#i need a curse of strahd tag

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

I got a fancy new journal that I personalized for Wyn's Curse of Strahd campaign, but I neglected to realize that having something like that means that I need to actually WRITE in it, and I have... not the greatest handwriting.

Still, it's very pretty.

#hush frenchy #oc crap #the wyn tag #i need a curse of strahd tag #i somehow managed to find the only one in the shop that had wyn's dice palette colors on it!!

[elviragrey]

I realized every Victor in the tag is insanely different in vibes so I tried sketching a few I've seen around because I'm obsessed with them.... @pigeon-princess | @bardicblast | @tantaliax | @vanhelsingapologist

#curse of strahd #victor vallakovich #victor in the bardic blast cinematic universe needs like several years rest #meanwhile vanhelsingapologist victor serves an astronomical amount of c #but if i were to put them all in a battle dome i fear what tanta-victor is capable of (teenage rage) #pigeon princess victor is locker-shaped. fucked up nerd rights #so fond #sorry for the random tag hiiii

[saladcannibal]

Hey, ao3

Hey, ao3 what used to be here

Ao3 what used to be here

Ao3, hey

#I'm deathly curious I need to know what horrors the maker of this tag cooked up #cos #curse of strahd #the abbot #rahadin #SOMEHOW #LIKE YOU MAKE THAT TAG AND LEAVE IT EMPTY #leave me wondering how on earth we got here

[argentumfool]

The under-armour wear is ready and I'm over the moon!

#bjd #dolls #ball jointed doll #doll #sir vladimir horngaard #vladimir horngaard #curse of strahd #dnd #do I need to put tags? #I think everyone is tired of me

[terrified-spider]

D&D Vampirism & the Results of Regenerative Abilities

A small note:

I’ve posted about both Elder Scrolls and D&D on this blog, and I’m pretty sure I’ve already written some headcanons about TES’s portrayal of vampirism. What’s described here is only for my D&D world building, Barovia/General Ravenloft in particular, where the condition is generally treated much more like a curse than in the Elder Scrolls franchise, where it’s a contracted illness. I won’t promise that I will or won’t write about TES vampirism, as i think it’s fun, it’s not something I find fitting for the Domains of Dread.

This post contains spoilers for the heavily modified version of Curse of Strahd I will be eventually running, and spoilers for the novel I, Strahd. Changes from the RAW 5e module include:

Alek is back! He’s not having a good time. 

Escher is Van Richten’s lost son. It’s not that important to this essay, but I do mention their shared eyesight problems in passing.

Shout out to @mx-lamour and their fanfic "What have I done?", for being the reason I finally sat down and wrote this all out. 

An Introduction to Vampirism & Wound Recovery in Undeath:

Whether described as a curse or blessing, Vampirism is a magical condition, one that has a number of effects on the patient’s natural recovery/healing process, and by extension, the development of scars throughout one’s unlife. While none of the information here is intended to impact gameplay and balance, it can have an influence over roleplay and certainly does in character design. Flavor is free, and I want it all.

Becoming a vampire is akin to pressing pause on one’s life and body, stopping the aging process, but not reversing it. For example, no more of Strahd’s hair will turn gray, but the streaks that are there will never change back to black. Escher’s eyesight and the myopia inherited from his father are impacted by age, getting worse over time. While being turned provided him with some new dark vision, he will remain nearsighted to the same extent he was upon death. The march of time has stopped, but that doesn’t mean it can be reversed. 

Scar tissue is subject to the same forces, and old scars obtained during life will stop fading, remaining just as visible or unapparent as they did upon the body’s death. Unhealed wounds will repair themselves only once regeneration begins, but are subject to the same factors as other wounds obtained post mortem.

General Post Mortem Wounds and Scaring Trends:

While there is some variation in these trends, there are three main degrees to which wounds will leave a lasting impact.

