Castle Ravenloft + Strahds BF Stats

[MedievalMan]

Single question have you played/run it? Whether the original I6 or the newer Expedition?

It won't leave my mind and I can't stop thinking about it. I got the gothic bug it seems.

EDIT
And here are the Counts stats I just wrote up. I did the blood drain thing a little different than written but its easy enough to convert back. I used his first appearance in I6 as inspiration for what his stats should be along with his magic items from Expedition.

Count Strahd Von Zarovich
Armor Class: 20 (18)
Hit Dice: 10** (55 hit points)
No. of Attacks: 1 slam or 1 weapon
Damage: 1d6+4 or by weapon +4
Movement: 40' Fly 60'
No Appearing: Solitary
Save As: Fighter 10
Morale: 11
Treasure Type: F, O
XP: 1,480

Strahd can charm anyone who meets his gaze; a save vs spells is allowed to resist, but at a penalty of -3 due to the power of his charm. This charm is so powerful that the victim will not resist being bitten by the Count.

The bite inflicts 1d3 damage, then each round thereafter one energy level is drained. Strahd regenerates 1d6 hit points (if needed) for every energy level drained. If the victim dies from energy drain, he or she will rise as a normal vampire at the next sunset (but not less than 12 hours later). Vampire spawned this way are under the permanent and complete control of Strahd.

If using his bite attack Strahd suffers a penalty of -5 to Armor Class due to the vulnerable position he must assume. For this reason, the Count rarely uses his bite attack in combat. Strahd possesses great Strength, gaining a bonus of +4 to damage when using melee weapons, and he will generally choose to use a melee weapon (or his bare hands) in combat rather than attempting to bite.

Count Strahd is unharmed by non-magical weapons, and like all undead is immune to sleep, charm, and hold spells. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, Strahd is not destroyed, though it may appear so. Instead he will take the form of a cloud of mist as per the Gaseous Form potion and travel back to his grave by the most direct path possible. While in mist form Strahd flies at a rate of 80' per round. Once he reaches his grave he will begin to regenerate, recovering 1 hit point per turn, and resuming normal activity once the first point is restored.

Strahd can command the creatures of the night to aid him and once per day can call forth 10d20 bats, 4d6 giant bats, 4d6 normal wolves, or a pack of 3d6 dire wolves (assuming such creatures are nearby). These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve Strahd for up to 5 hours.

Strahd can assume the form of a giant bat or a dire wolf at will, requiring one round to complete the transformation. The flying movement listed is for the giant bat form. In animal form, the Count can use the normal attacks for that form gaining a +4 bonus to damage from his great strength. He can't use his other powers while in animal form, except for summoning creatures to aid him, and charms already in effect continue in effect.

Strahd is not repelled by garlic nor can he be held at bay by a mirror or holy symbol. Strahd like other vampires is incapable of crossing running water and is barred from entering a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. He may freely enter public places, since these are by definition open to all.

Reducing Count Strahds hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates him for a time but doesn't destroy him, as described above. However, certain attacks can weaken or slay the wicked old Count. If Strahd is exposed to direct sunlight he becomes disorientated. He is only able to act for 3 rounds and is destroyed utterly on the fourth round if he cannot escape the light. If Strahd is immersed in running water he loses one fourth of his hit points each round until he is destroyed on the fourth round. Driving a silver stake through his heart instantly slays him. However he will return to life if the stake is removed, unless the body is destroyed, by water or burning it completely in a funeral pyre.

Strahd possesses a number of magic items he wears on his person at all times. He bears a Ring of Protection +2 which he wears on his right hand. He wears a large black Cloak of Resistance +3, which grants him a +3 bonus on all his saving throws. Finally, he wears an ruby pendant which functions as an Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location.

Unlike most vampires Strahd has the ability to cast Magic-User spells as a Magic-User equal to his Hit Dice. His normal selection for spells is presented below, though at the game masters discretion he may have other spells inside one of his many spell-books.

