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Long story short: Balenar Forsend - the group had distributed his gear amongst the party THEN unlocked the cell door and released him, he says: Thanks for rescuing me, OH and you've found my gear (points at ranger in M/W armor) AND my rapier (pointing at rogue with M/W rapier)....I'd like to have them back, please....Ranger says It's mine (total Bluff roll fail) and so Balenar KNOWS he's lying...
the Neutral Ranger kills an unarmed, unarmored and non-threatening NPC just to keep the gear - so....shall I:
1 - have Balenar come back as some sort of nasty ghost haunting the fourth floor, with loads of lesser undead haunting the area?
2 - have the Wayfinder, which I rationalize as an heirloom for this idea, as his 'fetter' which his ghost haunts until his killer is bought to justice?
3 - have the Pathfinder Society first send in a team to find his body, then question the ghost or resurrect him, then hunt down the party so justice can prevail?
4 - let the player get away with murder?
5 - have Balenar come back as something out of 3.5 Ghostwalk and personally hunt the ranger down?
6 - have a god seek divine vengeance?
ps....option 4 is NOT an option :D
The ranger player wants to play friday, just finished MoTFF an hour ago..and I have time to prepare.
signed,
Antediluvian XIII aka Pathfinder Dad
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1 - have Balenar come back as some sort of nasty ghost haunting the fourth floor, with loads of lesser undead haunting the area?...
A slight modification of #1: have the ghost haunt either the sword or the ranger himself. Then it becomes a self-correcting problem because a party is unlikely to want to adventure with someone who attracts a vengeful ghost that appears at random intervals.*
Getting rid of the ghost also makes a nice side quest/atonement.
*and by random I mean when it would be least convenient for the party to have to deal with it, such as when sleeping and or just after major combat.
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1 - have Balenar come back as some sort of nasty ghost haunting the fourth floor, with loads of lesser undead haunting the area?...
A slight modification of #1: have the ghost haunt either the sword or the ranger himself. Then it becomes a self-correcting problem because a party is unlikely to want to adventure with someone who attracts a vengeful ghost that appears at random intervals.*
Getting rid of the ghost also makes a nice side quest/atonement.
*and by random I mean when it would be least convenient for the party to have to deal with it, such as when sleeping and or just after major combat.
I would slightly modify this idea by having the ghost spirit curse the sword. The sword randomly provides negatives to attack rolls or maybe even cause fumbles to occur on 1 and 2 instead of just a 1. If the player tries to throw it away it reappears on his person. If he sunders it then it reforms in 2d6 hours and then reappears on his person.
The sword may not even allow itself to be drawn at time or it may take a standard action to draw it since the sword is resisting.
I definitely agree on three. Maybe make a party of adventurers come out to try and rescue Baler forsend that have worked with him in the past and recognize the armor.
Also this is definitely evil.
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First, +1 to haunting the equipment. In fact have him be fettered to all his nice equipment.
Second, while an evil act I do not think on murder changes alignment right to evil. More of a pattern of evil acts. I would put him on warning though that further evil acts will tick his alignment one step toward evil.
At first you have to look at the crime scene.
Did the victim die suffering and cursing its murderers or did it have a swift end in a single clean blow which would suggest it didn't even realize it?
Depending on the amount of hatred it now bears on the perpetrators it might not come back,come back as a ghost or even better come back as a revenant which fits the theme better.
If you decide that the he doesn't have a good enough reason to rise as an undead clinging to life using sheer hatred against his killers as a moving force,you could find out who would be interested in the demise of the victim.If there is none you may should just let it go.Otherwise play the NPCs as if they were PCs and let them investigate the murder with what resources they are willing to spend.
It isn't good to metagamely punish the players creating enemies that shouldn't exist just to thwart them.It will give the impression that the world spins around them and will jerk the fun out of the game.
If though it suits the situation to have mighty forces to hunt them down don't pull your punches (actually for the same reasons).
