#van richten's added a lot of interesting things to the canon

[socialmediasocrates]

one of the more funny things that i've seen in bg3 fic, i think because there's a fair number of people playing the game for whom this is their intro to dnd, is the general assumption that astarion wouldn't be able to sire a child

ok genuine question, but how would that happen? is he not undead? because from what i unerstand it can oly happen if the mother is turned while she is csrrying the child.

so while i can't exactly answer why it works, one of the available origins for the dhampir as introduced in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is the most straightforward way a dhampir would exist: one of their parents is a vampire. since this is in canon faerun and it looks like candlekeep is canon, i am operating on the assumption that the new ravenloft lore is also canon (would be cool to maybe go to a domain of dread in a future expansion or DLC; a run-in with azalin rex would certainly be challenging for even a party above level 12 and strahd could absolutely be tweaked that way in barovia; it'd be cool to see the grand conjunction come back into the lore but i digress)

now in fairness, there is also precedent in older editions of DND for some intelligent undead being able to reproduce; my best guess is that the difference lies in if the undead in question was resurrected from the grave directly and started at baseline dead or if they were somehow transformed and therefore started from baseline alive (eg vampires, liches, etc) but this is purely conjecture

so, yeah, no, you could definitely have a kid with astarion, the kid in question would be a dhampir which you can read more about at this link if you're interested

thanks for the question!

[lesfir]

I'm glad someone actually wants a civilized discussion on the Asc topic. Thank you.

Seeing as what it's really about Ascension we know solely from the game.

Lore BG3 was written partially according to DnD5 rules How it relates to the Vampire Lord rules from DnD 5 is unknown.

However, Astarion as Lord behaves very similarly.

That's what offends me as an Asc-enjoyer. There is no line in the game that says Asc = loss of soul. Why is that? Isn't 7k souls the price of power and "being alive" again.

So, I don't think he lost his soul. (its huge free-wheeling intrappropriation of fandom) And in general, according to D&D lore, if you lose your soul, you will become a zombie, as far as I know. It's a huge thing. I don't know about his feelings, because he is a new creature, but he is similar to Lord Vampire from DnD5. \And spawns aren't buns by these rules either and that's okay\ Yeah, and Astarion as a spawn also called Tav pet, I felt a hint of possessiveness from him. One of the reasons I chose him :D

Asc-enjoying seeing love-obsession. It's a dark romance, so that's fine. Tav are after all the first single person in his life he cared about, of course he got the power and wants to own completely, dearest to him. A lot of delulu stuff and black and white, but why would they write a not-love, then love-obsession between two villains for the plot. Or one villain and just Tav-do-with-me-everything. Love-obsession isn't for everyone, of course, Minthara isn't for everyone either (well what's the fever).

I'd talk more about this dark love thing. And the dark side of Astarion. But you asked more about lore and how vampires and ascension work.

Astarion says he's he feels alive and changed - How? - I want nuggets.

Here line: Player: Has your body changed? Astarion: Everything has changed. *monologue of a satisfied villain how it's cool to be powerful*

Player: Are you bound to Mephistopheles? Astarion: Mephistopheles has made a new monster, not bound a creature to his will. The Rite was honoured, the sacrifice is over.

Player: You have seemed distant since the ritual. Astarion: Have I? It's possible. I think my instincts have become so quick that the world around me can't catch up.

Astarion: Everything is moving at a grinding pace. I feel like I will live thousands of hours every day. Astarion: Everything lies ahead. I can see my path to a waking dream.

If we follow DnD 5 rules about vampire feelings. Maybe we can learn more about these guys in DnD 2. Van Richten's Guide to Vampires and the history of Strahd Von Zarovich. There's a gray color.

I dare to get the Grayest quote of all from a book you can find on the internet: Sometimes, however, the emotion may be close to what mortals classify as love.

So vampires in DnD are able to have near-mortal emotions. Even the vampire hunter recognized that.

That's why people like the bride theory, it's still a very dark romance (some people like that), there's just more detail.

Logically, the evil-sphere of evil is boring and a bad cartoon.

Some things are transferred over from editions to editions. Like about "neutrally evil" vampire spawn from DnD 3.5 to DnD 5. Just who knows if it works in BG3 and how its canon. Especially the Ascended One.

