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Varen_Tai
2018-10-15, 11:47 AM
As stated in another thread, I'm starting a campaign in the next couple of months, my first real P'n'P campaign in a couple of decades, and first non-P'n'P campaign since I started a couple here on this board around a decade or more ago.

The seed of my idea comes from Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, a fine piece of literature that you should all go read if you haven't yet.

In this book, you have a vampire (there are still some that disagree with this conclusion, but I'm settled on it), a lycanthrope (weredog, member of a group that calls itself the Hounds of God), a mummy, ifreet, and perhaps others that we don't hear about in the group that call themselves the Honor Guard. They are all supernatural creatures that keep an eye out for evil and work to thwart it. There's really not a lot of info on them in the book, but I *loved* the basic concept.

So I'm running a campaign in the Forgotten Realms in between the Time of Troubles and the Spellplague. I envision a series of powerful supernatural creatures, most of whom were evil to begin with and found some kind of personal redemption arc in their lives, who find each other and band together to watch out for... something. I've definitely got a vampire lord, a lycanthrope or two (maybe a whole pack of remorseful werewolves), a mummy, an ifreet, and an ancient red dragon in mind for this. Perhaps some fey from the Unseelie Court as well? I may add a few members here and there, but here's where my questions are.

We already have the Harpers and other good groups that keep an eye out for dangerous people, orgs, and menaces of all types. Guys like Elminster are watching out for arcane threats on a world/planar level. What exactly kind of threat would my Honor Guard be watching for? What are they uniquely qualified for that the other groups would miss?

My players are being set up for this without knowing it - I opened all kinds of races up for player classes, and so far, only one player has opted for a normal race (half-elf sorc). All the rest are picking more exotic choices, which will be perfect for the flavor of the campaign. The sorc has a master who is secretly a silver dragon that is connected to the now-good red dragon, so that's how he's connected to this exotic group, and I always use my player backstories to drive a large part of the campaign, but I want some help brainstorming the larger plot.

The group will not be interacting directly with the Honor Guard at first, but they will have been handpicked to handle whatever unique threat is coming up.

Anyhow, thoughts? Suggestions?

Coventry
2018-10-15, 09:51 PM
Elminster and the Harpers deal with threats to the three "Standard" sources of power - the arcane, the divine, and the natural.

Your collection in the Honor Guard are arguably representative of non-standard kinds of power.

Dragons may have taught the lesser races how to use arcane magic, but they tap into far more deeply. This one has tapped into the raw power, where the arcane is filtered and refined. The efreet is a representative of older elemental magic, which is just as old.

The vampire comes from Necromancy, the antithesis of the usual clerical divine. The mummy is a direct product of clerical magic, but still represents the "other side", where souls do not go to their final rest.

The werewolf draws from the antithesis of the druidic divine. The unseelie court - well, it is nature, upended and bent sideways.


What you seem to be describing is a threat to those three sources - either something that will cut them off (rendering Elminster a feeble old commoner, the deities as mere mortal echoes of their former selves, and nature reduced to a footnote in an empty void), or overloads them into an explosive mess that ultimately destroys everything.

The threat must be something ... I need another word for alien, as both that and outsider has been used ... let's use "Primal".

Zones dead to one kind of magic, but not another. Are they cracks in the multiverse, or are they mundane? Someone must investigate, and maybe repair it.

Zones where new power erupts into existence. Will mortals flock to the scene, and make the problem worse? Is it a flash that is then gone, or a hole where all of the souls of the dead are being rerouted and lost forever?

Can the mad god being used as a focus (Tharizdun), be cured of madness?

Varen_Tai
2018-10-15, 10:17 PM
I was partially headed this direction, though I really like your distinction of the 3 standard types of power. My thoughts were, "They watch out for the weird stuff..." but what those weird things are, well, that's the question, innit? I want to avoid Cthulu-esque type menaces - the Elder God thing has been used enough, I am shooting for mysterious and strange without getting Lovecrafty.

