How to use the Power-Hungry Flaw

[Kai_G]

I have a character that I am the GM for. He is a powerfully built LG Aasimar Synthesist 9 with the Leadership feat for a cohort (NG Halfling Archaeologist 5/Pathfinder Chronicler 1/Halfling Opportunist 1). The aasimar character also has the flaw Power-Hungry, which has yet to come up in the 31 game sessions we've had so far, other than the player generally arguing for most things to be in his favor. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can capitalize on this flaw and bring it into play?

For those that want the context of the campaign, the group has just returned to Absalom after a few months away, slaying many orcs that were fighting each other for control of Castle Scarwall. They have used their significant social skill modifiers to diplomance one of the two remaining orcs, each a leader of a different group, to take control of the castle when reinforcements from their tribe arrived. He had been slain during the final battle, but his cohort and a couple of PC allies rushed his body back to Vigil in order to hold a vigil(hehehe...) for him on holy ground and bring him back using one of his aasimar abilities. As he was returned, by Abadar's graces, a Trumpet Archon appeared and gave him a quest.

'Lithe and beautiful, with skin the color of marble and otherworldly eyes, white and pupilless, a being hovered upon powerful, white wings, bearing a gleaming, silver trumpet adorned with golden keys. She radiated a sense of tranquility as she spoke, her voice clear and musical, "Calundan Narmir, the Master of the First Vault has use for you still. A great threat will soon rise, and the chaos of war that ensues will despoil this place and other great cities. Far beneath your last glimpse of the night sky, there lies an ancient text known as the Kardosian Codex. As recompense for receiving Abadar's kindness and favor, you are commissioned to take possession of the Codex and place it into a secure repository that such dire events never take place." As a warm glow enveloped the angelic figure, her final words echoed, "This is your mandate," and she was gone.'

Two days into the return journey to Castle Scarwall to rejoin the remainder of their company, this happens.

'Calundan had returned from the Great Beyond, accompanied by a celestial herald to give a dire warning and set a great task before him. Quickly, Vren, Gram, Calundan and Flynn set themselves on the return journey to Castle Scarwall, where Corvax and Roy awaited their return, the messenger's words echoing in their minds.

In the late hours of the night, Vren stood watch. There was little cover in the low, rolling hills in the expanse between Vigil and their destination. The Hold of Belkzen was a desolate place filled with little more than dry grasses and sparse scrubland, fit more for beasts than men. No wonder the orcs thrived in such a place. The half-moon cast dim light down on their encampment. Gram had dug a small cooking fire into the ground, giving off enough heat to cook with, but little smoke or light. In any case, it had died down to embers before Gram had woken Vren for his turn on watch.

Sitting on a large, weathered boulder that they decided to set camp next to, Vren looked outward for any sign of danger. Calundan had set a ward around the encampment before going to sleep, standing atop the rock as a center point and dangling a tiny bell from a piece of very fine silver wire as he spoke some arcane words. Vren recognized the spell, hearing the sounds, yet being unable to keep the words from slipping away from his mind as Calundan spoke. If anyone or anything entered the area, at least Calundan would know.

Vren thought he heard the shuffling of someone rolling over in their tent. It wasn't until he heard the clank of metal on metal, the familiar sound of armor, that he stood and looked over. Gram stirred to the sound as well, opening an eye to see Vren's hand move to his swordhandle, ready to draw and fight, if need be. The sound was coming from his tent, and as Vren took a step closer, the flap opened and a figure emerged.

It stood at least a head taller than Vren, a hulking figure within regally imposing, black armor, great horns sweeping back from its helm and massive, and metallic wings that seemed to grow from its armor, feathers glinting in the moonlight. Two eyes glowed visibly beneath it's helm. Its gaze, twin points of light burning bright with flames, pierced through from behind its closed visor.

Vren and Gram felt wave of terror wash over them and a soul-rending sensation of isolation and loss, as if the gods themselves had suddenly turned away from them. Even Calundan and Flynn could feel the sense of abandonment as their dreams turned into an overwhelming expanse of sterile and desolate gulfs of nothingness, a dark, empty place, an eternal and terrifying pit where they were falling until it stole away all light and life.

It looked at Vren...and in a moment as fleeting as the blink of an eye, it was gone.'