Minor wounds don’t last. These are the results of unsilvered weaponry, mild damage from running water, and necrotic magic. Very little is in the way of the regeneration and healing process, so there are less chances for something to go wrong, such as debris entering the wound, or the injury to scab over, and increase the chances of a scar forming. On the off chance one does form, it usually vanishes within an hour at the latest.

Most magical damage provides the same level of regenerative difficulty as that of sivered weapons and most instances of water damage. Silver and water, both considerable weaknesses of vampires, react poorly with the dark magic of a vampire’s curse, and interfere with it’s influences over the body. Similarly to those described prior, these scars will fade with time, simply taking longer, usually over the course of a couple days, or several weeks at most. 

Sunlight will cause the most dramatic injuries, leaving burns over the exposed skin, and healing to form scars that never fade.

Turning Wounds:

Turning wounds are usually bites, the injuries that kill someone as they become undead, and the place of the curse’s transference. Given the nature of the wound, magic doesn’t make the wounds particularly easy to heal, even with the assistance of vampiric regeneration, which is usually what heals them.

Unlike other wounds that result in varying scar types and will reflect the type of damage when applicable, turning wounds usually lave behind contracture scars, where the skin has tightened over the wound in the healing process, giving the impression of skin stretched over the injury. It results in much more obvious scar tissue that can sometimes cause the individual pain, both due to the nature of the scar type, and the magical influences.

While most turning wounds are bite marks, such as those on the necks of Alek and Escher, they can take the form of other injuries, such as the numerous arrow marks across Strahd’s torso and chest.

Different Types of Vampires & Exceptions to the Trends:

The patterns here assume that the subject described is a vampire spawn, a common type of vampire within Ravenloft and Barovia in particular. Consumption of blood will have an impact on healing speed, where greater access to blood will speed up the process, and under feeding can drag out the process for months or longer. However, differences in the nature of one’s curse can manifest as much more dramatic differences in healing ability.

Failed Spawn - Alek Gwilym:

For some reason, the curse didn’t transfer right. In the case of Alek, his blood was already used to reanimate someone, and the Dark Powers forbid Strahd from ever having a good time. Alek just got caught in the crossfire.

Technically they use the Nosferatu stat block but that’s behind the DM screen, not in game.

Turning wounds on failed spawn don’t heal properly, leaving open wounds that won’t bleed, but can be opened up further, and can cause significant pain if not kept clean or become irritated.

The Dark Powers hate you in particular - Strahd von Zarovich:

Aside from turning wounds, any scar will fade with time, including severe sunburns.

Injuries resulting from critical hits will have lasting impacts, such as vision or movement issues, punishment for mistakes in combat.

It needs some work, but this is inspired by the parts of Strahd’s relationship with Barov I’ve been able to flesh out. It needs some work still, but the man taught Strahd mistakes have lasting consequences, either in a material sense, or Barov holding failures over Strahd.

Cleveland Clinic on Scars (:

#so sunlight and running water both deal 20 pts of damage per round but I consider sunlight much more thematically significant in Barovia #I considered drawing stuff for this #but I realized that i have way too much to draw already and i needed to get everything out as fast as possible #spider's dming tag #curse of strahd #cos #strahd von zarovich #spider chatter #world building #dnd #d&d #vampire #vampirism #its almost midnight as I'm writing this (gonna add this to the queue for tomorrow) #sleep well everyone (: #long post #not art

[granolabird]

My latest D&D PC because my friend is planning on running Curse of Strahd and I am physically incapable of making a normal character

#My art #Dungeons and dragons #curse of strahd #I need to make a tag for my art tbh #Oc #I'm a DM 90% of the time when i get the chance to make a character I go ham #She's got a super depressing backstory but a super cute face. I love ferrets #Flat colour bc I'm too lazy to shade

[slowtimelove]

whatever you think this is about. it is not what this is about.

