Curse of Strahd: Why Doesn't Strahd Just Kill the Party?

[BDRook]

So I recently picked up the 5e Curse of Strahd module and so far I'm loving it, but I have one little snafu that I can't wrap my head around. The module expressly states that the final fight with Strahd shouldn't be the only confrontation with him, and that he should show up throughout the module to harass the party.

I guess my question is since he's such a powerhouse when they're first starting out, why doesn't he just TPK them right there except for the fact that it wouldn't make for a fun adventure? I'm curious what you guys have done to give him menace without outright killing everybody.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Standard villain reasons: He doesn't think they're a threat, it's amusing to watch groups of would-be adventurers struggle every century or two, he's secretly curious if they'll manage to finally do the deed... maybe because they're taking care of whatshername, his love reincarnated?

[hymer]

His reasons are stated on page 10 of CoS, under the heading of "Search for a Successor or Consort".

[Temperjoke]

Have you ever thought about just how boring Barovia is? Why do you think they all drink wine 24/7? Toying with adventurers is probably the highlight of his year.

[JumboWheat01]

Because no villain ever reads the Evil Overlord's List (http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html).

[pwykersotz]

Because no villain ever reads the Evil Overlord's List (http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html).

The only reason a villain should read that list is to purposefully enact as many of those tropes as possible. That would be amazing.

[MaxWilson]

So I recently picked up the 5e Curse of Strahd module and so far I'm loving it, but I have one little snafu that I can't wrap my head around. The module expressly states that the final fight with Strahd shouldn't be the only confrontation with him, and that he should show up throughout the module to harass the party.

I guess my question is since he's such a powerhouse when they're first starting out, why doesn't he just TPK them right there except for the fact that it wouldn't make for a fun adventure? I'm curious what you guys have done to give him menace without outright killing everybody.

This isn't just a Curse of Strahd issue. Whenever you build a campaign with a BBEG in it, you need a reason why the BBEG doesn't just swat the party like bugs as soon as he becomes aware of them. 5E exacerbates the issue by setting players up to expect penny packet-sized combats where the PCs often outnumber the opposition; but it would not be difficulty for any BBEG to scrape up a company or so of minions (say 30 orc infantry, 50 hobgoblin archers, 30 worgs for cavalry, and one or two Flameskulls or Bone Nagas to lead them and provide artillery support) and simply keep them all within mutual support radius instead of dividing them up to be defeated in detail.

The easiest motivation to set up is to make the enemy so powerful he doesn't feel threatened by the PCs and doesn't want to kill them yet. Liches and vampires are great for this because they genuinely aren't threatened by most things--even if you kill them, they get a mulligan. They may even try to Cherry Tap (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CherryTapping) the PCs for fun, ideally without killing them.

Ergo, have Strahd show up, terrorize the PCs psychologically, maybe pick one PC who's showing insufficient respect ("Okay, you. You're my huckleberry") and make him fight a few wolves, or have Strahd blindfold himself and beat that PC unconscious with an improvised weapon (e.g. another PC's helmet). Remember, a melee attack that reduces someone to zero HP is only lethal if the attacker wants it to be, so if he wants to, Strahd can defeat the whole party multiple times.

And why wouldn't he want to do it multiple times? Isn't eternal torment what Ravenloft is all about?

[Traziremus]

Zarovich is pretty much a Dungeon Master, he does not want to kill the party and end the adventure right away but to test them and lead them somewhere fun. Also like someone has stated he is bored, really bored and wants to have some fun. He has killed lots of adventurers and all of those now roam every night to his castle from the Barovian cemetery. He also wants to leave Barovia for it is really boring, that is the reason he let the Wizard pass. He wants to planeshift out of his demiplane into the material plane and to have fun!

[Blackhawk748]

Strahd has been much the same through all of his incarnations. He is a super powerful vampire that is trapped in Barovia. Yes he rules it, but its still his prison, and its so boring. So when adventurers show up, he screws with them, because they cant kill him, not permanently anyway and lets the ones that actually impress him (the party) "kill him". Except they dont. The powers that be in Ravenloft just bring him back, because thats his punishment. Thus why we have Castle Ravenloft, Return to Castle Ravenloft and the Curse of Strahd.

[Aurthur]

The whole point of having Strahd appear to the party a few times is to provide the following context:


Strahd is too powerful to approach initially
He lures adventurers here for fun (cat playing with a mouse)
Provide depth to the character


It's also just good story telling. You don't create a villain and then only see him at the end of the adventure. The best stories make you understand his plight, his motivations, and his character...that way, when push comes to shove and you strive to defeat him, it has meaning.

[JumboWheat01]

The best stories make you understand his plight, his motivations, and his character...that way, when push comes to shove and you strive to defeat him, it has meaning.

You mean to say big shiny piles of loot don't have meaning?! Noooooooooooo~...

[RyumaruMG]

Aside from toying with them, he could also be trying to force them to get stronger up until the point he vampirizes them. After all, having powerful servants would be far from a bad thing for him.

I'm AFB, but I do recall that somewhere in Barovia there's a procession of the ghosts of adventurers who failed to beat him. Why not see if they can make themselves more impressive before they get added to the trophy wall, so to speak?

[Blue Duke]

so the DM can stretch out the despair, discomfort and powerlessness and enjoy the fact that they tricked their players into playing a horror game and then claim the person in the group that is unhappy with CoS 'doesn't like fun or a challenge'.....i'm not bitter that i have a choice in D&D that i play between the 3.5 published adventures or Curse of Strahd.....not at all.

[eastmabl]

His reasons are stated on page 10 of CoS, under the heading of "Search for a Successor or Consort".

I think that this bears quoting. For truth.

[Envyus]

Yeah it seems a lot of people missed the fact that the reason Strahd does not kill the party off the bat is listed in the book early on.

If you can't check it out. It's because he lures parties of adventurer's to Barovia in hopes of finding a successor. He thinks that if he can find someone to rule Barovia in his place he will be able to leave. However he still has a decent amount of responsibly for his land and does not want to give it to some random person. So he tests people (Looking for traits in them that resemble his) looking for one of them that could replace him as ruler or at least serve as an interesting consort.

Weather this plan would work or not is unknown, as Strahd is ultimately too arrogant to consider that any of the party could replace him. Towards the later levels of the Adventure he should come to this conclusion (Unless they did something to actually greatly anger him earlier.) at which point he decides to kill them, and turn any party members he is interested in as consorts into Vampire Spawn.