(Possible Spoilers) Princes of the Apocalypse: Windvane Flaw Help

[ronlugge]

So in today's game, my character acquired the magic weapon Windvane from the Elemental Cult of Air. (Yay!) It's a major, massive upgrade to his combat abilities (as it's intended to be).

Then I found out about it's flaw. "I break my vows and plans. Duty and honor mean nothing to me." That isn't a minor personality change, or even a moderate addition. It's a direct contradiction of my underlying character concept. He's a War Priest of Helm, a man of honor and conviction. His family was slain early in his life, and he's modeled himself on the priest who saved his life. In many ways, the new flaw directly attacks and contradicts his ideal, his bond, his personality traits...

Remove Honor and Duty, and the character is going to change, drastically. He's going to go from a fundamentally lawful good character to something... else.

Anyone have any ideas how I should handle this? I'd ask the DM directly, but I'm not sure he'd have any more of a clue than I do -- he bounces questions at me as often as I do at him, and this is rather unusual. I'm hoping someone else has encountered it and has some ideas, because the only one I can come up with is that the weapon doesn't add a flaw, it changes his traits while he holds it -- all of them. He ceases to be about protecting the helpless, and becomes someone whose more interested in revenge. And if he can't get revenge on the people who hurt him (they're dead), he'll get it on the kind of people who are similar. And the elemental cults are close enough. But it's a massive change.

And more mechanically... his fundamental faith in Helm would probably not be as strong. He probably wouldn't even act like a priest of Helm. I'd have to go through the list, but he'd suddenly be more of a Tempus man, at best. Is it possible for a character to change gods like that? Heck, because he's going to act 'out of character', should he loose his priestly powers or something?

I've been thrown out in the deep end, anyone got a life vest for me?

[Demidos]

Have you ever seen the anime Bleach?

Avoiding as many spoilers as possible, the main character has an evil ''demon'' side that sometimes can come out and take control of him when he is distracted or weak. This demon side is far more powerful than he is, but his incredible force of will can keep it in check and bring himself back into control of his body.

An interesting solution to your conundrum would be to simply treat the weapon as an intelligent magical weapon with competing ego scores. Whenever he wields it, he gains an enormous power boost, but he loses control of many of his actions. Alternately, make it a rage-esque ability, with a will save to end it. You could have it force him to draw it, or have it wait for him to turn to it as a last desperate hope to save his friends and himself. Etc, etc, etc.

The idea being, at the beginning the weapon is a powerful tool that often causes him to lose control but gives him enormous power. Over the course of the campaign, however, as he grows in power he eventually becomes able to bend it to his will. Or a different twist, it bends him to its will. Gives you lots of nice roleplaying opportunities with lots of interesting moral choices. The only downside is if this is not a solo campaign, it risks you either trouncing encounters or being trounced by them, depending on whether your DM expects you to use the sword and or your willingness to do so. Have a chat with him and see what he thinks.

Good luck!

[ronlugge]

Have a chat with him and see what he thinks.

Oh, I'm definitely planning to talk to him and get his opinions, I'm just wanting to have some options in hand, because this is so far out of left field there's no guiding material (that I know of) to help cover it.

Your idea is definitely an interesting one, though. And I need to see if 'bleach' is on Netflix... :D

Edit:

Da'fuq?! I open up Netflix and Bleach is right there at the top of the currently trending list.

[Sigreid]

The real answer is that these are artifacts of power. All artifacts of power unfortunately come with a down side sever enough to make you question whether you want it. In this case, the weapon in question is the earthly manifestation of the evil elemental prince's power. You basically have two choices, ditch the weapon, preferably in a protected location so it is not easily acquired by someone else; or get used to the idea of gradually turning into a dishonorable sod. I honestly think that part of this was an intent to motivate the party into not letting a character keep it.

[ronlugge]

The real answer is that these are artifacts of power. All artifacts of power unfortunately come with a down side sever enough to make you question whether you want it. In this case, the weapon in question is the earthly manifestation of the evil elemental prince's power. You basically have two choices, ditch the weapon, preferably in a protected location so it is not easily acquired by someone else; or get used to the idea of gradually turning into a dishonorable sod. I honestly think that part of this was an intent to motivate the party into not letting a character keep it.

I'm not questioning or disagreeing with that. What I'm struggling with is how to handle that.

[Sigreid]

I'm not questioning or disagreeing with that. What I'm struggling with is how to handle that.

Well, I'd personally start having my character occasionally do something out of character. Break a minor promise at first, etc. and gradually escalate. Hoping that my friends who know what kind of a person I am have the good sense to realize something is wrong since I got the weapon.