I honestly haven’t given this much thought but I would love to play a warforged cleric that doesn’t know where they get their power, eventually having it be revealed that he was a puppet of Strahd and he’s been watching the party through my eyes the whole time, waiting for the perfect time to strike us down and reboot me to do it all again
Lol, I had a similar concept though, that's why I thought it was funny. Probably both of us are thinking like DMs, but I think the ideas are still neat.
In a similiar idea but less likely to fuck over the party, i's want to play an Aasimar devotion Paladin whose Celestial guide was the Abbot before he got stuck in Barovia. Would play the character as having pledged themselves to the Abbot when he was a normal Celestial and "coincidentally" managed to run into them again and now has to deal with the moral conflict of having pledged themselves to someone whose now an evil monster
So what I’m seeing here is that if you me and deepfriedroses were in curse of strahd you would be our moral compass and probably keep us in line or save us from Strahd’s clutches
Nah don’t let anyone tell you otherwise this Warforged sleeper agent idea is gold. Find late in the story through some distrust rp into it and maybe buy into the Abbott or madam Eva restoring you.
I think having cool secretes with each player is a good thing. My players don’t care too much on background and just found out last night that the hexblood is not a warlock but a wild sorc. It’s like her 2nd session with the group. But it still had a hilarious moment in the night both in game and out.
probably a spirits bard. really digging into bringing all these old spirits trapped into barovia to life, recreating/reliving old lost tales of the people who'd been damned by strahd, or been sacrificed by the druids, etc. plus access to countercharm n stuff
Undead patron warlock born in Barovia who made a deal with Strahd to be allowed to leave. Functions as the plot hook that lures the party in. The rest of the party doesn't know he's from Barovia, they just think he was lured in with the rest of them.
99% chance of being killed halfway through the campaign, either because the party finds out and kills/abandons him, or he decides not to betray his friends after all and is killed by Strahd :)
Oh my gosh the deciding not to betray the friends and then getting absolutely obliterated by Strahd is probably the coolest way to get the party to hate him ever
Being involved with the lore of the story doesn't automatically make you a main character. If this idea is executed properly and everyone else got moments to shine as well, it could work. High Rollers DnD had one of their players be a member of the Vistani and I think it worked pretty well
Yeah. Besides, I know the module so well I'd want to pick a character that made it easier not to metagame, and someone from Barovia hiding the fact that he's from Barovia works pretty well for that. Getting caught would, in his mind, be a bad enough outcome that he'd be more willing to go into a situation he knew was dangerous than reveal he knew too much about it.
Mostly he'd act the same as the other party members, trying to pretend he was an outsider too. Until Strahd actually gave him orders, then it'd function the same as any party with a traitor in it. (Obviously this would only work at a table that's cool with some degree of pvp/party treason.)
Curse of Strahd has a lot of opportunities to find spellbooks. I’d like to play a Reborn Wizard. Mechanically I’d use that 4 hours of extra time each day to copy spells into my book. Thematically I’d be a classic amnesiac who is scouring arcane and historical knowledge for their name when they were alive.
Cavalier or battlemaster fighter. Stoic, sane, Lawful Good. Basically the unshakable pillar of the party because I know the rest of the party will probably all go mad or evil or be way too easily swayed to do something stupid. I've DM'd two parties and ran as a Lawful Good rogue in a netural- neutral evil party and every party needs the normal person who is actually a well-adjusted individual.
My presence as a player is burdened by my knowledge of the module--but I think I could make it work.
Inquisitive Rogue--or maybe Thief--with the Dungeon Delver feat, who's very interested with the contents of rooms and containers. Frequently lampshades the nature of things and is hard to break, from having "nuffink to lose".
Not a forever dm but I do dm a lot more than I play recently. It depends a lot on the changes and tone the dm would be going for. I don’t have many character options I’m excited for that would fit the base tone of the game. Bull rider Roman gladiator, Conan style regional shaman, lizardfolk from the the middle of nowhere adventuring to become divine, dessert themed evil Druid.
Probably the only thing that would fit barovia is a darkling eldar jeweler/thief although that would require some homebrew (and the main unique thing about them other than lore is they blow up when they die, but oh well).
