Curse of Strahd
Curse of Strahd is a very established (voted most popular) campaign setting with a horror theme for DnD 5e written by Tracy and Laura Hickman that I have adapted in order to enhance certain aspects of the adventure/story.
- Levels: 1-15
- Milestone XP/lvls
Startup
- Make a character on the DnD Beyond sharing
- Level 1
- All official sources are ok - if unsure: check
- Point buy abilities
- Automatic hit points
- You gain one additional feat of your choice
- Choose 3 grants of aid (can choose the same multiple times) that you'll receive after aiding Daggerford and agreeing to aid the area further still:
- (Ducal of Daggerford) - 1 weapon silvered by the local blacksmith (or 20 pieces of ammunition)
- (Ducal of Daggerford) - 1 potion of Greater Healing
- (Order of the Gauntlet) - 1 potion of Heroism
- (The Harpers) - 1 scroll of Remove Curse (or choose freely any 1st lvl spell scroll)
- (Emerald Enclave) - Pouch with 4 Infused Belladonna Berries (1 round after after eating and for the next hour: +2 to any saves against the curse of lycanthropy and if you or an ally kills a werewolf you gain Inspiration)
- (The Retinue) - Pouch with 4 vials of Holy Water
- (Lord's alliance) - 1 scroll of magic weapon (or choose freely any 1st lvl spell scroll)
- (Black Network) - Pouch with 4 vials of Low Quality Serpent Venom (2d6 instead of 3 and unsellable)
- Try to keep background connected to another player's character or a little bit open-ended to make it easy to tie appropriate details together later
Please note
- Don't accept to play if you are not comfortable with horror-y themes, which include death, undead, body horror and the like. DO inform clearly if there are any themes you want to exclude before starting!
- The people of this campaign setting only very rarely meet characters of other races than human and a (very) few elves, so anything other than that WILL be very noticed and in some cases seen as unwelcome guest in the lands.
- The area is fairly low magic in the settlements and it may be hard to get supplies at times.
- Not everything that looks evil is evil and not everything that looks good is good. But it's a sort of good indicator.
- Just because you are ALLOWED to be a damphir does not mean it's a good idea. Could be interesting or could be a pain.
- Having at least ONE character with atleast limited healing and/or divine skills is useful - not a requirement.
- Not everything that looks dead is undead.
- If Blinsky is not involved, there is no fun to be had.
House Rules
Barovian Sleep
In Barovia, the norm is to have nightmares dominate your sleep. On a Long Rest you make a Wisdom save DC 20. On a fail, you only regain HP up to a maximum (see table) and may feel heady (poisoned) for a while. You regain HD as normal (1 per 2 lvls). Any effect that reduces HP gained use this number as the normal gained amount.
You will acclimatise yourself with the discomfort, nightmares, and the dreary surroundings, adding a bonus to the roll of +1 for each long rest receiving nightmares in Barovia. After 10 nightmarish long rests this roll is also made with advantage. Rolling a natural 20 is an automatic success even if it wouldn't reach DC20. Rolling a natural 1 will cause a character to have a failure level of at least 3, unless the actual result is lower than that. One may find ways to gain shielding from these effects and gain better nights' sleep.
| Fail lvl | Result | Regain HP to | Poisoned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Success! | 20+ | 100% | n/a |
| 1 | 18-19 | 90% | n/a |
| 2 | 16-17 | 80% | 5 min |
| 3 | 14-15 | 70% | 15 min |
| 4 | 12-13 | 60% | 30 min |
| 5 | 10-11 | 50% | 45 min |
| 6 | 8-9 | 40% | 1h |
| 7 | 6-7 | 30% | 1.5h |
| 8 | <6 | 20% | 2h |
| 9 | 1-5 | 10% | 3h |
| 10 | <1 | none | 6h |