Yes, they have pissed off a deity, consquences?


Advice


My players managed to attack a favored worshiper of a deity of magic, while on a realm said deity created and continues to maintain influence on.

The players attempted to break and enter into an area owned by said worshiper, they got caught, some of them resorted to violence, but ended up through a sequence of events, getting away. But still, on a plane, created by this individual's deity, that deity should be irked and retaliate no? I even had a player say that they were actually really annoyed at the lack of hard consequences for their actions (though I don't know that they are all on the same page about this).

Now, the thing is I don't want to have the deity outright TPK the party, as that seems a very cheap shot, and makes less sense then it just having fun making their lives more difficult. However, this is a deity strongly associated with curses.

I'm coming up with ones that are all appropriate for what they did in this specific situation, including cursing the one whom attacked with not being able to harm anyone whom doesn't attack them first, making some of those whom broke in unable to enter anywhere without first getting permission (maybe I'll make really nasty or embarrassing things happen to them if they try).

There's one I'm stumped on, one whom would be viewed as guilty via association, but didn't really do anything on their own, they kinda just, well, hung out. They too the deity would want to punish however, but, I'm not sure how.


What's the alignment of the deity?

An evil deity might give zero f*%#s, any favored follower of his not strong enough to fend off attackers is no longer worthy of favor.

A good deity might personally come down to lay down the law, maybe pact binding them to some sort of service for the common good (mechanically, he can use Miracle at-will to mind-screw the party with a Standard action cast Geas/Quest).

A neutral deity is probably their worst bet. They can get...creative.


did they kill the favored person? if not then I think humiliation would be in order rather than more severe consequences. Chaotic deities support this even more.


Well, it is a house game, so I've actually not been using alignments (been using an alternative for player characters to replace it). I would say neutral with evil leanings is the best bet.

They did not kill the favored person, they got away and if they hadn't managed to probably things would have gone... very badly for them as this was a really tough foe.

I wouldn't normally have deities themselves get involved in things but, since this is one of its realms, well.


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Pissing off a god of curse magic with a mean streak isn't your players' best move.

I'd go with something debilitating, but non-permanent. As a god, and a god of magic to boot, he can probably find out each character's innermost desires and fears.

All you have to do is draw on that.

One character hates Orcs? Polymorph him into one.

One afraid of bugs? Curse them with being a "bug magnet" they're attracted to the character, like a moth to a flame. Except they don't conveniently die when they reach the character, and just keep accumulating.

That sort of thing. Tailor fit the punishment to the character, not the crime per se.


Rod of wonder effects for all of the spells that are cast on them.


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Put a Kobold Mini on the table and announce "Now I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds"


Machiavelli wrote:


They did not kill the favored person, they got away and if they hadn't managed to probably things would have gone... very badly for them as this was a really tough foe.

There is your answer. don't have the deity do anything but have the favored person be the instrument of retribution. it not be something as direct as attempted murder or combat but instead try to curse the party in some thematic and apprioriate way. The goddess of beauty servant strikes em all ugly, the god of gluttony makes em anorexic, or something with similar ironic tones. From there let them roleplay out the consequences and when they say "Lets go fix this by doing ...." give em their chance.

Scarab Sages

Rynjin wrote:

Pissing off a god of curse magic with a mean streak isn't your players' best move.

I'd go with something debilitating, but non-permanent. As a god, and a god of magic to boot, he can probably find out each character's innermost desires and fears.

All you have to do is draw on that.

One character hates Orcs? Polymorph him into one.

One afraid of bugs? Curse them with being a "bug magnet" they're attracted to the character, like a moth to a flame. Except they don't conveniently die when they reach the character, and just keep accumulating.

That sort of thing. Tailor fit the punishment to the character, not the crime per se.

I'm going to go with this without details on the player (class, sex, natural tendencies, player comfort level with things) all I can really suggest is since they hung out go with the old WOW standby in the future every time they just hang out they turn into a sheep until they make an effort to speak up.


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Magic rejects the party until they atone:

Holding a magic weapon burns the wielder progressively: x stackable damage/round (where x depends on level, it should be annoying for 1-2 rounds, Hurty for 3-4, dangerous 5, impossible to handle 6+)

Spells cast on them hurt: 1d6 damage/arcane spell level cast on them, either offensive or even defensive.

Arcane casters have it worse, they should know better. Have them take x damage every time they cast a spell. This damage caused concentration checks as normal.

Divine casters depends on their deity's relation with the offended god

All the above together, and give them options to atone.