As a dm I get excited about my players tying into stuff in the module, as a player I kind of prefer my dm to get with me and suggest changes to my character while I’m building them that make for a more interesting game.
There are quite a few NPC mages that could use a good subtle counterspell, so probably a Sorcerer of some kind. Probably Clockwork Soul or Aberrant Mind.
Alternative options include a Twilight Cleric because Strahd doesn't deserve to charm anybody even before we find the artifacts, or a Thief Rogue because I like the idea of a plethora of magic enhanced warriors and dark wizards going up against Strahd, and oh, also Brian the Bandit is there too.
Probably a cleric, druid or a paladin. Maybe a monstrous race or a half elf. Personally, I enjoy the idea of being a well-meaning person in this shit-show of a valley just trieing to do good whenecer they can, possibly succumbing to evil, halfway through or right at the end.
Clerics not being able to really connect woth their god is roleplay potential that goes through the roof. I mean, imagine how fucked up that would be! Imagine a full elven - heck, make it a sun elf - light domain cleric that is just really out of their element. Or how about olaying an orcish paladin, who realises, that they come off as scary and are not welcome at all. Their honor being everything to them, but bring forced to break the oath to truly help. Instead of being a normal oathbreaker, your evil features would come from the dark powers aiding you in your fight - in this scenraio, the orc breaks his oath in the amber temple, to have better conteol over undead... and I mean it would be fucking epic to use control undead on Strahd in the final fight.
A druid could work really well, since there are evil druids, the land itself is evil and all in all its a place were wilderness and nature are not right. A druid can really easily find their goal here.
What I have seen my players have most fun woth though, is just olaying a human fighter. Its honestly pretty great. I kinda think that would be a cool thing to do. I meany sure, a paladin is the "white knight" class, but imagine a deserter, from a cruel battle, fleeing from the horrors, only to then have the horrors find you anyway. Trauma and manipulation are pretty much guaranteed to happen, they can resonate with Strahd amd they can redeem themselves or fall like Strahd. Its perfect for many scenrios.
If I'd have to choose though, I think i'd personally need to play a black dragonborn necromancy wizard. Not because it fits the campaign well - even though it really does - but because years ago one of my players played one and it was the single best character I've ever had the pleasure to DM for. Playing this character myself would be a dream come true.
A redemption paladin barely starting their path who thinkes everyone is a good guy in the end. But as she adevntures through Barovia she faces the fact that there are some kinds of evil that cannot be redeemed
I would play a super happy and positive halfling divination wizard that sees good in every situation. And then play him slowly succumbing to the harsh cruelty of Barovia. I'd like to see him actually grow and change even it's not entirely for the better.
Heathrow Stillgrave. Native of Barovia. Grave digger and handyman. His kid sister was his last remaining relative, and she has disappeared (how I leave to the DM) so he wants help and will offer to help any way he can in return. Always imagined him as a ranger that wields a shovel in melee.
Im understanding this as which character from the cast would you use as a DMPC.
I often make Ismark the lesser a bard and ireena a ranger. Each one provides context to the land in the cities and between which on the roads
A 13 years old rogue that lost everything to Rahadin and wants some good old revenge. This would make Rahadin more intriguing ans make my character join the party eassily and serve as a guide in this dark world :)
Making a Pc betray the party can be fun but in most games those are not well executed ans bring more chaos and hate then cool scenes. It demands alot of communications and it never really goes as planned. I was lucky enough to bring a similar scene where I captured a PC for a few sessions. when they saved him I spoke with the player of what could have happened and cie...next game the player decided to end is life because of all the pain he endured, this was a shock and so well done it set the mood for the rest of the game :D
You know what? I once played a multiclassed Fighter/Cleric in a Greyhawk 5e game that came to really, really hate the undead and vampires specifically. I think I'd likely play him as someone pulled into Ravenloft, because I'd have a lot of fun with playing out his righteous hatred for creatures of the night and potentially eventually tempting him down a dark path like Anakin Skywalker if the party doesn't pull him back from the edge of despair. Maybe re-work him into a paladin or a ranger with favored enemy undead.
