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Ok here's something fun that i threw into my last session completely off the top of my head, and now I'm not sure where i want to go with it. Looking for ideas, and more so rule-wise explanations (doesn't have to be completely RAW). Maybe this should be in homebrew? feel free to move if you think its more appropriate there.
The setup:
So my party was in a dusty old room that had not been occupied for a a couple thousand years. This was just kinda of an entrance way that i didnt have much planned for. I said there were some old dilapidated shelves with nothing of value to be seen, (illegible papers turned to dust, some broken jars and beakers etc.. but they were adamant about searching it and rolled a 20. So POP into my head comes a shiny object, its a ring. But the ring is on a hand, and the hand is in a jar filled with some liquid. (it should be noted that this tower was build by a very powerful wizard)
The bard mage hands the hand out of the jar and lets it hover and it starts to twitch. The strongest grabs the hand and tries to pull the ring off, which is stuck. Magic is detected, but no one takes the time to examine the ring, hand, or jar of liquid closely. So I still have a lot of options with this. They decide they will deal with it later and put the hand in the jar and the jar in a backpack.
So now i need to decided what that hand is going to be. My first thought was a Ring of Sustenance keeping the hand alive, with a Permanence spell to keep the ring attached. Perhaps the hand of a noble identifiable by a signet on the ring. (DC ridiculously high so they need to research/find someone who knows)
Now you guys have me thinking though, Ring of Restoration, Permanence as before, but an additional property to the fluid in the jar which suppresses the regrowth. When the hand has been removed from the jar long enough, the hand starts the grow a body. What could a possible property of the fluid be, is there a spell that makes sense here?
What I don't want is them just forcing the ring off for the sake of the ring. They get enough treasure, i want this to be something interesting.
Any ideas/ thoughts?
I don't know if you have any access to the Bestiary, but there is a Crawling Hand monster already statted out (and also its Giant Crawling Hand brethren). Depending on how tough the party is or how powerful this wizard was, you may want to modify these, and have them fight it. The ring could be something like a decoy to get people to disturb the jar, then the hand surprises them and uses that to attack.
The ring could be a ring of Regeneration, like you stated. That way, you could make the hand more powerful than the group, have it pretty easily overpower them (give it some good stats and maybe some high regeneration, DR, fast healing, etc since it's got this unidentified ring on with some possibly powerful extra magic cast on it), then have it crawl off with the ring still attached. Through some deus ex machina, some hunters in the area, stumble upon the group and nurse them back to health with some of their spare potions. This hand that had the regrowth of its body suppressed could then come back later as the rebirth of the powerful wizard. Voila, you've got yourself a boss battle in the making for somewhere down the road.
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A few ideas:
Once per day the hand can give you an untyped +1 bonus to any skill check. It literally gives you a hand. eh eh?
The hand was cut off a legendary hero who was wearing a ring of regeneration. The ring was enchanted to never come off so the wizard put the hand in a jar that prevented regeneration. If they take the hand out of the jar for a day the arm starts to grow back, then the rest of the body and finally the head.
The hand was cut off of a clone by the wizard. He put on a permanent ring of regeneration (as above) and then put it into the no regenerate jar. If they keep the hand out of the jar long enough the wizard grows back into existence and they have unleashed him upon the world again.
The hand is a Thing from the Aadams family type servant. It takes notes, cooks meals, and even runs errands. You need a necklace that match the ring. The wizard kept it in his armoire.
I don't know if you have any access to the Bestiary, but there is a Crawling Hand monster already statted out (and also its Giant Crawling Hand brethren). Depending on how tough the party is or how powerful this wizard was, you may want to modify these, and have them fight it. The ring could be something like a decoy to get people to disturb the jar, then the hand surprises them and uses that to attack.
Yeah, i saw the stats for the hand, and they might yet have to fight it, however the first time they opened the jar they were quite careful about not letting it get any footing to run/attack. So i gave them that and let them get it back in the jar.
I'm more looking for something story wise, rather than just another thing for them to smack.
