My players got Donovich and immediately turned around to recruit him. Since the manual said he will not join as long as his son was a vampire, I improvised that he asked the party to dispatch of him, then leave him alone till morning so he could dispose of his son properly and then he would join, with the burning desire to settle the score with Strahd for taking his son away. I wasn't really sure what an acolyte with nine hit points was going to do, so I went ahead and beefed him up as a sidekick as per Tasha's guide. He was a natural choice for a spellcaster /healer type, and I used the given spells as a starting point and added from there. He's a little more useful now. Especially since the only healing the party had was the paladin and they are busy being the tank. He helped out in the winery already.
To make Van Richten even more interesting I thought on giving him full access to the cleric spell list, boosting his utility in fights even more. However, characters that are near him (30 feet) make death saving throws at disadvantage, due to his curse
I have rictavio doing his own thing separate from the party and occasionally dropping hints and lore to the party, the keepers of the feather helping and dropping care packages for the party, and ireena is in krezk living her life
Van Richten became one of my party's strongest allies. We first met him at the Blue Water inn where he was known as Jeff by the servers and the innkeeper. He sat in the corner watching my party which was just me, the half elf cleric and Ethan, the dragonborn fighter, at the time. Ethan wanted to look around and relax for the night and left me on the first floor of the inn. I then perceived Van Richten's gaze and decided to approach him. He bought me a drink and we started talking about why Ethan and I were in Barovia. Van Richten posed a King Barov for a bit and explained to me why Strahd needed to be killed. At this point Ethan was watching us from the balcony of the upper floor and I was worried about being drugged, killed etc. When Van Richten left the inn I followed him and found him at Lake Zarovich. Here he kept up the persona of King Barov and he explained how his wife and son were killed etc. I felt sympathy for him and unsuccessfully tried to comfort him. A few sessions later we were approached by Strahd himself. Apparently Van Richten was watching us and knew that the Count was onto our group. He then sent the ghost of Queen Ravenovia to guide us to his tower because, as far as he knew, we were in danger! When we got to the tower, Van Richten revealed who he truly was and how he knew my party. We were also able to use his tower as a base of operation during the game. If we needed to retreat or camp for the night, we would travel to that tower. The more he revealed the more my character saw him as a father figure or guardian angel of sorts. She grew slightly close to him and suffered his curse as a result. Out of my entire party I am coincidentally the one who has been killed twice, resurrected and injured the most. This could just be the result of bas dice rolls but it is still interesting. Also, Van Richten has grown to trust the party so much that he sends us on quests that he either can't do himself or wants help in doing. Recently he has sent us on many adventures, which, in my opinion, are meant to train us and make our party stronger. As of now my party includes Ethan and I as well as Daniel a human fighter drunk sailor and Anthony a living vampire (Morbius type) who lost his memory.
I made Zuleika a werewolf moon shaman from: Ezmereldas encyclopedia of evil. Basically start her off as the same spellcaster level as a mage. And give her druid spells. Lvl her with party
The sidekick rules must be a godsend for the squishier and/or more useless companions. In addition to boosting both survivability and usefulness, it opens up some interesting story ideas. Maybe Ireena gains levels in Warrior because the party is training her to better defend herself. Maybe Father Donavich gains new spells via the Spellcaster class because his faith is gradually gaining strength after the depths of despair over the situation with his son.
This was an awesome series that definitely helps even if you don't use them as allies, since even the npcs that aren't fated allies may end up in a situation where they might assist the party. I think it'd be cool to see some of your alternative takes on some of these NPCs like "what if Van Richten is hunting your party down since one of them gave into Lycanthropy or a Dark Gift" or "What the keepers do if they're exposed" or "what if your players use the dark gift of Zhudun to raise Sergei or Argynvost or the like." Maybe this is too specific of an idea but I think it'd be neat.
I can’t wait for my deck of many quests, ordered it back when first announced got the physical copy and can’t wait to see what shenanigans I send people after!
I'm thinking of making it so that Ezmeralda's story is true and that young Rudolf did spare them but after finding out what happened to his son Erasmus, what the vampire did to his boy and after killing his child, Rudolf went quite mad so he invented the lich and zombie horde story as a revenge fantasy and ended up believing it because he was never actually able to find the Vistani again. Feeling powerless, his fantasy became his reality and he hardened his heart and became a ruthless monster killer. He considers himself cursed but in actual truth he is not, the dangers of his profession inherently kill people that he likes. Its just the nature of his mental illness to believe that events transpired differently and he is often unable to separate fantasy from reality like a tragic and very dark version of Don Quixote.
