Dr Frankenstein
Dr Viktra Mordenheim is the Darklord of Lamordia, a snow-covered wasteland that is a Domain of Dread found within the shadowy mists of Ravenloft. In Lamordia, the people struggle daily to survive in such an arid, inhospitable land. Crops struggle to grow here and people strive to keep themselves warm. Within this climate, the amoral experimentations and scientific progress championed by Dr Viktra Mordenheim are actually celebrated. With new cures to diseases better ways to grow crops being discovered, the people are generally happy to overlook some of the more nefarious ways in which she accomplishes her achievements.
Despite her brilliance though, Mordenheim is haunted by love lost. Elise, her once lover, struck down with a deadly disease, was moments away from being cured by Viktra’s invention; the unbreakable heart. She suspects Elise may have survived and may even be somewhere in Lamordia, but for whatever reason, Elise avoids all attempts at reuniting with her former lover and Viktra suffers endlessly in this forlorn state.
Information About Dr Viktra Mordenheim
| Characteristic | Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Dr Viktra Mordenheim |
| Domain | Lamordia |
| Race | Human |
| Alignment | Neutral Evil |
| Home | Schloss Mordenheim |
Dr Viktra Mordenheim’s Stat Block
Dr Viktra Mordenheim is a brilliant scientist, capable of staving off death itself. As such, she has access to a variety of potions and infusions to assist her in combat. The following stat block is not an official release but my own creation as Darklord stat blocks haven’t been officially released by Wizards of the Coast.
- Medium humanoid, Neutral Evil
- Armour Class: 15
- Hit Points: 72 (12d12 + 36)
- Speed: 30ft
| Str | Dex | Con | Int | Wis | Cha |
| 10 (+0) | 15 (+2) | 10 (+0) | 24 (+7) | 16 (+3) | 14 (+2) |
- Saving Throws: Int (+9), Cha (+4)
- Skills: Deception (+4), History (+7), Insight (+7), Investigation (+9), Perception (+5), Persuasion (+4), Sleight of Hand (+4), Stealth (+4)
- Senses: Passive Perception 16
- Languages: Common, Gnomish, Primordial
- Challenge: 8 (3,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3
Adrenal Stimulant: When Viktra is first bloodied, all conditions and effects she is suffering from, end. This ability can only be used once per long rest.
Life-saving Infusion: When Viktra is reduced to 0 hit points, and would be killed, she is instead injected with an elixir that not only spares her life, healing 6d10 (+33), but it also increases her resilience temporarily, granting her an additional 2AC, making her immune to frightened, paralysed, frightened, poisoned or stunned and giving her resistance to all slashing, piercing and bludgeoning attacks for 1 minute.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. Viktra makes two scalpel attacks.
Scalpel: Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or ranged 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage.
Alchemical Attack: Viktra is a scientist and has mastered the art of alchemy. She can use the potions she has created as weapons in combat using one of the following per turn:
- Acid Flask: Viktra splashes acid at a nearby target. Ranged Weapon Attack. +5 to hit, range 10 ft., one target. Hit. 14 (4d8) acid damage. The target must also make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be blinded for 1 minute. The target can take a constitution saving throw at the end of each of their turns to see if their sight comes back.
- Poisonous Gas: Dr Mordenheim throws a glass bottle containing a poisonous gas to a space up to 30 ft from herself which spreads into a 10 ft cube. Anyone caught in the area must make a DC 15 constitution saving throw or be paralysed and take 2d4 poison damage (or half as much on a successful save).
- Paralyzing Serum: Viktra makes a melee attack with a large syringe. Melee Weapon Attack. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit. The target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target is paralyzed for 10 minutes. On a success, the target is slowed for 1 minute.
- Smoke Bomb: Viktra throws a smoke bomb up to 30 ft away creating a cloud of smoke in a 20 foot cube that lasts for 1 minute. Each creature in the cube is blinded while in that area.
BONUS ACTIONS
Cunning Action: Viktra can take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.
Summon Flesh Golem: Once per long rest, Viktra can summon 2 flesh golems to an empty space within 30 feet of her by speaking a summoning word to call her servants to aid her.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Dr Viktra Mordenheim can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. She can take only one legendary action at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Viktra regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn.
Scalpel Attacks: Dr Mordenheim makes a scalpel attack.
Alchemical Attack (costs 2 actions): Dr Mordenheim can use one of her alchemical potions.
History of Dr Viktra Mordenheim
Viktra grew up as a minor noble, with enough wealth to support a voracious curiosity in humanoid anatomy. Viktra taught herself medicine as a child and as the prodigy she was, earned a doctorate in medicinal science while just a teen. She secured a position as a researcher at a local university and began to research and experiment to further her knowledge. She did so without emotion or moral compass; she cared little for her patients, despite helping many, but cared only to learn more at any cost.
Over time, Mordenheim became more and more convinced that she couldn’t just preserve and create life but that she could even cheat death itself. She began researching how to breath life back into a dead body, thus creating a stronger, less fragile shell. Because of her amoral nature, Viktra had no qualms with stealing bodies from their graves and began hiring thieves to steal bodies from local cemeteries for her to perform her experiments on. This is where she met Elise, a body snatcher with a care-free attitude that she found enticing and developed a deep affection for.
Grief struck however, when Elise developed an incurable wasting disease. Viktra worked rapidly to find a cure for this disease, fearing the worst. She hired anyone that could provide the bodies she required for experiments, whether they were dead or alive, descending Viktra into even greater levels of immorality. She would return freshly dead corpses back to life, only to see them die over and over again, causing a cycle of increasing torment for her subjects.
Eventually, Elise fell into a sleep from which she couldn’t be awakened and Viktra worked day and night on an organ that could never be diseased or cause the ceasing of life. She called it the unbreakable heart. Carefully, she sewed the heart into its place, replacing Elise’s own heart, but as she did this, constables broke into her laboratory and arrested Viktra for her body snatching crimes. Viktra did not even get chance to see if her new organ had worked, but through the smoke and the confusion, she could see the heart glowing from Elise’s chest before being knocked unconscious.
It was at this point that Viktra was pulled into the mists of Ravenloft, finding herself in Lamordia. Her genius here was celebrated as her inventions helped the people survive, but Mordenheim could never understand their adoration. But her greater focus was on Elise who had seemingly disappeared beyond Viktra’s awareness, knowing not if she was alive or dead. However, rumours talk of a woman spotted hiding in the frozen tundra from all prying eyes, confused and shocked at her strange living state, not quite alive and not quite dead. She does not want Viktra to find her, but Viktra continues to invest huge resources into finding where, if anywhere, Elise might be, but never finding her beloved.
All Darklords of Ravenloft
| Ankhtepot | Hazlik | Nepenthe |
| Chakuna | House of Lament | Queen Tsien Chiang |
| Count Strahd Von Zarovich | Ivana Boritsi | Ramya Vasavadan |
| Dr Viktra Mordenheim | Ivan Dilisnya | Vecna |
| Duchess Saidra d’Honaire | Jacqueline Renier | Vladeska Drakov |
| God-Brain of Bluetspur | Mother Lorinda | Wilfred Godefroy |
| Harkon Lucas |