So I am playing an evil campaign with some friends, and I'd like to keep my next character in my pocket because death seems pretty inevitable. My DM is pretty willing to work with us, having homebrewed a Warforged Artificer who upgrades his own body for another player. We are level 8 and it's high fantasy so our characters have 66,000 starting wealth.
I had an idea for a character, but I'm kind of at a loss at how to execute it. I know if I have some solid mechanics to show to my DM, he'll be a lot more receptive to the idea.
So the two central ideas that I'm working with here are as follows:
1.) My character would be an intelligent sword. Probably a bastard sword or a greatsword.
2.) It possesses/dominates the wielder by trapping their soul similar to Magic Jar. It would be more permanent than magic jar, however the range would be reduced to that of touch, so only those who actually pick up the blade would be effected. I'd also be cool with a slow burn to possession as I roleplay slowly tempting the wielder under my thrall before I trap/consume their soul and hijack their body. I really want this to be about the sword, and I can't stress enough how much I have no interest in playing a single humanoid who is helping to serve him. I'm really digging the idea of a character that upgrades not using magic items, but finding increasingly powerful NPCs to take control of (and maybe even PCs if I'm feeling really mean.)
So any ideas on how to execute this in a balanced fashion? Should I even get class levels or do I just get a new character sheet for each body I pick up? I've looked into the bladebound magus, the blade adept arcanist and the steelbound fighter and they are all generally in line with this character, but none account for the concept of body hopping. The scaling magic items and intelligent item rules are central to this idea, but those are pretty obviously not meant to be played as PCs. My main example to this is that Ego is meant to be a detriment/balancing factor to players, but would only help to make this character more powerful.
Is this too broken to play? Has anyone ever played or DMed for a character who's central mechanism is body hijacking? I'd love to know what I should be willing to expect to give up to make this character work.
The big challenge with what you're describing is that intelligent items do not have class levels and if you're a soul using object possession, you won't have all the powers of being an intelligent item. You'd need to be a high level character to feasibly do all that.
Since flavor is the main draw here, it might be more feasible to play a bladebound magus, steelbound fighter, or a phantom blade spiritualist and reflavor it. You don't necessarily need all those abilities mechanically. You can just have it be part of your character's backstory and make up some reason why it can't be done at-will. Say that the blackblade contains the soul of your previous victim and that the PC is actually the character inhabiting that victim's body via instantaneous soul swap.
I mean yeah that works pretty efficiently. I dont really want to give up the idea of being able to hijack other people though, even if its something I would unlock at a higher level. What are the rules concerning playing a ghost or ethereal being capable of possession?
I mean yeah that works pretty efficiently. I dont really want to give up the idea of being able to hijack other people though, even if its something I would unlock at a higher level. What are the rules concerning playing a ghost or ethereal being capable of possession?
I'd say go check Dreamscarred Press's deathless ghost monster class. They include a feat called malevolence that can only be taken by that class. When you eventually get it, it will allow you to possess creatures without a receptacle.
I'd say go check Dreamscarred Press's deathless ghost monster class. They include a feat called malevolence that can only be taken by that class. When you eventually get it, it will allow you to possess creatures without a receptacle.
Alright thanks, I picked it up. I think I'm starting to have more of an idea of how to execute this but damn it's extremely complicated.
I had a character become, in-game, a sentient soul-gem, a'la Marvel's Warlock character. It became too ridiculously powerful to be fun. The game was better off without him.
I had a character become, in-game, a sentient soul-gem, a'la Marvel's Warlock character. It became too ridiculously powerful to be fun. The game was better off without him.
Yeah i think that's probably something to watch out for. If it seems like nobody else is having fun because I've hit the ceiling and busted through with the force of a thousand gods I'll likely roll up a new character and ask the dm to take him as an eventual enemy for us to fight.
Seems like the DM is interested in me giving this thing a try btw. We just have to work out the kinks.
Here is it done as a villain