Hi there!
I am dm'ing a campaign where the party was defeated because of their own stupid moves when it wasn't planned. They have a new party and the previous party had a questline regarding a nemesis of theirs. One of the players in particular had a vendetta with this nemesis but he died before they could even see the fruition of their RP's. I want to give this player's current character the memories of his previous character as if he was reincarnated (hindu like).
Before I just DM rule 0 this and all, I wanna see if there is a spell or ritual where this is possible? This might be a bit 4th wall touching but we don't mind that. I want to give them the opportunity to work again towards the goal they so dearly enjoyed.
Thanks :)
I don't suppose he was a 5th level resurrection druid?
There is a fourth level spell somewhere I think.
Yeah but they already made their characters and we've played a bit so preferably something more concrete regarding memories
Well for rone this spell isn't meant to be used on a dead person and I prefer to work using spells, feats and whatever crafted in the game itself. Not by using things I come up with myself because it is more interesting to me to use already crafted ways.
Well for rone this spell isn't meant to be used on a dead person
No, it's specifically meant to be used on a dead person.
But otherwise the closest thing is Share Memory spell, which doesn't work with dead things. Maybe your characters can make a wondrous item from Speak with Dead and Share Memory?
Maybe look at the Samsaran race for ideas? Their fluff is interesting
Well for rone this spell isn't meant to be used on a dead personNo, it's specifically meant to be used on a dead person.
But otherwise the closest thing is Share Memory spell, which doesn't work with dead things. Maybe your characters can make a wondrous item from Speak with Dead and Share Memory?
Sorry typo! none dead person*
The new character is obviously not dead. Share memory can only show a single memory of 1 minute. I'm guessing I just have to make something of my own sadly.
I think it would be more interesting (as a player) to have the DM make a compelling reason for the memories to be passed on, rather than pointing to a spell in the rules.
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Make something up.
The Flask of Regret
This clear flask radiates enchantment magic only when filled with the regrets of a person who died while in contact with it. When empty, there is nothing to show it as anything more than a normal, if perhaps finely-made, crystal tube such as might be used for perfumes or alchemies.
The regrets of a dying person are rendered by the magic of the flask into a sort of syrup, light or dark, thick or thin, and colored evocatively of the regret. Thus, a dark, blood-hued syrup might be formed from regretted untaken violent revenge, while a rose-hued syrup the thickness of tears might form for unrequited love.
A filled Flask of Regret cannot be unstoppered accidentally, nor can it be broken into bestowing the regret. However, the first person opening the flask, even if unaware of the enchantment or contents, will find themselves possessed of the memories of the deceased, on all matters related to the stored regret.
Even better would be to tell them they have all these memories, unexplainably, and to slowly reveal the reason why that occurred. Tie it into the plot somehow. Mysteries are good ways to immerse players (my players at least).
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You say one of the previous PCs had a vendetta against the bad guy? I've got a wondrous item here somewhere that may help... hang on a moment...
Ah! Here it is:
The Codex of All Vendettas
Aura: Strong Divination, CL 11
Slot ---; Price 80,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.Description:
This worm-eaten old tome contains the record of a multitude of grudges, debts, and feuds, all of which were repaid with violent revenge. There is ample room for further entries.
The Codex of All Vendettas may be used to swear a magical oath of vengeance upon a single individual person or creature. To begin a vendetta, a character must inscribe his desire for revenge in the Codex, detailing how he was wronged and the identity of his target. The writer’s motivation must be genuine - attempting to lie to the Codex will cause the inscription to fail. The target’s name need not be known: for example, targeting "the man who killed my father" would be acceptable.
Once the vendetta is inscribed, additional notation appears in the Codex offering clues to the target's location, habits and defenses. This grants the writer a +4 Insight bonus on all Knowledge, Diplomacy, Sense Motive and Survival checks undertaken to discover the location or identity of the target. When in combat with the target, the writer gains a +4 Morale bonus on Attack and Damage rolls, and may re-roll missed attacks due to concealment.
