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TechnOkami
2010-09-22, 08:51 PM
My GM has an odd rule, that we can play two characters at once. I took him up on this offer and decided to settle on playing a Druid and a Dread Necromancer.

The Druid is male and neutrally aligned.

The Dread Necromancer is a little girl (cute as buttons) and I'm thinking of giving her a chaotic neutral alignment.

How oh how do I keep them from killing each other?

Play on little giants... play on.

Nick_mi
2010-09-22, 08:55 PM
I fail to see the problem? why exactly are they killing each other?

Marnath
2010-09-22, 08:57 PM
As a GM, the obvious way to keep the PC's from killing each other is to beat them to the punch. :smallbiggrin:

TechnOkami
2010-09-22, 08:57 PM
...because the little girl's a pc that controls dead things, and druids hate dead things because of its unnatural qualities. So I guess what I'm really asking is how can I get them to be on a "we work with each other" level?

TechnOkami
2010-09-22, 08:58 PM
As a GM, the obvious way to keep the PC's from killing each other is to beat them to the punch. :smallbiggrin:

Not cool! >:C

Lady Moreta
2010-09-22, 08:59 PM
Maybe the druid saved the girl's life (or vice versa), and out of gratitude they travel together, and agree to disagree?

NMBLNG
2010-09-22, 09:00 PM
Ditto Nick_mi.

Both are neutral, more or less. I could see a druid having some concerns about a necromancer making 'unnatural' undead, but I'm sure an agreement could be made. For instance, the necro either is too cute to stop, or promises not to defile the natural order or whatever.

But since both are you're characters, it's up to you go get them to play nice. You decide that they play nice, and then figure out why. Not the other way around.

Knaight
2010-09-22, 09:01 PM
Maybe they both like each other, but dissaprove of each others methods. They may argue, both of them think they can convince the other and believe it important to stick around to do so because they are good people, and both of them use their methods as they come up, sparking the arguments.

Marnath
2010-09-22, 09:17 PM
Not cool! >:C

I was joking. I just had a better idea though! Maybe the necromancer promises to only use remains of non-sapient creatures or people who give permission to use their remains, and in return the druid promises not to burn her as unnatural. :smallsmile:

Tetrasodium
2010-09-22, 10:09 PM
did you already introduce the character? Dragon 311 has a few variant druids, of them being the Wild Reaper... sort of a druid who decided that everything dies and sometimes it's best to give things a push.


Wild reapers walk beside death. To them, dying is a healthy part of life. Yet wild reapers know death has its time and place in the natural cycle, like autumn has its place in the order of the seasons. Harvesting life too early prevents the birth of the next generation and diminishes the strength and wisdom the elderly pass on.

Wild reapers often unnerve people due to their preoccupation with death. They always seem to be looking for signs of illness or weakness in others, watching with predatory glee for evidence that a creature's harvest time has come. They keep company with beasts of a similar bent: Carnivores and scavengers, nature's murders and undertakers. Evil wild reapers earn a bad reputation for their fellows as even the smallest handicap or injury s an excuse to "purfy" a species. Neutral and lawful wild reapers take the long view, waiting for time to decide what lives must ebb so that life can flow into the world. Good wild reapers judge themselves what will make the world a better place and help the weak become strong and foolish wise. Chaotic wild reapers encompass all these views acting as a whim takes them.


Abilities are mostly the same as regular druid with some minor changes.

Tharck
2010-09-23, 01:12 PM
The little girl is actually his wife that was reincarnated into a little girl - and no longer remembers him - but his love for her continues. Due to the reincarnation and her closeness with death and her soul being ripped from heaven (or hell) she has a fondness with death and being close to it. Or perhaps she seeks to have the control over death she didnt in her previous life.

He watches her for signs of her past resurfacing, and continues to try to save her from herself and her unnatural ways.

Mystic Muse
2010-09-23, 01:15 PM
The little girl is actually his wife that was reincarnated into a little girl - and no longer remembers him - but his love for her continues. Due to the reincarnation and her closeness with death and her soul being ripped from heaven (or hell) she has a fondness with death and being close to it. Or perhaps she seeks to have the control over death she didnt in her previous life.

He watches her for signs of her past resurfacing, and continues to try to save her from herself and her unnatural ways.

I like this solution.

No Idea
2010-09-23, 01:21 PM
I'd make em brother and sister. Big brother always looking after his timid little sister but everytime his back is turned there she goes exploring the dark arts and violating the natural order again. The little scamp! I'd play him as intentionally oblivious to what shes doing and her a manipulating little charmer that has big brother wrapped around her finger. Maybe he just figures its a phase shes going through or that shes an illusionist with a dark sense of humor.

