[4e] how to make this work?

[Guinea Anubis]

So I am still working on putting the finale toutchs on an under ground city my players are going to. One of the places they could go is the old jail, the PCs will not know that it is a jail and will find a vault that will have a necklace in it.With in the necklace will be the soul of a criminal.

When a PC puts on the necklace they will see and hear the soul it will look like a real person that only they can see and hear. This figment will only see and hear what the PC does but can give them info on things long ago. It is going to be a very beautiful female of the long dead race that made the city. Shes going to clame to be a high priestess and want to help th PC with her powers. I was going to give the necklace two powers 1 the power to shield and 2 the power to send a bolt of energy.

No the idea is that the criminal it trying to trick the PC in to having there soul sucked in to the necklace so she can take over the PCs body. To show that she is pulling there soul in to the necklace I was going to have it powered by the PCs hitpoints. 1hp will block 2 points of damage and 1hp will do 1 point of necrotic damage (a hint shes not a priestess). I am thinking that it should take at lest 1000hp before the PC gets there soul sucked in to the necklace and after every 100hp they will get paler and have a harder time taking off the necklace.

What do you guys think,does this sound interesting and fair?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Cool idea, but powering it by HP is a bad deal. Spending 1 HP to block 2 HP of damage might get you ahead, yes, but spending 1 HP to deal 1 damage is not that great of a deal, at least to a player. I would say that you can spend healing surges instead of HP. It's easier to keep track of, and provides a cleaner mechanic.

Ability 1 (Immediate Reaction): Spend a healing surge to reduce the damage taken by 5.
Ability 2 (Move Action): Spend a healing surge to make an attack (WHATEVER STAT vs. Will, Ranged 5) that deals 1d8 + WHATEVER STAT necrotic damage, or...
Ability 2 (Free Action, trigger--hit): Spend a healing surge on a hit; your attack deals 1d6 extra necrotic damage.

Then, when the soul thinks that it can make a grab for power, have it initiate attacks against the PC's Will. These attacks will sap healing surges instead of HP. When the PC's last Healing Surge is taken, the soul possesses them. The soul should do this away from other party members, so that they can't contain the disturbance.

Be sure you compensate the PC heavily for this, because it'll be fun yet sucky at the same time. And see if you can figure in a way for the PC to break free of the soul's grip.

[Aron Times]

Necrotic isn't always evil. Necrotic = Death.

If she's a priestess, have her powers deal radiant damage. All clerics, regardless of alignment or deity, can deal radiant damage, since Radiant = Divine.

You might want to treat the necklace as an artifact. In this case, its Concordance measures how much of the wearer's soul has been sucked in. Basically, the higher the Concordance, the more powerful the necklace becomes since more and more of the priestess's soul is in the victim.

[LibraryOgre]

No the idea is that the criminal it trying to trick the PC in to having there soul sucked in to the necklace so she can take over the PCs body. To show that she is pulling there soul in to the necklace I was going to have it powered by the PCs hitpoints. 1hp will block 2 points of damage and 1hp will do 1 point of necrotic damage (a hint shes not a priestess). I am thinking that it should take at lest 1000hp before the PC gets there soul sucked in to the necklace and after every 100hp they will get paler and have a harder time taking off the necklace.

I'd do something a little bit bigger... instead of HP, have it powered by Healing Surges. Spend 1 healing surge to get Resist 5 (per tier) for the encounter for a few types of damage... she can offer all of them, but they have to specify what they want. Spend 1 healing surge to end an effect that is normally ended by a save. Spend a healing surge to get your Surge Value in Temporary HP. Spend a healing surge to get Regeneration equal to your level up hit points for the rest of the encounter. Limit the effects largely to things that effect the player, implying that she's limited to acting within the necklace.

Stealing healing surges is a common effect of undead, but the characters might not catch on to that.

[Guinea Anubis]

Necrotic isn't always evil. Necrotic = Death.

If she's a priestess, have her powers deal radiant damage. All clerics, regardless of alignment or deity, can deal radiant damage, since Radiant = Divine.

Shes not a real priestess, she is just saying she is.

