3. He stands in castle Ravenloft being praised by soldiers, wise men, wizards, and common folk, while his mother the Queen broods deeply next to him. I've hinted that the crystal heart might reform at dawn AND that Ireena is on her way into being transformed into a vampire - so they are feeling a sense of urgency. A common misconception, imo, is that the Tarokka card reveals where the final battle will take place. It’s OK if Strahd plays cagey and goes through walls to get out of daylight – But this should be the last time you establish an initiative order. Curse of Strahd - Running the Final Battle Against Strahd I'm going to write a little a bit more about Curse of Strahd . Something strange happens as they die. From the sound of it you are not going to have him do this, so that is one bunch of his tactics gone. 4. Also this is massive weakness you added to Strahd … After that, we eventually made our way to the fated place, and had our final “you or … This is the moment when Strahd stops being the honorable opponent and becomes reckless, shady and cruel. This is the final battle and Strahd will use every nasty trick up his sleeve to kill the PCs. The group works together to defeat the phantoms. For those of you who like the idea of tarokka cards and would like more content on how to use them in your Curse of Strahd campaign, check out this Tarokka-based Random Encounter Effects by Sly Flourish. The card reading defines the place where the party will find Strahd for the battle, but it doesn’t mean that the battle should take place only there. Well for one thing Strahd is supposed to harass the party constantly throughout the castle before his final fight with them. Wherever the final battle is suppoed to be, make sure you lead the players there for the fight. They also have the tome, sunsword and holy symbol. Feel free to manipulate the results of the tarot reading to have the final battle where you think it should be fought. Instead, I used a beefed up version by dave2008 (ENWorld thread) and gave him two stages. Every Thursday, our own Mike Christensen shares his stories, advice, and opinions on the subject of tabletop role-playing games. Finally, the final battle. Final Room : Coronation After one round of chaotic combat, the scene dramatically shifts to that of Strahd being crowned King, in gleaming silver, white and red armor. It was a rough day. The first stage was Strahd’s regular battle. Previously, in our Curse of Strahd campaign: the party recovered the sun sword from the Amber Temple, and managed to keep it out of Strahd’s hands through a brutal fight with ice wraiths, vrocks, and a young remorhaz. During the battle, the phantoms cry out against Strahd’s invading armies. Use the environment. The party consists of a sorcerer, monk, warlock, eldritch knight and cleric, all level 9 (I could make them level 10 before hand as well). After the battle, they all heard Strahd in their minds: "Meet me in the throne room!" Two of the phantoms drop physical objects to the floor. secure the help of van Richten and Ezmerelda (she was the card reading). ‍♂️ The Final Battle; stage one! For the card that decides where the final battle with Strahd will take place, I would pick somewhere in the crypt of Castle Ravenloft. They are seemingly living out their final battle against him with the group instead. When I played, our final “day” with Strahd meant an encounter in the crypts with what ended up being a Simulacrum (oh, our DM was slick) and minions that blew through a lot of our resources. It tells you where you'll find Strahd, but he has no obligation to stay there, especially if it is getting him killed. For the final battle in Curse of Strahd, the players have managed to. 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