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Magic Myrmidon
2017-05-23, 02:01 PM
It is very likely that my party will be a part of a plot with a powerful archmage in order to steal the power of Lolth.

At some point they will likely come face to face with the Spider Queen herself.

Now. I'm not really sure how to play her. Obviously, arrogant as all get out. But she is the embodiment of all things spider and drow. Is she stark raving mad? Supremely confident and collected?

Any tips on how you think she should be roleplayed?

TheFamilarRaven
2017-05-23, 05:37 PM
As a general rule for NPC's that have lengthy interaction with the PCs, first figure out the context of their dialogue. For instance, what circumstances brought Lolth to speak to the PCs in the first place. Does she advance the plot in any way? Are the Pcs intruding on her property? Or did she seek them out? Did the PC's seek her out? If she doesn't advance the plot, then perhaps Lolth shouldn't be met at all.

Next, what are her goals? The Queen of the Demon Webbed Pits has an agenda. Most likely her immediate objective by the sound of your premise is to try and snuff out the fool who is trying to jack her power. Great, so now we know what she wants. But seeing as how she is a goddess and this mage is still alive, there's probably something that prevents her from directly intervening. So now she has motivation to get the PC's to do something for her.

Next figure out how she goes about it. She is CE, but her portfolio doesn't seem to encompass Insanity. So assume she's fairly rational. Quick to anger, mind you, but otherwise can be diplomatic when the time for such things. Personally I've always seen her as the manipulative type, like a succubus. She might not act arrogant at all. She could begin by flattering the PCs, making them like her and thus become more receptive to her requests. Depending on how she meets the party, she might not even reveal she is Lolth, (secrecy is the best defense). She might even play the damsel in distress, pretending to be a good entity whose power is being usurped by said mage.

All in all. The PCs can probably do something she wants done, but she or her regular minions cant accomplish. So she'll try her damnedest to either manipulate them in to doing her will (whether they're aware of it or not) or offering incentives to do her dirty work. Acting high and mighty is counterproductive to her goal at the time, so she'll tone down her deific arrogance.

But again, everything should stem from her goals at the time the PC's meet her and they context in which they meet.

Mr Beer
2017-05-23, 06:32 PM
I think of CE as somewhat capricious...Lloth is an unearthly beauty, an easily bored cruel psychopath and a greedy, power-hungry goddess. You probably need reasons for her not to simply snuff out the party if they get in her way. Perhaps she is unaware of their goals, perhaps one of her own is working against her? Or perhaps she has thought of a way to use the party to gain something instead of lose something?

She might let them go simply because they entertain her, brave defiance might amuse her one day and anger her the next. Flattery might be rewarded from one character with riches and freedom and rewarded from another by being transmuted into a hideous drider, doomed to serve her forever.

Magic Myrmidon
2017-05-23, 08:05 PM
I guess context is important.

Lolth will be summoned into a world that rejects divinity, and this will severely weaken her. This will be in front of an arena of noble drow who will be mutated by the mana fluctuations of her arrival.

So. Maybe there won't be much discussion, on retrospect. I like the idea of her trying to trick them, though. Would she go as far as to disguise herself as Elistrae? One of the party members worships her.

TheFamilarRaven
2017-05-23, 08:18 PM
She would absolutely disguise herself as Elistrae. Especially if it means bringing misfortune to one of her worshippers. Not sure how she'd pull it off given the context in which she appears.

DigoDragon
2017-05-24, 05:58 AM
So. Maybe there won't be much discussion, on retrospect. I like the idea of her trying to trick them, though. Would she go as far as to disguise herself as Elistrae? One of the party members worships her.

I'm currently running a campaign where the underdark is organizing an army. Several houses of drow have joined this military, forsaking their faith to Lolth and instead serving the army's masters. This of course angered Lolth, so she disguised herself as a fairly ordinary elf and has been accompanying the party on the quest to infiltrate the army and assassinate its leadership. And if the PCs happen to accidentally slaughter hundreds of her drow along the way, well that's just the price those drow pay for not keeping the spider faith. She'll gleefully slaughter nonbelievers while disguised, putting the LOL into Lolth.

