Problematic PC races

[HoboKnight]

Hey guys,

Long ago I have finished campaign by having two party members imprisoned by an army, serving a local Black dragon. They have chained both PCs (Succubus and an Imp) and imprisoned them in a heavy sarcophagus deep in a dungeon.

They were sort of left to continue their story some other time.

Time has passes and these two players want ro continue their adventures. I'll have the campaign continue - but! Two other new players want to play standard D&D characters.

One problem I have, is these races cooperating together. I know they will, if I put them in a bind together or weave good enough story. I'm, however, heaving a hard time coming up with one.

To top it off - I want to run Tyrrany of the dragons for them. How would these guys ever work against Cult of the dragon?

So I'm wondering how to "glue" them together.

One idea I have is Standard PCs being spies in dragons' army. When they are sent to retrieve Succ and Imp, Standards kill the minons of Dragon and set bot of them free. I think this is good idea, but I'd also like Playgrounds take on this.

thanks

[MaxWilson]

Hey guys,

Long ago I have finished campaign by having two party members imprisoned by an army, serving a local Black dragon. They have chained both PCs (Succubus and an Imp) and imprisoned them in a heavy sarcophagus deep in a dungeon.

They were sort of left to continue their story some other time.

Time has passes and these two players want ro continue their adventures. I'll have the campaign continue - but! Two other new players want to play standard D&D characters.

One problem I have, is these races cooperating together. I know they will, if I put them in a bind together or weave good enough story. I'm, however, heaving a hard time coming up with one.

To top it off - I want to run Tyrrany of the dragons for them. How would these guys ever work against Cult of the dragon?

So I'm wondering how to "glue" them together.

One idea I have is Standard PCs being spies in dragons' army. When they are sent to retrieve Succ and Imp, Standards kill the minons of Dragon and set bot of them free. I think this is good idea, but I'd also like Playgrounds take on this.

thanks

I wouldn't put this particular burden on the DM. I would ask the players to tell me what their relationships are to each other and what I should expect the party dynamics to be like. Do you guys expect to get along famously? Do you expect to stumble across the succubus and the imp in the dungeon, free them, and then break up and never see them again after this adventure? Are they your childhood friends and you'll be shocked to find them there and will stick together from here on out in order to protect each other? Are they strangers whose help you need to get out, and you are going to be suspicious of each other but gradually grow to trust each other after saving each other's lives over the course of many adventures? Are you going to repeatedly backstab each other just for the fun of competing with the other players?

Once you know what the players expect to do then you just need to start the story at an appropriate point where they can do so, maybe in medias res where for example the two new PCs are being chased by enemy guards and have just kicked down the door to the prisoners' cell in their search for an escape route, and the Succubus has just shouted, "Toss me that a weapon and that key on the wall there and we can help you fight off the jailers!"

[micahaphone]

I really like Max's ideas, I'll also just say that you can always discuss this with the players. Let them know "hey these two old friends of mine want to play their old characters, please make a character that's at least somewhat okay working with certain fiends on a case by case basis. I wouldn't want any really evil murderhobos no matter the situation, but some moral flexibility or patience would be great.

Paladin that believes in redemption and second chances = great, deus vult paladin = not this time.

[JNAProductions]

Yeah, I'll echo Max as well.

Make sure the players have PCs with reasons to adventure, and adventure together. It's not your job to do that-though by all means, offer suggestions and help them out.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

The PCs were tortured to death and Reincarnated in different forms. Or perhaps they were Polymorphed into something else through some Wild Magic.
In my group nobody is going to adventure with Fiends, so I'd have to come up with something like this.

[Sorinth]

I guess one solution is to have one set of PCs have some piece of information that is super important to other group of PCs backstory. Basically they will trade that information for help against the cult, and if both parties already have their own reasons for going after the cult (The fiends probably want revenge for being imprisoned) then a temporary partnership makes a lot of sense.


The big question is whether this is an evil party or not. Were the succubus and imp actively evil before?

I've had some success with a Fiend PC who absolutely hated being in hell. So even though they had evil tendencies, they would for the most part keep it in check because they knew if they caused problems some goody two shoes would come along and send the back to hell.

[pragma]

Have the imp be (impersonating?) another character's familiar. Have the succubus be undercover using Shapechanger. Everyone is motivated to stop Tiamat because they don't want the world destroyed.

[Unoriginal]

Imps are lawful and serve Asmodeus, who has a vested interest in seeing Tiamat fail.

Succubi are mercenary fiends who can get behind being rewarded for stopping Tiamat.

I can easily see someone in Faerun going "we have a dragon problem, but this old text speaks of two fiends sealed within a sarcophagus. I say we retrieve it and bind the fiends to help the adventurers who are trying to fight the dragons".

[da newt]

What are the two new PCs (race & class & alignment)?

What are the classes/alignment of the Imp and Succubus?



You can always play off the Succubus modus operandi to charm / corrupt and the Imp is happy to help out there. Then you also have the Cambion possibility ...

[KorvinStarmast]

Long ago I have finished campaign by having two party members ... both PCs (Succubus and an Imp) and imprisoned them in a heavy sarcophagus deep in a dungeon.

Two other new players want to play standard D&D characters.

I want to run Tyrrany of the dragons for them.

I would not make this too hard on myself as a DM. Your players had a nice run with the imp and the succubus in the previous campaign. Great. Let them stay in that sarcophagus.

New campaign, roll up new characters using PC classes in the books (and to fit with the desires of the new other players).
While I do not care for Tieflings at all as a PC race, they seem to like the fiendish connection so you could have a background story for a Tiefling PCs - one or both of them, their call - who have a tangential relationship with the old PCs which you now have available as NPCs if you need them.

Or, challenge them: come up with a new PC. Explore a new, fanciful identity.

That's the easy way to peel this onion.

Note: I do not find it healthy when players get too attached to a given PC so that it is all that they want to play.
That's a lot of years of experience at a wide variety of tables.
YMMV.

[micahaphone]

You could have an old wizard or other suitable quest giver read a prophecy that discusses two unlikely heroes sealed away in a dungeon, and they pull a Deckard Cain and send the non-fiend players to go free the locked up characters and aw shucks it's actually fiends! but we're all on the same team now, sworn to save the land.


I do really like doing an en media rez start, if your players are up for a semi handwaved intro, and then some other time you can play the chronological session 1. Or the tomb could be perilous and the fiend players have some temp characters that die while tomb delving.