I'm running a game that sprung from Carrion Crown and just kept going. The party is 8th level now. In the course of the CC module, they took some books from the library of one of the cultists and the sorcerer has been reading it. I believe I called it "The Space Between the Stars" or some such. I don't recall if that was named in the module or not.
I want this to have an effect on the character, and I think the player is kind of nudging this way as well (if I'm reading the signs right). So I took a look at the corruption rules, and I like the idea of granting a little bit of power at a price. However, none of the corruption types given really sound like the kind of effects you might get from the creeping madness from reading up on the secret Elder Things from Beyond.
In addition to this, the sorcerer has the aberrant bloodline, and was the one PC affected by the
Obviously, based on this alone, Deep One sounds like the perfect corruption. But after taking a look at it, those are all about turning into a Deep One, which doesn't make a lot of sense for what's going on. Growing gills and craving the sea isn't the end result of reading about the secret ancient horrors of the void.
I took a cue based on a podcast interview with (I think) Jason Buhlman, and let the player cheat when he failed a Will save, saying that the knowledge gained from the book his character had been reading let her break the mind control. That was at the end of the last session. Now I want that to have a lasting effect and a taint of corruption, but none of the types I read really fit.
So I'm wondering if anyone has any house rules Corruptions, or has ideas, or knows of any 3PP products (that aren't on the d20PFSRD) for a more Lovecraftian corruption, like a sliding slope into madness.
I am utterly humiliated by the "then" in the title of this thread. Can I get an admin to fix that?
Gothic compendium from Legendary Games.
I will check that out. Thanks!
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Tentacle beasts and what not are good and all, but the real horror comes from a changing reality that doesn't fit any rules that can be discerned.
Left is right, up is blue, down is the knowledge that your existence is meaningless.
Tell the sorcerer that one of his spell slots is permanently only usable to cast: Summon Gho-Dholtha
Give it stats as if it were a summoned monster of the appropriate level, have it take the shape of ordinary beasts, though something is always creepy (a bear with gug arms, strange crossbreeds, human faces, a tentacle attack that comes out of its mouth, etc). It always obeys orders, except on the last round of the spell, it always turns to the player and asks "Are you ready to return with me?" After a couple sessions, whether he casts the spell or not, inform him that now 2 slots are permanently taken up by the spell.
Once he casts the spell, he occasionally has a specific dream. He's on a rock, surrounded by empty space (like outer space, just stars in the distance). In front of him is an altar, which sits in front of a massive statue that looks like it was carved millennia ago, but has been eroded by time, it's shape now unidentifiable. In the dream, he takes out a giant red ruby from a pocket under his left arm, places it on the altar and smashes it. The ruby bursts and covers the altar in blood, and the massive statue starts to tremble. That is when he always wakes up.
If he ever dies, describe his chest as having a strange pulsing glow to it. If they open up his chest cavity, they find his heart has been replaced by a ruby. If a spellcaster studies the ruby (detect magic, identify, handling it for several minutes), they now go through everything he went through.
Sorcerers don't get enough spell slots for this punishment!
What kind of sorcerer is he? If the PC likes summoning things, I can see saying that all of his summons are like this, whether he wants it or not. But he shouldn't HAVE to summon these things to use all of his spells for the day.
I like the Dark Tapestry subdomain of the Void Domain, although your instinctive reaction is more in line with the straight-up Void Domain. Yeah, I know, they're for clerics. But they both look like they could be easily adapted to be his NEW bloodline. Maybe he shifts into it slowly?
If he gets this new bloodline in addition to his current one (the more merciful choice), there definitely needs to be some other penalty. Perhaps there is a 5% chance every time he casts a spell that he suffers from Confusion for one round? Or maybe every time he goes to sleep & dreams? (Again, the more merciful choice.)
Sorcerers don't get enough spell slots for this punishment!
Sorcerers get the most spell slots. I'm not replacing a known spell, in a way, I'm adding one for them.
Also, I'm under no illusions that my idea is beneficial. It's meant to show the character descending into madness, until all he can do is think about what sort of being is trapped inside the statue in that void. Of course he'll never now since he has to rip out his own heart and die to free it.
There is no shiny toy for the protagonist at the end of Lovecraft's stories.
Perhaps a slightly tweaked [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/corruption/aboleth-corruption/]Aboleth[/url corruption? It has a lot to do with strange things of the mind, and the aboleth-related aspects could be changed to more Cthulhuesque drawbacks without too much trouble.
Sorcerers don't get enough spell slots for this punishment!Sorcerers get the most spell slots. I'm not replacing a known spell, in a way, I'm adding one for them.
Also, I'm under no illusions that my idea is beneficial. It's meant to show the character descending into madness, until all he can do is think about what sort of being is trapped inside the statue in that void. Of course he'll never now since he has to rip out his own heart and die to free it.
There is no shiny toy for the protagonist at the end of Lovecraft's stories.
