King of Nowhere
2017-10-08, 06:18 PM
So, some time ago the party paid someone to spy on an enemy and record informations. The spy, being a chronic overachiever and show-off, eventually got them (along with incredibly accurate and just as pointless information like an interview with the midwife who helped the subject's birth or a scroll of the spell the subject is using to fight baldness, which I included in what I hope will be a very funny missive) a full crate packed full of the spied subject's biological samples.
Hairs, nails, dead skin, stuff scratched from calluses, blood, saliva, tears, sperm, sweat, threads from every piece of clothing the subject owns, you name it, she managed to collect it and send it to the party. All those samples are meant to be used in magic rituals, in case the party wanted - though the main reason the spy included them was showing off, as in "I am so skilled that I can enter in the home of a powerful wizard and take all this stuff without raising suspicion".
Now, I did it mostly to spark some fun moments, but the party may probably want to use that trove to gain advantage in their future confrontation. And so my question is, what can you actually do when you have access to so many biological samples from someone? The only advantage I know of is getting a bonus on scry checks, which on a 15th level wizard are not going to work anyway. And making an ice assassin, which does not exist in my campaign world.
Same goes for the information; they know the full genealogic tree of the subject up to the tenth degree of parentage, with at least a sketchy biography for all the relatives all the way to fifth degree. They have a good estimate of how many hairs the wizard has on his head, how many hairs in his nose. Is there any spell that can benefit from those kind of stuff?
I'd like both RAW answers and somewhat more creative answers. I don't want the party to win outright because of that, but if after some research they could get some mild advantage, it will make them feel rewarded for pursuing the question, and for hiring the spy in the first place. Well, Arianna will also provide information about when the wizard leaves his lair, what kind of protections and contingencies he has usually in place, what spells he usually prepares, so they're going to be happy to have hired her anyway; but still, I want to encourage the party to go creative on this matter.
Hairs, nails, dead skin, stuff scratched from calluses, blood, saliva, tears, sperm, sweat, threads from every piece of clothing the subject owns, you name it, she managed to collect it and send it to the party. All those samples are meant to be used in magic rituals, in case the party wanted - though the main reason the spy included them was showing off, as in "I am so skilled that I can enter in the home of a powerful wizard and take all this stuff without raising suspicion".
Now, I did it mostly to spark some fun moments, but the party may probably want to use that trove to gain advantage in their future confrontation. And so my question is, what can you actually do when you have access to so many biological samples from someone? The only advantage I know of is getting a bonus on scry checks, which on a 15th level wizard are not going to work anyway. And making an ice assassin, which does not exist in my campaign world.
Same goes for the information; they know the full genealogic tree of the subject up to the tenth degree of parentage, with at least a sketchy biography for all the relatives all the way to fifth degree. They have a good estimate of how many hairs the wizard has on his head, how many hairs in his nose. Is there any spell that can benefit from those kind of stuff?
I'd like both RAW answers and somewhat more creative answers. I don't want the party to win outright because of that, but if after some research they could get some mild advantage, it will make them feel rewarded for pursuing the question, and for hiring the spy in the first place. Well, Arianna will also provide information about when the wizard leaves his lair, what kind of protections and contingencies he has usually in place, what spells he usually prepares, so they're going to be happy to have hired her anyway; but still, I want to encourage the party to go creative on this matter.