Last week I starting DMing There is No Honor. I have four characters down in the smugglers tunnels of Parrot Island. Next week I'll pick up where we left off, but this time a 5th character (Wizard) is joining.
My first thought was to have the players find him in one of the Prison Cells in the Lotus Dragon Guildhall... but that would mean he'd have to sit there for an hour or two doing nothing. My second thought was to have them find him hiding in the smugglers tunnels but I can't seem to find a reason why he'd be down there alone.
Now when I started this game I made it clear that Kora was expecting 5 PC's to show up. However only 4 showed up (the 5th player couldn't make it)... and after awhile the dinner began without the 5th PC. So... how do I add this 5th PC? What is the most fun way to do it?
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You could have him be the target of the first Lotus Dragon ambush, and the other PCs come along at just the right time. After the combat it turns out that they had to meet up anyways.
This is a simple introduction, but effective.
Something different is if they are headed to the taxidermist's then the 5th PC could have been disabled by Nemien, and is being held there until the Lotus Dragons can come take him to the interrogator.
Have you considered that the fifth player has always been in cahoots with Lavina, and is even now working alone to end the Lotus Dragons? Perhaps the PCs could meet him posing as the taxidermist's assistant, who turns on the taxidermist when battle errupts. Or he could even be a seemingly nondescript Lotus thug, who turns on the other thieves at an opportune moment.
So the players have been locked under parrot island and NOW there is another player?
When the PC's are far from the shaft, have Vanthus throw the wizard down. The wizard should know and have prepared featherfall, so he avoids damage from the fall itself, but is still trapped with the other players.
His spell book can be stashed with an ally in Sasserine somewhere so he can get that back easily enough. The rest of the party should be able to spare a dagger and other basic equipment to supply thier new comrade.
This gets the new player in the action quickly and serves as a motive for the PC's to work togther in the future.
Well off the top of my head I can think of a couple of things. In any case you want to give the PC some personal motivation to be helping out the PCs.
1 - PC has pissed off Vanthus who tricked him into the same hole the PCs are now down in. This results in the Wizard being down in the whole and meeting up with the PCs. Try to work a reason other than what the rest of the party has for his conflict with Vanthus, something that forshadows later events. You could then move things a couple of ways...
A - In the first the main group finds the lone soul in trouble and has to jump in to help him. Grateful, the wizard joins up to help them out and get out himself. Once out they all have a motive to search for Vanthus further.
B - The wizard has been down here for a little while already and knows that things are down here. He has been hiding out by the entrance and was hoping to escape just as the PCs came down. He meets them at the entrance and is just like the last option excepting that no one "saved" anyone else.
C - Similar motivations to the last, except it is the wizard who "saves" the other PCs. I like this one a little better and the player of the wizard certainly will as well since it sets his character up as "cool." Maybe when the PCs first come in they are attacked by all the zombies at once. The wizard shows up just in time to show them a way to a "safe" haven in the tunnels that he has been holed up in.
D - The wizard was actually down in the hole with Vanthus and Pikus(? was that his name) and is actually thought dead by Vanthus... perhaps even replace Pinkus with him. Should definately make the wizard hate him.
2 - Introduce the PC as someone who the PCs have to go to in order to help their investigation... a fortune teller if you will. Works particularly well if the PC is a Diviner Wizard.
3 - Have the PC introduced by Lavinia after he just showed up late. Kind of a vanilla one but doesn't really force any additional RP on the PC should you not have time to work in any of the backgrounds above.
4 - Captured by the thieves and held in the first place the party is going next. I HATE this one. I HATE the old start where the PC is helpless until the rest of the group shows up and only then can the PC take his part. I think it hurts the players enjoyment of a character... in my opinion part of making the game fun is giving the PC chances to shine. The more you can do this outside of battle the better since it doesn't involve breaking the game at all. But... I have to mention it since this is an old stand by.
Anyway, those are the options I see right off the top of my head, I am sure there are more.
Sean Mahoney
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The wizard was there on Parrot Island, to find a familiar maybe, or some wizard sent him there to gather the tailfeathers of a special parrot for ink quills or whatnot.
He runs into Vanthus, who is leaving from having just punted the characters down the shaft. Vanthus begs the character for help--"there's a small child that just fell down a shaft!" maybe.
Then, Vanthus punts THIS guy down the shaft too. "The perfect crime. Bon Apetit! Hee Hee!" Vanthus pats himself on the back for another job well done.
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The wizard was there on Parrot Island, to find a familiar maybe, or some wizard sent him there to gather the tailfeathers of a special parrot for ink quills or whatnot.
He runs into Vanthus, who is leaving from having just punted the characters down the shaft. Vanthus begs the character for help--"there's a small child that just fell down a shaft!" maybe.
Then, Vanthus punts THIS guy down the shaft too. "The perfect crime. Bon Apetit! Hee Hee!" Vanthus pats himself on the back for another job well done.
Or, like Heathy started, but the wizard and Vanthus don't cross paths. Wizard hears the sounds of combat under the rock and trapdoor (weird accostical effect brings the sound echoing up the shaft)and feels compelled to investigate the noises, perhaps arriving just in time to help turn the tide of battle in favor of the party. While they struggle through the tunnels, the Lotus Dragons, or whoever else is against the PCs, murders the wizard's mentor who sent him to get the tailfeathers because he refused to do business with them. "A lesson to any who think they are too good to work with us."
It gives the wizard a reason to join the party and hopeful develope a rapport that carries on into the further adventures.Bonds of Blood and mutual enemies.
FH