I just started my campaign today and I would like your opinion on what might happen in the future (ideas).
Here's what happened TODAY:
- A meteor falls from the sky near a village, causing turmoil and curiosity
- The adventurers immediately went to investigate what happened. Arriving there a red "vortex" existed in the center of the crater
- The PCs fight two lemures.
- The vortex goes off and dissappear.
- After few hours looks like it's just a "normal event" (a meteor falls from the sky and that's it, no big deal)
- The PCs return to town and discover that the innkeeper's daughter has been kidnapped by goblins.
- The PCs track the kidnappers, fight goblins, worgs and a hobgoblin.
Explanations:
- The meteor actually came from Avernus and temporarily opened a portal leading Avernus to the material plan.
- The Goblins kidnapped the innkeeper's daughter to perform a ritual for Maglubiyet, thinking he was the one who threw the stone from the skies in retaliation for the Goblins "not honoring the War" (Goblins' view of the meteor crash)
What's about to happen:
- In the center of the crater a tree of Gulthias will appear, infecting all the surrounding forest, the PCs will have to deal with it (Blights)
Now, What could have come out of the portal to Avernus before the players got there? How can the story develop from there? Any idea?
You can make it a demon of mid-level, something smart that could do some manipulating and pulling of strings that would be a boss encounter for your party later. Something like a Night Hag, a Black Abishai, a Succubus, or potentially a Shadow Demon. Or even something that is just strong and rampaging, like a Tanarukk, assuming that your party will be at a level to deal with that kind of threat.
How you move on from this point is going to depend greatly on what you bring through and where you want the campaign to end up.
Bringing a destructive creature through the portal, for example, might lead to a rampaging monster the party has to stop. A succubus might result in a more political campaign, where the party never knows who to trust and who might be a thrall to the succubus. An intelligent, overtly evil demon might try to raise an army, etc.
You also need to decide if what came through is the big bad of your campaign, or the first harbinger of things to come. Maybe this is a smaller campaign, where you hunt down a medium-level enemy. Maybe it is a huge, CR 20 threat that came through. Or maybe it is a a medium threat, but that threat is trying to open other portals or otherwise is furthering it’s much bigger master who has not come through yet.
Or perhaps what came through is not evil at all - it’s a good entity that escaped from Avernus and needs to be protected from those that hunt it.
Choose what type of campaign you want to run first, and that will dictate what type of entity you want to come through. That, in turn, will define what occurs next.
Any ideas on how she might act? I thought of her acting as a "trusted" NPC of the players, giving them questionable quests. In addition to of course other events in the background.
Any idea how she might act? I thought of her acting as a "trusted" NPC of the players, giving them questionable quests. In addition to of course other events in the background.
While, the succubus would try and do something to get in the parties good graces. Something that is useful for the PC's and doesn't seem to conveniant. Say, she pretends to be imprisoned or offers some info, either way, she will want to become a temporary NPC/party member. With the party she can try to seduce someone, (try and actually trick the player here and do it away from the other players/PC's eyes). Soon, that person is most likely dead.
Note: Dont try any hints that hurts the Succubi's manipulative chances, the party will already be suspicious enough.
Well, I'd recommend that you'd read up on the lore of a succubus, it almost always helps me come up with ideas reading what WOTC has suggested for monsters.
A lot of their initial dealings are in their mind and dreams. You could have them pose as a diety that has started to appear in people's dreams to get them to act (maybe even someone in your party?), or perhaps they only appear to people that seem 'interesting' (the party) and claim to be someone who is imprisoned with a castle/dungeon/wizards tower/etc and need freeing when in actuality they are just trying to cause chaos and sow seeds of destruction. Perhaps she approaches them saying that she works for an evil lord but would rather just enjoy the time she is spending outside of Avarus and couldn't care less about her lord and asks the parties to help in freeing her from whatever contract binds her to the lord.
What I had a succubus (incubus technically but whatever) in my game do was show up to the paladin in their dreams and ask them for help. Naturally, the player thought this person to be their god so they acted accordingly. The intent behind this was for the incubus to get the paladin to break their oath and willingly give up their soul to the incubus so the incubus could gain status. Ultimately the paladin player took levels into barbarian and forgave the incubus for its deception (Oath of redemption, so it was fitting) and now are friends with the incubus as it attempts to become a celestial. The story is a bit more complicated than that brief summary, but perhaps it will inspire you. I'd also be willing to talk more about it if you wanted to DM me for the specifics of what I did and how it went.
