Curse of Strahd Fated Ally NPCs, Part 1: A-I (Arabelle to Ismark) - Resources, Roleplay Tips, & More

Video Description

I've already covered a few of the important NPC allies in Curse of Strahd (and the wider Ravenloft setting) - including Dr Rudolph van Richten and Ezmerelda - in a few other videos, but this time I wanted to do two longer videos where I cover off all the rest of the fated ally NPC (a.k.a. Strahd's enemy) choices. This one covers (almost) half of them, from A-I (Arabelle to Ismark), suggesting resources for them and offering roleplay tips, possible stat block alterations or changes, and more. And even beyond the whole 'fated ally' element, it should help to give general information about each of the NPCs anyway - so it might be worth watching all of it (...but then I would say that, haha)! 😅 I cover the following fated ally NPC choices in this video: - Arabelle - Arrigal - Clovin Belview - Davian Martikov - Father Donavich - Ezmerelda (Ez) d'Avenir - Sir Godfrey Gwilym - Ireena Kolyana - Ismark Kolyanovich, a.k.a. Ismark the Lesser K-Z (Kasimir to Zuleika) will follow soon (in a few weeks' time, all going well)! If I've missed anything important, or you'd run some of them differently, or have anything to share (such as additional resources for them), then please leave a comment and let me (and others) know. Thanks! #CurseofStrahd 00:00 Intro 00:59 Disclaimers 02:59 Arabelle 06:48 Arrigal 13:25 Clovin 16:08 Davian 19:11 Donavich 22:29 Ezmerelda 23:06 Godfrey 27:17 Ireena 35:19 Ismark 38:48 Outro Follow me on Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/dmofthemists.bsky.social Some links to some resources I mentioned for some of them... Arabelle: - MandyMod's guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/9jhaj7/fleshing_out_curse_of_strahd_vallaki_vi_arabelle/ - guildsbounty's guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/9h7to2/my_notes_on_arabelle_the_heir_of_madame_eva/ Davian: - My 'what I did with the Winery's third missing gem' post on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/pwfpfu/the_third_gem_split_in_two_one_part_in_vasilika/ Ezmerelda: - My dedicated Ez video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaNkljMAxEU Godfrey: - My Reddit post with the observation that Godfrey's spells had changed between CoS and CoS Revamped: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/u0iki1/interesting_observation_godfrey_has_fewer_spells/ Ireena: - MandyMod's guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/jhld3l/fleshing_out_curse_of_strahd_vasili_ireena_and/ - guildsbounty's guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/8vsw2p/my_notes_on_running_ireena_without_making_her_a/ - DragnaCarta's "Ireena Reborn" (not "Restored") stat block is in his old CoS Reloaded guide, in the Berez section: https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/ll6nqg/curse_of_strahd_reloaded_guide_to_berez_the_swamp/ (note: I couldn't find it in the new version / Re-Reloaded; I'm not sure if it's because it's not been adapted yet, or perhaps it's not being carried across from the old version to the new version) Near the end I also briedly mentioned one of my DMsGuild resources, The 3-Pile Tarokka Technique: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/474875/The-3Pile-Tarokka-Technique--A-Curse-of-Strahd-Supplement?affiliate_id=2672868 Music credits: "Thieves' Guild" ('Stealthier' version), "Russian Winter", "Salt Marsh", "Abandoned Chapel" and "Survivors' Bivouac" by Tabletop Audio; "Lost Time" by Kevin MacLeod (a.k.a. Incompetech) licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Images: - Various Barovian landscape art by James' RPG Art: https://www.patreon.com/jamesrpgart - The illustration of Arabelle is by Caleb Is Drawing: https://www.patreon.com/calebisdrawing - The illustrations of the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and the Sunsword are from my DMsGuild, The 3-Pile Tarokka Technique: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/474875/The-3Pile-Tarokka-Technique--A-Curse-of-Strahd-Supplement?affiliate_id=2672868 - All other images, logos, etc. are the copyright of their respective creators, the vast majority of which will be from Wizards of the Coast, as per their Fan Content Policy.