Dealing with Druid PCs, and Auchs as a Leader

[IcedMik]

I've got two questions that came up recently. We've just finished book 1 and are moving onto book 2, ending the last game with a few turns of kingdom building.

With my game, I'm trying to involve the character's back stories and personalities as much as possible. One of the characters is a druid, though, and I've never dealt with any druid lore in either Pathfinder or D&D. Does anyone have any suggestions how a druid would affect a player-made kingdom? Or any reasons why a druid would want to be a leader in an urban environment? We've discussed it a bit and she's tasked as a sort of spiritual adviser for druidic interests, but I don't know enough about druids to come up with any events tailored for her. How have people handled their druids in their games?

My other problem is that not only did they save Auchs in the Stag Lord's fort, but they made him the Enforcer due to his strength. He's cruel, and incredibly dumb, but I'm actually stumped how I want to portray him. I could play up the cruelty and have him do something like execute some townsfolk who look at him wrong. Or I could make him secretly sensitive and redeemable; the King has a son of 5, so maybe the son and Auchs could bond over knight and dragon toys... Anyone have any ideas?

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

A druid makes a great Warden, keeping the wilderness safe and enforcing the law in regards to logging, mining, fishing and other natural resource collection to make sure the citizens don't over do it and making sure the fey and beasts don't pose a threat to the people of the area. It's a delicate balance and a Druid makes a great Warden.

[Alleran]

You could look into making the Druid something akin to the Warden - they would be responsible for watching over the outlying/rural areas of the kingdom, ensuring that it doesn't abuse the natural world.

EDIT: Somebody's been taking levels of Ninja, I see.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

I am the silent wind of doom Whoosh!

As to the Auchs issue, I'd probably add some roleplay opportunities to try and steer him in the right direction. As written he just adds his strength to kingdom rolls, but I could see perhaps a couple of points of unrest happening when he accidentally abuses his position.

[pennywit]

What god does the druid worship? In Kingmaker terms, I see a druid as somebody trying to keep the wilderness interests balanced against the encroaching settlers.

In terms of building, I think he would push people toward a kingdom that has small settlements rather than one that builds huge cities. He is also more likely to push for farms and wineries over mines and heavy industry.

Auchs ... there's some potential for an Of Mice and Men plot there. In the alternative, I think he might be an interesting weak link for Nyrissa to exploit. What if she promises to make him smart just like everyone else?

[Philip Knowsley]

My peeps had a Druid as Baron for a while, until he was ousted by a more
charismatic Bard player...

The Druid is still in the party (& in fact is the only surviving original
member...ahhh, good times...), & heavily pushes for preservation of the
forests. I've had the party encounter illegal loggers, influenced by the
Corax encounter... Corax was part of a band that was first discovered
outside of the PCs kingdom, & then rediscovered 'wiped' out... Corax & a
few men had already left that cutting crew before then however - so it came
as news to them when the PCs met him again.

However - I digress.

The Druid also wants to create an elven city in the trees...

I'd suggest having an out of character chat with the player, see what they
want to achieve...& then build some of it in...

[Lee Hanna]

A druid should be a great person for interacting with the friendlier fey in the forest, as well as the swampy critters. Those could be a source of information about Nyrissa later on, or the Dancing Lady and her minions in Book 2. I made the Scythe Tree a lesson that D. Lady was imposing on Tiressia and the others to start listening to her.

[Spatula]

IcedMik wrote:

My other problem is that not only did they save Auchs in the Stag Lord's fort, but they made him the Enforcer due to his strength. He's cruel, and incredibly dumb, but I'm actually stumped how I want to portray him. I could play up the cruelty and have him do something like execute some townsfolk who look at him wrong. Or I could make him secretly sensitive and redeemable; the King has a son of 5, so maybe the son and Auchs could bond over knight and dragon toys... Anyone have any ideas?

Hmm. I don't think anyone who is secretly sensitive and redeemable would have ever fallen so far as to become Chaotic Evil. Sure, he's dumb, and easy to manipulate, but his alignment isn't solely the result of his environment - he enjoys hurting other living things (or has a "natural tendency toward cruelty" according to the adventure). A "gentle giant" type would be Neutral on the Good-Evil axis, at worst.

So what happens when this stupid, cruel, violent man is made enforcer? The position involves punishing criminals, making sure the citizens are happy about the enforcement of laws, and catching fugitives. He can also deputize citizens to kill.

1) Punishment: favors torture, dismemberment, and brutal beatings, not to mention slow and gruesome public executions. Auchs would want to get personally involved as much as possible. If the players try to put a stop to it, he will try and hide his activities. He's dumb, but he does have some cunning (13 Wisdom). Maybe the public executions become less gory, but he learns that he can abuse prisoners as long as they're not important citizens. But before that point, someone with some clout (or one of their relatives) will get mauled, causing unrest.

