SiCK_Boy
2017-12-09, 09:07 AM
I'm looking for creative assistance in expanding upon one of my player's background.
I just started DMing for a group of six relatively new players (two new to roleplaying in general, 4 new to 5e after having last played more than 10-20 years ago). All of them are in their late 30s.
I'm using the Lost Mine of Phandelver module. Four of the players are using pre-made characters from the Starter Set: both human fighters (noble and folk hero), the halfling rogue and the dwarf cleric (with minor changes to his personality, but still using the soldier background and personal quest of dealing with the Redbrands). I repurposed the wizard's background (acolyte, on a mission to clean up and bless a shrine to Oghma in the Cragmaw Castle) on a bard framework for the 5th player.
The 6th player chose to build his own character from scratch. He ended up with an elf wizard (should have just taken the pre-made character, but he wanted to learn the character creation process, so...) and picked the Hermit background.
Here's the information I have on his background and character backstory: as an hermit, he was protecting some relic (no detail on what the relic is). As part of studying the relic and his isolated meditation, he came to realize there was "some evil that only him can deal with". This became his motivation to leave his isolation: he needs to acquire power in order to be able to deal with this evil.
Now, for each other character, I've been able to link their background and backstory with the actual adventure. This is mostly accomplished via the use of the "personal quest" assigned to each pre-made character: this allowed me to feed information about the Redbrands to the halfling rogue, for example; the dwarf cleric is Gundren Rockseeker's cousin, so I gave him information on all three Rockseeker brothers; the noble fighter wants to bring civilization to Phandalin, so I gave him information on the social structure and political power in the village (info on the mayor, and a bit on the Miner's Exchange), etc.
But with that hermit, I'm a bit stuck as to how I could link his background to the actual adventure.
I asked the player what he had in mind for this "evil only he can defeat"; whether he wanted something truly epic or something within his short-term reach (I explained to him that the adventure only takes characters up to level 5, so it's difficult to have something really epic in that level range). He indicated he wanted something epic, even if the odds of the group making it to levels 10+ are really small (right now, I'm motivated to DM for them for as long as it takes, but really, will such a group hold together and enjoy the game for two years of play every two weeks?).
I do not yet know what the plan will be after LMoP: I could segue into any of the existing official campaigns (most of them can easily be tweaked for characters starting at level 4-5), or I could try using some of the stuff in Tales of the Yawning Portal (Hidden Temple of Tamoachan is for level 5 characters, and the map found in Wave Echo Cave could lead to that adventure easily enough), or I could just develop some homebrew stuff (the group has already forced me to expend on the happenings in Neverwinter and with the Mintarn Mercenaries). I don't want to discuss any of this with the group at this point because it's way too far, in my mind; it's already enough work for me to plan and try to foreshadow around the events from LMoP.
So, here's what I need assistance with:
- What is that hermit's relic (and why would he have it)?
- What is that evil only he can defeat?
- How do I use components from Lost Mine of Phandelver to someone establish a link between the relic and that long-term evil?
I was thinking of maybe trying to give the hermit player some vague prophecy-style book as his relic; probably something older than 500 years old (written before the fall of the Phandelver's Pact).
I was thinking of possibly using the roll of years to make it so that the evil in question would happen somewhere in the next year (current date is Flamerule 8, 1491 DR; I'm fine with switching the timeline on any of the existing campaign modules as needed); this would have justified the player leaving isolation: he realized time was coming soon and he needed to accumulate power in the next year in order to face that evil.
I was hoping to maybe give very shadowy-style prophecy that could possible apply to multiple BBEG from any of the campaigns, so that I would not be locked so soon into what campaign I would follow later on.
And finally, I was thinking of trying to use Lathander as a possible trigger (linked to the unfinished work still lying in the Wave Echo Cave as the last item ordered from the Forge of Spells) to prompt the adventurer forward.
I thought of maybe linking the evil to the "Black Spider" (something along the line of "the black spider is but the first step that this evil will take in the world") or to Mormensk the Wraith, but on the other side, I'd rather keep the Mine itself secret as long as possible without giving any PC advanced knowledge of what is to be found there.
Anyway, enough with the wall of text. Please provide ideas and inspiration, if you have any! (I need something within the next 48 hours; our next session is in 1 week, and I want to send the player this information as soon as possible).
