Café de Nuit

While I greatly enjoyed efforts by Jester and the Fraternity to make 4e "patchbooks" for Ravenloft, I do have a number of the 3.x Ravenloft Gazetteers. In particular, I like the sidebar each has on a "Domain Hero" - that is, a guideline to playing characters from that domain. As far as I'm aware, Jester didn't make any inclusion of that material in his netbooks.

So, I was wondering if people would be interested in my efforts at a 4e update of said guidelines, accounting for the newly changed classes & races and the plethora of new classes & races brought about by 4e?

The only problem is, if folks want me to support this, my collection of Gazetteers is rather spotty; I have Gaz 1 as a hardback, and PDFs of Gazs 2 and 5 from BookOS.org, but the site has gone down for some reason and so I can't get Gaz 3 from there, nor does it have Gaz 4, so I'm not able to access all of the 3.5 domain hero sidebars. If folks would be willing to post those sidebars here, it would be very helpful.

This project is an admirable one, and I don't want to discourage it, but I do want to discourage the posting of sidebars from the Gaz's. That's copyrighted material and we can't have direct quotes that large here, sorry.

Of course, I understand; it was only asked because I can't quite access Gazettes 3 and 4 right now; if anyone is able to PM those sidebars to me, I would prefer that, but I can just leave those out and only use the gazettes that I do have. I do apologise for the misunderstanding.

What I am currently planning for this little pet project is this:

Firstly, a direct translation of the domain hero sidebar - set up in the same fashion and listing the 4e relevant classes/races as the book one.

A Power Sources entry; this will note the general Power Sources most appropriate to that domain and any relevant details that might be important - for example, the Lamordia version will have possible ways of using the Smothering of Reason against the Arcane, Divine and Primal power sources, while noting that, with DM permission, the Psionic power source could come from Lamordia.

Optional Classes; this will, obviously, list classes that were not present or associated with the domain in the Arthaus editions, but could be fitting with DM permission, as well as any plot hooks that their existence might generate. For example, in a Lamordia that does feature the Smothering of Reason, Sorcerers (an Optional Class) could be appearing in increasing number as, functionally, outlets for the magic that Mordenheim is forcibly repressing in his domain.

Optional Races; as above. For example, Sithicus, with DM agreement, could house a population of Krynnish draconians.

For a taste of what I currently have bubbling over in my feverish mind... Feedback appreciated, I fear I'm not really good enough to be doing this sort of thing.

The 4e Barovian Hero
Official Races:
Humans, naturally, are the most common race in Barovia and so human PCs are easily justifiable. Barovians actually consist of four ethnic groups; true Barovians, displaced Gundarkites, immigrant Forfarians from Forlorn, and Thaani remnants from the now-lost domain of Bluetspar.

Because of Strahd's official protection of their people, Vistani frequent the domain, and so a comparatively large population of Half-Vistani exists.

Calibans make up the second major "non-human" demographic, with numbers roughly comparable to those of the half-vistani.

Halflings, who make up a large minority in the biggest villages of Western Barovia, are the last of the truly established non-humans.

Rumors and legends speak of dwarves who dwell in the Balinoks and "wild elves" in the Tepurich forest. Consult with your DM before playing a dwarven, elven or eladrin PC - especially to determine if your DM wishes for the "wild elves" to be elves or eladrin. To better match the local perception of the dwarves and elves as fey, mysterious, inhuman beings, the Forgeborn (for dwarves), Dusk Elf (for elves) and Winterkin (for eladrin) racial variants are quite appropriate.


Official Classes:
Fighters and Rangers are the predominant Martial classes to be found in Barovia; Rogues are also common, in theory, but Strahd's strict laws means that an unskillful thief - never mind a rogue - swiftly winds up dead, and they are much hated by their fellow Barovians, who are wary of them drawing Strahd's wrath.

Barovia hosts a strong if unsupported tradition of churches and temples; Ezra and Hala both have followers here, and Barovia is the birthplace of the Morninglord religion. Clerics are quite appropriate as a Barovian hero class.

Invokers, whilst naturally rare, are also a valid Barovian class; the Barovian distrust of organised religion, whilst simultaneously yearning for shielding from the terrible forces that prowl the night, means that "true prophets" are born to this domain on rare occasions. As much as a thumb in the eye of Strahd's dominance as anything else.

