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View Full Version : roleplaying advice - the addicted apprentice



Ettina
2015-05-05, 12:05 PM
Faeelas Duskgrove was a 2nd level high elf wizard apprenticed to a much higher-level wizard. He was mostly diligent and hardworking (and nice to animals), but then he made the mistake of taking mushroom powder (http://therafimrpg.wikidot.com/drugs-and-poisons) to help him pass a test. It worked, so he took it for a few more tests, and at some point, he failed his Fortitude save against addiction.

Since mushroom powder is expensive, he was pretty desperate for cash, and started stealing and selling magic objects from his master's collection - stuff he figured his master probably wouldn't miss. He felt bad about it, but he'd rather put up with guilt than withdrawal symptoms. Especially once his addition got stronger (from Medium to High rating).

Meanwhile, the neighbouring country had been destroyed by some evil called the Tanglegrowth, which turns dead bodies into horrific plant monsters. (I don't know all the details, I'm not the DM, but he gave me enough info to work it into Faeelas' backstory.) Faeelas' master was responsible for an epic spell keeping the Tanglegrowth out of their country.

Around this time, Faeelas was approached by some suspicious-seeming guy, who asked him to steal a specific item from his master in exchange for a hefty sum. Faeelas didn't really trust the guy, but the money was too much to pass up, so he did it, and bought a large amount of mushroom powder, enough to keep him going for quite a long time.

Soon after, the spell holding the Tanglegrowth back abruptly failed. It turned out that Faeelas had stolen an item that was key to maintaining the anti-Tanglegrowth spell (or maybe key to breaking the spell, it doesn't really matter). With their only defense gone, the elves were in big trouble.

Faeelas' master stayed to buy the people time to flee, but he could not stop the Tanglegrowth. Faeelas fled with the others, still taking his mushroom powder, but he got attacked once and his toad familiar was killed (dropping him to level 1). He managed to get away, and became part of the tide of refugees fleeing into the neighbouring country.

But his misfortune didn't end there. Some bandits decided to attack him, because he looked like a wizard and they thought he might have some useful magic trinkets. They stole the last of his mushroom powder and what little money he had left, and then beat him almost to death because they were annoyed that he didn't have anything more. He only survived because of the timely rescue by his new party members - one of whom was a tibbit who lived with his master as a sort-of pet. (Up until this rescue, he never realized she was anything more than a cat.)

Now, I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out his reaction to all of this. He's still suffering withdrawal, because he's been failing his Fortitude saves, so it's likely he'll be seeking out mushroom powder as soon as he's able. But otherwise, how is he going to react? He's undergone serious trauma, including the death of his familiar, so he'll probably be having a significant reaction to that.

(Incidentally, the tibbit is secretly chaotic evil, knows that Faeelas caused her wizard buddy's death, and is planning horrible revenge on him. But so far she's acting nice, so he has no clue.)

JeenLeen
2015-05-05, 02:27 PM
From an rp perspective, a lot of guilt and regret seems proper. Your character has, in essence if unknowingly, betrayed and sold out his master and his nation, leading to the death of many (I assume not 100% evacuated successfully), including his master and familiar. Self-loathing for what the addiction has driven you to seems proper.
However, on a lighter note, you could also have a new resolve to fight and beat the addiction, as well as a motivation to right the wrongs you allowed.

From a party perspective: unless you know the rest of the party (i.e., players) are cool with it, don't let your addiction lead to hurting the party. It's one thing to have a flaw, even a major one that has mechanical negatives like this, but it's another thing if it ticks off the other players. However, from what you say of the tibbit, I'm guessing you all are cool with intra-party conflict. Just make sure that's the case out-of-character so it that in-character stuff doesn't cause out-of-character problems.

Also, unless the other players have similar negatives or this is something you want, I'd talk to the DM about handwaving the 'fighting off the addiction'. I don't see any reason to have a cool backstory lead to having a weakened starting character. Being down a familiar and having an addiction (which could lead to 'wasting' your money on it instead of getting gear) is a big negative. If you do have those negatives, though... I think you would have the spells from level 2 in your spellbook already, and get 2 more when you level up back to level 2, so an extra two spells in your spellbook. Again, not recommending any of this paragraph's stuff if you want the limitations (and/or don't want to try for extra spells), but it's an idea I'd throw out. I'd be annoyed in your shoes, and I'd also feel a bit annoyed if a PC I expected to help the party succeed had an addiction that hurt his ability to contribute.