I like the idea of cracks (not physical) of some type forming and growing, having effects on reality, and maybe bending the planes in strange ways. Heck, maybe they'll end up in Sigil! (And maybe they'll run into a scarred immortal amnesiac traveling with a floating, talking skull, a githerazai, and a puritanical succubus? :smallbiggrin:)

But my next question that I'm grappling with is: Why isn't the Honor Guard taking care of these things themselves? Why bring the PCs in? First off-the-top-of-my-head answer is that they are too busy taking care of some of the major consequences of these cracks, they need the players to do discovery and take care of some of the smaller, but still important issues while they are busy elsewhere. Or are they holding themselves back, only stepping in when the situation calls for their direct power, and so they reserve themselves to monitor carefully without getting pulled in too deep?

For anyone who has seen Babylon 5, I'm envisioning a moment where the PCs demand that one or more members of the Honor Guard get directly involved with the situation like Sheridan demanded the Vorlon go directly after the Shadows early in the war. They would be warned that there are consequences, but if pressed, they show up and take care of things, but with the consequence that things get worse somewhere else because they had to stop watching and directing in order to act?

So is the BBEG a force of the universe that has gone out of control? A powerful being flexing their strength and trying to accomplish a goal of some sort? Or some wizard (or other foolhardy adventurer) that has delved into things they should have left alone and now are responsible for whatever is occuring?

Oooo, maybe this is the precursor to the Spellplague? Something shifted, throwing the gods out of balance and paving the way for Cyric to do his thing to Mystra? Maybe the PCs were able to prevent something really truly terrible, but couldn't prevent all consequences, and they get to grapple with the fact that they were partially responsible for the chaos around the Spellplague when it hits? That would be a bittersweet ending to the campaign, that's for certain...

Coventry
2018-10-16, 10:36 PM
But my next question that I'm grappling with is: Why isn't the Honor Guard taking care of these things themselves? Why bring the PCs in?

Spoken from the perspective of Carreg Cennan, the "handler" assigned to watch the PCs by his master in the Unseelie Court:

Why does the Lord of Autumn Haze not just do the work himself? Heh. You would not survive one hour in the Unseelie Court.

The Court is a place of high intrigue and danger. Favor and control are fickle and ephemeral, billowing up and fading in an instant for the unwary. A distraction like "taking care of it, himself" could upend the balance, and could possibly end him. With no patron, where would you be when the next crack forms?

As it is, tales of your struggles amuse other members of the Court who would otherwise choose to hinder your efforts before choosing to ignore you. They can be cruel, in that way.

The Dragons figured this out a long, long time ago. It was their kind that first decided to patronize the younger races after first using them as proxies rather than facing each other directly. They have done this for so long, that they have become set in their ways. But to give them credit, doing so has served them well for a very long time.

The vampire is new to this, and might be more willing to act directly, but his presence draws unwelcome and unenlightened attentions from the very mortals he is trying to save. Getting most to see past "undeath" is hopeless, but if you can ultimately convince some, that shall aid your cause.


Of course, Carreg is a member of the Unseelie Court - his words may be perfectly true, and still should not be trusted.

Maybe on of the Honor Guard has just gotten bored with being a bad guy, and is trying the "good guy" schtick just because it is a new experience to try. The Efreeti comes to mind, but your floating skull/demi-lich would work too.

Another may still be quite evil, but has decided to pitch in and help out of selfish reasons. That one does not want risk his or her existence, but is more than happy to bankroll mortals that will do the dirty work. Maybe that one has foreseen his or her death, and is frantically trying to avoid that fate.

Another Honor Guard member may have joined because her rival is on the other side trying to help bring the catastrophe. This member doesn't really have an opinion on the PCs - if they work out, great! if they do not, oh well. All that matters is that the rival must be ended. After that, this member may leave the Honor Guard, as her goal was reached.


I do like the idea that this is a precursor to the Spellplague, except I would twist it, a bit. Think of the campaign as having five possible outcomes: Great Success, Success, Neutral, Failure, Total Failure. Hitting "Great Success" means nothing bad happens. Mere "Success" is where the cracks aren't perfectly sealed, so the Spellplague happens ... but life goes on. The three worse results would have even more dire impacts - Neutral brings about Ravenloft? Failure wipes out the deities? Total Failure wipes out all life?

