A Caliban Barbarian/Druid from Barovia

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Ender
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A Caliban Barbarian/Druid from Barovia

Post by Ender »

A new player in my heavily modified Curse of Strahd game would like to play a caliban barbarian with ties to druids in Barovia. I'm explicitly playing a game where native characters are from Barovia, but have no issue with adapting druidic sects from Forlorn or Verbrek if it fits. Any ideas for his tribe's background or other plot hooks related to this character? The adventure includes information about the druids at Yester Hill, but they aren't particularly well fleshed out, so I'm looking for additional ideas to use.
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Re: A Caliban Barbarian/Druid from Barovia

Post by Dion of the Fraternity »

Make it less about the crunch and more of the fluff. I suggest no changes to what the character would have based on what the PHB says [I'm assuming that he/she will be using Circle of the Moon?], but maybe add cosmetic changes such as having an intrinsic spiritual link to the pine barrens that may exist in the area.
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Re: A Caliban Barbarian/Druid from Barovia

Post by Ender »

Dion of the Fraternity wrote:Make it less about the crunch and more of the fluff. I suggest no changes to what the character would have based on what the PHB says [I'm assuming that he/she will be using Circle of the Moon?], but maybe add cosmetic changes such as having an intrinsic spiritual link to the pine barrens that may exist in the area.
I'm not worried about changing crunch; I'm definitely looking at story only. He's a barbarian (path of the totem warrior), though, to be clear. He's just lived with the druids in Barovia.
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Re: A Caliban Barbarian/Druid from Barovia

Post by The Lesser Evil »

Beware for CoStrahd players, spoilers follow.

There's a significant population of Forfarian refugees in Immol; he could be attached to them. The caliban's "primitive" ways might mark him/her as an outcast among everybody save for the druids. Another idea might be to attach him to the dusk elves- calibans need not necessarily be human based. (What's their religion like- I don't know). Even if he's not, freeing the elves from Strahd's influence might make for a natural goal for those linked with nature.

You could stat a coven of Halan witches as druids. There seems to be numerous possibilities for them to get involved- Van Richten Monster Hunter's Compendium III says that the coveys of Hala are the enemies of unscrupulous "sorcerous witches" (arcane spellcasters/wizards with the witch kit from the second edition Complete Wizard's Handbook- whom are overwhelmingly evil in Ravenloft). Baba Lysaga and the Barovia witches could considerably qualify in a 5e game as the equivalent.

A natural place for druids to congregate would be any of the numerous Stone Circles within Barovia (described in Gazetteer I), the most notable one being in the Village of Barovia as described in Vampire of the Mists. Freeing the Village of Barovia from the influence of Strahd such that the Stone Circle in Barovia could be a major hook. If the Stone Circles stopped functioning, finding out why and how to fix them could be a major hook.

Edit: For the Halans, taking out the hags on Bonegrinder hill could be another hook. The Megaliths could probably use reconsecration too, regardless of the character's specific religious affiliation. When reconsecrated, it might function as the Stone Circles are described in Gaz I (p. 14)

The druids of Yester Hill (Curse of Strahd p. 197) are described as evil worshipers of Strahd as the patron of their land. As such, their patronage would likely be antithetical to a PC unless the PC was a rebel. If the PC worked for other druid circles, the Yester Hill druids might be seen as a rogue group that needed to be taken out. Retrieving the Bloodspear of Kavan (p. 200, 221) as a tribal ancestral weapon could work well for a barbarian. You could plant a circle of druids that the character might belong to in Berez (see p. 165 CoS) though this might give away some potential secrets.

A Druid sect imported from Verbrek could be hunting the Barovian werewolves, only to be shocked and horrified that something much worse was behind them.
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Re: A Caliban Barbarian/Druid from Barovia

Post by Ender »

The Lesser Evil wrote:You could stat a coven of Halan witches as druids. There seems to be numerous possibilities for them to get involved- Van Richten Monster Hunter's Compendium III says that the coveys of Hala are the enemies of unscrupulous "sorcerous witches" (arcane spellcasters/wizards with the witch kit from the second edition Complete Wizard's Handbook- whom are overwhelmingly evil in Ravenloft). Baba Lysaga and the Barovia witches could considerably qualify in a 5e game as the equivalent.
Indeed! I'm already using the Church of Hala in the game as a way to help the PCs against Baba Lysaga and the Bonegrinder hags.
The Lesser Evil wrote:The druids of Yester Hill (Curse of Strahd p. 197) are described as evil worshipers of Strahd as the patron of their land. As such, their patronage would likely be antithetical to a PC unless the PC was a rebel. If the PC worked for other druid circles, the Yester Hill druids might be seen as a rogue group that needed to be taken out. Retrieving the Bloodspear of Kavan (p. 200, 221) as a tribal ancestral weapon could work well for a barbarian. You could plant a circle of druids that the character might belong to in Berez (see p. 165 CoS) though this might give away some potential secrets.
This is certainly a possibility. The player indicated he was exiled from his tribe and/or is on the run from the tribe for a crime of passion. I certainly hope to use the Yester Hill druids, though I'm altering them, too. Instead of a giant wicker golem being their end goal, I decided that they're looking to corrupt the land (moreso than it already is) in the name of Strahd... so perhaps they have been going around, messing with the stone circles.
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Re: A Caliban Barbarian/Druid from Barovia

Post by The Lesser Evil »

Ender wrote:This is certainly a possibility. The player indicated he was exiled from his tribe and/or is on the run from the tribe for a crime of passion. I certainly hope to use the Yester Hill druids, though I'm altering them, too. Instead of a giant wicker golem being their end goal, I decided that they're looking to corrupt the land (moreso than it already is) in the name of Strahd... so perhaps they have been going around, messing with the stone circles.
If the Yester Hill druids are corrupting the stone circles, then they may be in with the hags of Bonegrinder hill (as those hags desecrated the monoliths there.) This would make the druids doubly hated to followers of Hala, as they are not only desecrating sacred monuments but also working with the enemy, especially if the druids are former followers of Hala.

As an aside, if you have Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, the Three Wilderness Fanes might make for good examples of shenanigans the Yester Hill druids might be up to.
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