Thanks for the input!

I can see your point about using healing surges to power the necklace, I did not even think of that.

How does this look to you guys?

Power 1
[minor action]
Once per encounter you can spend a healing surge to give your self Resist 5 to one type of damage. Increases to 10 at level 11 and to 15 at level 20.
Power 2
[minor action]
Once per encounter you can spend a healing surge to add 5 necrotic damage to your next attack. Increases to 10 at level 11 and to 15 at level 20.
Power 3
[minor action]
Once per encounter you can spend a healing surge to give your self temporary hit points equal to your healing surge value.

What I am now thinking is that for every 10 healing surges the PC spends there will be some kind of physical change to them, like in the starwars games when someone is going to the dark side. Along with that ever 10 healing surges used to power the necklace will give the soul in the necklace a +1 to there attack aginst the PCs will defence. Once the PC spends 100 healing surges the necklace will suck out the PCs soul letting the soul in it out.

I am hoping that putting the bar so far up at 100 that it will give the PC lots of time try and take off the necklace and figure out whats going on.

[Guinea Anubis]

Well the player that put on the necklace did not even try to question anything she said and is trusting her

[Myshlaevsky]

Well the player that put on the necklace did not even try to question anything she said and is trusting her

Sounds like it's going well, then.

What you could try and do is work out some kind of draining effect every ten healing surges that encourages the player to use the amulet more. How did the race that built the city die? Could the spirit say the PC's listlessness is the result of a plague from the old city, and that only feeding more power into the amulet will cure it? Maybe some kind of ritual magic?

This will obviously be a huge hint to your PC's that something is wrong, so if they don't cotton on once you start describing the effect they should if you take it further.

[Kurald Galain]

Ability 1 (Immediate Reaction): Spend a healing surge to reduce the damage taken by 5.
Ability 2 (Move Action): Spend a healing surge to make an attack (WHATEVER STAT vs. Will, Ranged 5) that deals 1d8 + WHATEVER STAT necrotic damage, or...
Ability 2 (Free Action, trigger--hit): Spend a healing surge on a hit; your attack deals 1d6 extra necrotic damage.

All of this could stand to be a lot more powerful if you expect the players to actually want to use it.

Once per encounter you can spend a healing surge to give your self Resist 5 to one type of damage. Increases to 10 at level 11 and to 15 at level 20.

How long does that last, one turn? This should probably be an immediate interrupt, and it should really be ok to make it Resist 5 All for one turn. For reasons of flavor, radiant damage should probably be exempt.

Once per encounter you can spend a healing surge to add 5 necrotic damage to your next attack. Increases to 10 at level 11 and to 15 at level 20.

This should probably be a free action, so you can use it after you know that it hits. It could also be a bit more powerful, noting that monsters have way more hit points than PCs.

Once per encounter you can spend a healing surge to give your self temporary hit points equal to your healing surge value.

That's pretty useful.

[Guinea Anubis]

How long does that last, one turn? This should probably be an immediate interrupt, and it should really be ok to make it Resist 5 All for one turn. For reasons of flavor, radiant damage should probably be exempt.

I told my player it last until the end of the encounter.

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This should probably be a free action, so you can use it after you know that it hits. It could also be a bit more powerful, noting that monsters have way more hit points than PCs.

Good point, I will have to change that.

[Holocron Coder]

To signify the changes that the PC is going through, perhaps every 10 healing surges burned, their healing surges per day decreases by 1? Thus, once they start a day with 0 healing surges, the battle for their body begins instead.

[Artanis]

I like Joseph Silver's idea of making it an artifact. Not only would the concordance rating track the necklace's progress towards taking over the PC's body, but it would become stronger as concordance increases. This way, not only would the PC use it for its powers, but the PC would use it more and more and more, accelerating its takeover

[Kurald Galain]

To signify the changes that the PC is going through, perhaps every 10 healing surges burned, their healing surges per day decreases by 1?

Wouldn't that instantly cue them in to stop using the item?

[Mando Knight]

Wouldn't that instantly cue them in to stop using the item?

That's why you make it clingy.