Curse of Strahd Campaign House Rules
| D&D: The Curse of Strahd | |
|---|---|
 | |
| GM | |
| Mark | |
| Milestones | |
| Level 1 | |
| Characters | |
| TBD | |
| Campaign Rules | |
| House Rules · Setting Notes |
Character Creation
- Race: All races from the valid sources (see below), subject to approval
- Classes: All 13 base classes are available
- Attributes: 27-point-buy or standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8)
- Background: Choose one from a valid source or one of the backgrounds listed below
- Deity: Choose a Forgotten Realms deity if your character is a druid, cleric, ranger, paladin, Divine Soul Sorcerer, or Celestial Warlock
- Patron: If your character is a warlock, choose an appropriate patron unless you are playing a Celestial Warlock, in which case your patron is a deity
Background Options
The Haunted One background is available per this Curse of Strahd document.
Note that your characters will be from Faerûn, not Barovia or any other Ravenloft domain.
Backgrounds which do not include a Feat may select one of the following Feats to add during character creation:
- Skilled
- Tough
- Magic Initiate
Trinket Options
Instead of the standard trinkets, you may randomly roll or select a trinket per this Curse of Strahd document.
Tools Recommendation
Ravenloft is not an abundant land the way Faerûn is. Many things even in the Players Handbook equipment section will either not be available or be significantly more expensive. It may behoove characters to know how to do some things on their own.
This Is Your Life
I recommend going through the This Is Your Life rules from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. An online resource for this is on this D&D wikidot. Rolls should be done in Discord.
Background
Consider your Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, Flaws carefully as Ravenloft will definitely tap into them.
Motivation considerations: Barovia is a land that often feels pointless to continue, dreary. Rewards are few and often not in your favor. Why will your character continue their adventures and not just give up like everyone else in Barovia?
Valid Character Resources
All character options must be selected from the following published resources:
- Player's Handbook
- Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons
- Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
- Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
- Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
- Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
- Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse
- Bigby Present: Glory to the Giants
- The Tortle Package
If you find something online and aren't sure if comes from one of these books, you can ask in Discord.
House Rules
Starting Inspiration
Once the characters are in Ravenloft, they will not automatically begin with Inspiration. Instead, luck will determine who starts with it, though at least half of the characters will begin with it.
- We will round-robin to determine who starts with Inspiration
- Each player will successively roll a die (even number); even will receive Inspiration, odd will not
- We roll until half the party in the session either have or haven't got Inspiration, and the rest to be determined automatically
- e.g. For a 4-player session, player 1 rolls odd (no inspiration); player 2 rolls odd (no inspiration); the remaining two characters automatically receive inspiration