#lady arisa von fellengard

[sonntam]

I don't get it when people say "oh, why minmaxing in DnD, it is all make-believe anyway".

Guys. It's real. If my character in tabletop is the biggest badass in the world, killing people left and right, then it's SO much more real than anything that ever happened in a videogame.

Videogames are so make believe. But tabletop?? My homies are there. They see my beautiful build. They see how well I execute my strategies. If it works, it's glorious.

I literally lived for past three days on the high of being a paladin with an aura that gives +2 to saves and casting Bless on my group. It was SO important that everyone passed their save. It was so important that my Find Steed horsie accompanied a lost druid back to his village.

This is where everything comes together: roleplay supported by in-game abilities and spells. Lady Arisa von Fellengard as I originally conceived her was supposed to be not very flashy and being tank/support Eldritch Knight Fighter. Now she is a paladin and she really blossomed.

Full tanking capabilities by having War Wizard multiclass, so that she gets both Shield AND the ability to add +4 to her saves as a reaction. Full support with Bless (bonus to saves & attacks) + Lay on Hands (healing) + Crusader's Mantle (group buff with radiant damage). Some additional support spells like Gentle Repose, Revivify, Dispel Magic, Lesser Restoration and Protection From Good and Evil always at hand.

I have whole TWO awesome weapons: Siab'Mal, the sentient sword with radiant damage which gives off sunlight AND a gorgeous magical whip with 30f range and automatic grapples on hit. That is SO COOL, because I have a Dexterity build, so with the addition of my DM graciously giving me the partial effect of the Shield Master feat (being able to put on/take off shields as a free action) I can use longbows, rapiers, whips AND my best boi Siab'Mal. It gives me a great weapon versatility which I highly appreciate, since I wanted Arisa to be a veteran of many fights and able to wield anything.

Then there are spells which highlight her personality: Zone of Truth (always prepared due to her subclass) which is utterly perfect for Arisa who prides on always telling the truth (and wishes more people followed her example). Shield, Find Familiar and Comprehend Languages nicely round up her bookish interests, while Alarm helps to show how she is often expecting the worst case scenarios and ready for an attack... at pretty much all times. Tactical Wit feature from the War Wizard has a similar feel, giving her a bonus to Initiative equal to her Intelligence.

And I did not even talk about her aura which gives immunity against charmed effects, which is so fitting, because Strahd loves charming people... and she utterly hates him (the hate is mutual). I like to think that Arisa's no-nonsense aura sobers up people around her, suppressing their charm.

And last but not least, since taking her oaths Arisa became immune to diseases with Divine Health... and also got rid of her phobia of being unclean or getting parasites.

[arrenkae]

Lady Arisa and the Sunsword for dndtober

[arrenkae]

Throwback time!

Colored a sketch of our party that I drew way back at the beginning of our Curse of Strahd campaign. A lot has changed since then, including their designs, equipment and my art style, but it's always good to take a look back at where it all started.

[sonntam]

Second prophecy lady Arisa von Fellengard received from Eva.

Past: Tempter

... nevertheless, you are not protected from temptation. I see a dark star. She patiently waits and in the hour of despair you will meet her. Be prepared.

First Prophecy Second Prophecy

[sonntam]

I started a series of drawings for the prophecies lady Arisa von Fellengard received from Eva.

Path: Merchant

An experienced gaze will not be waylaid. You know where deceit hides and where a valuable opportunity is hidden. This knowledge will be needed by your allies.

(On the left scale lies Van Richten's guide, as he is our prophecied ally and also a raven feather. We correctly assumed those are our friends and were right! Lady Arisa thought the obnoxious Rictavio to be especially charming, so that was nice.

On the right scale we have pies, a coin of Strahd and slime. Unfortunately, Arisa was so convinced of trustworthiness of Vasiliy that she told him about her prophecy concerning the house of the silver dragon.

Otherwise Arisa remained the only person who did not ingest any of the pies, so good for her.

And slimes... well, they got the upper hand on us, but not for too long.)

First Prophecy

Second Prophecy

[sonntam]

I have a bit of love hate relationship with mounts in 5e.

1. It's just cool to have a pet who you ride and fight alongside with.

2. Mechanics for mounts are confusing, health pools of mounts are low and their usefulness is really limited.

Nonetheless, at some point I realized that Find Steed summons a mount not just for a couple hours, but it will stay with you for as long as it is alive.

So I summoned the horse version of my sentient sword, because I can and the DM approved. It has warhorse statistics, with an action I can make it glow (or turn the light offf) and it is a construct. It survived one day. Then the second. Then the third. Now we have started our fourth day and... he is still around.

I have ridden him into battle only twice, but otherwise he had been rather useful anyway.

1. He helped pulling weeds after Plant Growth made the whole courtyard unpassable.

2. I left him with NPCs which needed protection. When we got back to get them, I mentally told him (over a mile away) that they should get ready and go meet us. Alas, as a horse, he could not communicate that successfully, but it was really funny to see everyone freak out over the glowing horse trying to blow their cover and leave the cave.

3. In one battle I waltzed in on my beautiful horse and on second round both of us got paralyzed. I got Lesser Restoration-ed, but my horse did not manage to roll over 17 (which was the DC) for the entire fight, so he remained still for 6 rounds. Good statue, best friend.

4. We encountered a wagon of corpses (which we naturally needed) and I asked the horse to pull the wagon back to our homebase. He successfully pulled it home without dying. (It's quite the achievement in Barovia.)

Overall, I am very tickled.

[sonntam]

Dark Star 

Fandoms: Curse of Strahd

Tags: Angst

Summary

Lady Arisa von Fellengard was born under a dark star. She can feel it watching her, coldly and distantly. Sometimes it beckons her in the dead of night.

Backstory fic for my PC in our Curse of Strahd game.

[sonntam]

Valentine cards I made for Valentine’s Day!

Featuring (in order of appearance): Strahd, Seeker, Cold Dark Star (personal patron of lady Arisa von Fellengard), our DM, Ireena (<3), Richten, Patrina, Volenta (whose head literally exploded in our game) and lady Wachter.

Art by @tenderlyangstyfox and Madonna of Space at @green-makakas.