How you move on from this point is going to depend greatly on what you bring through and where you want the campaign to end up.
Bringing a destructive creature through the portal, for example, might lead to a rampaging monster the party has to stop. A succubus might result in a more political campaign, where the party never knows who to trust and who might be a thrall to the succubus. An intelligent, overtly evil demon might try to raise an army, etc.
You also need to decide if what came through is the big bad of your campaign, or the first harbinger of things to come. Maybe this is a smaller campaign, where you hunt down a medium-level enemy. Maybe it is a huge, CR 20 threat that came through. Or maybe it is a a medium threat, but that threat is trying to open other portals or otherwise is furthering it’s much bigger master who has not come through yet.
Or perhaps what came through is not evil at all - it’s a good entity that escaped from Avernus and needs to be protected from those that hunt it.
Choose what type of campaign you want to run first, and that will dictate what type of entity you want to come through. That, in turn, will define what occurs next.
Building on this, there are other "useful" NPCs that could come from the portal:
Paladin sworn to fight the forces of Avernus, was _this_ close to killing a Shadow Demon before the portal opened and spewed them out
Scout looking to gather valuable info on Avernus, who has now escaped undiscovered. Depending on the scout's info, such as warnings of Dire Event X about to happen, you could get the PCs trying to find a way into Avernus to stop X.
A reformed Demon who was looking for a way to escape, has not yet been spotted missing, and can help PCs prepare for any big encounter they think to name. Honest...
Another alternative to throw in for Succubus, since they have the Shapechanger feature you could have 2 succubi, one who tries to impersonate an NPC and visibly fails, but not before letting slip that there's more than one of them, if you're looking to make PCs on edge...
Sounds like a solid campaign though, good luck!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“And what would humans be without love?" RARE, said Death. Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
The other thing that could happen when a meteor falls is that it can destroy a village or town. I ran a single-session side quest where my PCs had to travel to the town hit by a meteorite to conduct search-and-rescue and relief operations: putting out fires, rescuing townfolk from damaged buildings, etc. Their tradeoff was goodwill from the local population.
They also had to negotiate with some orcs who had taken possession of the iron core of the meteorite (which was small enough to be transportable, but large enough to be worth something).
I hadn't considered this prior to running the session, but it was actually a really useful break from the broader adventure. It made a nice change change from sneaking around, fighting monsters, etc, and it gave the PCs a chance to shine in areas they normally wouldn't.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I just started my campaign today and I would like your opinion on what might happen in the future (ideas).
Here's what happened TODAY:
- A meteor falls from the sky near a village, causing turmoil and curiosity
- The adventurers immediately went to investigate what happened. Arriving there a red "vortex" existed in the center of the crater
- The PCs fight two lemures.
- The vortex goes off and dissappear.
- After few hours looks like it's just a "normal event" (a meteor falls from the sky and that's it, no big deal)
- The PCs return to town and discover that the innkeeper's daughter has been kidnapped by goblins.
- The PCs track the kidnappers, fight goblins, worgs and a hobgoblin.
Explanations:
- The meteor actually came from Avernus and temporarily opened a portal leading Avernus to the material plan.
- The Goblins kidnapped the innkeeper's daughter to perform a ritual for Maglubiyet, thinking he was the one who threw the stone from the skies in retaliation for the Goblins "not honoring the War" (Goblins' view of the meteor crash)
What's about to happen:
- In the center of the crater a tree of Gulthias will appear, infecting all the surrounding forest, the PCs will have to deal with it (Blights)
Now,
What could have come out of the portal to Avernus before the players got there? How can the story develop from there? Any idea?
You can make it a demon of mid-level, something smart that could do some manipulating and pulling of strings that would be a boss encounter for your party later. Something like a Night Hag, a Black Abishai, a Succubus, or potentially a Shadow Demon. Or even something that is just strong and rampaging, like a Tanarukk, assuming that your party will be at a level to deal with that kind of threat.
Buyers Guide for D&D Beyond - Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You - How/What is Toggled Content?
Everything you need to know about Homebrew - Homebrew FAQ - Digital Book on D&D Beyond Vs Physical Books
Can't find the content you are supposed to have access to? Read this FAQ.
"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
How you move on from this point is going to depend greatly on what you bring through and where you want the campaign to end up.
