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Some background - for some time I've been playing around in my head with the idea of a dark tapestry themed campaign, featuring an alien lich (bone sage of eox, for those that care) using a Yithian mind transfer device to assume control of Golarion natives (with the possible end goal of recreating Eox civilization by having all the bone sages do this, or even using it to implant thousands or even millions of alien ghosts on the citizens of a country).
While it is all well and good to come up with a villain and an evil scheme, a starting point for L1 characters is sometimes hard to find. It occurred to me to possibly have the PCs all have been previously Yithed, have no idea what they were doing for the past several months, and languishing in a madhouse for weeks after their unwanted tenants departed. The PCs all return to lucidity around the time something terrible happens to the asylum (haven't decided whether it's a cleanup team of MIBs or whether one of the lunatics was actually possessed and a bottom tier demon or devil was able to manifest) and they have to escape from the no longer safe asylum (as a change, I was going to have it run by kindly nurses and doctors that are part of a minor holy order of Sarenrae or someone rather than a hellpit run by sadists who experiment on people).
Once out, perhaps rescuing a visiting expert (perhaps he proscribed new medications that caused the PCs to recover) or perhaps just getting his journal which contains hints to the next adventure, the PCs realize they all suffered the same memory loss for around the same time, and start looking into what happened. For campaign traits, I thought each trait could be based on a kind of fictional/cinematic insanity (as opposed to a realistic depiction of actual mental illness), basically the symptoms they had while recovering from the mind transfer relate to what their bodies did while under alien control (this would come out in later adventures).
Catatonic: while in the asylum, the PC just sat and stared into space, unresponsive to anything. The PC was actually contemplating something (incomprehensible now), and now has greater powers of concentration (+1 to all concentration checks) and is unusually able to be still (+1 to stealth).
"the Gibbering": while in the asylum, the PC spoke only Aklo. The PC knows Aklo, and linguistics is always a class skill.
Writes on walls (wizard only): as one occasinally sees in movies, th character was constantly scribbling complex diagrams, equations and the like on the walls of his cell. The character knows one additional L1 spell, which is not in his spellbook but which may be prepared as though he had the Spell Mastery feat.
Violent: the PC was uncontrollably violent and begins play wearing a straightjacket. Not sure what the trait bonus should be, except perhaps a bonus to fighting with unarmed strikes or improvised weapons.
Paranoid: the PC was convinced that some person or organization was out to get him (and was responsible for his presence in the asylum), even to the point of believing that from one day to the next the nurses and doctors were being replaced by imposters. Bonus to initiative or sense motive?
Sleepwalker: despite being tied down and locked in his room, the PC always ended up sleepwalking in the atrium or garden. The PC has +1 to escape artist and disable device, and has a lockpick secreted on his person.
Apparently lucid: the PC spent the entire time in the asylum thinking and acting completely normally. Despite this, the staff were clearly afraid of him. Not sure what the bonus for it should be, it just seemed interesting.
Phobic: the PC has a morbid fear of some particular type of creature (a fairly limited list) and spent his time in the asylum terrified of even pictures of it. The PC has a +1 dodge bonus to AC against creatures of the type (dogs, perhaps, or vermin)
Obsessed with cleanliness/purity: the PCs obsession with the purity of his precious bodily essences took the form of excessive cleanliness, picky eating, and obscure exercises. It turned out he was on to something, as he now has +1 to fortitude saves.
Any fantasy insanities I've missed or suggestions for trait bonuses? Or is this a terrible idea for a campaign start and I should go back to the drawing board?
The violent person, give them rage. If they become a barbarian, they still get an extra rage each day.
The paranoid, danger sense. +2 to perception to avoid surprise.
Scitzophenics react to things that seem to not be there. After they recover they can see and hear spirits. Prepetitioners who are in the land of the dead. They haven't become undead, or started on their way to an outer plane. They may even be hoping someone will raise them. They often feel bad about something they left unfinished. A dead doctor might want their report on a patient to be completed and filed.
I like it!
Apparent lucidity ... crib the old cults trait that lets you intimidate animals and vermin? That would creep people out. (For some reason 'silent lucidity' springs to mind for this. Maybe this is a trait version of an oracle curse?)
If you have the patience you could make the traits do different things for different types of classes.
Writes on the walls:
Bonus to disarm magic traps (complexity is familiar).