I think what's going on with Astarion is a chaotic, aggressive love-obsession. He's also proud and narcissistic.

Larian greedy. He didn't even add vampire lore to the game itself, how spawns are turned, nothing. Just, "see pale dude, red eye, don't let him in the house." More papers. There is so little about ascension. We kind of write letters to have lore added to the game or new artbook.

About the mist. I think he's planning to start an army of spawn (?). I don't get it, Astarion is smart, but he's a goose. It's good that we have the option to travel, see the world and just chill.

I think he wants to conquer the world. To get more safety. And control everything around him. (besides he just likes it. being a spawn after a canceled ritual he's interested in the idea of being a spawn leader)

Because this world is cruel and dangerous. I think His edginess right.

It's Dark Fantasy.

94Tav is more toxic than Asc (in my opinion)

Differing opinions are very important. Bad English, sorry. I hope you learned something helpful. To anyone who wants to-- push: I won't get into a discussion, I'm sure of my opinion. I didn't say anything was canon, except obviously quotes from the game. These are my thoughts, my interpretation. I don't like being pushed by anyone but Astarion. Agree to disagree.

I'm not

Tryna make discourse here

But I'm curious about Ascended Astarion. All evidence I can see points to the fact that his love for you dies and warps into possession, obsession. Like you're his favorite pet, and not an equal or a partner or even really a person

But I've seen some fans of ascended Astarion state that they believe he does love you, he's just blinded by his new powers and will mellow out in a bit.

I wanted to point out how spawn Astarion speaks about loving being in the sun,

But ascended Astarion, who CAN walk in the sun, speaks about wanting to blot it out completely and plunge the world into darkness

Spawn Astarion says he wants to be equals with you at his grave scene

Ascended Astarion breaks up with you if you do not agree to become his spawn, and, if you DO agree, he believes you are degrading yourself.

I understand that there's a wealth of ways to interpret things, but I haven't seen any evidence of Ascended Astarion having.... How can I explain my feelings here...

He seems to me to have lost his soul and his ability to love. I see the desire for power, control, safety, possession. Obsession. But I don't see love, or affection beyond "obey me and you will be my most treasured possession"

Again, please, no hating on one route or the other I'm looking for legit like, literary analysis of the scenes we have been given for evidence. I'm even trying to refrain from pointing out too much my own opinions based on what I've seen to some degree so I don't overly colour this post while asking for more info, I get I've said a few things already that may colour it but I really am, without judgement, asking for your genuine perspective. I'm not gonna rant hard on the negative and then say "prove me wrong" I GENUINELY would like to learn more cause I recognize I may have missed an angle here? Also

Question: is Ascended Astarion a full vampire, as well as "the vampire ascendant" like is he a true vampire? Or is " the vampire acendant" a different kind of creature than a full vampire since he did not drink the blood of his master? Do we have any in game or canon explanations?

I'm curious! Help me

[strahdapologist]

Hey!! I am so glad to find someone who agrees that CoS is terribly flawed and requires lots of changes. What other canon material would you recommend reading? I found Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft to be disappointing, but I'll be checking out I, Strahd soon for ideas.

dracula voice good evening (it's 12pm)

"i, strahd" and "i, strahd: the war against azalin" are both fantastic for CoS DMs!! i personally do not like vampire of the mists and it is not considered canon anymore in 5e either so reading it might make things more confusing and i really didn't like how they treated anna in the book there's a big issue with how ravenloft in general treats madness lol. christie golden is also a lot less... hmm kind to the vistani and it should be noted that elrod actually expands on the vistani's worldbuilding and gives madame eva a front and center role in "war against azalin" which i also appreciate.

the old ravenloft gazeteers also have some wonderful worldbuilding. i have to thank my dear mutual @casketsanctum for actually pointing out tara kolyana, one of tatyana's reincarnations, and arguably the best take on tatyana/ireena. she actually has a whole biography and personality and motivations which sounds so basic but the bar is in hell for female representation sometimes huh

the gazeteers also have some really sick worldbuilding that VRGTR lacks for the collective domains of dread, including population statistics and small language primers (inspired by various european languages).

