Curse of Strahd: Reloaded’s guide to lighting Argynvost’s beacon, redeeming the Abbot, and defeating Kiril is now available!
Added 2024-08-29 11:35:01 +0000 UTCI’m excited to share the ninth public installment of my revised Curse of Strahd guide, Curse of Strahd: Reloaded. This new release contains Arc Q: A Shining Beacon, which includes:
Redeeming the Abbot. The players’ climactic confrontation with the Abbot, and a chance to ally with St. Markovia to redeem his tainted soul.
Vanquishing Kiril. A showdown with the werewolf packleader Kiril Stoyanovich.
Lighting the Beacon. A race to Argynvost’s mausoleum against the revenants of Argynvostholt and Commander Vladimir Horngaard - plus the triumphant return of Argynvost’s spirit and the lighting of the beacon itself.
In addition, this update contains a number of edits, tweaks, and additions to previously released portions of the guide. You can find a full changelog here.
Thank you to all of the readers and playtesters who provided suggestions and feedback following the previous public release!
As always, I want your feedback and comments to help make this guide the best it can be. Is the adventure fun? Is the content accessible? Is there anything missing, or anything I can do better? Please let me know any and everything I can do to improve!
Thank you always to everyone who has supported this project, as well as to my incredible patrons for their support.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Comments
Glad to hear they had fun! And noted about the encounter being too easy under those conditions; I'll make sure to have that tuned in a future update.
DragnaCarta
2024-09-25 02:57:11 +0000 UTCHi Dragna, My players just finished St. Andrals Feast, and they had a blast! I had a quick question. Our party was lowered to three, because of the last member being sick. This meant that they only had to fight Volenta. Their rolls were really good, but Father Lucian seemed a bit too strong for the encounter, essentially making it a cake walk for my players (Only one of them took any damage). I don't know if I played it wrong, or if Father Lucian is too strong for the encounter. Anyway, I just wanted to leave my feedback! Looking forward to reading the next act :)
Mikkel Hartvig
2024-09-23 10:13:55 +0000 UTCI can definitely take a look at that! And Arc N is an optional downtime arc; I likely won't write it until the epilogue.
DragnaCarta
2024-09-20 02:58:12 +0000 UTCNo need to apologize, and thanks for the kind words! And I've removed the Mad Mage entirely from Reloaded; his narrative role has been folded into Van Richten's character. You can learn more about the revised Doru's rebellion in the History of Barovia chapter, as well as Arc B.
DragnaCarta
2024-09-20 02:57:47 +0000 UTCI think the Act 3 timeline in the summary is out of date. It still assumes that the players do nothing on Neyavr 9 whereas the quest assumes they set out immediately. Also is Arc N: Tales of Vallaki cut? It's not accounted for in the timeline either
David Iooss
2024-09-19 23:47:06 +0000 UTCHi, thanks as always for this excellent work (and Twice Bitten) and apologies if this is the wrong thread to ask this question. I'm currently at the start of the Reloaded campaign and am due to run Madam Eva's reading. I wanted to tie one of my PCs to the Mad Mage, but can't see any reference to him. Does he feature in Reloaded at some point?
Andy S
2024-09-19 21:54:10 +0000 UTCAh ..duh. I should have realized that. Thanks
Richard fortin
2024-09-16 03:19:55 +0000 UTCHey! It goes from 1d10 to 1d8 because he switches from using his battleaxe two-handed to one-handed (so he can more easily sling fire with his spare hand). Hope this clarifies!
DragnaCarta
2024-09-16 02:25:32 +0000 UTCI have a question. I am not sure if I found a typo or what. In Izek's 1st form, you have his Silvered Battleaxe doing 1d10+5 damage per hit. in his second form that damage is reduced to 1d8+5, granted it now does fire damage. Are these supposed to both be 1d10 or 1d8? or is the way it is in the guide correct? Thanks. We are getting to him in the next couple sessions and wanted to make sure I represent him as you envisioned him. I can make the call on my end but wanted to get your thoughts first. Thanks, Rich.
Richard fortin
2024-09-15 11:57:33 +0000 UTCThanks for the reply, that makes sense and probably a good compromise. That way damage can still carry over but the boss will just change moves at certain points. Except for Strahd I suppose when he gets properly centered in later on, as I think he has three phases currently on what's been done so far. Not too hard to keep track there tho.
Remagen
2024-09-14 18:02:54 +0000 UTCHey, sorry for the delayed reply! In that case, I'd suggest just doing a little sleight of hand - add the two HP totals together, and then have the boss change phases when it's "bloodied" (i.e., when the current phase loses all of its hit points).
DragnaCarta
2024-09-14 17:08:44 +0000 UTCI had a question on phase battles for all the bosses. Is there an easy way to handle them without the phase battle mechanic as I have players in one group that doesn't like phase battles as it feels a little too video gamey for them to have HP drop then suddenly come back.
Remagen
2024-09-10 16:16:07 +0000 UTCSure thing! And I think he'd invite all of them to wail on him for the same five rounds, then go full aggro with the Mage phase until they surrender or get KO'd.
DragnaCarta
2024-09-06 13:34:01 +0000 UTCThanks for the quick response. I also now have another question: C2a details what happens if a *single* player challenges Strahd to a battle. What should he do if the party collectively challenges him, or other party members jump in to help? The battle routine described seems to fall apart in this scenario, as he can't keep multiple people suspended.
Tarhalindur
2024-09-06 00:27:20 +0000 UTCIt does not! As a general rule, you should ignore everything in the original module that the guide does not explicitly include or reference. Here, the chapter on Strahd and his statblock doesn't mention the Heart of Sorrow's HP shield, so it doesn't exist.
DragnaCarta
2024-09-05 21:53:32 +0000 UTCQuick question, because I wasn't able to confirm this for sure: does the Heart of Sorrow still possess the ability to tank damage for Strahd, as mentioned in page 59 and 239 of the original module?
Tarhalindur
2024-09-05 21:14:07 +0000 UTCThanks Nickolas, and welcome to Barovia! Appreciate the typo catch and kind words; I'll do my best to keep it up :)
DragnaCarta
2024-09-01 20:34:41 +0000 UTCHi Dragna ! I'm brand new and am starting the reloaded adventure ! Thanks a lot for your work ! I just wanted to mention that upon reading I have stumbled on two small erratas in Arc B, B5c: 'Ismark can also share the the village’s recent history' (before 'Bildrath's Fury' ) 'the village had ninety days to make peace with the gods before the the lord of Castle Ravenloft' (in the paragraph of known information that Bildrath can share) Thanks again and keep up the amazing work !
Nickolas Ivanov
2024-09-01 10:18:48 +0000 UTCThank you! And that's an interesting idea - thanks for sharing.
DragnaCarta
2024-08-30 12:41:29 +0000 UTCAlso, just out of interest - the alteration to Arc C with Muriel now calling herself 'Blue' if asked under a speak with animals spell...I got around that by having all of the Martikovs just call her "Vinshaw". She will reveal her first name after Ludmilla provokes her into transforming (although the mention of some blue hair already has one of my PCs suspecting the truth!).
Matt
2024-08-30 00:17:32 +0000 UTCAmazing! The beacon-lighting is epic!
Matt
2024-08-29 23:41:05 +0000 UTCNot dumb at all! I just haven't made her a new statblock yet. You can use her RAW one for now, though.
DragnaCarta
2024-08-29 14:21:00 +0000 UTCsorry if this sounds dumb. But If my players fight Lysaga should I use their official stat block. or is there a statblock I am missing?
CaptiveCreepa
2024-08-29 14:17:17 +0000 UTC