The jar is a magical stasis container keeping the hand from regenerating. The hand is the hand of an evil, immortal demi-god (EIDG). The ring is a magical beacon to the followers of the demi-god. The beacon was shielded from the followers by the lead crystal jar. By opening the jar and removing the hand, they have notified the cult of the EIDG. The cult now begins to start hunting down the characters who have the ring. If the jar remains open, or the hand is removed from the jar, it will regenerate into the EIDG. The ring cannot be identified while it remains shielded in the jar.
You could make it a "monkey's paw." per the story it granted wishes, but they were always F'd in some way. perhaps combine this with the EIDG idea.
You guys are awesome, I think i have just found my BBEG. I already had a cult/off shoot sect of an evil god in the works, this will tie in great. And give them a reason to be after the PCs.
This is the first campaign that i'm running so i think i'm going to stay away from wishes for the time being.
I also liked the idea of a mini servant hand, but "hand of a demi-god" is just too juicy to pass up.
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The evil god hand is currently low on power, but is trying to influence the PC's.
Give one of the players (let's call him Bob) a note that says:
"Bob, you repeatedly hear a voice in your head that tells you to cut off your hand and attach the other hand in it's place before one of the others thinks of it. Jim has really been eyeing the hand alot. You think he may be going to try it soon whenno one is watching. However, when you try to tell your friends about this voice, you find you can't say anything."
Give another player (let's call him Jim) a note that says:
"Jim, you feel like Bob is getting ready to betray the group for the sake of incredible power. You can't tell if the others are on his side or not."
Give yet another player (say George) a note that says:
"George, you notice that Jim has been acting paranoid especially toward Bob. You are starting to wonder if Jim is going to attack Bob."
Give a note to Donald that says:
"Donald, you are starting to see George acting out of character. He seems to be acting like he is in charge for no reason. Giving orders, telling others what they can and can't do. He especially seems like he thinks he can give orders to Jim."
etc...
btw: the hand does NOT attach to a severed wrist if someone tries.
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The evil god hand is currently low on power, but is trying to influence the PC's.
...
btw: the hand does NOT attach to a severed wrist if someone tries.
Delicious.
Good Idea, but you need to plan ahead a little. What if they try to destroy the hand?
You may need a Mt. Doom scenario - the hand can only be destroyed under very specific conditions. Look at the artifact rules in the Core Rulebook.
Anyway, I like the Idea. Maybe one of the cult leaders can cast shatter on the jar? If the jar is not magical in itself, it should work well to distract them in the middle of a climatic combat. Give them a mean to reproduce the liquid (alchemy, or brew potion maybe) so they can put it back under, but make it so that each time the hand is removed from the jar, the influence over the party and the powers it can grant grow stronger.
Maybe grant the bearer the mage hand cantrip as a spell like ability and a small bonus to will saves for now, but to get rid of the jar or shield yourself of it's influence you need to pass a will save with a malus equal to the bonus granted. Augment the power of the spell and the will bonus/malus each time the hand get out of the jar, or something like that.
I wanted to tell you guys I can't stop grinning now. Storytelling genius at work.
But it's I think one point away from being a story.
So, we got a what and a how. What about the why? The BBEG is trying to influence the players towards which more or less nefarious goal?
And the first one to say 'because he wants to rule the world. Because er...he wants to rule it. For power. And stuff' does not get a cookie.
I wanted to tell you guys I can't stop grinning now. Storytelling genius at work.
But it's I think one point away from being a story.
So, we got a what and a how. What about the why? The BBEG is trying to influence the players towards which more or less nefarious goal?And the first one to say 'because he wants to rule the world. Because er...he wants to rule it. For power. And stuff' does not get a cookie.
Hrm... I'll give it a wimpy shot. Because he was sealed away by a high-priest of Aroden, the God of Humanity (or even Aroden himself). Now that he's freed, he wants revenge on the god. After realizing that Aroden has died, he figures he'll destroy the rest of Aroden's precious creations as they're a constant reminder of his failure, which slowly torments him. He sees them not only as a blight on his pride, but on the world as a whole. Since he has little power, he's trying to have the few people who know about his resurrection kill each other off, to buy himself some time and anonymity.
I dunno. That's all I've got.
And the first one to say 'because he wants to rule the world. Because er...he wants to rule it. For power. And stuff' does not get a cookie.
