TL;DR: I'm trying to decide whether to conspire with a player, or just drop hints and let the chips fall as the may. I'd like to hear about your attempts to conspire with players, and how they turned out.
As mentioned elsewhere, I have a player who has made it clear they don't like their character and wouldn't be sad to see them go and start afresh. Venomfang has been messing with the party since before she mentioned this. Now VF has a plan to corrupt her via a cursed sending stone implanting ideas in her head. I'm trying to decide if I should just pass messages from the stone and let the player run with them as she pleases, or if I should just straight conspire with her to provide a more cohesive and perhaps entertaining story. Or perhaps there's a middle ground?
I figured if I went the first route, I'd initially provide full latitude in resisting the voices - they're just unwanted thoughts and she can fight them off easily enough. They're just implanted messages looking to corrupt her desire for knowledge into a desire for power. She'd have the chance to speak to the group about what was going on, ask for help, and they can figure out the source and quest for something to remove the curse. But if she started acting on the voices, it would gradually become harder to resist, requiring wisdom saving throws, accumulating corruption points (Matt Mercer corruption mechanic), etc... Past a certain point the stone would prevent her actively seeking help. Then it would be up to the group to notice what is going on and try to help her. She'd then have the option of whether she wanted help or to allow her character to go full evil (at which point she switches to NPC).
My worry is that in haste to ditch the character she may see the very first whisper as a signal to murder everything in her path and accelerate her fall in a way that would be unbelievable and a bad story. If I conspire with her, we can probably plan out a much more subtle and nuanced switch to evil. Of course, whichever path I choose, it will remain a side story unless the party decides to quest for the solution.
Maybe this is a dumb question but -- if she wants to ditch the character and start fresh, why not just let her do that? Why make her keep playing this character she no longer likes and doesn't want to play, through what sounds like multiple sessions of an involved story arc? Unless she has specifically said she wants to RP out some sort of dramatic send-off, why not just have her character leave the party -- you don't need a great reason, maybe she comes down with "Spattergroit" (thanks JK Rowling!), and has to be laid up while she heals. Then the new character happens to be in the same town where they bring her for healing, and you do the swappity-do. Done and done. 10 minutes of RP and she's on to the new character. She'll be happier -- and this will make you and everyone else happier.
IMO, I would not do an involved plan to replace a character on a player's request. I would just find a way to swap them out ASAP and let the other one just fade away. Again, unless the player has requested a long, drawn-out, and dramatic exit (in which case, sure, go for it).
Of the two choices you provided, I would consult with the player not spring it on them.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Maybe this is a dumb question but -- if she wants to ditch the character and start fresh, why not just let her do that? Why make her keep playing this character she no longer likes and doesn't want to play, through what sounds like multiple sessions of an involved story arc? Unless she has specifically said she wants to RP out some sort of dramatic send-off, why not just have her character leave the party -- you don't need a great reason, maybe she comes down with "Spattergroit" (thanks JK Rowling!), and has to be laid up while she heals. Then the new character happens to be in the same town where they bring her for healing, and you do the swappity-do. Done and done. 10 minutes of RP and she's on to the new character. She'll be happier -- and this will make you and everyone else happier.
IMO, I would not do an involved plan to replace a character on a player's request. I would just find a way to swap them out ASAP and let the other one just fade away. Again, unless the player has requested a long, drawn-out, and dramatic exit (in which case, sure, go for it).
Of the two choices you provided, I would consult with the player not spring it on them.
It's a fair point, and one I'll discuss with her. I think she'd rather go out in a blaze of glory (or disgrace) than just dump the PC, but we will see what she says.
Right but she might want a 1-hour blaze of glory in the next session and be done with it rather than it dragging on for however many sessions your plan takes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Right but she might want a 1-hour blaze of glory in the next session and be done with it rather than it dragging on for however many sessions your plan takes.
It's also very possible they want to just get to that level with that feature to use once
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Helper of Create a World thread/Sedge is Chaotic Neutral/ Mega Yahtzee High: 34, Low: 14/I speak English, je me parle le Francais, agus Labhraim beagan Gaeilge
TL;DR: I'm trying to decide whether to conspire with a player, or just drop hints and let the chips fall as the may. I'd like to hear about your attempts to conspire with players, and how they turned out.
As mentioned elsewhere, I have a player who has made it clear they don't like their character and wouldn't be sad to see them go and start afresh. Venomfang has been messing with the party since before she mentioned this. Now VF has a plan to corrupt her via a cursed sending stone implanting ideas in her head. I'm trying to decide if I should just pass messages from the stone and let the player run with them as she pleases, or if I should just straight conspire with her to provide a more cohesive and perhaps entertaining story. Or perhaps there's a middle ground?
I figured if I went the first route, I'd initially provide full latitude in resisting the voices - they're just unwanted thoughts and she can fight them off easily enough. They're just implanted messages looking to corrupt her desire for knowledge into a desire for power. She'd have the chance to speak to the group about what was going on, ask for help, and they can figure out the source and quest for something to remove the curse. But if she started acting on the voices, it would gradually become harder to resist, requiring wisdom saving throws, accumulating corruption points (Matt Mercer corruption mechanic), etc... Past a certain point the stone would prevent her actively seeking help. Then it would be up to the group to notice what is going on and try to help her. She'd then have the option of whether she wanted help or to allow her character to go full evil (at which point she switches to NPC).
My worry is that in haste to ditch the character she may see the very first whisper as a signal to murder everything in her path and accelerate her fall in a way that would be unbelievable and a bad story. If I conspire with her, we can probably plan out a much more subtle and nuanced switch to evil. Of course, whichever path I choose, it will remain a side story unless the party decides to quest for the solution.
Maybe this is a dumb question but -- if she wants to ditch the character and start fresh, why not just let her do that? Why make her keep playing this character she no longer likes and doesn't want to play, through what sounds like multiple sessions of an involved story arc? Unless she has specifically said she wants to RP out some sort of dramatic send-off, why not just have her character leave the party -- you don't need a great reason, maybe she comes down with "Spattergroit" (thanks JK Rowling!), and has to be laid up while she heals. Then the new character happens to be in the same town where they bring her for healing, and you do the swappity-do. Done and done. 10 minutes of RP and she's on to the new character. She'll be happier -- and this will make you and everyone else happier.
IMO, I would not do an involved plan to replace a character on a player's request. I would just find a way to swap them out ASAP and let the other one just fade away. Again, unless the player has requested a long, drawn-out, and dramatic exit (in which case, sure, go for it).
Of the two choices you provided, I would consult with the player not spring it on them.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
It's a fair point, and one I'll discuss with her. I think she'd rather go out in a blaze of glory (or disgrace) than just dump the PC, but we will see what she says.
Right but she might want a 1-hour blaze of glory in the next session and be done with it rather than it dragging on for however many sessions your plan takes.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
It's also very possible they want to just get to that level with that feature to use once
Helper of Create a World thread/Sedge is Chaotic Neutral/ Mega Yahtzee High: 34, Low: 14/I speak English, je me parle le Francais, agus Labhraim beagan Gaeilge
Dream of Days Lore Bard 9/Wizard 4 Baulder's Gate: Descent to Avernus (In Person/Over Zoom)
Saleadon Morgul Battle Smith Artificer 11 Tyranny of Dragons (In Person/Over Zoom)
Hurtharn Serpti Ghostslayer Blood Hunter 7 Spelljammer (Over Zoom)
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