#curse of strahd #yeah i'm tagging it i have no shame lmao #do need u to know i spent like 20 min on this

[thrumugnyr]

"Centaurs don't just let anyone ride them, if at all. So when they do, it shows a good deal of trust" - ''In that case I appreciate the offer even more''

#D&D #DnD #centaur #My last game session ended in a date with Rahadin yes lol #I started this with ulterior motives but I'm so deep in I'm getting scared #can only end in tragedy lets be real lol #i love the dumb elf what should i dooooo ahhhh #patataj #idk i need a D&D tag #curse of strahd #rahadin

[dawnpours]

Hey you know what fuck it this is my blog look at my dnd PC

Her name is Rainer, she's an Oath of Vengeance Paladin warforged (previously human). She was Alone TM for a very long time and is very dear to my heart.

She is a walking red flag bag of issues and driven by wrath and trauma but she cares a lot and accidentally gained a found family that she's terrified to lose. She would die for any of them, and honestly probably will, which is something they're all Concerned TM about.

She is also a disaster lesbian with a thing for strong women. She wants her ex' head on a spike (or so she thinks) and promptly fell for the badass independent pirate monster hunter girl they met. She is now grappling with what that means and they're both ready to die for the other but will not make any move that's not violently self-sacrificial. If this was to be a slow-burn someone would have forgotten to light the match to begin with. It's great. I'm suffering.

She is a cyborg and only looks alive thanks to her deity's powers. She spent the last ten years pretending to be human but not getting close to anyone in fear that they might realize she isn't. She didn't become a warforged willingly and is terrified of the guy who experimented on her. She is slowly coming to terms with her body and is starting to see it as her own and not just a proof of her abuse.

She has a half-brother who saw her in his dreams even before she came to Barovia. He already knew about her nature the first time she met him, and he still loved her, something she has never thought could happen. This drastically changed her, and she would do anything for him. Everything she's doing now is in hope of helping him. He also has a Very Creepy Collection of dolls of her, which she isn't aware of. It's for the best.

People around her don't enjoy physical touch and she herself is relearning it, so she shows her love by braiding their hair. She has a gigantic black horse named Sir Charcoal Le Stomp III that she summons. He is made for combat but he's more of an emotional support animal now. His mane is also braided.

As a warforged she doesn't sleep or eat, so she spends her nights mostly pining uselessly in her corner or having her fourth mental breakdown of the day. She keeps getting her shit rocked and honestly she needs a Mental Health Day.

She's about to fight her and her brother's abuser and try to kill a vampire lord. None of those things will go great.

That's it thank you for your attention, this has been a PSA.

#dnd #dnd oc #curse of strahd #curse of strahd spoilers #ish? #my art #no but for real Rainer's evolution is so dear to my heart #i haven't expanded on the other PCs but they are So Important To Her #ezmerelda d'avenir #I'm tagging her because the world needs more Ez posts #also I am taking commissions if ever

[ferretrix]

Ok.there was an ask about sally and lindis but I think I accidentally deleted the ask while agonizing over how to answer it </3 so behold,

EDIT: IM STUPID. IT WAS IN MY DRAFTS.

#if you sent that ask sorry and i appreciate you 😩 #to answer it here. bc im shy and can edit tags more than meat text. #sally was my profane soul blood hunter i played for a curse of strahd game! lindis is his wizard ex-bestie token Sick+Twisted npc girl #she took his eyeball +made him her living phylactery in a bid for immortality #but its fine he got blood magic and the most unpleasant sense of humor in exchange #. he also has ping pong proficiency despite the depth perception issues thats the only real lore you need to know #oc #sally #lindis

[beetlebabby]

uploading art of my curse of strahd pc wilhelmina d’agneau, also known as billy <333 bc it’s fun and i love her so very much

#image 1 is her with her love interest mike hunt <3 #image 2 is her with her bard spell cast focus (a candle) #image 3 are her looks for a masquerade in vallaki and the ravenloft dinner party! #dnd oc #dnd art #billy #curse of strahd #cos #my art #errrm not sure if i need any more tags <3 #dnd character #dnd tiefling #dnd5e

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

My DM thanked me for encouraging in-game party chat yesterday. 🥰 I am getting a good grade in tabletop game, which is both normal to want and possible to achieve,

#hush frenchy #jokes aside it was fun :> #our artificer engaged a lot more than usual with the character stuff and our wizard proved to be surprisingly cagey about his history #which is fun and interesting to me personally #also our fighter was very receptive to wyn approaching him about how he's doing which was nice #i like that he didn't brush her off #he actually TOLD HER what he was feeling!! that's so nice to have!! #our rogue is still.... difficult.... but perhaps that is a character choice. we'll see #d&d #i need a curse of strahd tag

[zarovichs]

"but strahd/tatyana or strahd/any of her incarnations is abusive and bad" i am a fucked up individual and i enjoy the self destructive doomed toxic romantic aspect of their dynamic. i also have good taste

#🦌 #curse of strahd #also 'abusive' is not the correct word for this get outta here with your facts #also genuinely. such a good dynamic. love as violence. etc etc #i am becoming the thing that swallows you. be afraid i love you etc #hurls into the heart of sorrow #me w bloodied hands scrounging through the ao3 tag to find SOMETHING #my players attending their wedding is not enough i need them to crash it and throw the cake at the groom's face

[astral-dragons]

HOOOO BOY TODAYS SESSION CERTAINLY HAPPENED-

So the party's been staying at the Abbey, and today they got to quest from the Abbot to find a dress for Vasilka, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to get the party to go back to Vallaki for a bit and meet with Victor and Izek.

What I wasn't expecting was that the party was going to split :))) Fenro and Dimitry stayed at the Abbey on the off-chance that Strahd came after Ireena while she was there, and Sylviel and Marcus went to Vallaki to get the dress

Now in the time the party's been gone, the Baron and Baroness were executed post-Feast of St. Andral, Lady Wachter's been made the new Burgomaster and Izek took Victor and ran off into the woods.

I ended up making the decision to connect Victor and Escher's stories to flesh both of them out a bit more; they're friends (maybe more...) that are helping each other in the hopes of escaping Barovia together.

Victor doesn't want to go too far from Vallaki until Escher knows where he's going, and this is where Team Vallaki finds them. Having followed one of Victor's skelecats to their hideout, Marcus gets caught in a trap around the camp but Sylviel gets through without trouble

After some back and forth threats, they come to a truce. Victor tells the party about his mother's old wedding dress in exchange for letting them go unharmed. After a VERY lucky persuasion check (Sylviel got a 29) Victor tells the party about Escher and asks that if they see him to pass on the message that he's headed to Krezk. The four end up traveling together to Krezk, and our session ended with them approaching the Abbey.

HHHHH so next session is gonna be the first time Ireena and Izek meet and that is going to be SO fun.

I'm also even more excited for Dinner with Strahd now, as I planned to introduce the Brides while the party is there, and finding out Escher is one of Strahd's consorts is gonna be VERY interesting >:)

And now, the quote highlights:

"Furry+, the premium subscription"

"I'm going to assign you a grave plot and dab on it before you die."

"Intimidate the church"

"Sorry, I can't hear you when you have good ideas, only when I have good ideas."

"Yeah that sounds like a him problem, so cat."

"Gaslighting people into jumping into the hole, mock 2."

#curse of strahd #dungeons and dragons #dnd #dungeons & dragons #strahd von zarovich #cos spoilers #curse of strahd spoilers #d&d #feel like i need to come up with an original tag for these posts so i can keep track of em #uh..... #Blood Relation dnd

[leenalecklin]

Pidlwick II and III 🎭

(👇 Possible Curse of Strahd spoilers below 👇)

Amento has been having a stressful journey figuring out his past as Pidlwick III. In the castle he met his first failed version Pidlwick II, which definitely creeped him out.

Now he lives in denial saying that they look nothing alike (they do).

