Moon madness (lunatio) . . . it will kill you

[Scede]

Does it only affect half-vistani or are full bloods affected too? I always wondered how infants and toddlers survived while their crazy parents were out traipsing around acting insane for a few days.

[cure]

Full-blooded Vistani have organised, 'non-mad,' rituals during the full moon. No one has ever seen what happens at them however. There is some suggestion that these rituals maintain their intimate connection with the land.

[Jack of Tears]

>>The trouble I have is that recently the ranger's Wolf Companion has taken to following and guarding the half-vistani on his "run" and when they return, the ranger naturally asks the wolf what happened. I had no clue. What DO they do? <<


Considering the nature of the Vistani and their connection to Ravenloft, I don't think the wolf would be allowed to discover much. Likely he would either loose track of the pc or his perceptions would be completely disoriented. If you want something disturbing, have the companion come back each time with wild tales completely outside the realm of possibility; and have it stick to that story, believing it for the absolute truth - or simply have it claim the event was something it can't talk about. (after all, even if it did witness the cleansing ritual, it might be honor bound as one beast to another not to discuss such personal things with a man) Alternately, perhaps all it has for him is impressions "Maddness! Maddness and terror! The Moon! The Moon is an ocean of Maddness!"



>>How lunatio affects a character should be more personalized, and how the PC experiences it (and has survived it) makes for a nice bit of character backstory.<<


A very good approach and I like your examples. Vistani away from their tribe might act very differently from their brethren ... after all, a communal bachanalia is going to be alot different than a night of personal release.

[Bloody Morgan]

In relation to the earlier, protection of Strahd piece... I don't think a half-Vistani would have the protection of Strahd, as they're not really of any more use to him than they are to their full-blood cousins. That's not to say that an individual wouldn't be able to make a deal with him, just that it wouldn't apply to them all.

That said... if people assume the the half-Vistani is a full Vistani, no-one in the land would dare touch them. And I think that during their revel, most people would assume that they are full-blood.

Well, that or think they're a werewolf and have them killed a few days later.

Bloody Morgan

[Trickstergod]

The half-vistani isn't in anyway immune to fatigue or the like during this time.

Outside of a particularly odd sleep schedule, the character in question isn't likely to go bounding around willy-nilly for more than 1-3 hours, anyway, depending on what time of year it is.

The half-Vistani will wear out swiftly enough and likely go loping off for shelter to sleep in soon thereafter.

While wandering around recklessly in Ravenloft on nights of the full moon is dangerous, outside of places like Verbrek or other places where lycanthropes are common, a couple of hours outside every so often isn't going to be a huge problem most evenings.

And for those worried about the lunatio, just play a human. Vistani are just a human subtype, anyway, and at least a few half-Vistani in the books never had any moon madness to my recollection. The one in Vampire of the Mists comes to mind, though it's been a while since I've read it.

Half-Vistani have no reason to be any more statistically different from someone from Dementlieu than someone from Dementlieu is from someone from Tepest. I see any half-Vistani favoring their non-Vistani side as taking the human race rather than the half-Vistani one.

Just as one option for those worried over killer DM's who churn out encounters at the drop of a hat.

[Episkopos]

I suppose it all has to do with location. Where the half-breed is at the moment of the moon.
For starters when the half-vistana starts having his lunacy upon him(whic I agree should start at puberty) he is rarely by his own, so his own people could look out for him.
Now chaining, I don't think that they would chain a half-vistana just for his lunacy.
I mean sure he will run into the wild, but that doesn't mean he would start running and never stop for three days.
My opinion is that he would become on of the many "unexplained" things that are howling in the middle of the night, right out in the woods surrounding a barricated city.
For example the half vistani is in the village of Barovia, full moon comes, and he starts running around the woods.
Usually those woods, at least most of the times, are relatevely safe compared to woods and wilderness that need 3 days of travel to get there.
IMO, what most people confuse is that they generalize things. They have a picture in their head for a village, they have a picture in their heads for the wilderness and that's it. When most of the times this is not the case.
The more far you leave from the city and into the wilderness, the more the chances you encounter something sinister. BUt around the town all that "should" exist are a few animals.
Something that even a low level adventurer half vistana can handle.
Also I'd like to think that since the Vistani are so in touch with Ravenloft than any other race, it would be my want-to-believe that the Dark Powers themselves seem to protect those persons and somehow manage to keep them relatevely safe from harm's way just because the Dark Powers are responsible for their state of mind those three days in the first place.
Or take that as a convinient way to keep them safe.
Still it would be great if someone was a real good player and was planning his lunacy up ahead.