Currently running a Kingmaker homebrew and the party is at an interesting juncture of storylines that I am not entirely sure how to navigate. Their kingdom (Terabithia... seriously... THAT is what they chose) is pretty stable with regards to food, finances, steady gain of territory. The party has recruited several NPCs to fill out the roles of their kingdom-
This last part is important they allowed a witch/cleric of death to be their High Priestess. I initially created her as NE and as far as NPCs go she was one of the more fully fleshed out characters the party encountered. She also served as the HQ healer so that any ailment, curse, disease, poison, ability damage, etc. was temporary (at best) and just required asking her for assistance.
Part of her character is that she has never had a home or any sort of place to set up a safe haven for herself and her band of witch/cleric followers (she has the Leadership feat- seriously FULLY fleshed out NPC). While she is evil and DOES have an end game in mind for herself (destroy Urgathoa and Pharasma and replace them as the ONLY Goddess of death, she also is going to achieve this status without using the Starstone) but also has, for the most part, been given a GREAT deal of freedom and respect from the PCs (with the exception of thank yous... the party had a REAL hard time with that).
At one point the PC who was given/selected the King role decided to romance the priestess (I used a picture of Heddy Lamar as what she looked like... no one can blame him for the initial attraction). His affections were returned, but she decided that typical flirtations left too much to chance and used a bound Night Hag to ensnare his desire. PC failed his Will save, then he thought she was ALL THAT!
I am REALLY giving too much exposition, so I am going to fast forward a bit- lemme know if you need clarity in response so I can give details.
Eventually the priestess reveals that she used magic to manipulate the king (she actually comes out and says it to him- unprovoked, lets say it is because of guilt). The King was not really able to forgive her and another PC (Grand Diplomat) fearing that the union of the King and the Priestess would spell DOOM (it isn't THAT big of a secret that the Priestess is evil and has ulterior motives- though no one knows the hard truths of the matter) for Terabithia arranged an alliance with the King of Brevoy to have his sister Natala marry the king of Terabithia.
After meeting the king decided that yes, he prefers Natala. She is pretty forthright about her lack of interest in his as a romantic partner and that the marriage/alliance is PURELY political.
My crossroads is that I am not entirely sure what to do with the interplay between these two women (The High Priestess and the King's Consort). They are both of the NOT GOOD alignment. I was wondering what thoughts other DMs had? I was originally setting things up so that everything that happens with the current arc (defeat of Rovagug's cult) sets up the drama for the next story arc (which would be the Priestesses ascension)?
Thoughts? Ideas? Chastisements? Insults?- I will admit that my DM skills are mediocre at best, but the players are always VERY excited by the amount of intricacy I put into the plots and the threading that comes from one session to the next. (which again... I think is kinda the requirement for a long term campaign, and I more often forget things than remember so any tips on that would be useful as well)
Thanks :)
My advice is to start watching telenovelas or The Vampire Diaries for romance plotting. Basically, you have a classic romance plot from the perspective of the priestess. She got into a relationship for ulterior motives, but now has all the feels, only it's too late. And now, she can't just ensorcel the king again, because everyone will be looking for that (and maybe she realizes she wants to be loved back genuinely rather than by a sock puppet.) So, she's either going to start trying to be a real friend to the king to try and become worthy of his love, undermine the relationship with princess of Brevoy, or both. If she gets desperate, a crisis of faith in her new, neutral identity may occur and she may backslide.
Or you can just have her kill the princess of Brevoy at the wedding and the party tries to stop her. Plot over, move on to the next episode vs. the never-ending plot. Your call.
You know up to the point where she used a Night Hag to dominate the king I would have labeled the priestess as True Neutral given how vague you were on her desire to become a "goddess of death". Pharasma herself is a goddess of death, but she deals particularly in the handling and safe passage of the souls of the dead to their eternal resting place. Urgathoa meanwhile is a goddess of undeath, something that is distinctly different from and is in fact diametrically opposed to death. Pharasma hates Urgathoa, and Norgorber, the only other "god of death" in the main pantheon of gods lives in Lawful Neutral Axis as opposed Neutral Evil Abbadon, the typical haunt of Urgathoa.
Second, your formatting of the post leaves a huge amount of questions as to the persons of note in this story.
King: What race? Alignment? Class? Motivations?
Consort: She's being spurned by the king, and what else? She isn't exactly the queen, which means she effectively only ever has as much authority as the king grants, if we adhere to anything remotely approximating the historical period of interest.
Priestess: What exactly do you mean by goddess of death?
Natala: Who the flying fey is this person? And who wants to marry her?
Chief Diplomat: Alignment? Class?
You know up to the point where she used a Night Hag to dominate the king I would have labeled the priestess as True Neutral given how vague you were on her desire to become a "goddess of death". Pharasma herself is a goddess of death, but she deals particularly in the handling and safe passage of the souls of the dead to their eternal resting place. Urgathoa meanwhile is a goddess of undeath, something that is distinctly different from and is in fact diametrically opposed to death. Pharasma hates Urgathoa, and Norgorber, the only other "god of death" in the main pantheon of gods lives in Lawful Neutral Axis as opposed Neutral Evil Abbadon, the typical haunt of Urgathoa.
