I built a... different kind of storm sorcerer to play Strahd. I haven't started, so no feedback yet.

Dave is a wise, shy, coward and fragile cleric of knowledge that is renowned as one of the best archaeologists in Faerun. His left arm is a limp, so he inscribed his holy symbol, an eye, into his right hand so he can always use it. He was struck by a lightning many years ago and has lightning scars all around his body, but he does not like to talk about it.

Dave hates snakes, fire, heights, people mentioning his size or physical powers and physical discomfort. Whenever any of these elements is present, Dave has to fight a deep urge, an intense power that clouds his judgment, makes him faint. When he wakes up, the source of his discomfort is gone, toasted by lightning and clashed by thunder, and his left arm, although useless, hurts as if too much effort has been done by it. He hates when this happens, and does not know what caused it. When speaking with the dead, if death was involved in this sad episode, the only words he was able to make out were Marduk.

Gamewise: if Dave is in the presence of either fire, snakes or heights, is offended by his lack of physical strength or if he has taken damage this turn, he must make a DC 5 CHA saving throw. For each success, the difficulty for the next check increases by 5. If he fails, Marduk takes power. Marduk is a female, misogynist, left-handed, foul-mouthed spirit of the storm that tries to protect her weak, feeble vessel when she feels that the situation has gone south. Marduk is a storm sorcerer of the same level as her vessel, with a very limited, lightning-thunder based spells. Marduk has her own intentions, which will probably be connected to Dave's visit to Ravenloft, but Dave is not even sure what Marduk really is.

Dave and Marduk share spell slots. To compensate for the fact that Dave is very good outside combat and Marduk is good in combat, Dave uses the hit dice of the sorcerer and can't use shields. There is also a chance that Marduk takes power when Dave is called "small man", "weak", "feeble" or other insults to his power. Dave does not mind, he would be willing to bow his head and accept the insult; but Marduk is taking none of it.