Due to story reasons, 2 of my 4 players have magical conditions that trigger some kind of effect.
One fought a lich as a part of his backstory. Unbeknownst to the player, when the lich was banished from this plane he attached a piece of his soul to the player.
Another was exposed to a source of corruption the twisted and warped the magical forest around it. Again, unbeknownst to her, the corruption is a small piece of her soul now.
There wasn't a problem in their story until they got a magical boost from a shaman, which amplified the lich and corruption JUST enough to make them manifest symptoms.
The problem I'm facing is that I've dropped hints that SOMETHING is wrong with them, but I don't think they've picked up. When they visited the shaman, they were told their souls smelled like an unopened tomb (Lich) and vinegar (Corruption).
I have a list of symptoms, but I don't know when to trigger them. I was trying to do it when a Nat 20 was rolled on an attack, but that's very rare at my table for those 2 players. I'm worried they'll never get that something's wrong.
This reminds me of Dingo Doodles's Wild Mage character, because he had a curse placed on him that corrupted him more when he was placed under intense emotional stress or mortally wounded, and/or affected by magic. I'd suggest a similar system for your players: introducing the effects of their "curses" when they're in very perilous situations, maybe even when it would hurt them or the situation for it to happen (it might add some more flavor to the campaign).
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Due to story reasons, 2 of my 4 players have magical conditions that trigger some kind of effect.
One fought a lich as a part of his backstory. Unbeknownst to the player, when the lich was banished from this plane he attached a piece of his soul to the player.
Another was exposed to a source of corruption the twisted and warped the magical forest around it. Again, unbeknownst to her, the corruption is a small piece of her soul now.
There wasn't a problem in their story until they got a magical boost from a shaman, which amplified the lich and corruption JUST enough to make them manifest symptoms.
The problem I'm facing is that I've dropped hints that SOMETHING is wrong with them, but I don't think they've picked up. When they visited the shaman, they were told their souls smelled like an unopened tomb (Lich) and vinegar (Corruption).
I have a list of symptoms, but I don't know when to trigger them. I was trying to do it when a Nat 20 was rolled on an attack, but that's very rare at my table for those 2 players. I'm worried they'll never get that something's wrong.
Any advice is very appreciated.
This reminds me of Dingo Doodles's Wild Mage character, because he had a curse placed on him that corrupted him more when he was placed under intense emotional stress or mortally wounded, and/or affected by magic. I'd suggest a similar system for your players: introducing the effects of their "curses" when they're in very perilous situations, maybe even when it would hurt them or the situation for it to happen (it might add some more flavor to the campaign).