Darth Ultron
2017-05-24, 06:22 AM
I guess context is important.

Lolth will be summoned into a world that rejects divinity, and this will severely weaken her. This will be in front of an arena of noble drow who will be mutated by the mana fluctuations of her arrival.

So. Maybe there won't be much discussion, on retrospect. I like the idea of her trying to trick them, though. Would she go as far as to disguise herself as Elistrae? One of the party members worships her.

I think Lolth would be quite angry at ''mutated drow'' and would kill them, and anyone who uses the word ''mana'' in a D&D game.

A nice spin might be the ''big, flashy summons'' is just a giant demon spider for the group to kill. But at the same time a young, pretty drow elf female named Htlol'a shows up and joins the group. She ''knows things'' and says ''odd things'' and acts a bit arrogant...as she is Lolth.

hamishspence
2017-05-24, 06:37 AM
Finding novels with Lolth in and reading them might help (Elaine Cunningham's Evermeet, R. A. Salvatore's Siege of Darkness, etc)

In 4e's Book of Vile Darkness, a header quote is:

"What about me?! Demon prince who achieved godhood, hellooooo! Who in the Nine Hells wrote this thing?"

(Lolth commenting on her lack of mentions in the Book).

Mr Beer
2017-05-24, 07:24 AM
putting the LOL into Lolth.

I would be aiming to do this.

Millstone85
2017-05-24, 11:37 AM
putting the LOL into Lolth.
I would be aiming to do this.http://i.imgur.com/LQH0Dwx.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/QSuWMpQ.jpg

Magic Myrmidon
2017-05-24, 01:11 PM
I think Lolth would be quite angry at ''mutated drow'' and would kill them, and anyone who uses the word ''mana'' in a D&D game.

A nice spin might be the ''big, flashy summons'' is just a giant demon spider for the group to kill. But at the same time a young, pretty drow elf female named Htlol'a shows up and joins the group. She ''knows things'' and says ''odd things'' and acts a bit arrogant...as she is Lolth.

I have a pretty weird setting. And yeah. I'm not happy with the word "mana" but it's pretty instantly understood as magical energy by most RPG players.

Segev
2017-05-24, 05:24 PM
Lolth was driven by covetous envy for power to try to overthrow Corellan Larathean (probably misspelled that horribly, sorry), despite, IIRC, being his lover or wife. She twisted elves who followed her into the drow, and she plays petty power games with them for her own amusement. Drow society has a pastiche of LE as a thin, thin veneer over the true CE of it all, and would fall apart like a house of cards built on a dried-out sand castle hit by a sudden typhoon if she weren't constantly propping it up.

She is petty, vain, and cruel in the manner of a child burning ants and pulling wings off of flies. She can be charming, even alluring, and even doting on those whom she likes or thinks will please her. She can be generous as part of this.

But under it all, she's the "all about me" kind of CE. Whatever she feels like at the time, she indulges in. Everyone else is, at best, a pet there for her amusement. Certainly, she can be kind to the drow priestess or the yocholol or the little mortal pooch that she's doting on right now. She can genuinely want it to be happy in order to bask in its joy. But that is not a charitable urge so much as a yearning for companionship that she will sacrifice on the altar of whimsy and vengefulness if she feels provoked. There are, after all, always more fawning worshippers she could give a smile to who would then be thrilled to be her latest favorite.

Capricious and whimsical without being cartoonish or stupid. Charming, but somewhat dangerous simply because she can (and, if it pleases her, will) kill anybody around her. She assumes she's in charge, and may not even feel a need for a dominance display to establish it, unless it's literally necessary to achieve her aims in the scene. And her aims are whatever she wants right then.

She probably also has a wicked sense of black humor. Or at least thinks she's witty when she plays cruel "pranks" on people in ways she considers funny.

Millstone85
2017-05-24, 05:46 PM
To give a serious argument for a cruelly facetious Lolth, I would point that she used to be, and has reclaimed her position as, an elven deity.

That, I guess, makes her one of the fair folk, an archfey of sort. And those sure love their pranks.