The Curse of Strahd Von Zarovich
Locked deep within a sea of howling winds and choking mists lies the small country of Barovia, a valley land kept isolated from the world by its ruling lord, Count Strahd Von Zarovich. The gods have seemingly abandoned the land, and foul beasts of the night ambush the few travelers continuing to make the dangerous trek between villages. Even the Burghermeisters, relegated with the task of delivering the taxes they owe their lord, travel in heavily-defended caravans and only stop for the direst of emergencies. Rumors of the Count's affiliation with vile evils and dark magicks have led to his nickname among the populace as 'The Devil Strahd'.
In truth, Count Strahd Von Zarovich holds powers more horrifying than even the most daring of Barovian citizens could imagine, but even darker goals driven by a vile past. Using powers gifted to him by a contract with malefic benefactors, the Count twists and manipulates the very fabric of his land, drawing in outsiders from walks of life unknown to the inhabitants of his valley domain, for reasons unknown to all but the lord himself...
General Rules and Expectations:
1. All standard forum rules, regulations, etc. apply.
2. While this is a Dungeons and Dragons setting and adventure, we won't be using the D&D gameplay, so characters won't be confined to the usual character classes and abilities found within the game's assorted editions. However, I still expect PCs to maintain a semblance of balance within their abilities, so if you have any questions at all about a specific spell, power, or whatever else you want to write within the sheet or an IC post, please ask.
3. Characters are not natives to the land of Barovia, but from a nondescript medieval fantasy setting beyond the veil of Strahd's powers. As such, character backstories will likely be the lightest part of the sheet as I'm not expecting any sort of constricting ties to a distinct D&D setting or world, with the hope that personalities and their skills and abilities will drive the group/adventure dynamic.
4. All the other usual standards of no godmodding, listen to the GM, and all that special stuff apply. If you have to ask if something breaks rule 4, there's a good chance the thing does.
Character Creation Info:
Dungeons and Dragons generally uses distinct character races, alignments and classes to define player characters, but for the purposes of this RP I'll be trying to trim that down, but without neglecting key elements of the D&D lore dynamics reliant on these definitions.
Races: There are three 'tiers' of races, ones that are considered "common" in most settings, ones considered "uncommon" in most settings and thus more open to scrutiny and will likely be cut off if too many get posted, and ones that will be accepted on a case-by-case basis.
Common Races: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling
Uncommon Races: Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Gnome, Tiefling, Dragonborn
The case-by-case races can be found here.
Alignments: Traditional D&D alignments tend to be a source of contention for a number of reasons, but are also intrinsically-linked to the metaphysical and cosmological nature of the settings, so are still important in a sense. To avoid tying a character down to the traditional alignment system, I'll be posting the traditional alignment groupings, with you indicating which one from the Good-Neutral-Evil and one from the Law-Neutral-Chaos axes your character favors as of the start of the RP, and which is their major and minor focus. It is not a set-in-stone definition of the character's moral standing, but essentially a summary of their personality on a cosmic scale at the start of the RP, and is very much subject to change based on their actions. Barovia is not a kind place to those pure of heart, after all...
The Alignment Groupings:
Good
Law Neutral Chaos
Evil
Classes: To avoid locking a character down to a specific class tradition, I've decided to break the core class archetypes into four distinct attributes, of which characters will choose a major and minor focus, building a distinct skill set.
Arcane Spellcaster - Those who garner their magic from worldly sources such as study, birthright, or a binding to a non-divine entity.
Divine Spellcaster - Those who gain their magic from holy or unholy sources such as the gods or universal forces of nature and spirituality.
Frontline Combatant - Those who prefer to fight in combat head-on, tactics generally consisting of "hit them with whatever you got and hit them hard."
Skirmish Combatant - Those who favor scheming and tactical maneuvers in combat, weaving around the foe in various means.
If you folks have any and all questions, please do not hesitate to ask!
