I'm being tortured. Please help!

[Sergio]

Playing a dread necromancer, level 6.

I'm being tortured and even if I told the truth (some of it really) to my torturers, they don't believe me. I don't know what to do, given that I've got no real proof of what I am really.

They asked me "whom do you work for"? I said I work for the mages (we are in a magocracy), but they didn't believe me. (btw, I don't work for the mages, it is a bluff, I work for myself and myself only and I was invited to the city by a mage friend, head of the mage circle on the city)

Then they asked me 'what I'm planning to do in the city'? I said that I'm working with a friend (now currently unavailable) to cleanse an invasion of undead currently destroying the whole continent. Wasn't believed too.

I can't touch anyone, nor move myself (so it seems like I can't do anything at all) because I was subdued to a table.

In my last act, I whispered that I was 'tired' and that if they would touch me once again with their tools I would die, but they would die too (I then activated my aura of terror);


I don't know if my 'bluff\intimdation' worked, but currently I believe I'm pretty doomed. Within my inventory I got nothing to prove my position.

Do you have any suggestions to offer? I feel like I should just trash my character and be done with it.

[The Glyphstone]

You should have some sense of what they want you to tell them - not the question they're asking, but the answer they are waiting to hear. Tell them that, or just start spewing plausible lies at random until you hit on the one thing they already think is true and just want you to confirm.

[Bronk]

I don't see any reason to trash your character!

I don't know what the whole situation here, but in a normal game I'd see some possibilities here.

1: They beat you up some more, you get thrown in a jail cell, then you find a way to escape or someone sets you free. Try to find your stuff and get out.

2: You tell them the truth, you get thrown in a jail cell, then you find a way to escape or someone sets you free. Try to find your stuff and get out.

3: You tell them the truth, and whoever these guys are offer you a job.

It sort of sounds like both you and your DM are kind of stuck though. Is there any reason you aren't just fessing up to whatever? Either way, you're character just has to come to terms with the fact that they absolutely don't believe your lies.

[zlefin]

simplest answers are:
refuse to say anything at all, just stay silent.

and

tell the DM you find this uninteresting or unpleasant, and demand they skip forward to whatever's gonna happen next. (and let them figure out what happens during the intermediate time).

[Tvtyrant]

simplest answers are:
refuse to say anything at all, just stay silent.

and

tell the DM you find this uninteresting or unpleasant, and demand they skip forward to whatever's gonna happen next. (and let them figure out what happens during the intermediate time).

Involves real consequences and roleplaying, and successfully made the player feel helpless (as in, feeling their characters fate).

Pass! Back to gobo slaying amirite?

[ATHATH]

Do any Dread Necromancer spells at or below 3rd level not require any somatic or material components? You could probably cast them.

What feats do you have? What race are you?

[ATHATH]

Okay, the only two Dread Necromancer spells at or below 3rd level that I could find that doesn't require any somatic components are Blindness/Deafness and Darkness. Darkness, however, requires a material component ("A bit of bat fur and either a drop of pitch or a piece of coal.").

I recommend "cursing" a guard with the Blindness spell and telling him that the only way for the "curse of blindness" to be removed is if he/she/it frees you and doesn't tell anyone about the "curse". Otherwise, they'll be blind forever (a random guard likely isn't gonna know that Blindness lasts for only a few minutes)! Give them an evil laugh while you're at it; that might give you a bonus to your intimidate/bluff check.

[Yahzi]

Torture does not produce information; it produces compliance. Even in the Dark Ages they understood this (though our generation, raised on TV shows like 24, seem to have forgotten).

Simply agree to whatever your torturers demand, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. It's the only way to make it stop.

On the other hand, you're a Dread Necromancer... maybe you like it. Maybe you really like it. Maybe you should start describing to your DM just how much you like it, in salacious, erotic detail.

[Arbane]

Involves real consequences and roleplaying, and successfully made the player feel helpless (as in, feeling their characters fate).

