I'm looking for some direction in how to realistically portray how citizens in Sandpoint and Magnimar would react to certain actions of the PCs in my group. We're at the beginning of Fortress of the Stone Giants after the giant attack on Sandpoint. The PCs are currently 11th level.
The situations I have are as follows:
Sandpoint - After the giants were defeated there is much revelry in honor of the PCs. One PC in particular has been letting the fame get to his head. He is a young wizard of about 20 years old, and has one stone giant dominated via Dominate Person. The wizard has him follow him through town as a display of his power. I had the mayor and sheriff ask him if he could possibly leave the giant outside of town to avoid panicking the locals, but he almost dismissively disregarded their request by stating that the "giant is harmless, and completely under my control. He isn't a danger to anyone" - which he demonstrated by having the giant bark like a dog (after a failed Will save, of course). I think it makes for good roleplaying, and like that he's kind of displaying that his power is growing faster than the character's maturity is. I guess what I'm wondering is how do you think the town would react to his behavior? Should they ignore it for the most part as he is one of the heroes that saved the town? Should they start avoiding him? I was going to have the mayor and sheriff ask the other party members to maybe help persuade the wizard to keep the giant outside of town, and to keep his actions minimal for the sake of the populace. What if he refuses?
Magnimar - This situation isn't so immediate. After the events in The Skinsaw Murders and Ironbriar being exposed, the party has the general assumption that most if not all of the Magnimaran judges have the potential to be corrupt as well. Because of this they feel almost above the law there, and though they haven't really broken any laws they would likely ignore any that they don't agree with. Their perception of Mayor Grobaras is negative to say the least, and they've gotten the idea that he may even be the Forever Man. We have a paladin of Iomedae that believes the city is on the verge of corruption, and he wants to bolster the citadel in town in an eventual attempt to bring the city under the rulership of the church of Iomedae. What sort of repercussions do you think this would entail? If he starts making a noticeable influence in the city do you think the established officials would take action to keep it constrained? What about the Hellknights?
Anyhow, just looking for some ideas, I guess. I like the dynamics of the PCs in the party, and am not looking to punish them for making difficult situations. Just trying to figure out realistic reactions/repercussions to what they're doing.
Thanks!
I've had a similar situation in my RotRL campaign as well. To make a long story short one of the PC undermined Mayor Daverin and against her orders led a lynch mod that hanged Tsuto. The Mayor wasn't happy but she couldn't just kick out the "Heroes of Sandpoint" either.
I guess you have to ask, if once the characters start becoming a threat to the status qua, what will the NPCs do to counter them (but without derailing the campaign)?
One thing you can do is make the campaign objective so personal to the PCs that they'll continue to pursue things no matter how much trouble they're in with the city/town. Of course you may have to make adjustments because some NPC that were supposed to be allies are now enemies; but at least you can have them react in a realistic way instead of spineless sycophants just to keep the plot going as written. Plus this will show players that there are consequences to being a jerk and that you the GM are not a slave to what's written by someone else. Major backlash against their behavior will show them that your world is alive with realistic expectations and not a video game.
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Sandpoint: I think your analysis is spot on, Byung Shin. The people at Sandpoint are (more than likely) favorably disposed to the PCs. That said, they did just get attacked by giants, so they're not going to be thrilled that he's got one on a magic leash. Kendra and Belor would definitely have a quiet word with the rest of the party, hoping they'd be able to convince him to keep the giant away from town. And if he refuses? Well, that's where Titus Scarnetti comes in. He's always looking for a way to discredit the Deverin family, and since they'll have allied with the PCs, discrediting the Heroes of Sandpoint is a black mark against the Deverins. Have the reactions of the townsfolk start to sour, and the people seem more distant. They suddenly have to pay for meals. If it gets bad enough, Ameiko (reluctantly) says that she's full up for the evening. For the foreseeable future. Start taking away the bennies they've been getting, and see if he keeps it up. (Plus, it lets you use Titus, who is criminally underused here!)
Magnimar: I'm not 100% comfortable with the realities in Magnimar, since I don't own the book and haven't spent as much time going over the writeup in the back of the book as I have for Sandpoint, but again, I don't think your party's wrong. Magnimar's government is definitely corrupt, at least at the highest levels. There probably are some good people in there, but the Lord Mayor is definitely in it to line his pocketbook. The nanosecond the Lord Mayor finds out your party's paladin is attempting to undermine his control, that's when he starts playing dirty. Everyone in town owes him at least one favor, so he'll start pulling strings to make sure that the church of Iomedae is disfavored. Aid to their coffers dries up. Benefits they had been receiving are cut off. Deeds to holdings other than the main church (for now) are found to have "vague language," and they are reappropriated by the state, or given to some other (rival) power. The Lord Mayor represents a very different sort of adversary in D&D, the kind that doesn't hold physical or magical power, but bureaucratic power. I'm not saying "This is an unattainable goal," but challenging the Lord Mayor on a political level is going to be a dangerous and difficult fight. In fact, it'd be entertaining if they said something like, "Remember when we were killing the minions of a ten thousand year old wizard who was returning to life and threatened the entirety of Varisia? I miss those good old days."
Amusingly enough my group started with this fairly early on. Well, one player did.
It's two words: Sheriff Useless.
Seems I forgot to have Hemlock act during the skeleton attack. It was a natural mistake as I'd not gotten Hero Labs yet and am running the Runelords game via Skype. But one player never forgot and never lets up. It came to a head twice: the group has proven... quite merciful and negotiated the surrender of Ripnugget (who was unconscious) to the goblin warchanter and his remaining guard... and captured alive Nualia, Tsuto, and Lyrie.