The vendetta is binding, and unless the writer spends every day attempting to track and kill his target, he suffers ability penalties as if under the effect of a Lesser Geas spell. The vendetta ends when the writer records a successful kill in the book or else dies in the attempt. Should the writer lose possession of the Codex, all benefits disappear, but the Geas effect persists until the vendetta ends.
The Codex will only support one active vendetta at a time.Construction:
Requirements: Legend Lore, Lesser Geas; Cost 40,000 gp
Simply have the new party discover the book in a pile of loot or other appropriate place. The final (unfulfilled) vendetta in the book will be from the previous PC: you can retcon that he previously inscribed his vendetta in secret and perhaps failed because he lost the book. Now the new PCs can take up the unfulfilled vendetta, and they even get a bonus to bring it to completion.
First things first. I agree that a GM should be able to make some things of his own and that most players prefer a good reason over a spell but the reason as to why I am even bothering with this is because my players prefer it the other way around.
If I say stuff, they want to see why how when and what. This one time I threw in a character, whom they knew, to save their asses because they f*&$ed up by accident and it was not planned at that point for them to die (not talking about the actual moment they died). Short version is that I placed him there and he was ordered by the god they work with to help them because they are in dire need of assistance.
They wanted the complete list of facts as to how he arrived there and how the hell he could know that they needed help. So yeah I can't just give plain ol' reasons with them. I need concrete things to explain it to them. So that means no reasons without something to back it up and especially no retconning. They think that's poor story telling.
Thanks for those advices though but I can't do it. If I could, I wouldn't be here :).
As for Wolfsnap, the retcon won't work but I do have a workaround for that. Instead of the party using the codex, I'll let the bad guy use it as he is the one who started the vendetta. If I can't find anything else to make their characters realize the situation, I will just create something similar to the Flask of Regret which Thornborn suggested.
Yes I know. They are a tough crowd but while some may have a different opinion of what makes a good DM, I think a good DM is someone who puts in the extra work so his players can enjoy it more. This is me putting in that extra work :)
What about meeting the ghost of his previous character, stuck in the afterlife due to this vendetta? So he asks the new party to help him out...
I don't know the story, but I would've said that your best bet before making new characters would've been to have some kind of mysterious group/benefactor have them resurrected and tie it into the story somehow.
At this point, you could have a similar group/benefactor give them a potion or something that infuses memories of past selves into their new characters. Story-wise, the big villain needs to be defeated (and maybe the dead PCs were supposed to be the ones to do it by some old prophecy or something), so the mystery group is trying to make sure everything turns out as it should. You could even make it into a neat "broken timeline" kind of story.
Spell research & custom items are in the rules if your players need that.
Well that might be a way to do it. They stay true to their RP's so they might not bite but who knows.
I like how you came to the broken timeline conclusion Paulicus because we have actually been there before. 4 players destined to be heroes to go back in time yada yada. One of the chosen heroes chose to go into retirement. The player got sick of the character. I figured... okay this was written in stone. TIME PARADOX!
Why not give the new characters a unique reason to hate their nemesis all over again? I would have them start off working for their prior nemesis. I would do this through proxies and dupes to make it more legitimate to be working for him in the beginning and more of a surprise.
That way when he betrays them later on you have that "Aha!" moment at the table where everyone realizes "Of course he betrayed us! He's our nemesis!"
Why not give the new characters a unique reason to hate their nemesis all over again? I would have them start off working for their prior nemesis. I would do this through proxies and dupes to make it more legitimate to be working for him in the beginning and more of a surprise.
That way when he betrays them later on you have that "Aha!" moment at the table where everyone realizes "Of course he betrayed us! He's our nemesis!"
Now here is an idea! Can't believe I didn't think of that :o. I love the evilness of this idea ^^ Thank you
Well like I told Paulicus, I have already been using timeline plots and stuff. At one point the character, of the player who switched characters, freed one of his allies while disguising himself. That was me just DMPC’ng but that was to make them think they could speak to the previous heroes. This would be them, so that would be a reverse of your idea? Since that person switched characters (and he is notorious for doing this) I want to step back from the time travel in this campaign as I have already ruled it to be lineair and therefore many paradoxes can be created.