Second, your formatting of the post leaves a huge amount of questions as to the persons of note in this story.
King: What race? Alignment? Class? Motivations?
Consort: She's being spurned by the king, and what else? She isn't exactly the queen, which means she effectively only ever has as much authority as the king grants, if we adhere to anything remotely approximating the historical period of interest.
Priestess: What exactly do you mean by goddess of death?
Natala: Who the flying fey is this person? And who wants to marry her?
Chief Diplomat: Alignment? Class?
King: Human, CG, Cavalier, He was deposed from his noble rank and then was appointed King of this territory by divine providence (selected by a Kirin- as well as the players liked it)
Consort: I am not sure who you are referring to here? The Priestess (Melinoe) had a romantic affiliation with the King and he is now leaving her in order to marry the interim Queen of Brevoy (Natala Surtova). The Priestess has also, ALWAYS, given her opinion as to what would be best for the Kingdom (not that she is opposed to lying or putting her own self interests first, but the party has been SO accepting that there wasn't anything to gain by lying.)
Priestess: I was sorta vague with this... Her goal is to eliminate ALL of the current pantheon of gods in order appoint herself as the one goddess of all and then dispense death upon the unfaithful. She uses undead and has multiple demons bound to her service (the party is aware of both of these things... and were surprisingly ok with it. Not a sense motive check or detect alignment in the BUNCH!) I took some inspiration from the Sword of Truth series and, in short, she has to open the "Temple of the Winds" which requires an "act of betrayal." I had planned on playing her much MORE villainous, but the party was SO accepting of her that I think there was a moment of hesitation. I thought that her evil may have been related to the fact that she has NEVER been accepted anywhere or found a home and these people were very open and giving.
Natala Surtova is the Queen of Brevoy. The King of the Stolen Lands wishes to marry her. Maybe I wasn't clear about that? It might be beneficial to know that Natala and Melinoe share an alignment: NE.
The Grand Diplomat is a Samsaran Arcanist. I believe she is (now) NG.
My advice is to start watching telenovelas or The Vampire Diaries for romance plotting. Basically, you have a classic romance plot from the perspective of the priestess. She got into a relationship for ulterior motives, but now has all the feels, only it's too late. And now, she can't just ensorcel the king again, because everyone will be looking for that (and maybe she realizes she wants to be loved back genuinely rather than by a sock puppet.) So, she's either going to start trying to be a real friend to the king to try and become worthy of his love, undermine the relationship with princess of Brevoy, or both. If she gets desperate, a crisis of faith in her new, neutral identity may occur and she may backslide.
Or you can just have her kill the princess of Brevoy at the wedding and the party tries to stop her. Plot over, move on to the next episode vs. the never-ending plot. Your call.
Priestess has been pretty laid back with the evil since joining the kingdom (with the exception of insta-slaying several cleric/paladins of Iomedae and turning their saint into a solid gold statue that adorns her parlor), but this NEW evil brat is sorta stepping on her toes.
I think this priestess is conflicted because she genuinely WANTS the king, but her entire life has been building towards one moment and... now she is basically deciding on: "Love or Career" made more impacting by the fact that she has NEVER had love (in any form) in her life. Probably why she hangs out with demons and the undead a lot.
She needs to commit an act of betrayal (that is unforgiveable) in order to start her ascension to Godhood... But I want that to be more subtle than just: She attacks EVERY member of the party and bla bla bla... I don't think the minor love enchantment is enough to REALLY say she can NEVER be forgiven either... Hmmm...
Suddenly I wonder why I allow these things to happen as a DM... Remember when the dragon had the treasure and the party killed the dragon? Why did I wanna leave THAT epicness- lol.
Maybe a catastrophy/disaster she could have prevented, but didn't. Only she and the king survived, no more friends (a.k.a. fellow party members), rival, kingdom.....
Maybe a catastrophy/disaster she could have prevented, but didn't. Only she and the king survived, no more friends (a.k.a. fellow party members), rival, kingdom.....
Something like that is set up. She transplanted the Jewel of Endless Gold Making and the Runewell of Greed to this kingdom. The party is aware that this SHOULD be impossible (well... some of the party is aware) but none have really looked into it.
As a GM I have an issue with TPK (or in this case: TPK less one) when PCs are not able to do anything to intervene for themselves. Hurl the lightning bolt from the sky? Sure, but let them roll the save at least.
My problem at this point is how to RP a SUPER powerful priestess who wants EVERYTHING (godhood, magic, demon slaves, hot boyfriend who genuinely cares for her, etc.) but KNOWS that there isn't a way to MAKE that all happen. She is pretty smart too, so I think she is aware that her feelings for the king are irrational.
