okay, so i think perhaps a bad thing has happened in my campaign. last night, we were playing the SWW adventure, and during a fight with rowyn on the deck of the ship, a lightning bolt was thrown and he was in the way. he had come up to the deck to see what was the meaning of being awoken at this late hour, and the party wizard cast, the bolt hit kelani, and caught him in the blast as well. then while he was trying to crawl away with barely 2 hp left, the mage threw a fireball in the same area and toasted him and rowyn both.
now what do i do? i told the mage PC that his spells would hit merivanchi also, and he said, "the guy's a bother, forget him, collateral damage, i always say."
any ideas? does he really need to live? advice and suggestions are welcome.
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Don't forget the Merivanchi family is sponsoring the Vanderboren colony...
Thus (I am guessing), Lavinia would do anything to keep him alive.
The 2 boats are not very far one from the other right now !
Have Lavinia use her ultimate "in case of death" ressource : a scroll of raise dead.
And ask the PCs to watch out until Avner is completely cured...
(this could be fun !).
And if you do not want the wizard to have problems with Avner..., well, maybe he didn't have time to realize what happened to him !!!
My 2 coppers
The Merivanchi are partners of Lavinia's. I would difinately have her upset over the PC's disregard for Avner. She might think "Would he do the same to me or other under my charge if we became a bother to him as well?" Personally, if one of my players went ahead an killed Avner after I'd warned him, I would have several things that I would have happen. First, I would consider a possible alignment shift if they aren't already evil. Second, I'd have Lavinia ask the other PCs to "arrest" their companion for murder. Third, I'd have Lavinia make the PC stand trial once they reach Farshore. I would have them put the hold in chains on Lavinia's ship. there by removing them from the next adventure and the other PC showing up in just time at Farshore to see the wizard being executed. Id say Avner's uncle would see to a speedy trial and execution. It may seem a little harsh, but the players are supposed to be the heroes. My 2 cents.
Have Lavinia use her ultimate "in case of death" ressource : a scroll of raise dead.
Lavinia: "I bought this in case one of you met an untimely end, oh well!" :)
If the wizard is neutral, then probably not a shift to evil, but starting to slide that way. If he's good, then definitely a shift to neutral, because "he's a bother, collateral damage and all" is in no way a "good" person's attitude. He also might shift from lawful to neutral depending on behavior, because the PCs should know that Meravanchi is part of the collateral of Lavina's voyage.
The comment of Lavina thinking "Would he do the same to me or anyone else here if we become bothersome" is spot on. Lavina has a degree of hero worship for the PCs. The more you look up to someone, the further they have to fall in your eyes. She might completely divorce herself of the wizard, not speaking to him, asking his companions to silence him when he talks to her, and otherwise clearly and politely expressing her displeasure and desire to not associate with someone who apparently thinks so little of her situation and authority.
Normally I cut PCs a little slack, but if this happened in my game, there would be reprecussions. Some things can't be taken back with a raise dead and half-hearted apology. What if Avner is happy where he is and doesn't want to come back. What if he does, but the "weakness" from the experience (level loss) leaves him so physically vunerable that he picks up one of the strange diseases of the Isle, and develops rotting sores or some other horrible affliction.
And he would know who killed him. If the lightning bolt could hit him, he had line of sight to the wizard. And even if it was too dark to see, getting hit by lightning and then fire on a boat, and coming back from the dead to see the boat is fine, would seriously be suspicious, especially if the PCs don't take efforts to hide their professions, which I'm guessing they dont.
BTW, what happened to the boat? Even if your not using stormwrack, a fireball can do damage to objects. It doesn't set them on fire, but it does follow the rules for fire damaging objects: 1/2 damage, hardness applies (most likely 5 for wood, 1 or less for ropes and sails). So if he's a fifth level caster, he could do anywhere from 5 to 30 points of damage. If he rolled above 12 (which I assume he did, because he killed Avner while at 2) then he does at least 1 point of damage to every wooden object in the area, and 4 to every cloth or rope object. That means he put the ship in danger, while they were sailing! I'm surprised the sailors didn't keelhaul him then and there. (In my party, the sorc took ship's mage, so he doesn't have that problem. The sailors love him)
Just my two coppers. But definitely, actions have consequences. Unless you are running Savage Tide as a hackfest, roleplaying and real life consequences light game (which is cool, don't get me wrong, I like a slaughterfest now and then myself) then the wizard, and possibly the other PCs by association should be in some degree of trouble, ranging from bad to eye-deep.
There is no way I would have Lavinia use a scroll of Raise Dead to bring Avner back. The PC's should have to suffer the consequences for what they did. Most of the other NPC's would not want to have anything to do with the wizard, and might expect some sort of repercussions for him.