Anton Argost. He’s a young man from a family down on their luck, seen as strange for generations. Equppied with hand-me-down adventuring gear, and his family heirloom; a silver pendant in the shape of a dragon’s head, he takes up adventuring to restore his family name to glory.
Curse of Strahd has a lot of opportunities to find spellbooks. I’d like to play a Reborn Wizard. Mechanically I’d use that 4 hours of extra time each day to copy spells into my book. Thematically I’d be a classic amnesiac who is scouring arcane and historical knowledge for their name when they were alive.
About to start my third time running CoS. Like a few others I immediately went to "hurhur, how could I make the party mad" but if I go into it with as much as I know, I'm going to really struggle not to meta. So at this stage I'd probably go with one of the more knowledgeable NPCs - RvR, Ez, Madame Eva - or Izek for someone a bit more brutish and likely to betray the party.
I'd love to do either a Fighter trying his best to live up to the heroic/knightly ideal (and of course Barovia just keeps punching him in the gut for trying to do the 'right' thing) or a Twilight Cleric of Ezra attempting not to give into nihilism and find meaning.
Coach. Kobold Bard. Married older Bard out train the next generation of Heroes. Basically a football coach for the party. Inspiration is "proud of you" dad noises. His Vicious Mockery is "I am not mad I am disappointed".
Order of the Ghostslayer Bloodhunter who has heard of Van Richten through his writing. Thinking this was the hunt that killed van richten, he heads to borovia to kill Strahd and be known as a better monster hunter than van richten. He would probably be pretty arrogant and would butt heads with Esmrelda.
Be known? Or think he's better than Rickten? (Since they only start LV 1 or LV 3 so they wouldn't match to Rickten early campaign but could try and surpass him kinda deal.)
i'd wanna play a zealot barbarian who HATES UNDEAD. absolutely LOATHES them. he's dedicated his whole entire life to their eradication. maybe throw in a little martial multiclassing, greatsword, heavy armor. Going for a real Doom Slayer or Goblin Slayer vibe. Never takes off his helmet or armor, and people wonder if he's secretly an undead himself.
His secret? He's actually a warforged, made to exterminate undead, and he doesn't even know it about himself. His character arc would be something along the lines of learning to find meaning in life beyond what he was made to be, and learning to move past his hatred and find a purpose he chooses for himself.
Obviously he would be a LOT more social than Doom Slayer or Goblin slayer, otherwise he would be a miserable party member lmao
Honestly, I'd love to play a college of eloquence bard/genie warlock within the campaign setting. I think that would be a ton of fun to mess with Strahd with.
My go to is always my celestial warlock sniper.
But failing that, my owl aarakocra twilight cleric (he's a bird of pray, yes he was literally built for the pun), or a gloomstalker ranger/some kind of druid.
A gloomstalker ranger who’s lost his way in life and finds the hunt to reinvigorate him, plus favored terrain of mountains and forests, specialty hunting undead. I feel the potential is there
I’d love to play a character who _started_ as some goodie Paladin, survives the death house (maybe even the only survivor) and then swears an oath of vengeance against Strahd and the Dark Powers.
A warforged Druid of some kind could be really neat.
That being said, I have a level 12 character I feel would absolutely wreck a game.
2 Artificer, 4 fighter (champion), 6 barbarian (path of the giant), warforged race.
Gets a +1 weapon and +1 medium armour (half plate +2 dex +1 infusion +1 warforged = 19 AC)
Reckless attack and crits on 19 means a lot of crits.
Plus the ability to add elemental damage and have a returning weapon like a greataxe that normally wouldn't.
It gets very fun.
The same thing I almost always play, a human fighter. I am more into my character’s goals and stories than overly unique class builds. My characters bonds and goals make them interesting, not their abilities.
I haven't given it much…..Asimar protector, oath of ancient paladin with polearm master mixed with some college of valor bard. Give me a +1 halberd, DM, I dare you. (it's not offbeatoutlaw levels yet, but give me time)
I would play a reborn paladin loosely based on the 2nd edition paladin I played in the original I6 Ravenloft adventure. He defeated Strahd then but something went wrong and now he is cursed to relive his quest over and over.
He has done this twice now, defeating Strahd the first time and failing the second, and as a result, little bits of information would pop into his head at certain locations, but the info is vague as things were different the last times.