Paladins arise very rarely; the Barovian mindset is not conducive to swearing the vows that grant a Paladin's power. All Barovian paladins are invariably from the cult of the Morninglord, who supports them and cherishes them.

From the Arcane power source, the vast majority of arcanists are Warlocks, who draw their power from "the dark forces". Dark and Infernal Pacts are the most common, but Mist pacts, Vestige pacts and the equivalent of Sorcerer-King pacts aren't unheard of - of the latter three, Mist Pacts are most common.

After Warlocks, Sorcerers are the most common arcanists seen in Barovia, though these are forced to try and conceal their powers, courtesy of local prejudice. Wild Magic is the most appropriate form of Sorcerer for Barovia.

Bards are extremely rare, but greatly prized by the Barovians.

Wizards are a rarity, and are feared just as much, perhaps even more so, than Warlocks.

Primal magic is a rarity and tends to be concentrated amongst the Forfarian populace of Barovia. Most common are Shamans and the very occasional Druid, all of whom are forced to live a life apart from their superstitious fellows. The odd Barbarian does surface, but is an oddity even for Forfarians.


Optional Races: Consult with your DM before creating a character using one of these races.

Because of the Barovian ignorance of elves, it is possible that the "feyfolk" of the Tepuchiri Forest are actually Gnomes and/or or Drow, both of whom could use their stealthy abilities to evade Barovian intruders.

As the domain most associated with vampires, Barovian Dhampyrs are a very real possibility, and will often turn to vampire slaying to redeem themselves for their tainted bloodlines.


Optional Classes: Consult with your DM before creating a character using one of these classes.

If your DM is using Psonics in Ravenloft, then a Thaani or Thaani-blooded character could be any of the four psychic classes, though is something of a natural slant towards the Battlemind and Monk classes, who can most easily feign a lack of supernatural talent. Ardents seek subtler powers, in order to blend in, and most Psions possess the Telepathy focus.

As with the dhampyr, the Vampire class is very likely to come out of Barovia, and comes with tailor-made plothooks. After all, a vampire PC is very likely to be either one of Strahd's spawn, directly taking orders from him to preserve their own existence, or both.

The Morninglord faith may, in your DM's Barovia, possess the secret society known as the Dawnslayers; warrior-priests charged with slaying the forces of the night, especially vampires. While most will be Paladins or particularly militant Clerics, their combat-orientated slant on their faith is perfect justification for them to be training Avengers as "holy assassins" against the darkness.

Hell_Born wrote:Of course, I understand; it was only asked because I can't quite access Gazettes 3 and 4 right now; if anyone is able to PM those sidebars to me, I would prefer that, but I can just leave those out and only use the gazettes that I do have. I do apologise for the misunderstanding.

As a side note, asking someone to privately send you copyrighted material publicly is almost as bad as posting said material on the boards Hell_Born, and not something that is generally encouraged on the boards.

Now, on to what you have posted,

I think I see a lot of overlap here between what you've got and what's already done. Not sure I see the need to repeat the stuff that's out there. Perhaps just a piece focusing on the new classes and races, and how they fit in would be better? After all, why re-invent the wheel? For example, unless you're very new to Ravenloft, we all know that the Morninglord holds sway in Barovia, and that Clerics can come from the domain. Why repeat it? Or, if you're just trying to be complete, then perhaps just a simple "Fighters, Rangers, Clerics, etc." are all common in Barovia. That way you're not re-treading over old ground, and you can make more room for your own work of adapting the new things of 4E.

I don't think I would have Sorcerer-King Warlocks in Ravenloft, at least anywhere other than Kalidnay. They are very Dark Sun in tone, and tied to that setting. Sure, you could probably adapt it to make it work, but why try and force it? They work well in Kalidnay (which comes from Dark Sun), so let them be from there if you want them anywhere in Ravenloft. That way you preserve the tone of the class without compromising it.

Mortavius wrote:As a side note, asking someone to privately send you copyrighted material publicly is almost as bad as posting said material on the boards Hell_Born, and not something that is generally encouraged on the boards.

Well put.

Remember that this website and sites like it operate purely on the good graces of the copyright holders of our beloved products. If they wanted to shut us down, they easily could. We try to avoid giving them good reason to do so.

