Please help me balance this... Need as much input as possible. Session 2 (Episode 2) is coming up this week!!
Currently I have it starting like this...
RECAP PREVIOUS EPISODE, Then...
Everybody is asleep from their long rest after episode 1 (I'll try not to give too many spoilers to those that haven't played it yet).
One of the characters (Articon) is having a bizarre dream....
"There is a handsome human man playing a viola in a tavern, the croud is loving it! He seems like a local legend. His skill on the viola is phenomenal and everybody is cheering. The dream suddenly cuts, to a scene where the tavern is on fire and there are raiders running around slaughtering everyone he knows. The man runs upstairs to the bedroom of the tavern and kneels down crying.... The man begins to draw a circle on the floor with a strange shape in the middle and cuts himself... as the blood drops in the circle and the man chants a ritual the room begins to glow red.
A disgusting red lich appears and quietly says... "What is it you want... why have you summoned me mortal"
The man asks for magical power, strong enough to avenge his town. The lich offers him a deal.... He will give the man magical power, in exchange for an everlasting pact and his youthful body. The man, thinking he would swap bodies with the lich agreed. The lick cackled and touches the man on his shoulder then the man begins to glow. The lich goes inside the man's body and the man's soul flies in to a cactus on the window ledge.
The lich (now the youthful man) laughs and throws the cactus out of the window, where it lands in the road.
His dream cuts to a scene, some weeks later where a young mother picks up the cactus and gives it to her son. "You must learn to look after other living things Arty... no matter how small they are. Even if the world seems against you, protect those who cannot fight for themselves."
Articon awakes very shaken up and looks at his cactus. The cactus starts to glow a strange red glow and then a piece of illusory script appears in front of him... It writes "You must find my body to release the pact.... Feed the fiend to use my power".
Now please see the thread below... I need help balancing the cactus' stats!!!
I mean, the easiest way to do this would just be to start off with Awakened Shrub stats and maybe change the slashing damage to piercing for flavor. Basically what others suggested in that thread. Maybe give it a cantrip as well? Maybe Thorn Whip or Primal Savagery?
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
I mean, the easiest way to do this would just be to start off with Awakened Shrub stats and maybe change the slashing damage to piercing for flavor. Basically what others suggested in that thread. Maybe give it a cantrip as well? Maybe Thorn Whip or Primal Savagery?
I like the idea of the spells, as a cactus it probably cannot "melee" unless thrown at an enemy so maybe Primal Savagery won't work too well. Thorn whip however... sounds great!
Generally do you think it will be balanced to have as a "sidekick" with the spells on the sheet?
Awakened Shrub has a movement speed. Just imagine a network of insectile leg-like roots protruding from the bottom of the flower pot that help the cactus scurry along the ground.
As for balance, my Pact of the Chain Warlock in a Ravnica game has a Cackler as his familiar and it casts at-will Fire Bolt and also Tasha’s hideous laughter once a day. So far that hasn't causes any issues in-game.
As the character who has the cactus as a pet is a wizard and not a warlock himself - I think I'm going to play on the fact that he himself does not have the skills to "tame" the cactus. Your point about it's movement is an important one though that I would have overlooked. I imagined it in a plantpot... but perhaps there are holes in that pot so to speak! :P Thanks for the help!!
Any more suggestions as to how I can make this a cool roleplaying experience for the character?
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Please help me balance this... Need as much input as possible. Session 2 (Episode 2) is coming up this week!!
Currently I have it starting like this...
RECAP PREVIOUS EPISODE, Then...
Everybody is asleep from their long rest after episode 1 (I'll try not to give too many spoilers to those that haven't played it yet).
One of the characters (Articon) is having a bizarre dream....
"There is a handsome human man playing a viola in a tavern, the croud is loving it! He seems like a local legend. His skill on the viola is phenomenal and everybody is cheering. The dream suddenly cuts, to a scene where the tavern is on fire and there are raiders running around slaughtering everyone he knows. The man runs upstairs to the bedroom of the tavern and kneels down crying.... The man begins to draw a circle on the floor with a strange shape in the middle and cuts himself... as the blood drops in the circle and the man chants a ritual the room begins to glow red.
A disgusting red lich appears and quietly says... "What is it you want... why have you summoned me mortal"
The man asks for magical power, strong enough to avenge his town. The lich offers him a deal.... He will give the man magical power, in exchange for an everlasting pact and his youthful body. The man, thinking he would swap bodies with the lich agreed. The lick cackled and touches the man on his shoulder then the man begins to glow. The lich goes inside the man's body and the man's soul flies in to a cactus on the window ledge.
The lich (now the youthful man) laughs and throws the cactus out of the window, where it lands in the road.
His dream cuts to a scene, some weeks later where a young mother picks up the cactus and gives it to her son. "You must learn to look after other living things Arty... no matter how small they are. Even if the world seems against you, protect those who cannot fight for themselves."
Articon awakes very shaken up and looks at his cactus. The cactus starts to glow a strange red glow and then a piece of illusory script appears in front of him... It writes "You must find my body to release the pact.... Feed the fiend to use my power".
Now please see the thread below... I need help balancing the cactus' stats!!!
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/homebrew-house-rules/34414-someone-in-my-game-wanted-a-possessed-cactus-as
I mean, the easiest way to do this would just be to start off with Awakened Shrub stats and maybe change the slashing damage to piercing for flavor. Basically what others suggested in that thread. Maybe give it a cantrip as well? Maybe Thorn Whip or Primal Savagery?
I like the idea of the spells, as a cactus it probably cannot "melee" unless thrown at an enemy so maybe Primal Savagery won't work too well. Thorn whip however... sounds great!
Generally do you think it will be balanced to have as a "sidekick" with the spells on the sheet?
Awakened Shrub has a movement speed. Just imagine a network of insectile leg-like roots protruding from the bottom of the flower pot that help the cactus scurry along the ground.
As for balance, my Pact of the Chain Warlock in a Ravnica game has a Cackler as his familiar and it casts at-will Fire Bolt and also Tasha’s hideous laughter once a day. So far that hasn't causes any issues in-game.
As the character who has the cactus as a pet is a wizard and not a warlock himself - I think I'm going to play on the fact that he himself does not have the skills to "tame" the cactus. Your point about it's movement is an important one though that I would have overlooked. I imagined it in a plantpot... but perhaps there are holes in that pot so to speak! :P Thanks for the help!!
Any more suggestions as to how I can make this a cool roleplaying experience for the character?