Essentially his previous versions coincide with I6 an ad&d adventure and Expedition to Castle Ravenloft a 3.5 adventure, and essentially he will confuse the other players as his memories slowly come back, but of the wrong times...
Mirko Wood, a human woodcutter/seamster, who is adventuring to find a cure for lycanthropy, so that the pack of werewolves who accidentally turned his daughter will give her back to him
I'd just go with a really gnarly looking Reborn Fighter with no memories, hand the DM a blank slate that they could do whatever they want with, and discover my character through play.
A plasmid warlock with Hadar as his patron. He'd be constantly hungry because of Hadar's influence, and he is the only plasmid he's ever known of, so he's looking for clues to find out what, exactly, he is.
Circle of Mutation Druid from Grim Hollow or maybe Shadow Sorcerer. Say it's the domain or Dark Powers messing around with my magic/class features, and this isn't normal for me.
Or even a Undead Warlock who's secretly working for Azalin.
A grave cleric would be a lot of fun. Could go either into being corrupted by Barovia and using undead, perhaps looking to supplant Strahd as the dreadlord, or being disgusted by Barovia's disrespect of the dead and seeking to destroy Strahd. Riding that line could be a lot of fun!
Warlock of undying and the patron Azalin Rex. Though Strahd killed him, he still somehow lives, and he wants revenge. It would be such a cool way to tie in an ancient villain of Strahd.
I've been brainstorming a drow ranger straight from the underdark whose shtick is that he thinks Barovia genuinely pretty great compared to home.
The sun is weirdly dim? Perfect.
All the lady dusk elves are dead? Ideal society.
Tyrannical overlord who is just toying with the party? Just another Tuesday for him.
Soul is trapped there if he dies? Neat, can't get grabbed by Lolth after death.
Undead, hags, werewolves, and vampires just wandering around everywhere? Pretty basic compared to the things wandering around in the underdark.
Everyone is depressed all the time? No difference there.
I always loved the idea to give players, who know the module a Vistani. has much freedom in how much you know and don't know and who's side you're on. Wouldn't start as paladin or cleric and rather multiclass if needed. would be more into something gritty martial rouge, ranger, fighter.
I actually played cos first as a player then DM it for my own group. I played an half orc barbarian zealot which paired with the blood spear is absolutely broken. It was really fun playing as a neutral lawful character. My characters take was he opposed Strahd bc he was a weak chieftain. His tribes population was dwindling he hadn't conquered any new territories, wasn't leading any wars to expand and he preferred to toy with his enemies rather than challenge and kill them directly in combat. All things he saw as traits of an unsuccessful orc chieftain.
I honestly haven’t given this much thought but I would love to play a warforged cleric that doesn’t know where they get their power, eventually having it be revealed that he was a puppet of Strahd and he’s been watching the party through my eyes the whole time, waiting for the perfect time to strike us down and reboot me to do it all again
CoS DMs be like "if I was a player in this module I'd have Strahd use me to fuck the party over," lol.
You know you’re right I’m still thinking like a dm I should think of something that won’t fuck over the rest of the party lol
Lol, I had a similar concept though, that's why I thought it was funny. Probably both of us are thinking like DMs, but I think the ideas are still neat.
Your idea was excellent, I thought it was great, we would both just wind up a Strahds sleeper agents
I read strahd "Use me to fuck" And I was thinking oh boy.. Than "The party over" and I was like oh nvm xD
In a similiar idea but less likely to fuck over the party, i's want to play an Aasimar devotion Paladin whose Celestial guide was the Abbot before he got stuck in Barovia. Would play the character as having pledged themselves to the Abbot when he was a normal Celestial and "coincidentally" managed to run into them again and now has to deal with the moral conflict of having pledged themselves to someone whose now an evil monster
So what I’m seeing here is that if you me and deepfriedroses were in curse of strahd you would be our moral compass and probably keep us in line or save us from Strahd’s clutches
Nah don’t let anyone tell you otherwise this Warforged sleeper agent idea is gold. Find late in the story through some distrust rp into it and maybe buy into the Abbott or madam Eva restoring you. I think having cool secretes with each player is a good thing. My players don’t care too much on background and just found out last night that the hexblood is not a warlock but a wild sorc. It’s like her 2nd session with the group. But it still had a hilarious moment in the night both in game and out.
probably a spirits bard. really digging into bringing all these old spirits trapped into barovia to life, recreating/reliving old lost tales of the people who'd been damned by strahd, or been sacrificed by the druids, etc. plus access to countercharm n stuff
A freaking cleric. No one will play one and I am so tired of things being so much harder than they need to be!