DragoonWraith
2010-09-23, 01:22 PM
...because the little girl's a pc that controls dead things, and druids hate dead things because of its unnatural qualities. So I guess what I'm really asking is how can I get them to be on a "we work with each other" level?
Undead don't have to be unnatural, perhaps? There are at least two homebrew PrCs that I know of (Child of the Mausoleum and Deadwood) that are based on that concept, anyway.

jiriku
2010-09-23, 02:01 PM
Maybe the necromancer girl is his daughter?

Telonius
2010-09-23, 02:16 PM
She raises the dead purely out of environmental concerns. She has convinced him that she will only raise beings that have been corrupted by poisons. If she were to allow such creatures to sit around rotting as they are, some poor vulture (or other natural scavenger) could happen upon it and ingest the poison as well, leading to the vulture's death. So, better to remove the creature from the cycle and have it do something useful.

The fact that she prefers to kill her foes with poison is entirely unrelated to the discussion. :smallamused:

BRC
2010-09-23, 02:19 PM
Hey, in Nature nothing is wasted. If that corpse just sits there rotting, it's going to waste. If you raise it into an undead, have it do something useful, and THEN let it's nutrients return to the world, you're getting more good out of it then you would otherwise!

The Druid has found it easier to just accept this, under the agreement that she will, eventually, let her undead return to the wild, rather than try to argue his way around it.

WarKitty
2010-09-23, 02:28 PM
The way we worked it out in our current campaign: the necromancer agreed to only undead people who were guilty of crimes against nature, so they could repair the harm they did.

SirLagsalot
2010-09-23, 03:15 PM
Gentle repose + careful application of disguise kits + moderate amount of bluff = THEY'RE NOT DEAD YET!

FelixG
2010-09-23, 03:20 PM
They are natural! just as druids use natural things to make their implements (leather armor ect) the necromancer is just reusing the bodies of those they kill! :P

Coidzor
2010-09-23, 03:42 PM
Punch druidhearst in the snout to assert dominance!

Tetrasodium
2010-09-23, 04:37 PM
Punch druidhearst in the snout to assert dominance!

Yes but that just gives you the TOMMYGUN when druidhearst transforms into a badger and RAGES hard enough to knock it off the SHELF. You would have to fire your RING OF KEYS to get the INK OF SQUID PRO QUO afterwards. Look it up on gamefaqs, page 600 or so explains it in detail. :smallbiggrin:

Kurald Galain
2010-09-23, 04:39 PM
How oh how do I keep them from killing each other?

Play a game of Paranoia with them.

Then explain that D&D is not Paranoia.

:smallwink:

Traveler
2010-09-23, 05:18 PM
Ah, duel characters at each other's throats controled by one player... That happened in my group. The wizard and the paladin had been building up tension for a few ingame months. At the end of it was the greatest agruement I have ever seen.

Snake-Aes
2010-09-23, 05:18 PM
Maybe the druid saved the girl's life (or vice versa), and out of gratitude they travel together, and agree to disagree?

Father and Daughter.

Hague
2010-09-23, 05:24 PM
The Children of Winter druid sect in the Eberron Campaign setting doesn't hate the undead as negative energy is a result of the Gloaming and thus undead are a huge part of the Coming of Winter.

herrhauptmann
2010-09-23, 06:10 PM
The little girl is actually his wife that was reincarnated into a little girl - and no longer remembers him - but his love for her continues. Due to the reincarnation and her closeness with death and her soul being ripped from heaven (or hell) she has a fondness with death and being close to it. Or perhaps she seeks to have the control over death she didnt in her previous life.

He watches her for signs of her past resurfacing, and continues to try to save her from herself and her unnatural ways.

So he's hoping that eventually his wifes mind will return, but of course she'll be in a small little girl, while he's an old man. Isn't that a little, um squicky?

Short answer (rude answer): Don't do it. Kudos on ambition with your characters, and doing things that are different.
But perhaps you shouldn't play two characters so drastically opposed to one another. Disagreements make for fun games (sometimes), but when you're running both sides of the argument, it can get confusing to listen to, and boring for the rest of the party. Particularly if they have to wait on finishing a dungeon or something because you're in the middle of a conflict. reading off a script.
Besides, as arguments go, it'd be pretty boring. You'd already know exactly what the other side is going to say.

Zhalath
2010-09-23, 07:39 PM
Well, just because they use means that don't quite agree doesn't mean they will be fighting each other. I've seen plenty of Chaotic Neutral rogues with Lawful Good paladins, and seen the rogues steal to their heart's content. The characters could disagree, and the druid could scold the necromancer for her zombies, but they don't have to fight each other.

They could be friends, or the druid could be a mentor to the dread necro. Maybe the DN thinks that the dead are just a natural material, and she uses them rather than let them go to waste. I took that stance as a DN.