I forgot about the ranger's alignment.Well,it really depends on his thoughts when he committed the crime.In fact there are situations when a nonevil person commits an evil act.The slaadi for example as described in planescape are chaotic neutral to the point that they could eat you alive just to check out your taste (I bet if you tasted good they would share you with you)but they weren't truly evil.The mindset behind the act defines it up to a point so check the mindset behind it.If it was malicious don't rush to change that character's alignment as such changes are usually gradual (a guy that commits murder doesn't completely change instantaneously and may latter regret his actions or try forgetting about the past).
ghost might be a bit much if he's low level or something, his death doesn't seem so cruel that he would rise from the dead.
Let them think they got away with murder, until one day a bunch of paladins knock on their door and tell them they've investigated the death of the brother of their leader.
Or let his will state that his belonging is set as bounty to his killers.
The problem with all these options is that you'll force them to commit evil acts in the future, destroying a ghost before he gets his rightful vengeance, knocking down clerics, or fleeing from the law.
Why not have it so that whenever the Ranger deals damage with the now deceased guys armour on, the same amount of damage he deals to his target continues onto him as well, and it always hurts him in the same place he delivered the final blow to the deceased guy.
So, say the Ranger killed the guy by stabbing him in the stomach, whenever the Ranger deals damage to another creature, he has that same amount of damage done to himself, but it's only felt in his stomach. It would be like the armour was possessed or something.
I see no reason for the rogue to suffer from any penalties as he wasn't the one who killed the owner of both the weapon and armour.
Paladin or someone of saranae could try to redeem him.
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@ Helaman:
To quote MoTFF:
Page 7 - 8....'11 Captive Pathfinder..creature: The Pathfinder bard Balenar Forsend'...'Once he realises that the PCs are not his captors, he begs them to release him'....
Page 9: If the PCs rescued Balenar Forsend, he offers to take them to the Pathfinder Society's Grand Lodge in Absolom, where he will sponsor them for membership in the Pathfinder Society...
How many Pathfinder Society adventures begin with something like this?
'A member of the Pathfinder Society recently went missing/disappeared/never reported in/missed a meeting while investigating a site/artifact/dungeon etc'
For my other group the first adventure will be titled 'Return to The Fallen Fortress' where they are sent out to investigate the disappearance of Balenar...then, when the body is returned to the PF Lodge I'll let things mull over for about two weeks, then BANG!!! I'll get BOTH groups to face each other across the table.
Having read Seekers of Secrets I get the impression the Pathfinder Society 'looks after it's own' even with the knowledge that adventuring entails.
The ranger will not suffer an alignment shift but it will be step towards evil, the rest of the group were 'a bit miffed' so to speak about his actions. The rogue player has said that he no longer wants the rapier or any other equipment and the dwarf fighter is willing to go back and place the M/W buckler by the corpse as he was a witness to the death..
TBH I'm quite surprised by the other players decisions, both are my sons, one is 14, the other is my youngest son who is only 10!!! My youngest son came to me just before bedtime and actually told me what he wanted his dwarf to do!!! I'd overheard them discussing it after the game. I didn't give them any ideas, metagame knowledge or guidance but I think it was my older sons experience of the 'Law breaking software engine' in Elder Scrolls IV that influenced him
I will basically let BOTH groups know that even though it's a FRPG there repurcussions regarding things like this....I even thought of splitting the group, having the ranger get kidnapped, stripped of all belongings and suffer the same fate, only to wake up in cold sweat :D
every night until he atones for the murder
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I definitely agree on three. Maybe make a party of adventurers come out to try and rescue Baler forsend that have worked with him in the past and recognize the armor.
Also this is definitely evil.
I've decided what to do after looking through Seekers of Secrets..
The party return to Absalom, they sell the stuff they found, they start talking about their current exploits:
'oh yeah, we found the 'Fallen Fortress' and we found some stuff that collectors were after and a possible route underground if people want to clear the rubble'...
bear in mind they are in Absalom....two days later they get approached by a 'patron' (actually someone who sent out Balenar or knows him) and they go to meet him or her....the ranger might STILL be wearing that M/W armor he found!!! JOB DONE..the ranger incriminates himself in front of witnesses and maybe the other players shop him in, who knows? tune in next week folks, same Pathfinder game, same Pathfinder channel