Red Mantis Assassins

[Lanathar]

One of my players wants to play someone who is a former Red Mantis Assassin who turned away from that life

He is a Blood Kineticist so seemed to think the Blood theme of the order. He has read the background and also thinks rebelling against a legitimate authority would further distance him from the group (of course the Red Mantis is just about Monarchs so Barzillai would not count)

Now an ex Norgorber following assassin would obviously be a great fit for the game due to some of the people who show up later

But could a Red Mantis be made to work in any way? Or is it too out of place? I know they appear in Crimson Throne but that is because they are backing up a Monarch. I am not sure they would as readily do anything for Barzillai or really care naturally

Does anyone have any thoughts on linking in the backstory
(I have said to keep the exact nature of his past assassin life vague - "he doesn't like to talk or think about it" - which gives me even more time to work something out)

[roguerouge]

Just sub in the Red Mantis for any assassination parts of the AP, have them be gunning for the PC for whatever reason. It'll feel personal.

[Lanathar]

That seems like it can mostly work . I am a bit more uncertain about the were-rat cleric. She doesn’t make sense as a red mantis. But it seems like that can be kept as is

[BornofHate]

How fun would it be to introduce some intrafaction conflict with the Red Mantis Assassins? Perhaps The Red Mantis assassins actually want Barzillai dead because he’s not actually a legitimate authority? Perhaps there’s a deeper reason why they want him ousted. Did Barzillai get turned down by the RMAs when he tried to hire them to kill Bainilus?

What if you kept the Norgorber Skinsaw Cult the same but introduced a member or two of the RMAs later on in book 3 as allies or perhaps even just neutral parties that grant the PC a mantis helm and sanction Barzillai’s removal? How fun would it be to have the PC return to the RMAs?

[Lanathar]

Oh wow I like this!

[Kasoh]

I cut the Norgorber cult out of my campaign, and added Red Mantis assassins to do any wetwork that Barzillai needed. This included a hit on my vigilante player's public identity which they used to fake their own death and become their vigilante identity all the time until after Barzillai was dead.

I added a small dungeon for the Red Mantis base, lifted it right out of Curse of the Crimson Throne, actually because the Cytellish deposits there fit in well with No Escape From Deepmar, which I also ran the PCs through as it was nearby.

All that being said, the Red Mantis Assassins are still just an assassin cult. They take contracts out to kill people from whoever pays them so long as the target isn't a monarch. Its totally doable for them to be in Kintargo.

[Lanathar]

So it would seem my players are a bit daft - they basically had a loud audible conversation about on being a member of the red mantis in the middle of the street in Vyre

I kind of feel that this should come back in some way. Perhaps not a serious way but in some way

But I don’t really understand how Vyre works. It seems a centre of norgorber worship with one of the main rulers ordering lots of hits . But there is a rule about wounding only in the city

If anything I feel like there might be questioning about what the “red mantis” are doing in the city. Putting them in front of Delaraius could be quite something ...(but probably overkill)