I just started DMing for a group of six relatively new players (two new to roleplaying in general, 4 new to 5e after having last played more than 10-20 years ago). All of them are in their late 30s.
I'm using the Lost Mine of Phandelver module. Four of the players are using pre-made characters from the Starter Set: both human fighters (noble and folk hero), the halfling rogue and the dwarf cleric (with minor changes to his personality, but still using the soldier background and personal quest of dealing with the Redbrands). I repurposed the wizard's background (acolyte, on a mission to clean up and bless a shrine to Oghma in the Cragmaw Castle) on a bard framework for the 5th player.
The 6th player chose to build his own character from scratch. He ended up with an elf wizard (should have just taken the pre-made character, but he wanted to learn the character creation process, so...) and picked the Hermit background.
Here's the information I have on his background and character backstory: as an hermit, he was protecting some relic (no detail on what the relic is). As part of studying the relic and his isolated meditation, he came to realize there was "some evil that only him can deal with". This became his motivation to leave his isolation: he needs to acquire power in order to be able to deal with this evil.
Now, for each other character, I've been able to link their background and backstory with the actual adventure. This is mostly accomplished via the use of the "personal quest" assigned to each pre-made character: this allowed me to feed information about the Redbrands to the halfling rogue, for example; the dwarf cleric is Gundren Rockseeker's cousin, so I gave him information on all three Rockseeker brothers; the noble fighter wants to bring civilization to Phandalin, so I gave him information on the social structure and political power in the village (info on the mayor, and a bit on the Miner's Exchange), etc.
But with that hermit, I'm a bit stuck as to how I could link his background to the actual adventure.
I asked the player what he had in mind for this "evil only he can defeat"; whether he wanted something truly epic or something within his short-term reach (I explained to him that the adventure only takes characters up to level 5, so it's difficult to have something really epic in that level range). He indicated he wanted something epic, even if the odds of the group making it to levels 10+ are really small (right now, I'm motivated to DM for them for as long as it takes, but really, will such a group hold together and enjoy the game for two years of play every two weeks?).
I do not yet know what the plan will be after LMoP: I could segue into any of the existing official campaigns (most of them can easily be tweaked for characters starting at level 4-5), or I could try using some of the stuff in Tales of the Yawning Portal (Hidden Temple of Tamoachan is for level 5 characters, and the map found in Wave Echo Cave could lead to that adventure easily enough), or I could just develop some homebrew stuff (the group has already forced me to expend on the happenings in Neverwinter and with the Mintarn Mercenaries). I don't want to discuss any of this with the group at this point because it's way too far, in my mind; it's already enough work for me to plan and try to foreshadow around the events from LMoP.
So, here's what I need assistance with:
- What is that hermit's relic (and why would he have it)?
- What is that evil only he can defeat?
- How do I use components from Lost Mine of Phandelver to someone establish a link between the relic and that long-term evil?
I was thinking of maybe trying to give the hermit player some vague prophecy-style book as his relic; probably something older than 500 years old (written before the fall of the Phandelver's Pact).
I was thinking of possibly using the roll of years to make it so that the evil in question would happen somewhere in the next year (current date is Flamerule 8, 1491 DR; I'm fine with switching the timeline on any of the existing campaign modules as needed); this would have justified the player leaving isolation: he realized time was coming soon and he needed to accumulate power in the next year in order to face that evil.
I was hoping to maybe give very shadowy-style prophecy that could possible apply to multiple BBEG from any of the campaigns, so that I would not be locked so soon into what campaign I would follow later on.
And finally, I was thinking of trying to use Lathander as a possible trigger (linked to the unfinished work still lying in the Wave Echo Cave as the last item ordered from the Forge of Spells) to prompt the adventurer forward.
I thought of maybe linking the evil to the "Black Spider" (something along the line of "the black spider is but the first step that this evil will take in the world") or to Mormensk the Wraith, but on the other side, I'd rather keep the Mine itself secret as long as possible without giving any PC advanced knowledge of what is to be found there.
Anyway, enough with the wall of text. Please provide ideas and inspiration, if you have any! (I need something within the next 48 hours; our next session is in 1 week, and I want to send the player this information as soon as possible).