Power, revenge, or sex are the big three motivators for most and with the first it becomes much easier to get the later two.
Yes, but interesting villains always have a reason for wanting power. It can be something really basic or really complex, but villains who just want to rule the world because that's what they want are something of a pet peeve of mine.
Well, I thought that was intuitively obvious!
( I used to hate it when my proff's said that. )
The evil god hand is just trying to disrupt the PC's so the cult (which now knows it still exists and are tracking it because the PC's took it out of the jar) can catch up and take it away to ressurect their source of divine power.
Wow, expectations of this thread blown out of the aether.
The minute i get home tonight my campaign notebook gets opened and then will probably serve me as a pillow when i fall asleep on it hours later.
You guys have put so many ideas into my head. I like the Aroden idea, i might adapt that. But i'm not sure about smiting all humans, many of the cult will be human.
I need motivation for the cult now, these guys already have some power, a few established bases of operation, their main location being in that abandoned ancient city. I think they will have a strong influence in Riddleport, but they are very careful to keep their presence muted. The number 1 goal is of course the locating of the demi-god, whom their leader has learned of through study of ancient lore. Maybe he has obtained an amulet that is supposed to interact with the beacon ring. It gave off a very faint glow yesterday. (when the party took it out of the jar briefly) however the lingering protective magic in the tower prevented a good connection.
As for the Mt. Doom situation. The only way the demi-god may be truly destroyed is through the destruction of both amulet and ring. Which can only be destroyed together (oh and they are artifacts).
So, if the BBEG wants to destroy as much of Arodens creation as possible, that's his goal. And in general, cults have a reason to want their god/leader in power, so they usually share this goal.
You could go in different directions from here.
1. There is a huge scam going on, with the BBEG promising his followers something he is never even closely going to give them. This can make for nice drama, especially when the followers think they'll get the opposite. So in this case, the cult could consist of slightly naive but well-meaning people who believe this powerful demi-god just found a possible way to revive Aroden, or something along those lines. But some evil adventurers cut off his hand and trapped it in a jer! Quick ye good people, get that hand back!
Or, the grittier 2.
The cult knows full well what is going on, and they want exactly the same thing. This can really make for creative, nasty backstories for individual NPCs. They all want people to die, because they have had horrible things happen to them. Hell hath no fury...Nice Farmer Norm can turn into a bitter, bitter man indeed, in many creative ways. And of course he does not believe that the BBEG will kill *all* humans in the end. Just the ones that are not loyal. Or he believes all humans will die and not care, as long as he gets his revenge. Maybe worse.
3-100 will probably be provided by all the gifted people on this here forum :)
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Hrm. Maybe the cultists aren't even doing this on their own free will. Maybe it's mind control. Perhaps the great wizard/demi-god could have placed a taint or spell on his most loyal of generals/followers during his initial time (before he was sealed). This taint was passed down through their bloodlines, but went unnoticed. Now that he is awakening, that taint in their bloodline activates and calls to them, taking over their minds, and beckoning them to do his bidding. The 15 or so followers he had, instantly becomes an army of thousands in the many years since his imprisonment.
This could lead to a bunch of powerful sorcerous spellcaster enemies for your party to fight. The power would run in these otherwise common people's blood, even though they don't know it, only to be awakened when the demi-god beckons. It would make for some good Aberrant, Arcane, or Infernal bloodline sorcerers, divining wizards who can scry on the party's moves and report back to the head honcho and dispatch groups of the Tainted on the PC party, craven almost-mindless barbarians, and clerics/anti-paladins of this evil deity, thus giving you plenty of room to make even the average villager become a viable threat.
Or, create a complete sorcerer bloodline with thematic powers - they are the direct descendants of the Demigod and believe that, being linked in blood to her (why not a she?), they will themselves be granted fantastic power if the source of their bloodline is released.
If you want clerics in the cult, go for it, but maybe give them the "eldritch heritage" feat to let them be part of the "family".
You could also make this cult interresting with an history of cross-breeding among the sorcerers - the others, clerics, wizards, fighter or wathever partake in the bloodline only by the EH feat because they are not "purebloods" and are used by their betters, but internal strife is possible.
If you want, you may grant the pureblood family a status inside the local nobility.