Hell_Born, I recently started a 4E Ravenloft campaign, and here are a few ideas you might be interested in.

One of the ways I've tried to incorporate the idea of "Domain Heroes" is with the rules for Backgrounds from Player's Handbook 2. I've come up with multiple Backgrounds for several Domains, and hope to create Backgrounds for various Races. I'd also like to create Ravenloft Themes, such as "Cold One", "Knight of the Shadows" or "Pistoleer". I think that Themes would work better than Feats or Paragon Paths for these concepts. For example the Pistoleer Theme might allow a Rogue to make Sneak Attacks and use Rogue Attack Powers with a Snaplock Pistol.

I'll try to post some examples of the Backgrounds later.

In terms of using the old material and the new material together, I agree that it is not necessary to rebuild the wheel. You mentioned the Thaani; while no one in my group is playing one, I indicated in the Campaign Document I sent to my players that I had reskinned the Kalashtar from the Ebberron Campaign Setting to function as the Thaani. The Kalashtar's background about Humans who were influenced by Dael kar (sp?) translates nicely to the Thaani background of Humans influenced by the Illithids of Bluetspur (who come from the Far Realms). Just like the 3.X setting turned Half-Orcs (which don't fit into the setting) into Calibans (which were a great addition), reskinning the Kalashtar into the Thaani kills two birds with one stone: I get to have Thaani who are mechanically different from Humans without coming up with new rules; and if a player wants to play a Kalashtar Psion they have the option of coming from Barovia, rather than being an Outlander from Ebberron.

In general my attitude has been to allow the players to create their own PCs, and then work with them to build a suitable Background for the PC. One player wanted to play a Kobold Rogue, so I created a Background for the anti-Drakov Kobolds that serve the Basilisk, ran a brief intro for the character where he witnessed Gondogal and the Basilisk meet and ask him to deliver a letter to George Weathermay in Mordentshire, where the Kobold met up with the other PCs.

Don't be too fixated on every detail from a previous edition, and don't feel too beholden to the fluff of 4E. I decided that it would be too bothersome to remove the Fey Step ability of the Eladrin, so I decided Eladrin move through the Mists. That ties in nicely with the Elves who live in the Mistlands of Darkon, especially Trillen Mistwalker, the ghost looking for a lost Elven kingdom (in the Feywild perhaps?). I then realized that while there was no problem with Elves and Eladrin living side by side in Darkon (fitting in very nicely with the multiracial ethos of Darkon) the Eladrin could not be made to work for the Silvanesti Elves of Sithicus. The teleportation ability is too intrinsic to the Eladrin and the feats, magic items and Paragon Paths that were designed for them. So i decided to make the new write up of the Elf in "Heroes of the Fallen Lands" work in my favor. All the "Elves" in Sithicus, Silvanesti and Kaganesti, are 4E Elves. The Silvanesti get the +2 bonus to their INT score, while the Kaganesti get the +2 bonus to their WIS score. Everything else is just a matter of window dressing.

Three of the players in my campaign chose the "Vistani Heritage" feat, two human, one a Half-Elf. I'm allowing the first two to play full-blooded Vistani, not Giomorgo/Giogotto. The Half-Elf is a "Giamarga", mentioned briefly in either VRGttV or the Domains of Dread 2E book. I've decided that while the first two are full blooded, because they are males from a less powerful tribe, and because the article "Playing Vistani" keeps them from getting too powerful, there is nothing unbalancing about it. One reason to allow it is that these players are the only long term Ravenloft players (from 2E and/or 3.X) other than me in the group, and it is useful to have them as guides for the other players (and their characters) as they explore the Lands of the Mists. Because they are full blooded they must obey the dictates of a Raunie or other Caravan leader, and if they return to Barovia by late Heroic Tier, they will get marching orders from Strahd. I've found it opens more possibilities than creates headaches, especially since they have an Outcast Rating.

Hell_Born wrote:Feedback appreciated, I fear I'm not really good enough to be doing this sort of thing.

Here's some feedback:

Hell_Born wrote: The 4e Barovian Hero
Official Races:
Humans, naturally, are the most common race in Barovia and so human PCs are easily justifiable. Barovians actually consist of four ethnic groups; true Barovians, displaced Gundarkites, immigrant Forfarians from Forlorn, and Thaani remnants from the now-lost domain of Bluetspar.