Senko wrote:

I'm going to go with this without details on the player (class, sex, natural tendencies, player comfort level with things) all I can really suggest is since they hung out go with the old WOW standby in the future every time they just hang out they turn into a sheep until they make an effort to speak up.

They are all male, though they often play opposite sex characters if that makes any difference. Class, religion and age wise the group is kinda all over the place.

Games tend to run on the R rated side, though, getting genuinely squicky and X-rated I do not think anyone would be comfortable with. Beyond that though, pretty safe to say people won't be offended.

Very tempted to mess with their magic in some way, very very tempted. That makes sense. Don't know if I want it to outright fail them so much as have some other affects, embarrassing or otherwise.


I don't like letting deities have direct influence. The PCs have attacked a member of the church, so they've ticked off the church.

The PCs should expect to be hunted by worshipers of that god (whether said worshipers are divine spellcasters or not), bounty hunters hired by the church, or both. Never used an inquisitor before? Here's your chance.

If the PCs were extremely abusive, throw a really high CR encounter at them. If the attack was public, it should result in a more powerful encounter, as there is embarrassment going on.


I would have a party of divine characters who worship said deity come after the PCs. A cleric, a warpriest, an inquisitor, and a paladin/antipaladin depending on alignment.


I would usually agree that deities wouldn't/shouldn't directly intervene... but, they are in its realm (well, one of its realms), and, I actually had a player say "I really think gods should interfere with us more". They really must be masochists, I swear. That or this will be a be careful what you wish for deal. Maybe it also means they do these things because they want to see just how mean I'll be back... hmmmm.

A party of NPCs including a antipaladin could be fun for them to deal with though. Aside from that, I see most of those whom would confront them being wizards, sorcerers and witches.


What if you completely cut them off from magic for a while, positive and negative. Also, what are their classes?


Ive always taken the view that deities should just be one more monster for the players to kill ala deities and demigods and faith and pantheons of 3e D&D.
Ive been in the process of converting those rules into pathfinder for my game because well, this group is the kind to mouth off to a deity and then try to gank him.

Liberty's Edge

Neutral with evil leanings? I don't see a neutral deity to be as protective of his worshipers as a lawful deity may be. Perhaps the situation has brought into question the value of his favored worshiper. Might this deity require that the favored worshiper take action to remedy his error of letting the adventurers get away with what they did?

Since the deity has leanings towards evil, he may even limit the favored worshiper's abilities until the slight has been dealt with. Falling out of favor may make for vindictive protagonist.

Of course, a most appropriate sentence for the PCs would be to inflict upon them would be a nasty curse of some sort. Also, if the infiltration that the PCs did was publicly known, then favored worshiper may also want to stage the sentence at a public place (if it gets that far).

However, I would also suggest that you give the PCs another path for the adventure. Simply escaping is probably not going to work. Even though THEY stepped over the line and went where they were not supposed to go (go figure, right?), once they are hunted, they will very likely feel that they are in the right to hunt down and punish/kill the worshiper simply because he hunted them first. You may want to have another story arc that can be discovered that gives the PCs a legitimate reason for going after the worshiper. Even if the players are punished by the worshiper, you can bet that they will come back for revenge.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

Just a hand of poker. Played with the Deck of Many Things.


Petty Alchemy, they have had the Deck of Many Things, a few times actually... they loved it (even though a few characters have ended up utterly screwed by it), but managed to lose it and were sad.

I do actually like the idea of the worshiper failing to deal with such a less potent group of non-believers suffering for their failure too, that could make things interesting in its own way.

gods... the more I see what I type about them, the more I realize I have a group of ruffians whom enjoy being burned in new and terrible ways. I really should indulge them I suppose.


When it comes to curses for the guy who was only an accomplice; curse him to be unable to speak.

The idea to have the church instead of the deity punish them sounds good.
Start with sending some bounty hunters after them. You might even make it an easy fight. Then the next time they're ambushed hqve it be slightly more professional dudes, but still below their level.

After that give them a break, but make it obvious that the church has put a bounty on them.

Depending on how big you want to make this story they could spend the whole campaign getting attacked by people out for the bounty. You can use it as a plot device, forcing them to move on when the holy hunters come galloping . And the type of people hunting them for the bounty could be humble heroes trying to gather gold to protect their village from raiders - to greedy pirates looking for more loot before they head out on a treasure hunt.
Plot hooks galore and plenty of rp moments when you're hunted.

Later, have some horribly competent holy inqusition-style group take them fown with sneaky tactics and good spells or whatnot and haul their ass back to the church for the placement of the curse.

