My players have just entered a realm wherein they will have to face short trials relating to their pasts (i'm trying to help them become invested in each other, and hint at backstory stuff) and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for designing a trial for my rouge?
She had a wife who was murdered, and she spent years plotting her revenge, and attempting to poison the murderer, which she achieved just weeks before the campaign began, so she's still processing that. she has crazy good slight of hand, and is very poison focused. It needs to be an encounter wherein everyone can participate, but it is focused on her, and, honestly, the more surreal the better.
I'd really appreciate any ideas. So far i have a running encounter for my ranger, and a fighting encounter for my barbarian, and a "come-clean-about-the-fact-you're-a-half-elf-or-else-something-really-bad-is-gonna-happen" encounter for my paladin, but I'm just stuck on this one…
This is tough. Ghosts of her past? Sees a Ghost/vision of her wife telling her everything is ok. Then sees one of the murderer which moves incorporeally through her body, causing a con save or become poisoned. Which then leads to a battle encounter with the ghosts of her past and trying to manage the poisoned condition. I know this is a terrible idea lmao but maybe it’ll spark something. Good luck.
The ghost of the murderer levies charges against the rogue, and per ghostly tradition and custom the accused rogue is allowed to also levy counterclaim against the ghost. The other players can serve as character witnesses (or even barristers). A 3 panel ghostly tribunal acts as a final arbiter, and the loser is sentenced to eternal damnation (banishment for the ghost; or a "soulless" rogue who remains alive). Has potential for a very surreal and deep roleplaying opportunity for everyone where combat is not the focus.
Edit: also great opportunity for the murdered Wife to make a brief appearance to provide testomny and/or emotional reunion for rogue
A round table with "x" chairs where "x" is the number of players in the party + 1 for the wife and +1 for the murderer (so if there are four party memebers there will be 6 chairs).
The rest of the room is in darkness and the table is lit with a couple of candelabra which produce some soft flickering candle light. The table is set for a meal. The Rogue appears alone at first holding a vial of poison and then other figures emerge, all appear identical, roughly human in shape but compleltely black with no features visible. These are the literal "shadows of the past".
The shadows take their seats and one turns to the Rogue and takes on the appearance of the murderer and says "kill me and get your revenge", the face then disappears and becomes a shadow again before another shadow takes on the murderers appearance and one by one the other shadows reveal themselves as the other party memebers and the dead wife. There is a kaliedascope effect and when the room settles down the faces of the people keep flickering between all the different people until they too eventually stop, leaving the Rogue with a extreme dizzy feeling.
Have a hat with pieces of paper saying wife and one saying murderer, you and the rest of the party draw a piece of paper to determine who is the murderer. The rogue then has to ask questions and you/they can answer in whatever way you/they deem appropriate.
The Rogue has to find the murderer and administer a poison to their meal. Once the Rogue has made a choice and poisoned a meal everyone at the table takes a bite fo food and the poisoned shadow either reveals themself to be the murderer or they emit a loud wail, become the image of their wife and fade away, the wail ages the Rogue 1d4 x10 years (or more if they dont age as a human).
The Rogue can ask questions and use insight to determine if people are lying, DC15 and maybe a extra penalty if they repeatedly fail to ID the murderer. Then you leave it upto the player to decide on the questions and what effect any failures have on them.
My players have just entered a realm wherein they will have to face short trials relating to their pasts (i'm trying to help them become invested in each other, and hint at backstory stuff) and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for designing a trial for my rouge?
She had a wife who was murdered, and she spent years plotting her revenge, and attempting to poison the murderer, which she achieved just weeks before the campaign began, so she's still processing that. she has crazy good slight of hand, and is very poison focused. It needs to be an encounter wherein everyone can participate, but it is focused on her, and, honestly, the more surreal the better.
I'd really appreciate any ideas. So far i have a running encounter for my ranger, and a fighting encounter for my barbarian, and a "come-clean-about-the-fact-you're-a-half-elf-or-else-something-really-bad-is-gonna-happen" encounter for my paladin, but I'm just stuck on this one…
This is tough. Ghosts of her past? Sees a Ghost/vision of her wife telling her everything is ok. Then sees one of the murderer which moves incorporeally through her body, causing a con save or become poisoned. Which then leads to a battle encounter with the ghosts of her past and trying to manage the poisoned condition. I know this is a terrible idea lmao but maybe it’ll spark something. Good luck.
Ghost tribunal.
The ghost of the murderer levies charges against the rogue, and per ghostly tradition and custom the accused rogue is allowed to also levy counterclaim against the ghost. The other players can serve as character witnesses (or even barristers). A 3 panel ghostly tribunal acts as a final arbiter, and the loser is sentenced to eternal damnation (banishment for the ghost; or a "soulless" rogue who remains alive). Has potential for a very surreal and deep roleplaying opportunity for everyone where combat is not the focus.
Edit: also great opportunity for the murdered Wife to make a brief appearance to provide testomny and/or emotional reunion for rogue
Boldly go
You could treat it like a murder mystery evening:
A round table with "x" chairs where "x" is the number of players in the party + 1 for the wife and +1 for the murderer (so if there are four party memebers there will be 6 chairs).
The rest of the room is in darkness and the table is lit with a couple of candelabra which produce some soft flickering candle light. The table is set for a meal. The Rogue appears alone at first holding a vial of poison and then other figures emerge, all appear identical, roughly human in shape but compleltely black with no features visible. These are the literal "shadows of the past".
The shadows take their seats and one turns to the Rogue and takes on the appearance of the murderer and says "kill me and get your revenge", the face then disappears and becomes a shadow again before another shadow takes on the murderers appearance and one by one the other shadows reveal themselves as the other party memebers and the dead wife. There is a kaliedascope effect and when the room settles down the faces of the people keep flickering between all the different people until they too eventually stop, leaving the Rogue with a extreme dizzy feeling.
Have a hat with pieces of paper saying wife and one saying murderer, you and the rest of the party draw a piece of paper to determine who is the murderer. The rogue then has to ask questions and you/they can answer in whatever way you/they deem appropriate.
The Rogue has to find the murderer and administer a poison to their meal. Once the Rogue has made a choice and poisoned a meal everyone at the table takes a bite fo food and the poisoned shadow either reveals themself to be the murderer or they emit a loud wail, become the image of their wife and fade away, the wail ages the Rogue 1d4 x10 years (or more if they dont age as a human).
The Rogue can ask questions and use insight to determine if people are lying, DC15 and maybe a extra penalty if they repeatedly fail to ID the murderer. Then you leave it upto the player to decide on the questions and what effect any failures have on them.
Hope that makes sense.....