "Red Eagle" is a direct reference to blood eagles. Again, I don't remember what it was specifically, but something about the lore in the game either directly taught me about blood eagles or it prompted me to learn about real-world lore about it.
I’m really glad you’ve got all this CoS content. I’m about to run the module and this is all very helpful
It's a very fun module. I enjoy sharing and discussing it! I hope the content is helpful in your creative process.
Lycanthropy is such a cool concept to bad it’s easily removed in RAW.
Some very good ideas here mate
The description of the change was perfect. I too focus on the horror of it when describing the change to highlight the difference from a druids magical wild shape ability.
In my world the priesthood of the moon goddess has a ritual to transform a turned lycanthrope into a natural lycanthrope. Because turned lycanthropes in my world go insane from the forced changes and violent impulses that drive turned ones. But natural lycanthropes keep their sanity as well as they control their change.
Take care
Thank you for the compliment and the new idea! A quest to become a controlled/natural lycanthrope would be fun for a turned PC.
One way to make removing the curse to be impactful is to treat it like removing lycanthropy from a Loup Garou.
From Van Richten’s Guide:
“Loup Garou Lycanthropy
A Humanoid who succumbs to a loup garou’s lycanthropy becomes a werewolf. This form of lycanthropy can’t be removed while the loup garou that inflicted the curse lives. See the Monster Manual for details on lycanthropy.
Once a loup garou is slain, a remove curse spell cast during the night of a full moon on any afflicted werewolf it created forces the target to make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. On a success, the curse is broken, and the target returns to its normal form and gains 3 levels of exhaustion. On a failure, the curse remains, and the target automatically fails any saving throw made to break this curse for 1 month.”
@@tylerthorstrom4100 that would be an intense way to handle it! That's a much more interesting method than a simple Remove Curse spell.
One idea I had:
Davian Martikov and Skennis were best friends in Vallaki. When Strahd came to collect the taxes, Skennis mocked him and Strahd arrested them both. He took them through the teleportation circle. In the teleportation room of the castle Davian broke free and grabbed a handful of sand. He grabs Skennis with his other hand and throws the sand into the brazier. The two are transported to the Amber Temple. Mortally wounded and afraid of Strahd’s pursuit, they find themselves at the base of a Sarcophagus. They touch it and make a pact with a Dark Power. They are healed. Additionally, each one is cursed with a separate form of lycanthropy.
Strahd eventually finds them, but amused with their curse, leaves them alive.
Davian fights the curse while Skennis embraces it.
The Wereravens and the Werewolves have a pact not to do harm to one another.
That's very interesting! I hadn't considered the Martikovs with a Dark Powers pact.
Definitely stealing this.
Great stuff, thanks for posting. Getting ready to run this campaign but doing lots of research to ensure that it goes well.
You're welcome and good luck! I know what it's like to binge Strahd content to get ready to run the campaign :)
Werewolves should be able to drown a traitor, though.
Maybe Strahd bargens with the players that if they kill all the werewolf , he will let them leave.
That would be quite the dilemma!
I'm modifying werewolves, based on the modified wereraven statblock in Van Richten's Guide. Instead of being immune to nonmagic weapons that aren't silver, they regenerate 10 hitpoints at the start of their turn. This healing doesn't function if they have been struck by a silver weapon or a critical hit since their last turn. I'm also modifying the curse itself so it's not as easy to get, but much harder to cure (with a note that there are many strands of the werebeast curse, and the Barovian strand might differ from the one in Kartakiss)
In my campaign, you become a werewolf either by being born as one, through a ritual that is complicated enough to not happen by accident but simple enough to be forced upon a child, or by being bitten by Kiril, who I have modified considerably and whose wolf/hybrid forms are Large instead of Medium. Remove Curse will temporarily suppress the condition, but to be fully freed, you need to upcast Remove Curse as the full moon rises after drinking an alchemic blend. The exact formula for the medicine varies by werebeast strand. The party would theoretically be able to create it during downtime, but not with Strahd breathing down their neck. Alternatively, the heart stone of a Night Hag can be grasped in place of drinking the potion.
Solid changes
@@FlutesLoot I've also changed the hags of Old Bonegrinder somewhat. They are unique to Barovia, but Morgantha does possess a heartstone of a night hag. This would give players a motivation to hunt down the coven.
@@Nemo12417 I used the heartstone with the hags too and I enjoyed that :)
yo a mad hatter werewolf
also the mad hatter from Alice in wonderland is a sterotype of the people who made the big hats and went crazy, because they worked with mercery. If you wanna learn more about mercery serce for japanese village mercury
Mercury mad habberdashers, eh?
If werewolves could pass through the mist, why would they ever go back to Barovia??
They probably don't have a choice. Strahd can bring people to Barovia through the mists against their will.
@@FlutesLoot That makes sense!
🐃🐏🐏
🐗🦣🦣
or just kill all the werewolves because they are werewolves
*Children werewolves
@@FlutesLoot a monster is a monster
Savage! O_o
When you say it like that, it sounds racist.