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Looking for suggestions for a game I'm running now. Let's say I have an character who was cursed with an immortality he doesn't want. He cannot die until he's fulfilled some very difficult and repugnant task. This immortality should be unpleasant in nature - maybe he's involuntarily become undead in some manner? It's got to be a nasty enough situation that he's going to want to try very hard to complete the task so that he can finally die and end his ordeal.
How would you handle it? What rules/spells/templates/bestiary entries etc would you invoke?
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The Curse of Innocent Tears
The bearer of this curse no longer ages naturally. Although they can still be affected by aging effects (gaining penalties as normal, but not bonuses), they cannot die from age. Any time the bearer of this curse would be reduced to zero HP or affected by any effect that would otherwise kill them, the damage or effect they have suffered is inflicted upon a child (the children of the bearer are chosen first, then children related to the bearer, then finally at random), and the bearer is mentally forced to experience the terror, anguish, and suffering the child experiences during this process. The process takes one round, and is considered a Death effect for the child, and the child cannot be returned to life by any means short of divine intervention so long as the bearer of this curse still lives. The child's stolen life energy restores the bearer to full health. The shock of this experience does 1d3 Constitution damage to the bearer and leaves them Shaken for 1 hour. Should the curse be lifted, the bearer may choose to relinquish their life in order to restore one child victim of their choice to life.
CON damage can't reduce you below 1, only Drain can.
If every child in the world is dead, then there's probably bigger problems to worry about.
Maybe a curse like lycanthropy, where he uncontrollably turn into a monster and hunts the innocent. Losing control of a character is pretty bad to the average player.
How much of an optimiser is your player? Say every time he comes back, one of his stats goes down by 1 point. >:)
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Some good ideas here, but I need to keep this curse personal. Let's assume that this character is supremely apathetic and doesn't give a toss about anyone else, so dying children won't really factor into it.
Just to be clear: this is not for a PC. This is a retired PC coming back as an NPC antagonist.
Okay, if you've seen "The Big Lebowski": Imagine that instead of pissing on the Dude's rug, the henchmen stole it and it got shipped off to parts unknown, and that the Dude was cursed to eternally roam the earth until he got his original rug back, but his immortality was kind of half-arsed and provided all of the bad parts of immortality but none of the good. What would that look like and how would you express it in terms of rules?
How about sealed in a cursed armor that keeps you alive but separated from the world. Always hungry. Always thirsty.
Soulless with a dash of Can't die!
Some powerful Outsider, perhaps Asmodeus, has claim over said person's soul, and has it locked away in some horrific place. The body has just a sliver of their soul within, enough for them to retain their personality, emotions, and sensations. The link between the sliver of soul in the body and the rest of the soul means that the body is forced to experience all of the pain and horror its soul is undergoing while still having its own situation to deal with. The pain and torture of the soul prevents the body from any sort of natural rest. They can't sleep, they can't lie down for a minute, absolutely no rest, and the unnatural situation their body is in means that they don't technically need rest either but are still affected by exhaustion.
The powerful Outsider has some tasks it wants the Soulless to do, and is holding their Soul as reward for the job being done. Soulless person thus has to try and complete some grisly task, cannot rest yet feels every ounce of exhaustion they should, and maybe just to make it truly horrible for them their mostly-Soulless nature makes them perfectly Empathic. They feel all of the pain and suffering of those they must hurt/kill in order to go forward with their goal, in addition to the pain they feel from their soul's torture.
but his immortality was kind of half-arsed and provided all of the bad parts of immortality but none of the good. What would that look like and how would you express it in terms of rules?
Hmm, he could suffer a decaying body, like a character of venerable age, with the usual -6 penalty to physical stats and +3 to mental ones. Oracle's wasting curse could describe that also. In the worst case his body is totally rotten and he needs help by servants / machines / magic to manipulate his environment.
A template might help, e.g. Broken Soul.
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Perhaps have it that the immortality was 'gifted' to him by a fey lord, celestial, demon, or devil yet makes it so that they are then bound by 'destiny' to serve whatever plans or purpose of these patrons.
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Perhaps make it so that they are hunted, bringing danger into their lives and others. Perhaps hunted by demons who wise to kill him and claim his soul as their own. A ill thought wish for vengeance and use of dark magic calling them, aiding him and cursing him with immortality, thus making it that he owes them a debt. Thus he constantly wonders, avoiding forming close relations with fear of having them hurt by his debtors while using every magical means to avoid detection.
