Soth, Strahd, and other previews abound from D&D’s most recent ‘State of the Game’ all about the Darklords of Ravenloft.
D&D had another ‘State of the Game’ panel today. This time, hosted by Kevin Parr of Dice Cream Sandwich, with designers Wesley Schneider and Makenzie De Armas, as well as Sr. Creative Lead AJ Hanneld. Over the course of a 46ish-minute video, we get a broader overview of the coming horrors in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. Plus a few community questions and answers that probe a little deeper into the mists of Ravenloft.
For the most part, I’d say this video covers some insights as to why Ravenloft and what the designers were going for this time around. If you’re looking exclusively for previews of new stuff, you’ll probably want to skip around (or read on). But if you want to hear more about what makes the designers excited about Ravenloft and how the Darklords make it a little more exciting, well, pop your earbuds in and set your status to “busy” because the video has you covered.
Ravenloft’s Darklord State Of The Game Shows Off Stat Blocks And Sneak Peeks
First and foremost, I think the big takeaway from the video is that the designers were eager to play with all the horror bells and whistles. This time around, Dread Domains should feel a little more dread. As was the example with Cthluhu’s dread domain, Innsmouth.
Unfortunately, it isn’t just a town from New England “yeeted into the Mists of Ravenloft. Though, that wouldn’t be the first time that our world is canonically in D&D. There’s one instance of crossover in Dungeon of the Mad Mage. This is because Halaster Blackcloak is glocked and loaded (technically, it’s just a revolver), and famously Elminster has visited Earth a few times.
At any rate, Innsmouth is its own domain, interpreted for D&D, and Ravenloft, specifically. This means there’s more of a cult-y vibe to the place. People you think you can trust are hiding dark secrets because they’re either influenced by or devotees of the unrelenting dreams of an eldritch horror, yearning to escape its cosmic prison.
Cthulhu’s Other Abilities
Cthulhu’s influence also warps reality in Innsmouth. Meaning that there are places where space folds in on itself. Folding space is kind of a recurring theme for the big guy. We got a juicy stat block preview of in the Ravenloft State of the Game. Here’s a glimpse at what Cthulhu is capable of in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.
In case you can’t zoom and enhance enough, Cthulhu has a surprisingly reasonable pool of hit points. He weighs in at an average 385. Although obviously the cap is way more (and if you’re not rolling, or just playing with monster hit points, you should be) at nearly 600 hit points possible on the high end.
Cthulhu is also immune to a swath of conditions, including Charmed and Paralyzed, but weirdly enough not Incapacitated or Stunned, so you can still stun lock the big guy if you play your cards right. Although I will say Cthulhu feels a little strange having only mostly a couple of Claw attacks and a grand total of 5 spells that it can cast. The at will level 4 Mind Spike is nice, but it feels like he should have more eldritch stuff to do. Though don’t sleep on the Bonus/Legendary Actions which see Cthulhu just unbending space and time at leisure.
Strahd, Ebonbane, And Soth
Of course Cthulhu isn’t the only one showcased in the State of the Game preview. We got a glimpse of four different Darklords all in all. Above you’ll find the Ravenloft version of Lord Soth who has all the normal stats of a Death Knight but has been upgraded, because you know, he’s Lord Soth. The Face of Death and the suite of Legendary Actions give him some extra menace in an encounter.
Although, weirdly enough I think the Cataclysmic Fire has been nerfed from the normal Death Knight. At any rate, the Darklord whose stat block I’m most excited to see is Ebonbane, which is both a sentient weapon AND a wieldable magic item. We didn’t get a look at the magic item ruleset, but consider:
Ebonbane is surprisigly resilient owing to its nature as just a sword. But it can also take possession of creatures that a willing creature nearby. Which makes you wonder, what makes a creature willing to have their soul devoured by Ebonbane?
Finally, Lord Strahd himself gets a revamp. Though this last one is really more of a fine tuning, or an adjustment. Strahd, after all, is pretty iconic. If not for Curse of Strahd, perhaps there’d be more of a change. But you’ll still see the old familiar Strahd just with some slightly higher numbers sprinkled around.
We also got a glimpse of one of the new species, the Lupin, ecause who doesn’t want to be able to play a Werewolf in D&D? And at long last there’s a way to do it in 5.5E without contracting Lycanthropy. You can find all this, and more in the upcoming Ravenloft book, which releases into Early Access next week, and is out for wide release June 16th. So look forward to more previews as we get closer to the release date.
See you in the mists!
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Source: Bell of Lost Souls