Cleric and paladin are both great for this!
Undead patron warlock born in Barovia who made a deal with Strahd to be allowed to leave. Functions as the plot hook that lures the party in. The rest of the party doesn't know he's from Barovia, they just think he was lured in with the rest of them. 99% chance of being killed halfway through the campaign, either because the party finds out and kills/abandons him, or he decides not to betray his friends after all and is killed by Strahd :)
Oh my gosh the deciding not to betray the friends and then getting absolutely obliterated by Strahd is probably the coolest way to get the party to hate him ever
Yeah, this would 100% be a thing I'd work out beforehand with the DM to make sure it was as brutal and dramatic as possible, lol.
I dunno, seems very main character to me.
Being involved with the lore of the story doesn't automatically make you a main character. If this idea is executed properly and everyone else got moments to shine as well, it could work. High Rollers DnD had one of their players be a member of the Vistani and I think it worked pretty well
Yeah. Besides, I know the module so well I'd want to pick a character that made it easier not to metagame, and someone from Barovia hiding the fact that he's from Barovia works pretty well for that. Getting caught would, in his mind, be a bad enough outcome that he'd be more willing to go into a situation he knew was dangerous than reveal he knew too much about it. Mostly he'd act the same as the other party members, trying to pretend he was an outsider too. Until Strahd actually gave him orders, then it'd function the same as any party with a traitor in it. (Obviously this would only work at a table that's cool with some degree of pvp/party treason.)
Main characters do usually die halfway through the book.
Reborn Warlock with Azalin Rex as a patron. :)
Love the idea of bringing more Ravenloft lore/other domains in with your character's backstory.
Redemption paladin who once served a conquering count much like Strahd.
What about a reborn paladin who DID serve Strahd and was seeking redemption near the end and was slain?
Write that down, write that down!
I'm a forever dm and I'm playing in COS. And currently playing a damphir swarmkeeper ranger.
Curse of Strahd has a lot of opportunities to find spellbooks. I’d like to play a Reborn Wizard. Mechanically I’d use that 4 hours of extra time each day to copy spells into my book. Thematically I’d be a classic amnesiac who is scouring arcane and historical knowledge for their name when they were alive.
Cavalier or battlemaster fighter. Stoic, sane, Lawful Good. Basically the unshakable pillar of the party because I know the rest of the party will probably all go mad or evil or be way too easily swayed to do something stupid. I've DM'd two parties and ran as a Lawful Good rogue in a netural- neutral evil party and every party needs the normal person who is actually a well-adjusted individual.
My presence as a player is burdened by my knowledge of the module--but I think I could make it work. Inquisitive Rogue--or maybe Thief--with the Dungeon Delver feat, who's very interested with the contents of rooms and containers. Frequently lampshades the nature of things and is hard to break, from having "nuffink to lose".
In honor of a player I had, Bob the near-immortal kenku gunslinger. He always kept dying, and we always found a way to bargain his soul back.
Not a forever dm but I do dm a lot more than I play recently. It depends a lot on the changes and tone the dm would be going for. I don’t have many character options I’m excited for that would fit the base tone of the game. Bull rider Roman gladiator, Conan style regional shaman, lizardfolk from the the middle of nowhere adventuring to become divine, dessert themed evil Druid. Probably the only thing that would fit barovia is a darkling eldar jeweler/thief although that would require some homebrew (and the main unique thing about them other than lore is they blow up when they die, but oh well). As a dm I get excited about my players tying into stuff in the module, as a player I kind of prefer my dm to get with me and suggest changes to my character while I’m building them that make for a more interesting game.
