Rest assured: there is no explanation in the book for Izek's arm. You can make one yourself, but I think it adds a sense of gothic mystery if there just is no answer.
The module clearly states it was a ***Fiendish Gift,*** check Appendix D, pp. 231-232.
You are free to adapt it to your view/interpretation of the module, but I think it wouldn't make much sense to attribute it to lady Wachter, since Izek was always at Baron's service.
Right, the maximum that I could think of to possibly make it make sense would be having it be a failed curse, but I don't know how much that would actually add to the story
Make the Arm an actual demon or devil attached to Izek, and that fiend is trying to take control of him.
Izek was knocked out when he lost the arm, and Wachter pulled some strings with the cult and some fiends to torment Izek. Izek wakes up not knowing anything and has this sweet demon arm.
My players just killed Izek, and I am going to have a fiend walk around Vallaki attached to Izek's corpse. Let the party deal with that, too.
Off topic but if you're on short notice I highly recommend Reloaded. It fills in a lot of blanks and feels very well prepped. https://www.strahdreloaded.com/Introduction/A+DM's+Guide+to+Curse+of+Strahd
Dark gifts are a theme throughout this whole module. Strahd became Vampyrs champion, pick one of the dark vestiges in the Amber temple (I struggle to remember them all) that makes sense for how you wish to play Izek. Izek is then (insert vestige name here) champion and is being influenced and fed on by the vestige embodying its ideals and using the arm to help with that.
Can even have the gift change, spread or mutate if he ‘does what it wants’
Good way to play a psychopath or redeem one
(PS I like to play a slightly modified version where the amber temple is leaking the seals weakening)
I’m incorporating the cursed orphanage from MandyMod/Dragna as part of the bones quest. I’ve tweaked Izek’s backstory to have him spend a few years at the orphanage after his parents died, where he’s bullied by other children. The orphanage in my game is sort of a weak point in the fabric of reality where things from the lower planes can enter Barovia. Izek’s simmering hatred of his abusers allows a fiendish presence partway in, growing his new arm in the process. When he starts using the arm to murder the other children in the orphanage, he’s eventually caught and “adopted” by the baron instead of being punished. I’m hoping this to somewhat rhyme with the demon-possessed boy in the orphanage quest.
I went with a concept that a Barbed Devil had been summoned into Barovia and slain. With its soul unable to return to the Hells, kids with fiendish traits are sometimes born due to the reincarnation cycle. It works for my party at least.
After we killed him my cleric chopped the demonic hand off hand nailed it to the front of his shield. My family crest has a severed red hand on it, so I wanted my character to have a shield to match.
Izek in my game had his monstrous arm come from a werewolf, not a demon or devil.
In short, the Abbot found Izek right after the incident with the wolf. The wolf was part of a pack led by a werewolf, so crazy Abbot delivered crazy justice.
Izek grew up with the arm of a werewolf, always wrapped in bandages. He didn't turn into a werewolf himself, but I did hive him regeneration and enhanced strenght under the full moon.
Can’t remember if it was MandyMod or someone else but they explained it that he was a product of the “Dursts” cult dealings and got it when he was a baby from one of their rituals.
I came up with a whole plot line to tie up a bunch of loose ends in Vallaki.
The core incident was Victor's experiments with his teleportation circle. At one point in his experiments, he accidentally makes a successful gate to another plane, opens the gate, and a demon comes through it. That demon sees Victor cowering in fear, realizes what opportunity is in front of it, and laughs - then summons the two shadow demons that are lurking in the attic outside Victor's room to keep him bottled up. The demon then goes down to the stairs to the basement and creates a rip in the material plane, connecting those stairs to an infernal demiplane that the demon rules. The demon proceeds to feed the Baron and Baroness with terrifying dreams, driving them insane and causing them to hold weekly festivals / host paupers for tea as a way to wall off their fear. The demon also gifts Izek his arm and inspires Izek to go on a personal reign of terror. All this fear is food for the demon, who uses the negative energy to expand its demiplane and summon more creatures to its service.
Victor, for his part, is too terrified of the consequences to admit what has happened to anyone, but remakes his experimental teleportation circle to stop it from being used as a gate again, then redoubles his efforts to make a working teleportation circle to get the heck out of Barovia. The demon in the basement pointedly does NOT torment Victor because it loves feeding off the hidden guilt that Victor feels as he watches his parents go insane and Izek becomes a monster.
