That Trap and aesthetics


Shattered Star

Silver Crusade

You know the one. Hell, everyone does by now.

So, while I have a safety net in place for players caught in That Trap that would be absolutely unhappy with losing their character's aesthetics, gender, etc. while retaining consequences, I'm still playing around with the idea of keeping the new clone body's look somewhat customizable according to who went in it.

Like say an 18 STR barbarian gets hit by it. Sorshen would still look mostly like Sorshen, but her build would bulk up to match the newly applied physical characteristics the new soul is bringing with them via the glitched reincarnation. Basically it would wind up looking like Sorshen if Sorshen had been a barbarian.

Same thing with tattoos deeply tied in with the victim's identity. They'd carry over, possibly being rearranged just a bit to mesh with those embedded gems.

Probably not adding anything going further than that, considering I've already got an escape clause in place for folks that are really unhappy with it, but hopefully it would make things more palatible to, say, a player that wanted to play a tough no-fanservice female barbarian who then winds up getting her body replaced with Sorshen's. (Though I can now see such a character keeping that body and changing its aesthetics to fit their character, to the point that NPCs later in the campaign would have a hard time "recognizing" her as Sorshen)

Just trying to find a nice balance to work off of and adjust as needed, since there's no way to tell who's going to get hit and how deeply that's going to help or hurt their enjoyment of their characters(that they may be deeply invested in).

Anyone else fiddling around with this?


I haven't thought about it much, but there's one point in your post I can help with.

Mikaze wrote:
...possibly being rearranged just a bit to mesh with those embedded gems.

One other thread in this forum (or in the JJ thread, can't remember) mentioned that Sorshen's clone lacks the embedded ioun stones and tattoos on Sorshen's real body. So that's one less cosmetic aspect to adjust right there.


I was going to change it around, but I decided that if my players get hit with it, they'll have to suck it up and deal.


SwnyNerdgasm wrote:
I was going to change it around, but I decided that if my players get hit with it, they'll have to suck it up and deal.

Same here. *evilgrin*


My players have an unhealthy obsession with the deck of many things...the player who ended up in Sorshen's clone drew the Void.

What with the tracking down of her soul and such...I had a one of the winter witches steal the body for use as a new evil bad girl...old winter witch wants a younger body!

Question for the group...since this particular winter witch is one of the ones Baba Jaga "harvests"...would the body switch fool the epic folklore witch of legend?

Or just momentarily frustrate her and get her mad!


I wanted to throw this out there in the game I am playing in I got hit with the trap and this is kinda what I am doing with it .

My GM knows I am really unhappy about the female body ( just not sure if he knows how unhappy I am with it ) . But I decided to try to play through it until we can get back to town and have my gender swapped .

The way I wanted to make more of a story of it so to speak is .

I am saying that the clone was actually a clone sorshen tested out ...she placed her spirit inside it then went back to her normal body leaving behind a partial imprint of her.

I am going to pay a wizard to cast limited wish to let me change into a male but just look like the identical male twin of sorshen .

As a result of the clones uniqueness the fact im toting the shard of greed and a small slip up in the spell mixed with the trap . I end up with a creature that looks just like the clone or sorshen with glowing eyes and the rune of lust on her fore head and mine

( I multi classed into a summoner from rogue and I am having my eidolon look sorshen it is going to wield a glaive and take the magic casting feats for it. )

I am currently rogue 7 summoner 1 ( almost summoner 2 ). I am holding off doing any summoner class abilities until I pay the wizard to cast the spell and get to kinda play through it so to speak.

I thought this ended up being fitting since my character is a worshiper of calistra ( when I choose her I did not know she was the goddess of lust and vengence just that she was the first neutral god I spotted on the list lol ).


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It's worth noting that players who aren't happy about the clone's gender could simply search out the " cursed " item Girdle of opposite gender... (Or whatever the kids call it these days...)

The Exchange

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OP, I really think that the trap is interesting *because* a good player could really show how the body swap masses up the character. So if a tough, buisnesslike barbarian suddenly finds herself in the kind of body she would have considerd pathetic just moments ago... and finds out that this new body is even stronger (+2 bonus on str, con and dex)... I think it's a unique roleplaying experience. If looking tough is very important to the character, she can try and work it hard, strengthen it, build some muscle.

I really think you shouldn't be softening the edge on this one. The player that gets hit by a trap is not only going to get a MAJOR boost to his/her stats, but also be the centre of attention of many encounters later in the adventure (there are even some cool roleplay options in "Dead heart of Xin" if Xin recognizes Sorshen...) so the player really will be getting a lot. Don't make it seem like a bonus, but a double edged blade - it's a trap, after all!

Grand Lodge

Safety nets?! Yuck! If any PC falls victim to the trap I'm not pulling any punches. Neutering the trap in that way removes everything cool about it. Not to mention it's not even a trap at that point--just a free and way overpowered stat boost.


The party's paladin died 1 session after touching Sorshen's Clone :D.
He's now a woman... and his Full plate doesn't fit anymore...

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