YMMV / Curse of Strahd

• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Ireena Kolyana, who remains the most divisive character in the module for players. She's either a Damsel Scrappy who steals much of the module's focus while lacking a compelling personality to justify protecting her, or she's a likeable character with a good amount of characterization, and someone the players can see as a close friend to the point of wanting to help her survive at all costs.
  • There's a fair amount of debate whether Strahd is a worthy Final Boss for an endgame-level party; some DMs feel he's too much of a Glass Cannon to be dangerous, leading to the creation of CR 27 version of Strahd that has all of his strengths and none of his weaknesses. On top of that, the module gives so many tools to weaken him that by the time you actually fight him, Strahd has become an Anti-Climax Boss in spite of all the build-up. Other DMs and players, in turn, argue that making Strahd too strong defeats the point of trying to hunt for ways to hurt him. Strahd played properly is pretty deadly already, and they argue that it's ridiculous to bump him so high in challenge rating since, at the end of the day, he's just a strong vampire ruling a small country. Strahd is not meant to be someone more powerful than Orcus or Tiamat. Furthermore, part of Strahd's power is Castle Ravenloft, a location filled with traps, enemies, and a difficult-to-navigate layout that Strahd can take advantage of to punish hasty players or ambush people from, meaning if used in his castle properly, Strahd can be more dangerous than some other final encounters. In any case, the debate around how to handle when the players finally fight Strahd is one that has gone on ever since the module has seen print, and it's a debate that doesn't look to end any time soon.
• Fanon:
  • Mandymod's "Fleshing Out Curse of Strahd" is a particularly popular guide, especially in the Death House section:
    • Mandymod recommends making Mrs. Durst the main villain of the Death House dungeon. In their version, Mr. Durst had an affair with the maid, producing a child. Mrs. Durst then sacrifices the child through a cult she formed out of jealousy, causing Mr. Durst to commit suicide, the child's corpse turning into a monster, and the house being swallowed by the mist. This is so that the events of the Death House are presented more tragically, but also making the Durst parents the cause of the issue, making it more satisfying when the players win in the end.
    • Mandy also introduces the Fanes of Barovia, three dryad-like beings that used to be worshiped in Barovia until Strahd usurped their power, explaining the three emeralds from the adventure.
  • A few other popular additions from the collective Curse of Strahd Subreddit are the expansion of the three brides and hag coven to active characters with their own objectives and an early character scene where Strahd first becomes interested in the party and invites them to a friendly dinner party.
  • A common suggestion on various DND forums is to make Vampyr, the one who gave Strahd his powers, the True Final Boss of the module. This is because it gives the players a chance to kill Strahd for real, and also defeat the one who plunged Barovia into the mists, something that is often criticized about the base module, since it basically ends saying Strahd will come back.
  • Vasili is a sort of fanon OC that tends to show up in a lot of games as a friendly Barovian who happens to be working for Strahd, albeit in a non-action role. Vasili in the module is a pseudonym used by Strahd, so this version of Vasili is usually Strahd in disguise.
  • It's common to depict the Vistani as Punch Clock Villains rather than outright servants of Strahd. Sure, they'll do a job for him from time to time, and some will likely be evil given the setting, but only as a favor, and they have nothing particularly against the adventurers. They may even help the adventurers if given the incentive.
• Game-Breaker: As you might expect, Light Domain Clerics are rather overpowered in this setting, especially if you pick Wood Elf as a heritage. Wood Elves give bonuses to Wisdom and Dexterity, and have advantage against being charmed, which allows them to resist vampire mind control abilities. Light Domain Clerics are kitted out specifically to fight against Undead. They also have access to Remove Curse, Revivify, Lesser Restoration, Daylight and other spells that are very effective in dealing with powerful undead. A Light Domain Cleric when played well can easily snap the majority of the campaign's difficulty in half.
• Gameplay Derailment: Given the nature of TTRPGs, there are many builds that can cause the plot to go Off the Rails. For example, Ancients Paladins get the attack Moonbeam, which can kill Vampires for good if it's the last attack used on them. This can allow the players to permanently delete plot important NPCs from the rulebook if they coordinate enough.