Personification
2018-10-16, 11:03 PM
The Honor Guard are too busy fighting the Jacks of all Trades. Also, who gets to play Bod?

Coventry
2018-10-17, 12:11 AM
Spoken by the mummy, Hotepnamerta:


Each of the Honor Guard had strong personal reasons to join. It is not my place to tell you tales of the others, but my reason is my own to share.

I serve in in this place in order to repay a debt incurred in life. As empires fell and rose, I chose to remain hidden, waiting for the ten thousandth generation to signal that I have paid in full. While I wiled away the time, I learned many secrets and hidden truths beyond the traditional form power.

As I learned, I become aware of a threat to my hoped-for final fate. A threat so serious that I had to seek out allies and agents that can act where I cannot. It meant I had to come out of hiding.

The threat is simple. If the ten thousandth generation never comes, then I cannot pay my debt. The goal is simple: your kind must not die out. How to achieve that goal is the opposite of simple. I need information. I need agents that can detect and stop those threats from coming to pass.

That is why I joined the Honor Guard. That is why I have reached out to you. That is why I have reached out to others, and have sometimes aided them even though they would destroy me if they could.

Varen_Tai
2018-10-17, 08:21 AM
The Honor Guard are too busy fighting the Jacks of all Trades. Also, who gets to play Bod?

Heh, right? It was seriously SUCH a good book!

Varen_Tai
2018-10-17, 08:31 AM
Spoken by the vampire lord, Silas:

I had forgotten. I had forgotten so much. What it was to be human in the first place. It had been so long.

Do humans and the other races realize what a curse it is to not be able to see yourself reflected in anything? It was a symbol of how we stopped self-reflecting and became lost. If you cannot see yourself in something else, you slowly lose the ability to see yourself clearly at all.

For a long time, I reveled in my new power. I became a legend. I became a terror. I spawned many of my own kind and ruled with careful cruelty. When hunters came sniffing, I was smart enough to lay false trails to some of my more powerful progeny (the ones that were beginning to be a threat to me), and I always escaped notice, while they walked away, feeling they had gotten the best of their undead prey.

Until one day, by accident (though I suppose now this may not have been true at all), I found a mirror that defied our curse. I saw myself, and not just me on the outside, but me on the inside. I saw in a flash all my lies, all my goodness and evil, and I understood what I had done. I was living the story of what it meant to "be a vampire", living the lie of it all, and not seeing the truth of who I really was on the inside. I had a choice. Not an easy one, but a choice nonetheless.

In that moment, I recalled my wife, my children, my friends, and I wept blood for the first time in a thousand years.

I took that mirror and left payment behind, far beyond what it was worth to most, but a pittance of what it was worth to me.

I began hunting my vampiric children and showed them the mirror to give them the same choice. Change or be destroyed. Some shifted and now work with me. Most did not - they had truly embraced their new nature, and I ended them.

I create no new children. I live to undo what I have done. I look in that mirror every day to remind myself of who I really am, and over the last centuries, my image is changing. I see more of my true self coming out, and I am grateful. But I have. So. Much. To atone for. So I work. I work with the others for our common goal of preservation.

This is the life I choose.

Varen_Tai
2018-10-17, 09:09 AM
My thought on how the whichever Lord of the Unseelie Court joined the Honor Guard - they actually, staggeringly, got caught in a bargain with a particularly altruistic member of the Seelie Court. It was ironclad, and how it happened would be a story in and of itself, but as part of the bargain, they are forced to work secretly (from the other Unseelies) to help and preserve mortals and the mortal world. They have tried every which way to slip around it, but a bargain made by the fey to catch another fey is better than one any mortal could conceive, and there is NO way out until the bargain has been fulfilled. And it has some clause like "until all things pass away" or the like, so it's a rather permanent-ish thing. Their nature hasn't changed, but they are forced to act beyond their nature due to the power of the bargain.

