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View Full Version : Monkeywrenching an LE gamer



redzimmer
2009-03-05, 12:59 PM
Hey.

I am DMing an ongoing campaign 3.5 that has my group seeking out a militant hobgoblin who has in some way affected each of the characters to some degree.

Anyway, one of my characters is an LE catfolk warlock that seeks the hobbo for revenge (killed his people, enslaved his sister, ate the last After Eight mint). However, the whole warlock pact makes him subservient to a coven of Vecnan priests. I usually like to toss a monkeywrench in his gears on occasion to remind him be LE doesn't mean all the swag with none of the moral dillemas.

Anyone have any general tasks the Vecna clerics might demand of him that can make his life less pleasant?

Thanks.

Jeff, if you're reading this, I'll dock you xp. :p

FinalJustice
2009-03-05, 01:28 PM
Demand him to sacrifice his sister is the obvious one, but it's just mean. You can sneak it as 'Kill the Hobgoblin and don't let a single servant of him alive'. Let him realize on his own that he has to kill his sister.

There are obvious two choices (kill the sister and obey, don't kill her and betray) BUT, if he manages to legitimally free her somehow, maybe buying her from the hobbo, he'd have made a nice third choice.

A nice alternative is not kill his servants, but claim the ones that survive to be Vecnan slaves. He'd have to free his sister just to make her a slave again, and there would be the bigger problem of freeing her from his bosses.

DrizztFan24
2009-03-05, 01:28 PM
They might want him to go on diplomatic missions (CHA based warlock right?) to liches and other powerful wizards, trying to get recruits. Other nasty things involving undeath and folks the rest of the party won't like.

Myrmex
2009-03-05, 02:25 PM
Make him work for/with the hobgoblin.

Tsotha-lanti
2009-03-05, 02:38 PM
Evil != Evil. Vecna, specifically, is about secrets.

So obviously the PC will be required to ferret out important secrets of nobles, wizards, priests, and the like, of all alignments. That's the easy part (and it's not actually easy!).

The hard part is that the PC will be required to keep those secrets for Vecna's priests. And so many of the secrets could be useful - benefitting him personally in power or money, or saving the party trouble, money, or even lives. The Vecnans monitor this both by following the PC with spies and scries, and deducing from his actions if he has revealed a secret (acting on it counts, even if he tells no one).

Tengu_temp
2009-03-05, 03:31 PM
I usually like to toss a monkeywrench in his gears on occasion to remind him be LE doesn't mean all the swag with none of the moral dillemas.


If he does something Stupid Evil, let the consequences bite him in the ass. Sacrifice an ally without even thinking to accomplish your goal? Good job, his large and powerful family hates you now.

lsfreak
2009-03-05, 03:51 PM
I'll agree with FinalJustice; either of those options work well. But as Tsotha-lanti said, it's not in Vecna's nature to just kill people off. There's always something involved. They'll need a good reason to go there. Without knowing exactly what this enslavement entails, I'd say a good idea would be to involve the sister with the secret somehow. She overheard, she was working with the hobbo to try and find something that would let her escape, whatever. The PC then finds out that his sister is involved and has to decide what to do. Maybe he was ordered to kill everyone but finds out his sister knows everything and so instead brings her back to be interrogated, hoping she'll be freed after. Maybe he lets her go against orders to kill everyone in order to keep the secret from escaping (and that sets up future problems with the sister knowing something she shouldn't).

Keep in mind that these are clerics of Vecna though - they'll be watching him to whole time. If he betrays them, they'll know immediately. If he legitimately frees her or even tries to free her, they'll immediately know she's important to him.

PrismaticPIA
2009-03-05, 03:55 PM
Hey.

I am DMing an ongoing campaign 3.5 that has my group seeking out a militant hobgoblin who has in some way affected each of the characters to some degree.

Anyway, one of my characters is an LE catfolk warlock that seeks the hobbo for revenge (killed his people, enslaved his sister, ate the last After Eight mint). However, the whole warlock pact makes him subservient to a coven of Vecnan priests. I usually like to toss a monkeywrench in his gears on occasion to remind him be LE doesn't mean all the swag with none of the moral dillemas.

Anyone have any general tasks the Vecna clerics might demand of him that can make his life less pleasant?

Thanks.

Jeff, if you're reading this, I'll dock you xp. :p

Hello Mr. Catfolk! Have you ever considered working for our Company? We provide competitive salary and benefits....and we have dental, and all for one silly little soul. What do you say? (label on briefcase read's "Property of The Nine Hells")

Narmoth
2009-03-05, 04:49 PM
The hobgoblin shaman is also a disciple of Vecna. The group have to put him in charge of the hobgoblin tribe, and they have to do it without weakening the tribe, which means without killing any hobgoblin except the current chief

Zaq
2009-03-05, 05:03 PM
The hobgoblin is actually an important part of the priests' plan. He has to stay alive. And since they're Vecnan priests, the plan absolutely has to remain secret. Watch him try to keep the hobbo alive (which he doesn't want to do in the first place) without letting his party know.

Toliudar
2009-03-05, 05:13 PM
The trick is to find a way to make his life more complicated without forcing him into a direct conflict with the rest of the PC's. How about, instead of him needing to help the hobgoblin, he's charged by the priests to find out some secret (location of an ancient macguffin, etc) from him before he's killed, and of course the other PC's aren't allowed to know about this mission. The warlock is then forced to try to find a way to capture the hobgoblin, without being able to explain WHY to the other PC's.

Draz74
2009-03-05, 06:13 PM
Don't take Monkey Wrench! IT'S A TRAP!

... Er. Sorry, force of habit. I didn't get any further than reading the subject line ...

:smallwink:

Harperfan7
2009-03-05, 10:34 PM
Whatever it is, it should involve CG Hound people with spray bottles full of holy water.

redzimmer
2009-03-06, 12:56 AM
The hobgoblin is actually an important part of the priests' plan. He has to stay alive. And since they're Vecnan priests, the plan absolutely has to remain secret. Watch him try to keep the hobbo alive (which he doesn't want to do in the first place) without letting his party know.

Now THAT is frickin' evil. Love it. Thanks.