If you're talking about the stories in Curse of Strahd, and not Van Richten's Guide, then I say that VR's story is a fabrication and Ezmerelda's is truth. The reason for that is Van Richten's story is told in first person, which often involves an unreliable narrator. Ezmerelda's story, on the other hand, is told in third person omniscient. A third person omniscient narrator is nearly always truthful.
I agree. Even though I do believe that Van Richten's version of events in his diary is the old canon for the character and the new version is sanitised for modern audiences, I like my own "dark don Quixote" version best. I've also posted the whole thing on Reddit if you're interested in reading about it.
Thanks for a great series! As you said, this is the last of the in-the-book allies. Should you even want to keep this going, you could create a "Mod Allies" volume six, of the most popular added allies. Less simple, and more work, so I just throw that out should you ever find that interesting! Appreciate your excellent work!
My players got that, now every NPC that they convince to travel with them meet a tragical fate. Ismark got to 0 HP 4 different times, Rictavio' soul ended inside Offlalia bag, and locked into Strahd coffer. Every NPC that travelled with then, get a shortcut for the ethereal relm. Funny enough, the only one that survived a quest was Arrigal. Ezmeralda was smart enough to learn about the curse, now she give little advice but stay really far away.
Hi Sorin! The video ideas contest is really just an ongoing thing now. Anyone who submits a video idea on our Discord server, which we decide to use, wins! Each used idea gets $20 at DMs Guild. We only come out with two videos per month, so it may be a while before an idea you've submitted gets picked. But rest assured, we do pull from that pool of ideas!
Thanks and keep up the good work! One question: where can i find the stats block you are talking about in your videos on Ireena and Ismark? Especially the two Ireena versions- before and after meeting Sergej. Best regards!
We don't actually supply stat blocks for them. Over on our Patreon, we have additional material that discusses roleplaying those characters, which go along with these videos.
Since Clerics prepare and can switch out their spells, that means that Van Richten could theoretically update his spell list to include damage dealing spells if he anticipates fighting vampire spawn, right? As for the werewolves, I'd make it so werewolves only have their damage immunity in beast or hybrid form. This is partially so that the party doesn't try to get infected. Also, have you read up on the loup garou from Van Richten's Guide? What are your thoughts on making Kiril one of those? Perhaps as a gift from the Dark Powers?
3 ปีที่แล้ว
I made Kiril a loup garou in mine, so killing him is mandatory in order to save any cursed children.
May i ask you a question? :) I'm about to run CoS soon, but i don't really like the fact that the party is supposed to have just one random chosen by the cards ally. Instead, i'm sure they'll try to gather as more allies as possibile obviously. Even with the chosen ally with them, nothing can really prevent them to ask for more help or asking to switch ally depending on the next quest on their path, and I'd not like to "force them" to not doing that because "the cards said that that guy is your chosen ally". I'm thinking about just leaving everything free, where they can gather as much allies as they want, they all can help, they all can die, and in the end they can even assault the castle as a little army fighting against Strahd and all his minions. Maybe i'll just try to let them travel with no more than 1 or sometimes 2 allies at a time, and in case they raid the castle as a little army I'll make them busy against minions all the way towards the boss fight room leaving them with maybe just one ally of their choice for the final fight. What do you think about this? Thank you :)
My players got Donovich and immediately turned around to recruit him. Since the manual said he will not join as long as his son was a vampire, I improvised that he asked the party to dispatch of him, then leave him alone till morning so he could dispose of his son properly and then he would join, with the burning desire to settle the score with Strahd for taking his son away. I wasn't really sure what an acolyte with nine hit points was going to do, so I went ahead and beefed him up as a sidekick as per Tasha's guide. He was a natural choice for a spellcaster /healer type, and I used the given spells as a starting point and added from there. He's a little more useful now. Especially since the only healing the party had was the paladin and they are busy being the tank. He helped out in the winery already.
To make Van Richten even more interesting I thought on giving him full access to the cleric spell list, boosting his utility in fights even more. However, characters that are near him (30 feet) make death saving throws at disadvantage, due to his curse
oooh, that's a nifty way to interpret the curse!
This channel honestly has the best COS content out there
Thank you!
