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Ravenloft Archetypes I: Nightmares of Barovia

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"Really grand content! Well thought out, well presented, and a fantastic supplement to any campaign... Highly recommended!" -- Critical Role creator Matt Mercer.

Now updated with new archetypes, new spells, and new feats as a thank you to customers, Ravenloft Archetypes: Nightmares of Barovia presents thirteen new subclasses as well as new spells, new monsters, new subraces, and more for the Curse of Strahd storyline and other 5th Edition D&D games set in the Domains of Dread and beyond. NEW: Get a full review on the Going Last podcast or read a thorough analysis on their website!

Portraying heroes with a dark side — from vampiric paladins to warlocks empowered by the Dark Powers that rule Ravenloft itself — these character options are written to emphasize themes of fantasy horror, yet be playable in any setting. New class archetypes contain not just rules, but full subclass descriptions and setting material to help you or your players role-play these new archetypes to the hilt:

  • The Path of the Sea Reaver: Barbarian raiders who strike from the sea to sow terror and chaos before fading into the night.
  • NEW: The College of Disquiet: These bards are poets of dread and terror, weaving curses and gathering lore from their insight into others' darkest fears.
  • NEW: The Hunting Domain**: Clerics of hunting deities have divine senses that guide them to their prey and make them powerful archers.
  • NEW: Circle of the Equinox**: This druid's ties to the changing seasons and the fey courts cause their abilities to alter with the times.
  • The Slayer: This fighter makes the hunters the hunted, waging war against the monsters who prey upon the innocent.
  • NEW: Way of the Boundless Mind**: Telepathic monks who hide their psychic powers among uncomprehending populations, even in the shadow of Strahd's own domain.
  • The Oath of Blood: Paladins infected with vampirism who fight back their curse with divine power and unshakeable devotion to their cause.
  • The Stalker: Rangers equally at home in the city or the wilderness who use unequalled powers of observation to act as investigators, spies, and vigilantes.
  • The Tomb Robber*: This rogue archaeologist is a raider of the lost tomb and trap-filled ruin who masters scholarly lore and wields a whip or other distinctive weapon to recover historical relics.
  • The Reanimated**: Some sorcerers are not born or made-- they are remade, returned to life by forbidden alchemy and the power of lightning with Frankenstein-inspired abilities to gain the strength of a flesh golem, but also risk succumbing to its mindless rage.
  • The Dark Powers: Warlocks of this patron dare to make pacts with the Dark Powers of the Shadowfell and Ravenloft who gave Strahd Von Zarovich and the other Dark Lords their power... and their torment.
  • NEW: Pact of the Gloom**: These warlocks weave a cloak of shadow itself to hide them from danger and let them strike with stealth.
  • The School of Alienism*: Wizards who learn eldritch secrets that would blast a weaker mind, all to steal even more forbidden knowledge from unknowable entities outside space and time.
  • Bonus: The College of Secrets**, a newly improved bard archetype from the previous edition.
Far more than just character options, this 67-page PDF also includes:
  • New Monsters: In addition to creatures from the sinister Barovian Scarecrow to the sagacious Vistani Tutor, conversions of the classic race-based vampire types from 2nd Edition D&D — such as the elf vampire, the dwarf vampire, and more — boast strange new powers and weaknesses adventurers will never see coming.
  • New Subraces: Dusk Elves: as seen in Curse of Strahd, these secretive elves are added as a bonus for everyone who helped this product reach Electrum level sales, and supplements the variant Vistani human and the battle-scarred, paranoid Crag Dwarves already included.
  • New Spells: Now with 32 new spells! One or more new spells for every single spellcasting class, including blood curse, dread mercy, punishing strike, and more!
A content-packed resource for players and DM's alike, Ravenloft Archetypes: Nightmares of Barovia is a must-have for campaigns set in Barovia or any of the other Dark Domains of Ravenloft, and a sinister treasure trove of darkly unique characters, monsters, and magic for any D&D 5th Edition game.

*=An archetype adapted from the author's previous DM's Guild title, Al-Qadim Archetypes: Scimitars Against the Dark.

**=An archetype shared with the sequel to this product, Ravenloft Archetypes II: Core Domains Adventurers Guide.

This living document will continue to improve based on your feedback, adding new content available at no extra cost to previous purchasers! The Reanimated Sorcerer, Hunting Domain Cleric, Equinox Druid, Vistani Tutor, Dusk Elves, and many, many new spells and feats have already been added as thanks for taking us to Copper, Silver, Electrum, Gold, and Platinum sales levels!

If you think this product could be improved, please leave a review, star-rating, or comment-- all input is read and considered, and could show up in a newer version of the product!

