The Genre-Savvy Strahd: A Guide to Running Combat for D&D's Most Dangerous Villain

Do you want to let Strahd ignore the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind? Do you want to make sure he’s never grappled, nullify Counterspell and Telekinesis, and prevent your PCs from ever executing a Divine Smite or a Stunning Strike?

Do you want to make Strahd immune to sunlight?

You can do all this and more - without changing Strahd’s RAW statblock or CR. Here’s how.

(Skip to the “Conclusions” section at the bottom of this post for a TL;DR)

Strahd is Smart

With his 20 Intelligence, Strahd is incredibly smart. To give you a reference point, Albert Einstein and Sherlock Holmes almost definitely had 20 INT, making Strahd a proper genius. He’s also nearly five hundred years old and an accomplished warlord, giving him centuries of tactical experience to draw upon in combat.

As such, Strahd never enters combat without a plan, a backup plan, and an escape route. Moreover, these plans are never complicated, and never rely on more than one moving part. He also never enters combat without first gauging his enemies’ strengths, weaknesses, and tactics.

If you’ve been using Strahd’s spies and Scrying spell correctly, Strahd should swiftly learn what spells the PCs are able to cast, what magic items they have in their possession, and what benefits their class features offer. He should know what strategies they favor (e.g., Does the sorcerer routinely polymorph the monk into a Giant Ape? Does the paladin wait for the wizard to cast Telekinesis before rushing in with a Divine Smite? What animal forms does the druid favor, and how adept is the rogue at picking locks?), and prepare accordingly.

He’s seen the Sunsword in action before, and his +10 to Religion means that he almost certainly knows what the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is capable of. Moreover, he’s fought countless adventurers over the centuries. The Barovian March of the Dead alone places the deaths of one hundred adventurers - equivalent to twenty adventuring parties - directly at his hands. He knows the tropes, he knows the popular strategies, and he’s butchered and outmaneuvered them all.

In short, when running Strahd in combat, preparation is king. Review your PCs’ character sheets and magic item lists in-depth, and jot down any special abilities or spells that they reveal to Strahd or his spies. Thoroughly review the battlefield (and, if you’re in the castle, its layout) and decide which areas and tactics would offer Strahd the greatest advantage. If, by luck or skill, the PCs manage to force Strahd into a specific battlefield or conceal that they’ve obtained the Holy Symbol or Sunsword, then they deserve to surprise him - but if not, Strahd will never allow them an opportunity to get away with it.

Strahd is Mobile

To quote Sun Tzu, “You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.” In other words, Strahd will always want to choose his battlefield for maximum success - and with his insanely high mobility, he can do so nearly every time.

The first element of his mobility is his Legendary Action (Move). His Unarmed Strike and Bite are nice for some extra damage, but the ability to move an additional ninety feet per round without triggering opportunity attacks is incredibly powerful. Between Strahd’s regular movement and his Legendary Actions, Strahd should never begin his turn within sunlight, and should never end his turn or Legendary Action movements in a position that allows one or more of the PCs to attack him or target him with spells. If the cleric’s turn is after the rogue, and the cleric is holding the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, then Strahd will use his Legendary Action immediately after the rogue’s turn to maneuver out of the Holy Symbol’s range.

(As an aside, make sure that you’re accounting for movement speed. Assuming the cleric has a speed of 30, the true range of the Holy Symbol is sixty feet - thirty feet of movement plus thirty feet of range. Thus, Strahd will either block the cleric from getting within thirty feet via phasing or Spider Climb, or he’ll end his movement at least sixty-five feet away from the cleric’s current position.)

No matter where he is, Strahd’s Spider Climb feature is one of his most powerful abilities. This allows him to climb up walls, move upside-down on ceilings, scale any building’s exterior, or move across a roof without making an ability check. For example, if Strahd begins on the exterior wall below the Tower Roof (K57), he can use his Spider Climb to climb underneath the bridge, up and around the outside of the Heart of Sorrow’s tower (K20), and into the opening in the North Tower Peak. With his Legendary Actions, he can do it all in a single round - and if he’s hidden in darkness, he can do it all without the PCs ever noticing where he’s gone.

While within Castle Ravenloft, Strahd’s mobility is multiplied exponentially by his “phasing” Lair Action, which allows him to pass through ceilings, walls, and floors as if they aren’t there. A flexible reading of this would allow him to pass through solid surfaces at any angle and in any direction, floating through the stone of Castle Ravenloft itself for as long as he likes and in any manner he likes. A less charitable (but fairer) interpretation allows him to ignore any single surface, so long as he is still able to move using another surface. For example, he can pass through the ceiling so long as he has a wall to climb up, and he can pass through a wall if he’s walking on the floor or crawling on the ceiling.