• Junk Rare: The Tome of Strahd. It gives some useful exposition, though the campaign drops enough information that sharp players might have figured out the relevant stuff anyway. It also reveals that Strahd, as a vampire, hates sunlight (which a successful Religion check could have also revealed, and isn't even useful because sunlight doesn't work in Barovia (except that generated by the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, not that the tome mentions that)) and doesn't like Sergei's sword (when the sword is acquired, it is sentient and openly doesn't like him). It derives its value not for anything it does to help the players directly, but from its power to bait Strahd into suspending his objectives and being redirected into a pattern or location of the party's choosing. The "rare" part comes from this being one of the artifacts the party is specifically sent to find by Madame Eva.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Saint Markovia Hip Check ^note  one of the magical weapons that can be found is the thighbone of Saint Markovia, a holy Templar who nearly defeated Strahd after he became a vampire. Since the bone functions as a Mace of Disruption, a weapon that is incredibly powerful against undead, there are many jokes that Saint Markovia tried to kill Strahd by either hip-checking him or sitting on his face.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • The Gifts players can receive from the sealed evil Gods in the Amber Temple aren't a very well liked mechanic due to how inconsistent they are when combined with the consequences for doing so. They range from being either useful all around, to having such a limited or one time use, and all of them have a chance to shift the characters alignment to evil, and regardless will give them a new flaw. One of them for example gives a hefty +4 to Charisma, which sounds incredible for someone like a Bard or Warlock, and the only downside is a flaw of "I will not take no for an answer", which is hardly a flaw in of itself, while another gives you the ability to fly in exchange for having to eat dirt and/or grave dirt, and failure to do so means you flat out die, which is very impractical to even consider. Not helping is that the module states any player who is shifted to evil alignment, is no longer playable and the player has to make a new character, even if the player/character has no reason to now be enemies of the party^note The book makes it seem as though the character is essentially converted to doing evil now, but all it states is an alignment swap to evil. A character who is affected by this can still easily work with their party as their alignment does not mean they automatically are going to Kick the Dog and/or join Strahd.. Due to these factors, players generally avoid them at all costs and to avoid having to make a new character.
  • Factions, a system where players could be members of one of five Forgotten Realms-based organizations. This was fine for stories like Tyranny of Dragons, where it made sense for the factions to be involved — Tiamat's resurrection could cause The End of the World as We Know It if the factions didn't do anything. But it's pretty ridiculous in Curse of Strahd since it takes place in Barovia, an entirely separate world from the Forgotten Realms controlled by a vampire lord where the factions couldn't be expected to have any influence. It's commonly house-ruled by Dungeon Masters to just ignore the mechanic entirely.
• That One Boss: Several of the module's fights go here.
  • The vampire spawn in the coffin maker's workshop can be a very deadly encounter for an under-leveled party. Even a fifth level party risks getting wiped, and the fight is meant for fourth level characters. Its recommended to do the fight because it allows you to prevent Strahd's attack on the church after, but most players might not be prepared for it.
  • For players not ready for it, the fight with the vampire Doru in the basement of the church in the village of Barovia can be quite difficult. Most players will encounter him around level three, but he is very capable of killing low AC characters easily thanks to being able to attack twice during his turn, including a bite that restores his health a bit, and also reduces the targets max HP for a period of time, on top of a good amount of health. If he goes after someone like a Squishy Mage, he'll easily take them out and run the risk of killing them quickly due to being starved and not likely to show mercy. It also can be difficult for races without Darkvision since the basement has no light source, so anyone without Darkvision will be at a huge disadvantage as well and forced to focus on using something like Dancing Lights or Light to see. Radiant damage helps greatly, but Doru may just ignore someone using it to instead attack a more vulnerable target.