Fact
This is true
Hands down
Oh, hands down.
I have rictavio doing his own thing separate from the party and occasionally dropping hints and lore to the party, the keepers of the feather helping and dropping care packages for the party, and ireena is in krezk living her life
RICTAVIO BOISSSSS, nice.
Van Richten became one of my party's strongest allies. We first met him at the Blue Water inn where he was known as Jeff by the servers and the innkeeper. He sat in the corner watching my party which was just me, the half elf cleric and Ethan, the dragonborn fighter, at the time. Ethan wanted to look around and relax for the night and left me on the first floor of the inn. I then perceived Van Richten's gaze and decided to approach him. He bought me a drink and we started talking about why Ethan and I were in Barovia. Van Richten posed a King Barov for a bit and explained to me why Strahd needed to be killed. At this point Ethan was watching us from the balcony of the upper floor and I was worried about being drugged, killed etc. When Van Richten left the inn I followed him and found him at Lake Zarovich. Here he kept up the persona of King Barov and he explained how his wife and son were killed etc. I felt sympathy for him and unsuccessfully tried to comfort him. A few sessions later we were approached by Strahd himself. Apparently Van Richten was watching us and knew that the Count was onto our group. He then sent the ghost of Queen Ravenovia to guide us to his tower because, as far as he knew, we were in danger! When we got to the tower, Van Richten revealed who he truly was and how he knew my party. We were also able to use his tower as a base of operation during the game. If we needed to retreat or camp for the night, we would travel to that tower. The more he revealed the more my character saw him as a father figure or guardian angel of sorts. She grew slightly close to him and suffered his curse as a result. Out of my entire party I am coincidentally the one who has been killed twice, resurrected and injured the most. This could just be the result of bas dice rolls but it is still interesting. Also, Van Richten has grown to trust the party so much that he sends us on quests that he either can't do himself or wants help in doing. Recently he has sent us on many adventures, which, in my opinion, are meant to train us and make our party stronger. As of now my party includes Ethan and I as well as Daniel a human fighter drunk sailor and Anthony a living vampire (Morbius type) who lost his memory.
Awesome series! You have a knack for breaking it down into easy to digest content.
Happy to help!
I made Zuleika a werewolf moon shaman from:
Ezmereldas encyclopedia of evil.
Basically start her off as the same spellcaster level as a mage. And give her druid spells. Lvl her with party
The sidekick rules must be a godsend for the squishier and/or more useless companions. In addition to boosting both survivability and usefulness, it opens up some interesting story ideas. Maybe Ireena gains levels in Warrior because the party is training her to better defend herself. Maybe Father Donavich gains new spells via the Spellcaster class because his faith is gradually gaining strength after the depths of despair over the situation with his son.
Richten! I swear, my buddy from my campaign wanted to be his apprentice throughout our game.
This was an awesome series that definitely helps even if you don't use them as allies, since even the npcs that aren't fated allies may end up in a situation where they might assist the party. I think it'd be cool to see some of your alternative takes on some of these NPCs like "what if Van Richten is hunting your party down since one of them gave into Lycanthropy or a Dark Gift" or "What the keepers do if they're exposed" or "what if your players use the dark gift of Zhudun to raise Sergei or Argynvost or the like." Maybe this is too specific of an idea but I think it'd be neat.
My players met Van Richten in their last session
I can’t wait for my deck of many quests, ordered it back when first announced got the physical copy and can’t wait to see what shenanigans I send people after!
Thank you so much for your support!
How do you reconcile the fact that Ezmeralda and van Richten tell two very different stories about what he did to her parents?
I'm thinking of making it so that Ezmeralda's story is true and that young Rudolf did spare them but after finding out what happened to his son Erasmus, what the vampire did to his boy and after killing his child, Rudolf went quite mad so he invented the lich and zombie horde story as a revenge fantasy and ended up believing it because he was never actually able to find the Vistani again. Feeling powerless, his fantasy became his reality and he hardened his heart and became a ruthless monster killer. He considers himself cursed but in actual truth he is not, the dangers of his profession inherently kill people that he likes. Its just the nature of his mental illness to believe that events transpired differently and he is often unable to separate fantasy from reality like a tragic and very dark version of Don Quixote.