It may be that the member of the Seelie Court is also a member of the Honor Guard, one of the few to start out good, which is how the Unseelie is working with that group.

Coventry
2018-10-17, 10:38 PM
Staging: The party has a reason to travel from one outpost of civilization to another, on a road through barely populated space between those outposts. The road is regularly patrolled, so it is commonly known as "not a particularly dangerous journey ... but do keep your wits about you".

"Random" Encounters along the path include

the sighting of game animals (for example: deer), which the party can safely ignore or choose to successfully hunt as they desire. No treasure, nothing special at all - exactly what it appears to be. (The point here is to subtly reinforce the "not particularly dangerous" bit, as it tell the players that this is just the countryside.
A group of travelers on the road heading in the opposite direction. Maybe they pass undisturbed. If the party is cooking the deer, maybe they ask to purchase a share of the meal, an share stories of the interesting places in the town that they just came from. This could be a source of plot hooks, such as where to go to find work in town, or the location of the alchemist's shop, or the best temple to find inexpensive healing. Maybe the PCs eavesdrop on the others, and overhear one say, "you didn't see it, either? Come on, I couldn't have been the only one who did!" If asked directly, the ones who saw nothing roll their eyes. The one who may have seen something becomes defensive, and mutters, "I guess I don't know."
A patrol squad. Unless the PCs do something to attract attention, they continue their patrol. The patrol has been uneventful so far - the road ahead is normal.

The main event occurs when the PCs reach a crossroad where their maps/knowledge say none should be. They are alone on the road - no one else is visible. A spectral figure standing in the crossroads fades into view. The figure does not appear to be threatening, but instead seems curious about something. Whoever approaches to investigate will notice something odd - there are actually two figures standing almost exactly on top of each other, like a poorly focused image. One figure asks, "Choose" as if asking which of the four ways out of the crossroad that person will select. At the same time, the other figure asks "Why?"

If the PC answers one question, that figure seems satisfied, but the other seems confused ... almost as if the second figure did not see the other, or hear the other's question. Both wink out of this reality, and the crossroad is ... gone. A man has appeared on the road, (or has the party reappeared on the real road?) and rushes over to ask, "What did you see?"

That man is one of the Hounds of the Gods. He did not see the Watcher at the Crossroads, like the PCs did, but he knows that something happened nearby, and he can smell the aura on the PCs. If he is told that there were two Watchers superimposed upon each other, he will get very concerned - as the appearance of one Watcher is bad enough. He will want the PCs to relate exactly what they saw to his superior, paying them for their time, if necessary.

The superior concludes that having two Watchers is a sign of one of the cracks starting to form - there is only one Watcher at the Crossroads.

And there, you have the party hooked, even at low levels.


Spoken by the vampire lord, Silas:

Nice.


My thought on how the whichever Lord of the Unseelie Court joined the Honor Guard - they actually, staggeringly, got caught in a bargain with a particularly altruistic member of the Seelie Court.

That fits, too. I wouldn't expect Carreg Cennan to tell the whole truth about his boss ... or any truth about his boss. He is a member of the Unseelie Court, after all.

Varen_Tai
2018-10-17, 11:02 PM
Spoken by Fazim Hasan, Bringer of Flame, (former) Lord of the Efreet:

Granting wishes to mortals had never caused me issues before. I was power! I ruled the City of Brass, and all efreeti bowed to me. I tapped into the power of the flames and even the elemental lords feared my strength! I was ancient! I held secrets and understanding that the oldest beings, aside from the gods themselves, envied!

And then SHE summoned me. I still recall vividly the pull that marked that particular summoning. In all our history, very few had dared summon ME, and nearly all had regretted it quickly. I was enraged before I even finished materializing into my new location on the Prime Material Plane and I vowed to make whoever it was pay dearly for this insult.

So it was to my surprise that I found myself in a field next to a small wooden bridge over a stream. There were no circles of power binding me in place - I was free to act however I wished. In my rage, it took me a few moments to even notice the only other person there: a small human girl that I know now was only 6 years old. She cowered before my might and rage as I bellowed, "WHO IS THE WIZARD THAT DARES SUMMON THE LORD OF THE EFREETI, FAZIM HASAN, BRINGER OF FLAME THAT I MAY REND HIM TO PIECES?"

