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Seharvepernfan
2013-06-14, 06:05 AM
A friend of mine has expressed interest in playing a small "demon", but good, who grows in size over time (levels). Her inspiration was the balrog. I told her that her demon would actually be a fey of fire and shadow (to avoid alignment issues). Her class is going to be unique, it's basically just a progressive monster HD, but she can choose her own skills, has something like a PF summoner's evolution points to spend on herself, and gets some sorcerer casting.

Anywho, since she won't be needing items, and the campaign will likely take place out in the wilderness...how exactly would one go about running it? There won't be many (if any) actual structures, very little (if any) humanoid interaction, few items, etc. Maps will be somewhat difficult, and I'm not sure exactly what her goals would be. I have a few ideas involving animals (some intelligent)/fey/magical beasts, and a few "dungeon" ideas based around trees/caves/cliffs/canyons/etc, but I'm pulling a blank on the campaign itself.

She herself has said that she's not sure what she'd actually do, but she is sure that she wants it to take place out in "the wilderness". I'm introducing her to D&D, so this campaign won't really be too "heavy" on much of anything, really it's just to get her used to the system and roleplaying in general. All said, I consider it a creative challenge, and I'll manage something.

Any ideas? I know what I'm asking is vague, but I figured I might as well see if anybody has anything helpful to say.

Radar
2013-06-14, 06:43 AM
It's not exactly a wilderness campaign, but it might be good to look into the adventures of Joe Wood (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19558998/Commoner_Campaign).

Questions that probably need to be answered (either as a backstory or through the game) as they might give you some directions:
1. Who is this "demon"?

2. Why is she in the wild?

3. Are there any other creatures like her around or at all?

4. What kind of wilderness should it be? Is it a tropical jungle, tundra, steppe...? Is the terrain flat, or a mountain range? Is is in the middle of a continent, near a sea or on an island (or a whole archipelago)?

Addendum: it probably would be helpful to make a list of significant places around (possible lakes, caves, rivers, waterfalls, or whatever else). You don't have to map them all, just keep in mind that they exist somewhere around. You can easily expand the list during the game.

5. Who and/or what else lives around?

6. Why those funny shrooms ain't so funny the day after?

Anyway, living in the wild gives plenty of opportunities for random adventures (depending on the enviroment obviously): drinkable water shortage (go upstream to find the cause or something), local predators are out of control (go and change the threat to treat), some outsider came in, fire, flood and other natural calamities, which may or may not reveal some ruins of old. You can also introduce a village or something nearby to create some civilization/nature dynamic - plenty of possible conflicts, that don't need to escalate into violance, but totaly can.

Jay R
2013-06-14, 09:07 AM
In fact, this is the fifth character race ever actually mentioned in official D&D rules, after men (sic), dwarves, elves, and hobbits.

Direct from the original Dungeons and Dragons game, 1974:

Other Character Types: There is no reason that players cannot be allowed to play as virtually anything, provided they begin relatively weak and work up to the top, i.e., a player wishing to be a Balrog would have to begin as let us say, a "young" one and progress upwards in the usual manner, steps being predetermined by the campaign referee.

Seharvepernfan
2013-06-15, 02:32 AM
@Radar: Good advice, thank you.

@Jay R: Ha, I'll have to show her this.

Arbane
2013-06-15, 02:40 AM
Hm... a "Child" demon made of shadow (http://diggercomic.com/), you say....?

As for where your PC came from... a wizard's experiment, gone loose after the experiment blew up in their face?

Jay R
2013-06-15, 10:52 AM
Mike Mornard played a Balrog PC in Gary Gygax's Greyhawk campaign, the second campaign ever run. He's quoted as saying:


Interestingly, I played a Balrog in Greyhawk. Yes, THE Greyhawk. Of course, I started as a 1 HD, very weak Balrog. THAT is the problem, and why Gary later changed his mind; there is virtually constant pressure from the player of an unusual character to power up her or his character, and only a referee of the judgement, skill, and determination of Gary, Rob, and Dave can juggle this without totally unbalancing the game.

So based on the only experience you can follow, you need to be very careful not to let the Balrog character have more power than others at that level, and the player needs to know you are going to do so.

Make sure that this isn't an attempt to get a more powerful character.

If I were the player, I'd be out looking for more of my own kind. Since she is a unique monster, that quest will sustain a very long campaign, and can lead her to any adventure you choose to design.

If I were the DM, as she became more successful and powerful, rumors of a rampaging demon would lead priests and/or paladins to come demon-hunting.

Xeratos
2013-06-15, 11:25 AM
How many other people are playing, what classes are they playing, and what do they think about your friend's character concept?

Meanwhile, some ideas for wilderness adventures:
1. Working for druids to stave off an invasion of undead monsters being sent in by a necromancer intent on dominating the region
2. Discovery of an old temple deep in the wilderness dedicated to her race, except that they're all evil, and someone accidentally breaks the seal on a portal, allowing them to come into the material world
3. a tribe of werewolves is running rampant through the area, and your friend is uniquely suited to hunting them, as her biology doesn't allow her to contract lycanthropy
4. other members of her race are disappearing from the forest, and the elders charge her with finding out what happened to them as a yearling or journeyman quest (depending on her age and social structure, if any)
5. a family member or friend is sick, and the party has to journey into the unknown to find the rare and precious components for the medicine that will restore said friend to health

Some of these ideas assume your friend will be the only one of her race (2 and 3), while others assume there will be others of her kind (4 and 5). And again, without knowing how many other players there are and what they're playing, it's hard to suggest something to tie them into the story line.

The biggest problem I've always had with my players playing non-standard races is how to make the NPCs realistically react to them. It's very easy to just gloss over the fact that your player looks like a miniature demon and brush it off, but truthfully, it should be an ordeal just walking into a village as all the peasants immediately grab their torches and their pitchforks.