1st- Hold Portal, Protection from Good, Shield, Sleep
2nd- ESP, Invisibility, Locate Object
3rd- Fireball, Haste, Hold Person
4th- Dimension Door, Bestow Curse
5th- Animate Dead, Magic Jar

Ismark the Lesser, Human Fighter 4
AC 15, HD 4, #AT 1 weapon, Dam 1d8+1, Mv 30', Sv F4, ML 9
Ability Scores: Strength 15 (+1), Wisdom 13 (+1), Constitution 16 (+2), Charisma 13 (+1)
Hit Points: 26
Possessions: chain mail, longsword

Ireena Kolyana, Human Fighter 5
AC 15, HD 4, #AT 1 weapon, Dam 1d8, Mv 40', Sv F5, ML 9
Ability Scores: Intelligence 13 (+1), Wisdom 14 (+1), Dexterity 17 (+2), Charisma 18 (+3)
Hit Points: 21
Possessions: leather armor, longsword

Donovan, Human Cleric 6
AC 16, HD 6d6 hit points, #AT 1 weapon, Dam 1d8, Mv 40', Sv C6, ML 10
Ability Scores: Intelligence 13 (+1), Wisdom 16 (+2), Dexterity 14 (+1), Constitution 14 (+1), Charisma 13 (+1)
Hit Points: 25
Possessions: chain mail, mace, Holy Water x5
Spells: 1st- Detect Evil, Protection from Evil 2nd- Bless, Silence 10' Radius 3rd- Remove Curse
Special: Turn Undead

[Dimirag]

I've played on Valachan against Ulrich Von Kharkov, the party ended up there by "the mist". We fought some Pantara Soldiers, currently the castle and the three surrounding towns has been "relocated" to our original plane.
Sadly i don't know what it is the game source....

[Steveman]

I've played on Valachan against Ulrich Von Kharkov, the party ended up there by "the mist". We fought some Pantara Soldiers, currently the castle and the three surrounding towns has been "relocated" to our original plane.
Sadly i don't know what it is the game source....

That is an adventure from Dungeon Magazine issue November/December 1994 Issue #50.
The cover has a shadowey image of Kharkov looking menacing on it.

Edit: No, I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Dungeon magazine, that issue jut happened to be the first issue I ever owned (and still do).

[SmootRK]

I love the original I6 (and the other I modules, especially the Tomb of Amun Re pyramid).

The castle is just awesome to explore... stairs here and there heading to different parts of the castle. Loads of cool classic monster goodness. Werewolves, vampires, witches, gypsies, and more. Back when I ran it, my players were jumpy about every thing. Every wolf was something to be feared... and they were all much tougher than a measly wolf. I think they were just paranoid about going through a module loosely based upon Dracula or otherwise being totally about a Vampire Lord.

[Dimirag]

Thanks Steveman, BTW our northern two-handed stone axe wielding fighter ended up being the ruler of Pantara (talk about stereotypes...) and one ex-pantara soldier* is a part-time adventure group member (he's always the first who goes down on combat, but , after all he's "paying for his sins").

Those guys makes good encounters, specially due to their shape-shifting ability).

[MedievalMan]

I have been itching to try running the module myself, maybe mixing the old version and the newer version and adding in a few side characters to spice things up a bit. I think it would be fun for a short campaign. Guess I will mark that down as a future thing to do.

[MedievalMan]

Added some other characters to the first post. Funny how Donavich became Donovan when they reprinted the adventure as House of Strahd.

[SmootRK]

The region (Barovia) can easily be expanded substantially, leaving room for additional dungeons, another town/village, additional dungeon sites, and much more. It could easily become much more like a true setting... however, I dislike the whole 'Ravenloft as a strange planar realm of dread' thing.

Poisonous mist keeping characters within the region of Strahd's castle is OK when the time comes for the specifics of that module, but I a relatively normal world (albeit much more gothic and gloomy) otherwise.

[MedievalMan]

The region (Barovia) can easily be expanded substantially, leaving room for additional dungeons, another town/village, additional dungeon sites, and much more. It could easily become much more like a true setting... however, I dislike the whole 'Ravenloft as a strange planar realm of dread' thing.

Poisonous mist keeping characters within the region of Strahd's castle is OK when the time comes for the specifics of that module, but I a relatively normal world (albeit much more gothic and gloomy) otherwise.

Smoot stop reading my mind and articulating my beliefs better than I can!

I always felt the poison mists was dumb. It would be better if the characters just got lost and turned around an inevitably end up back in Barovia. Its more spooky than marching out of the fog and choking to death at least.

[SmootRK]

The region (Barovia) can easily be expanded substantially, leaving room for additional dungeons, another town/village, additional dungeon sites, and much more. It could easily become much more like a true setting... however, I dislike the whole 'Ravenloft as a strange planar realm of dread' thing.

Poisonous mist keeping characters within the region of Strahd's castle is OK when the time comes for the specifics of that module, but I a relatively normal world (albeit much more gothic and gloomy) otherwise.

Smoot stop reading my mind and articulating my beliefs better than I can!

I always felt the poison mists was dumb. It would be better if the characters just got lost and turned around an inevitably end up back in Barovia. Its more spooky than marching out of the fog and choking to death at least.

funny with my typos there and even saying the same thing twice (dungeons).