She did not answer, just curled up tighter and began crying. My rage cooled because I had never in all my time experienced anything like this before. I had no sympathy for a child of any race of mortal, but this entire scene confused me. I saw no mage, only this little girl. I shook my head and tried to plane step back to my realm, and couldn't. I was trapped here even without a circle.

Frustrated, I tried again, but to no avail. Something had brought me here and bound me to this place, and it seemed this girl was the only one who could free me. Usually, if I slew my summoner, I could return immediately, so I drew my flaming sword and struck at her.

It hit some invisible force and rebounded out of my hand. Getting angry again, I drew on my power of flames and tried to scorch her to cinders, but the flames washed over the same force and never touched her. She was clearly no mage, but I could not understand what was going on until I saw the glowing gem in her hand.

Once, long ago, a mage had trapped me and stole some of my essence. Not much, but enough to power this gem with my magic. He promptly banished me, but I still found him before he died. I tore him apart for the gall of stealing this from me, but I never found the gem. Somehow, this little girl had found it, and I could no more harm her than I could harm myself. What's more, she had unwittingly drawn me to her.

I knew I could not escape until she either released me properly or I was able to tap into the gem in order to drain out the essence stored there. So I used my best trick with mortals and said to her, "You have bested me! I now grant you a wish! Tell me what you desire and I will make it happen!"

With a tearstained face, she looked at me and shouted, "You're mean! I wish you weren't mean anymore!" Ordinarily, a mortal could not wish for anything that would impact me unless I desired it (one sorcerer thought he was clever by wishing for my death as his last wish - he was very wrong), but with this gem, her wish merged with my essence inside it, and it slammed back into me, giving me what I understand now is a conscience.

All my wisdom, all my power, all my age - none of it held any strength against the realization of my wrongs, how I harmed many, and how now I could no longer be who I was. I could spend a long time telling you how I ended up stepping down as Lord of the Brass City, spending little time with my own people, seeking a way to remove this part of me, but it was done. I cared. I cared about others and a world outside of myself.

I used to be my only focus, now... would I change it back if I could? I do not think so. I am happier now that I ever understood myself to be. I do not think I understood happiness at all. Gaining a conscience has granted me more power in my emotions than I ever dreamed, like suddenly seeing colors you never knew existed.

I was the first of the Honor Guard, before we even had a name. I found the dragon, and he and I joined forces to help the world. Others have joined over the centuries. Some have passed on and have been replaced, but we two remain constant - watching, protecting, guarding against those things that even the greatest wizards do not understand.

We are ancient. We are powerful. We are the Honor Guard, keeping your world (and many others) safe from powers and beings you cannot hope to understand.

Coventry
2018-10-17, 11:11 PM
Oh, I have a new one that I must add.

Spoken by the Red Dragon known only as Vatra-tan, in response to the question, "If the Jacks are such a thorn in our side, why haven't you just destroyed them?"

NO.

I have survived as long as I have by holding to one basic theory: Contingency Plans. When the plan fails, the contingency kicks in. When the contingency fails, the next contingency kicks in. One of your predecessors responded with, "so it's elephants all the way down, eh?" That is the general idea. I have only ever needed to reach six deep. So far.

The Jacks are one of my contingency plans should we fail. There MUST be someone that has a chance to pick up the pieces and solve the problem after we are gone. Even if they do not know their role right now. Should they fall before us, I will replace them.

Since that particular contingency plan presumes our methods have failed to contain a problem, their best chance of success is if they know little to nothing of how we tried to solve the problem, so that they might not make the mistake that we did.

Did you really just ask if I had more than just the Jacks as a backup plan? How do you humans put it? "Duh?" Yes. "Duh."

