DM advice- vengeful taxidermy

[DarcyFinn]

I am running my first campaign, and using Curse of Strahd as a template but have made some significant changes. One thing I want to add to the village of Barovia is a museum which contains zoological specimens from across the region. I was planning on having it run by a soul-less Barovian who has been trying to find a way of removing the spirits of animals to fashion himself a soul (the mechanics of which probably won't be gone into in great detail). He then puts the bodies of his subjects on display because A. It's Barovia and B. Everyone likes a museum.
Suffice to say, this has not gone well and the souls of some of the now stuffed/pickled specimens have escaped and have made it back into their old bodies.
So my question to the forum is... How would you go about making a zombie/possessed item stat block for say a skeleton deer, pickled wolf or a stuffed bear? Ideally this would be geared as a fun and slightly challenging fight to reveal some plot for a party of 4PC's at level 3.

[Trask]

I would just use the regular stat blocks for those things, or something extremely similar, but give it the Undead Fortitude thing that zombies have. Also resistance to bludgeoning.

I think most of the fun of an encounter like that would just be the set up, with a nice eerie description of a room full of dead eyes. Dont have them attack right away, have them do stuff like "you notice that the deer which was once standing with its head bowed down as if eating grass, is now looking up. Straight at you."

But it only happens when the players arent looking. They whip around to see the deer and suddenly when they turn about the wolves have moved off their pedestals and are in a movement as if they were going to strike. Then when they finally try to destroy the things, the whole room leaps to life and bears down upon them, moving unnaturally and with a jagged stiffness. As they get wounded, the rip of fabric and stuffing popping out accompanies thuds as they drop, completely motionless.

Sounds like a really good idea, I hope it goes well.

[Unoriginal]

I'd take the statblocks for the creatures, add the zombie traits, and maybe give then resistance to non-magical slashing weapons but vulnerability to fire.

[DarcyFinn]

Thanks so far. I am not very good at balancing encounters as of yet. How many zombeasts would people say is a moderately hard encounter for a party of 4 at level 3.

[Unoriginal]

Depends which beasts you're using and the stats you're giving them.

One CR 4 beast would be a reasonably hard encounter, for example, I think.

[Dr. Cliché]

As a question - is there a reason that the animals are attacking the PCs in the first place?

If they get back their animal souls, wouldn't they just try to act like animals? For a start, stuff like deer and wolves would almost certainly want to run away from the PCs, rather than attacking them.

I say this because I wonder if the animals not attacking immediately could actually make things more creepy.

Imagine if some of the animals seemed to be missing from their pedestals, but there's no sign of them in the museum.

However, when the PCs go outside, they see a stuffed deer attempting to eat grass. Further on, they find a stuffed wolf that has managed to make a kill and is trying to eat the body. Its body is unnaturally bloated and looks ready to burst, blood dripping between the overstretched stitches.

A stuffed dog (or similar animal) could even approach them, perhaps begging for food.

There might be other stuffed creatures that will attack the PCs on sight, but it could be quite effective if they first see the above ones and perhaps have to initiate combat themselves - just to put the poor things out of their misery.

Just a suggestion.


Either way, I just want to say that I really adore the idea of these stuffed animals regaining their souls and moving as if still alive. :smallamused:

[Maelynn]

Thanks so far. I am not very good at balancing encounters as of yet. How many zombeasts would people say is a moderately hard encounter for a party of 4 at level 3.

I found KFC (https://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder) to be incredibly helpful for this. Just enter the standard beasts, determine encounter difficulty, and aim low if you want to empower them by giving them extra zombie powers.

What I do to help with my balancing inexperience, is to aim a bit low and keep backup on hand. If the party's slicing through the mobs too easily, then there's a few more entering the fray after a few rounds. That also makes the fight more dynamic, imho.

[DarcyFinn]

There are a couple of reasons why I think they would be attacking.
A. It's a horror themed campaign so why not.
B. They have had their spirits sucked out by a madmad. They want vengeance on anyone in the vicinity.
C. Those spirits have then been forcedly placed into a human host. So they have gone a bit insane in the process.
D. If you got back to your body and found out someone had pickled it...you would be pissed too.