Bonus to resist Symbol spells or ones using words/diagrams (Magic Circle, explosive runes, some pattern illusions)
Apparently Lucid:
Bonus to social interactions when fear is useful (not always when intended).
Bonus to caster level when using spells with the [Fear] descriptor.
Treat creatures immune to Fear as having +8 bonus to saves instead, for interactions with that character only.
Obsessed with cleanliness:
Bonus when using spells with [acid] or [fire] descriptors (must... sterilize... everything).
Violent:
Bonus to escape personal restraints (those aides had to be good).
Another cinematic insanity is self-flagellation. Trying to drive the spirit out (or the spirit was unhappy with its host), the patient constantly injured themselves, though without the intent to commit suicide. They are highly acclimated to physical pain and difficult to stop with injuries.
(Bonus to resist pain, maintain concentration, fixed amount of bonus hit points, or resistance to bleed damage might all be appropriate)
I like these.
I'm not super strong with rules, but here are some I had thought up.
Perhaps -
Split Personality: Generally found talking to himself(s) altering their voice for each personality. Once per day (or encounter if not strong enough) you may roll twice for one Will save and take the best result.
Hallucinations: Supposedly sees visions of people or things that talk to him. Once per day, before making a skill check you may add a +5 (or lower) trait bonus to that skill roll. [This one may be too powerful, so feel free to lower the bonus.]
There is one in my mind about insane laughter, where they can't help but laugh in stressful situations, but the laughter itself gives some sort of bonus to Intimidation or something like that.
Anyways, good luck.
Thanks for all the suggestions...
for violent lunatics...3 extra rounds of rage (1/2 what you get for extra rage) would be good if a barbarian, if not, rage self as the spell cast at 1/2 character level...I also thought about orc ferocity (upgrading to full ferocity if already a half orc) - kind of powerful but brings to mind the stereotype PCP user who just won't go down.
I considered having something like hallucinations providing a bonus to perception to see concealed things (your perceptions are off, but that means you see things others wouldn't and ordinary camoflage doesn't work on you properly)
Love the bonus to fire/acid damage...+1 should be plenty (and meets the 1/2 a feat level)
Different trait effects for different classes (some at least) would be good, albeit hard work. I'd like for writes on walls not to be wizard only, maybe a bonus to UMD to activate scrolls?
I was trolling the bestiaries, and tripurasura from bestiary 3 look good - their alternate form is a small humanoid, usually a gnome or child, so I could have one with "creepy little girl" (from the Ring and its derivatives, and the FEAR game series) as an alternate form (they also have spider climb, so it could do the asylym scuttle you see in Exorcist movies) and they are hard to detect magically and their poison does wisdom damage, making non adventurers go crazy, maybe with a couple of sorcerer levels to make it more reasonable as an end boss. The best part is they're obscure enough nobody will be able to metagame past them.
That definitely works for hallucinations. Mine is probably too strong, just the way I had it in my mind (and the way I'd ask the DM if I could play it) is like seeing a random person that's not there, giving advice or pointing out a specific object. If you fail then the person or thing is just messing with you.
Love the tripurasura idea, especially with good foreshadowing. If the kid were in a cell, how would you explain it making people go crazy and attacking them? Does it just let itself out? Are the workers of the asylum sort of like it's unknowing thralls?
Third Mind wrote: That definitely works for hallucinations. Mine is probably too strong, just the way I had it in my mind (and the way I'd ask the DM if I could play it) is like seeing a random person that's not there, giving advice or pointing out a specific object. If you fail then the person or thing is just messing with you.
Love the tripurasura idea, especially with good foreshadowing. If the kid were in a cell, how would you explain it making people go crazy and attacking them? Does it just let itself out? Are the workers of the asylum sort of like it's unknowing thralls?
It's main form is tiny, and it can both levitate and spider climb before I give it any levels - windows and ventilation systems probably allow it to get out of its cell (or for that matter since it's an alternate form, I might allow it to twist and contort in ways it shouldn't so a small body squeezing out of a tight space could look horribly disturbing), or simply making a fuss and murdering the orderly or nurse who comes to help. With sorceror levels, hypnotism or charm person (particularly backed by wisdom damageing poison) can convince a nurse to "lend" the keys. When it's a case of what one NPC does to another off screen, I don't really get to fussy about whether the abilities actually allow it.