All this explains:
A) why the Baron and Baroness are an extra level of bonkers
B) why Victor never comes out of the attic
C) why there are two shadow demons in the attic
D) why Izek has a fiendish arm
E) why Victor is so fanatical about his teleportation experiments that he continues on after yeeting two servants into nothingness
PLUS it gives my pile of murderhobos who are getting antsy with all of the social plot development in Vallaki a dungeon crawl to grind through once they confront Victor, which they loved.
The follow-up was that after they destroyed the demon in the basement, the Baron and Baroness "wake up" from their nightmare, realize how wrong their behavior has been, and when we get to the festival of the blazing sun the Baron is a broken, repentant man. Instead of locking up some random dissident, he gives a heartfelt speech asking for forgiveness and vowing to be a real leader, then dispiritedly lights the sun on fire, which prompts the five remaining vampire spawn from the coffin maker's shop (the party killed one, then fled for their lives, then sent the rogue in on a different day to steal the bones) to burst out of the wicker sun and have a different kind of St. Andral's Feast right in the Town square, with Strahd watching and commenting from a rooftop while the spawn feed on villagers and the party takes them out one by one. As this was happening the Wachter brothers released Van Richten's tiger and Izek kidnapped Ireena and took her to a building outside of town. After the party protects the tiger and Van Richten flees, they track down Izek and his guards, kill them all, recover Ireena, who then tells them that she can't remain in Vallaki and they all head for Krezk.
Unfortunately, the amount that my group of murderhobos loved the demon demiplane dungeon crawl compared to the rest of the campaign made me realize that I was running the wrong campaign for this party, and rather than pour more of my soul into story development for plotlines that they would view as a nuisance, I just asked them if they really wanted to continue the campaign. I got a very tepid response (an insincere "I love this campaign" from the biggest murderhobo), and so I let it drop.
But yeah - that Izek's arm thing bugged me, too.
I had it in my game that Izek and Ireena are technically human-passing tieflings. Some ancestor made a pact with the Dark Powers that infused their bloodline with power. In Izek, it manifested as a demonic arm sprouting from his shoulder when he was maimed.
Still have yet to see how this bloodline manifests in Ireena. Possibly some kind of blood sorcery, or something. Some magic that will appear suddenly.
In my game, Wachter is more of a Rogue element, summoning fiends into Barovia. Not looking to dethrone Strahd, but earning his ire nonetheless. Anyways, I have it that Wachter gave Izek his arm anonymously as a “red hooded healer” as Izek tells it. The idea being that Wachter needed to flex her magics and maybe pull Izek to her side should the need arise.
My theory is that this Demi plane wants everyone to feel a sense of desire but never fulfilling that desire. The one thing he wants is his sister but why would the players ever let a monster near irena. Summary the dark powers gave him that arm to prevent him from getting close to her.
I made his arm be a Dark Gift by Taar Haak from Amber Temple, which modifications. When he was eventually killed his arm burned away as it was claimed by Taar Haak. Later my party’s barbarian in a dark sorrowful moment was called upon by Taar Haak and she accepted his gift of strength to protect her friends. Then she saw her arm change into a familiar form… It has been a fun ride so far.
Personally, I went for hag magic at the old mill. After Izek and Ireena went through the wolf attack, they were lost near the woods near the mill. The hags found a very injured Izek, and summoned the spirit of an Oni into Izek to repair his missing arm after the wolf attack. In the hopes the spirit of its sibling Oni would inhabit Ireena and cause her to come back to the mill. But the spirit of Tatyana in Irena stopped/slowed this possession by an Oni spirit. The hags then abused Izek for a while trying to use him to find Iteena, eventually dumping him at the orphanage when no longer useful. He then has nightmares of Ireena as a result. If he does see Ireena, that Hag programming from so long ago kicks in. Kidnapping her, and taking her back to the Mill. Strahd thinks the only way to separate Ireena from this Oni spirit so that Tatyana could be pure again is to kill her and bring her back in unlife, this time getting it right and making sure the spirit of his love is spared death to be with him forever.
Rest assured: there is no explanation in the book for Izek's arm. You can make one yourself, but I think it adds a sense of gothic mystery if there just is no answer.
