History Headscratchers / Ravenloft

* Isn't the point of being a Darklord is that they are beyond redemption purely due to their own choices and the evil deeds they continuously commit? So Elena Faith-hold having been given a corrupted version of her Detect Evil ability (which instead of detecting evil detects strong emotions towards her) basically means she's being tricked by the Dark Powers into continuously committing murder and torture (potentially to anyone in her domain), and will thus will never ever actually be at fault for it? From her perspective, her innate Paladin ability is working perfectly. She's still fighting evil, but she's just being fed completely false information about what that evil is! On top of that she has been absolutely no reason to doubt this (because Paladins are supposed to be able to Detect Evil, and never strong emotions), so she will never realize that she is actually just killing and torturing innocent people who have strong emotions towards her (which is going to inevitably be the case seeing as how she is the ruler of the domain, and thus anyone would have a strong opinion and thus be a potential target). Again, in order for her to actually stop being murderous, she would have to stop being a Paladin or realize that her Detect Ability is indeed corrupted, but has been given absolutely no reason to either. This would be like Van Richten being cursed into hallucinating that random innocent people on the street are monsters actively trying to kill him, and then suffering Dark Powers checks whenever he defends himself and kills someone that from his perspective was trying to do him harm. I mean Elena Faith-hold is still evil regardless, but it seems out of character for the Dark Powers to be actively encouraging her continued damnation by essentially just altering the variable in someone's innate ability. It would make more sense if she had no Detect Evil ability, but was acting under the delusion that she still has it, but she will still mistake random people for evil because she's insane with no help from the Dark Powers.

* Isn't the point of being a Darklord is that they are beyond redemption purely due to their own choices and the evil deeds they continuously commit? So Elena Faith-hold having been given a corrupted version of her Detect Evil ability (which instead of detecting evil detects strong emotions towards her) basically means she's being tricked by the Dark Powers into continuously committing murder, and will thus will never ever actually be redeemed? From her perspective, her innate Paladin ability is working perfectly. She's still fighting evil, but she's just being fed completely false information about what that evil is! On top of that she has been absolutely no reason to doubt this (because Paladins are supposed to be able to Detect Evil, and never strong emotions), so she will never realize that she is actually just killing and torturing innocent people who have strong emotions towards her (which is going to inevitably be the case seeing as how she is the ruler of the domain, and thus anyone would have a strong opinion and thus be a potential target). Again, in order for her to actually stop being murderous, she would have to realize that her Detect Ability is indeed corrupted, but has been given absolutely no reason to realize this. This would be like Van Richten being cursed into hallucinating that random innocent people on the street are monsters trying to kill him, and then suffering Dark Powers checks whenever he defends himself and kills someone. I mean Elena Faith-hold is still an evil regardless, but it seems out of characters for the Dark Powers to be actively encouraging her continued damnation by essentially just altering the variable in someone's innate ability. It would make more sense if she had no Detect Evil ability, but was acting under the delusion that she still has it, but she still mistakes random people for evil.

* Wasn't Addar kinda right at first? With all the talk about equals and partners and great honor, the first thing the elders came up with was to make a princess tame him, and the scene clearly describes the ritual as a compelling magic that was trying to bind his will. He's still an asshole since he allowed her to die, and it's possible that the princess herself didn't even know how the spell actually worked. Wouldn't it be better to simply exile him? That would even serve as a far better lesson - initially believing himself to be free, but then most likely abandoned by the nightmare (no power to be summoned - no profit), lonely from being shunned by his kin and outmatched by whatever forces he would try to take on he would reconsider his pride. Or at least denied a valid point if he doubled down on his beliefs and done something atrocious anyway.

** While Ravenloft is mostly GothicHorror, the setting incorporates all kinds of horror, including CosmicHorror. The domain of Blutespur was intended to be more like HP Lovecraft with its mind flayers. One could argue that Vecna and Kas don't fit the GothicHorror model either, but in each adventure the module explains how the adventure can be scary and what themes should be brought out (Vecna and Kas represent ancient secrets and prehistoric horror). Some domains' lies in their ability to mock or twist the expectations of standard fantasy settings, like the Wildlands mocks Disney/TheLionKing with its talking animals. Personally, I think that Gwydion is an expy of Morgoth or Sauron in a Tolkien setting, except in this case, he's an ancient evil mocking the hope that the true king will return to the throne.

** While Ravenloft is mostly GothicHorror, the setting incorporates all kinds of horror, including CosmicHorror. The domain of Blutespur was intended to be more like HP Lovecraft with its mind flayers. One could argue that Vecna and Kas don't fit the GothicHorror model either, but in each adventure the module explains how the adventure can be scary and what themes should be brought out (Vecna and Kas represent ancient secrets and prehistoric horror). Some domains' lies in their ability to mock or twist the expectations of standard fantasy settings, like the Wildlands mocks Disney/TheLionKing with its talking animals. Personally, I think that Gwydion is an espy of Morgoth or Sauron in a Tolkien setting, except in this case, he's an ancient evil mocking the hope that the true king will return to the throne.

** While Ravenloft is mostly GothicHorror, the setting incorporates all kinds of horror, including CosmicHorror. The domain of Blutespur was intended to be more like HP Lovecraft with its mind flayers. One could argue that Vecna and Kas don't fit the GothicHorror model either, but in each adventure the module explains how the adventure can be scary and what themes should be brought out (Vecna and Kas represent ancient secrets and prehistoric horror). Some domains' lies in their ability to mock or twist the expectations of standard fantasy settings, like the Wildlands mocks Disney/TheLionKing with its talking animals. Personally I think that Gwydion is an espy of Morgoth or Sauron in a Tolkien setting, except in this case he's an ancient evil mocking the hope that the true king will return to the throne.

** While Ravenloft is mostly GothicHorror, the setting incorporates all kinds of horror, including CosmicHorror. The domain of Blutespur was intended to be more like HP Lovecraft with its mind flayers. One could argue that Vecna and Kas don't fit the GothicHorror model either, but in each adventure the module explains how the adventure can be scary and what themes should be brought out (Vecna and Kas represent ancient secrets and prehistoric horror). Some domains' lies in their ability to mock or twist the expectations of standard fantasy settings, like the Wildlands mocks TheLionKing with its talking animals. Personally I think that Gwydion is an espy of Morgoth or Sauron in a Tolkien setting, except in this case he's an ancient evil mocking the hope that the true king will return to the throne.

** While Ravenloft is mostly GothicHorror, the setting incorporates all kinds of horror, including CosmicHorror. The domain of Blutespur was intended to be more like HP Lovecraft with its mind flayers. One could argue that Vecna and Kas don't fit the GothicHorror model either, but in each adventure the module explains how the adventure can be scary and what themes should be brought out (Vecna and Kas represent ancient secrets and prehistoric horror). Some domains' lies in their ability to mock or twist the expectations of standard fantasy settings, like the Wildlands mocks TheLionKing with its talking animals. Personally I think that Gwydion is an espy of Morgoth or Sauron in a Tolkien, except in this case he's an ancient evil mocking the hope that the true king will return to the throne.

* Gwydion just bugs me. He does not seem to fit within the GothicHorror theme of the setting. He seems like more of a CosmicHorror creature. I have to wonder what the designers were thinking when they added him in.