And there is the hook for their next dangerous and epic quest: forced into working for the church.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

I typically have my pissed-off deities geas the players, and force them on a quest that they do not want to undertake. Perhaps a time-sensitive quest that will interfere with their goals.

Obviously, you still want the players to have fun - but challenge them with hardship.

Shadow Lodge

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Give them a blessing. After all, the God of Magic my respect the skill they showed in infiltrating his stronghold.

Then follow it up with a curse.

Tiresas and Kassandra come to mind.

Or go karmic. I once ran an adventure where an upper class rapist who preyed on lower class women was reincarnated in his victims demographic, only younger, and given temporary amnesia so she could more easily accept her new circumstances.

Then after several years and after thoroughly enculturating, she then got her old memories back just at the right moment.


Are they still on said plane? If they aren't, then the God can't really interfere with them. Most gods don't take direct divine interference with the material plane lying down.


I support the "magic spells now have unexpected curses in addition to their normal effects" route.

I think completely cutting them off from magic is a bit game-breaking, and seems a bit off for a magic god. But, do something like "when you cast Fireball you take 1d6 points of cold damage" or "when you cast Haste you become staggered for one round". Of course, you don't tell them in advance what the associated curse is for each spell... finding that out is the fun part!

I think that would be a fun way to play this out.

Sovereign Court

The Odyssey would be a phenomenal source for inspiration on how a deity might mess with a mortal without resorting to "you're dead, no save".


Yeah, the Odyssey could be great inspiration, that is true. I love mythology in general, so.

They are still on the same plane, they are trapped there for the time being (and trying to find a path to escape), actually because someone else they irked before decided that it would be a good place to send them to get them out of his way (it is a really long long story, but they haven't figured this out yet, at least I don't think so). So, them being here in the first place was due to someone else seeing them as a potential problem.

The Exchange

Um if he liked the person so much just ressurect him. Perhaps the dead guy will hold a grudge.

Gease/quest seems fitting here.

The Exchange

Greater Polymorph all the players into pets that the favoured worshiper now keeps in his/her house.

The players don't get to save, since its a deity level polymorph.

Have them spend a year in this form to realise the error of their ways.

When they come back, everytime they now act outside of what your deity would consider appropriate behaviour, have parts of them change into the pet they were (they may grow bunny ears, or whiskers or maybe a stubby gerbil tail). Just enough to remind them that annoying a deity is not wise. And this is the deity being kind.

Everyonce in a while, have the party members make a fort save or will save against the overwhleming need to do something animal like (maybe they hoard nuts in their cheeks for a day like a squirrel or chipmunk, they could scratch with their legs like a dog with fleas, overwhelming need to eat lettuce and other leafy greens with just their incisors like any type of rodent creature.)

Make sure you really ham up the part of them being kept as pets.

In this way the players get to have some fun, the characters get to know they messed up, and you havent destroyed the campaign.

Scarab Sages

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Machiavelli wrote:
Senko wrote:

I'm going to go with this without details on the player (class, sex, natural tendencies, player comfort level with things) all I can really suggest is since they hung out go with the old WOW standby in the future every time they just hang out they turn into a sheep until they make an effort to speak up.

They are all male, though they often play opposite sex characters if that makes any difference. Class, religion and age wise the group is kinda all over the place.

Games tend to run on the R rated side, though, getting genuinely squicky and X-rated I do not think anyone would be comfortable with. Beyond that though, pretty safe to say people won't be offended.

Very tempted to mess with their magic in some way, very very tempted. That makes sense. Don't know if I want it to outright fail them so much as have some other affects, embarrassing or otherwise.

Hmmm . . . nah wouldn't work with pc's although the idea of a curse turning him into the opposite sex and then having the male members constantly walking in on her, tripping up and landing on her, reaching out to grab something (sword, food, gear) and accidentaly grabbing a breast instead is entertaining (echi manga style where the girl can put a sign out, lock the door and the guy still manages to walk in just as she stands up from the bath).

Maybe a will save to not do anything the party tells him too ala ella enchanted where she was given the gift of obedience by a drunk fairy with a temper problem?

Liberty's Edge

spellblights anyone?


oooh, really like spell-blights too, never have used them. They seem like excellent curses to have a deity of curse magic levy against someone, and they all have spells, or at least spell-like abilities. Yeah, I think I'm going to have some fun coming up with a curse based on the mechanics for those, though one that can't be removed like a spell-blight ordinarily can of course.

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