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other
2007-10-09, 07:55 PM
In the campaign I am currently running I am planning on introducing an uber-powerful magic sword that will lead to numerouse side quests and battles down the road. The idea behind this sword is that it is the prisson of an enslaved demon(the players wont know that), every time the players use the swords powers it will draw its energy from the demon but will also alow the demon to escape a little by pouring his essence into the person using the sword. My question is, how will I express their mild possesion? How will I be able to get them to roll play it?:smallannoyed:

Furthor details on the sword; it is a two handed sword with no hilt, about 5' long, made of bone with numerous symbols estched in along the length of the blade. Near the hilt there is a small rotating disc of ivory set in the blade In its center there is a peice of obsidian(the demons prison) and around it 4 black pearls taken from elemental dragons(currently missing, thus leading to side quests) that channel the energy. gtg

Balkash
2007-10-09, 07:59 PM
well i dont know that you could honestly get characters to play that, so i might treat it kinda like insanity or confusion spell, where there is a table of possible actions, and you just roll. or maybe if it become a little more extreme, you (your the DM right?) can control the player for a set amount of time, since you know just how they should act.

psychoticbarber
2007-10-09, 07:59 PM
As odd as it is, talk to the player about it. I have got buy in for some pretty wacky stuff from players to make the game a little more interesting, and if they don't like the idea, they really won't like having it forced on them.

Enzario
2007-10-09, 08:07 PM
Try the Eberron Campaign Setting (if you don't have it, borrow it, or ask someone here for an overview). It has all sorts of rules on demonic possession and stuff.

Wooter
2007-10-09, 08:13 PM
I'm sorry, I'm confused.

The sword has no hilt? And there is a rotating ivory disc near the hilt that does not exist?

psychoticbarber
2007-10-09, 09:11 PM
Furthor details on the sword; it is a two handed sword with no hilt, about 5' long, made of bone with numerous symbols estched in along the length of the blade. Near the hilt there is a small rotating disc of ivory set in the blade In its center there is a peice of obsidian(the demons prison) and around it 4 black pearls taken from elemental dragons(currently missing, thus leading to side quests) that channel the energy. gtg

A two handed sword no hilt, but near the non-existent hilt there is a rotating disc of ivory?

Do you mean that the rotating disc of ivory is the guard at the top of the hilt, like a Katana's guard, or something to that effect?

serpent615
2007-10-09, 09:57 PM
in my current cmpaign, we were captured and augmented by some guy we lost track of...i'll kill thaqt son of a bitch, lol =P ... and our cleric was given a demonic, soul-drinking arm.

he knew it was evil and slowly lost more of his humanity to it untill he had one final battle with it within his own mind.

He couls resisit it's urge to feed only as long as he pass Will saves, that continuously got higher.

the more souls he let it eat, the stronger it became



...after having this campaign, i'd sugest just telling him it's evil and add a reason why he MUST use it, even tho he knows it's destroying him (makes for great plot line, especialy with a strongly good aligned charadcter like a cleric)

Guy_Whozevl
2007-10-09, 11:21 PM
A good way to simulate possession is to use the Magic Jar spell or any derivative of it (like a ghost's ability). Just have on and off possessions to simulate weak control over the PCs.

Khanderas
2007-10-10, 07:56 AM
If the player is unaware of this fact (player as in the guy who is rolling the dice) have him do something kinda odd, but not suspicious at first.

Such as in battle accidently hit a friendly target on a non-natural 1 (not too often), describe it as "X deflects your blow and you hit party member Y" so its not TOO apparant.
Describe NPC's noting his sword with greedy eyes (weather they actually do so or not), this paranoia about giving up his sword can be upped alittle when he hears sneaking noises in the Inn and so on.

Alittle more serious... Con and Wis saves have a hidden modifyer for him, making it harder to resist effects. This could be more telling if he and his buddies are hit by the same spell and his roll (total with feat modifiers and class) is higher, but he fails where his buddies do not.

Try to implant the idea to sell off his old weapons, the demon sword don't want to be easily replaced. Just make the merchants deal sound too good to pass up. Best way is to sneakpeak on his amount of gold and make it so he has to sell a few valuable things to afford a non-weapon item that the player really wants.

THEN move on to obvious breaches of alignments :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: Thought of a few more things on the intermediate level of possession.
Bane. Now and then and seemingly totally random (that is DM's choice) the sword exibits a bane effect (+2d6 damage to a certain type of enemy). This obviously is because of demons being a creature of destruction. Nothing wrong with this happening in a critical situation, the demon is on its way to possessing the wielder and would very much NOT like to stay imprisoned in a sword at the bottom of a lake or marsh.

Lack of subdual damage. -4 to attack for subdual damage ? Well you get the -4 to attack, but it wont be subdual damage. The wielder might think it is subdual but it wont be. More subtle if the subdual attempt always misses, or atleast alternates.

As a DM you don't have to say "you want to go kill something", just casually mention that the merchant is rich and a snob. That usually nudges greedy players along that path :smallwink:

Whenever you want the players to know something isnt right, just let him fail to rest some night. Just failing that will make anyone suspicious. If the player wont pick up on it add descriptions of dark whispers. If they are really dense let them understand the whispers.

other
2007-10-10, 11:14 AM
sorry, it has a hilt but no guard. and thanks for the ideas, I will definetly look into that.:smallsmile:

Tallis
2007-10-10, 11:45 AM
Have the character hallucinate. He sees dangers that the others do not. Start with real dangers, giving him the first warning. Move on to shadowy figures and sounds arround the corner, but still show him some real dangers to keep him believing. Give him a false "danger sense". He knows somethings not right about that innkeeper (again sometimes it should be true). Eventually move on to giving him notes about the other PCs plotting against him. Be careful that this does not lead to OOC conflict. If you feel this is a possibility, then you should take the player aside and explain the situation; ask him to play along.

Runolfr
2007-10-10, 12:03 PM
The BoVD and Arms & Equipment Guide both have rules for possessed items. The Fiend Folio also has a prestige class for fiendish possessors.

One of the main things is that the possessing entity enhances the item's properties. It can withhold those benefits if the user of the item isn't behaving in a way that pleases it. It can also communicate with the items wielder, who might easily mistake the possessed item for an intelligent magic item.

So you have a sort of carrot (the enhancements) for getting the character to misbehave, and a means of communicating what kinds of misbehavior will obtain those enhancements. That alone might be enough to steer a character astray.

Beyond that, the possessing entity may be powerful enough to try to possess the character. Long association will generally make its job easier, as will any submission to the possessor's will when it was using enhancements as a bribe.

Ultimately, you're going to have to let the player know when/if he or she has to make a Will save to resist possession, and you're going to have to trust the player to role-play the possession appropriately if it happens. If you can't do that, you're stuck with taking control of the character from the player, and that's not nearly as much fun.