PDA

View Full Version : Book with a semidivine being inside (need a help by Roleplaying DMs and players)



Sergio
2017-10-28, 05:44 PM
Hello,
Time ago, with a dm that isn't my dm anymore, I made the following background:

I am a kid from a poor family; my mother is just a cook, while my father is the local librarykeeper. Inside the library I was used to read books related to heroic adventures and I kept dreaming all the time that one day I could do good and I would do good. My dad always advised me to stay far from dangers and to be honest the chances to do good didn't present to me; I lived in a rural area where nothing important happened, and even if something happened, being a 15 years old with no education, no knowledge, but how to be the next librarykeeper left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

My part time work was helping my dad shipping the books or 'obscure' items I have never cared about; one day, after having reached the house I was supposed to ship the content in, I saw a huge fire engulfing the it and I heard a really loud scream.

Not thinking to my own life, I entered the house, but I didn't find anyone and there was an area where the fire didn't spread, it was untouched, and in it there was a book.

I was 'charmed' by the book and I took it into my own hands and bringed it outside and to my home. Unknownigly to me, with which I've started talking (he obviously didn't say he was a demon) inside the book there was a demon, that gave me magic powers

My (old) dm approved the background, but he killed my character in three sessions because I didn't comply to what the book told.

So I thought... why not propose to my current and new DM? With the new DM, I've talked about this background, and he told me that while the background could make a good story, it would be hard to 'execute' it into the game and another layer of difficulty is added by the fact that I'm just a teen looking to do good things while inside the book there is a millennial being that knows many tricks and is actively looking to damage\destroy me etc etc

So I was looking for ideas. Are there particular rules that would needed to be added to make the game 'fair', or should I just leave the background to the past?

Regards

WarKitty
2017-10-29, 02:34 AM
One easy thing to do might be to limit the channel that the book can do. So maybe it can't communicate with you too well yet, because you're not powerful enough and if it's too direct you could just get fried. So it can only use some of its power. Maybe also since it's been trapped in a book it can't access everything yet. It can however withdraw its powers at any point.

Sounds like a wonderful idea for a warlock.

Nifft
2017-10-29, 02:56 AM
One easy thing to do might be to limit the channel that the book can do. So maybe it can't communicate with you too well yet, because you're not powerful enough and if it's too direct you could just get fried.

So it's a BOOK, but it's too powerful so it can only communicate with you through WRITTEN WORDS.

You may find yourself in the embarrassing position of voluntarily reading a book.

WarKitty
2017-10-29, 03:02 AM
So it's a BOOK, but it's too powerful so it can only communicate with you through WRITTEN WORDS.

You may find yourself in the embarrassing position of voluntarily reading a book.

That is a good idea. What I was trying to do is it can't just shove itself into your mind fully.

Anymage
2017-10-29, 08:16 AM
If a semidivine being is stuck in a physical object, it has to have been trapped there by something even bigger. Otherwise, it'll just break out and do its own thing when it gets tired of being inanimate. That can excuse a good number of limits.

The mechanics would depend on the game. (This would be ideal for a D&D warlock, for instance.) But it can give you a trickle of power, it can talk to you, and that's about the extent of what its prison allows. This also gives it a reason to want you alive and not suggest that you go somewhere fatally dangerous; if you die someplace dangerous it has to sit there doing nothing until someone else comes along to pick it up. If someone strongly good aligned picks it up after you, there's a risk of it being locked up in a church vault for a long while. If someone already strong picks it up, there's a decent chance that the trickle of power offered won't be enough to interest them. So even if the terms of its imprisonment didn't keep it from frying you outright, it could still very easily think you're a better choice than waiting around for someone else and rolling the dice with them.

Sergio
2017-10-30, 02:33 AM
issue here is that by limiting the possibilities given to the being itself it would mean limiting his (and my dm) agency?

Another issue is when entering a city inhabitated by clerics or mages. Even a shallow "detect magic" would detect a huge power coming from me, a common person.

WarKitty
2017-10-30, 05:20 AM
issue here is that by limiting the possibilities given to the being itself it would mean limiting his (and my dm) agency?

I'm not really sure that's an issue. I mean, you want to limit the possibilities to things that are reasonable for your character's level, and allow you to play a character that's not completely controlled by an outside entity. That's a reasonable limitation.


Another issue is when entering a city inhabitated by clerics or mages. Even a shallow "detect magic" would detect a huge power coming from me, a common person.

There are spells to shield that, and it could be fluffed that the book only gives off as strong an aura as it's able to give you power. In a standard D&D world showing up as a bit magic isn't too odd. Assuming you are playing some form of D&D.