Pass! Back to gobo slaying amirite?

Most people can feel miserable and helpless without needing to roll dice for it, ya know. Some experiences aren't WORTH roleplaying.

[KillianHawkeye]

I recommend "cursing" a guard with the Blindness spell and telling him that the only way for the "curse of blindness" to be removed is if he/she/it frees you and doesn't tell anyone about the "curse". Otherwise, they'll be blind forever (a random guard likely isn't gonna know that Blindness lasts for only a few minutes)! Give them an evil laugh while you're at it; that might give you a bonus to your intimidate/bluff check.

Correction: Blindness/deafness states "Duration: Permanent (D)".

[Seto]

Correction: Blindness/deafness states "Duration: Permanent (D)".

Permanent and dispellable? That's even better! "Your curse will remain with you forever unless you do as I say, then and only then shall I free you". Without even needing a Bluff check.

[Sergio]

You should have some sense of what they want you to tell them - not the question they're asking, but the answer they are waiting to hear. Tell them that, or just start spewing plausible lies at random until you hit on the one thing they already think is true and just want you to confirm.
Thanks for this insight. Now that I think about it, what made it worse for me was the fact that the torturers told me that no matter what I said, they would kill me in the end of the journey.
So I tried first to tell them the truth, but no matter what, it didn't work.

I'll have to think about the lies they want to hear.

Know this. I went at the entrance of a college of mages saying that I wanted to meet Xavros, the mage that is behind the whole college in that city. But when I entered the receptionist told me Xavros was busy and not meant to be annoyed by me or anyone else currently. So I initimidated him by telling him that there were two possibilities, him killed by me in a duel of honor (in the city I currently live duels of honor are recurrent stuff) or get me to Xavros; the receptionist said "follow me". It felt like I was successful, but moments later, I was asked to sit on a room where, after a bit, I was welcomed by two guards that politely told me to get the **** out or be arrested.

I told my stance once again: that I wouldn't be out unless Xavros met me and I was arrested and put into the prisons.

Issue is, that currently inside the city, while mages rules, the temple clashes and battle until one of them overpowers the others and then they rules about administrative stuff. And torture is one of them.
Days before I arrived in the city I would be arrested by Pelorites, and I would be confined to a home, while right now I'm being tortured because Hextor is the current administrative ruler.



I don't see any reason to trash your character!

I don't know what the whole situation here, but in a normal game I'd see some possibilities here.

1: They beat you up some more, you get thrown in a jail cell, then you find a way to escape or someone sets you free. Try to find your stuff and get out.

2: You tell them the truth, you get thrown in a jail cell, then you find a way to escape or someone sets you free. Try to find your stuff and get out.

3: You tell them the truth, and whoever these guys are offer you a job.

It sort of sounds like both you and your DM are kind of stuck though. Is there any reason you aren't just fessing up to whatever? Either way, you're character just has to come to terms with the fact that they absolutely don't believe your lies.

1) There is no party, and the other person that is with me is Xavros, that right now is away and can't get me nor knows I was caught.

My dm told me: it's like if you go in a police station and start to intimidate the person that will receive you telling her that you would kill him when he tells you that you can't speak to a higher power (let's say that the higher power is the equivalent of a politician).

And in that I sort of agree, but that also spells my doom: when being tortured, a person could very well say "I'm friend of <insert name of a politician>", but he wouldn't be believed and he would get ****ed for it.

Questions I was asked were:
1) Whom do you work for?
2) why did you come to the city?

But telling the truth wasn't enough and right now I'm thinking that I will have to remake another character.



Involves real consequences and roleplaying, and successfully made the player feel helpless (as in, feeling their characters fate).

Pass! Back to gobo slaying amirite?

Agree 101%. I actually care about my character and I know there is a way out. My dm is fair.


Do any Dread Necromancer spells at or below 3rd level not require any somatic or material components? You could probably cast them.

