How to be a Verdant Prince

[missmvicious]

I'm not really good at striking a Devil's deal. But I like the idea behind a Verdant Prince and would love to have my PCs encounter one some day.

I've been watching some tv shows that have Verdant Prince analogs:

Once Upon a Time: Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin
Booth at the End: Unnamed guy who makes the deals.

And I'm starting to understand the character type better, but I still have no idea what kind of deal I could strike that would be simple and innocuous (appearing) enough to tempt the PCs but still vile enough to make them have a crises of conscience part way through the deal.

I can't just say, "I'll give you what you want, but you have to kick 10 puppies into traffic while stealing candy from a baby."

I want something good; and subtly evil characters isn't really my forte. Has the Playground ever used a Verdant Prince in a campaign? What deal did you strike that produced an interesting plot point?

Please assume that I may steal the good ideas and use them in my campaign, or use a similar variant to it.

[agahii]

How powerful of a deal maker are we talking? In my campaign world there is a literal devil that will meet you at a particular crossroad that makes deals. Usually it is something that will utterly screw the PC at some point, though there is room for outsmarting, and/or simply powering through the problem. I make it purposely heinous to dissuade doing it.

Deals have included: A good aligned PC(who thought he was is clever) gets specific magic item, owes devil one person killed of Devil's choice at a later date. (ended up being an important contact for the PCs)

PC asks for information, Devil asks for any one good aligned soul(better in game terms used) given to him in a dagger the devil supplied.(this is typicly so the devil gets the PCs soul upon death from such an evil act)

PC asks for anything big, or powerful I make a subplot for how the screwover will happen. Usually starting with an innocent enough request, say for instance 1 day of silence(no sound made) from the PC at a time of the devils choosing. This will almost certainly result in a PCs permanent death or removal from the game in some way... unless they can somehow overcome the resulting issues.

This can only work if the deal maker is a powerful entity capable of doing these things, but having the personality quirk of not just killing the PC outright..sort of a showman of evil. My devil also does games.

[missmvicious]

In a nutshell, that's what a Verdant Prince is (MM4, pg 172). Except instead of being a Devil, it's Fey.

Thanks to it's 15,000 GP worth of wands, potions, and staffs and a small army of neutral or evil fey at their command, they have considerable power to help a PC or NPC to accomplish their goals, but they're not as game-breaking as a Candle of Invocation or the like.

The One Day of Silence thing sounds kind of like what I'm going for. It should seem innocuous... "I want you to slay a Goblin... His name is (insert name here) and you will know him by his (insert unusual trait here)."

Most heroes, good, evil, or neutral would have no problems killing a Goblin or remaining silent for one day, especially if it got them what they wanted, so they would likely accept the offer. But further evidence, if the PCs bother to pay attention to the hints, should reveal why killing that particular Goblin or keeping their traps shut would be a really bad idea. Now they have a choice... finish the deed and pay the consequences, or break the Oath Bond and suffer those penalties (-6 to all ability scores and be Sickened) while facing the wrath of the Verdant Prince and his minions who now know exactly where you are and what you're doing as long as you remain alive and on the Material Plane.

It seems like the kind of plot hook my D&D circle would get a kick out of. I just don't know how to create a domino effect of evil from a seemingly mundane deed. What to tempt them with is easy. Whatever the immediate need is for the session should work fine... even safe and quick passage through the forest would work if the situation were dire enough.

Other Verdant Prince analog's: Ursula from The Little Mermaid and Xerxes (300 version).