The group recognized the armor as a suit of armor they had recovered in the dark temple beneath Castle Scarwall. In the place where they had had their final showdown with the Orc curate of the Star Tower, there had been a flayed and desiccated humanoid man with skinless remnants of birdlike wings protruding from it's back. It was suspended in the air by several spiked chains from the ceiling ceiling and floor. Beneath the figure was a statue of a Legion Archon, it's black armor being the only thing not made of stone. The statue was imprisoned inside a large, wrought iron cage with bars like thick, barbed wire crisscrossing around it, it's only access point being a single locked door at the back of the cage. Inside the cage engulfing the statue and armor was a gelatinous cube. After the battle with the curate and his minions, they killed the gelatinous cube and retrieved the armor off of the statue as well as the flayed body of the Legion Archon. In any case, they recognized the suit of fullplate armor was made of adamantine, attributed by its color and density, but was otherwise non-magical and stowed it into a bag of holding.

After the encounter on the way back to Castle Scarwall the group has begun to called the creature "the Dark Archon". By the time they returned to Castle Scarwall, they were told by the remainder of their party that the same figure had appeared at the castle and killed several of the orc reinforcements and scared away the remaining party members as it descended into the Star Tower and returned to the surface before disappearing once again. The group explored a large door beyond the dark temple below that they had elected to keep closed until the Pathfinder expedition they were waiting for had arrived to the castle. They discovered a passage to the Darklands that had been blocked off with stone debris and a large statue of Zon-Kuthon standing on a tiny island in the middle of a very still underground lake. At the base of the statue was a stone throne, the seat of which concealed a storage space large enough to hold the components of a primitive alchemist's lab and an opened canvas cloth. The clothe obviously had been protecting something, something that was now missing.

During the first week of being back in Absalom, the group went into research and shopping mode, or we call it "Mathfinder, the follow up edition to Dungeons and Merchants". In any case, they have come to the conclusion that the Archon is a Graveknight and had taken the Kardosian Codex. Based on a Church of Sarenrae text about the undead, meeting with several historical experts at the Grand Lodge and Absalom at large, and bardic tales from the past few years concerning the Gluttonous Tome and its components, the group is still in the midst of debate about what to do and how to go about locating the archon or the text, as well as what the possible motive of the archon is and whether or not he, or his possible master, are intending to use it to re-awaken Zutha, the Runelord of Gluttony, or use the Codex's power directly for their own ends.

If anyone has any thoughts or ideas for plotlines and twists, I'm certainly open to hearing those as well.

[M1k31]

I'm not sure where your question went.

all you need to make "power hungry" an actual problem is to create situations where the character in question needs to reign in his ambitions for the good of the quest/party.

Give another character some powerful relic/boon meant only for them, or give the party a "protection" type mission where they do not do something for themselves but for others benefit.

If you just give nothing but more and more power to the player it will never be an issue for them.

[Kai_G]

How does that take advantage of the -2 Will save against charms and compulsions though?

[Kahel Stormbender]

He gets targeted by charms and compulsions occasionally. Or worse yet, a Demon or Devil approaches the character with a Deal Too Good To Be True. If the player is roleplaying it right, this will be very tempting. And should provide some great RP moments.

"You can have it all, everything you ever desired. Everything you covet. Fame, riches, women, entire kingdoms at your feet. And the price is so small. Something you don't even need anyway. Come on, what do you say? Just sign on the dotted line."

[Quintessentially Me]

At the moment it seems like your Prime Minion (The Dark Archon), named because it seems to be the most obvious choice for the Big Bad Evil Guy's (BBEG) main henchman, is primarily focused on using direct action, specifically brute force and fear, to achieve its aims. There is some mystery in that the party doesn't yet know the full details (nor do we and nor, possibly, do you if you are winging all of this) of who the BBEG is or who in fact the Prime Minion is, but that's not going to last.

But brute force and intimidation are not the way to exploit Power Hungry. That said, you have two paths you can take and they are not mutually exclusive, so you can do both. One path focuses on mechanics while the other focuses on roleplay.