If you enjoy this product, please check out these and other bestselling DM's Guild titles by author Jeremy Forbing:

Cover of Unearthed Archetypes ICover of Eberron ArchetypesCover of Forgotten Realms Archetypes I Cover of Ravenloft Archetypes II

CHANGE LOG

Ver2.0: The most major update so far! The platinum update adds several new archetypes (bringing the total to 13, including the new appendix, with at least one for every class), bringing the number of new spells up to 32, several new feats, making several upgrades to archetypes (including splitting the previous new Bardic College into two better and more focused bard archetypes) and incorporating all the most recent input from purchasers. It also now includes a primer with basic info on the Ravenloft, and special setting info on Barovia, make this an even better supplement for games set in that domain. Much of the new content is from Ravenloft Archetypes II: Core Domains Adventurers Guide (which has over twice as much content as well), bringing the approach to both products in line with each other and increasing their compatibility. Thanks for purchasing this product earlier in its life-cycle; your financial support made these and other upgrades possible!

Ver1.X: Includes a new archetype-- a Sorcerous Origin for Frankenstein-inspired reanimated PCs--  to give you a peek at my work on a major revision and addition of new content for the whole document. Eventually, this will be included in one big revised edition, but for now this should tide you over while I work to assess and, if necessary, address any valid rules concerns I've received from feedback. Until then, this and more to come are my thanks for helping take Ravenloft Archetypes: Nightmares of Barovia to the gold level!

Ver 1.4: MAJOR NEW CONTENT added! Added Dusk Elves and more art, thanks to everyone who helped take this product to Electrum level! Also, more attempts to accommodate customer feedback on the College of Secrets Bard and Ranger Stalker, while still keeping the basic structure of those classes functional.

Ver 1.3: MAJOR UPDATE. Changes to most archetypes to simplify abilities and address balance concerns. Overhaul to art/layout, including lots of new art. Alterations to Vistani human variant clarifying its use. Big changes to features for College of Secrets Bards and Stalker Rangers. Added content described above.

Ver 1.2 - Simplifies language in Antiquarian features, fixes more typos, adds more evocative description to Dark Powers Warlock Patron, and corrects the author's inexplicable failure to properly spell his own last name.

Ver 1.11 - Fixes minor typos and removes an anamolous reference to Kara-Tur (which is awesome, but not part of Ravenloft).

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Reviews (7)
Discussions (22)
Customer avatar
Jose D August 04, 2021 12:45 am UTC
PURCHASER
Will we get a print on demand version?
Customer avatar
Zachary G July 02, 2020 4:54 am UTC
I know it's been some time, but are there any plans to convert this to Fantasy Grounds?
Customer avatar
michael H February 03, 2019 6:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
pdf error to open the printer friendly version
Customer avatar
Shredder . September 25, 2017 10:45 pm UTC
tomb robber is misspelled in the product description
Customer avatar
Francis R January 04, 2017 7:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
There's a problem with the regular version of this file,it's only 256kb and wont open.The printer friendly version is good tho at 145mb.
Customer avatar
David M December 12, 2016 1:16 am UTC
PURCHASER
pdf file is corrupted...printer friendly is 140 mb
Customer avatar
Ryan A November 23, 2016 4:45 am UTC
PURCHASER
I was looking through the spell list and noticed that "bastion of clarity" is missing from the spell descriptions. Was that spell removed or just an error?

Myself and my group are loving this in our Curse of Strahd runthrough BTW
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F December 06, 2016 1:49 am UTC
CREATOR
Glad to hear your group is enjoying this! I just double-checked and the bastion of clarity does exist in both the regular and printer-friendly PDFs. However, it wasn't in all the older versions, so maybe try re-downloading one of the new ones? Hope that helps.
Customer avatar
Jeffrey D October 28, 2016 5:06 pm UTC
PURCHASER
What are the chances of getting a printer-friendly version?
Customer avatar
Oliver E August 19, 2016 11:57 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Currently, the Spells section is a bit of a mess, with some spells in teh Spell Lists having different levels, some spells missing from the pages that are on the lists, and some spells in the pages that are missing from the lists.

There's also several duplicated spell entries.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F September 01, 2016 2:00 am UTC
CREATOR
That's disappointing to hear. I will take another look at it. Sorry for any inconvenience or confusion.
Customer avatar
Evan F July 06, 2016 2:27 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I am enjoying reading this supplement. I am impressed by the work of the author. I did note one sentence fragment in the description of the Vistani Tutor. At the end of the opening description paragraph, the final sentence reads "Diplomatic and slow to anger, the Vistani Tutor fights only to protect their [...]" and the sentence ends without concluding. I can fill in the blank, but it would probably be a good idea to add that minor fix to the next update. Thank you for a really interesting product!
Reply
Customer avatar
Evan F July 06, 2016 6:32 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Found a typo too. Sorry to nickle and dime you here. I like the product and just hope to help clean it up with you: page number 16 in the Human (Vistani) section. Under "Vigilant Mind" it says "When a make a Wisdom save against an effect that would charm or frighten you, you can use your reaction to roll with advantage." I think it should say "When you make a Wisdom save . . . ."