Here's how I would present the information: "There are four major Human ethnic groups in Barovia: Barovians, Gundarakites, Forfarians and Thaani. For more information about these ethnic groups, see Ravenloft Gazetteer Vol. 1."

I personally would use the statistics for the Kalashtar Race from the Eberron Player's Guide to represent the psychic powers of the Thaani. Kalashtar gain Telepathy and a racial Encounter power that gives them a bonus to their Will Defense as an Interrupt. Physically the Kalashtar resemble a diverse group of Humans, much the way the Thaani do.

Because of Strahd's official protection of their people, Vistani frequent the domain, and so a comparatively large population of Half-Vistani exists.

You should include a reference to Dragon Magazine #380, which has the article Playing Vistani; that article has the Vistani Heritage feat, which is the prerequisite for Vistani or Half-Vistani PCs in 4E.

Calibans make up the second major "non-human" demographic, with numbers roughly comparable to those of the half-vistani.

Don't forget to direct your readers to either Player's Handbook 2 or Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom for the game mechanics for Half-Orcs.

You also left out a major 4E race that should be more common in Barovia following the Grand Conjunction: Tieflings. Inajira has been trying to add souls to his new Book of Keeping by making deals with mortals. All offspring of those who signed Inajira's Book of Keeping should be born Tieflings, perhaps with a more canine appearance, rather than the horns and red skin.

Official Classes:
Fighters and Rangers are the predominant Martial classes to be found in Barovia; Rogues are also common, in theory, but Strahd's strict laws means that an unskillful thief - never mind a rogue - swiftly winds up dead, and they are much hated by their fellow Barovians, who are wary of them drawing Strahd's wrath.

You should try to distinguish between the various Fighter sub-classes and builds. Weaponmaster Fighters (from Player's Handbook 1) Slayer Fighters and Knights (both from Heroes of the Fallen Lands). The majority of Fighters in Barovia should be Slayers and Brawling Fighters, followed by a small cadre of Great Weapon Fighters and Guardian Fighters. Battlerager Fighters and Knights should be non-existent.

Scoundrels and Thieves should be found in equal numbers. The most common Rangers should be Archer, Beastmaster, Hunter (both kinds) and Scout Rangers.

Barovia hosts a strong if unsupported tradition of churches and temples; Ezra and Hala both have followers here, and Barovia is the birthplace of the Morninglord religion. Clerics are quite appropriate as a Barovian hero class.

Most Barovians are atheists; given the major changes to how healing works in 4E, you need to emphasize that. The only religion of note (other than wandering Anchorites or a few hedge witches) is the Cult of the Morninglord. Given the indifference of the average Barovian, and the outright hostility of Strahd, Clerics are no longer as popular as they were when they could cast multiple cure light wounds spells at 1st level.

Invokers, whilst naturally rare, are also a valid Barovian class; the Barovian distrust of organised religion, whilst simultaneously yearning for shielding from the terrible forces that prowl the night, means that "true prophets" are born to this domain on rare occasions. As much as a thumb in the eye of Strahd's dominance as anything else.

Paladins arise very rarely; the Barovian mindset is not conducive to swearing the vows that grant a Paladin's power. All Barovian paladins are invariably from the cult of the Morninglord, who supports them and cherishes them.

In 4E Paladins wouldn't need to be rare; they would be as common as Clerics. The real issue is: where are these Invokers coming from? 4E Invokers are the only Divine class to be invested directly by their deity. The Morninglord worshiped in Barovia is a half remembered version of Lathander/Amaunator from the Forgotten Realms. Is Amauntor giving them their power? Or do you want to jettison that aspect of the class?

From the Arcane power source, the vast majority of arcanists are Warlocks, who draw their power from "the dark forces". Dark and Infernal Pacts are the most common, but Mist pacts, Vestige pacts and the equivalent of Sorcerer-King pacts aren't unheard of - of the latter three, Mist Pacts are most common.

After Warlocks, Sorcerers are the most common arcanists seen in Barovia, though these are forced to try and conceal their powers, courtesy of local prejudice. Wild Magic is the most appropriate form of Sorcerer for Barovia.

Infernal Warlock and Storm Sorcerers (see Arcane Power) should be the most common Arcane heroes. As I mentioned earlier, Inajira is available to make pacts with those who sign his Book of Keeping. Vestige Warlocks (also from Arcane Power) might also be prominent.

Wizards are a rarity, and are feared just as much, perhaps even more so, than Warlocks.

While Mage and Arcanist Wizards should be extremely rare, Witches (from Heroes of the Feywild) should be relatively common.

Primal magic is a rarity and tends to be concentrated amongst the Forfarian populace of Barovia. Most common are Shamans and the very occasional Druid, all of whom are forced to live a life apart from their superstitious fellows. The odd Barbarian does surface, but is an oddity even for Forfarians.

Berserker Barbarians (Heroes of the Feywild), which uses both the Martial and the Primal power sources, should be common. Sentinel Druids (Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms) seem to be the type of Druid who would fit in best with the Forfarians. (The PHB2 Druid and Shaman seem an ill fit for Barovia in any case, unless the DM and Player work to reskin them.)

Optional Races: Consult with your DM before creating a character using one of these races.

What do you consider an "optional" race? Tieflings appear in PHB1, are very thematically appropriate for the Ravenloft setting, and should be well represented in Barovia. I feel that Kalashtar are more appropriate for Barovia than Elves, Eladrin or Dwarves, let alone Drow.

Optional Classes: Consult with your DM before creating a character using one of these classes.

What do you consider an "optional" class? Why is the Psionic Power source "optional"? It appears in a Player's Handbook, and in the Character Builder.

If your DM is using Psonics in Ravenloft, then a Thaani or Thaani-blooded character could be any of the four psychic classes, though is something of a natural slant towards the Battlemind and Monk classes, who can most easily feign a lack of supernatural talent. Ardents seek subtler powers, in order to blend in, and most Psions possess the Telepathy focus.

The Thaani should not be monks any more than any other Barovians. Ardents and Psions should be common among the Thaani.

As with the dhampyr, the Vampire class is very likely to come out of Barovia, and comes with tailor-made plothooks. After all, a vampire PC is very likely to be either one of Strahd's spawn, directly taking orders from him to preserve their own existence, or both.

Now this is an example of what I would consider an optional class: the Vampire from Heroes of Shadow. When one of my players inquired about playing a Vampire PC in my 4E Ravenloft campaign, I absolutely forbade it.

The Morninglord faith may, in your DM's Barovia, possess the secret society known as the Dawnslayers; warrior-priests charged with slaying the forces of the night, especially vampires. While most will be Paladins or particularly militant Clerics, their combat-orientated slant on their faith is perfect justification for them to be training Avengers as "holy assassins" against the darkness.

This should have been listed next to the other three major Divine classes.

This "project" is basically the culmination of an idle thought exercise: if the Arthaus Gazetteers were written in 4th edition, what races/classes would the writers have assigned to each domain?

Thus the division into Official and Optional races/classes in my writeup here:

Official entries directly reference, stem from or are otherwise directly connected to the original 3.5 sidebar. Some additions or modifications are changed - for example, Rangers, no longer being divine spellcasters, would not be looked down upon in Lamordia.

Optional entries reference content that I personally feel makes sense for a potential PC stemming from the domain, but which a given DM may not be so feasible towards. For example; While it's not as clashing as it was in earlier editions, the Psionic power source is still alien enough that many DMs, even for non-Ravenloft campaigns, may not want to include it. And then there's the Dawnslayers; not only are they Dread Possibility content in the original gazetteer, meaning they might not exist in one DM's take on Barovia, a DM may decide that Dawnslayers make the most sense as Paladins (holy warriors) as opposed to Avengers (assassin zealots).

Truth be told, I kind of broke my own rules; really, the Official section should only have mentioned the classes/races from the 3.5 sidebar, and any changes should have gone under the Optional section. This makes it easier for traditionalist DMs to see what they could add and decide what they will add.

In the end, I generally made a judgement call on whatever classes/races seemed most fitting for the realm, and, honestly, some just never occurred to me. Barovia didn't seem "stormy enough" to me that it really justified Stormsoul Sorcerers, and I forgot all about Inajira and his potential for creating tieflings.

As for the lack of Essentials classes? Let me be upfront: I loathe Essentials and it rankles me that it took over and eventually led to the downfall of 4th edition. Besides, the only Essentials books I have are the Neverwinter campaign setting and the Heroes of the Feywild/Shadowfell/Elemental Chaos trinity. I'm just not familiar enough with the "classes" it offers to really see how they'd fit into the Ravenloft setting.