Varen_Tai
2018-10-17, 11:39 PM
That's a great hook! It works because my PCs have such a varied set of races (even a pixie, so the Seelie Court is represented). There is something different about each of them - I may draw out some special abilities over time in the campaign, something that sets them apart and makes them specially qualified to handle these types of problems. I may have the half-elf sorc have a form of Sight, which is why he got trained up by the polymorphed silver dragon, who alerts the red dragon of this ability. He would be the one to see the two Watchers (and they were sent on that road by the dragon to 1) test his Sight and 2) confirm what he was afraid of about these cracks). This is how the Hound of God happens to be right there - not by happenstance, but as an emissary of the Honor Guard.

I like your earlier thought that Ravenloft is involved in some way - maybe the Dark Powers of Ravenloft are stretching beyond their normal bounds and eroding the foundations of reality itself? There may be more to it, but that's an interesting idea since those Dark Powers have never been enumerated clearly and have greater power than the gods, especially within the demiplane.

Also, yes - DUH. :smallbiggrin:

The dragon has his own story, that perhaps only the efreet knows. All anyone has been able to gather was that he got... bored. In seeking ways to alleviate his boredom, he tried doing something good on a whim, and was very startled to discover that he liked it. Made him feel good inside. It was only a minor hobby for a while, but finally he gave into this mad idea that the golds and silvers may have an actual point, and so he embraced it. No one can get out of him more than that. Oh, he'll wax eloquent on a number of subjects, but on that particular one, this is all anyone has heard. He'll snort when Silas or Fazim go on about redemption and making up for what they've done - I mean, he likes being good and all, but no use bothering about his old crimes unless they come back to bother him. Then he deals with it, but he doesn't really get the whole sorrow for past misdeeds thing so much.

Plus, he's admitted at times that it is far more challenging to help defend mortals than to lord over them. His vast capabilities need to be challenged. He LIKES a good challenge.

"Good tends to be really stupid, honestly. Even the vast majority of self-styled villains I've seen over the centuries are also pretty stupid, actually. The really powerful evil forces, though - those are worthy of pitting my might and intellect against. Knights with swords? Pshaw. Not clever. Brute force. Dragonslayer came after me once. I tricked him, and he ended up spitting himself on his own stupid sword. But have you ever outsmarted a GOD?"

"Why, have you?"

"Well, what an excellent question! I won't answer. But let's just say that Lathandar isn't as smart as he thinks he is."

Coventry
2018-10-18, 12:20 AM
Ah! I had wanted to suggest a trickster, but was having trouble "hearing a voice" for one. Your Dragon is good for that role.

The story of how the Efreet converted reads very well. I may snag that for my own game (someday) if you do not mind.

I had been thinking of Ravenloft as a consequence of how the story unfolds, rather than being the thing that kicks off the story .... but the powers behind the mist are certainly outside of the "big three".

It all seems to be hanging together nicely, so far. I can see this cast of characters working together, even if they don't necessarily agree on everything, or even like each other. The goal is enough to let them get past those little details. I can see them choosing to pull in mortals, without becoming too much of a crutch for the PCs (or worse - being Deus ex Machina).

Varen_Tai
2018-10-18, 08:29 AM
Steal away! Any of these characters are interesting in their own right and would fit individually into many different scenarios. In fact, I ran a PnP campaign years ago where the characters had (unwittingly) stolen something of Cyric's, and he was chasing them. They ran into a vampire lord who was back and forth an enemy or an ally. He HATED being controlled, and so he really hated Cyric and would help the party where he could, but when he came within a certain radius of one of Cyric's avatars, the avatar would compel him to hunt and attack the party, so they never knew when they saw him if he was friend or foe. He was vastly more powerful than they and would normally prey on them like most vamps would, but "enemy of my enemy" and all. Made for some very tense sessions when he was hunting them and they knew it!

Yes, the dragon can kinda fall into that trickster role, but my inspiration for him was more Sherlock Holmse-y. After all, he was a criminal at first, but found the law enforcement to be interminably stupid and not challenging at all, so he set himself to thwart crime instead. All the others have wisdom, experience, power, and intelligence, but the dragon is sheer active brilliance mixed in with all those others as well. He's really the mastermind of the group and always has been. That certainly puts him in a trickster role as well as other roles.