I haven't really decided how far gone the asylum is at campaign start - on the one hand there is merit in establishing that the staff are genuinely kind and decent people (to make their madness/slaughter the more 'shocking' (realistically nobody who starts a role playing game in an asylum expects anything but a massacare)) but it would very quickly get old (Nurse Havisham gave me extra pudding? Fantastic!), or whether the "experimental new medicine" the visiting expert brought only bring them to after the place is already a nightmare from Silent Hill with zombie nurses and the actual serial killer in the asylum loose with a straight razor. I'm pretty sure a video game would start with teh latter and you'd have flashbacks as to what the place was like before as you explore (you look in a mirror and the reflection is how the room used to look, etc.), but that doesn't always translate to tabletop rpg with multiple characters.
I would think a "nice" asylum would allow people to keep their holy symbols, but the rest of their effects would have to be found early on (or encounter design would have to be very careful, like the first dungeon in Way of the Wicked) and there would need to be either a safe place to rest or a convincing reason to go back in.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Mahavira wrote:
Writes on walls (wizard only): as one occasinally sees in movies, th character was constantly scribbling complex diagrams, equations and the like on the walls of his cell. The character knows one additional L1 spell, which is not in his spellbook but which may be prepared as though he had the Spell Mastery feat.
+2 Bonus to a roll needed to solve codes, puzzles, and/or mathematical equations.
Quote:
Violent: the PC was uncontrollably violent and begins play wearing a straightjacket. Not sure what the trait bonus should be, except perhaps a bonus to fighting with unarmed strikes or improvised weapons.
Bite attack, 1d4. And encourage whomever wants to play a White-haired Witch to take this.
Quote:
Paranoid: the PC was convinced that some person or organization was out to get him (and was responsible for his presence in the asylum), even to the point of believing that from one day to the next the nurses and doctors were being replaced by imposters. Bonus to initiative or sense motive?
+2 Bonus to Perception checks needed to see through Disguises and Sense Motive checks to noticing someone is possessed or magically controlled. One of these skills is always a class skill.
Quote:
Apparently lucid: the PC spent the entire time in the asylum thinking and acting completely normally. Despite this, the staff were clearly afraid of him. Not sure what the bonus for it should be, it just seemed interesting.
+1 Bonus to Intimidate and it's always a class skill.
Mahavira wrote:
Apparently lucid: the PC spent the entire time in the asylum thinking and acting completely normally. Despite this, the staff were clearly afraid of him. Not sure what the bonus for it should be, it just seemed interesting.
They went on a killing spree, but cannot remember any of it. Make them very vunerable to possession. People who have heard of him(most have) are very intimidated.
Even worse are Hannible or Saw type geniouses, who can tell you why each atrocity was absolutely neccessary.
Goth Guru wrote: Mahavira wrote:
Apparently lucid: the PC spent the entire time in the asylum thinking and acting completely normally. Despite this, the staff were clearly afraid of him. Not sure what the bonus for it should be, it just seemed interesting.
They went on a killing spree, but cannot remember any of it. Make them very vunerable to possession. People who have heard of him(most have) are very intimidated.
Even worse are Hannible or Saw type geniouses, who can tell you why each atrocity was absolutely neccessary. Everyone was essentially possessed and nobody remembers what they were up to, so particular vulnerability doesn't quite work, alas. I was actually thinking in terms of having the apparently lucid guy have been possessed by the BBEG himself and have committed some horrific massacare or terrifying display of magic (blot out the sun or something).
It occurs to me I also need a list of improvised weapons that you could find in an asylum (well a medieval one) as until the PCs get their personal effects (which the LG staff have carefully stored for them) they'll need something to fend off the zombie nurses, escaped serial killers, and the creepy little girl.
Bludgeons are easy enough - chair legs etc., not to mention rolling pins (if they get to the kitchen, which will also be well stocked with knives and maybe a cleaver). Scissors in the infirmary, and perhaps surgical blades? Holy water in the chapel (which the Asura can't bring itself to enter yet, it just looks in, eyes burning with hate)? Perhaps the office of the facility administrator has an antique suit of armor with a ceremonial sword?
Perhaps the shock therapy room has an eternal wand of shocking grasp.
Improvised weapons?
