Monsterous Damsels Quest - Advice?


Advice


So, there's been a string of lady kidnappings across the kingdom. However, while the lady always returns unharmed if a bit shaken up, the lover that chases after her sometimes ends up dead. Many speculate that in the case of the lady's lover dying, the kidnapper himself returns the lady without any random demands. Regardless, the king asks the party to investigate, find, and render judgement upon the kidnapper.

The kidnapper is a human that was born with a dog's head, which magic couldn't fix. His rise to (borderline?) villainy came when he found love with a lady while he was masked, only to be dumped when she found out about his dog head. Once he kidnaps a lady, he puts a ring on her that he cursed to turn her into a dragon indefinitely. Then he enchants a piece of the lady's jewelry to break the ring's curse and hides with it while waiting for the lover to arrive. His next course of action depends on the lover: if the lover recognizes the lady and still professes love to her, he throws the enchated jewelery to them and runs away, but if the lover fights or snubs the lady, he will jump in to fight the lover to the death once the lady either fights back or runs away, then he gives her the enchanted jewelry and takes her back to her house in the dead of night. I was thinking about having him dress up as a plague doctor.

Any suggestions?


How should I build the kidnapper?


It's painful, but there's an oracle curse for the dog head bit (Wolfscarred Face is the name). Should you a want a mechanical explanation, this one also has possibilities storywise, as oracles always do.

Beyond that, nothing really hints at a specific class or even style. Whatever amuses you most would work.

Weird gentlemanly barbarian, getting really angry (and bestial) when one disrespects the ladies ?
Unstable wizard, unable to fix himself but out to put other people's so-called "love stories" to the test, and prove to the world how flimsy and fake this whole nonsense is ?
Mad social scientist, experimenting to figure out what love is, how to quantify it, understand it, tame it for ... Some random purpose ?

What's his motivation (if more than sheer insanity), social class, that kind of stuff ?


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Does the kidnapper have to be Human? A Rougarou is repeatedly referenced as being like a Human but with a wolf head and body fur, perhaps they could be a variant? They tend to be protective of those they hold dear, live in seclusion and have a lawful mindset, which would explain the convoluted but meaningful steps taken in your description. The Bestiary 6 entry is a Ranger. For your concept : Favoured Enemy relating to the Race(s) of the ladies, Favoured Terrain to include Urban, Combat Style choices related to duelling (for "love"); Track/Swift Tracker/Quarry/Camouflage to stalk and kidnap. If you are open to expanding the reasoning to include the ladies themselves, perhaps they are secretly low-level Witches and the kidnapper is a Witchguard searching for a charge/ward. If their lovers prove themselves then the Rougarou recognizes them as a worthy protector, otherwise the kidnapper will take the role. Witches are generally more accepting of the unusual and would respect someone capable of breaking Curses, (all part of the romantic side to the kidnappings). Bonus points if his "house" is a cottage in a wood ...


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I'll go with the kidnapper being a Rougarou born to human parents.

Before becoming a villain, or something, the kidnapper had a respectable profession where it's appropriate to cover one's face, and even fell in love with a noble lady. She later dumped him for nothing other than his wierd head. He now hates the notion of love, since most if not all nobles seem unable to look past appearances. After each kidnapping, he posts an anonymous letter on his former lover's door describing the results of that kidnapping with clear, simple handwriting, followed by something along the lines of "you nobles are all pathetic" or "these two are better than you" written in harsh anglar strokes, depending on the outcome of the kidnapping.

Since I need him to stay out of towns, I think I need him to be able to cast Remove Curse and at least Form of the Dragon I, and to Craft Wonderous Item.

While I'm at it, can someone purposefully craft cursed magic items?


Lazaryus wrote:
While I'm at it, can someone purposefully craft cursed magic items?

Yes, though many GMs bar the players from doing so; with a bit of ingenuity, cursed items can be crazy powerful.


Lazaryus wrote:
While I'm at it, can someone purposefully craft cursed magic items?

Very much so, (although as @VRMH said, this can be unbalancing).


Ok, I'll add Major Curse to the spells I need the kidnapper to cast.

Based on the new info, how should I build the kidnapper?


A hoaxer bard specialises in making cursed items, or a spellcasting vigilante archetype (e.g. cabalist or warlock) is good at hiding their appearance. You don't really need the spell prerequisites to make magic items if you're good at spellcraft BTW, at least if you're only skipping one or two; a +5-10 increase in the spellcraft DC should be survivable if you're maxing spellcraft and maybe snagging another bonus or two. Bards can get remove curse at least.

Do you have any idea how much some PCs would want a ring which turns them into a dragon indefinitely? Even if it's only shadow dragon aspect rather than FotD I.

Dark Archive

Okay, let's start with the one thing you've definitely got wrong. He wasn't masked when he met the young lady. She thought he was masked. (Kinda like the Hunchback of the Notre Dame? Everybody was wearing a mask except for him.)

Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, I'm thinking that Lamashtu is responsible for his appearance. I would go for the standard "woman prays to Lamashtu to give her a child."

That would make me go for a tiefling. Demon-spawn (pitborn) if that would be a good fit. You can trade the spell-like ability for a bite attack if you want to. (Maw or Claw alternative racial trait.) As for class? Witch seems appropriate.


How about the princess of the kingdom the kidnapper operates in was cursed by Tiamat to generate and store draconic energy, with the princess turning into an adult dragon out of her control for 24 hours if she stores too much, and the ring instead uses the energy from the curse to do dragon stuff, with the caveat that the ring can only be used by someone who can channel draconic energy (spellcasters with draconic class features, such as Sorcerers with the Draconic or Linnorm bloodline, Wyrmwitches, and Draconic Druids)?


Bump


Hello?


Unwinding that then - the princess has a plot curse before the story you're telling happens, and rather than being cursed the ring lets her avoid the curse. The ring isn't likely to cause amusing collisions between PCs diving to grab it as its powers are quite specialised.

I'm not sure how this fits into your initial story but there might be a terrible misunderstanding involved.


Lemme guess, you got this idea after watching this video?

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