ravenloft ad&d and 3rd edition as well as van richten's guide to vampires also have some really neat content in them as well. i recommend checking out their fear checks as well as dark powers checks as both of those provide really interesting gameplay opportunities for players

finally where would i be without my one true love bram stoker's dracula, the og, the iconic. i've read that book three times and i'm currently reading through powers of darkness as well (icelandic por.no dracula). dracula is a classic and tracy hickman keeps claiming he took inspiration from it but i just don't see it. powers of darkness while spicy is also interesting in that dracula's castle is its own character in a way, much like castle ravenloft, so you can kind of steal some vibes from that text as well.

on that note, i also recommend francis ford coppola's dracula especially for mina and dracula, good shit. keanu's perfect british accent is a cherry on top for that one. anything by guillermo del toro is also fantastic inspiration for curse of strahd. i also took some notes from castlevania season 1-2 we do not speak of seasons beyond that

anyway thank u for ur ask xoxo this is a vampire fucker friendly environment if anyone else also has recommendations pls let me know!!

[sananaryon]

I posted 382 times in 2021

7 posts created (2%)

375 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 53.6 posts.

I added 697 tags in 2021

#reblog - 352 posts

#art - 165 posts

#amphibia - 64 posts

#melanie king - 23 posts

#sasha - 23 posts

#magnus archives - 18 posts

#anne - 17 posts

#sashannarcy - 12 posts

#she ra - 12 posts

#marcy - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 100 characters

#that they forgot that a star wars movie is ultimately a western-samurai-fantasy-warmovie set in spce

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I may be somewhat obsessed with the jedi from Star Wars Visions “The Village Bride”

8 notes • Posted 2021-10-05 00:41:40 GMT

#4

 Shipping characters based on their chemistry and backstory? Broke.

Shipping characters based on that one time you and another player emoted at each other? Bespoke.

9 notes • Posted 2021-06-03 14:35:08 GMT

#3

Val So I just bought Van Richten’s guide to Ravenloft, and I thought I would write out a first impressions review.

(I got the alt cover)

I love this book. Ravenloft was already my favorite D&D setting, and this book did it all the justice in the world. It doesn’t cover every domain, obviously, and half of them are only covered in summary, but the ones it does it does a full writeup on are absolutely amazing. The changes made to the setting all make sense and work either as just better storytelling or to remove some of the iffier elements of old Ravenloft. I have only read the first half so far though, so it might do a 180 from now on, but from what I’ve looked at, doesn’t seem like it.

The whole thing is quite clearly not intended as a continuation of the 3e ravenloft, with a lot of darklords being rewritten (more on that below) either slightly or entirely, not to mention that the domains are no longer directly connected as a continent, but floating independently in the mists. At the same time, some domains are clearly the same as the previous editions, but with time having passed. In Darkon, the darklord escaped as he was always trying to do, and the domain is facing the consequences, and the darklord of Valachan (one of the more blatantly racist darklords depicted back then) was recently deposed and replaced, as opposed to simply being retconed out of existence. It’s fun and interesting.

The Best (because everything is good)

The book opens on letters between Van Richten and his students, it’s all found family and I love it.

The darklords are all immensely well-written. Most of them are given some changes from previous editions to update them with the time or just make them better written. Notably, at lot of them are given gender flips, but the rewrites obviously extends to more than that. Sometimes it’s the lords that are rewritten heavily, other times they just change a few elements and instead put the focus on the domain itself, and how the Darklord fits into it. I especially loved the take on Falkovnia as a zombie apocalypse, with a darklord willing to do anything to retain power.

There are of course other characters. Seems they realized that having a beloved character burn in hell was a bad idea, so Jander Sunstar is back in the mists where he belongs. They actually combined his story with the classic House on Gryphon Hill module that has been ignored since 2nd edition, and they did it in a way that makes perfect sense within the timeline, even after stating that any inconsistency in the setting should be handwaved by “The mists did it.” It’s great, I love it.

