My players are sometimes a bit lax about the role-playing - it can be hard to get them to communicate with NPCs, develop relationships, or otherwise do stuff that would let me evaluate their "sinfulness." That is, I can mark up plenty of Wrath, but let's face it, how easy is it to find signs of Sloth or Gluttony in the behavior of a PC?
With that in mind, I created the following survey question (as part of a larger questionaire I intend to use to encourage them to develop their characters better). If anyone else wants to use it, feel free. (The associated sins are, in order: Gluttony, Lust, Wrath, Greed, Pride, Envy, and Sloth.)
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Imagine that your PC has a day to spend, however he wants, between adventures. Rank in order (from 1 to 7, with 1 being the thing your PC would most want to do) which of the following would be your PC’s preferred way to spend the time.
(NOTE: This is what your PC would want to do during down-time, NOT what you would want to spend time on during the game session.)
___ Enjoying fine food and drink.
___ Enjoying the company of an attractive companion.
___ Getting into a fight.
___ Earning some extra money.
___ Telling stories of your achievements to an admiring audience.
___ Taking action to get an advantage over a rival (or to make them look bad).
___ Just relaxing somewhere.
Creative Director
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Aside from wrath, a good sin to apply to a group that doesn't bother with anything BUT the hack and slash is actually sloth, since they're basically sleepwalking through their lives when they're not fighting. Greed is another one that's easy to apply to standard PCs, especially if they're looting every single enemy, selling their non-masterwork weapons, and taking 20 on Search checks in every room in hopes of finding treasure.
Cintra, I think your survey is too skewed towards setting your players up for one of the Seven Deadly Sins. You need to have other options on there as well. It's not fair to them to only give them these options. Provide some that are good and wholesome things as well such as "Donate time to the local temple", "Set up a tutoring program for educating the locals", "Work on crafting [insert item type]", "Spend time with my family", etc. That way, given some options other than the 7 Sins, if they still choose those vices, you know that they made a conscious decision to pursue them over other more selfless and good activities. It's the old cartoon devil one side of their head and the angel on the other. Options for good and evil.
My party had PLENTY, but we're roleplaying intensive...
One guy got gluttony for doing an eating contest during the festival
Another did for drinking Norah's water
One got lust for getting together w/ Shayliss
Envy-our stuck up aristocratic wizard is jealous of the wizard schoolmaster
Greed-TONS, including our CN fighter stealing stuff from numerous store
Sloth-CN fighter lounging around drunk at the bar
Wrath-Wizard killed a helpless goblin
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Greed is another one that's easy to apply to standard PCs, especially if they're looting every single enemy, selling their non-masterwork weapons, and taking 20 on Search checks in every room in hopes of finding treasure.
That is not greed, that is just being frugal.
It is also recylcing, recovering all those weapons and armor and such.Besides, it makes it much easier to save up money for a proper tithe to the local temple of Pelor or Cuthbert or what not.
:D
I've been trying to think of roleplaying "bits" that would tempt the player characters with one of the seven deadlies. Hopefully, I can throw in one or two during each game session.
1.) A careless, drunken woodcutter drops a load of firewood onto the PC's foot. (Wrath)
2.) One of the Scarnettis offers to help sell some of the loot the PCs found. He's going to Magnimar, and wants to help them evade the local taxes. (Greed)
3.) In the tavern, a local is recounting tales of the "Heroes of Sandpoint", exaggerating their heroics and inviting them to expand upon his fanciful hyperbole. (Pride)
4.) A young man treats the characters rudely, clearly envious of their success. Later, his lovely fiancée stops by to apologize for her intended's rudeness. She has had a bit too much to drink, and makes her interest plain toward one of the PCs. (Wrath, Lust, or Envy, depending on the PC's motives)
5.) An old woman repeatedly offers the PCs delicious meals, telling them "You must eat! Look at you, you're all skin and bones!" She's very thankful that the heroes slew a goblin that had menaced her, but she clearly cannot afford such generosity. (Gluttony)
6.) When they really should be following up some of the clues they have found, the PCs are invited to a picnic by Ilsoari Gandethus. The old sage wants to find out if they're interested in the ancient Thassalonians. He won't share his more radical theories with the PCs until he knows them better. (Sloth or Pride)
Obviously, PCs may navigate these hurdles without embracing any of the sins, but each has the potential for characters to realistically make suboptimal choices. I would be interested in other situations and entanglements DMs have used to help the characters "show their quality".