Atonement quest

[faceroll]

The fighter/barbarian/hellreaver (a good aligned prestige class focused on slaying evil outsiders, from FCII) was turned momentarily evil by a hag (Morality Undone), and chose to turn on the party in a very out of character move. He and the monk fell off a 140ft cliff, survived the fall, both got up, and then the monk immediately punched him unconscious with non-lethal damage. After abruptly, murderously turning on the party, and having never been that good to begin with (staying mostly neutral), I ruled that the Hellreaver's alignment fell to neutral.

He's not evil anymore, was originally neutral good, and worships Pelor. The LG cleric in the party also worships Pelor. I told the cleric to come up for an appropriate quest. The Cleric is a fighter1/cleric8. Most books are on the table.

Currently, the party is enjoying some downtime (6 days) in a nearly abandoned village. The warlock & wizard have moved into the wizard's shack on the edge of town, and the cleric has begun re-sanctifying/repairing the village chapel. The fighter/warblade is studying a tome of +3 str for the week, that is why they're there.

What would be a reasonable RP/minor quest the Hellreaver could undertake to get his alignment back? I've unfairly picked on both the cleric and hellreaver players, and would like this to be a fun experience for them, give them a chance in the limelight, etc. I don't want to seem like I am singling them out or anything like that, and I am actually rather excited by this opportunity. It will mesh very well with the cleric later picking up a level of Sacred Exorcist. I think the cleric's reward will be me letting him retrain his skills to qualify for Sacred Exorcist (PHB2 isn't in play and the previous DM, a grognard, is against that sort of stuff, in general).

Anyway, your thoughts?

[Sacrieur]

Have him confront a CE version of himself, either cleverly disguised as an illusion or an actual demon mimicking his form.

Personally I'm akin to the illusion idea. Having the whole thing be a complete dream and mind**** him by having him wake up at the end of it all would really make things interesting. - Actually, just really play with his head and put him in situations where he has to make difficult decisions (like choosing between that shiny new armor or helping those poor peasants).

[NichG]

I like the CE version illusion/dream idea, but how about take it a bit further even than that.

Have the onset of the Atonement be that he (and perhaps the party, if you want this to be a major focal point) sit in a sweat lodge or place with thick incense or some other appropriately foggy/misty/smoky environment. This should be part of the atonement ritual. Have them gradually black out, almost so gently that they're unaware. The Fighter, just before he blacks out, sees a maniacally grinning version of himself step up and away from his body and look back upon him.

The party then wakes up inside the old ruins of the building they were in, blocked in by stone-fall (which is trivially cleared). Everything around them looks like its been ravaged by war. They meet starved survivors, etc, who claim that ever since (Fighter's name) took over (nearby army), the world has gone to hell, etc.

Basically, play this up as the world as it would be if the Fighter remained evil. He and the party must now go and hunt down the CE version of the fighter, buffed up by 20 years of conquest and experience, and take him out. Along the way, the fighter faces things that reflect the consequences of his actions or even just his slightly evil tendencies (e.g. if he was the sort to kill first and speak with the corpse, he passes through villages that lost their guards or leadership to rampaging adventurers) and he has a chance to help correct those things his evil side did. Every place he helps, he finds a small crystal or keepsake or something in his pocket. These react to the challenges later on, weakening the evil army and making the final encounter easier.

At the end, he and the party encounter his evil half, who has somehow stumbled upon the secret of true immortality (in the context of the dream, the good version of the Fighter is basically acting as a phylactery for the evil one, sort of like the Nameless One/Transcendent One in Planescape: Torment). The only one who can hurt him is the good half. Of course, there are plenty of mooks on the field that would otherwise interfere with the duel so that the rest of the party can participate.

Finally, the fighter defeats his evil side, which shatters into fragments that turn into smoke, and the party wakes up.

The whole thing is also a good excuse to drop plot hooks for the future events of the campaign (things in the future can actually be consistent with future events in the campaign, for players clever enough to pick up on it and investigate)

[navar100]

Clarification: Did the player in character freely choose to join the hag or did the hag magically manipulate the character, and the player just roleplayed the magical hex on him?

If the character was magically hexed, then while Atonement is still applicable it's not the character's/player's "fault" to be stripped of his alignment. That's punishing him because he failed a saving throw.

[faceroll]

Clarification: Did the player in character freely choose to join the hag or did the hag magically manipulate the character, and the player just roleplayed the magical hex on him?

If the character was magically hexed, then while Atonement is still applicable it's not the character's/player's "fault" to be stripped of his alignment. That's punishing him because he failed a saving throw.

The hag merely changed his alignment from neutral good to neutral evil, while he was unconscious. No saving throw required. At the end of combat, after slaying the hags, the player thought his character should try and kill everyone else.

[Yora]

Since he was not accountable for his actions, the atonement quest should probably be more symbolic than an actual work for penance.
Maybe a kind of pilgrimage to an old shrine, that just happens to be the current residence of a monster that scares travelers away from making a short visit. Most likely he will regain his paladin powers only after he performed the quest, so it could be a test of his resolve that he still overcomes obstacles with only his blade in his hands and without relying on divine assistance. It helps him reflecting on the responsibilities he has from possessing those powers and makes him understand how regular warriors have to make things work.
It's both humbling and a test of his resolve, without seeming like a punishment for something he wasn't responsible for.

[faceroll]

something he wasn't responsible for.

Please expand on this.

[Yora]

The Hag magically altered his mind to make him evil. He probably missed a Will save and his Will wasn't strong enough to resist her magic, but at no point did he chose to forsake his believes in Good or was tempted to do break hid code.
Once the spell was in effect, he made all his descisions and actions based on his now evil alignment, even though he wasn't exactly mind controlled. But giving up his good alignment was nothing he chose to do, so no blame is on him.

Reading the rules very literarily, it still would make him fall, since he was briefly evil. Not under mind control, but evil. But it was never a failure of his resolve or his believes, but forced upon him. And he's working for the forces of good, which wouldn't judge and convivt him for something that was outside his control. If a paladin actually falls for something like that is debatable. Casting an atonement spell without a special quest should be enough.
But since you're about to do some sidequests anyway and it makes for an interesting quest and creates some character development, I still think it's a good idea to send him on an atonement quest anyway.
But I would make sure to not make it appear as his punishment for failing to make a Will save, but as part of the ritual that completely restores him to his former self. His mind is now repaired, but he yet has to renew his innitiation as a paladin to gain back his powers.

[Unifel]

Wait, Yora:
The OP said he's not a paladin. He's a fighter/barbarian/hellreaver. Also, he said there was no save, because the char was unconscious at the time. So there's no code or anything to break, right?
Edit: Oops... Bit of an old thread, huh? Sorry about that...