Saint of Kord
2010-09-22, 06:51 PM
I recently ran a party of new players through a slightly modified version of the Sunless Citadel (because that was the first campaign I ever played, I figured it was as good a place as any to start) and found myself in a strange position.
The players got seperated and one found himself tied to the Gulthias tree. For those of you not familar with this module, the Gulthias tree is an evil tree that grew from a stake peircing the heart of Gulthias, an aincent vampire. The tree's fruit grows into twig blights (from MM2, I think) and anyone tied to the tree is rather quickly engulfed by the tree and transformed into a mindless barkskinned version of themsleves. So one character was to be sacrificed to the tree while the rest of the party, having learned from bragging cultists what fate awaits their friend, rushed to save him.
The party got to him just in time (because I was lenient) and cut him out of the tree after only one hand had been engulfed/assimilated. Originally I was thinking this hand would function exactly as a twig blight's claw (adjusted for size), and would serve to arouse suspicion from NPC's because it detects as evil, and that would be the end of the story. But as we've played on, other issues have worked themselves into the story. Issues I'm not sure how to deal with.
The character hates the hand (the player thinks it's really cool though), it nags at him constantly to be fed blood, or exposed to light. If the character does either, it grows wildly and becomes unweildy. So he keeps it gloved and hams it up as his dark secret. He feels haunted by it. Gulthias appears in his dreams, promising him great power if he would succumb to the urges of the hand. The player feels that Gulthias had been trying to escape from the tree for centuries, only he could never control his bloodthirst and, until now, consumed his victims entirely. But now, for the first time, a victim of the tree was left alive and Gulthias is intent on using the character as a vessel for his rebirth.
I think this is a terrific idea and I want to encourage my players to be this imaginative, so I really want to foster this aspect of the story but I'm not sure how to. Can anyone suggest rules to use as the player's vampire-plant hand becomes stronger? I've been eyeing the vampire bloodline progression, but want something more plant-based. Thoughts?
The players got seperated and one found himself tied to the Gulthias tree. For those of you not familar with this module, the Gulthias tree is an evil tree that grew from a stake peircing the heart of Gulthias, an aincent vampire. The tree's fruit grows into twig blights (from MM2, I think) and anyone tied to the tree is rather quickly engulfed by the tree and transformed into a mindless barkskinned version of themsleves. So one character was to be sacrificed to the tree while the rest of the party, having learned from bragging cultists what fate awaits their friend, rushed to save him.
The party got to him just in time (because I was lenient) and cut him out of the tree after only one hand had been engulfed/assimilated. Originally I was thinking this hand would function exactly as a twig blight's claw (adjusted for size), and would serve to arouse suspicion from NPC's because it detects as evil, and that would be the end of the story. But as we've played on, other issues have worked themselves into the story. Issues I'm not sure how to deal with.
The character hates the hand (the player thinks it's really cool though), it nags at him constantly to be fed blood, or exposed to light. If the character does either, it grows wildly and becomes unweildy. So he keeps it gloved and hams it up as his dark secret. He feels haunted by it. Gulthias appears in his dreams, promising him great power if he would succumb to the urges of the hand. The player feels that Gulthias had been trying to escape from the tree for centuries, only he could never control his bloodthirst and, until now, consumed his victims entirely. But now, for the first time, a victim of the tree was left alive and Gulthias is intent on using the character as a vessel for his rebirth.
I think this is a terrific idea and I want to encourage my players to be this imaginative, so I really want to foster this aspect of the story but I'm not sure how to. Can anyone suggest rules to use as the player's vampire-plant hand becomes stronger? I've been eyeing the vampire bloodline progression, but want something more plant-based. Thoughts?