Thanks again.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F August 01, 2016 9:09 am UTC
CREATOR
Both fixed in the new update! Thank you for catching these.
Customer avatar
Adam S May 11, 2016 12:12 am UTC
PURCHASER
The warlock archtype seems a bit wonky. I don't know when this was written but a few things to point here. The Dark Power feature is essentially Undyings (but with lyconthropes) so its kinda meh. The 6th level feature, probably should just be worded as any spell over 1st level you add your charisma modifier. The wordyness seems to imply you can add the charisma mod a second time to one of your eldritch blasts but you can't stack mods. The 10th level ability seems like the Fey one so meh. The capstone has some really cool writing but its so bad. I mean, its extra damage ok - but the indifference being broken by attacking a fellow bad guy basically makes it only an extra damage ability (so the whole indifference becomes laughable). This could be a really cool banishment effect or something else but i think if it was reworked to dominate that treds too close to the necro wizard ability and so not unique - ie: i dunno but its not quite awesome for a capstone.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F May 27, 2016 4:51 pm UTC
CREATOR
Taking this input into account. For the capstone ability, have you also noted that you remove the enemy from the combat for a turn? The creature does not come back until the end of the warlock's next turn. Sucking up a round of damage output and other hostile resistance is pretty good, and clever players can keep the creature indifferent for a while longer if they manage the combat correctly.
Customer avatar
Ruben G May 08, 2016 8:43 pm UTC
For the Reanimated origin under the flesh Golem Strength ability it does not have a time limit for the increased resilience. How long does it last?
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F May 27, 2016 4:45 pm UTC
CREATOR
It lasts for 1 hour. Sorry for the oversight, working on a revision now!
Customer avatar
Rodolfo M April 29, 2016 2:40 am UTC
PURCHASER
Couple of Typos and errors.

Ranger archetype informant network point 3. Sentence structure error

Rogue signature weapon cannot be changed? Is it a weapon type? What if you later get a magical weapon?

Extra signature attack wording with extra attack unclear. As written, it replaces extra attack and makes it worse.

Alienism. "no meant for" should read "not meant for"

Instinctive spell feature dice instead of Die

Vistani vigilant mind typo
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F May 27, 2016 4:46 pm UTC
CREATOR
Thank you for catching these. I have edited this in my main manuscript as I work towards the next revision. These will be correct in the following release.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F August 01, 2016 9:09 am UTC
CREATOR
Corrected in the new update, thanks!
Customer avatar
ryan W April 12, 2016 7:03 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm going to give this a try and allow these options to my players for Curse of Strahd (along with the blood hunter class). The thematic design and feel you made for Ravenloft looks great. Excellent job.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F August 01, 2016 9:10 am UTC
CREATOR
Just uploaded a new revision that improves the archetypes based on input, and also adds a lot of new content. Thanks for purchasing! How did using these options go?
Customer avatar
Jeremy F March 24, 2016 7:24 pm UTC
CREATOR
Just a quick update to say thank you for helping take this product to the Gold sales level! I'll be adding more content soon as a bonus for existing purchasers!
Customer avatar
David E March 19, 2016 12:05 am UTC
PURCHASER
Awesome work. Really great stuff. Love it.

One thing I noticed. Surprise is resolved as the stealth(ing) creature's stealth ability check (roll) against the Passive Perception (no roll) of the one who could be surprised. So there is no roll to re-roll for the Crag Dwarf ability. Maybe you can re-roll the enemy's roll? If you did that, you'd want to clarify whether that applies to how that roll is counted vs all your party members' passive perception. I.e., are the other party members' Passive Perception checks made against the first roll or the re-roll. I would think the first roll. Otherwise it would start to be like bardic inspiration, but unlimited. Granted, surprise is less common than initiative, a subset in fact, but may be very common depending on the campaign.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F March 21, 2016 4:43 am UTC
CREATOR
David E, I just noticed that error in the text. Clarification forthcoming.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F March 21, 2016 4:59 am UTC
CREATOR
David E, thanks for catching that error. An ill-advised revision to merge to race features into one rewrote a rules error into the crag dwarf's traits. Please replace the crag dwarf's Cagey Defenders ability with the following two traits instead:
Cagey Defender. When you are surprised, make a Wisdom saving throw against a DC equal to the roll made to surprise you. If you succeed, you are not surprised.
Stalwart. If you fail a saving throw to avoid becoming frightened, you can use your reaction to roll again. You must use the second roll.
(Shocking Strategy still works normally. Thanks again!)
Reply
Customer avatar
Jeremy F August 01, 2016 9:10 am UTC
CREATOR
A revised version appears in the newest update!
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