Incidentally? Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't Jester include a real, not-a-half-orc-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off Caliban race in his 4e Ravenloft netbooks? I'm quite sure he did... in fact, given the prevalence of racial variants in 4e, I actually tried to drum up some interest in converting the Brutes and Banshees from Quoth the Raven #8 to further expand upon Jester's 4e Calibans.

Hell_Born wrote:This "project" is basically the culmination of an idle thought exercise: if the Arthaus Gazetteers were written in 4th edition, what races/classes would the writers have assigned to each domain?

If that's the goal, then you need to look at the project as a 4E game designer/DM creating content for 4E that updates a 3.X sourcebook. In the past I wold agree with you that a project like this should only incorporate material that players and DMs would have gotten in the PHB. But in 4E we have the Compendium and the Online Character Builder that players and DMs can pay to access. That gives them access to game content from over a wide variety of source material. Therefore I feel that this project would need to take that into consideration. In 3.X there were Fighters, Rogues and Rangers. In 4E there are Battlerager Fighters, Knights, Artful Dodgers, Brutal Scoundrels, Thieves, Archer Rangers, Hunters and Scouts. Individual DMs may decide to disallow an Essentials class in their campaign (I do not allow Warpriests because they don't fit the setting and the Templar Cleric fills that role fine anyway), but a project aiming to help 4E Ravenloft DMs needs to work on a broader scale.

Hell_Born wrote:Official entries directly reference, stem from or are otherwise directly connected to the original 3.5 sidebar. Some additions or modifications are changed - for example, Rangers, no longer being divine spellcasters, would not be looked down upon in Lamordia.

Optional entries reference content that I personally feel makes sense for a potential PC stemming from the domain, but which a given DM may not be so feasible towards. For example; While it's not as clashing as it was in earlier editions, the Psionic power source is still alien enough that many DMs, even for non-Ravenloft campaigns, may not want to include it. And then there's the Dawnslayers; not only are they Dread Possibility content in the original gazetteer, meaning they might not exist in one DM's take on Barovia, a DM may decide that Dawnslayers make the most sense as Paladins (holy warriors) as opposed to Avengers (assassin zealots).

But you need to take into consideration that not all DMs will view the setting the same way. In previous editions Psionics was a tacked on optional system. In 4E the Psionics rules work exactly the same as all other powers, with a few variations in the Augmentable and Full Discipline rules. In 4E the rule of thumb is: specific always trumps general, but otherwise the powers still have the exact same framework as Exploits, Prayers, Spells and Evocations.

Your goal should be providing a framework whereby Ardents, Battleminds, Monks and Psions fit into the setting. Ardents could be Thaani who manifest unusual auras and leave Immol to keep the community's secrets safe. Psions could be mesmerists from Dementlieu, members of the fraternal lodges of Paridon or Thaani who try to develop their powers. Monks should be found in Sri Raji (yogi), Rokushima Taiyoo (sohei), Paridon (also in the fraternal lodges), and Lamordia (Warforged PCs who learn at the Monastary of the Quickening Thunderbolt). And Battleminds could come from the gladiator arenas of Kalidnay, and among Thaani who train to fight against the Illithids of Bluetspur (much the way Githzerai form Rraakma Bands).

tl;dr: Don't shoehorn the new game mechanics into the old game mechanics (or try to organize the new game mechanics the way the old game mechanics were); use the old source material to give new flavor to the new game mechanics. Your readers will thank you.

Truth be told, I kind of broke my own rules; really, the Official section should only have mentioned the classes/races from the 3.5 sidebar, and any changes should have gone under the Optional section. This makes it easier for traditionalist DMs to see what they could add and decide what they will add.

In 2E there was no class called "Sorcerer". Gabrielle Adderre was an Enchanter, as was Dominc D'Honaire. The game designers for the 3.X material turned Gabrielle into a Sorcerer who mostly used Enchantment spells, and used the NPC classes in the DMG for Dominic, along with Supernatural and Extraordinary abilities. That kept the "flavor" (Gabrielle is a witch who seduces men with magic; Dominic is a mesmerist and manipulator whose gaze and words are the equivalent of magic) while using the new mechanics that (IMO) allowed the characters to function in a better way. You need to unlearn the 3.X rules and embrace the 4E ones, while holding onto the spirit and ethos of Ravenloft: A Realm of Terror, a Domain of Dread. The game rules are there to help the DM evoke wonder, terror and horror in his or her players. They are the means not the end.