This was definitely an evil act, but one evil act by itself isn't enough to change a character's alignment. If the character has done questionable things in the past, however, then a change of one step might be in order. Also, how he reacts to it would affect that. Is he contrite and trying to make ammends or does he not care?
Also, if there are any paladins in the group than there should be group dynamics. A paladin would not stand for something like this.
Creative Director
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Once the PCs leave Sasserine, they're pretty much the colonists' hope for resurrection/raise dead magic, unless they thought ahead to buy some scrolls. Lavinia certainly doesn't have any handy; she's pretty much used all her resources to get the colonists and cargoes for the two ships organized.
As for repercussions... there probably won't be any of any major sort until the PCs reach Farshore, at which point the Meravanchis there will certainly demand an inquest into the events surrounding Avner's death. It'll absolutely make them enemies of the PCs, but they're kind of set up as the colony jerks anyway.
Of course, none of that doesn't mean that toasting Avner wasn't an evil act. Probably not enough to cause an alignment change (unless that PCs' still gloating about the kill), but it's certainly a step down the path of being able to use unholy weapons.
Of course, none of that doesn't mean that toasting Avner wasn't an evil act. Probably not enough to cause an alignment change (unless that PCs' still gloating about the kill), but it's certainly a step down the path of being able to use unholy weapons.
IMC he's evil, barring additional relevant details. The initial post indicated that the spellcasting was done without any regard for Avner's safety -- in fact, the player seemed all too happy to have him caught in the crossfire.
IMO, IMC :)
Jack
My take on the situation is that the senior Merivanchi is probably not going to be all that upset (his reaction on meeting Avner in ToD is proof that he frankly isn't happy to have him around).
That said, the senior Merivanchi will use the death of Avner to leverage whatever power and favors he can to his benefit and milk it for all its worth. Definitely, he will exploit the situation for his run for leadership of the colony.
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Avner buying the farm changes nothing. The wizard is the only one who knows that his death wasn't completely accidental - it happened at night, and everything was chaos, and he should be able to talk his way out of any sanctions against him. After that, the wizard will express a suitable amount of regret for using such a powerful spell, and that will be the end of it. Of course, the elder Meravanchi will dislike the PCs, but he would do so anyway.
And, seriously, what kind of party would arrest one of their own for "accidentally" offing Avner? Rather, I suspect the only PC reaction would be a "Hey, you got them both", followed by a pat on the back.
okay, well i worked with the player today about the whole incident. here's how it happened. avner came up on deck, as there had already been 4 rounds of fighting with rowyn. she was just too fast for them, and they kept missing. the mage was getting frustrated at this point, and didn't see that merivanchi had come up, right next to rowyn. on her init, she grabbed him to hold him at knifepoint. on the same init, the wizard cast lightning bolt. (and yes, there was damage to the boat with this spell, and he's spending his party fund money on repairs as part of his pennance.) the PC is chaotic neutral, and made an uncaring blaster wizard. his whole tactic is to stop the enemy as quickly as possible. when the PC fighter who is CG said, "Don't cast again! merivanchi is in the way!" he said, coldly, "well then he shouldn't have come up on deck then, should he have?"
as he was trying to crawl away, rowyn grabbed on to him again, to use him as a shield. he screamed! "Don't shoot!"
that's when he let loose with a fireball. "i had to take her down, it's the only way to be sure."
so, i'm going to have lavinia admonish the PC in question and say that HE is the one who has to confess the truth to merivanchi, and when they get to farshore he has to personally help that family build the defenses of that house with the exception of all others. then she's going to yell at him because he jeopardized the elections, and "what kind of woman hires people like brigands who don't care for the safety of those they are guarding?!" this is just going to make the elections swing toward merivanchi's position, unless the PC and those who run in his party go to great lengths to prove themselves pariahs of the colony in some way.
either way, he's kind of sorry about doing it. i can't say i didn't have something to do with it, because it was me who brought him out into harms way. that and playing him as a stuck up noble rich boy didn't hurt either. they hated him from the start. i'm not so sure what i should do with the rest of the party, who is in some way accessories to the crime.
I'd say so far, you're handling it well. Have some of the other NPCs talk to the other PCs, possibly even singly, away from the game table, to get some candid "in-character" perceptions of the other PCs reactions to all this. That should give you some ideas. If all the other PCs are as apathetic about it as the wizard, then have it show in NPC reactions. Since the fighter seems to actually be good, have it show that people treat him better than the wizard, because they trust him. Especially if other people heard him say "don't shoot" because that proves he cares.
1:00 AM post, excuse the lack of paragraph structure. Sometimes I hate having an English degree. Oh, the self-loathing...