I love the idea of the stuffed wolf eating though... I am totally borrowing that. :)

[Caesar]

With regards to all the bludgeon/slashing resistance ideas being thrown about, I would make it more general rather than trying to adopt genre tropes from earlier editions. Give the animals immunity to piercing damage and DR 3 for all other non-magical physical damage. The souls use magical energy or whatnot to commandeer their mutilated former bodies, and those bodies can be manipulated regardless of damage that would have stopped the living organism. In this case, simply poking holes in the corpse does absolutely nothing, whereas smashing bones/support pins or cutting a leg off does have an effect. You could still rule-of-cool that a successful arrow hit can fasten smaller creatures to the wall or render flying versions unaerodynamic.

If you want the animals to attack the players, that's easy. The animals are angry at their dispossession and attack all humanoids on sight. Being animals, they are unable to differentiate between innocent bystanders and the museum keeper.

For added bonus, have a bear spirit or something cool like that, which cannot find its original body (perhaps the museum had an incident with a small fire earlier and is advertising to buy a new bear to exhibit). The bear spirit is encountered and attempts to take over the body of one of the players (will save) with hijinks and shenanigans to ensue.

[DarcyFinn]

I was going to have a couple of different exhibits that come alive on the way to the final show-down with the curator.

1. A woodland scene with a dire badger and some deer.
2. A reptilian room with a constrictor snake or a giant reptile of some type with some less threatening buddies.
3. A Jungle scene with Two tigers
3. A polar scene with a single polar bear, when it hits held health the spirit will leave the body and fight as a spectre.

I was also going to have a couple of set piece non-encounters where they can see a suspended killer whale come to 'life' and start 'eating' the other sea creatures suspended close to it.

These are all on their own seen as easy by KFC however what about in succession.

[Requilac]

If you wanted to make a creature undead, which I am having to do a lot in a campaign I am currently DMing, I go make the following changes to the animal.

1) Change their type to undead

2) Give them immunity to poison damage and resistance to necrotic damage

3) Give the creature immunity to being exhausted, poisoned and knocked unconscious

4) Give them the Undead Nature feature (The zombie doesn’t need to breath, eat, drink or sleep)

5) Reduce the creature’s movement speed by 10 ft.

6) Give them the Undead Fortitude feature (If damage reduces the creature to 0 hit points, it must make a constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1 hit point instead.)

Normally I would also remove the zombie’s ability to speak, but considering these are animals it’s kind of irrelevant.


I was going to have a couple of different exhibits that come alive on the way to the final show-down with the curator.

1. A woodland scene with a dire badger and some deer.
2. A reptilian room with a constrictor snake or a giant reptile of some type with some less threatening buddies.
3. A Jungle scene with Two tigers
3. A polar scene with a single polar bear, when it hits held health the spirit will leave the body and fight as a spectre.

I was also going to have a couple of set piece non-encounters where they can see a suspended killer whale come to 'life' and start 'eating' the other sea creatures suspended close to it.

These are all on their own seen as easy by KFC however what about in succession.

Keep in mind that D&D 5e is running under the assumption that the party is facing multiple encounters per day. Four easy encounters would be a cakewalk for them unless the animals have a massive tactical advantage and/or the players act like fools. I would recommend ramping up their numbers or scaling up their abilities to make them all at least medium encounters. Otherwise there isn’t going to be much feeling of danger.

[Lunali]

You may want to change the curator to be someone who isn't soulless who is looking for a cure for someone else. A shell would likely lack the imagination necessary to come up with this possible solution, though they would be able to perform the necessary procedures if someone else came up with them.

[DarcyFinn]

Thanks Lunali, that does make more sense. I wanted to find a more interesting way of having the PC's find out that souls are a finite resource in Barovia, so that is a much better way of doing it. Someone trying to do a 'good' deed but ultimately doing something monsterous.

[the_brazenburn]

Maybe use it to foreshadow other bits of the plot. For instance, one of the wolves is possessed by Strahd and actively hunting the PCs, while a flock of ravens affiliated with the winery try to aid them.

Since this is Ravenloft we're talking about, why not have a few "prototype" soul-snatches backfire and make the taxidermist a schizophrenic with personalities corresponding to the animals (a cranky, enraged badger, a cold and calculating snake, maybe even some sort of lethargic -but still dangerous- fish).

[DarcyFinn]

So I have had a tinker, and now have this written out (please skip to bottom for help on final boss)

BACKGROUND

The zoology museum stands a little outside of town.
It was built at some time after the coming of Strahd by an eccentric Bergomaster.

The main entrance is ornately carved with carnivorous animals on the right side of the door, herbivores on the left and a range of flying animals above the doorway.