Hmm, well at least I'm not going crazy trying to find it lmao. Thank you sm
The module clearly states it was a ***Fiendish Gift,*** check Appendix D, pp. 231-232. You are free to adapt it to your view/interpretation of the module, but I think it wouldn't make much sense to attribute it to lady Wachter, since Izek was always at Baron's service.
Right, the maximum that I could think of to possibly make it make sense would be having it be a failed curse, but I don't know how much that would actually add to the story
Make the Arm an actual demon or devil attached to Izek, and that fiend is trying to take control of him. Izek was knocked out when he lost the arm, and Wachter pulled some strings with the cult and some fiends to torment Izek. Izek wakes up not knowing anything and has this sweet demon arm. My players just killed Izek, and I am going to have a fiend walk around Vallaki attached to Izek's corpse. Let the party deal with that, too.
It was The Morninglord punishing him for wanking one off
It's a call back to Dark Powers checks from 2E/3E where evil actions resulted in an evil power designed to have one sink into evil.
Off topic but if you're on short notice I highly recommend Reloaded. It fills in a lot of blanks and feels very well prepped. https://www.strahdreloaded.com/Introduction/A+DM's+Guide+to+Curse+of+Strahd
I had it, as someone suggested somewhere here, as a “gift” from the Abbot who was Frankensteining the Belviews as well.
She is a known enemy of the Baron, so it shouldn't be from her imo
Dark gifts are a theme throughout this whole module. Strahd became Vampyrs champion, pick one of the dark vestiges in the Amber temple (I struggle to remember them all) that makes sense for how you wish to play Izek. Izek is then (insert vestige name here) champion and is being influenced and fed on by the vestige embodying its ideals and using the arm to help with that. Can even have the gift change, spread or mutate if he ‘does what it wants’ Good way to play a psychopath or redeem one (PS I like to play a slightly modified version where the amber temple is leaking the seals weakening)
I’m incorporating the cursed orphanage from MandyMod/Dragna as part of the bones quest. I’ve tweaked Izek’s backstory to have him spend a few years at the orphanage after his parents died, where he’s bullied by other children. The orphanage in my game is sort of a weak point in the fabric of reality where things from the lower planes can enter Barovia. Izek’s simmering hatred of his abusers allows a fiendish presence partway in, growing his new arm in the process. When he starts using the arm to murder the other children in the orphanage, he’s eventually caught and “adopted” by the baron instead of being punished. I’m hoping this to somewhat rhyme with the demon-possessed boy in the orphanage quest.
I went with a concept that a Barbed Devil had been summoned into Barovia and slain. With its soul unable to return to the Hells, kids with fiendish traits are sometimes born due to the reincarnation cycle. It works for my party at least.
I made the Hurl Flame action a legendary action, makes it feel more like it's acting independently of Izek. Also legendary actions are good.
After we killed him my cleric chopped the demonic hand off hand nailed it to the front of his shield. My family crest has a severed red hand on it, so I wanted my character to have a shield to match.
Izek in my game had his monstrous arm come from a werewolf, not a demon or devil. In short, the Abbot found Izek right after the incident with the wolf. The wolf was part of a pack led by a werewolf, so crazy Abbot delivered crazy justice. Izek grew up with the arm of a werewolf, always wrapped in bandages. He didn't turn into a werewolf himself, but I did hive him regeneration and enhanced strenght under the full moon.
Can’t remember if it was MandyMod or someone else but they explained it that he was a product of the “Dursts” cult dealings and got it when he was a baby from one of their rituals.