There, you have a possible cult motivation.
And, you can have the powers granted by the Hand be close to the ones the sorcerous bloodline gets.
I just finished reading the thread and I must say this is a very interesting plot line.
What if you made it so that the longer the hand is in the party's possession the more it begins to change them physically?
The skin of the person who is carrying the bag may begin to rot or become scaly. Or perhaps one of the PCs may go to speak and bite their tongue because it is now longer and forked. Or some such change.
I can see the party discovering that the cult wants the hand and having to decide if keeping the hand away from the cult is worth becoming monsters.
Perhaps the presence of the EIDG can corrupt those around it.
After all, the eldritch bloodline has to come from somewhere right?
... Just beware the audience before you make it a horror campaign like Kydeem de'Morcaine's idea, some people might not like that...
{ sigh }
Certainly true. I don't think my current group could handle it. Sometimes they are practically at each others throats all on their own with no notes from me. And they're all playing good characters. And 2 are lawful good. And 1 is a paladin.
Any notes like those above will probably end in a TPK very quickly.
So, let's think what else we can do to screw with their minds on the subject of a severed evil god hand?
Ok so the ring keeps it alive, so when it is out of the stasis solution it very slowly drips blood. Maybe 1 drip every minute.
need a reason why they wouldn't just leave it in the jar. Continuous contact with the cold clammy hand grants powers. Contact for 5 minutes grants use of the mage hand spell 1 each hour. For 1 hour it grows claws like an abyssal sorcerer that you can attack with. Say 6 hours gives spectral hand 3 each day. Over 12 hours gives inflict serious wounds 2 each day. And 24 hours grants interposing hand 1 each day. Over 48 hours gives forceful hand 1 each day. Etc... This give them a reason to want the hand out. But watch the try to explain to the prince why they are carry around a severed hand. Especially why it was making rude gestures at his niece!
But it shouldn't be easy. Bearer has to hold onto the wrist all the time. Must be skin to skin contact. It doesn't like being covered up if you try to hold it in a large pocket it scrabbles around and tries to get out so the bearer will have to be fighting with it. If you try to trap it on a necklace (or similar) it grows claws and tries to slash you until you stop.
You don't want it to be mechanically a burden though or they might decide to not use it. So it doesn't use up your hand because you can use it to handle or carry anything just as if it was your hand. So it can fire wands for you, carry a shield, manipulate spell components, etc...
But there is a hidden cost. Every 4th time it fires a wand, an extra charge is secretly drained. Every day that it carries a magic shield, magic weapon, or other permanent magic item; ther is a 1% cumulative chance that it will drain some of the magic. So the +2 axe just became a +1 axe. Again, keep it secret. After a couple days tell them the axe just doesn't seem to performing quite as well as it used to. After you give them a couple of hints, they should try another detect or identify and discover it is only a +1. Don't tell them where the magic went.
{ I'll keep thinking. I'm liking this concept. I really wish my group could handle it. }
Certainly true. I don't think my current group could handle it. Sometimes they are practically at each others throats all on their own with no notes from me. And they're all playing good characters. And 2 are lawful good. And 1 is a paladin.Any notes like those above will probably end in a TPK very quickly.
This intrigues me. I see no reason why this couldn't work for a 'good' party? You find an evil artifact, and now it's your responsibility to keep it away from the cult and try to destroy it, right? Agreed, some of the (imho) best stuff like the slow corruption and following sense of guilt would not sit well with all parties. But man, my paladin would be *so* into this.
I've played with several gaming groups that would have loved this type of thing. Good, neutral, or evil parties. I would certainly enjoy being a player in a situation like this. But, I don't want to derail this thread on a discussion of my current gaming group.
I was just suggesting the kind of stuff my group would like to encounter. Than again we are a very horror orientated group.
Two more ideas have crossed my mind.
Perhaps you need to keep the hand in contact with the stump of a wrist for the powers to work. It wouldn't attach itself to the stump so you would have to find a way to keep it attached. Perhaps some form of bracer or gauntlet? After the attachment it would function like a extension of your body and the ring would even give the wielder some form of regeneration or fast healing. The downside however would be that in times of high stress or importance (diplomatic parley anyone?) the hand could force a will save (to be nice) to prevent it from lashing out and attacking someone.