Over the years new animals have been added to it's slowly growing collection. Recently an ill fated circus entered Barovia, and after discovering they couldn't leave through the mists the circus owners sold the last of their animals to the museum's new Curator.

Curator - Noah Hardcastle
Son- Bogdan Hardcastle
Manservant - Martyn Nowak

Thr current curator is also a outlander who took and then subsequently lost a Barovian wife a number of years ago. He now lives in the museum with his Son and man servant.

Since the acquisition of the circus animals, no one has seen anyone from the musuem and at night some have said they can see strange lights coming from the taxidermy laboratory.

Bogdan was born without a soul, as was Martyn. On discovering this fact, Noah was devastated and began to research how he could furnish his boy with a soul. Being a good man he was unwilling to take the drastic and evil step of taking the soul of another, so began to research how to create a new soul from the essence of the things he loved most, animals.

Noah has recently used the circus collection to build what he feels will be a strong enough essence to form into a soul once inside a humanoid. He plans to implant the result into Martyn and observe the result before he tries to help his son.

He gained the knowledge for his most recent experiments from a traveling woman (secretly a Bone Grinder hag). She had no intention of the magic working as promised, but instead gave the information to kick start the process of corrupting Noah's soul for her amusement and profit.

CURRENT SITUATION

As the party arrives he has already implanted the spirit amalgam into Martyn. It has begun to be rejected by his body and his skin can be seen visibly rippling and his eyes are bulging and glowing, while he makes inhuman animalistic noises. He will begin to beg the party to help him, and ask for healing. Noah will tell them that he will soon have a soul and that they should not disturb the bonding process.

If questioned CHA DC10, Noah will reveal that only 1 in 10 Barovian children have a soul due to the nature of the land. If pushed will also tell the party that he wants to furnish his son with a soul so that he can feel love, and that he wants to help all of Barovia with his experiments.

He will freely reveal that he has chosen animals that have intelligence, strength and cunning so as to make the best soul for Martyn, and believes that once inside his body the amalgum will bind with Martyns life essence and form into a soul.

If they do not cast any form of healing spell on Martyn within the first 10min if being in the room the spirits will break free. This will kill Martyn and they will flee into the main museum to find their old bodies. If healed, the spirits evacuate from Martyns mouth and escape into the museum.

Once all taxidermy zombies have been defeated, the spirits will reform into the original amalgam by sucking the life essences from Bogdans body, or they will return to Martyn and drain him of his life essences to form a huge floating spectre. The only way to return this essence is to destroy the amalgam. If not returned in 7 rounds the victim dies.

TLDR - BOSS FIGHT
The party 4xlvl3 will have had to fight X3 possessed taxidermy Apes, "X2 possessed taxidermy tigers and x1 possessed taxidermy polar bear. All of which are based off the base animal, just with the undead fortitude ability, a couple of resistances and vulnerabilities, and no ability to see anything outside of a revised blindesense.

The spirits then fuse into huge amorphous ectoplasmic animal form. But is this thing too hard or not hard enough after each of the fights before it.

___
>## Animal Spirit Amalgam
>*Large undead, unaligned*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 12
>- **Hit Points** 45 (6d10 + 12)
>- **Speed** 0 ft. , fly 20 ft. (hover)
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|1 (–5)|14 (+2)|15 (+2)|3 (–4)|14 (+2)|5 (–3)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Wis +2
>- **Damage Resistances** cold, lightning, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
>- **Damage Immunities** necrotic, poison
>- **Condition Immunities** charmed, exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious
>- **Senses** blindsight, 30ft, passive Perception 12
>- **Languages** —
>- **Challenge** 2 (450 XP)
>___
>***Limited Telepathy.*** The animal spirit amalgam can magically transmit simple messages and images to any creature it ends it's turn sharing space with. This form of telepathy doesn’t allow the receiving creature to telepathically respond. Any living creature that ends it's turn inside the amalgam must make a DC10 WIS save or suffer disadvantage in their next attack due to the screams and primal images the amalgam is conveying.
>
>***Incorporeal Movement.*** The amalgam can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
>
>***Amorphous shape.*** The amalgam changes form continuously. At the end of each turn roll 1d6, on a 1-2 the amalgam is considered Huge, on a 3-4 Large and on a 5-6 Medium sized. If it ends its turn sharing space with a living object it takes 5 (1d10) force damage.
>
>### Actions
>***Life Drain.*** Melee Spell Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. , one creature. Hit: 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the creature finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
>
>***Forceful Slam.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* + 2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 7 (2d6) force damage.
>
>### Description
>The loose souls from within the collection have come together to seek final vengeance. The swirling images of various animals materialise and then shift into new forms as it attacks.
>

[MagneticKitty]

I would just use the regular stat blocks for those things, or something extremely similar, but give it the Undead Fortitude thing that zombies have. Also resistance to bludgeoning.

