Unhallowed's "Van Richten" Miniature

[cure]

To be fair, Van Richten would make a terrible addition to the mini game if he kept his old stats.

VR's usual MO wouldn't really fit the minis game, no.

So leave him out of it. How tough is that?

[Mortavius]

[quote="Rotipher of the FoS"]IIRC, the old sage mentions in one of his VRGs that if his life had followed a different path, he might have heeded the calling to become a cleric.[quote]

Yes, I think it's his Guide to the Created he expresses an interest in becoming a cleric if his life had taken a different course.

As I recall, he never said that he distrusted magic in any way; I believe he viewed it as another useful tool in his hunt, just a tool that he didn't possess.

[WolfKook]

Van Richten training himself as a theif was a dream.

Strahd dressing in black and not looking like the Dread Elf-Pirate of Lake Baratok was a dream.

Ravenloft not being filled with domains from Eborron (how do you spell that any way?) was a dream too.

In RL? I guess it's spelled "Aberron", my friend...

[LordGodefroi]

So okay, last night I opened up a D&D Miniatures booster box from the Unhallowed expansion (expecting Strahd to pop out), lo and behold I get a handaxe-wielding Van Richten complete with EPIC stats (for D&D Miniatures)! Woohoo!

In the Unhallowed version, he's a Cleric 11/Sacred Purifier 3 (PrC from Libris Mortis), which I guess isn't all that bad considering everything.

Now as you all know I'm not a Ravenloft fundamentalist; as much as possible, I want to connect the Ravenloft we know to what D&D is today. Van Richten being a Sacred Purifier is alright, but can his cleric-ness (domains Healing and Sun) be justified? For me I guess yeah.

Now, they never said this was Rudolph van Richten, right? ;D

Nah. That's gotta be Gunther Van Richten, Rudolph's thick-necked cousin.

[Isabella]

Lol, I really don't think the mini deserves all the rancor he seems to have attracted; let's give the little guy some love! Suppose someone wanted to play a high level Ravenloft game? Or he could very well be Van Richten's ancestor, or better yet, Time of Ultimate Darkness Van Richten! (He was supposed to be involved somehow.)

Ravenloft has stolen from all sorts of other D&D worlds and twisted it to its own purposes. Let them steal Van Richten back. I think it's kind of cool to see different interpretations of the same character - like a window into what could have been.
(But no one mention the VanHelsing movie right now.)

It would be pretty funny to come up with "authentic" Van Richten mini stats - I'd give him an ability that lets him kill off other allied minis to avoid dying.

[Jester of the FoS]

It is a bit insulting.
I can understand the Strahd. They used the 'updated' one from EtCR. Something independent of the setting. Fine. But van Richten was entirely done and altered by the mini designers.

The other worlds have carefully designed minis that are keep the feel and look of the original characters. They have a Raistlin mini that resembles older Ral Partha minis and looks identical to the pictures by Elmore. It's mini stats were designed based on how the character acted.
Ditto the Eberron and Forgotten Realms and even Greyhawk minis. Elminister looked like Elminister and Mordenkein looked like the updated version from the Epic Level Handbook and more recent Greyhawk books (althought that itself varied from the original as wildly as EtCR did...)

Van Richten had the wrong class, look, level, abilities, etc.
They could easily have kept an older design and had a useful mini (look at the Vampire Hunter mini's abilities). Perhaps it could have been a buffing mini that granted bonuses to other minies and exposed weaknesses.

[LouisVendredi]

As I recall, he never said that he distrusted magic in any way; I believe he viewed it as another useful tool in his hunt, just a tool that he didn't possess.

I seem to recall him stating misgivings of magic after one of his mage friends turned on him in the quest for power (possibly lichdom). I don't recall which book that was in.

[Jester of the FoS]

Guide to the Lich obviously, but that seemed geared towards arcane magic.