The second idea was that while in your possession the hand would give you the the desire to use the hand like a talisman or to affix it to your armor for an effect to kick in. While attached to your person in some manner the hand would grant some minor boon (such as increased ac, aforementioned powers, or regen) but at the same time it would make you stand apart from the party and attract more fire (such as when an arrow is fired it will veer towards the wielder. Or perhaps it will make it easier for the opposition to confirm a critical on the wielder.)
Kydeem, your ideas are great and are going into my next session. I took your note idea and ran with it, last night i planned it out for my party. Its looking pretty perfect party dynamics wise too. I cant wait to play saturday.
I'm not too sure if my party will be able to handle it, this is the first experience with PnP gaming for 4 out of 5 in the group. But they have been having a little trouble getting into RPing their characters. I am really hoping this is going to help, kind of like a guided RP encounter. I'm giving the voice in the head to our most experienced RPer, with subtle manipulations that the hand is doing in all of the other notes.
The party is good, there has been very little inter party conflict so far. We are only at level 2 though.
I've gotta kinda use a hammer to drive in a screw to setup the backstory as to why this hand in a jar was sitting in this ancient tower that was sealed for thousands of years, but artifacts have a funny way of doing things.
I am going to have fun with the eldritch heritage npcs just coming out of the woodwork for them. So the followers devoted to this demi-god disbanded when their leader fell, a cult of around 120 followers. The power they obtained was not lost as the high members became very rich. They established themselves a noble family in the area, using deceit and betrayal they gained social power. This house has carried the legacy of the cult in secret throughout the ages, waiting for the return of their dark prince. They know that the demon prince's taint, bestowed upon every member of his cult, has spread throughout the local populace. There is an artifact in the noble family's possession that can identify the dormant taint within a person. In some this taint plays a bigger role in their lives, it especially makes them more susceptible to demonic manipulation.
In recent years with the economy of the region thriving, the cult has become increasingly active. They operate in the utmost secret, only accepting members who carry a strong presence of the taint within them. They are taught how to harness this inner power for nefarious purposes. (all members of the cult have receive 1 level of sorcerer training after joining, many receive further levels).
Sounds like a good plot to me.
I remember a magic item that was used to gain another ring slot at the cost of your amulet slot, it was a mummified hand on a chain. There's also "Hand of the Mage" that looks the same but grants the ability to cast Mage Hand at will.
Is it possible to have more than one "hand in a jar" around ? Some would simply be hands with no magic (raw material that hadn't been worked on yet). Some would detect as magic but have no real abilities (the process was started but not completed). Some (or maybe only one) would be a "Hand of the Mage". But the one with the ring ... to rule them all ... see all the cool ideas above.
So the hand has the ability to grant powers, but at a price. I like that, not sure what the party will do with that.
I'm thinking about that the amulet, which is linked to the ring. It will restore the body in full once they are brought together. This is why the cult is after the hand. To restore the demi-god/demon prince. This however does not restore him to his full powers. He is powerful, but he is not at his full horrible glory.
In order to regain his powers a large scale sacrifice is required. And those sacrificed must be descendants of his original cult. This will become the new goal of the cult in the event they obtain the hand.
When the body is restored, the dormant taint grows stronger in all those who have it, and begins to manifest in those with the strongest. Before this they had only been sought out by the cult to be drawn into their ranks. Now those with the strongest presence begin to be drawn to evil acts, some even gaining visions of the cult with a compulsion to seek them out. All with this taint are compelled to submit to the sacrificial ceremony to restore the demi-gods power if instructed to.
Glad you liked it.
Don't force them to PvP. But it should raise the suspicions. You should probably be able to see the wheels turning in their heads if they are really getting into it. They'll start having thoughts like:
"I wonder what was on the note the GM gave him that the magic won't let him talk about?"
or
"Is it just tempting him or has it already taken over and now he's a secret evil dude?"
and (this is probably me)
"Carp the costs are high for using that icky thing. But that hand is just awesomeness. Should I go for it or not?"
Please be sure to come back and let us know how it goes.
I'm hopeful that their first response will not be pvp, they get that they are supposed to be working together.
