D&D Legendlore: Rudolph Van Richten | D&D 5E Character Breakdown

Hello and welcome friends to Legendlore, where I draw pictures of gods, monsters, and characters from D&D while giving a small but dense history about them! This video we visit a multi-edition master of vampire hunting and NPC from Curse of Strahd: Doctor Rudolph Van Richten

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[lordnmaster]

I'm running him with the old lore in my campaign currently, and I play him as essentially a male Miranda Priestly, but for vampire hunters, plus a heaping helping of extreme "ends justifies the means" desperation to kill anything evil, to the point that he's practically a monster himself. His curse to see everyone he loves die means that he acts as disagreeable as possible to keep everyone at arm's length and to avoid caring about any of them.

[PercyLeon]

I played him like James Bond. Older, man of action. Shaped by his dark past and tragedy. He’s on a covert mission in Barovia to assassinate Strahd. He’s able to use his wit, and cunning ability to do what he can to help Barovia. He does also has self destructive tendencies. Ireena falls in love with him and he must decide in taking the risk knowing his curse could get her killed or he has to move on once his mission is accomplished. His carriage is like your typical James Bond car, loaded with surprises, including, a lever to release grease if someone is chasing him, to release spike horns, and even dust, Rudolph has a heavy crossbow hidden inside the carriage with a pulley tow. When he hits a vampire from inside the house with the heavy crossbow from his carriage or the crossbow that he carries he attaches it to the pulley system in his carriage and pulls out the vampire outside into the sun ( like John Carpenter’s Vampires film)

[JasonBroaddus]

I made him a stand-up comedian bard, in the mold of "NoHo Hank" from "Barry" made lots of bad dragon jokes, then he got unmasked in battle and turned into an old-man version of Blade.

[AliasXV]

The saber-toothed tiger's name is Ramses!

[MarkATorres]

I used Van Richten in a manner similar to Professor Broom from the Hellboy 2007 Animated Movie: Blood and Iron. Old, cunning, and not yet out of the fight. It did surprise how my players immediately wanted to take care of him despite his initial cold demeanor towards the party but eventually begins to show and teach them the ways of properly conducting and learning the ways of monster hunting.

Though I did keep the mental mind set of fight Fire with Fire. Almost similar to Goblin Slayer in the Goblin Slayer Manga/Anime series in Richten's pursuit of taking down the monsters of the night. Not just undead, but all the evil creatures of the night. Though I made him more of a Rogue/Fighter hybrid that used varied items and a bag of tricks that kept both his enemies and allies on their toes.

Personal Favorite moment of mine:
Player: So I have this exploding stick.
Rudolph: Pass it, I'll examine it's potency.
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Rudolph proceeds to drop lit stick of dynamite into a resting vampire's coffin underground lair full of awaiting undead minions.
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Rudolph: Effective.
Rest of the party is stunned by the property damage and audacity of the old man.
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Rudolph: Now to make sure that the vampire lord is secured and properly dead. Where is my spare hammer and stake?

[CaptainThorIron]

Great drawing! Love your take on the doctor

[yorogo]

Im playing van richten in stradh a d its such a joy to play you help the other pc with knowledge and such but travelling as thé bard kind if like dandelion and geralt

[LucaPasceri-kk]

This depiction of Van Richten gives serious Percy De Rolo vibes and I’m here for it

[lissagaiasmit]

oh my lord you said van right I have immediately fallen for you

[SumitSingh-zncy]

Are there more stat blocks of him except the one in curse of strahd ? If yes pls share

[carljoosepraave]

Do you happen to have a character sheet for blood hunter van richten?

[joedan]

I see this poor sad doctor as a artificer using different magic to kill monsters

[benjaminfeldman]

Dr. Doolittle wants to know your location and bloodtype.

Serious note, I love Van Richten as this veteran hunter of darkness and Jeremy Irons is a great casting choice.

[SwiftNimblefoot]

That artwork is really weird. Why would you draw him with elven ears and red eyes, like he was a vampire too?

[lissagaiasmit]

oh my lord you said van right I have immediately fallen for you