Unleash the Terrors of the Nightmare Realms with Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft Minis

December 14, 2021

Dungeons & Dragons/ Game Master Tips/ Previews

The end of the year approaches and with it the holiday season so it’s completely natural to begin thinking about the Ravenloft’s iconic supernatural specialist and the Domains of Dread, no? Oh well, it seems you are here anyway and I am going to share some ideas inspired by the great monster entries available in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.

Become a Monster Scholar with WizKids

Who does not want a monstrous plant consuming bodies with the Bodytaker Plant in their fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games? Who would not be interested in fueling players nightmares with a Vampiric Mind Flayer? Who does not want more undead like a monstrous collection of zombies combined together to make something far more terrible in the form of a Zombie Clot? You can get your own miniature versions of these as well as other untold terrors haunting the Domains of Dread with the newly released minis from WizKids.

Diving into Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft I find several brief mentions of a massive purple worm called Gravedrinker. With the release of WizKids’ D&D Icons of the Realms: Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft set the premium miniature is in fact Gravedrinker. The previously released D&D Icons of The Realms: Fangs and Talons – Purple Worm Premium Set is small in comparison to the amazing Gravedrinker. When I initially saw the pictures online I thought it was going to be a repaint but I was surprised at the new model. Again being an amazing sculpt — bigger than the purple worm — and with its grey pallor I would assume some necrotic flare.

Since there is no stat block for Gravedrinker I looked through the other worm stat blocks. A purple worm sits at challenge rating 15. Besides the CR 2 purple wormling there are five other worms in a range of CR 13-17. If you are not interested in making or heavily revising another stat block my advice is to use the Frost Worm from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount with a minor tweak. Change the Freezing Body trait to a Necrotic Aura and change all instances of cold damage and to necrotic damage.

There are loads of great minis in this set. The Zombie Clot is a huge mini and quite heavy. If this is the random grab you are looking for you want to find the super heavy package. When I get new minis sometimes I am looking for unique things to fill a certain role while other times I am looking for versatility. The Amber Sarcophagus can function as monster, terrain or both. The Starspawn Emissary falls into the same category. There are of course more great minis in this set. You can always follow WizKids to get even more information.

As always, Thanks for reading. Until next time, stay nerdy!

*Featured image — Terror stalks the nightmare realms of Ravenloft. No one knows this better than monster scholar Rudolph Van Richten. Discover the mysteries of Ravenloft, mist-shrouded lands where infamous Darklords lurk among ageless vampires, zombie hordes, cosmic terrors, and worse. [Image courtesy WizKids]