I wasn't too keen on the official design of Pidlwick II, so I just drew how I imagined him instead. Also our DM added in the story that he has a second face in the back of his head, and the head rotates 180 degrees between happy and sad expression when needed. It's so creepy I love it.

Amento is my reborn druid in Curse of Strahd campaign. I had no idea what the story was when I was designing him and decided he would be a puppet. It fits so well with the story it's almost uncanny.

No spoilers in the tags please! 🙏

#Amento even has the same red eyes as Pidlwick II! #curse of strahd spoilers #cos spoilers #curse of strahd #cos #pidlwick #pidlwick II #amento #reborn #druid #puppet #mannequin #dnd #dnd5e #dungeons and dragons #my art #art #artists on tumblr #leenalecklin

[noctvrnal9999]

Ascended Astarion, Blood Brides & vampirism

After seeing this post by @missbaphomet (who asked to be tagged, so here you go) I decided to do a semi-deep dive into what it's all about.

Now I'll preface this that I'm more knowledgeable in Vampire the Masquerade tabletop than DnD but if there's vampires I'll be there.

For the purposes of this post I have looked into various guides, e5, Van Richten's guide to Ravenloft, briefly skimmed Curse of Strahd and consulted not one, not two, but three Dungeon Masters. So take my post as you will.

More under cut, this will be long.

It is well known that Astarion is aware of Strahd even before he's Ascended. We get his line that is basically "Strahd wouldn't put up with this shit." So, while it's only a subtle nod to von Zarovich, we still have it in game as canon line.

Now, I find this a very curious line in and on itself. Not only Astarion knows Strahd, he says the line with anger, which is clear indication that he sees Strahd as someone to look up to in one way or another. If you don't know Strahd I encourage you to google and at least read his wiki, he's a very fascinating man and very important in vampirism as a whole in DnD. He's THE vampire, THE villain. But moving on...

So Astarion definitely sees Strahd as someone who would not let himself be disrespected, it's obvious that Astarion if not aspires to be like Strahd, then definitely sees himself as capable (or capable in the future) to be as "revered" as von Zarovich is. That's a tidbit I want you all to remember.

We don't know just how much Cazador spoke to his spawn about vampire politics but they weren't just beasts locked in cages, they were going out, although to get victims for Cazador, they were still out and about. They talked to people, to each other and most likely ran into other vampires or spawn along the way in the centuries that they have been doing Cazador's bidding. This is just simple logic.

So how much Astarion and other spawn could know about Strahd, for example? There's very good reason to think that Strahd's escapades were known in Cazador's palace, as well as among other vampires. We know that Astarion likes to educate himself with whatever might benefit him ("Meanwhile, I think I'll spend some time studying the art of infernal negotiations." Act 2). It's also proven when he desperately wants to have Necromancy of Thay in hopes of finding a way to free himself from Cazador. Astarion seeks knowledge. Again, it's just pure logic to conduct that he knows more than just Strahd's name and that he's a vampire. Otherwise, why would he have the line comparing himself to him in a way that reflects that in some way Astarion reveres Strahd at least to a degree.

We established that Astarion very very likely knows a lot about Strahd, as well as other spawn alongside him. Which leads to this:

Astarion very likely knows about different ways to turn mortals into vampires.

While his own "becoming" has been a simple Spawn creation (with draining blood, burying and needing to dig oneself out), he must know about creation of Blood Brides (and Grooms, but for the sake of less words I'll use she/her and Bride but rituals I'm about to discuss can be done on any sex). Why? Because he must know about Strahd taking brides. If not, his own curiosity about his condition would have led him to learn about different rituals anyway. So based on Astarion's nature and the fact that he seems not only to be aware of Strahd but know the man to a degree of respect, I have no reason to doubt that Astarion knows about Blood Brides.