This ability, when combined with Strahd’s Spider Climb, single-handedly makes him one of the most deadly and dangerous villains to fight in his lair. Before running combat in Castle Ravenloft, carefully study the castle layout to identify “hiding places” that Strahd can easily duck in and out of by phasing. If Strahd is on the second floor, for example, a list of good “hiding places” might include the concealed Elevator Shaft (K31A), the High Tower Stair (K18), the Heart of Sorrow (K20), and any number of hidden rooms and other chambers made inaccessible by the castle’s architecture.

He also has an unparalleled ability to choose his battleground and escape from disadvantaged combats. If your PCs first encounter him in the Audience Hall (K25), he can immediately sink through the floor to the first floor below before the spells start flying. If he first encounters the PCs in the Dining Hall on the first floor, and immediately takes 100 points of damage from a trio of Fireballs, he can phase through the south wall onto the castle grounds, and immediately climb up the exterior of the castle to the Lounge or Tower Roof, taking all the time that he needs to gather allies or regenerate his health.

While not in sunlight (which should always be the case), Strahd can also shapechange into a bat or wolf. While neither form is especially helpful in Castle Ravenloft, the bat can help him make a quick escape while battling the PCs outside the castle. The bat’s fly speed can allow him to swiftly flee into the skies, far from the reach of any melee PCs, and beyond the reach of sunlight.

However, Strahd has a strictly better option for escape: his nightmare, Beucephalus. No matter what, whenever Strahd ventures outside of Castle Ravenloft (and even while within the castle itself), he should command Beucephalus to wait in the Ethereal Plane nearby, ready to swoop in and teleport him to safety whenever Strahd is in danger. Notably, creatures on the Ethereal Plane can see faintly into the Material Plane, but creatures on the Material cannot see into the Ethereal, giving Beucephalus a constant element of surprise.

When combat starts, if he is present, secretly roll initiative for Beucephalus. On its turn, Beucephalus moves adjacent to Strahd (or, using its 10 INT, predicts where Strahd is going to be), and Readies an action to Ethereal Stride into the Material Plane if Strahd is restrained, incapacitated, or grievously wounded. The following turn, Beucephalus maintains contact with Strahd (using its fly speed if necessary to move directly above him), and uses Ethereal Stride a second time to transport the both of them into the Ethereal Plane. This works regardless of whether Strahd is grappled, stunned, or within sunlight, creating the perfect getaway in all situations.

Strahd has Allies

Beucephalus is but one of many allies that Strahd can all upon, and its Ethereal Stride is good for more than just pulling Strahd to safety. With a single Ethereal Stride, Beucephalus can transport up to three pre-located minions into the battle, potentially including Rahadin, vampire spawn, wights, Barovian witches, or loyal Vistani.

Rahadin can be an incredibly deadly threat, but especially in difficult terrain or heavy obscurement. His Mask of the Wild ability can allow him to easily strike with surprise alongside Strahd when attacking in the wilderness, and his high Stealth score allows him to conceal himself in the shadows while inside the castle. Moreover, his Deathly Choir ability and Multiattack are great ways to force enemy spellcasters to make additional Concentration checks, eliminating dangerous spells like Hold Person or Telekinesis.

Don’t forget Strahd’s Children of the Night ability, either. While the swarms he calls upon are fairly worthless offensively, a single swarm of bats can still take the Help action, counteracting disadvantage from sunlight (even against grapples or the Telekinesis spell) or lending Strahd advantage on his next attack. For the biggest impact, use Children of Night shortly before combat, giving the bats a few rounds to arrive and set up.

Finally, Strahd also has access to several minions, including (as mentioned above) vampire spawn, wights, Barovian witches, and loyal Vistani. While in his castle, Strahd should also make judicious use of existing encounters, luring the PCs onto the Rug of Smothering, unleashing the hell hounds in the catacombs, or activating the Iron Golems in the teleportation room.

Strahd is Tough

You probably already know this from looking at his statblock, but Strahd is actually surprisingly hardy. He doesn’t have a massive amount of hit points, but his health is supplemented by the Heart of Sorrow. That gives him a nice buffer of fifty hit points - enough to grant him another half-round of survivability if your party manages to get the upper hand on him.

He has three extremely high saving throws, including a +9 to DEX saving throws, a +7 to WIS saving throws, and a +9 to Charisma saving throws. Both DEX and WIS are two of the most common saving throws against dangerous spells, giving Strahd a reasonably high chance to save against most PC spells and a better-than-even chance of beating the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind’s Hold Vampires ability without even trying.

