TACTICS, SAMPLE BATTLE: Strahd 5e version isn't always powerful against super experienced players.
- Seems it's ALL about the Sunsword in 5e, since he doesn't have the 3.5e sunlight protection thingie. And grappling him/preventing escape.
- He talks about high level spells that capture/incapacitate Strahd are the way to beat him.
- CR goes from CR5 to CR20 in 5e depending on things.
- He's a cheesy, annoying hit and run monster if you play him perfectly on purpose, so DM needs to think hard about how to balance it instead of making it a 2 day fight.
- Phase through walls and hit with the Ray of Frost, that does 2d8 (9th level caster) plus slows them by 10ft.
- Fireball is fair, he says. -> I'll change the description so it's more vampirey and less wizardy.
- Sleep spell against hurt PCs (or polymorphed tiny things) is good, bring them to the dungeon.
- No death saving throws, so playing nice
- Polymorph PCs to frog. Transport to dungeon.
- I just have issues with "polymorph to frog" from a vamp... feels wrong still.
- Legendary Actions
- Note that this list assumes that Strahd will always save at least one legendary action use after for the turn immediately preceding his own in order to move out of sunlight before the start of his turn and ensure his continued regeneration.
- Can’t Use Charm. Strahd freely uses his Charm ability when able, but the DM has made clear to the players that they are able to protect themselves by closing their eyes or refusing to look at him, which the players frequently do. Use this option if you want to allow Strahd to fight at full strength while within sunlight (i.e., by inflicting the blinded condition against PCs who refuse to look at him) and increase his survivability against damaging attacks and vision-based spells (e.g., hold monster). If you use this option, increase Strahd’s CR by 1.
- Mirror Image by Strahd ... v. powerful, party needs lots of DISPEL MAGIC to deal with it.
- Fog Cloud by Strahd, allows him to protect himself from sunlight.
- area becomes heavily obscured, same as blinded
- A blinded creature can’t see and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight.
- Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s attack rolls have disadvantage.
- "Vengeful" poster's word. If a PC taunts Strahd specifically regarding Sergei, King Barov, Queen Ravenovia, or Tatyana, Strahd prioritizes that PC’s injury or death above other competing targets. Use this option if you would like to highlight Strahd’s status as a flawed, fallible villain. If you use this option and expect your players to make strategic use of such tactics, decrease Strahd’s CR by 1.
5e Average Encounter via reddit still
Let’s assume that Strahd uses the Minor Phasing strategy, setting his default CR to 9. Let’s also assume that his preferred actions include unarmed strike, fireball, sleep, and polymorph (frog); that his preferred legendary actions include unarmed strike and move; that he cannot use charm (+1 CR); that he primarily uses his phasing lair action; that he prefers to isolate characters through imprisonment; that he prepares between consecutive combats by casting fog cloud; and that his responses to provocation are vengeful (-1 CR).
In this scenario, Strahd fights like a hit-and-run guerilla, slowly wearing the party’s resources down until he is either successfully grappled or somehow incapacitated.
In this encounter, Strahd’s effective CR is 9, meaning that a party of 9th-level PCs attuned to the Sunsword and Holy Symbol will likely face a challenging, resource-intensive final encounter. By contrast, a party of 10th-level PCs will face a slightly easier encounter, expending fewer resources and facing lower risk.
DESCRIPTION FIXER, MINE (if not liking him seeming to be a wizard):
- Fireball by him = He says "Hell's Fire!" and black or pure red fire erupts in an area equal to fireball, but it ain't fireball.
- Polymorph Other = ... not sure I want to use this at all, but the capture to dungeon thing seems OK. Hmm... how would we describe it???
- Sleep = yeah, it'd be magical, but I still see it as a vampire thing, related to his charm.
- Fog Cloud = OK... the mist and cloud thing is all related in my mind.
- Inviz = Yeah, it works I think.
- Mirror Image = OK, THIS is a problem... too wizardy. How would I describe it, I dunno.
- Gaseous Form => Vapor Form (2e calls it Vapor form... sounds more old school, so better)... 2e says amorphous, which I get. You aren't the shape of yourself anymore.
Lair and Legendary Actions explained https://blackcitadelrpg.com/legendary-lair-action-5e/ and https://www.dungeonsolvers.com/legendary-actions-and-lair-actions/
Legendary Actions Rules – Page 11 of the Monster Manual - regains them at end of monster's turn. Only one legendary at a time. Can use like 3 weak ones during one round, but can't repeat 2 in a row, right?Each legendary action can cost between 1-3 legendary actions per use.
- A single boss creature has only 1 action per round while each player has at least 1 per turn. One way of solving this problem is to give your boss some minions during the fight to even the odds. Another way is to give your boss some legendary actions and lair actions.
- Legendary actions used OUTSIDE a creature's turn. Legendary actions always take place directly after a player’s turn in combat, and a creature can only act once between players’ turns.
- This limitation prevents legendary creatures from taking advantage of temporary poor positioning by using all their legendary actions at the worst moment.
- If a creature can’t take normal actions, for example when it is incapacitated, it can’t take legendary actions. It also can’t use legendary actions until after its first turn in combat if it is surprised.
- Lair actions always take place on an initiative count of 20. That means the effect occurs before any players who rolled a 19 for initiative, and after any players who rolled a 20 or higher with bonuses (miniboss is losing initiative ties on 20).
- Creatures can’t use the same lair action twice in a row, as the DM you’ll have to mix it up rather than simply picking the best option for a given situation.
3.5e negative levels explained (vs Strahd 3.5e they are temp neg levels for the most part)
To avoid permanent loss of levels.... "The mechanic itself gives you 24 hours to come up with something boosting your Fort save, such as spells or temporary Con increases during the time of the roll. "
Energy Drain =/= Negative Levels =/= Permanent Level Loss.
- Energy Drain (Su) is a monster special ability.
It has its own callout for creatures immune to it. Being a (Su)
ability, Spell Resistance does not apply to it. When you're hit with a
melee attack from a monster with Energy Drain, you receive one or more negative levels,
a debuff hitting several character stats. There's no saving throw
against the negative levels going on. Finally, Energy Drain gives the
monster that hit you with it 5 temporary hitpoints per negative level
imposed - these come from the ability, not the negative levels.
- Negative levels are a temporary debuff. They impose penalties, not
damage. 1 negative level = -1 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws,
skill checks, ability checks, and effective level where it matters (e.g.
Smite Evil, Caster Level); -5 penalty to hitpoints; and lose your
highest level spell. Sooner or later, as set by the ability or spell
that imposes them, negative levels go away. But if they last 24 hours,
they force you to save (Fort) against each negative level. Fail a save,
you permanently drop a character level (or hit dice) for that negative
level. Lastly, if you've got as many negative levels as you have hit
dice, you die, no save, and usually come back as a wight 1d4 rounds
later. Though they're said to be negative levels, nothing explicitly makes them a negative energy effect, though in most cases your DM will likely rule they are.
- Level loss is permanent level loss. Doesn't have to happen due to negative levels, good old Raise Dead does this to you Under level loss, you lose a hit dice, or a character level (RAI being the one most recently acquired.) And your XP total is reset to halfway between your new low level and the one you came from. This has implications for Thought Bottle ab/use, as we'll see later.
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