Vellus
2013-07-28, 11:21 PM
So for my campaign, the big bad's blood has an effect on anything living that consumes it. I'm just not sure how to go about defining how it affects the game and the players are at the point where they will end up engaging people effected by the blood, so I've been trying to figure this out and it's stalled the game. We haven't met in too long, for more reasons than this.
So I'm asking playground for help!
The first thing to note is that it's a narcotic. Extremely addictive. Once addicted, the primary thing to note is that the infected's personality quickly begins to be overwritten, becoming wholly subservient to the big bad. I was thinking of making this be represented in a form of charisma damage, but then what about sorcerers or other such charisma-based classes who're affected? Make it work off another stat?
The second is that it makes someone more resilient, physically, and increases their physical strength. This easily can be represented as a buff to con and str.
The addiction is meant to not be simply cured by a spell, nor are the effects of the blood itself. I'm mainly struggling on how to make the people affected by it an interesting challenge as levels grow up (party's currently level 6-7) - I've already considered throwing in a few animals (I DID specify living creature) DR, SR, or other forms of durability increasing effects like that.
The large thing for those changes are that, aside from the fact that the person's personality is overwritten, the physical form is made increasingly more like that of the big bad.
The big bad... That, too, I'm having difficulty statting out so I'll toss it in here, too.
She's essentially an evil extraplanar existence using a human body as an avatar on the plane the campaign takes place in. Aside from the blood thing, she's nigh immune to magical effects that directly inhibit her actions, recovers swiftly from damage, and primarily deals with threats by being extremely agile and stabbing things with knives or shooting them with pistols. Aside from that she's tough to damage should be a significant threat even to a near-Epic party.
Without, hopefully, relying too heavily on magic items or magic itself. Her presence in the world itself corrupts it; the human body stops aging at about 20 and the world's animal life mutates slowly, growing larger and more vicious. The world's deserts expand; the forests slowly die. This process takes a few thousand years, I was wondering if this could have an effect in combat directly, something like the proximity having an effect on magic or people? Something akin to a Dragon's Frightful Presence? I have no ideas, so, potential help please?
So I'm asking playground for help!
The first thing to note is that it's a narcotic. Extremely addictive. Once addicted, the primary thing to note is that the infected's personality quickly begins to be overwritten, becoming wholly subservient to the big bad. I was thinking of making this be represented in a form of charisma damage, but then what about sorcerers or other such charisma-based classes who're affected? Make it work off another stat?
The second is that it makes someone more resilient, physically, and increases their physical strength. This easily can be represented as a buff to con and str.
The addiction is meant to not be simply cured by a spell, nor are the effects of the blood itself. I'm mainly struggling on how to make the people affected by it an interesting challenge as levels grow up (party's currently level 6-7) - I've already considered throwing in a few animals (I DID specify living creature) DR, SR, or other forms of durability increasing effects like that.
The large thing for those changes are that, aside from the fact that the person's personality is overwritten, the physical form is made increasingly more like that of the big bad.
The big bad... That, too, I'm having difficulty statting out so I'll toss it in here, too.
She's essentially an evil extraplanar existence using a human body as an avatar on the plane the campaign takes place in. Aside from the blood thing, she's nigh immune to magical effects that directly inhibit her actions, recovers swiftly from damage, and primarily deals with threats by being extremely agile and stabbing things with knives or shooting them with pistols. Aside from that she's tough to damage should be a significant threat even to a near-Epic party.
Without, hopefully, relying too heavily on magic items or magic itself. Her presence in the world itself corrupts it; the human body stops aging at about 20 and the world's animal life mutates slowly, growing larger and more vicious. The world's deserts expand; the forests slowly die. This process takes a few thousand years, I was wondering if this could have an effect in combat directly, something like the proximity having an effect on magic or people? Something akin to a Dragon's Frightful Presence? I have no ideas, so, potential help please?