| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So, a player has recently joined our campaign and she's decided to play an Evil Witch (of the Gravewalker archetype). There's been some tension, to say the least, as two of the party are Chaotic Good, while the other two are Chaotic Neutral, with one on the fence towards CG.
In our last session, we got into an in-character argument, in which my character went to stop her from flaying the skin off a corpse of an ally, and for a moment she deliberated between Hold Person and Beguiling Gift. While she eventually went with Hold Person (to my relief), would that have been acceptable for her to use Beguiling Gift against a fellow PC and then follow up with handing them (me) a cursed item, such as a Necklace of Stangulation? If so, how do you remove a cursed item? We are only level 4, currently. Is there any resolution to this sticky situation, should it arise again?
Looking forward to some creative advice!
I'd never see it acceptable to cast offensive spells against another PC. I've also played a CE Witch within a mainly good party, but I never attacked them in any way.
I would encourage in-character arguments and possibly mundane fights and petty malice, but all the time ensuring that everyone knows that the Witch is still a party member and loyal to the party aims. We had a lot of fun doing just that, especially when my dire rat familiar started secretly widdling on the bedding of the NG fighter and my deliberately filthy clothing (I was an Urgathoa follower) was subject to spring cleaning and freshening via a Prestidigitation spell.
If it reaches the offensive spell-casting stage, the next step is surely drawn weapons and a party split at best.
In this case, the party split would be one against many. It would be appropriate to tell the player of the witch, "Don't try anything like that again. If you do, that's it for you." The witch will either shape up or get the beatdown (and banishment from the party, if she survives).
You remove a cursed item with a remove curse spell. If no one can cast it then you need to go to an NPC.
If she actually kills a PC over a petty argument then that is simply unacceptable. She simply shouldn't play an evil character if she can't play it should that she can't resist attacking the rest of the party. The party she make it clear that attacking a PC is a capital offense and not one that requires a trial. Unless there's magical coercion involved, there is no good excuse for it. I don't know why the GM didn't make this clear but Evil PCs are difficult enough without them fighting the party. She can play the evil character but no backstabbing. Ever.
Would an Elixir of Love be an acceptable 'gift' between PCs? On a meta level it gives the other players an in-character excuse to give the witch a pass for her actions for a few hours.
Really you need to take the Witch's player aside and ask why they're playing an evil character. If it's to cause trouble then you have a problem. If not, get them to give a reason that they're working with good PCs and get them to understand that yes, their character is evil, but evil characters need trusted allies as much as anyone (more than most, in fact) and should therefor buddy up with the other PCs rather than antagonize them.
Evil is a pain, one of our PCs played an anthropomorphic bat and eviscerated the druid's animal companion in a ritualistic fashion. We don't play with him any more.
Thanks for everyone's input! I'll pass these thoughts along to my DM :)
So, as a GM, I'm running an NPC the party recruited accidentally created (and then recruited) in a game right now. She's chaotic evil, but is desperately in love with more than one of the PCs, and craves the approval of another.
I'm using these two elements to more or less keep her in line. She's cruel, rapacious, and arbitrarily violent, petty, disgusted with the area they find themselves in*, and is generally not interested in "playing nice".
... buuuuuuuuuuuut, she is interested in getting notice, attention, and approval from the other PCs (especially her "big sister"). So she's not going to rock their boat, and she's going to channel all her rage into things that they (probably) won't care about too much. Of course, that's not saying she'll always be successful.
* She's literally (literally-literally, not figuratively-literally) the incarnated evil side that was further corrupted by "SPOOOOOOOOKYness! (tm)" of a neutral good repressed young woman the party successfully 'saved' more or less, who has all the unhappy childhood memories, leaving only the good ones (and all the older/adult memories) with the rescued young woman. When she first moved to the town she now considers home, she hated it (and her family) for moving here from the big city (and her friends) that she loved. Now, of course, the adult has grown to love the place (or at least accept it), but the corrupted evil with nothing but contemptible memories... Oh, and the two of them hate each other (each tends to think of herself as "the real one" and the other as "the usurper who was trying to kill me and steal my life"... which is more or less accurate**), and so they are really distrusting and cold towards each other (though the evil one, being new, is not as well loved by the party... making things even harder on her... but it's also impossible to take over as the "real one" to the party since, you know, they can read her mind, alignment, and aura...).
** Look, I already mentioned "SPOOOOOOOOKYness! (tm)", what more do you want?!?