Arcane! Divine! Alchemical! Psychic! Physical Might! By your powers combined, I am...

[DaOldeWolf]

….The Vampire Lord!!!

Hey everyone on the forum. I come here again to all of you to ask for the wisdom from this forum to help this naive and still kind of new DM (I have done like 3 campaigns). Let me bring the subjects of my concerns to the plate.

All 4 players already decided their clases and have a rough idea of what their characters are going to be and do. I noticed that their characters fulfill a different type of magic (as pointed on the title though we dont have a physical might character). They also are all capable of healing of some sort. I found these coincidences interesting and though about making changes to the plot to bring up these coincidences for the use of future plot points. My question is if it would be a good idea to make major changes to the plot to take chance to use this coincidences.

The second question is kinda related to the first. Since I have 4 players and my idea includes 5, would it be fine to introduce an NPC that would be as important to the plot as the PCs? I have kept important NPCs in completely support roles (even in combat) when they get involved to the plot to avoid taking the spotlight away from PCs. Still, if I want to use a believable "physical might" type of character, I cant have him be play a support role. He isnt going to be attached with the party and travelling with them the whole time but I want him to join in them a few times. In what way can I make him work without having him steal the PCs thunder?

For the next question, I probably need to bring up the plot. This is basically the briefest summary I can think of. The Vampire Lord was destroyed recently by a powerful group of adventures. Still, its destruction brought a great curse to the people of the continent. There are black clouds that cover the skies at night and black snow descends from them. Most people get in contact with the snow mutate into all sorts of monsters. For some reason, the PCs are inmune to its effects and decide to investigate for a way to stop it. The servants of the vampires are also on the look for a way to revive their master since the snow is a sign for them of their master being alive (and the PCs are needed for such revival).

Moving on to my question, I was speaking the other day about their character´s bckstories to think of ways of weaving them into the narrative and something happened. By mere coincidence, there is an important plot twist that a player added to their backstory. The plot twist is that each of the characters has a part of the soul of the big bad inside them (which is why the black snow doesnt affect them) and he told me his idea about his PC dreaming about being possesed by the big bad. I dont know what I should do about this. Should I change the twist? Should I tell him about the situation and request him to keep the secret? Should I remain quiet?

Thanks in advance for your advice! Every bit of help is appreciated.

[legomaster00156]

Would you mind telling us which system you're running? :smallconfused:

[DaOldeWolf]

Would you mind telling us which system you're running? :smallconfused:

My questions arent exactly related to the system but no problem. :smallconfused: It is pathfinder.

The players are an alchemist (alchemy), a summoner (arcane), a vampire hunter (divine) and a spiritualist (psychic).

[TurboGhast]

Using of coincidences in the game's plot will help you create a plot with thematic links. Just don't over-rely on the coincidence's existence, since coincidences can be broken.

Not having the important NPC with the party all the time already goes a long way towards preventing him from taking the PC's thunder. Mechanically, you could build him to be a tank, which still leans towards support and not taking the spotlight despite taking a direct role in combat. This would also help avert the a feeling that the character's invincible, since he's more likely to be get close to dying if he's in the front lines taking a bunch of damage. When he acts offscreen, ensure he can only take actions his mechanical self could feasibly do on his own, and leave major fights to the PCs.

You should also consider whether the effort needed to bring him in is worth it. Physical might is the odd one out in your list of powers, and I think the "all types of power" theming would still work even if it wasn't there.

I think it'd be better to play into the backstory idea that your PC had. His character would get the possession dreams without the player knowing the in-universe reason why. Eventually, the other characters start having similar dreams, increasing the stakes of late-game adventures.

[DaOldeWolf]

Using of coincidences in the game's plot will help you create a plot with thematic links. Just don't over-rely on the coincidence's existence, since coincidences can be broken.

Of course. its a one time deal. My original plan involved a lot more NPCs. This would also reduce work for me. It also allows the players to feel their characters are a bit special. Thanks for the approval.


Not having the important NPC with the party all the time already goes a long way towards preventing him from taking the PC's thunder. Mechanically, you could build him to be a tank, which still leans towards support and not taking the spotlight despite taking a direct role in combat. This would also help avert the a feeling that the character's invincible, since he's more likely to be get close to dying if he's in the front lines taking a bunch of damage. When he acts offscreen, ensure he can only take actions his mechanical self could feasibly do on his own, and leave major fights to the PCs.

Excellent idea! It is thematically appropiate. I could have him shield the squishier characters in combat. Thank you very much for the ideas!


You should also consider whether the effort needed to bring him in is worth it. Physical might is the odd one out in your list of powers, and I think the "all types of power" theming would still work even if it wasn't there.
I suppose though the reason behind having that being the case is that the character is to have the character either die or have been captured and his soul stolen latter to raise the stakes of the vampire´s revival.


I think it'd be better to play into the backstory idea that your PC had. His character would get the possession dreams without the player knowing the in-universe reason why. Eventually, the other characters start having similar dreams, increasing the stakes of late-game adventures.

Great! Sounds like a good plan to me. Thanks for the feedback and advice!