As @M1k31 and @Kahel pointed out, the core mechanic of Power Hungry is a -2 to Will saves against charm and compulsion effects where the enemy promises wealth or power. At present you have the following noteworthy sources of power or wealth at play in the campaign. Note this is just based on what you wrote; if you have more you can lean on them too:
- Abadar, god of, among other things, wealth, appears to have personally sent a Trumpet Archon to send the party on a quest, seemingly directly as a result of or as part of raising Calundan from the dead
- The Kardosian Codex is arguably an artifact level item that even if not directly used could be bartered for considerably power or wealth
- As a whole, the Gluttonous Tome itself is immensely powerful though insidious given how it takes the possessor over; that said it's an artifact and intelligent... lots of power
- The Dark Archon itself; it would have to change up its approach a little, offering a trade perhaps, to compel Calundan toward an act based on an offer of compensation or something
- The Dark Archon's master, the BBEG; Presumably such an entity has power or wealth it could offer of significance
So if the character plays it purely mechanically, there is sufficient power at play that a charm or compulsion effect could be tied into offering a sliver of power or wealth in exchange for accommodating the intended purpose of said charm/compulsion effect and thus triggering the Will save.

The other approach is dependent on how much roleplay your group gets into. As a LG character, the character might balk at feeling tempted by purely selfish offers of power or wealth. Instead, you would need to align the offer with the most treasured desires of the character. Some examples follow; keep in mind all of this would be in the context of a charm or compulsion effect targeting the Will save. If Calundan has, for example, sworn to protect some orphanage, perhaps there is some ritual that can be offered to provide protection, health, and/or general providence. Perhaps the BBEG promises to relinquish his hold over the Dark Archon, releasing it from whatever control is in place, and allowing it eternal rest, in exchange for Calundan's personal sacrifice e.g. laying down arms or giving up.

Bear in mind the overall goal is to have fun, so try to avoid strong arm tactics if you can. Still, some players pick up a weakness with the hope that it won't be exposed or that they can shore it up. The expectation only gets worse as time goes by and it goes unnoticed. If you target this flaw for this character, make sure you are fair about doing so for any other characters and to an equal measure. Ideally you do so in a common point in the campaign, targeting each party member's weaknesses. Thematically this matches narrative efforts in print and film where a team or group faces a collective moment of weakness. Heroes overcome. Flawed heroes muddle through. Everyone is transformed. Hopefully the players enjoy what they discover about their characters in the process.

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

He gets targeted by charms and compulsions occasionally. Or worse yet, a Demon or Devil approaches the character with a Deal Too Good To Be True. If the player is roleplaying it right, this will be very tempting. And should provide some great RP moments.

"You can have it all, everything you ever desired. Everything you covet. Fame, riches, women, entire kingdoms at your feet. And the price is so small. Something you don't even need anyway. Come on, what do you say? Just sign on the dotted line."

As my DM for The Dragon's Demand pointed out when my character for that took that flaw, it also applies when somebody offers you 5 silver to eat a bug.

[Snowblind]

I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:

Kahel Stormbender wrote:

He gets targeted by charms and compulsions occasionally. Or worse yet, a Demon or Devil approaches the character with a Deal Too Good To Be True. If the player is roleplaying it right, this will be very tempting. And should provide some great RP moments.

"You can have it all, everything you ever desired. Everything you covet. Fame, riches, women, entire kingdoms at your feet. And the price is so small. Something you don't even need anyway. Come on, what do you say? Just sign on the dotted line."

As my DM for The Dragon's Demand pointed out when my character for that took that flaw, it also applies when somebody offers you 5 silver to eat a bug.

BG:*casts suggestion* "If you betray and kill all your friends, I will give you...3 fiddy"

PC:"CANNOT...RESIST...THE...INCONCEIVABLE...WEALTH...aaaaHHHHHH" *stab* *stab*

[Skiron]

Snowblind wrote:

BG:*casts suggestion* "If you betray and kill all your friends, I will give you...3 fiddy"

'3 fiddy?' Don't let him insult you with such a poor, and poorly-pronounced, sum! *I* will give you...40 sp!

[blood_kite]

Snowblind wrote:

BG:*casts suggestion* "If you betray and kill all your friends, I will give you...3 fiddy"

Tree Fiddy? TREE FIDDY!?

Does this aasimar look like the Loch Ness Monster to you? No, seriously, does he look like the Loch Ness Monster while merged with his eidolon? Synthesists are weird like that.

[DM_Blake]

Power Hungry is one of those flaws people take when they want a free trait and don't really want to actually pay for it with a REAL disadvantage.

This is sort of a paraphrased conversation between me and a new player. It actually happened, though the actual player tried to be more subtle.