Now I need to start brainstorming a series of really odd stuff, some directly dangerous, and some just... strange, that would embody these cracks starting to split things apart.

Like... a darkness that if mortals go into it, they start to lose their memories, and if they stay long enough, they just vanish. Not just gone and dead, but devoured as though they had never been. No one had any memories of them, they had been erased. The Honor Guard keep an eye on this and most of them are... not exactly immune, but certainly resistant for a much longer period of time than any hapless mortal. No one knows what it is or where it came from, only that it simply is and is to be avoided. I actually envision the party's curiosity getting them headed straight into it until Silas guides them out, chiding them gently to stay away from things they do not understand..

I think Silas really likes people more than most of the rest of the Honor Guard. They care on a grander scale, but Silas was human once and is, in many ways, more human than many humans. He cares on the grand scale and on a very personal scale, which gives him a compassion absent certainly from the dragon and the mummy.

Coventry
2018-10-19, 08:41 PM
Now I need to start brainstorming a series of really odd stuff, some directly dangerous, and some just... strange, that would embody these cracks starting to split things apart.

I have been thinking about this.

One of my thoughts would be that it would be a cool event if the PCs went to sleep in an inn, and then the person who founded the inn vanished as a result of one of the cracks. What would happen? Would someone else found an inn (with a different name)? Would the floor plan change? Would the building disappear, leaving the PCs camped out in a field?

What if the founder of a city was affected that way? Would the city's name change?

That led me to wonder about changes for the PCs - what if the mage who crafted the fighter's sword vanished? The fighter's past desire for a good weapon would have led him to something else - something different, right?

But that set off warning alarms - as a PC, I would absolutely hate it if the DM just randomly changed my concept around to be something I did not want. Not unless I could fix it.

So, I have a proposal of how to achieve the effect, without wrecking your player's planned builds: When the PCs are first created, grant them a "Bonus Flavor Feat", with the following rules:


A bonus flavor feat is intended to make your character more interesting or unusual, rather than simply being more powerful.
This feat may be altered or taken away by in-game events.
This feat may never be used as a pre-requisite for anything else - no class features, no other feats, NOTHING.
Suggestion: pick something you have not picked before, such as a Skill Focus - Profession: Cook, a Story feat or something like Fleet or Fey Foundling.


Before the game starts, create a chart of things that might affect the PCs. When an important crack occurs, have each of them roll D%, and cross-check the chart. Something like:



Percent Roll
Result


1-85
Nothing


86
A minor physical change to the nearby environment occurs. Perhaps the apple tree in the yard becomes a mulberry tree. A corn field becomes a wheat field. The garden moves from the back of the house to the side yard. A stained glass window depicts a different scene than before.


87
A minor artificial changes occurs. Perhaps the village's name, or the village mayor's name is different. A building is replaced by a monument to a local hero that did not exist before the crack. Or, a local law changes


88
A minor change to the player's gear occurs. A small non-magical item is added, such as a backpack or a crowbar with the PCs name engraved upon it. A set of artisan's tools upgrades to masterwork.


89
A medium locale change occurs. The inn the players were staying at is now sized for halflings, and run by a Halfling that still does understand why big people would actually beg to sleep there (buy hey, you money's good, so ... whatever).


90
A PCs reputation changes. Perhaps she's now carrying a badge, and the locals refer to her as "Marshal". Perhaps the ladies of the night show up in the morning and give the PC their "cut from the night's activities". Maybe the locals flee at the sight of the scary mage.


...



98
The "Bonus Flavor Feat" for a PC permanently changes to something wildly different


99
Add or subtract a close family member for the PC. A new sibling that did not exist before the crack, but has always existed after the crack.


...




By giving a large "nothing happens" range (1-85), the PC will be mostly stable, but letting the PC roll percentile dice and having you consult the list mean the change is at least somewhat under their control. With Four PCs, there is a 48% chance at least one of them will experience a change each time. To add more stuff on the list, just have secondary charts.

