Fellow DMs, i need your help badly. I figured out that it would be fun to convert a PC to evil and have him act as an agent throughout the adventure and attack the party at the very end of the adventure. He might be converted back again or just be killed by the others (if he doesnt kill them all). Either way it would suit the guy playing it. The bigger fun is the "converting him back to good" version, i think.
I would need your help in figuring out how to integrate this into the storyline and how to handle it during the sessions to come.
The background:
We play in the Forgotten Realms setting. The PCs are:
- LG human paladin/cleric of Kelemvor (WeeJas)
- CG aasimar sorcerer
- CG human fighter/psion
- NG human sorcerer/exalted arcanist of Kelemvor (WeeJas)
The human sorcerer (Moko Usasa Gibana) came from a jungle delwing background and has that black magic, voodoo feeling to it. His background story says that he abandoned his evil tribe which was protecting tombs (the haunted village) from inturders in the hills, and his whole tribe was fanatical, evil and merciless with those who approached the place. His good intensions or a threat drove him away from the village.
I consider the story of the SCAP changed as such:
The Kelemvorite priests who are evil (Calmus Vel changes to evil as the story goes) are believers of the old faith of Mykul (NE death god) who was killed by Cyric. The divine portfolio of death was taken from Cyric after a short time by Kelemvor. Cyric wants the portfolio back and being a s!~$fy god he is, he saved Myrkul's phisical form (Adimarchus) for a later use and imprisoned it on Carceri. Myrkul wants to come back and the Cagewrights are about to help him with the ritual that the whole story is based on. The individual Cagewrigths (who are not clerics of Myrkul) supposed to be joining the effort to gain ultimate protection from their own death by saving the old death god. I would use Opiticus as the separated part of the old death realm (Fugue Plane, now ruled by Kelemvor), which angel and devils fight for to rule.
The plot:
Moko came to Cauldron, leaving his evil death worshipping tribe, met the Kelemvor priest and started the adventure with him, realised that this is the true way to venerate the true god of death and started heavily worshipping Kelemvor at the temple. Calmus Vel took notice of him and started teaching him and Moko soon faced the fact that the true death god might really be the same one they venerated in his tribe. Calmus lures ihm to the "dark side", saying that Kelemvor is only to ease the pain in those who face death, but the real face of death is Myrkul. Calmus doesnt know much about the plans of the Cagewrights so he wont get Moko into this part of the story, and as such this wont ruin the game for the player of Moko. I couldnt think of anything better than having Moko being contacted by the imprisoned Myrkul (Adimarchus) and being said that he is the last hope of Myrkul and he should follow the other PCs, who will free him but also will try eliminating him once and for all. He (Moko) should be stopping this and he will be elevated by Myrkul to divine rank.
He would help the other PCs to get to Myrkul, even kill his clergy because killing and death is irrelevant to a NE fanatic of Myrkul, and he could believe that the other Myrkulites are doing something wrong to his revered god, or even that they serve a different cause, being the prupose of the Cagewrights totally unclear for him. He could also spend some time ith the Pillar of Souls which could be considered ad the voice of Myrkul for him.
I know the story is shambling a bit... I am not sure how little thing will work out smoothly with this plan. I also have to solve the following things (besides having a constant undetectable alignment effect running on Moko):
- how to handle the reactions of a NE player... maybe he should be LE instead. that si a bit easier to handle.
- how this would fit with the story
- which parts (chapters) don't fit with my idea
I think both the player of Moko and the other PCs will like this idea at the end. Ofcourse the others will only know this by the end at 20th level and the player of Moko could easely fit into the story that is ahead of them (We are about to finish the Demonskar Legacy this week). Let me know what you have to add to this!
I am sorry for the long thread but i am really curious to see what ideas you guys might have, as earlier i got the best ideas from this forum about running special situations in the SCAP.
Thanks for your help!
Well I typed out a long response before and it somehow did not post...let's try this again.
First thing, did you speak with the *player* playing this Moko character before you came up with all this? Take it from me, planning a whole campaign around one central PC is not a good idea. First off, it may cause the 3 other players to become jealous and decrease their fun. Also, you count on this Moko character to be in the *entire* campaign. That isn't always the case. He may get killed and un-resurrectable, or the player may lose interest in him and want to switch to something new. If you then start making the mistake of fudging dice rolls and being to nice to this one player, you run the risk of gathering the other player's ire, as well as this Moko character. He may not want to be put on the pedestal here.
Next, did this Moko character say he wanted to change his alignment to something entirely else during the campaign? You should never force an alignment change to a character, especially one that is required to keep the campaign going. He may react very strongly to having his character's alignment force-changed. Also remember you have a paladin with an at-will detect evil. No ordinary paladin is going to associate with someone evil.
Besides that, the cosmetic changes are fine. I'm actually interested in changing the SCAP to fit a FR setting. It seems the majority (atleast of what I've seen) of people are using Kelemvor in replacement of Wee Jas. I don't exactly see this as Kelemvor is a very neutral uncaring god in respects to magic and death. He seems to do what is required of him because it is his duty, nothing else. I'd find someone more evil.
I like Occipitus changed to the Fugue Plane. Fits verry well.
Myrkul as Adimarchus? I guess, if you can make it work. As Adimarchus is majorly associated with madness (and this campaign focuses a lot on that too), perhaps Myrkul gained the madness portfolio while he was imprisoned...his solidarity driving him crazy?
Hey thanks for the brainstorm :) First i would like to note that the PC is willing to change to evil. He is not forced and he is already closely associated with an evil background and the voodoo type of necromancy spells (bestow curse, ghould touch, ray of enfeeblement, fear, wither, etc...). And i wont let anyone of them die permanently and none of my players would loose interest in their character, becuase they put lots of effort into coloring them and composing their personality. The others will not be jealous coz they all like a good twist in a story, and they would only be amazed that we have tought of something like that. They also will understand some things they have found strange in Moko previously and they will rejoice when the whole picture falls in place for them. I know them well enough to know that.
Myrkul being maddened from the captivity or due to the torment of Cyric sounds like a good idea. Though i would not flash out parts of the campaign which focuses on this basic idea of the creators, and then it doesnt need to be explained to the PCs.
Kelemvor is ideal for this role in the story because all Kelemvorite clerics were serving an evil god earlier. The new initiates are LN or LG but the old priests have venerated Myrkul and they are NE or N say the least. Instead of Myrkul you could use Jaergal as many have suggested on this message board earlier, but doesnt have the feeling to it i think. I want white face plated, black robed clerics attacking the PCs with their scythe that does x4 damage on a critical hit :))) just joking. i think the Kelemvor/Myrkul/Cyric story works better for FR.
Do you know any parts of the SCAP that would need massive reworking if i used this story line?