2) Citizen Satisfaction: epic fail, IMO. The PCs will have to step in and force him to change his ways (at least publicly). And when the populace sees that a simpleton with a nasty streak gets to mete out punishment on them, they will not be happy.

3) Catching fugitives: most outwit him. Those that do get caught are treated with such brutality that some people are horrified.

4) Grant others right to legally kill: the wrong sort of people (i.e. people like Auchs but with more brains) easily trick him into giving them undue license to kill.

Basically I see him as a constant source of headaches until the PCs replace him or closely watch over his activities. Auch's subordinates will quit, spreading stories of his activities, and when word gets out, cruel and violent citizens will show up to replace them. Citizens will be brutalized for minor infractions. Escaped criminals will not be caught. People will be "legally" murdered for having crossed one of Auchs' "friends." Prisoners occasionally end up dying in jail when Auchs accidentally goes too far.

Remember also that he is Chaotic, and will ultimately chafe at heavy restrictions placed upon him (unless he's tricked into accepting them, because he is also very stupid). And if the PCs try and minimize his impact by taking over or removing his responsibilities, then they shouldn't get his full bonus to Loyalty.

I think to represent all of this, I would make a roll every month to see if Auchs did something stupid or cruel in that time, and how bad was it. Like:

01-10% - Something REALLY bad happened. +Unrest each month, -Loyalty (once), and the Enforcer position is considered vacant until Auchs is made to answer for his crimes.

11-30% - Auchs' actions have mobilized an important citizen to agitate for his removal. +Unrest each month and the Enforcer position is considered vacant until either Auchs is sacked, or some sort of restitution is made to the aggrieved party.

31-80% - There was a situation, but it can be dealt with. +Unrest.

81-100% - Nothing happened, or no one noticed.

[Lee Hanna]

... and then Grigori has some stories to spread!

[Mikaze]

IcedMik wrote:

My other problem is that not only did they save Auchs in the Stag Lord's fort, but they made him the Enforcer due to his strength. He's cruel, and incredibly dumb, but I'm actually stumped how I want to portray him. I could play up the cruelty and have him do something like execute some townsfolk who look at him wrong. Or I could make him secretly sensitive and redeemable; the King has a son of 5, so maybe the son and Auchs could bond over knight and dragon toys... Anyone have any ideas?

MONGO ONLY PAWN IN GAME OF LIFE

We actually wound up taking him all the way back to Brevoy and put him in an insane asylum.

[Orthos]

My group's Magister wanted to keep him around, and they toyed with giving him various jobs under the General or Marshall, but he so irritated and/or disgusted the rest of the party over about a month's worth of sessions (due to the Magister keeping him in the castle) that they ended up shipping him off to Tatzylford when it got founded. While it was a border town regularly dealing with trolls meandering by during Chapter Two he was happy to get to play slugfest with things, but now that peacetime has come he's going to start getting restless.

This would be more of a worry if there was only the Rezbins and Jhod there, but the party picked up a non-evil Alraune ally (long story) who the town (Jhod in particular) has taken under their wing, so any trouble he makes would likely have to deal with an angry plant lady who can turn him inside out if she wants to.

The group's basically determined that he is going to damage things, but as long as they have a "right direction" to point him in they can use that to their advantage. They're not sure how long they'll have appropriate targets to aim him at though.

[JohnB]

My group had MikMek as Official Executioner (for a while) :)

He designed this lovely system of a stome chair that offenders were tied to and then it was rolled down a ramp/rollers into the lake - so that the offender died slowly by drowning. Poor old Mikmek really couldn't understand what the PCs were getting upset about.

He took the system back to the Sootscale Enclave when he returned home - and it is still the favoured execution method of the Sootscale tribe. Woe betide any visitors who break the laws there ...

[IcedMik]

Update about what happened with Auchs:

Since both Auchs and Akiros were hired as Enforcer and Warden respectively, they made it Akiros' job to watch over Auchs and make sure he didn't do anything too stupid.

After the werewolf event, I secretly rolled a sort of "Auchs Save" to see if he caused any trouble, and rolled /low/. When the PCs came back from their next adventuring segment, they found Akiros in the care of Jhod's healer's tent, and Auchs' axe covered in the werewolf's blood. Apparently Auchs was playing with his toys in the jailroom and one of them rolled in the werewolf's cell, enraging him, killing the werewolf and injuring Akiros.

Unfortunately, cold-blooded murder was too much for the king to forgive, and they hung Auchs after a fair trial. It was pretty depressing.

[pennywit]

IcedMik wrote:

Unfortunately, cold-blooded murder was too much for the king to forgive, and they hung Auchs after a fair trial. It was pretty depressing.

Shades of Of Mice and Men.