Keeping this in mind, let's move onto the night of Tav's "becoming". The scene is very clear: whatever path you choose, gentle or not, Astarion bites Tav twice in the cinematic. To become a Blood Bride one needs to be bitten trice, then given blood from the vampire. It's a whole ritual of draining her to delirium, then giving her blood. Now the vampire in question needs to fight his new bride off otherwise she will succumb to madness permanently. Astarion openly mentions he gave Tav "one drop" and seems he bypassed the need to fight her off him by most likely holding her down until his new Bride fell into a coma that leads to death. Generally the feeding is allowed from the neck but Astarion mentioning "one drop" indicates he's trying to be smarter than other vampires. Now this is interesting because to be a spawn one doesn't need their creator's blood. And they do get buried as well, just like Astarion was, while Tav never gets buried. I'm not going to detail how Larian strays from lore such as that vampires still need the dirt they died upon to rest, but we're going here by facts that should align with DnD.

Since we established that Tav is not just a normal Spawn, she was not created in a way other Spawn were, not even Astarion himself. So what IS she? Answer is right here, after all. Not only Astarion chooses her as his partner, he also ensures that she remains as such forever. Remember: Astarion does actually believe he is bestowing a gift when he turns Tav into his Bride - the gift of freedom from aging and death and to be by his side forever. "You are beautiful and you will be beautiful forever" (paraphrasing here).

I see DnD loremasters already shaking their pitchforks at me: can Astarion even do it? On a night of his own transformation? Creating a Blood Bride is something that vampires with a label of Ancient and up can perform, and even then not always successfully. Creating Spawn is much easier than creating a Bride (or several, if we're looking at Strahd). Well, what is an ancient vampire varies from version to version, but ultimately it does not matter. Why? Because Larian homebrewed an entirely new breed of vampire: the Vampire Ascendant.

Larian did not bother to explain in full what does that mean and what actual changes Astarion is going to see in the future once he becomes more accustomed to his powers. But it's completely reasonable to believe he's capable of creating Blood Brides. Simple because a - he attempts it already and succeeds (Tav is turned into one). That's it. Astarion follows the Bride Ceremony and indeed ends up creating a Bride. Not only he performs the ritual in exact way it's described in lore (we see part of it but his words the morning after confirm the rest), he also is capable of doing so because Larian made it canon by letting Tav become a Bride, successfully. She gains the Bite, confirming her transformation and there's not a single conversation piece indicating that Astarion CAN compel Tav in any way. He simply says "Why would I need to?" without establishing that the rules are different for Tav. He also hammers on that point several times: "Spawn is an ugly word, I really do prefer consort." and confirms that Tav will drink his blood without any implication that it's going to be just one time thing. Astarion obviously believes in drinking each others blood as a form of bonding and love.

Tav is not merely his Spawn, she's his Blood Bride. Every fact in game and DnD lore confirms it. And not even once Astarion actually tries to compel Tav (or is able to). Not even when confronting Elder Brain, he has a line encouraging Tav to control the brain, trying to convince her to take the power, instead of compelling her like Cazador used to compel him. There's not a single instance were Astarion controls Tav so the conclusion is simple - he can't. Tav can even argue with him at the epilogue party if she wishes so. That's not behavior of someone controlled, abused and manipulated. She has her free will to the point that she can talk back to him without being punished (something unseen with Cazador, for example). If she can leave him, well, that's another topic altogether, but I'll just say this - I think she can leave him, but he won't let her, not because he can command her to stay but because he's possessive of Tav.

Anyway, here it is, my semi-deep dive into the topic. Keep in mind I'm not a Dungeon Master.

Useful resources:

http://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com/2016/02/dungeons-dragons-guide-to-vampires.html

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barovia-billorileycyrus/a/bride-ceremony-article

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1467-playing-as-a-vampire-in-d-d

http://mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/v/vampire0.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/126n5yd/creating_vampire_brides_and_grooms/

#ascended astarion #baldur's gate 3 #thots and prayers.tm #some thoughts are messy but forgive me