... the above is a character idea of my own that I have never known how to implement. Especially since no core resource provides low level immortality, despite the more simple idea would merely being unable to naturally age while neither gaining either bonuses or penalties to stats. With this, he would still be able to be killed as normal thus any damage or attacks effecting him as normal.
3.5 had a type of undead that did this - I forgot how they could be killed, but casting "break curse" was a necessary part of it.
And they were generally looking for a way to die, only obeying necromancers so they'd free them from their curse (and getting... unpleasant if the necromancer broke their part of the deal).
Also, every few minutes they'd just... start acting randomly for a while, and completely ignore their surroundings....to bad I completely forgot their name.
I think there is a list of 3.5 undead at GitP?
Punch in "3.5 d20 undead list" or something similar to Google, that should get you there. Maybe it will jog your memory.
but his immortality was kind of half-arsed and provided all of the bad parts of immortality but none of the good. What would that look like and how would you express it in terms of rules?Hmm, he could suffer a decaying body, like a character of venerable age, with the usual -6 penalty to physical stats and +3 to mental ones. Oracle's wasting curse could describe that also. In the worst case his body is totally rotten and he needs help by servants / machines / magic to manipulate his environment.
A template might help, e.g. Broken Soul.
At that rate you could eventually turn him into a demi-lich; essentially you'd be just a floating head. You could tweak it a little to fit.
Perhaps he rapidly ages or becomes physically hindered when he doesn't pursue his appointed tasks, but regains his heartiness when he does perform his labors. The transition from one state to another is of course painful or some how unpleasant.
Dark Souls style!
He can die, but his body reforms at the nearest bonfire (or other appropriate body-reforming-site).
The way I did this for Pathfinder was to make it that every time s/he dies s/he loses 1 point in a random stat (1d6, 1=Str, 2=Dex, etc).
If a player loses a total of 3 in any one stat - or if the character gets -1 to every stat from repeated death - they lose their minds and become hollows.
Hero Points = Humanity (if you want to give them a way out) and can be used to reverse the effects of 1 death (eg. negate a single -1 to a stat). How do you get Humanity (Hero Points)? Finish a quest of course! (or steal some from someone living if you want to give them that option).
I'm sure there are rules for madness somewhere if you want to add those in, I just left that to the players.
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For a curse like this to matter they have to care about something. Someone who is supremely apathetic isn't going to care about any kind of curse. Why would he care about a rug if he doesn't care about innocent children being killed? Your hook here for the curse is to define what this character cares about. Until you do that it's an impossible feat.
What I'm looking for is something like a Geas with an undead component - this guy just wants to sit back and chill, but there are cosmic forces who keep throwing him into dangerous situations that he doesn't want to be in and is incapable of handling, in service to a grand destiny that he wants no part of, as part of a prophecy that he doesn't care about but is doomed to fulfill no matter how hard he tries to ignore it.
And on top of that, he can't die, despite the fact that he's constantly getting the crap beat out of him by people who are trying to prevent or hasten this big destiny that he doesn't give a toss about.
It doesn't sound like there are any obvious existing mechanics to cover that kind of thing, so I may just have to make something up.
But what happens when he gets "killed". I like the idea that this guy has died multiple times and come back, or else suffered damage that WOULD have killed him several times over.
How about the nearest pregnant woman immediately goes into labor and gives birth to his fresh new body. He grows into his adult form in minutes, with all his memories, and runs naked into the wilderness. This approach would leave a trail of clues to follow as witnesses report the creepy event.
It's 3rd party....but have you looked at the Restless Soul from Rite publishing ?
Might work for what your doing...
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But just make something up. Not everything has to be in a splatbook.
Trust me - I have no issue with making stuff up.
I'm just being lazy about this and felt like appealing to the hive mind for ideas.
How about the nearest pregnant woman immediately goes into labor and gives birth to his fresh new body. He grows into his adult form in minutes, with all his memories, and runs naked into the wilderness. This approach would leave a trail of clues to follow as witnesses report the creepy event.
See, I would never have thought of that in a million years. You can always count on roleplayers to come up with something truly weird.
