aliases: [Abbott, Abbot]The Abbot
(LG deva in disguise)
Playing The Abbott
Ideal. "I want to rid Barovia of its sickness. By giving the devil his heart's desire, I bring salvation to him and his land."
Bond. "I love the creatures I create, including my beautiful golems and mongrelfolk."
Flaw. "I can't be corrupted. My heart is pure, my intentions noble and good."
- Sheds disguise if the players threaten Vasilka
- Believes he is righteous.
- Regrets transforming the Belviews into horrid mongrelfolk
- considers their imprisonment to be necessary, to contain their madness
- Strahd's bride, he believes that she is the key to freeing the land from its curse
- The insane Abbot can't be convinced otherwise.
The Abbot shares his beliefs openly, claiming that his decisions are based on the Morninglord's guidance. He will give visitors a tour of the abbey if they seem friendly, but he turns hostile if they threaten him or his charges.
History/Info
No creature in Barovia is older than the master of the Abbey of Saint Markovia in Krezk. This nameless holy figure, whom others call the Abbot, was drawn to the abbey after Saint Markovia died by Strahd's hand. He sought to restore the abbey after it fell to corruption, but was himself corrupted.
Angel in Disguise
The Abbot is a deva that has lived for millennia. He typically assumes the form of a strikingly handsome human priest in his late twenties or early thirties. More than a hundred years ago, the deva was sent from the Upper Planes to honor the legacy of Saint Markovia. He reopened the abbey and began tending to the physically and mentally ill. In so doing, he hoped to bring some much-needed light to Barovia. His efforts worked for a while, but then the Dark Powers began to corrupt him.
Imperfections
The Abbot's fall from grace started when the Belviews—a family of sickly, inbred lepers—came to the abbey seeking salvation. The deva rid them of their diseases, an act for which they were eternally grateful, but could not cure them of certain human defects that had been present since birth. The Abbot became consumed with a prideful, obsessive desire to rid the poor Belviews of their lingering imperfections. The Belview family, however, had strange ideas of what it meant to be perfect. They didn't want to be ordinary humans. They wanted the eyes of a cat, wings to fly like a bat, the strength of a mule, and the guile of a snake. In short, they craved bestial traits, and the Abbot, taking pity on them, yielded to their mad desires.
Enter Vasili von Holtz
The Abbot's early experiments proved fatal to their subjects, but the Belviews insisted that he keep trying. One day, a Barovian lord named Vasili von Holtz visited the abbey. The Abbot knew at once that the man was evil, but von Holtz stressed that he only wanted to help. He furnished the Abbot with forbidden lore plucked from the Amber Temple (chapter 13), then helped the Abbot transform the Belviews into mongrelfolk—maniacal humans with bestial deformities and traits. The Belviews were happy, albeit insane. Only then did von Holtz reveal himself to be Strahd von Zarovich. Somehow the deva realized that any attempt to slay Strahd would be futile—that the ancient curse upon the land meant that the vampire could never truly die, at least not in Barovia.
Bride of Strahd
Strahd confided in the Abbot, lamenting his curse and telling the deva that he wished nothing more than to escape Barovia. His performance garnered the deva's sympathy, and the Abbot, playing into Strahd's hands, set for himself the goal of finding a cure for Strahd's "malady." The Abbot is now convinced that the cure lies in reuniting Strahd with his lost love and, in so doing, ending Barovia's curse. The Abbot has recently completed work on a flesh golem bride made from the body parts of dead women. While the Belviews languish in the abbey's madhouse, the Abbot is giving his creation lessons in etiquette and ladylike conduct so that "she" can be formally presented to Strahd and win his love.
Strahd has no interest in a flesh golem bride, but he enjoys corrupting this once angelic being and driving the Abbot to commit further acts of depravity.
What They Want
What They Know
Stat Block
Deva
17
136
30 ft., fly 90 ft.
18
18
18
17
20
20
Wisdom +9, Charisma +9
Insight +9, Perception +9
radiant; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
charmed, exhaustion, frightened
darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 19
all, telepathy 120 ft.
10 (5,900 XP)
+4
The deva's weapon attacks are magical. When the deva hits with any weapon, the weapon deals an extra 4d8 radiant damage (included in the attack).
The deva's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17). The deva can innately cast the following spells, requiring only verbal components:
At will: detect evil and good
1/day each: commune, raise dead
The deva has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
The deva makes two melee attacks.
Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit (18), reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d6 + 4 (7) bludgeoning damage plus 4d8 (18) radiant damage.
The deva touches another creature. The target magically regains 4d8 + 2 (20) hit points and is freed from any curse, disease, poison, blindness, or deafness.
The deva magically polymorphs into a humanoid or beast that has a challenge rating equal to or less than its own, or back into its true form. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is absorbed or borne by the new form (the deva's choice).
In a new form, the deva retains its game statistics and ability to speak, but its AC, movement modes, Strength, Dexterity, and special senses are replaced by those of the new form, and it gains any statistics and capabilities (except class features, legendary actions, and lair actions) that the new form has but that it lacks.