In the end, I generally made a judgement call on whatever classes/races seemed most fitting for the realm, and, honestly, some just never occurred to me. Barovia didn't seem "stormy enough" to me that it really justified Stormsoul Sorcerers, and I forgot all about Inajira and his potential for creating tieflings.

4E Sorcerers are ... different from their 3.X forebears. Dragon Sorcerers really don't fit most of the Domains, with the major exception of Rokushima Taiyoo: the influence of Dragons in Eastern culture would make them very apropos. Wild Sorcerers are supposed to reflect the Elemental Chaos; they either have Primordial origins or were influenced by Demons, Elementals or Primordial Cultists. That doesn't really fit into Ravenloft, IMO. They could be connected to the Nightmare Lands, Vechor, Hazlan (stray magic bleeding into the land affects the locals), Sithicus (when Lord Soth disappeared on the Night of Screaming Shadows to return to Krynn, some of the raw Chaos present during the Chaos War enterred the Domain), Darkon (as a result of the Doomsday Device's activation some people gained magical powers), Lamordia (as Baltoi lies dreaming of the Blood War, her Chaotic and Evil nature clash with the rational mindset of Mordenheim and the Lamordians; this has resulted in Wild Sorcerers appearing in a Domain that fears and hates them).

Cosmic Sorcerers should be the most common Sorcerers in Ravenloft; just like Star Pact Warlocks, Cosmic Sorcerers delve into forbidden tomes and seek after eldritch lore; the difference is that they gain their power from astronomical alignments, planar conjunctions and the like, not making pacts with Far Realms entities posing as stars and planets. Cosmic Sorcerers should be found in any domain where the study of magic is feasible, but frowned upon, including Barovia, Dementlieu, Richemulot, Nova Vaasa, Sithicus, Mordent, etc. They could also be people living adjacent to the Shadow Rift, who hear Gwydion's cries of anguish while they sleep; people affected by the Nightmare Lands or Bluetspur, who seek to harness the madness rather than the chaos of those places; and visitors to Vechor overwhelmed by Easan's madness. In all of these cases, the magic of the cosmos and of insanity becomes part of the Sorcerer's very being.

Storm Sorcerers are the boring Sorcerers. Any place with lots of thunderstorms will have babies born during a storm. Some of these babies become Storm Sorcerers. Its not very exciting, but I've found that Storm Sorcerers are a very easy class for beginners to learn to play. (Much easier than Warlocks or Rangers.)

Tieflings should be born anywhere that there are fiends interested in making pacts, anywhere there are fiends conducting Power Rituals, anywhere there are fiends sleeping beneath a monastery, in short, anywhere there are fiends, period. One aspect of Tiefling's that's bugged me in 4E is their cookie cutter appearance. In their original incarnation as PCs, in the Planescape Setting, Tieflings had a varied appearance.

You could suggest as a Dread Possibility that the appearance of Tieflings might depend on the fiend that originated the Tiefling's bloodline (Tieflings should always have Tiefling offspring, even when they mate with Humans). Here are some suggestions based on established fiends:

- Inajira: As I mentioned previously, Inajira-influenced Tieflings might look like Inu-Yasha, with canine features replacing the standard horns, red skin, ridges and tail.

- The Black Duke: these Tieflings should appear similar to the standard 4E Tieflings, but their facial ridges and horns are more pronounced.

- Elsepeth: These Tieflings should have cream colored skin and perfect hair, but they also have pointed ears, fangs, vestigial wings and long fingernails (they have no horns, no ridges and no tails)

- Baltoi: These Tieflings should have an ophidian appearance: scales, slitted eyes, forked tongue, snake-like tail (no horns, no ridges)

- The Whistling Fiend: These Tieflings have a single horn that juts from the back of their skull, rather than curling ram horns on the sides of their heads; their skin is smooth and moist, but not slimy. They appear very thin and haggard, almost to the point of being malnourished. (No tails, no red skin)

- Drigor: These Tieflings tend to be overweight, but not obese. Their horns resemble those of a horned toad rather than a ram. They have vestigial wings. These Tieflings are exclusively found in the Madrigore family. (no ridges, no red skin, no tail)

As for the lack of Essentials classes? Let me be upfront: I loathe Essentials and it rankles me that it took over and eventually led to the downfall of 4th edition. Besides, the only Essentials books I have are the Neverwinter campaign setting and the Heroes of the Feywild/Shadowfell/Elemental Chaos trinity. I'm just not familiar enough with the "classes" it offers to really see how they'd fit into the Ravenloft setting.