Strahd is Patient

Due to his regeneration, Strahd knows that with enough time, he can recover from any injury. Therefore, he is above all else patient. The PCs have to rest or expend spell slots in order to heal. Strahd can regenerate nearly his entire health pool in under two minutes without any effort.

As such, Strahd is an expert at whittling enemies down from afar. A single Ray of Frost might not seem like much - but the tenth such attack will leave your squishy mage bloodied. If the PCs try to take a short rest in Castle Ravenloft, Strahd can interrupt it with a single Unarmed Strike or Fireball before vanishing into the walls on the same turn. Sooner or later, your PCs will run out of hit points and healing. To Strahd, an experienced general and a master tactician, combat is a war of attrition - not a proud “last stand.” He can afford to be patient.

This patience is only supplemented by Strahd’s incredible +14 Stealth modifier. Remember: Strahd does not have to attack every round of combat. A highly effective strategy might include phasing into a hiding place one turn, taking the Hide Action on the next, then waiting 1d4 (randomized) rounds before attacking with surprise.

Not only does this give Strahd advantage on his attacks (or counteract the disadvantage created by sunlight or the Icon of Ravenloft), it also allows him to nullify Counterspell (which can only be cast when you see an enemy casting a spell) and preempts readied actions (which can only go off after he makes his presence known by attacking, and which require a Concentration check to maintain if a caster takes damage before casting a readied spell).

Moreover, by waiting several rounds between attacks, Strahd can force any spellcasters to make a perilous choice: Do they dare ready a spell and allow a precious spell slot to be consumed if Strahd doesn’t appear by the end of the round? Or do they wait until their turn to attack, and never get an opportunity to cast anything at all?

Strahd is Deadly

Finally, in addition to his high mobility, fast-working regeneration, and solid defenses, Strahd is a general powerhouse. When it comes to quick skirmishes and jabs, Strahd isn’t too prideful to use Ray of Frost as an all-around ranged attack. His Unarmed Strikes Multiattack is highly useful for grappling and isolating a PC, and then savaging them repeatedly while in a safe and closed-off location.

(In general, don’t waste your time with Strahd’s Bite attack - his regeneration works quicker, and his Unarmed Strike is far more flexible. Save it for unconscious PCs to make sure that they transform into vampire spawn.)

On top of his melee and ranged capabilities, Strahd is also a top-tier spellcaster. You’re welcome to swap out his spells for others, but his RAW spellbook also has some decent choices. He won’t waste Polymorph on an enemy (and, due to his Shapechanger feature, can't cast it on himself), but he will use it to turn Rahadin into a tyrannosaurus rex (to restrain dangerous melee PCs) or a vampire spawn into a giant coral snake (to stun PCs and potentially inflict an incredibly damaging short-term madness effect for ten whole minutes).

Animate Objects is also a decent spell. However, given that it consumes Strahd’s only 5th-level spell slot, he can’t cast it on any day that he also wants to cast Scrying. Additionally, he’ll make sure not to cast it within Counterspell range, and he won’t use it at all if there’s a PC capable of casting Dispel Magic with the party. When he does cast it, though, he’ll usually choose to animate ten Small-sized torches or swords, using them to gang up on a single vulnerable enemy while also trapping that enemy in place (since creatures can’t move through squares occupied by enemies of similar size).

Finally, Strahd’s most powerful spell is - what else? - Fireball. It can’t be dispelled, and he can easily cast it from hiding, nullifying the threat of Counterspell entirely. He has no other 3rd-level spells worth using, and he’ll rarely cast Polymorph more than once per day, leaving an incredible five spell slots to use for Fireball. He’ll only cast it if he can hit 75% or more of the party in one shot, but that’s still an average of 147 damage per character over five rounds (or ten rounds, assuming Strahd takes the Hide action to reset his stealth every other turn).

Using his Lair Action to close and lock windows and doors, Strahd can also easily isolate individual PCs that wander away from the group. Use his Legendary Actions to move beside an errant druid or wizard that separate from the party, and then use his Lair Actions to trap them inside. Once a PC is trapped, use Unarmed Strikes or Charm (depending on the PC’s Wisdom saving throw modifier) to deal with them. (Admittedly, this isn’t much use against a party that includes a rogue or the Knock spell, but it’s otherwise a fairly solid strategy for picking off his enemies one-by-one.)

In short: if the PCs split up, lock them up and pick them off or charm them individually. If they cluster together, blast them with Fireball until there’s nothing left but cinders.

Either way, Strahd comes out on top.

