New heroes heading to Barovia and the starting point
Hey all. I'll be DMing tCoS for the first time and I finally know all my players' characters. Allow me to introduce them to you... And hopefully you will have some nice ideas on what to focus to give them the best experience.
Petrichor "Penta" Candlemaker - half-elf rogue/cleric multiclass - the priest of the goddess of hearth, home and family
Petrichor is a kid from a poor family, he was risen by abusive father, his oldest brother and beloved older sister were both killed (separately) by criminals of the town he lived in. Later a good priest took him in a monastery and set him on the path of a holy man who actually has some powers to help others.
Petrichor has learnt that the powers that be (nobility, rich folk...) don't care for people in need and the help usually comes from those who know the need themselves. And as such, he does not really believe in his deity... But his deity apparently believes in him. (He decided to roll every time he wants to use his divine powers to see if they work - I am curious how soon he regrets that.)
His longterm goal is to found an orphanage in his town to help the poor children and give them the protection nobody else does.
I have and idea of actually having this character to be Sergei reincarnated. I know it is usually not encouraged to avoid main character player issue but I have absolute trust in this player that he will give the others their time in the spotlight too.
Premek Wiseling - halfling rogue - the riddler
A naive halfling guy who loves riddles of all kinds and jumped into the adventure inspired by his grandfather's stories... Only to find how dangerous busyness it is. His whole previous party was slaughtered by werevolves.
He has a platonic love interest, a noble lady he (and his previous party) helped to cure from magical madness.
He is terrified of failure of his intelect and his long term goal is to experience some adventure and eventually build his own dungeon that will function like a safe escape game.
Feastlove Hamhock - halfling wizard - the lazy opportunist
A halfling guy from a wealthy farmer family... Who prefered reading to working on the fields. Therefore he left to the city to study the magic arts... And on the school, he cheated as much as he could and wrote his own results and sent them back home... Until he was caught.
I believe his ambition is a recognition and respect of the people in his home village. To be "somebody important"... And preferably not to have to work too hard to achieve that.
He has a dark secret, before he left to study in the city, he made his girlfriend pregnant and he persuaded her to get abortion and then he left.
Nishaya Ebony Amaryllis Esmeray - dark elf fighter - the falied assassin
Dark elf girl from a powerful family. Her older sister Keyara leads a secret rebellion against their mother's diplomatic efforts to keep peace with humans and she is a bad influence on Nishaya. She (Keyara) gave Nishaya a mission - to murder some human heir se the war between dark elves and humans can break again... And Nishaya failed terribly. She can't return home until she fulfills her oath to her sister - until the heir is killed. But she also owns her life to Petrichor who saved her from the law and now travels with him until she pays her debt to him. (And she is learning that things are not that black and white as her sister told her.)
Her ambition is to prove she is better than her mother and sister. She admires strength (any kind) and believes a given word is sacred.
She is no saint though, she did kill innocent people, burnt down houses etc., serving her sister's cause.
Starting point
The baron they all serve has received a letter from Van Richten with request for help. Van Richten went to Barovia to release the land and it's ruler from the curse that had been laid on it and is now asking for some helping hands. He also mentions Madam Eva who should be avare of his location.
However, from the very start, Van Richten is in Strahd's prison enjoing the lord's "hospitality"... And who knows, maybe it was Strahd who had sent the letter.
My plans
Strahd is not mentioned as the BBEG in the letter and he will use that try to maintain the role of a cursed victim and a ruler misunderstood by his subjects as long as possible. Naturally, there will be a moment when he flips... ("You want me to be the bad guy? Alright then, I will be the bad guy.")
Fated Ally will be Esmeralda who is in Barovia searching for her mentor.
I intend to have the game a little bit more coherent and story focused. (That's what both me and the players prefer.) Not 100% sandbox where I just let the players to roam blinldy all over. I don't like the idea that the only "motivation" in the game is to escape Barovia and not being killed by Strahd. But I think the starting point is already a good first push in some direction.
My party starts on 4th level and I've decided to allow each one a uncommon magic item (not a weapon). That fits the theme that they are adventurers worthy of sending to help a legendary monster hunter... And also worthy of Strahd's attention. (I know a lot of people likes to run TCOS as a low-level survival horror with scarce resources but me and my party are not amongst those people. Please, accept this decision will provide a better experience for my table.)
Questions and ideas
Dusk Elves - I think is it logical to replace them with Dark Elves, right? How do you think they - and people of Barovia will react when a living Dark Elf woman walks amongst them?
Ireena - How would you play her that this specific party likes her? I can already see some similarities with the noblewoman Premek loves so she should be enthusiastic about riddles.
What themes would you highlight/add to engage with each PC? To challenge their values or bring up their weaknesses and dark secrets?
Magic item for Feastlove - the player mention that he would want a Ring of Mind Shielding. I understand it is a little bit too powerful item, however... What would you think about the ring coming up with a soul of his unborn kid? (Feastlove's lover had it during the procedure and then she gave the ring to him as a parting gift - so he remembers her.)
Any other ideas and suggestions for the game for this party? (Yeah, I've read the whole book and I did check some parts of the Reloaded and other versions and I am collecting some inspiration points from them.)