Monsters of Ravenloft - Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

Monsters of Ravenloft. Untold terrors haunt the Domains of Dread. Among them skulk nightmares known on countless worlds, but even familiar monsters can take on twisted forms or demonstrate unexpected abilities. This chapter explores ways to help you, the DM, make even the most commonplace monsters more frightening, as well as providing a host of horrors to add to your adventures in the Mists. Darklord Maligno and his carrionette servants ambush the detectives Alanik Ray and Arthur Sedgwick Horror Monsters For adventurers who regularly face terrifying monsters, it's easy for familiarity to sap the frightfulness from terrible foes. Restoring mystery and menace to even the most ordinary monsters can be a simple matter, though, and enhances the atmosphere of horror adventures. Six simple techniques can transform a stat block straight out of the Monster Manual (or other source) into a horror to haunt your characters' dreams: Monstrous Origins Monsters in Ravenloft can be every bit as unique as player characters. Notorious Monsters A monster is more frightening when its reputation precedes it. Describing Monsters Give yourself permission to dwell on a monster's description. Monstrous Tactics Monsters that fight dirty-or in a particularly fearsome way-have more impact. Monstrous Traits Simple tweaks to a monster's stat block can enhance its horror. Monstrous Minions Simple traits can reflect a monster's relationship to the evil master it serves. Monstrous Origins A variety of explanations, from transformative curses to magical experiments, can justify the appearance of a unique individual with unusual traits. In the same way, monsters in Ravenloft don't need to be members of a species or society. You can have a vicious merrow living under a bridge or a yuan-ti abomination Darklord without having to explain merrows as a species or the nature of all yuan-ti in the setting. Monsters can be one-off flukes of nature or the products of insidious magic. For significant adversa...