If you're talking about the stories in Curse of Strahd, and not Van Richten's Guide, then I say that VR's story is a fabrication and Ezmerelda's is truth. The reason for that is Van Richten's story is told in first person, which often involves an unreliable narrator. Ezmerelda's story, on the other hand, is told in third person omniscient. A third person omniscient narrator is nearly always truthful.
I agree.
Even though I do believe that Van Richten's version of events in his diary is the old canon for the character and the new version is sanitised for modern audiences, I like my own "dark don Quixote" version best.
I've also posted the whole thing on Reddit if you're interested in reading about it.
Thanks for a great series! As you said, this is the last of the in-the-book allies. Should you even want to keep this going, you could create a "Mod Allies" volume six, of the most popular added allies. Less simple, and more work, so I just throw that out should you ever find that interesting! Appreciate your excellent work!
Just in time, my characters will meet Zuleika (their ally) next session :D
Backed Deck of Many Quests on KS as physical copy. Kinda wished I added the $2 to get the PDF too.
Send me an email!
Which companion do you find has the most potential story-wise? If you were to rig the cards, which one would you give your players?
I’m not lunch break heroes but my personal opinion is Ezmeralda, Van Richten, Muriel Martikov or the Mad Mage..
Depends on the party, really. Ez is a favorite of mine.
LOVE THIS SERIES THANK YOU SO MUCH
YOU’RE SO WELCOME
@@LunchBreakHeroes WOOOOOOOOO HAVE A GREAT DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
You are still missing the one from the Dark Lord card!
😏
I should create a single video of me just laughing manically in Strahd's voice.
My players got that, now every NPC that they convince to travel with them meet a tragical fate. Ismark got to 0 HP 4 different times, Rictavio' soul ended inside Offlalia bag, and locked into Strahd coffer. Every NPC that travelled with then, get a shortcut for the ethereal relm.
Funny enough, the only one that survived a quest was Arrigal.
Ezmeralda was smart enough to learn about the curse, now she give little advice but stay really far away.
Oh this would be funny just a video of him laughing and explaining just how doomed they are
@@VuvuzelaTM At the end Rictavio got a body. Bustos is sharing the body with him lol
Another wonderful video!
By the way (I really hope this isn't disrespectful) is there a set date for the May community contest (video ideas one)?
Hi Sorin!
The video ideas contest is really just an ongoing thing now. Anyone who submits a video idea on our Discord server, which we decide to use, wins! Each used idea gets $20 at DMs Guild.
We only come out with two videos per month, so it may be a while before an idea you've submitted gets picked. But rest assured, we do pull from that pool of ideas!
Thanks and keep up the good work! One question: where can i find the stats block you are talking about in your videos on Ireena and Ismark? Especially the two Ireena versions- before and after meeting Sergej. Best regards!
We don't actually supply stat blocks for them. Over on our Patreon, we have additional material that discusses roleplaying those characters, which go along with these videos.
What, no Gondegal "The Lost King" on any of these lists?
Since Clerics prepare and can switch out their spells, that means that Van Richten could theoretically update his spell list to include damage dealing spells if he anticipates fighting vampire spawn, right?
As for the werewolves, I'd make it so werewolves only have their damage immunity in beast or hybrid form. This is partially so that the party doesn't try to get infected. Also, have you read up on the loup garou from Van Richten's Guide? What are your thoughts on making Kiril one of those? Perhaps as a gift from the Dark Powers?
I made Kiril a loup garou in mine, so killing him is mandatory in order to save any cursed children.
Im not seeing guide V on your patreon. is there one?
www.patreon.com/posts/52242245?
Love your videos, they just too well informative and a helpful guide
May i ask you a question? :) I'm about to run CoS soon, but i don't really like the fact that the party is supposed to have just one random chosen by the cards ally. Instead, i'm sure they'll try to gather as more allies as possibile obviously. Even with the chosen ally with them, nothing can really prevent them to ask for more help or asking to switch ally depending on the next quest on their path, and I'd not like to "force them" to not doing that because "the cards said that that guy is your chosen ally". I'm thinking about just leaving everything free, where they can gather as much allies as they want, they all can help, they all can die, and in the end they can even assault the castle as a little army fighting against Strahd and all his minions. Maybe i'll just try to let them travel with no more than 1 or sometimes 2 allies at a time, and in case they raid the castle as a little army I'll make them busy against minions all the way towards the boss fight room leaving them with maybe just one ally of their choice for the final fight. What do you think about this? Thank you :)