Maybe that breakdown should have been: 1-85 = nothing happens. 86-93 = tiny change, 94-97 = small change, 98-99 = medium change, 100 = big change.

Now that does not have to chain your hands. If the plot for the crack of the week entails a monastery suddenly having two of every inhabitant ... then go for it.


the only other person there: a small human girl that I know now was only 6 years old

Changing topic a little bit, I also found myself wondering, what ultimately happened to little Gemma (the girl from the Efreet's story)? Seems like she had a leg up on becoming a powerful mage ...

Varen_Tai
2018-10-20, 11:50 AM
I like the chart! The homebrew system I'm using doesn't really use feats exactly. It's skill-based rather than level-based (since I have always HATED how high level fighters can have more HP than a dragon), though I could give them some extra skill points to use on a skill that fits those criteria and use it the same way.

As I've pondered, I think I've come up with a few more special abilities - one player has Sight (the sorc, most likely) and can see the cracks and their effects better than the others. One is an Anchor - those in close proximity when a crack appears are drastically less affected than others. It also makes them more able to "wade in" when a crack appears and can withstand the effects for longer. One maybe is a Shaper - they can alter reality around a crack to be more favorable or at least less negative. One is a Sensor - they can feel where new cracks will appear and an approximate timeframe, as well as the severity of the crack?

I'm sure we can come up with more. This is just a shoot-from-the-hip list. ;)

From the words of Fazim Hasan, Bringer of Flame, (former) Lord of the Efreet:

You say you want to know about the girl? When one is immortal as I am, time passes very quickly. I spent a long time trying to rid myself my what I viewed then as this troublesome conscience, but when I finally accepted it, I went in search of her. I wanted to thank her, you see. I...did not know how long had passed for a mortal.

I came to the Prime Material Plane, shapechanged into human form. There were very few with magical sight powerful enough to see through my disguise, so I was unworried. Because of her wish, I suspected (and I was correct) that there was a magical connection between us, so I traced it. I found her in a house surrounded by her children and grandchildren and from what I understood, even some great-grandchildren. She was not on her deathbed, but she was frail.

She confirmed later that she knew I was near - she could feel me like I could feel her - so I was surprised to see all the people in her family leave the house, and when one of the older children spotted me, he shouted, "Grammie, he's here!" Surprised, I was ushered in to see her as she sat in the top room of this large house. There were portraits of her family everywhere and I could tell she had lived a happy life, as mortals go.

She smiled at me when I came in, invited me to sit down, and we talked. We talked for a long time. She had never forgotten me, and had half-expected me to show up again and finish the job. As she got older, she had researched our kind (what little info there was to be had openly) and realized that the wish she made should not have worked, but something about the gem had made it work. With her wish, all magical essence from the gem was gone, except perhaps for a faint residue. She gave it to her parents, and they sold it, using the newfound wealth wisely to help the family become successful through investments in merchant companies.

She decided to have a family, but kept her love of learning. I found out she was a pre-eminent sage on extraplanar beings, specializing in Efreet. Even some of the most famous mages of her time sought out her wisdom and knowledge (which I tried to add to).

Now, surrounded by family, she had wondered if I would ever come back to her.

I told her of my journey, of my anger towards her at first, but how I had grown to love this accidental gift.

"Maybe it was meant to be?", she asked, and I couldn't answer. Perhaps it was.

We ended with a promise that I would come back and visit again, and when I leaned over and quietly told her she had two more wishes left, she smiled broadly and whispered them in my ear. I happily granted them.

I saw her twice more before she passed on, and each time was a richer experience than the last.

She was a good woman, and I was lucky to have her as a friend. Beyond my conscience, I protect this world for her and her children, though she is long passed. I check in on her posterity at times. Many of them have been as good as she, and many have not, though I have tried to help in ways that would not disrupt them. I have been able to save the lives of some of them along the way, though they did not know who I was.

This story has been long enough and you have tasks to accomplish. My self-imposed exile from my kin has been lonely in many ways, but people like her have made it worth it. Now go on. I will answer your other questions later when we have not so many things to do.