Some of the classes are a very poor fit. The Knight, the Warpriest and the Cavalier do not really fit. While knights in shining armor were part of early Gothic literature, they don't fit into the Ravenloft Campaign given the way the setting has evolved. The Warpriest is a poor fit because it is supposed to be a generic class, but in practice it is campaign specific because there was never enough support for the class in either Dragon Magazine or new books.

The other classes from Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, are very suited to a Ravenloft campaign. The "Thief" is mechanically different from the "Scoundrel", while still fitting into the campaign. The "Scout" and "Hunter" are also different enough from the Ranger; "Hunters" are a controller class, and "Scouts" focus on Wilderness adventures rather than on DPR. "Slayers" are a subpar Striker, but they do thematically fit into the Campaign. "Sentinels" really fit into the way the Druids of Forfar were described in prior editions much better than the PHB2 Druid. The "Hexblade" is awesome; its a great melee striker, it is thematically appropriate (the fey pact in particular could be based on Queen Maeve deciding to become more active in opposing her brother and the Unseelie Court) and it doesn't step on the PHB Warlock's toes.

The "Skald" Bard, "Berserker" Barbarian and the "Witch" Wizard from Heroes of the Feywild are all very easy to work into the campaign; its easier to fit the Berserker, a Martial Defender/Primal Striker class into the Core than the PHB2 Barbarian.

While the Heroes of Shadow classes might be thematically appropriate, I dislike the game mechanics of the Blackguard and the Hexer. I also feel that PC Vampires should not be allowed into the campaign at 1st level, even as a subpar melee Striker class. That being said, I would include details on how to make the class work for a 4E Ravenloft gazeteer or player's guide.

Incidentally? Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't Jester include a real, not-a-half-orc-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off Caliban race in his 4e Ravenloft netbooks? I'm quite sure he did... in fact, given the prevalence of racial variants in 4e, I actually tried to drum up some interest in converting the Brutes and Banshees from Quoth the Raven #8 to further expand upon Jester's 4e Calibans.

He did, but I'm leery of the mechanics of the class. Also, given that 3.X Calibans were Half-Orcs-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off, I don't see the point of making stats for a Caliban race.

Hell_Born wrote:Rangers, no longer being divine spellcasters, would not be looked down upon in Lamordia.

I don't think it's quite that cut and dry though. Divine spellcasting may certainly be one reason, but I think there's another that hasn't been mentioned. Lamordia is a renaissance level domain; people in that cultural level and society don't live out in the wilds as much. Sure, there are always outliers, but we're talking about the common classes here. Most people in Lamordia live in nice small towns and cities where they have modern (by their standards) conveniences. The skills of a Ranger would not be nearly in as demand in Lamordia. Also, as a side note, guns are fairly common in Lamordia, I don't recall the 4E Ranger, but it may have to be altered to accommodate that change (not sure if his powers work with any ranged weapon, or only a bow).

I expect that a Ranger would be a lot more common in a domain like Verbrek or Valachan, and the Lamordians would actually look down on such backwards folk.

Mortavius wrote:Also, as a side note, guns are fairly common in Lamordia, I don't recall the 4E Ranger, but it may have to be altered to accommodate that change (not sure if his powers work with any ranged weapon, or only a bow).

You're thinking of Rogue attack powers and the Sneak Attack class feature; both only work with a limited number of weapons: light blades, crossbows, slings, sometimes shortbows. I have been thinking about creating a Pistoleer theme that would allow Rogues to use their attack powers and make Sneak Attacks with pistols (but not muskets or blunderbusses).

Rangers would have no limitation using pistols or muskets with their attack powers or with the Hunter's Quarry class feature. The Hunter subclass from Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms would have a problem, since they choose to specialize in the bow or the crossbow. This isn't as crippling a limitation as the one that the Rogue faces.