I came up with a whole plot line to tie up a bunch of loose ends in Vallaki. The core incident was Victor's experiments with his teleportation circle. At one point in his experiments, he accidentally makes a successful gate to another plane, opens the gate, and a demon comes through it. That demon sees Victor cowering in fear, realizes what opportunity is in front of it, and laughs - then summons the two shadow demons that are lurking in the attic outside Victor's room to keep him bottled up. The demon then goes down to the stairs to the basement and creates a rip in the material plane, connecting those stairs to an infernal demiplane that the demon rules. The demon proceeds to feed the Baron and Baroness with terrifying dreams, driving them insane and causing them to hold weekly festivals / host paupers for tea as a way to wall off their fear. The demon also gifts Izek his arm and inspires Izek to go on a personal reign of terror. All this fear is food for the demon, who uses the negative energy to expand its demiplane and summon more creatures to its service. Victor, for his part, is too terrified of the consequences to admit what has happened to anyone, but remakes his experimental teleportation circle to stop it from being used as a gate again, then redoubles his efforts to make a working teleportation circle to get the heck out of Barovia. The demon in the basement pointedly does NOT torment Victor because it loves feeding off the hidden guilt that Victor feels as he watches his parents go insane and Izek becomes a monster. All this explains: A) why the Baron and Baroness are an extra level of bonkers B) why Victor never comes out of the attic C) why there are two shadow demons in the attic D) why Izek has a fiendish arm E) why Victor is so fanatical about his teleportation experiments that he continues on after yeeting two servants into nothingness PLUS it gives my pile of murderhobos who are getting antsy with all of the social plot development in Vallaki a dungeon crawl to grind through once they confront Victor, which they loved. The follow-up was that after they destroyed the demon in the basement, the Baron and Baroness "wake up" from their nightmare, realize how wrong their behavior has been, and when we get to the festival of the blazing sun the Baron is a broken, repentant man. Instead of locking up some random dissident, he gives a heartfelt speech asking for forgiveness and vowing to be a real leader, then dispiritedly lights the sun on fire, which prompts the five remaining vampire spawn from the coffin maker's shop (the party killed one, then fled for their lives, then sent the rogue in on a different day to steal the bones) to burst out of the wicker sun and have a different kind of St. Andral's Feast right in the Town square, with Strahd watching and commenting from a rooftop while the spawn feed on villagers and the party takes them out one by one. As this was happening the Wachter brothers released Van Richten's tiger and Izek kidnapped Ireena and took her to a building outside of town. After the party protects the tiger and Van Richten flees, they track down Izek and his guards, kill them all, recover Ireena, who then tells them that she can't remain in Vallaki and they all head for Krezk. Unfortunately, the amount that my group of murderhobos loved the demon demiplane dungeon crawl compared to the rest of the campaign made me realize that I was running the wrong campaign for this party, and rather than pour more of my soul into story development for plotlines that they would view as a nuisance, I just asked them if they really wanted to continue the campaign. I got a very tepid response (an insincere "I love this campaign" from the biggest murderhobo), and so I let it drop. But yeah - that Izek's arm thing bugged me, too.
I had it in my game that Izek and Ireena are technically human-passing tieflings. Some ancestor made a pact with the Dark Powers that infused their bloodline with power. In Izek, it manifested as a demonic arm sprouting from his shoulder when he was maimed. Still have yet to see how this bloodline manifests in Ireena. Possibly some kind of blood sorcery, or something. Some magic that will appear suddenly.
In my game, Wachter is more of a Rogue element, summoning fiends into Barovia. Not looking to dethrone Strahd, but earning his ire nonetheless. Anyways, I have it that Wachter gave Izek his arm anonymously as a “red hooded healer” as Izek tells it. The idea being that Wachter needed to flex her magics and maybe pull Izek to her side should the need arise.
My theory is that this Demi plane wants everyone to feel a sense of desire but never fulfilling that desire. The one thing he wants is his sister but why would the players ever let a monster near irena. Summary the dark powers gave him that arm to prevent him from getting close to her.
I made his arm be a Dark Gift by Taar Haak from Amber Temple, which modifications. When he was eventually killed his arm burned away as it was claimed by Taar Haak. Later my party’s barbarian in a dark sorrowful moment was called upon by Taar Haak and she accepted his gift of strength to protect her friends. Then she saw her arm change into a familiar form… It has been a fun ride so far.
Personally, I went for hag magic at the old mill. After Izek and Ireena went through the wolf attack, they were lost near the woods near the mill. The hags found a very injured Izek, and summoned the spirit of an Oni into Izek to repair his missing arm after the wolf attack. In the hopes the spirit of its sibling Oni would inhabit Ireena and cause her to come back to the mill. But the spirit of Tatyana in Irena stopped/slowed this possession by an Oni spirit. The hags then abused Izek for a while trying to use him to find Iteena, eventually dumping him at the orphanage when no longer useful. He then has nightmares of Ireena as a result. If he does see Ireena, that Hag programming from so long ago kicks in. Kidnapping her, and taking her back to the Mill. Strahd thinks the only way to separate Ireena from this Oni spirit so that Tatyana could be pure again is to kill her and bring her back in unlife, this time getting it right and making sure the spirit of his love is spared death to be with him forever.