Tharck
2010-09-24, 09:10 AM
So he's hoping that eventually his wifes mind will return, but of course she'll be in a small little girl, while he's an old man. Isn't that a little, um squicky?


Only if you make a big deal out of it. In the ages fantasy is modeled after being married at thirteen or fourteen wasn't uncommon. Even so it's still a fantasy campaign where Druids don't exactly age ungracefully at higher levels.

Depending on the campaign some druids might fall in love with their once animal companion - now awakened - horse and turn into a horse themselves for a roll in the hay.

As for an older man (who can look as young as he wants thanks to Alter Self) being with an older woman trapped inside a teen - eh.

Lucky guy.

dsmiles
2010-09-24, 09:16 AM
Only if you make a big deal out of it. In the ages fantasy is modeled after being married at thirteen or fourteen wasn't uncommon. Even so it's still a fantasy campaign where Druids don't exactly age ungracefully at higher levels.

Depending on the campaign some druids might fall in love with their once animal companion - now awakened - horse and turn into a horse themselves for a roll in the hay.

As for an older man (who can look as young as he wants thanks to Alter Self) being with an older woman trapped inside a teen - eh.

Lucky guy.

Hell, even in Colonial America (ca. 1600-1700-ish) it wasn't uncommon for girls to marry as young as 14 or 15.

Marnath
2010-09-24, 09:17 AM
Unless he's already old, she'll be an adult by the time he becomes old.

Snake-Aes
2010-09-24, 09:23 AM
Suffice to say that the current legal ages are a thing of our current culture, and that the boards refrain from discussing it so we might as well just ignore the problem since it doesn't exist for the thread's owner.

BeholderSlayer
2010-09-24, 09:23 AM
Hey, corpses are biodegradable. She's just spreading the love.

Marnath
2010-09-24, 09:25 AM
Suffice to say that the current legal ages are a thing of our current culture, and that the boards refrain from discussing it so we might as well just ignore the problem since it doesn't exist for the thread's owner.

Culture is fine to talk about, it's politics that is the problem. We talked about age vs. maturity a lot in the Wut? half elf/orc thread.

Zen Master
2010-09-24, 09:52 AM
*party kills BBE*

Little girl: Is he dead now?!
Druid: Yes - finally. He wont bother anyone ever again.
Little girl: ......
Little girl: He looks kinda sad =(
Druid: Well - I'd be sad too if I were in his place.
Little girl: And he's all alone now.
Druid: Yea, all his minions ar ... wait, where are you going with this?
Little girl: ... can I animate him?
Druid: No - definately not!
Little girl: Aww - please? He looks ever so sad, we can't just leave him here.
Druid: No. No no no.
Little girl: Pretty please? I'll take so good care of him.
Druid: GAH! Ok - alright, you can animate him. But he sleeps outside of camp, and ... argh, what am I even saying?!

dsmiles
2010-09-24, 09:54 AM
*party kills BBE*

Little girl: Is he dead now?!
Druid: Yes - finally. He wont bother anyone ever again.
Little girl: ......
Little girl: He looks kinda sad =(
Druid: Well - I'd be sad too if I were in his place.
Little girl: And he's all alone now.
Druid: Yea, all his minions ar ... wait, where are you going with this?
Little girl: ... can I animate him?
Druid: No - definately not!
Little girl: Aww - please? He looks ever so sad, we can't just leave him here.
Druid: No. No no no.
Little girl: Pretty please? I'll take so good care of him.
Druid: GAH! Ok - alright, you can animate him. But he sleeps outside of camp, and ... argh, what am I even saying?!

Thanks. I just shot coffee out of my nose.

Tetrasodium
2010-09-24, 09:59 AM
*party kills BBE*

Little girl: Is he dead now?!
Druid: Yes - finally. He wont bother anyone ever again.
Little girl: ......
Little girl: He looks kinda sad =(
Druid: Well - I'd be sad too if I were in his place.
Little girl: And he's all alone now.
Druid: Yea, all his minions ar ... wait, where are you going with this?
Little girl: ... can I animate him?
Druid: No - definately not!
Little girl: Aww - please? He looks ever so sad, we can't just leave him here.
Druid: No. No no no.
Little girl: Pretty please? I'll take so good care of him.
Druid: GAH! Ok - alright, you can animate him. But he sleeps outside of camp, and ... argh, what am I even saying?!

Don't forget...

"I'll use this pretty pink scroll of graceful repose to make him better"

hobbes1020
2010-09-24, 10:19 AM
Just because PC alignments or methods might differ greatly doesn't mean they can't work together for a common goal. It's always important to remember that you control your character, not the other way around.