What do you do when your phenomenal cosmic power CANT get you what you want?
I think that is the issue. Every other situation in her life has been overcome by throwing magic at the problem. I don't think she has much of a sense of who she is if she isn't the most powerful witch in the room (and I am not entirely sure she has ever NOT been that)... except when she fought Tar Baphon... then she probably felt it...
I think that is the issue. Every other situation in her life has been overcome by throwing magic at the problem. I don't think she has much of a sense of who she is if she isn't the most powerful witch in the room (and I am not entirely sure she has ever NOT been that)... except when she fought Tar Baphon... then she probably felt it...
I think you need to send the party + NPC to a dead-magic Demiplane for a social-based mission.
That way the Evil Priestess with godhood desires can see what negotiation and compromise looks like.
I think you need to send the party + NPC to a dead-magic Demiplane for a social-based mission.
That way the Evil Priestess with godhood desires can see what negotiation and compromise looks like.
I like this idea. What sort of scenario are you thinking? I am not the best at writing social rps (obviously)
*Cracks Knuckles*
Okay, I'm not very familiar with the Kingmaker Campaign beyond it having a fairly high level of sand-boxing, taking place in The Stolen Lands of The River Kingdoms, and several opportunities for diplomacy with various monstrous races.
What we need for this scenario to fall into place is the following:
1. A Dead Magic Demiplane (complete with gate for entering and leaving).
2. A social mission to take place inside said demiplane.
I would think having a dead magic demiplane that happens to have a lot of valuable resources and a strong local population would be a good start. Basically without magic the only way to get the resources is from the local residents of the demiplane, and so negotiation is needed.
This in turn raises questions of why the demiplane exists, but that could be for any number of reasons that one could decide on.
I think you need to define your goals a bit.
Do you want this to be a story of Redemption? Betrayal? Do you want this person to be a campaign villain?
Once you know your preferred ending (taking your players into consideration), how to play her and what to do should fall into place.
I rarely use alignments in games I GM, specifically because there is no hard line (outside of extreme things) that can always define whether a character is "evil" or not. As in real life, a character that seems purely evil may occasionally do things that seem good.
I pay a lot more attention to intent, goals, ability to control one's temper, etc. As long as nothing gets in the way of their goals and/or they are intelligent and have good self-control, a really despicable person could go for year without doing anything to give their true nature away.
Also, judging from the popularity of love charms and spells around the world, a significant number of people who might otherwise be considered "good" are willing to use supernatural forces to insure that another person falls in love (or stays in love) with them.
"My problem at this point is how to RP a SUPER powerful priestess who wants EVERYTHING (godhood, magic, demon slaves, hot boyfriend who genuinely cares for her, etc.) but KNOWS that there isn't a way to MAKE that all happen. She is pretty smart too, so I think she is aware that her feelings for the king are irrational."
Knowing, feeling, and doing are different things. She KNOWS that her feelings are irrational, but can she translate that knowledge into a shift in her feelings? Does she have good self-control to go along with her intelligence? Is she vengeful in general (not all "evil" people are)?
She hasn't ever cared about anyone but herself before, so I would say she likely has wrought much of her own ostracism (outside of this kingdom) and was pursued by saints/clerics/paladins of Iomedae.
I choose to use alignment as a guide rather than a limitation. She is NE, but essentially it means that she takes care of her own interests and doesn't hold back just because "innocent" people will be hurt. Since she venerates death the whole "life/not life/unlife" thing is kinda moot. Living people have minds that can be molded to assist her (she has acolytes that work in her cathedral), dead people make good materials for spells (she uses humanoid bones in the walls of the cathedral that can be animated as resources for undead) and undead have obvious benefits (they have been used as an army, unskilled labor, body guards, etc.)
She has also been relatively withdrawn since the king pulled away from her and I this the next session I will bring that to a head. She is not doing well emotionally at this point and since SO many things in this kingdom rely on her I think she is reaching a breaking point.
I like Westphalian_Musketeer's idea of social mission to a dead magic plane, but she isn't really in shape for something like that right now. But I do think I understand how she will react to her current situation.
I think our priestess is going to have a slight bought with insanity (the emotional turmoil combined with the influence of demons, a new rival, the feeling of powerlessness and the influence of Tar Baphon should be enough of a psychic strain) the party enters her soul mirror (they have done it before, but when she was in control and keeping it open for them. This should give the opportunity to show some of her more formative moments (maybe have the party participate in her history?) Culminate in a battle with a lich... Might be exciting for the group.
***
To address the issue of her goals: She DID want to be the single goddess of all Golarion starting with the destruction of Rovagug (the party is already working to defeat them), then moving on to Pharasma and Urgathoa (she is fascinated by Urgathoa's ability to pull herself from the Abyss and into Divinity, but she wants to accomplish that same task without dying first. Essentially: Wants to be a god without using the Starstep or experiencing death).
The party will need to fix that