Unlikely, but awesome (PREDICTION)

[Omegonthesane]

If Ganonron and/or Jephton fails enough saves from those negative levels, they'll probably be reduced to about the level of the Order - or at least, low enough to not be game-breakers. Therefore, it might well be possible for one or other of them to be resurrected and become a temporary member of the Order (or permanent, if we assume the Order disbands anyway when Xykon is defeated).

My guess is Ganonron, simply because he's the Lawful one and not a world-destroying maniac. That, and I thought of a way he could pull it off. The following scene is predicted to take place in the last minutes of Roy's resurrection, when V has retreated from the Xykon battle having barely scraped a victory against Xykon only to be driven away by Redcloak:
"In my middle age I became a lich, just like our enemy there. But a rival destroyed my phylactery, all too soon after my rebirth." (Panel shows a skeleton dressed as Ganonron having his amulet nuked, possibly by Jephton or Haerta).
"Fearing for my unlife, I hatched a plan to escape the Abyss. My first epic spell would send my dead body to a place unknown and inaccessible, there to lie in gentle repose until I could be resurrected." (Panel shows Lich Ganonron preparing the appropriate bedding)
(Cut to V and Ganonron actually chatting)
V: Wait, how did you achieve a means by which your mortal body would be prevented from decaying further?
G: Long story short, I'm Lawful Evil. Finding loopholes in the rules is my forte.
(Cut back to flashback mode)
"Sadly, in my paranoia, I didn't tell any of my loyal clerics where to find my body. When I was slain, no one was there to bring me back." (Panel shows Ganonron being killed by earlier rival, possibly a still-human Haerta)
"I believe the tomb is near (Insert place that Roy reveals is near Girard's Gate). Go there, raise me from the dead, and I will do all I can to aid you against Xykon. No doubletalk, no trickery. I am not the IFCC." (Panel shows Ganonron and V, with G like he is when he first cast Epic Teleport).

Preferably this is done without suggestion that Ganonron replace Belkar, as they're wildly different characters with different approaches both to adventuring and to evil.

[Raenir Salazar]

I believe Energy Drain is curable through cleric spells.

[mskkid]

You are right. This is highly unlikely. Ganeron would destroy the world given half a chance. He's one of the three most foul souls in existence. There is no fesable way that he would join the order.

[Morgan Wick]

Hmm. I would expect Ganonron to rebuke Xykon through V now if he actually did try and cheat death and failed.

Also, there needs to be a narrative purpose for Ganonron to join the team AND become pseudo-good (which is how you portray him here - he's Belkar faking-good at worst). The most obvious one, at least for the former, is for V to die, in a way that makes it more inconvenient or undesirable somehow for the Order to raise him than resurrect (or even True Resurrect) Ganonron, but that makes your conversation much MUCH harder to have, and probably best held with a not-yet-quite-resurrected Roy, not V. And I have a feeling Roy would have some misgivings about letting evil back into the world, not to mention having to deal with another evil member of the team.

[Logalmier]

He wouldn't destroy the world, he wants to rule the world. Remember he was the one who the fiends said conquered plan after plane? Team evil isn't out to destroy creation either, they want to rule it (or at least Xykon does). So aside from the fact that it's really unlikely he'd get resurrected in the first place, if he did he'd most likely join team evil.

[Omegonthesane]

I believe Energy Drain is curable through cleric spells.
You need to be relatively quick about that. Durkon has access to Greater Restoration I think, but Roy would probably order him to never restore the Terror of a Thousand Planes to his full strength.


Hmm. I would expect Ganonron to rebuke Xykon through V now if he actually did try and cheat death and failed.
Ganonron's not the charismatic one, remember. He might not be able to think of a clever retort in time under the circumstances.


Also, there needs to be a narrative purpose for Ganonron to join the team AND become pseudo-good (which is how you portray him here - he's Belkar faking-good at worst). The most obvious one, at least for the former, is for V to die, in a way that makes it more inconvenient or undesirable somehow for the Order to raise him than resurrect (or even True Resurrect) Ganonron, but that makes your conversation much MUCH harder to have, and probably best held with a not-yet-quite-resurrected Roy, not V. And I have a feeling Roy would have some misgivings about letting evil back into the world, not to mention having to deal with another evil member of the team.
Narrative purposes... after Girard's gate gets destroyed the Order needs someone with access to Greater Teleport, so they can reach Kraagor's Gate before Xykon, and Ganonron's tomb is the only place they can get one in time. V doesn't count, for obvious reasons, and Belkar is probably dead by this point, so Roy can probably handle a new Evil member. Especially if Durkon casts (Greater) Mark of Justice on him before he prepares any spells.