  • Special mention goes to Old Bonegrinder. Three Night Hags would be bad enough at level 4, but having them all present means they get the Coven rules, which means taking a Lightning Bolt from each of them, which is a likely party kill at that level. This one was so egregious that one of the game developers even suggested replacing them with the much weaker Green Hag and having one of the sisters be away selling pies so that they can't use the Coven rules.
  • Fans of Russian mythology might have seen this coming, but Baba Lysaga is no slouch. She has a Finger of Death spell, which at the level you encounter her might be Save or Die. And you might die even if you do make the save. But even worse than that is her mobile house. Depending on how you explore the ruins of Berez, you might know what's coming, or you might be shocked when her house sprouts spider legs and wipes out a player each turn. She's also very high level for when you may end up facing her, which can mean that even a well setup group will simply be overpowered by her magic.
  • Depending on the personality of the party, the Amber Temple will either avert this or play it lethally straight. The Lich has a higher challenge rating than Strahd himself, but is not hostile to the party, and may even escort them through the temple, scaring off enemies as they are approached. Of course, if the party likes to attack anything that moves in a dungeon, or thinks that anything undead must be purged, etc., they are going to have a bad time. And then there's the main chamber of the temple. An arcanaloth that starts off with cover so that you don't even know who dropped a Chain Lightning on your party, as well as the possibility of multiple Flameskulls coming to his aid. Said fight is infamous for being one of the hardest fights in the module because of this.
• That One Level: The module is infamous among D&D players. Despite the emphasis on roleplay over combat, the module regularly throws the party into potentially lethal encounters. Ironically, players used to combat-heavy campaigns are more likely to die, as the module is notoriously unforgiving when it comes to entering combat without need.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Despite being the most important character in the module after Strahd himself, Ireena Iridovich is given a shocking lack of detail - a common criticism is that she feels less like a character and more a plot device. Even in this context she is often considered underutilized, with almost no detail or guidance on how to use her. Her personality is very plain, and she doesn't have a goal other than giving her adoptive father a proper burial. Rather infamously, despite the task of escorting Ireena to the town of Vallakia being one the party is likely set to obtain very early in the adventure, there is no actual details provided on what to do with her once the party arrives (one has to go to the end of the book and read Ivek's character fluff for a possibility), and if one takes her to the other location recommended in the module, Saint Markovia's abbey, then she is drawn to a magic pool in the town of Krezek, which removes her from the story. This is hurt by the sheer amount of Guide Dang It! logic in said event, and simply getting into Krezek might require several other events, where she will be with the party, yet uninvolved with whatever is going on. In an adventure and setting where the main driving thrust of the narrative is Strahd's doomed pursuit of Tatyana and her reincarnations, it ends up making Ireena feel like a bit player in her own story.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: According to the handbook for the module, Madam Eva is actually Strahd's half-sister, born from when his father was out on a campaign. This detail has significant importance from a story angle; Strahd is always looking for a worthy successor, unaware he had a half-sister all along, and Madam Eva herself wants to free Strahd from his curse. Not only that, but this means by extension any of Eva's children/descendants have royal blood in their veins. This seems to be included as a clever way to defeat Strahd, perhaps by using this to convince Strahd to let Eva rule so he may finally rest, or allow one of her descendants to rule. Despite this, there is almost no hint in game the player can find to learn this, and the piece of lore is so insignificant to the story that the community generally removes this detail when running the campaign to keep Madam Eva a mysterious character.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The module is rather infamous for its bleak nature, with not a lot of likable characters and the ones who are likable not often lasting for the long run, and the players' achievements and successes often quickly either being overwritten or undone by some unforeseen event.^note Take a drink every time it turns out a character was really/secretly evil and/or working for/is Strahd in disguise. You'll likely be completely sloshed before the session ends. Combined with some brutal encounters and it can be a very hard module to push through. Even most of the endings to the campaign, where the PCs successfully beat Strahd, are usually Bittersweet Ending's at best. The best the players can do, by RAW, is to reunite Ireena with Sergi in the afterlife, and provide a window of opportunity for the Barovians, those with souls at least, to escape before Strahd inevitably revives.