arise and suffocate anyone attempting to pass through them. There are only two ways to avoid the poisonous fog: immunity to poison (magic does not help, but creatures that are innately immune to poison, like elementals, constructs, and undead, have nothing to fear), or by ceasing the attempt to escape. In addition, the Vistani know a secret antidote which renders the drinker immune to the closed border. This fog permanently rings the village of Barovia as well. Strahd's curse is that although he is absolute lord and master of Barovia, to the point where he can enter private homes unbidden because he owns them, once every generation he will meet a woman whom he believes is Tatyana reincarnated. He always tries to woo her, but the scene of his damnation is replayed, and the woman inevitably dies. Strahd is perhaps the most difficult of all darklords to face. His mastery of necromancy is so great he has produced a kind of "super-zombie," one that is capable of seeing invisible, regenerating like a troll and whose appendages continue to fight on when severed. Strahd has had to battle at least two darklords who had entered his domain in the past; Azalin Rex the lich, and Lord Soth the death knight. When Lord Soth was in Barovia, Strahd realized that Soth's power as truly a match for his the moment Soth arrived in Castle Ravenloft. Armies of Strahd's servants fell before Lord Soth, and the havoc and damage caused by Soth caused even Strahd to waver. To be rid of Lord Soth from Barovia, Strahd had to give that which Soth had searched for, the traitorous retainer Caradoc, for fear of Lord Soth causing more damage to his beloved land. When the Ravenloft campaign setting was developed, the events of Ravenloft II were retconned so that Strahd was present and disguised as a human alchemist, and did not die at the module's conclusion. Reception Strahd was named as one of the greatest villains in Dungeons & Dragons history in the final issue of Dragon magazine. Strahd appeared on the 2018 Screen Rant top list at #15 on "Dungeons & Dragons: The 15 Most Powerful Villains, Ranked", and Scott Baird highlighted that "The fact that he is a vampire means that there are numerous methods by which Strahd can be defeated, which is to say nothing of the powerful anti-zombie abilities that are