What feats do you have? What race are you?

Human.

Able learner
Soul tainted.
Necrotyc cist
Autority
Iron will


Issue is that city has a temple of Nerull inside and that means that I can't touch my tortured and they will be smart enough not to give me room to kill them with my spells


Okay, the only two Dread Necromancer spells at or below 3rd level that I could find that doesn't require any somatic components are Blindness/Deafness and Darkness. Darkness, however, requires a material component ("A bit of bat fur and either a drop of pitch or a piece of coal.").


I recommend "cursing" a guard with the Blindness spell and telling him that the only way for the "curse of blindness" to be removed is if he/she/it frees you and doesn't tell anyone about the "curse". Otherwise, they'll be blind forever (a random guard likely isn't gonna know that Blindness lasts for only a few minutes)! Give them an evil laugh while you're at it; that might give you a bonus to your intimidate/bluff check.

Two issues: the guards probably know about such a spell, but even if they didn't, I'm afraid a blinded guard would start to maul me to death for what I've done


Torture does not produce information; it produces compliance. Even in the Dark Ages they understood this (though our generation, raised on TV shows like 24, seem to have forgotten).

Simply agree to whatever your torturers demand, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. It's the only way to make it stop.

On the other hand, you're a Dread Necromancer... maybe you like it. Maybe you really like it. Maybe you should start describing to your DM just how much you like it, in salacious, erotic detail.

Issue is that they ask only questions, they didn't suggest me anything.

I will give it a thought about describing what I do with characters.


Most people can feel miserable and helpless without needing to roll dice for it, ya know. Some experiences aren't WORTH roleplaying.
I don't feel miserable, but currently I feel a little powerless. That doesn't diminish the experience, on the contrary, I've never met a dm such as the one I've got.

[Arbane]

I don't feel miserable, but currently I feel a little powerless. That doesn't diminish the experience, on the contrary, I've never met a dm such as the one I've got.

*shrug* as long as you're enjoying it...

Tell them you work for Xavros, and they can find out by asking him? Seems like the closest thing to a good option you've got.

[Yahzi]

I will give it a thought about describing what I do with characters.
How about: make a new character, and then don't randomly threaten people like you're some kind of psychotic murderer who kills people because they didn't bring him a cup of tea fast enough?

I think that might work.

[Psyren]

I'm with Arbane on this one, there's only so many interesting ways you can say "I scream" over and over. If the suggestions given here don't work, I'd ask for some penalties and to fast forward back to the actual plot.

[Elrak]

I think Arben and Psyren have the right idea here given the situation you described.

Telling the torturers that you are working for Xavros and that he is awaitng your report should at least trigger them to check with him.
Should this not immediately lead to a resolution (and assuming they are worshipers of Hextor or at least they are following his clergies rules at the moment) I would further emphasize this by telling them that they have basically 2 options a) they ignore the information you have provided and end up killing you, at which point as soon as Xavros finds out about this, they will face the consequences (and most likely perish themselves) or b) they check with Xavros at which point they will have to let you go and you might be lenient and only ask of Xavros to have them punished "lightly" for not following the proper procedure.

[ATHATH]

I think Arben and Psyren have the right idea here given the situation you described.

Telling the torturers that you are working for Xavros and that he is awaitng your report should at least trigger them to check with him.
Should this not immediately lead to a resolution (and assuming they are worshipers of Hextor or at least they are following his clergies rules at the moment) I would further emphasize this by telling them that they have basically 2 options a) they ignore the information you have provided and end up killing you, at which point as soon as Xavros finds out about this, they will face the consequences (and most likely perish themselves) or b) they check with Xavros at which point they will have to let you go and you might be lenient and only ask of Xavros to have them punished "lightly" for not following the proper procedure.
Or they could just kill you and never tell Xavros that you arrived (and were executed).

[Arbane]

Or they could just kill you and never tell Xavros that you arrived (and were executed).

Either way, his suffering is over.