Me: I see you have three traits.
Player: I took a flaw. Power Hungry. My guy wants to be rich and powerful.
Me: Every adventurer wants that.
Player: I know, right?
Me: So it's like a free trait?
Player: Well, I will try harder than other adventurers.
Me: No, you will make bad decisions, decisions that can hurt your reputation even with your best friends and adventuring companions. You'll sell your own mother for the right price, and it's lower than the price that other people would sell theirs. You might even betray your friends, but you don't have to actually go that far - but if you're roleplaying this flaw correctly, your friends will actually wonder if you will, and worry about it frequently.
Player: So I have to make people not trust me?
Me: It's a FLAW. I expect you to roleplay it. You don't have to ruin your character or the campaign with it, but you MUST roleplay it from time to time, enough to actually affect the game. Never pay for your own meal in the taverns, try to go shopping with friends and get them to pay for your own gear. Always ask "what's in it for me" when some NPC asks for help. Etc.
Player: So I have to be a dick?
Me: Yeah, pretty much. Have you ever known anyone in the real world who you would call "Power Hungry" that didn't have a reputation for being a dick?
Player: No, I guess not.
Me: Also, anybody who has a chance to get to know you will soon figure out just how power-hungry you really are. This means that recurring bad guys or even just powerful townsfolk, may choose you as a target for enchantments and charms. More often than most. Because if they're smart enough to figure you out, they're probably smart enough to recognize your weakness. You may find yourself suffering from these spells fairly often.
Player: (he actually said this) But it's not fair to rob a player of his actions.
Me: It's also not fair to get a bonus trait, one you WILL use constantly, by taking a flaw that never gets exploited. That's not going to happen. So either drop the flaw AND the extra trait, or expect me to exploit your flaw often enough to balance the fact that you're exploiting that extra trait.

In the end, he kept it, roleplayed it well, and got charmed a few times. Hilarity ensued and fun was had.

[Kai_G]

Quintessentially Me, DM Blake, you've been very helpful. Thank you.

My next question would then be, what kind of characters/creatures have useful compulsion/charm abilities at a DC high enough to challenge a 9th level spellcaster?

[Weirdo]

Well, he's not a Wis-based caster so I'm guessing his will save is good but not fantastic.

A fey bloodline sorcerer gets +2 to the DC of their compulsion spells. A 9th level mesmerist's stare can give a target -3 to their will save. At level 10 they have access to Envious Urge, which seems very appropriate. Maximize charisma, add Spell Focus (enchantment), bring them 1-3 levels above the party and add some minions for physical protection and you should have a decent threat, with DCs around 20-24. If you really want to maximize your odds of something sticking you could also add Persistent Metamagic in feat or rod form, though that might be overdoing it.

On the monster side, Succubi are classic, probably advanced or with some class levels to up the CR (mesmerist is a strong choice)! Rusalka and Nereid are slightly more unusual but still recognizable. If you want something weird, try an Oolioddroo.

Another note on the RP angle:

Quintessentially Me wrote:

The other approach is dependent on how much roleplay your group gets into. As a LG character, the character might balk at feeling tempted by purely selfish offers of power or wealth. Instead, you would need to align the offer with the most treasured desires of the character. Some examples follow; keep in mind all of this would be in the context of a charm or compulsion effect targeting the Will save. If Calundan has, for example, sworn to protect some orphanage, perhaps there is some ritual that can be offered to provide protection, health, and/or general providence. Perhaps the BBEG promises to relinquish his hold over the Dark Archon, releasing it from whatever control is in place, and allowing it eternal rest, in exchange for Calundan's personal sacrifice e.g. laying down arms or giving up.

Definitely important to keep in mind that this is a heroic character, but also keep in mind that this is a character flaw being targeted. That means that it should have less than perfectly noble results. Whatever the deal is, there should be an element of selfishness to it, even as the character wants to justify it on account of the good being done. He's offered a powerful magical item that's just what he needs to save the day! Of course he gets to keep that item once the day is saved. He's offered a magical boon to help him protect the innocent! And at the same time looks really heroic in front of some very important people. He certainly shouldn't be asked to make a personal sacrifice since that's the opposite of accruing personal wealth and power. Whatever he's asked to do should ultimately be at someone else's expense - have him lie to a trusting ally or overlook some petty crime of his benefactor's. Ideally, there should be an alternate way to achieve the end goal, but in a way that does involve personal sacrifice on Calundan's part or that is at least less profitable.

Another thing you can play on is the "Chosen One" idea. The character is on a divine mission right now and that's got to inflate his normal sense of entitlement. He needs this wealth and power to complete his very important heroic mission... or at least he thinks he needs it.