I dont think anyone will jump to the "he's a secret evil dude" conclusion, simply because i don't think they would even consider this a possibility.
I'm looking forward to this to get the paladin involved in playing a paladin, so far he has really only been a fighter that can detect evil and lay on hands. (former WoW player, he wanted the shiny powers i think)
Before i start this i'm going to have a private chat with him about what playing a paladin really is. This is the first game i am running and was actually just happy to have players, i didn't take the time to nail down his paladin code as i should have.
This plot is giving me real trouble. I don't know wether I want to GM it or play in it...
Ok, so I think i've nailed down that this is the hand of a very powerful being, some of the powers the hand itself posesses, how the body and powers can be restored, and the some details about the people seeking it out.
Any ideas as to who this person is, the setting is in Golarion so i have some source material to draw from. I initially thought about a Zon-Kuthon tie in, but it was becoming a little too sadistic for my tastes.
Now i'm kind of leaning towards either demon or devil worshippers. The hand in question being that of an emissary of sorts, created by a demon lord or an archdevil. I like devils for their Lawful Evil domains, though i'm not sure i want to bring Chelliax in on the campaign.
Any thoughts on that? If not, by all means that's fine, i've already gotten more than i hoped for out of this thread.
Let me reiterate a big THANK YOU, to everyone who contributed to this thread. It has given me an amazing plot to drop into my sorta lackluster game in progress.
So glad I came to you with that hand that i made up in a moment of panic instead of just making it a boring old animated hand in a jar.
At this point you may not want to involve an actual evil god. They can be kinda unforgiving and vindictive.
Powerful demons and devils are always a good possibility.
One thing you could use that is very Golarion specific. It is the hand of a very powerful sorcerer, wizard, or magus. This dude was so powerful and/or insane to think he had a good shot at becoming a god. So he was heading to the star thing in Absalom that makes mortals into gods.
His enemies even thought he had a good shot at it. So they put forth a major effort to stop him. All that the supporting cult was able to find after the battle was the amulet. But divinations showed that a hand had also survived, but they have been so far unable to locate it.
You might want to make the big bad have a level in thrallherd. They are great for cults.
Or, if you're going with the whole "I despise Aroden for some reason" route suggested earlier, you could have him be Aroden's semi-rival in retrieving the Starstone (which is what made Aroden a living god). He could be a demagogue wizard/mage who figured out there was an immense power in the Starstone at the bottom of the ocean, and figured that becoming a god was his right. The Azlanti (pretty much the first humans) knew he'd do nothing but evil with it. They stopped him any way they could, a rebellion, and Aroden's ascension essentially stole his chance from him. His goal could ultimately be to reclaim the starstone in Absalom, become a full god, and... hrm... never mind. That sorta falls into the "I'm evil because I'm evil" trope. I can't think of a good reason for him to want to be a god now, besides vengeance, etc. =/
You might want to make the big bad have a level in thrallherd. They are great for cults.
ALL 10 LEVELS ! ! !
I always loved that prestige class in 3.5e both the psionic version and the magic version. All my GM's always said, "Good lord NO, there is no way I'm letting you of all people have something like that. You do remember what you did with ... " Ah, good times.
{ sigh again }
I'm so misunderstood... or maybe not.
A mid to high level wizard with information and time to prepare is just scary. It took that GM a long time to really understand that you just can't give a wizard easy access to piles of info, along with plenty of time to prepare, and expect standard encounters to be a challenge.
I'm noticing a substantial amount of talk about the cult, ring, and hand but what about the amulet? Besides regrowing the body does it do anything that would make the PCs want it?
Or perhaps it looks so plain (and has an undetectable aura) that the PCs have to make an appraise check to notice that it's more than just costume jewelery. Maybe appearing unassuming is it's power?
The way i see it is the amulet is storing a large portion of this person power. The soul was trapped in the hand, the power in the amulet.
Just wearing the amulet is going to give some abilities, however to unlock the full power contained and transfer it to a living vessel requires a ritual.
The cult will either already have the amulet, or know where it is being safeguarded.