I think most of the fun of an encounter like that would just be the set up, with a nice eerie description of a room full of dead eyes. Dont have them attack right away, have them do stuff like "you notice that the deer which was once standing with its head bowed down as if eating grass, is now looking up. Straight at you."

But it only happens when the players arent looking. They whip around to see the deer and suddenly when they turn about the wolves have moved off their pedestals and are in a movement as if they were going to strike. Then when they finally try to destroy the things, the whole room leaps to life and bears down upon them, moving unnaturally and with a jagged stiffness. As they get wounded, the rip of fabric and stuffing popping out accompanies thuds as they drop, completely motionless.

Sounds like a really good idea, I hope it goes well.

Even better have them do a perception check. Knowing they failed a check (if they don't notice the change in position) is even worse.

[Waterdeep Merch]

To add to the horror, you should totally describe how the taxidermy animals take absolutely vicious wounds/amputations and keep on going. They're possessed after all, not alive.

Take a look at the Strahd zombies in the CoS bestiary. Loathsome Limbs would be a great touch.

[Personification]

I know it doesn't fit, but if you have any Whovians in your gaming group find a away to get a weeping angel in there.

[the_brazenburn]

DarcyFinn, I'm not sure whether a CR 2 would make a suitably challenging "boss" for essentially any party. At first, it might be slightly challenging, but the players likely would have been killed by the animal zombies. 4th to 6th makes it possible to beat the animals with reasonable difficulty, but the boss simply won't pose as much of a threat. I'd tamp down the number of hostile zombies, then increase the difficulty of the "final" encounter.

Your narrative and planning for the characters is good, though. Nice to see someone using the "soul/shell" thing outside of just backstory.

One more question. Where did the taxidermist get apes and a polar bear? As far as I know, those aren't native to Barovia, and it's impossible for a shell (or any non-Vistani) to leave. Just think about how you could work that in. Otherwise, keep up the good work! You're almost done.

[DarcyFinn]

DarcyFinn, I'm not sure whether a CR 2 would make a suitably challenging "boss" for essentially any party. At first, it might be slightly challenging, but the players likely would have been killed by the animal zombies. 4th to 6th makes it possible to beat the animals with reasonable difficulty, but the boss simply won't pose as much of a threat. I'd tamp down the number of hostile zombies, then increase the difficulty of the "final" encounter.

Your narrative and planning for the characters is good, though. Nice to see someone using the "soul/shell" thing outside of just backstory.

One more question. Where did the taxidermist get apes and a polar bear? As far as I know, those aren't native to Barovia, and it's impossible for a shell (or any non-Vistani) to leave. Just think about how you could work that in. Otherwise, keep up the good work! You're almost done.

Thanks. The animals have come from an ill fated circus that made its way through the mists but never made it back out. Eventually selling their last animals in a ditch attempt to hopefully pay their way out.

At what level would you pitch a Boss...this is my first ever campaign so no idea how sequential battles such as this should go. My idea for th amalgum was more to to interesting and time pressured but not to be the biggest 'threat'...more just something cool with some threat. I just didn't like how the whole soul/shell thing is introduced in such a basic and matter of fact way in the main campaign when it's actually quite a big deal.

I would appreciate advice on sequential fights , and how you would make the 'boss' a little more of a challenge. I would have assumed that after the first three waves it would be suitably challenging due to lots of spells and long rest actions having been used.

[NRSASD]

I love it! I'm about to start Curse of Strahd myself, and I'm totally stealing this. Thank you!

[the_brazenburn]

I would appreciate advice on sequential fights , and how you would make the 'boss' a little more of a challenge. I would have assumed that after the first three waves it would be suitably challenging due to lots of spells and long rest actions having been used.

Okay, it makes sense that you just wanted it to be interesting. The thing is, the First Law of Barovia is that "Everything interesting wants to, and will, kill you". I think scaling down the initial encounters is your best bet, and keeping the boss where it is. Maybe use only half of the apes? They're pretty scary beasts.