Dm-help player turned into pig

[tim01300]

So my players entered an empty town, and discovered all the townsfolk had been turned into pigs (yes i got the idea from the witcher 3), my players found a gold box full of cursed gold coins in the town church. My players knew the gold was the cause of the curse but one of them took them anyway and left the town. I even let them find a map sending them towards where the coins need to be brought to break the curse. They went the opposite way to help a different NPC. The next day he became a non sentient pig.

I'm not sure how to handle it, i suggested he roll a new character because i think it will be at least 2 game sessions before they even get close to breaking this curse.

Any suggestions?

[Darth Ultron]

Let the player be a pig character!

Sergent Side O'Bacon away!

[WesleyVos]

Is there a druid in the party? Have her cast Awaken.

Now the character is an awakened pig, which could make for an interesting couple sessions until the curse is broken.

Assuming he doesn't want to stay a pig, we'd need some more information before we could answer. What level is the party? What is the makeup of the rest of the group? General magic level of the campaign? Does the curse have any special restrictions for breaking it (given that they have to take the coins somewhere specific, it seems that this isn't your run-of-the-mill Remove Curse solves)?

[Fizban]

(yes i got the idea from the witcher 3),
That's a weird way to spell "Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door." (It's probably a common bit of folklore though).

Standard stop-gap is to hand the player an NPC to run until their character is restored. Baelful Polymorph isn't all that hard to remove.

[denthor]

5th level break enchantment

3rd level remove curse

[Goaty14]

If the player's soul is evicted to make a non-sentient pig, then the character's spirit cannot move on to the next world and becomes a ghost (Ghostwalk has a LA +0 ghost race) until her body is restored and ready for re-inhabitation.

[Blue Jay]

So my players entered an empty town, and discovered all the townsfolk had been turned into pigs (yes i got the idea from the witcher 3), my players found a gold box full of cursed gold coins in the town church. My players knew the gold was the cause of the curse but one of them took them anyway and left the town. I even let them find a map sending them towards where the coins need to be brought to break the curse. They went the opposite way to help a different NPC. The next day he became a non sentient pig.

I'm not sure how to handle it, i suggested he roll a new character because i think it will be at least 2 game sessions before they even get close to breaking this curse.

Any suggestions?

You could think up an excuse to let the pig-character be intelligent. Maybe he's special in some way, like he's got a mystical or blood connection to the man who made the curse, and that lets him retain his mind even while under the effects of the curse that make others lose their minds. That way, you can turn a bad bit of misfortune and poor decision-making into an interesting character-development opportunity while still making him pay a price for his poor decision-making.

But, letting him roll up a new character or choose one of your NPCs to play for a bit is another option.

If it were me, I'd prefer to talk it over with him, present a couple options ("Do you want to play as an intelligent pig? Or would you prefer to just roll up a new character?") and let him choose.

[Thurbane]

So my players entered an empty town, and discovered all the townsfolk had been turned into pigs (yes i got the idea from the witcher 3)

That's a weird way to spell "Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door." (It's probably a common bit of folklore though).
Yeah, Circe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circe) was doing it before it was cool :smalltongue:

[Saintheart]

Let the player be a pig character!

Sergent Side O'Bacon away!

And the best part is that he'd have a completely legitimate excuse to ham it up!

[Selion]

If he is a spellcaster: eschew materials, natural spells and let him rock!

[tim01300]

Party is lvl 3. No druid. He is the rogue and my min/mix power player. I will offer the intelligent pig though and see how he feels. They were supposed to return the gold to the temple of the god of mischief.

[WesleyVos]

Party is lvl 3. No druid. He is the rogue and my min/mix power player. I will offer the intelligent pig though and see how he feels. They were supposed to return the gold to the temple of the god of mischief.

Even if it is on a temporary basis, it could be fun. If he is the power player, it will be a good challenge for him.

[Fizban]

Party is only 3rd level? Well that makes removing the effect significantly more difficult even if it was a standard Baleful Polymorph.

However, if this is a non-standard curse of turning into a pig, what size of pig are they? Because a completely normal boar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/boar.htm) is perfectly playable as the melee guy of a 3rd level party at normal-op.

So sure, let him play a pig with the usual "PC reduced to animal intelligence" clauses. Knows who their friends are and will fight to protect them but otherwise has to act like an animal. You can have the other players check the lists of tricks for the Handle Animal skill and even roll checks in order to communicate (not force the pig player to take actions, just communication).

[Selion]

Party is lvl 3. No druid. He is the rogue and my min/mix power player. I will offer the intelligent pig though and see how he feels. They were supposed to return the gold to the temple of the god of mischief.

Stealthy Pork!

[Saintheart]

Stealthy Pork!

Well, at least he won't be hogging the limelight.

[Albions_Angel]

I assume the towns folk were non-sentient pigs?

If you are worried about breaking the existing lore, maybe the curse takes time to fully bind. Hes a pig, but for now he can still talk, think, and act as he would before (all be it as a pig).

But theres a time limit. He can feel himself slipping. After a day, he cant talk. After half a week, he cant help some actions (take rage from the dire badger, activated by damage, or have him not able to resist routing for truffles, which uncovers a mass grave and some zombies). That way his friends need to keep him in check, but he is still useful. Make him aware that after a full week, he will be a pig. A normal pig. He will likely flee from his friends, or any combat.

That puts them on a time limit. They need to lift the curse NOW. Even better if the place they have to take the gold to has caved in, and there are a few pig sized holes so he has to go alone for sections to clear the way.

[the_david]

It sounds like a Baleful Polymorph, except it's a curse. The DC for an item cursed with Baleful Polymorph would be 17, not quite high enough to transform all the townsfolk into pigs. (Unless you set it up as an auto reset trap.) I wouldn't curse the player without a save, but I can see how a bad decision should be "punished" like this. Maybe the player was expecting a fortitude and will save and took his chances.
I'd also have the cursed people keep some porcine qualities after the curse has been lifted.
"And that's where orcs came from."

Your player might have fun playing a temporary replacement character, so it's always a good idea to offer that option.

It's a nice idea for an adventure though. I might add it to my gonzo adventure ideas.

[ericgrau]

Hire an NPC to cast remove curse. All done. Please never make your plot immune to remove curse nor anything else without a huge reason. Which even then is still bypassable without the original method with something sufficiently powerful. Or PCs WILL screw it up not because they're bad but because they don't think exactly the same way you do.

Reason why entire village doesn't do the same: 1,000 remove curses are expensive on commoner income. It's better to use the other way. Also pigs can't hire mages. They need a friend to get help.

[Bronk]

Speaking of the town, how long has it been cursed for? If there are any new piglets running around, you might want to figure out what happens to them when the curse is lifted for everyone else.

[Torpin]

Speaking of the town, how long has it been cursed for? If there are any new piglets running around, you might want to figure out what happens to them when the curse is lifted for everyone else.
yeah what happens if one of the baby pigs is half cursed pig half real pig?

[Andry]

He might even save the party's bacon.

[Torpin]

sometimes players do really stupid things that cause them to die, i dont see this as any different

[Florian]

So your player effed up and now his character is a pig.

So what? Others eff up and end up dead. You wouldn't ask the same question here, I think.

For the later case, the solution is as simple as either a new character or securing a Raise Dead. In this case it is more or less the same, just with Remove Curse.