Segev
2015-05-05, 04:44 PM
This would be another thing to see if the player in question is cool with, but the thing with the Tibbit sounds like the start of a romantic subplot if she takes long enough getting around to taking revenge that her "friendly" mask starts to take hold. Especially if your character is demonstratively remorseful and tries to be kind to her as a form of pennance - her as surrogate for his master.

She could, as a CE character, also be helpful in feeding your PC's addiction; it would be a means of controlling him, especially combined with his guilty conscience. Admittedly, this again eats into at least one of the two of your resources, though.

How does she know he was responsible? Did she see him steal it? Did she draw the conclusion after learning of his addiction and figure out that must be how he paid for it? Did he confess to her?

Ettina
2015-05-05, 05:00 PM
This would be another thing to see if the player in question is cool with, but the thing with the Tibbit sounds like the start of a romantic subplot if she takes long enough getting around to taking revenge that her "friendly" mask starts to take hold. Especially if your character is demonstratively remorseful and tries to be kind to her as a form of pennance - her as surrogate for his master.

She could, as a CE character, also be helpful in feeding your PC's addiction; it would be a means of controlling him, especially combined with his guilty conscience. Admittedly, this again eats into at least one of the two of your resources, though.

How does she know he was responsible? Did she see him steal it? Did she draw the conclusion after learning of his addiction and figure out that must be how he paid for it? Did he confess to her?

The romantic thing is not going to happen.

She doesn't know about his addiction, but she saw him take the magic object (and had witnessed other thefts as well). She didn't realize how important it was until later.

If she figures out about his addition, she definitely will use it to control him.

Sith_Happens
2015-05-05, 05:39 PM
The romantic thing is not going to happen.

Romance, friendship, thinking-of-someone-like-a-pet, it all gets so blurry once Chaos and Evil are involved.:smallwink:

erikun
2015-05-05, 09:58 PM
This would be another thing to see if the player in question is cool with, but the thing with the Tibbit sounds like the start of a romantic subplot if she takes long enough getting around to taking revenge that her "friendly" mask starts to take hold. Especially if your character is demonstratively remorseful and tries to be kind to her as a form of pennance - her as surrogate for his master.
I've seen a lot of roleplaying advice, although I think this is the first time that romance the housecat was offered to a player. :smalltongue:

Segev
2015-05-06, 08:37 AM
I've seen a lot of roleplaying advice, although I think this is the first time that romance the housecat was offered to a player. :smalltongue:

If it makes you feel better, think of it as "romance the catgirl." :P

But that's fine if it's not what the players want; I tend to look for excuses for romance in fiction (possibly due to a dearth of it in my own life, and thus *ahem* romanticising the concept).

Does the wizard ex-apprentice know she knows what he did? Or is this something he thinks is secret from her?

Ettina
2015-05-06, 10:31 PM
Does the wizard ex-apprentice know she knows what he did? Or is this something he thinks is secret from her?

He doesn't.

goto124
2015-05-06, 10:54 PM
He doesn't what?

Ettina
2015-05-07, 07:35 AM
He doesn't what?

He doesn't know she knows he stole the thing holding the spell together.

Laughingmanlol
2015-05-07, 11:34 AM
That's a great character idea! Feline romance aside, I'd make sure the character has some interests and traits other than his addiction and guilt, both as a means of working through the addiction, and also in order to have some personality once his issues are resolved. For instance, perhaps he was apprenticed because he wanted to learn how to speak to animals - you mentioned his being nice to them in your post - and so once he develops that ability, improving the lives of his nonmagical animal friends could be a distraction from and an incentive to fight his addiction.
Regarding the mechanical effects of his addiction, since it improved his magical abilities, you might be able to justify half the money spent on mushroom powder going towards researching new spells for his spellbook.
Since redemption looks to be a key theme, there are a couple of other options for developing that. He could compulsively seek out magic items that could be those he previously stole and sold, in order to reconstruct his master's collection, which would make a nice backstory to the magic item selection adventurers tend to accrue. At higher levels, he might start considering replicating the feats of his master, such as holding the contagion at bay, or even creating a cure. Even if he achieves that, though, he might be left wondering what he can do now he's made up for his past misdeeds.