Bhaal Courting a PC

[HoboKnight]

Hey guys,
so, one of my PCs finally did it. He shoots first and does not ask questions. He straight, without checking, filled a group of were ravens(shapeshifted into ravens, their "sin" being resting on top of a roof) with crossbow bolts and this time it was a naiad - a creature just wanting to be left alone was filled with crossbow bolts while hiding in a pool.

Thus, Bhaal took a liking of him. NPC will be, in his dreams, approached by Avatar of Bhaal, encouraging him in his murder of non-hostile creatures. At the same time, similar to BG3, I would like for Bhaal to start showering this PC in gory gifts. Can be weapons, can be something else. What would good examples of this be? He is using crossbows as primary weapon, but I would like to do this more holistically - not just another +2 weapon. I was thinking weapons with monster abilities, but... Giant often has some really good ideas :)

Thanks!

[King of Nowhere]

well, if you want "gory" abilities, you could adapt an ability I gave to a sword called bloodbath the thirsty
the sword (in your case could be the bolts) had a hollow like a giant syringe. When you stabbed a foe with it, it would drain blood through the hollow (wounding effect); the blood would be spewed from the pommel of the sword, directly in the face of the wielder (avoiding the eyes, whoever made the sword did think it through). the wielder would then erupt into a maniacal laughter, which would trigger a fear effect on nearby enemies. because someone laughing maniacally while taking a spray of blood on his face ought to be pretty terrifying.
You could also trigger the fear effect at the beginning of combat by lightly cutting yourself while uttering "my blade thirsts".

unfortunately, bloodbath never saw much use for its special abilities because they were charisma based, and the party fighter had a 5 there. but you could adapt to your arrows quite nicely.

I also had a disemboweler version: a sword with a hook that would latch on the intestines on a successful belly hit, and rip them outside. but besides triggering a similar fear effect upon uttering "i'll gut you", I don't remember what it did mechanically. perhaps it was simply increased damage and fear effect on a critical strike. or maybe something as fancy as entangling nearby enemies in their fellow guts. damn, i should have done that for sure.

[LibraryOgre]

Crossbow that inflicts poison on its current target based on what it killed last.

[lall]

Shower him with the heads of the 10 closest children to his location after every long rest.

[Unoriginal]

Hey guys,
so, one of my PCs finally did it. He shoots first and does not ask questions. He straight, without checking, filled a group of were ravens(shapeshifted into ravens, their "sin" being resting on top of a roof) with crossbow bolts and this time it was a naiad - a creature just wanting to be left alone was filled with crossbow bolts while hiding in a pool.

Thus, Bhaal took a liking of him. NPC will be, in his dreams, approached by Avatar of Bhaal, encouraging him in his murder of non-hostile creatures. At the same time, similar to BG3, I would like for Bhaal to start showering this PC in gory gifts. Can be weapons, can be something else. What would good examples of this be? He is using crossbows as primary weapon, but I would like to do this more holistically - not just another +2 weapon. I was thinking weapons with monster abilities, but... Giant often has some really good ideas :)

Thanks!

Well for starter, I would say that any weapons this character has in hand starts being slowly dripping blood, and it stays dripping for as long as he has them in hand. It's a cosmetic, but unsettling, effect.

Second, I think that increasing his chance of crits would be a good "first gift". So like if he usually crit on a 20, now he crits on a 19 or maybe 18 if Bhaal really wants to favor him. If he's already at 19, maybe go for 18 or 17, etc.

Third, going with the two effects above, making the PC unable to do non-lethal strikes when putting a creature to 0 HP would be fitting, and it'll likely take a while for them to notice it.


After that first "package", increasing the gift by having an aura that makes creatures vulnerable to the PC's most commonly afflicted damage type could be a thing.

[Rukelnikov]

I think whatever "gift" the PC ends up getting, whether a physical one, like an item, or an inherent one, like Unoriginal's suggestion of an expanded crit (which I think fits better than an item) should be active only for 24 hours after having killed something sentient.

Like, tell the player they feel different if you the player to notice this, "you revel on your kill, you feel the need to kill sated for now, you feel more focused", or make them notice when it runs out, after a day has passed without them killing anything "you are feeling twitchy, nervous, anxious", you don't even need to tell them what the trigger to their anxiety is, they are bound to figure it out sooner rather than later even if they have a single combat per session.

That way Bhaal is covertly inciting the PC to keep killing.

[Mastikator]

Weapon of Certain Death that replenishes inspiration/luck dice (if Bhaal is feeling generous) when they kill someone. With such a weapon they can always just murder some random stranger for good luck. Commoners have 4 HP and 10 AC after all.

[HoboKnight]

Thanks, guys. Ofc weapons are a good pick for a god of murder, but I have to say I really liked a cloak you got as a Dark Urge in BG3. Abilities were cool, sure, but I liked it because it was a cloak, not a weapon. Childrens' heads are an option I like, because it is not a weapon. A bit gory/edgy, but very in line with murder. Gifts/courting can also be events, other gear, dreams, special NPCs approaching the PC (Bhallist pilgrims who just want to be killed by "the one"?)

Would appreciate any adittional ideas beyond (already good) weapon ideas.

Thanks!

[Mastikator]

Here are two homebrew items I created as legendary relics for The Keeper (the god of death and greed in Eberron campaign). You can use them as inspiration/change to fit Bhaal/your campaign.

1)
Gloves of the Keeper (you could rename it to gloves of bhaal or gloves of the murderer)

Chainmail gloves made of fine links of black steel and gold, making your hands appear to be skeletal and made of gold. Gives the following benefits:
Adds 1d8 necrotic damage to weapon attacks or 2d8 if attack is made with advantage.
When you inflict damage the target can not heal until the start of your next turn.
Has 7 charges, gives the following spells: Chill touch, animate dead (2 charges), create undead (5 charges). Charges restore on a long rest.

2)
Cloak of the Keeper

The cloak is basically a cloak of invisibility, but instead of making you invisible it creates darkness (as per the effect of the spell) targeted on the cloak, also gives (or extends) darkvision and devil's sight

-
They also have effects that enhance each other (there is also a dagger of the keeper) and enable them to do more. The dagger is basically a rod of resurrection that regains charges if you commit ritual sacrifice on a humanoid. If that's too powerful you could change to a staff of healing, change it to a dagger and make it regain charges when you deliver a killing blow with the dagger on a humanoid that is incapacitated or surprised.

My idea was a set of 3 that compliment each other. You could make a set that compliment each other, but Bhaal will only hand out more of these items if they do his bidding.

[King of Nowhere]

no item, but an aura. children cry at his passage, animals flee from him. people feel uneasy in his presence, giving him an intimidate boost. after a fresh kill (for futile reasons), the aura gets stronger for a few hours, and any nonevil creature nearby must save against being sickened.

[Mindflayer_Inc]

no item, but an aura. children cry at his passage, animals flee from him. people feel uneasy in his presence, giving him an intimidate boost. after a fresh kill (for futile reasons), the aura gets stronger for a few hours, and any nonevil creature nearby must save against being sickened.

Aura of Stranger Danger

30'

All creatures that can see you, find you extremely sus.You have disadvantage and cant roll over a 10 when trying to seduce someone (other than Bhaal).

You have advantage on intimidation checks. Additional you can't roll under a 10 when intimidating a creature (intimidating Bhaal is a turn on for them so... Yeah).