Conclusions

In conclusion, Strahd is an intelligent, savage, highly mobile, and high-toughness villain with a great deal of patience and a great deal of allies. When preparing to run him in combat, make sure you’ve answered each of the questions on this checklist:

Have I thoroughly researched my PCs’ capabilities and prepared countermeasures?
Have I thoroughly researched my PCs’ weaknesses and found ways to capitalize on them?
Have I chosen the battlefield carefully and planned a way to use it to my advantage?
Have I accounted for all of the allies that Strahd could call upon in battle?
Am I confident that Strahd can remain outside of the range of dangerous spells and abilities at all times?
Does Strahd have an accessible safe place to take shelter in - or, barring that, does he have a quick escape route in the form of Beucephalus?
Do I have a plan for spending Legendary Resistances, and do I know when it’s worth Strahd’s while to use one?
Does Strahd have a safe and quiet place to hide or retreat to in between rounds?
Do I have a plan to separate the PCs, or to Fireball them to death if they cluster together?

If the answer to any of these questions is “No,” Strahd flat-out won’t enter combat (unless forced to by external actors or emotional manipulation).

Additional Comments

The Problem with High CR: More than one Strahd rework has attempted to counter sunlight and grapples by drastically buffing him. These buffs include doubled hit points, extra turns, magical weapons, sunlight immunity, greater ability scores/proficiency bonuses, and more high-level spell slots. The most notable of these is the infamous CR27 Strahd, which is more powerful than Orcus.

While I can understand the appeal of buffing Strahd’s Challenge Rating to better counter your party’s strengths, I highly discourage it. The purpose of items like the Sunsword and Holy Symbol of Ravenkind exist to give your PCs a fun, engaging, and trope-y weapon to vanquish a vampire with. If you make Strahd immune to sunlight or prevent your PCs from grappling him, then you are destroying the entire gothic horror fantasy that the module is working to create. Moreover, it strains disbelief to believe that a single four-hundred-year-old vampire lord who rules three small villages could overpower an archangel like a Solar or Planetar, let alone the Demon Prince of Undead himself.

Moreover, it’s just not necessary. The RAW Strahd, as I’ve found, is more than capable of easily TPKing even veteran parties by himself.

Playtesting Results: This method of running Strahd has been previously attempted in the “Strahd Must Die Tonight” community event (more information here). The result was an absolute and almost easy TPK with the PCs dealing little damage to Strahd until the very final scene. Notably, the party included four veteran DMs who pre-planned their strategy and had previously run the Curse of Strahd campaign, which should say something about the power level of these tactics.

Fine-Tuning Strahd’s Power: However, that is not to say that you can’t make modifications to this strategy and statblock. As experimental results bear out, it’s almost trivially easy for Strahd to TPK almost any 10th-level party in Castle Ravenloft without any modifications to his statblock. However, you have several (legal, RAW) options for dialing the challenge down or (if you’re feeling especially cruel) further up.

Turning Down the Difficulty

Instead of attacking and hiding randomly, Strahd attacks in a predictable pattern, appearing either on every turn (easy) or every other turn (less easy).
Strahd occasionally exposes himself when the Holy Symbol and similar threats aren’t present, allowing PCs to get cast spells or get in some damage.
Strahd never takes the Hide action, and always attacks in clear sight, allowing readied spells and Counterspells to go off.
Strahd is emotionally vulnerable and/or prideful, allowing taunts, insinuations of cowardice, his own bloodlust, or threats of violence toward Ireena to provoke him into stepping into the open.
Strahd replaces Fireball with Lightning Bolt or a similarly low-powered evocation spell.

Turning Up the Heat

Swap out Strahd’s less-impressive spells, such as Mirror Image, Comprehend Languages, Nondetection, or Animate Dead for more powerful combat-suited ones, such as Fire Shield, Blindness/Deafness, Misty Step, and Shield.
Add Dispel Magic and Counterspell to Strahd’s spellbook
Exchange Animate Objects for Seeming and disguise several vampire spawn and Strahd zombies as Strahd (to draw out the PCs’ strongest attacks), while also disguising Strahd as a Barovian villager or party ally (e.g., Ismark).
Let Strahd wear Strahd’s Animated Armor, raising his AC to 18 and allowing the armor to attack on its own turn.

Wrap-Up

So that’s it for Strahd’s battle tactics! I’ll likely wrap this into my Curse of Strahd: Reloaded guide at some point, but after the Strahd Must Die Tonight competition, I got bit by inspiration and wanted to get this out ASAP.

Have you used any of these kinds of tactics successfully in your own campaign? How do you plan to run Strahd in early skirmishes and the final battle? Let me know what you think!

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The Genre-Savvy Strahd: A Guide to Running Combat for D&D's Most Dangerous Villain - r/CurseofStrahd (2024)