FelixG
2010-09-24, 10:24 AM
Don't forget...

"I'll use this pretty pink scroll of graceful repose to make him better"

and: "Il name him fluffels!"

Zen Master
2010-09-24, 10:48 AM
and: "Il name him fluffels!"

Heheh =)

'And we shall have tea and scones ... and you can come too, mr. Druid' *big smile*

Doomboy911
2010-09-24, 01:42 PM
I could believe that they're keeping each other in check.

Dairun Cates
2010-09-24, 02:44 PM
Honestly, for most sane people, dislike and murderous tendencies are entirely different. I despise a lot of talk radio hosts to the point of seething hatred, but I'm not going to go out and shoot them. People get forced to work with people they despise all the time. It's called office work. Just because Bob from the office fills you with rage doesn't mean you won't put on an uneasy smile because you don't want to alienate yourself from everyone else and get fired.

Same thing here. Do you know how hard it is finding another group of people willing to adventuring job X for you. I'd be willing to put up with someone I despised if it meant not having a trap instantly kill me because I can't find a rogue.

So yeah. I fail to see why the Druid can't just agree to disagree, grumble under his breath a little, and just suck it up for the sake of better survival odds.

Coidzor
2010-09-24, 02:46 PM
Depending on the campaign some druids might fall in love with their once animal companion - now awakened - horse and turn into a horse themselves for a roll in the hay.

Yes, and the rest of the party still finds it squicky.

Dairun Cates
2010-09-24, 02:58 PM
Yes, and the rest of the party still finds it squicky.

That was actually one of the major points of an actual campaign I was in. Guy meets girl of his dreams only to find out she's a forest spirit, and a unicorn. Ends up in a horrible adventure to keep a promise to protect her, becomes the guardian of the forest, and gets horribly torn between the fact that he genuinely cares for someone and the embarrassment of the situation. Almost every party member and villain made fun of him for it, and he had a hell of a time explaining it to other people. It really wasn't that bad in context. She was human first and usually kept a human form, but she was also a unicorn for all intensive purposes. So yeah. He constantly had to worry about squicking people out.

Considering that was my character, it was an interesting character to have to play since he got stuck in such a weird scenario. Of course, this started a running gag of people in that bloodline showing up and having trace amounts of just about every half template known to man in their blood by the time we hit a future setting. It's always the males that get seduced by some mythical figure too. It's like Belmonts and their never-ending forced quest to kill Dracula. Vandrel males just seem to be cursed to horrendous misfortune and catching the eyes of some magical person or entity no matter how hard they try.

It's nearly impossible to explain that scenario without sounding weird.

Telonius
2010-09-24, 03:58 PM
That was actually one of the major points of an actual campaign I was in. Guy meets girl of his dreams only to find out she's a forest spirit, and a unicorn. Ends up in a horrible adventure to keep a promise to protect her, becomes the guardian of the forest, and gets horribly torn between the fact that he genuinely cares for someone and the embarrassment of the situation. Almost every party member and villain made fun of him for it, and he had a hell of a time explaining it to other people. It really wasn't that bad in context. She was human first and usually kept a human form, but she was also a unicorn for all intensive purposes. So yeah. He constantly had to worry about squicking people out.

Considering that was my character, it was an interesting character to have to play since he got stuck in such a weird scenario. Of course, this started a running gag of people in that bloodline showing up and having trace amounts of just about every half template known to man in their blood by the time we hit a future setting. It's always the males that get seduced by some mythical figure too. It's like Belmonts and their never-ending forced quest to kill Dracula. Vandrel males just seem to be cursed to horrendous misfortune and catching the eyes of some magical person or entity no matter how hard they try.

It's nearly impossible to explain that scenario without sounding weird.


I love whom I love.

(Gods, I love that movie).

Thrawn183
2010-09-24, 04:19 PM
You could just make the argument that the necromancer is fighting greater monstrosities than she creates. Something of a lesser of two evils.

Dairun Cates
2010-09-24, 04:30 PM
(Gods, I love that movie).

Yeah. It was a very fairy tale plot.

...Except my character was a bitter, sarcastic, cynic who constantly lived in the shadow of his twin sister and had legendary horrible luck. Of course, despite this, he was secretly the kind of person that always keeps promises and protects the ones he cares about with his very life. Of course, this just led to him being easy to manipulate despite having the highest wisdom and second highest int in the party.

Which was what MADE him bitter, sarcastic, and cycnical. Did I mention the part where he went out of his way at one point to single-handedly destroy the reputations and careers of everyone that bullied him in military school when he met up with them again and they tried to humiliate him in front of the entire town?

So yeah. He was more like Shrek (in the good Shrek movies) than a fairy tale knight in shining armor.