Bringing a destructive creature through the portal, for example, might lead to a rampaging monster the party has to stop. A succubus might result in a more political campaign, where the party never knows who to trust and who might be a thrall to the succubus. An intelligent, overtly evil demon might try to raise an army, etc.
You also need to decide if what came through is the big bad of your campaign, or the first harbinger of things to come. Maybe this is a smaller campaign, where you hunt down a medium-level enemy. Maybe it is a huge, CR 20 threat that came through. Or maybe it is a a medium threat, but that threat is trying to open other portals or otherwise is furthering it’s much bigger master who has not come through yet.
Or perhaps what came through is not evil at all - it’s a good entity that escaped from Avernus and needs to be protected from those that hunt it.
Choose what type of campaign you want to run first, and that will dictate what type of entity you want to come through. That, in turn, will define what occurs next.
Yes, my first idea was to really run a Succubus.
But it will be difficult for me and my players.
Any ideas on how she might act? I thought of her acting as a "trusted" NPC of the players, giving them questionable quests. In addition to of course other events in the background.
While, the succubus would try and do something to get in the parties good graces. Something that is useful for the PC's and doesn't seem to conveniant. Say, she pretends to be imprisoned or offers some info, either way, she will want to become a temporary NPC/party member. With the party she can try to seduce someone, (try and actually trick the player here and do it away from the other players/PC's eyes). Soon, that person is most likely dead.
Note: Dont try any hints that hurts the Succubi's manipulative chances, the party will already be suspicious enough.
PS. Nice campaign you've got going!
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Well, I'd recommend that you'd read up on the lore of a succubus, it almost always helps me come up with ideas reading what WOTC has suggested for monsters.
A lot of their initial dealings are in their mind and dreams. You could have them pose as a diety that has started to appear in people's dreams to get them to act (maybe even someone in your party?), or perhaps they only appear to people that seem 'interesting' (the party) and claim to be someone who is imprisoned with a castle/dungeon/wizards tower/etc and need freeing when in actuality they are just trying to cause chaos and sow seeds of destruction. Perhaps she approaches them saying that she works for an evil lord but would rather just enjoy the time she is spending outside of Avarus and couldn't care less about her lord and asks the parties to help in freeing her from whatever contract binds her to the lord.
What I had a succubus (incubus technically but whatever) in my game do was show up to the paladin in their dreams and ask them for help. Naturally, the player thought this person to be their god so they acted accordingly. The intent behind this was for the incubus to get the paladin to break their oath and willingly give up their soul to the incubus so the incubus could gain status. Ultimately the paladin player took levels into barbarian and forgave the incubus for its deception (Oath of redemption, so it was fitting) and now are friends with the incubus as it attempts to become a celestial. The story is a bit more complicated than that brief summary, but perhaps it will inspire you. I'd also be willing to talk more about it if you wanted to DM me for the specifics of what I did and how it went.
Buyers Guide for D&D Beyond - Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You - How/What is Toggled Content?
Everything you need to know about Homebrew - Homebrew FAQ - Digital Book on D&D Beyond Vs Physical Books
Can't find the content you are supposed to have access to? Read this FAQ.
"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
Building on this, there are other "useful" NPCs that could come from the portal:
Another alternative to throw in for Succubus, since they have the Shapechanger feature you could have 2 succubi, one who tries to impersonate an NPC and visibly fails, but not before letting slip that there's more than one of them, if you're looking to make PCs on edge...
Sounds like a solid campaign though, good luck!
“And what would humans be without love?"
RARE, said Death.
Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
Thanks guys, it really helped. I did had some crazy ideias to implement. Lets see what happens.
In my campaign the party has a succubus rival who's mode of combat is:
This is after attempted deception failed in their first encounter. The party's ultimate goal is to find a way to chase her into the etherial plane.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
The other thing that could happen when a meteor falls is that it can destroy a village or town. I ran a single-session side quest where my PCs had to travel to the town hit by a meteorite to conduct search-and-rescue and relief operations: putting out fires, rescuing townfolk from damaged buildings, etc. Their tradeoff was goodwill from the local population.
They also had to negotiate with some orcs who had taken possession of the iron core of the meteorite (which was small enough to be transportable, but large enough to be worth something).
I hadn't considered this prior to running the session, but it was actually a really useful break from the broader adventure. It made a nice change change from sneaking around, fighting monsters, etc, and it gave the PCs a chance to shine in areas they normally wouldn't.