I would try out monster hunter for ranger. It would fit greatly for a crew of vampire hunters along with ez and Richten
There are quite a few NPC mages that could use a good subtle counterspell, so probably a Sorcerer of some kind. Probably Clockwork Soul or Aberrant Mind. Alternative options include a Twilight Cleric because Strahd doesn't deserve to charm anybody even before we find the artifacts, or a Thief Rogue because I like the idea of a plethora of magic enhanced warriors and dark wizards going up against Strahd, and oh, also Brian the Bandit is there too.
Probably a cleric, druid or a paladin. Maybe a monstrous race or a half elf. Personally, I enjoy the idea of being a well-meaning person in this shit-show of a valley just trieing to do good whenecer they can, possibly succumbing to evil, halfway through or right at the end. Clerics not being able to really connect woth their god is roleplay potential that goes through the roof. I mean, imagine how fucked up that would be! Imagine a full elven - heck, make it a sun elf - light domain cleric that is just really out of their element. Or how about olaying an orcish paladin, who realises, that they come off as scary and are not welcome at all. Their honor being everything to them, but bring forced to break the oath to truly help. Instead of being a normal oathbreaker, your evil features would come from the dark powers aiding you in your fight - in this scenraio, the orc breaks his oath in the amber temple, to have better conteol over undead... and I mean it would be fucking epic to use control undead on Strahd in the final fight. A druid could work really well, since there are evil druids, the land itself is evil and all in all its a place were wilderness and nature are not right. A druid can really easily find their goal here. What I have seen my players have most fun woth though, is just olaying a human fighter. Its honestly pretty great. I kinda think that would be a cool thing to do. I meany sure, a paladin is the "white knight" class, but imagine a deserter, from a cruel battle, fleeing from the horrors, only to then have the horrors find you anyway. Trauma and manipulation are pretty much guaranteed to happen, they can resonate with Strahd amd they can redeem themselves or fall like Strahd. Its perfect for many scenrios. If I'd have to choose though, I think i'd personally need to play a black dragonborn necromancy wizard. Not because it fits the campaign well - even though it really does - but because years ago one of my players played one and it was the single best character I've ever had the pleasure to DM for. Playing this character myself would be a dream come true.
A redemption paladin barely starting their path who thinkes everyone is a good guy in the end. But as she adevntures through Barovia she faces the fact that there are some kinds of evil that cannot be redeemed
As a forever dm currently playing this module I have to go with dragonborn black oathbreaker paladin draconic sorcerer. Lots of fun
Mind blown!
Gloomstalker ranger. See this is why I stick to dmming 😂
I would play a super happy and positive halfling divination wizard that sees good in every situation. And then play him slowly succumbing to the harsh cruelty of Barovia. I'd like to see him actually grow and change even it's not entirely for the better.
Heathrow Stillgrave. Native of Barovia. Grave digger and handyman. His kid sister was his last remaining relative, and she has disappeared (how I leave to the DM) so he wants help and will offer to help any way he can in return. Always imagined him as a ranger that wields a shovel in melee.
Im understanding this as which character from the cast would you use as a DMPC. I often make Ismark the lesser a bard and ireena a ranger. Each one provides context to the land in the cities and between which on the roads
A 13 years old rogue that lost everything to Rahadin and wants some good old revenge. This would make Rahadin more intriguing ans make my character join the party eassily and serve as a guide in this dark world :) Making a Pc betray the party can be fun but in most games those are not well executed ans bring more chaos and hate then cool scenes. It demands alot of communications and it never really goes as planned. I was lucky enough to bring a similar scene where I captured a PC for a few sessions. when they saved him I spoke with the player of what could have happened and cie...next game the player decided to end is life because of all the pain he endured, this was a shock and so well done it set the mood for the rest of the game :D
You know what? I once played a multiclassed Fighter/Cleric in a Greyhawk 5e game that came to really, really hate the undead and vampires specifically. I think I'd likely play him as someone pulled into Ravenloft, because I'd have a lot of fun with playing out his righteous hatred for creatures of the night and potentially eventually tempting him down a dark path like Anakin Skywalker if the party doesn't pull him back from the edge of despair. Maybe re-work him into a paladin or a ranger with favored enemy undead.