WOTC seriously stepped up their diversity game in this. Dr. Mordenheim has been rewritten as WLW, having met her gf while they were both out graverobbing. Of course she died, can’t have shit in Ravenloft, but said gf is now the new version of Mordenheim’s monster, and has actual agency rather than being stuck in a tube (she is also so pretty)! There’s also two of van Richten’s new students (bringing the total number up to five), who are a pair of gay detectives, and Erasmus van Richten (who’s ‘alive’ again) is canonically aromantic. That’s just the stuff I got from a cursory glance, since I haven’t gotten further than Bluetspur in terms of domains. The illustrations also enforce this, both Harkon Lucas (a darklord) and the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins (heroic vampire hunters) are POC, as well as a ton minor and major POC characters.

Speaking of domains, if you didn’t get the impression already, they are extremely well written, and are notably different from each other. None of them are generic gothic horror (aside from Barovia). Obviously that wasn’t a problem in the old ravenloft either, but I’m praising all I got damnit, and I just read the section of Bluetspur (Mind Flayer domain) and it is evocative as hell. Other than those two, there’s also Valachan for some good old jungle survival horror, Dementlieu for the masquerade, Richumelot for the plague-ridden court intrigue.

Adding on that, the way each domain is set up is fantastic! A description of the domain, the main features, the darklord and some plothooks for an adventure, all of which is highly evocative.

So obviously a lot of the old Ravenloft wouldn’t fly in 5th edition, and WOTC did take steps to work on that. Some elements are just straight up removed entirely, like Hazlik’s whole gender shit or the vistani’s “evil romani thing”, while other stuff is waved away, like the formerly only black darklord being a panther-turned-into-a-human having been killed at some point and replaced with another black darklord, this time just a weretiger, which is slightly better, and, as I mentioned, there are more POC people now, yay! I also loved that they went nuts with the possible reincarnations of Tatyana. The list includes a pair of twins, several boys (Strahd is bisexual yo) and a dragonborn.

Even the domains that aren’t given a full writeup are still given a short description, which is so evocative that I honestly like some of them more than the main domains. My personal favorites are Cyre 1313, the Mourning Rail, the last train out of Cyre when the mourning hit and killed everyone aboard thanks to the cruelty of one passenger delaying them, and the crumbling domain of Klorr, where a mad clockworker remakes a broken world.

Obviously, there’s also the “make a domain” feature. I didn’t read it too carefully, but I loved the exploration of different genres of horror.

Speaking of, it’s a bare minimum thing I know, but the book has content warnings! Mostly just “this is a horror book, expect horror content”, but it’s a step in the right direction. Also, when listing each genre of horror contained therein, the book takes a moment on several of them to mention common pitfalls of that genre (like the stigmatization of mental illness seen in a lot of psychological horror), and advices DMs to avoid them.

I don’t care too much about mechanics beyond monsters, so I won’t say much about the classes and races. They’re good, and I love the fluff around the Reborn lineage.

The art is amazing and there are so many pretty girls, help.

The only things I have to complain about is that there wasn’t enough

There were not enough monsters in this book. Only a few classic monsters return, and the darklords aren’t given proper statblocks, only generic ones from the manual. I get the point of having the darklords not be scary because they’re powerful, but it feels wasted that Mordenheim is just a generic Spy. She’s supposed to be a mad scientist! They didn’t even reprint Strahd or his zombies!

Bit of an odd one, but, while they did a great job of removing the iffy parts of the Vistani, I feel like they may have gone a bit overboard. Curse of Strahd, for all its faults, at least gave you an impression of the vibrant vistani culture. In Van Richten’s Guide, the vistani writeup is borderline generic, amounting to “They’re travellers and traders who can safely traverse the mists”. Not even any pictures that give an impression of how Vistani tend to dress.

In conclusion, while I will never say that a company deserves your money, the writers of this book deserves that you take a moment to read it because it is so good!!!

30 notes • Posted 2021-05-31 00:58:08 GMT

#2

I was so certain that Luz would end up keeping Goldieboy’s staff at the end of that episode, so here’s her dual-wielding like a badass.

43 notes • Posted 2021-07-30 11:08:10 GMT

#1

“Let’s make a quick sketch for a glitra au”

-A fool who proceeded to do lineart, coloring and shading.

146 notes • Posted 2021-03-22 18:09:57 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →