Strahd von Zarovich, D&D’s most famous vampire, is many things. He’s a capable soldier and strategist. He’s a toxic yearner with serious incel energy. He’s a snappy dresser who canonically has 28 capes in his closet.
He’s probably the game’s most iconic villain, and that means designers keep returning to his lair. They keep reviving him for new campaigns. They keep iterating on his rules. What I’m getting at is: Strahd has a new stat block in the latest D&D book, Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.
And I don’t like it.
Before I go full ‘old man yells at cloud’ on this bad boy, a quick note. Hello, players of my current Curse of Strahd campaign! I know you’re reading this. Please stop now before you discover spoilers for our climactic final fight.
Strahd’s 5e stat blocks have always been troubled children. For the purposes of this article, I’ll be comparing the new stat block with the one from Curse of Strahd rather than the revised version we saw in Vecna: Eve of Ruin. The Vecna version is closer to this new overhaul, but most people will be more familiar with the original 5e stat block.
Strahd, like most villains, struggles in a one-on-one fight with the player-characters. His 144 HP dwindles surprisingly quickly, even with his regenerative powers.
Naturally, many hardcore Ravenloft fans have homebrewed their own versions of Strahd. In some universes, he’s become a multi-phase boss fight. In others, he has double the hit points and double the spells.
I’m a purist, meaning I like to run Strahd’s stat block as intended. At most, I’ll pad out his HP and give him a spell his catalog is sorely missing – Counterspell. But, other than that, I stick to the rulebook.
Because the 2016 Strahd stat block can be used effectively. It just requires a very specific strategy. This version of Strahd is designed for hit-and-run tactics. Drop a devastating blow on the party, then retreat using a mix of legendary and lair actions. Keep them at arm’s distance, hide, and pounce.
Strahd’s 2026 stat block adds some strong new abilities, but it also emphasizes the vampire’s existing weak points. It eliminates many of the powers Strahd relies on for that as-written stat block to actually function.
New Strahd (as I’ll be calling him from here on out) has more hit points. He still has far less than the popular Dragnacarta homebrew, but 204 HP is still a 42% increase.
Unfortunately, Strahd no longer regains 20 hit points at the start of his turn. As with many other D&D vampires, his regeneration powers have been stripped. That doesn’t bode well for a Darklord who was already surprisingly difficult to keep alive.
Strahd has also lost his Shapechanger and Children of the Night abilities, but in their place he gets Spider Climb, a decent way to put distance between himself and melee fighters. Plus, he can now use his Charm as a bonus action. This now counts as casting Charm Person, but The Horrors Within says he can do this with “no spell components”, so I assume that means you can charm as well as casting a spell on your turn. That’s not too shabby.
This upgrade is balanced out by a downgrade to Strahd’s spellcasting, though. He’s lost all his cantrips except Mage Hand, so no more Ray of Frost to whittle down the enemy at range when you’re out of spell slots. He can cast Fog Cloud and Detect Thoughts at will, but he’s lost Comprehend Languages, Sleep, Blight, and Animate Objects.
Luckily, Strahd’s most-used spells have survived. You’ve still got Gust of Wind, Mirror Image, Animate Dead, Nondetection, Greater Invisibility, Polymorph, and Fireball. You can even replace one of your multiattacks with a casting of that last one.
However, Wizards has done away with spell slots in 5.5e monster stat blocks. That means Strahd can now only cast each spell once or twice a day, and there’s no chance of upcasting them. No more fifth-level Fireball for you, but hey – at least you automatically grapple an enemy if you land an unarmed strike. That feels like a totally fair trade-off (sarcasm).
Perhaps what hurts Strahd the most is the changes to his legendary and lair actions. He can now cast Command as a legendary action, which is pretty cool. But his only other option is to move half his speed and make an attack. The fact our vampire, who relies on hit-and-run tactics to survive, can no longer move his full speed without triggering opportunity attacks is a huge nerf.
As for lair actions, he doesn’t have any. This is a game-wide design choice, but it’s especially painful for Strahd. Strahd’s lair actions allowed him to pass through walls, ceilings, and floors. He could also summon specters and shadows to back him up. These were crucial problem-solvers for the issues I mentioned at the start of the article.
Hit-and-run Strahd is dead. Long live ‘stand and soak up hits with no chance to regenerate’ Strahd, I guess. His bonus action charm and legendary Command are intriguing new tricks, but I don’t think they’ll save him.
Even with the boosted hit points, this version of Strahd would get thrashed by my players – and they’re only level nine. I’m far from the first to point out issues with D&D’s Challenge Rating system, but when a CR 15 monster feels too weak for my tier two party, something’s broken.
Got your own thoughts on Strahd’s stats? Let me know in the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
