TaintedLight
2009-04-26, 03:57 PM
I have proposed an idea to my DM for our next campaign for a twist on the regular characters I tend to play, but he is hesitant to give me the go-ahead on this. The idea is that my character, a Warforged wizard (class not yet certain) found a gauntlet during a dungeon expedition once that radiated a faint magical aura. Divinations proved worthless to identify it, but after some time it began calling to him. Eventually, the gauntlet wore down his will to the point where he put it on, and after losing a battle of wills with the spirit inhabiting the gauntlet it possessed his body.
The spirit is Saryd Hal'yak, an evil sorcerer who died centuries ago. His people were locked in a vicious war with another civilization and they were on the brink of defeat. Saryd was actually a noble soul and an honored soldier at the time, but he saw only one way to save his people. Using dark magics and unspeakable rituals, he siphoned his own soul into a suit of magical armor that he intended for his brother to wear into battle. The armor was fearsome indeed, and it certainly had the potential to turn the tide of the war if employed properly. However, his brother was horrified by the result of his brother's labors, as the techniques used in its forging had tainted the armor with a powerful evil. He smashed all but one piece of Saryd's creation, the right gauntlet, and hid it beneath the ruins of their ancestral home.
Saryd's people eventually succumbed to the might of their enemies and faded into history. Saryd watched this tragedy unfold, and the pain of watching his once-proud civilization crumble combined with his tainted gauntlet's power began to warp and twist his soul. He became angry and bitter over time as the power of the armor began to fade. This was the price he had paid for his creation: it would be a terrible force of destruction at the cost of his soul, but the magic would ebb from it with time. His world shrank as his senses started to dull, and eventually he was left to contemplate eternity in the lonely darkness of his tomb.
None of the story thus far has game mechanics attached to it, and I don't think it really needs them. After the Warforged finds the gauntlet, I thought maybe the gauntlet would have one charge and could cast heightened Monstrous Thrall on anyone who attempts to put it on for that charge, but it would have no other abilities other than being purely decorative. Whether or not Saryd's possession ends if the arm is removed or some such I'm not yet sure.
How do you guys think I can tweak this to pitch the idea a bit better?
The spirit is Saryd Hal'yak, an evil sorcerer who died centuries ago. His people were locked in a vicious war with another civilization and they were on the brink of defeat. Saryd was actually a noble soul and an honored soldier at the time, but he saw only one way to save his people. Using dark magics and unspeakable rituals, he siphoned his own soul into a suit of magical armor that he intended for his brother to wear into battle. The armor was fearsome indeed, and it certainly had the potential to turn the tide of the war if employed properly. However, his brother was horrified by the result of his brother's labors, as the techniques used in its forging had tainted the armor with a powerful evil. He smashed all but one piece of Saryd's creation, the right gauntlet, and hid it beneath the ruins of their ancestral home.
Saryd's people eventually succumbed to the might of their enemies and faded into history. Saryd watched this tragedy unfold, and the pain of watching his once-proud civilization crumble combined with his tainted gauntlet's power began to warp and twist his soul. He became angry and bitter over time as the power of the armor began to fade. This was the price he had paid for his creation: it would be a terrible force of destruction at the cost of his soul, but the magic would ebb from it with time. His world shrank as his senses started to dull, and eventually he was left to contemplate eternity in the lonely darkness of his tomb.
None of the story thus far has game mechanics attached to it, and I don't think it really needs them. After the Warforged finds the gauntlet, I thought maybe the gauntlet would have one charge and could cast heightened Monstrous Thrall on anyone who attempts to put it on for that charge, but it would have no other abilities other than being purely decorative. Whether or not Saryd's possession ends if the arm is removed or some such I'm not yet sure.
How do you guys think I can tweak this to pitch the idea a bit better?