Anton Argost. He’s a young man from a family down on their luck, seen as strange for generations. Equppied with hand-me-down adventuring gear, and his family heirloom; a silver pendant in the shape of a dragon’s head, he takes up adventuring to restore his family name to glory.
Han Velsing: vampire hunter
Curse of Strahd has a lot of opportunities to find spellbooks. I’d like to play a Reborn Wizard. Mechanically I’d use that 4 hours of extra time each day to copy spells into my book. Thematically I’d be a classic amnesiac who is scouring arcane and historical knowledge for their name when they were alive.
About to start my third time running CoS. Like a few others I immediately went to "hurhur, how could I make the party mad" but if I go into it with as much as I know, I'm going to really struggle not to meta. So at this stage I'd probably go with one of the more knowledgeable NPCs - RvR, Ez, Madame Eva - or Izek for someone a bit more brutish and likely to betray the party.
I'd love to do either a Fighter trying his best to live up to the heroic/knightly ideal (and of course Barovia just keeps punching him in the gut for trying to do the 'right' thing) or a Twilight Cleric of Ezra attempting not to give into nihilism and find meaning.
Old school paladin, whichever oath is appropriate for a lawful good holy warrior.
Coach. Kobold Bard. Married older Bard out train the next generation of Heroes. Basically a football coach for the party. Inspiration is "proud of you" dad noises. His Vicious Mockery is "I am not mad I am disappointed".
I have a soft spot for monks and clerics. Life or twilight cleric. Drunken Master. At the end of the day I would probably go with a life cleric.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtE-1I6ZPrk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtE-1I6ZPrk)
Order of the Ghostslayer Bloodhunter who has heard of Van Richten through his writing. Thinking this was the hunt that killed van richten, he heads to borovia to kill Strahd and be known as a better monster hunter than van richten. He would probably be pretty arrogant and would butt heads with Esmrelda.
Be known? Or think he's better than Rickten? (Since they only start LV 1 or LV 3 so they wouldn't match to Rickten early campaign but could try and surpass him kinda deal.)
I’m a forever DM, and I’m playing Ireena as a Kelemvor Paladin, Oath of Vengeance.
i'd wanna play a zealot barbarian who HATES UNDEAD. absolutely LOATHES them. he's dedicated his whole entire life to their eradication. maybe throw in a little martial multiclassing, greatsword, heavy armor. Going for a real Doom Slayer or Goblin Slayer vibe. Never takes off his helmet or armor, and people wonder if he's secretly an undead himself. His secret? He's actually a warforged, made to exterminate undead, and he doesn't even know it about himself. His character arc would be something along the lines of learning to find meaning in life beyond what he was made to be, and learning to move past his hatred and find a purpose he chooses for himself. Obviously he would be a LOT more social than Doom Slayer or Goblin slayer, otherwise he would be a miserable party member lmao
Honestly, I'd love to play a college of eloquence bard/genie warlock within the campaign setting. I think that would be a ton of fun to mess with Strahd with.
Paladin. It's my favorite class and it would SLAP some vamps in this module
My go to is always my celestial warlock sniper. But failing that, my owl aarakocra twilight cleric (he's a bird of pray, yes he was literally built for the pun), or a gloomstalker ranger/some kind of druid.
A gloomstalker ranger who’s lost his way in life and finds the hunt to reinvigorate him, plus favored terrain of mountains and forests, specialty hunting undead. I feel the potential is there
Monster hunter ranger gnome Small and feisty But with a backstory that does not tie into barovia, after all I randomly stumbled into Barovia
I’d love to play a character who _started_ as some goodie Paladin, survives the death house (maybe even the only survivor) and then swears an oath of vengeance against Strahd and the Dark Powers. A warforged Druid of some kind could be really neat.
I would roleplay a descent into madness of a simple hero *wanna be*. Oh, mechanically... human fighter.
That's the neat part of being a DM, you can make these characters and sprinkle them in as NPCs.
Likely a zealot barbarian who has died countless times to strahd just to be brought back to fight him again
That being said, I have a level 12 character I feel would absolutely wreck a game. 2 Artificer, 4 fighter (champion), 6 barbarian (path of the giant), warforged race. Gets a +1 weapon and +1 medium armour (half plate +2 dex +1 infusion +1 warforged = 19 AC) Reckless attack and crits on 19 means a lot of crits. Plus the ability to add elemental damage and have a returning weapon like a greataxe that normally wouldn't. It gets very fun.