Admittedly this makes the conversation I mapped a lot harder to have, but it could just be that V keeps Ganonron in mind for later, leading to this exchange or similar:
:roy: ...So what you're saying is, we can't catch up with Xykon, and there's no conjurers in range. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere.
:vaarsuvius: Sir Greenhilt, are you absolutely sure that there is no way for us to reach any civilised settlement containing a wizard fit for our purposes in time to hamper Xykon's plans?
:roy: Yeah. Why?
:vaarsuvius: Because there is one conjurer who could get us there in time...

As for the pseudo-Good portrayal, first he's trying to sell himself as a party member, second I'm reasoning that Ganonron is suffering in Hell and will go to great lengths to get out of there. My first thought was actually that he'd want someone to cast Atonement so he can lose the burden of his evil acts, become LN or LG without the years of therapy that would require IRL, and escape Baator that way. It only says that the target must freely choose to change alignment, not that he must do so for reasons that are normally appropriate to a non-magical redemption.

More to the point he has a vested interest in not letting Xykon destroy all of creation, unless he genuinely wants to no longer exist anymore - there's a reason I called Ganonron > Jephton in the unlikely event that this actually happens.


He wouldn't destroy the world, he wants to rule the world. Remember he was the one who the fiends said conquered plan after plane? Team evil isn't out to destroy creation either, they want to rule it (or at least Xykon does). So aside from the fact that it's really unlikely he'd get resurrected in the first place, if he did he'd most likely join team evil.
"Don't get me wrong, if the Snarl wasn't so dangerous I'd happily watch your world burn. But this fool risks destroying all reality, and that means me. I'm sure your late friend Belkar would understand."

and later on, when the splice has come to bite V...

"I wanted to be there, when you paid for abusing my powers."
Adjust because I haven't really matched Ganonron's style of speech, and Rich is a better writer than me, but you get the idea. He wouldn't join Team Evil because unlike "Lord" Xykon he's intelligent enough and (possibly) wise enough to know that touching the Snarl with a fifty-foot barge pole is a Bad Idea.

[David Argall]

There is a number of reasons this would not happen. True resurrection only works on those dead less than 10 year/caster level, about 200 years for our purposes. He has likely been dead longer than that, and on any of a thousand worlds. So the odds are really bad.

And just what would he do for the plot? The story has a mage. It doesn't need another.

[Flickerdart]

And just what would he do for the plot? The story has a mage. It doesn't need another.
A mage? Yes. A competent mage? Aarindarius is the closest we've come to that, at least in the little we've seen of him. A dissuaded and broken V needs to be shown that true arcane power is worth fighting for, perhaps by example of a better mage. Then again, simply seeing Girard's powerful illusions foil Xykon where his application of brute force failed might help V a bit in that regard.

[Dagren]

You are right. This is highly unlikely. Ganeron would destroy the world given half a chance. He's one of the three most foul souls in existence. There is no fesable way that he would join the order.What? Where did you get that from? Who ever said that depth of evil was one of the criteria for the selection of the souls for the splice?

[Flickerdart]

Everyone who falls under fiend jurisdiction has to be pretty damn evil to do so. Not the most evil, but more evil than 66% of the population, assuming equal alignment distribution.

[Omegonthesane]

There is a number of reasons this would not happen. True resurrection only works on those dead less than 10 year/caster level, about 200 years for our purposes. He has likely been dead longer than that, and on any of a thousand worlds. So the odds are really bad.
I didn't want to have Ganonron state it in-character, but I envisioned his body being sat on a Tippy-style self-triggering gentle repose trap, thereby reducing the time he counts as dead to 1 day.


And just what would he do for the plot? The story has a mage. It doesn't need another.
The story doesn't have a mage who can use Teleport spells (or won't when V drops the splice) and maybe once in a while the party needs a necromancy spell cast by a wizard (Control Undead or Undeath to Death would work wonders against Xykon's army, more efficiently than anything V can do).

Of course, I also had an alternate version of avoiding this...
:vaarsuvius: Towards the end of my deal with the... subcontractors, the conjurer approached me with a request. His body has been under the effect of a gentle repose spell since the day he died, and his tomb is not far from here.
:vaarsuvius: I should warn you that he is evil, so we should take certain precautions to prevent him from betraying us. Durkon should be able to craft a suitable Mark of Justice for the purpose.
:vaarsuvius: The tomb is to be found... *gives directions* If we head there now, we should make it before sunset.
:haley: Hey guys!
:vaarsuvius: Why do you wish to interrupt me, Haley?
:haley: Remember we looted Lord Tyrinar's treasury? I got a scroll of Greater Teleport!
:vaarsuvius: *sigh* Very well, since I cannot use such scrolls, you should send us there post-haste.
:haley: Greater Teleport!

[pendell]

Ganeron would destroy the world given half a chance. He's one of the three most foul souls in existence. There is no fesable way that he would join the order.

Belkar *is* the most foul soul in existence, and he joined the order, didn't he?

Respectfully,

Brian P.