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I am a fan of Highlander, so the immortal protagonist is always a favorite trope of mine.
But they also did something interesting for a character called Ashildr in Doctor Who. A mortal brain is not designed to hold multiple lifetimes of memories.
So perhaps each time he dies, or would have died. He wakes up, fully healed (Maybe half his total health) and he loses parts of his memory. Not full memory mind you but perhaps his oldest memories disappear.
The character in Doctor Who forgot her own name, later calling herself Me out of simplicity. She kept scores of books to record her memories as she realized she was going to lose them.
Imagine a wizard or something who has been around for thousands of years with libraries full of journals. His adventures and his discoveries. Maybe that is a plot hook. The wizard had to find and decipher his own journals from years back to rediscover a long forgotten foe or location of something he hide that will be useful now to the party.
Give him immortality but he still ages and no longer heals. Basically he has unlimited HP, and is permanently staggered. He also takes all aging penalties. This means if his leg is broken it stays broken. If he is blinded he stays blinded.
For inspiration look at "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by Stphen R. Donaldson. You are basically describing the premise for the series.
What I'm looking for is something like a Geas with an undead component - this guy just wants to sit back and chill, but there are cosmic forces who keep throwing him into dangerous situations that he doesn't want to be in and is incapable of handling, in service to a grand destiny that he wants no part of, as part of a prophecy that he doesn't care about but is doomed to fulfill no matter how hard he tries to ignore it.
And on top of that, he can't die, despite the fact that he's constantly getting the crap beat out of him by people who are trying to prevent or hasten this big destiny that he doesn't give a toss about.
It doesn't sound like there are any obvious existing mechanics to cover that kind of thing, so I may just have to make something up.
Except for the fact that Thomas Covenant *did* die. And it was his own gosh-darned fault for trying to take the 'easy way' to do something in the earlier books, if memory serves?
*notes that he hasn't read past White Gold Wielder, so please forgive any inconsistencies in narrative.*
Had an NPC who kept washing up on the same shores after being killed. He would start his life anew, with all his memories, but his curse would slowly drive him insane, filling him with delusions of grandeur. Eventually he'd proclaim himself a living god. Then he'd get killed by either adventurers or him getting in too deep in hubris. Wake up on the shores..realise this will happen all over again and there is no escape. PCs had the option to help him out.
Had an NPC who kept washing up on the same shores after being killed. He would start his life anew, with all his memories, but his curse would slowly drive him insane, filling him with delusions of grandeur. Eventually he'd proclaim himself a living god. Then he'd get killed by either adventurers or him getting in too deep in hubris. Wake up on the shores..realise this will happen all over again and there is no escape. PCs had the option to help him out.
There's a tv series about a guy trying to end his immortality. Every time he dies he comes to life naked in NYC's East River.
Reincarnated Druid has that drawback. If you die (Save for a death effect) you reincarnate a day later.
How about sealed in a cursed armor that keeps you alive but separated from the world. Always hungry. Always thirsty.
Stargate reference?
I would say he was cursed and all his stats were reduced to less than 10, but he would have Fast healing 5. He also would have forgotten he knows how to use any weapon or armor. His initial awakening would be in a pacifistic temple where any conflict goes against the temple. He has no knowledge of how he came there and the monk/priests just say he showed up one day without any knowledge of who he was.
He has lived at the temple for a year, still without knowledge of who he is when the temple is attacked to find him. But he wants to honor the temple and runs away so as not to cause conflict.
So your suggestion was to basically make the character unplayable?
This idea may not be what you're looking for exactly, but I thought it'd be better to share just in case it helped.
So, he has a "pull" towards the quest. The pull, at the beginning of each life cycle, is mental. An annoying gibbering in the corner of the brain - difficult to ignore. Slowly, it would become physical as well. As he aged past his mortal time, his insides would rot, and in their place would form the feeling of multiple spindly legs dashing around where his stomach was; this feeling would grow and grow, furthering the strength of a push towards his goal. Later still, the feeling would spread into the other parts of his rotting, corpse like body. Insects of all different species would crawl through his tear ducts onto his pale, rot-riddled face. If he still hadn't completed his task, the insects would burst through his body in one excruciating act, and they would devour it. A short time later, they would remake the body as if it was new, and he could look forward to the entire process again. Even being slain would not set him free, for no matter the death, he is recreated.