As for abilities from wearing the amulet, I'm thinking right off the bat is the ability to command anyone who carries the demonic heritage, and the ability to identify those carriers. Once i nail down what powers this person had then i will put a couple of them into the amulet.
A mechanics idea.
The hand has an aura similar to desecrate that tends to make people in the area more suspiscious and paranoid. The hand is communicating with the players telepathically in conjunction with a suggestion type spell. The hand is monitoring whether or not they are susceptible to it's suggestions before it actually communicates these provoking sucpiscions.
So what you do is roll in secret (ahead of time) 2 saves for each PC. Scatter them randomely throughout the game night.
Any time the PC made his will save say, "You felt like someone was spying on you for a couple of moments," or "You could have sworn you heard some start to whisper something nearby," etc...
Any time the PC failed his save give him a note that says something like, "You think you rolled good on a sense motive check and Bill and Dave are discussing something they don't want you to know about. You're not sure about the others, so you probably shouldn't discuss it with them yet."
Really depends on your players where this can go. But even if they don't get into it very far it does emphasize the spooky feel.
So up next for the party I'm running Feast of Ravenmoor and i have been trying to work out how to incorporate my cult into the story. I'll spoiler the rest since there may be module details.
The Cult has a sort of espionage/infiltration unit, goals of obtaining information and manipulating others to their will. They do not seek to convert other religious followers as they only deem those with the demonic taint to be worthy of joining their ranks. So they have sent these two to play the roles of spiritual advisers of their gods.
In the module the whole situation of the town worshipping an evil god (Ghlaunder) is setup by an evil druid.
What should i be cautious of for NPCs who worship multiple deities, should i just not do it? I wonder because of the two ways i could go with the druid.
1) she is a member of the cult but also worships Ghlaunder
2) she is working for the cult (knowingly or unknowingly)
Apart from adding a few hooks and bits of info here and there i plan or running the module pretty close to as written.
I will have to see what they do with the hand in this session, so far the cult has not been notified that the hand has been uncovered. It was taken out of the jar only briefly, and the remnant magical aura of the tower kept the ring from contacting the amulet.
Once taken from the tower it will start to regain it's desecrate aura, that seems like a good mechanic for what i was thinking it would be doing.
The jar is blocking the Ring's signal and the fluid is sapping its power.
When removed from the jar the ring immediately communes with the amulet and anyone in the vicinity of the amulet who has the taint will be compelled obtain the hand by any means they have available. The leader of the cult wears the amulet.
This is by far one of my favorite threads I have ever read.
I like a lot of ideas in this thread.
- A ring on a hand that will regrow a powerful being.
- A liquid that keeps the hand from growing.
- A jar that hides the hand from a cult that is seeking the hand.
- Removing the hand from the jar grants a benefit at a cost.
- The hand has been removed and ‘revealed’ to the cult and set events in motion.
The hand needs to be near indestructible. Basically the person wearing the ring could not die so this means was used to trap and hide the person away. That could be part of the allure of the ring. It grants immortality as long as worn and there might be some way to remove it and someone else gains this immortality. The ring might tempt people with this possibility. Tempting PC can be difficult and tricky from a metagame perspective but NPCs can be interesting.
The hand can be removed and grant some benefit but each time it is removed the seekers are alerted to its location. Plus the hand grows and becomes more of a risk of escaping, becoming more and more dangerous to use; kind of like the ‘One’ ring in the Lord of the Rings but an actual mobile creature that could become hard to handle. So the players are tempted to remove it at times but it is risky.
Another wrinkle I would add is that the hand in the jar now moves and points in the direction of something. Some place or something wondrous and world changing. Also the hand could be drawn in the jar and drift to one side of the jar toward the seekers that are coming for it helping the party stay one step ahead. So in effect the hand can point at two things although the second effect might be difficult for the players to figure out. But the finger always pointing in the same direction should be easy to notice.
This hand could be the focus of an entire campaign. It has a lot of potential. To keep it going even if the hand leads the group to a destination that could be only the first step then the hand could point in another direction toward another goal. That is a great story tool to guide the players without introducing an NPC that is always telling them what to do and avoids the whole problem of the players grilling the guiding NPC for reason and whys. The ‘hand’ is not too heavy handed and the players can’t talk back to the ‘hand’.