I get the non-beneficial part. But if they can't use their last slot or two EXCEPT for a spell they don't want to cast (because they have no interest in the spell that's been reserved), they've lost spell slots. I'd look at what kinds of spells the sorc had to begin with and corrupt those.
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Again, that's the point. I get that you don't like the idea, but it does fit the concept of "sliding into madness" in a Lovecraftian style that the OP stated in the first post.
You're allowed to not like it. You're allowed to say it's a bad thing for the sorcerer. These things can be true AND it can still fit with the criteria outlined by the OP.
The characters in Lovecraft's stories NEVER liked the things that happened to them... unless the thing happening to them was a monster creating a euphoric state in their minds, but then it usually did something bad to them.
If a thing isn't horrifying and bad to the character, then it cannot be called a "Lovecraftian slide into madness". It can be something else, but it isn't that.
Analogy:
Hey guys, I like oranges, can you suggest a fruit similar to oranges?
Response 1: grapefruit?
Response 2: pizza?
Pizza is good food, but it doesn't meet the criteria that the person is asking for by having similar characteristics to an orange. It's okay to not like grapefruit, but it does meet the general characteristics of being "similar to oranges". It might turn out that the person asking realizes they don't actually want something similar to oranges, but would actually prefer pizza. In which case, they'll change the parameters of their question next time.
To Irontruth: I'm curious what the OP thinks of your idea. And I'm grateful there's more than just one definition here of a "Lovecraftian slide into madness" for the OP to consider.
But as long as you & I are conversing here, let me try explaining my take again. I play a blaster who reads something I knew I shouldn't. I don't cast summon spells, I just don't. So after the GM springs your idea on me, I'm not horrified by the mad things I summon, I'm simply frustrated that I lost spells/day. I still spend my day blasting, reliably and sanely. (I equip myself with a bow for when I run out of spells.) If the GM had found a way to twist my blast spells, though, now that would have given me a sense of descending into madness! Same thing if I'm a battlefield controller; the GM would have to twist my control spells to properly play with my sense of reality.
My idea is so bad that you want to take it and modify it? Yeah. Done with that.
Sorry, this thread went dead for days so I stopped checking. Now I have to get caught up. I appreciate all who thought about it and offered suggestions, even if I don't agree with your conclusions.
What kind of sorcerer is he? If the PC likes summoning things, I can see saying that all of his summons are like this, whether he wants it or not. But he shouldn't HAVE to summon these things to use all of his spells for the day.
I don't think he has any summons on his spells-known list. He's mostly control. Showstopper spells like Charm Monster. Battlefield shaping like Web. I don't know his other spells, actually, but that was the theme he was going with. He has a couple damage spells.
Perhaps a slightly tweaked [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/corruption/aboleth-corruption/]Aboleth[/url corruption? It has a lot to do with strange things of the mind, and the aboleth-related aspects could be changed to more Cthulhuesque drawbacks without too much trouble.
I like a few of those, so I can use that as a starting point. Thanks for pointing that one out.
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Tentacle beasts and what not are good and all, but the real horror comes from a changing reality that doesn't fit any rules that can be discerned.
Left is right, up is blue, down is the knowledge that your existence is meaningless.
Tell the sorcerer that one of his spell slots is permanently only usable to cast: Summon Gho-Dholtha
Give it stats as if it were a summoned monster of the appropriate level, have it take the shape of ordinary beasts, though something is always creepy (a bear with gug arms, strange crossbreeds, human faces, a tentacle attack that comes out of its mouth, etc). It always obeys orders, except on the last round of the spell, it always turns to the player and asks "Are you ready to return with me?" After a couple sessions, whether he casts the spell or not, inform him that now 2 slots are permanently taken up by the spell.
Once he casts the spell, he occasionally has a specific dream. He's on a rock, surrounded by empty space (like outer space, just stars in the distance). In front of him is an altar, which sits in front of a massive statue that looks like it was carved millennia ago, but has been eroded by time, it's shape now unidentifiable. In the dream, he takes out a giant red ruby from a pocket under his left arm, places it on the altar and smashes it. The ruby bursts and covers the altar in blood, and the massive statue starts to tremble. That is when he always wakes up.
If he ever dies, describe his chest as having a strange pulsing glow to it. If they open up his chest cavity, they find his heart has been replaced by a ruby. If a spellcaster studies the ruby (detect magic, identify, handling it for several minutes), they now go through everything he went through.
I probably won't reserve a spell slot like that but I might vary that idea to corrupt some spells he casts when I can find an appropriate time. Or she casts. Male player, female character. Pronoun trouble ensues. You've given me an idea. When (s)he charms a creature, I'll have it start speaking Aklo. I might even use the "Are you ready" idea there.
I also like the dream idea since dreams are playing a big part in this campaign. I won't take the idea verbatim, but there's definitely a good basis to play around with.