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Grifthin
2010-07-05, 03:35 AM
Righto I'm thinking that I want to offer my players the chance to work for Asmodeus. As part of the job they get rewarded with hell based powers. I wanna make it worth it to sacrifice features/abilities/bodies to get more abilities. Eventually culminating with them offering their souls if they want to unlock the full potential.

So far thought of following benefits they can "unlock"

No longer need to eat or drink
No longer need to sleep. (still need rest for spells/power points)
Telepathy
Damage reduction
Fast healing
Power to throw blasts of fire/eventually Hellfire
Summon Devils
Some elemental resistances.

There's a ranger, Psion and Sorceror. What do you think would be good trade off's they can make for these kinds of abilities. Also does anybody else have some suggestions to make for some cool abilities they can trade for.

FelixG
2010-07-05, 03:41 AM
I would think some physical changes might be appropriate in the beginning, figure which kind of Devil fits closest with each player and have them start assuming some of the outward looks of said Devils.

The social impact would be interesting as they would have to work to cover up these things if they went into civilized areas, possibly even some alignment shifts as they give their soul over to an ArchDemon.

Thiyr
2010-07-05, 03:45 AM
From the stuff you want to give them, it seems like you could easily have their new abilities just be them gaining levels in warlock (Edit: with a built in ring of sustanence and a level dip in mindbender). As for tradeoffs, you could feasibly have there be a bounty on enemies killed, objectives completed, bringing back important resources/intel, bring back new recruits. If you're going for more of a personal sacrifice angle, permanently reducing ability scores could work, as a mix of the "blood for power" angle and the side effects of giving themselves over to darker impulses. Level tradeins based off of what the blackguard has could be a decent starting point as well.

Vitruviansquid
2010-07-05, 03:47 AM
Killing people gives them some kind bonus, like stat increases for an amount of time, temp HP, or what-have-yous.

Thajocoth
2010-07-05, 03:56 AM
In D&D 4e, there's an Epic Destiny of this flavor. When the player first gets it (level 21), their Charisma goes up, they gain darkvision, they get a big fire resist, and their type changes to that of devils (Immortal in 4e). At 24, they add fire to some attacks (1 per encounter, but I know 3.x doesn't do the per encounter thing), and they ignore enemy fire resists. At 26, they can summon a few devils, and at 30, they get a teleport speed, dealing fire damage to those around them when they teleport.

4e doesn't believe in tradeoff, even stating in the fluff that a Good character can still be a Prince of Hell... But the above are a summary of the sorts of abilities that WotC thought appropriate for something similar, albeit in a different edition. They also describe the transformation into a devil as "subtle".

Dragon 372 for the full writeup.

As for what to trade... What do they have that devils don't? I would think those would be the sorts of things they'd lose as they make the transformation. There's also the fact that they'll now show up as evil, and more perceptive people might start recognizing what they are...

hamishspence
2010-07-05, 07:33 AM
Dragon 372 for the full writeup.


It's also reprinted in Dragon Annual.

I like the concept.

In 3.5, maybe the characters could gain "devil-touched" feats from Fiendish Codex 2, as bonus feats?

senrath
2010-07-05, 07:55 AM
Maybe eventually grant them the Fiendish template, only without the LA?

Prime32
2010-07-05, 08:05 AM
Try some material from the Tome of Fiends (http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Tome_of_Fiends_(3.5e_Sourcebook)), but be careful since it's balanced for high-optimisation games. There's even stuff on the effects fiendish power could have on the characters' appearance and personality.

Fouredged Sword
2010-07-05, 10:07 AM
I would think it would be neat to let the spellcasters progress hellfire warlock with the warlock part reflavored for spellcasting in a reverse of the warlock reflavor rules. Let them sacrifice con to throw the damge of thier spells through the roof.

mobdrazhar
2010-07-05, 06:00 PM
In 3.5, maybe the characters could gain "devil-touched" feats from Fiendish Codex 2, as bonus feats?

I agree with this idea as it would show the slow transformation to devil