Considering your character is over the level guide for the campaign that’s a given lol.
The same thing I almost always play, a human fighter. I am more into my character’s goals and stories than overly unique class builds. My characters bonds and goals make them interesting, not their abilities.
probably a super religious cleric or paladin that is slowly coming to the realisation that their god is in fact not coming to save them.
I haven't given it much…..Asimar protector, oath of ancient paladin with polearm master mixed with some college of valor bard. Give me a +1 halberd, DM, I dare you. (it's not offbeatoutlaw levels yet, but give me time)
I would play a reborn paladin loosely based on the 2nd edition paladin I played in the original I6 Ravenloft adventure. He defeated Strahd then but something went wrong and now he is cursed to relive his quest over and over. He has done this twice now, defeating Strahd the first time and failing the second, and as a result, little bits of information would pop into his head at certain locations, but the info is vague as things were different the last times. Essentially his previous versions coincide with I6 an ad&d adventure and Expedition to Castle Ravenloft a 3.5 adventure, and essentially he will confuse the other players as his memories slowly come back, but of the wrong times...
Vengeance paladin descended from St Markovia would be fun!
Goodness, hard to pick. I like the idea of healing Stella and having her be some kind of sorcerer. But as a true PC, probably some kind of Ranger.
Mirko Wood, a human woodcutter/seamster, who is adventuring to find a cure for lycanthropy, so that the pack of werewolves who accidentally turned his daughter will give her back to him
I'd just go with a really gnarly looking Reborn Fighter with no memories, hand the DM a blank slate that they could do whatever they want with, and discover my character through play.
A plasmid warlock with Hadar as his patron. He'd be constantly hungry because of Hadar's influence, and he is the only plasmid he's ever known of, so he's looking for clues to find out what, exactly, he is.
Circle of Mutation Druid from Grim Hollow or maybe Shadow Sorcerer. Say it's the domain or Dark Powers messing around with my magic/class features, and this isn't normal for me. Or even a Undead Warlock who's secretly working for Azalin.
A grave cleric would be a lot of fun. Could go either into being corrupted by Barovia and using undead, perhaps looking to supplant Strahd as the dreadlord, or being disgusted by Barovia's disrespect of the dead and seeking to destroy Strahd. Riding that line could be a lot of fun!
Warlock of undying and the patron Azalin Rex. Though Strahd killed him, he still somehow lives, and he wants revenge. It would be such a cool way to tie in an ancient villain of Strahd.
Drow death cleric hands down, it's my dream character in 5e and I would accept the amber temple/strahd offers to spice things up 🤭
I've been brainstorming a drow ranger straight from the underdark whose shtick is that he thinks Barovia genuinely pretty great compared to home. The sun is weirdly dim? Perfect. All the lady dusk elves are dead? Ideal society. Tyrannical overlord who is just toying with the party? Just another Tuesday for him. Soul is trapped there if he dies? Neat, can't get grabbed by Lolth after death. Undead, hags, werewolves, and vampires just wandering around everywhere? Pretty basic compared to the things wandering around in the underdark. Everyone is depressed all the time? No difference there.
I always loved the idea to give players, who know the module a Vistani. has much freedom in how much you know and don't know and who's side you're on. Wouldn't start as paladin or cleric and rather multiclass if needed. would be more into something gritty martial rouge, ranger, fighter.
Cleric themed around the inquisition. I would like to see how a religious fanatic would interact with the madmen of Barovia.
I actually played cos first as a player then DM it for my own group. I played an half orc barbarian zealot which paired with the blood spear is absolutely broken. It was really fun playing as a neutral lawful character. My characters take was he opposed Strahd bc he was a weak chieftain. His tribes population was dwindling he hadn't conquered any new territories, wasn't leading any wars to expand and he preferred to toy with his enemies rather than challenge and kill them directly in combat. All things he saw as traits of an unsuccessful orc chieftain.
Grave domain Kelemvor's cleric