Rather than clear out the rest of Thistletop they returned with their three prisoners and then went back to Thistletop... which was abandoned. That should have been their first warning. They went through, took out the crab (which they dragged back to town for a huge crab-bake! I kid you not!) and Mal (which nearly killed their heavily-buffed Barbarian)... and when returning to town they saw smoke rising from Thistletop.
They returned... to witness Sheriff Hemlock fighting Ripnugget. He decapitates Ripnugget... only to then fall to an arrow from a distraught Warchanter (who then was felled by another guard). Quick thinking and a controlled Channel Energy saved him and a couple unconscious guards. First words were "Guess I'm not so useless, hmm?" (And then he found out that the goblins had rescued Nualia and crew. They're still on the loose.)
AFTER that the player CONTINUED to call him "Useless" and when the Skinsaw Murders started... the Sheriff came with a note, stating "If I were useless, I'd toss you in jail as an accessory to murder. But I'm not so stupid as to not see you're being set up. Prove your innocence and no one learns of this note."
It should be interesting to see how things go from there... though one possibility will be when that player has a chance to go after the Scarnetti family (he's a bastard and the half-brother of Titus), seeing the Sheriff would gladly go after the Scarnetti clan. Enemies of one's enemy are rarely "useless" after all. ;)
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Only thing I can say is that dominating the will of an intelligent humanoid long term (enslaving them)is an evil act. In fact, i'd bet a paladin of Iomedae would have a huge problem with it. Also, since Desna is one of the major/popular worshiped gods in the town the people would be very displeased once they found out what was happening ( a DC 15 sense motive check per the spell).
Only thing I can say is that dominating the will of an intelligent humanoid long term (enslaving them)is an evil act. In fact, i'd bet a paladin of Iomedae would have a huge problem with it. Also, since Desna is one of the major/popular worshiped gods in the town the people would be very displeased once they found out what was happening ( a DC 15 sense motive check per the spell).
This should definitely be brought up!
And, if Mr. Fancy Pants wizard refuses to cooperate with the wishes of the villagers of Sandpoint... maybe the spirits of the giant's fallen comrades arrive in the night and use the last remaining bit of their astral energy to help the giant nullify the Dominate Person spell, and then point him in the direction of the wizard's room at the inn? Or maybe the giant simply shakes it off on his own and bides his time until he has the wizard exactly where he wants him.
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I think most of the answers that you have gotten here are gems. Regarding the enslavement issue, while this is not as strong a sentiment as Andoran, Magnimar was founded on freedoms. The people of Magnimar's holdings would be less okay with slavery than those of Korvosa.
That being said, I would say that people tend to be vengeful and petty, so for at least the first few weeks, I would think that the majority of town would enjoy it, and maybe even use the opportunity to throw rotting vegetables at the dominated giant. (Possibly allowing another save, but that is up to you as a GM.) Those of the town that are Good-aligned would obviously not be okay with it. After the first few weeks, after feelings have started to fade, the anger would likely turn to fear. Then, slowly, maybe week by week, they could become colder and more upset about having a giant in town, under control or not.
The idea about Titus Scarnetti is a great one! In the PCs rejecting the mayor, perhaps Titus would curry favor with the PCs instead, believing that having such powerful allies would be in his favor.
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Forthe wizard, I would have the party hear folks start to whisper to each other, where the wizard can't hear.
"If he can enslave a giant, what is to keep him from enslaving us?"
"He won't enslave simple townfolk...but the Sheriff, maybe. Or the mayor."
"Do...do you think that maybe he already did? I mean, they just came out of nowhere, and now they got the run of the town, and no one can stand against them. Maybe they showed up on night, enslaved the mayor, and now..."
And/or you can have a gruff old man look at the wizard and sneer. "Another tyrant in the making. How long are ya gonna keep the pretense up 'fore you'll be wanting us to be bowing and scrapping at yer boots?"
Gator, that was poetry. The player will either realize, "oops!" or he will embrace his peasant stomping evilness... and hilarity ensues...
:)
Keep in mind
Regarding Magnimar, to my recollection, while Iomedae is one of the 'Prime 20', her church actually isn't terribly strong in Magnimar. There is also comparatively little information to indicate the other justices are any more corrupt than any other public official & the Church of Abadar is strong in Magnimar. In fact, while I don't have my copy handy, I believe the majority of justices within the city are actually priests of Abadar. Trying to accuse them of corruption is likely to backfire...
Thanks for all of the great ideas everyone! I did make mention of ongoing control being an evil act, and essentially slavery. That got the paladin and the elf in the party (a worshiper of Sarenrae) to convince the wizard to release control over the giant. After the giant's release they quelled any violent reaction from him through a convincing display of power, and they were able to convince the giant to lead them to the Storval Stairs if he agreed to return to his original tribe and not Mokmurian's army.
The party wizard is still struggling with his power and morality. He's tied with the barbarian for Wrath points, and with the paladin for Pride points. Oddly enough, the elf magus is the least sinful of them all.
The party hasn't yet returned to Magnimar for a while, so we'll see what happens with that situation when they do. As for the church of Abadar, the last interaction the party had with them was a cold exchange between the party paladin and some of their clergy escorting the mayor. The paladin questioned their virtue and scoffed at their obvious wealth.