Truncheons, heavy leather straps (with and without buckles), reinforced gloves or gauntlets (aides didn't want to lose fingers), masks/muzzles, manacles and chains, nails, metal bars (pulled out of crumbling cell walls), walking canes/crutches, jars of preserved... "specimens," broken furniture, gardening tools, metal wire (if thick enough, could be used to pierce), brooms (likely broken), heavy wood pails, broken bits of cookware, large metal ladles and pots, loosened bricks (possibly placed in pillowcases), shaving blades.
Goth Guru has an excellent idea in the shock therapy wand. A different version of it might be surgical-looking leather gloves that cause cantrip-level electricity damage to anyone held by both of them (intended to be touched to the subject's temples).
It is also completely reasonable, if not likely, that medicinal herbs be grown and preserved on the facility grounds somewhere. Skilled characters could likely use these to help treat ailments, or to make a toxin that acts quickly enough to be useful in combat. (Unskilled characters might make a toxin too, on accident)
I have been led to believe that leeches were also a common healing mechanism at the time, though these could be changed into monsters to fight (though that might be too cliche).
Some ideas in random order.
If you want little scary little girl. Take Slaymate from libris mortis(3.5) CR 2 and enhances necromancers abilities. I had hordes as much as these I could in the campaign I was playing Dread Necro. Just an idea since you happened to mention undead. Also pretty obsucure creature unless players are 3.5 veterans, and even then mostly those who have dabled in necromancy would be aware. Added bonus is that because of the way it functions it really really rewards having Knowledge religion.
On the trait stuff, mostly I agree with previous posters so to contribute I will give few ideas of my own. Names are not my best forte so change as desired.
Fake sanity: You were not keen on treatment you were prescribed so you learned a knack for faking being well. Bluff is a class skill for you and you get +1 Trait bonus to it.
Escapee: You did more than on one occasion try to escape the facility, few times even getting close to succeeding. Choose either sleight of hand or disable device, they become a class skill for you and you get +1 Trait bonus to it.
Cant catch me: You were trouble to the staff when you got in to your moods. You get +2(?) to CMD against grapples.
Clastrophobic: You devolepped in your time at the asylym a phobia of closed spaces, because of it you feel at unease when in closed spaces, but in turn when out in the open the experienced fear has made your resolve tougher.. You get +2 Trait bonus to saves against fear in open places and -1 in closed spaces. (Not too sure about the mechanics on this one)
I LOVE this stuff. You could write a whole AP based on this concept.
I would recommend you check out the Dreamscarred Press' Psionics Unleashed, as it may have a bearing on your Alien concept - a psilich or uncarnate telepath would make an awesome BBEG.
You could also incorporate some ideas into your asylum...but damn, this is GOOD.
I'm familliar with the Slaymate, but prefer to stick with the Asura - no real necromancy involved, I have always assumed a certain number of zombies spontaneously generate, particularly in the sites of supernatural evil (that and level appropriate monsters that can be put in an asylum are somewhat limited).
I think I would stick with the wand of shocking grasp (excellent idea) rather than the gloves, and presume that with specialized training the doctors could UMD it to generate shock therapy rather than just damaging blasts.
Re: Psionics, I'm not really a fan of adding additional rulesets (don't have a problem flavor wise, just don't want the added complexity when my players don't really have the time to learn to use them properly - neither do I in truth, job and all).
As to further adventures, I was thinking in terms of having the PCs eventually go to a dungeon at the South Pole of Akiton, where the Elder Things or Yithians had a supply of crystals needed to power the mind swap device - hadn't decided whether they have to get to Akiton by a gate at the bottom of a dungeon (followed by overland trek in Akiton) or by summoning and binding Shantaks to ride through the void.
I had an idea where a gemcutter created a cubic gate to send some adventurers to the land of the dead to get his daughter back. She came back as a noble vampire. If the gate is hidden in the hospital, maybe she is there looking for it.
Vent Crawler: To avoid treatment, you leaned to contort your body, even dislocate bones, to crawl through spaces one size category smaller than yourself.
Trained: Shock aversion therapy has left you trained with several tricks. Commands in some language will make you sit, stay, and heel. Since they started to use you as a trustee, you can also "sic em!" You basicly rage but grapple to subdue.
Mahavira wrote: Re: Psionics, I'm not really a fan of adding additional rulesets (don't have a problem flavor wise, just don't want the added complexity when my players don't really have the time to learn to use them properly - neither do I in truth, job and all). You could always be evil and save the psionics just for the bad guys...wouldn't that be interesting for the PCs and players?
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