My party is going to be doing a quest for a Green Dragon in the near future. As payment for completing the quest, he is going to promise them "power".
Obviously anything a Green Dragon says is suspect, and the party is mostly good, but the quest he is requesting them complete (kill a Black Dragon horning in on his turf) is something they are likely to complete happily.
The party is a mage, a cleric, a bard, and a monk.
I am hoping to fulfill this promise of "power" with something tailor made for each party member.
The Mage is getting a written out ritual on how to become a Lich. I am not expecting him to actually use it, but this is plot relevant for other things going on in the campaign and is the real reason that the Green Dragon even exists my the setting. To ultimately give the mage this ritual.
I am at a loss for what to give the rest of them.
I was thinking cursed, but reasonably powerful, magic items would be very fitting for a green dragon. But I can't give each of the other 3 members a magic item and one of them an ultimately-unusable-plot-device.
I am looking for Ideas.
It is fine if the other gifts are also theoretically-powerful-but-in-practice-kind-of-useless items as well. I am not intending to use this to massively power up the party, though if some of the gifts are actually useful, that is also fine too. Just keep in mind we are talking about a Green Dragon here. None of these gifts are going to be "here is a +3 sword... go nuts"
By the time that they get to receiving these gifts, they will probably be level 7, if that helps. They are currently level 5, but they have a whole lot of stuff to kill between now and then :)
The scroll doesn’t even have to be part of it. Why not give them a temporary boon? They each get the same ability or stat increase for like a day, week, month, or whatever period of time suits you and then when it wears off it gives them reason to try and seek out the dragon to do more nefarious things for it to get other boons, if that is something that could work for you. The boon doesn’t even have to be from the dragon itself. Maybe the dragon has some sort of magical spring in their lair and they will let them drink from it and gain its gifts. You could come up with like 6 boons and when someone drinks from it roll a d6 and that’s what you get.
For the Bard, I would let him have an item that allows him to Charm Person once a day, as this give him "power" over a person, but doesn't really give him much more than he already has. It only prevents him from using one first level spell slot on a day when Charm Person fits into his plans. Otherwise it is a useless thing to carry about.
BUT ...
My other idea is to have the whole quest be a twist on words. The items should be in the Black Dragon's Horde, and not given to them by the Green Dragon. When the party returns to receive their powerful reward, the Green Dragon simply replies, "You found the Scroll, the <music thing>, the ..., which all grant you great power. Did I not fulfil my part of the agreement?" And thus the party learn Never to make an agreement with a dragon, cause it doesn't turn out like it sounds. And the Green Dragon should be quite dismissive about the whole reward thing after that too. As a matter of fact, he could go a step further and ask them to bring him [this thing] from the black dragon when he suggests they will get a reward of power from him. Something like, "Bring me the twelve great red gems, and a small chest of gold from the Black Dragon and I promise, you will have the Gift of Power, for this is what you seek, is it not?" "The Black Dragon has been hunting, preying in my land. He steals from ME! He's a Dog! A Black Dog that cowers in his den. Rid me of the Black Plague, the cowering cur, the burrowing blind mole. Bring me the gems, the gold, and you will have the Power, yes, the Power you seek."
So the party runs off, risks their lives to kill the Black Dragon, finds some special loot you want them to have, gathers the twelve great red gems and a small chest of gold and brings that back to the Green Dragon. And when they return the Green Dragon says something like "The Cur is Dead?! Splendid. Now away. For I only tolerate you. I don't care for your smell." And when the party asks for their reward, the Green Dragon recites the treasure they kept for themselves, showing that he knows what they took from the Black Dragon's horde, and he specifically recounts the magic items you (the DM) wished them to find and points out they have received the Power that was promised.
Titles like a knighthood or lordship, the deed to a merchant company, a tower or small keep, the one-time ability to resurrect a family member or lover, a piece of forgotten knowledge, a small battalion of kobold flunkies, an insanely powerful non-combat item (like a harp that sings with Taliesin's own voice), the location of a really cool dungeon, a cure for a local plague that gets them the favor of the monarch...these are all awesome ways to grant different kinds of "power," but none is likely to imbalance your game. Think about your characters aspirations, backgrounds, and between-adventures activities, and give them something that makes them powerful there!
I kind of love the idea of the green dragon giving them nothing and saying they should have gotten it from the black dragon.
The issue with this plan is that it isn't the green dragon trying to corrupt anyone, it's just him being a jerk. Handing out the secret of lich-dom to anyone that asks, knowing quite well the havoc that will cause in the hands of the wrong person, feels much more "corrupting"
I was looking for a bard/monk/cleric equivalent of that.
Of course, you did provide an out. He could just give the lich ritual and say they should be happy to have thst kind of power in their hands.
I mean, it doesn’t have to be something they drink from. The dragon can just bestow some magic on them without their consent or choice. Or, you can come up with your own way they acquire the boon. Dragons have hoards, perhaps there is a statue to a god one of them worships so they know they can trust the statue and that’s how they acquire it. Mine was just but a single example of so many possibilities.
I’m sure you‘lol come up with something you know will work.
Sorry, but I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around a dragon giving away anything of value from its hoard for any reason. Especially a green dragon! Even if the players directly saved its life, a green dragon would still be conniving enough to work the situation to its own advantage. Maybe if the dragon had offered a great "reward", and the players manage to kill the black dragon, the green dragon would say their "reward" is the honor of serving it. Or if the word "power" is a sticking point, it should be a power that comes at a cost. Or at least a power that will only take effect once the player proves their willingness to accept it. There should always be a catch. Especially in a deal between a good-aligned party and an evil dragon.
Maybe the dragon will offer each of them some of its own blood for them to drink, and if they drink it they'll need to make a Con save. If they can beat a certain DC, they become resistant or maybe even immune to poison. If they fail, they take massive poison damage. Technically, the dragon offered them power; it's not the dragon's fault that some of the players were too weak to handle it.
Or maybe the dragon will offer them that same deal - poison immunity - no Con save required - but first each player must tell the dragon their deepest darkest secret. Green dragons love secrets, and they love having secrets that they can lord over lesser creatures. It's like an insurance policy. Maybe you think if you can kill the black dragon, why not just come back and kill the green one, too? Well, now if you do that, all of your secrets will be make public somehow.
Also, green dragons are extremely territorial (even for a dragon!). So it will figure that if you can kill the black dragon, you're definitely a threat to it, too. So it offers you a domain of your own to rule over. Your own kingdom. Not a bad deal, right? And when you accept, you are teleported to your new castle, in the middle of some remote region on the other side of the planet! As far away from that green dragon's territory as possible.
Or maybe the green dragon was actually being honest - for once! Whatever gift it gives to each player, it should be something related to the dragon's sphere of influence. Something related to the forests, or poison, or flight, or longevity,
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Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Would it be possible that he could offer very similar 'gifts' to the cleric, bard, and monk? As in offering them forbidden knowledge that your players are either unlikely to want to use, and which would fit the description of a typical green dragons evil amusements? For example, the cleric could be offered information on how to summon help or communicate with entities which that character and their deity would find blasphemous. The bard could be given reams of unpublished manuscripts from your worlds version of Shakespeare, which that character could plagerise and call their own. Lore wise, monks are a bit trickier for being offered difficult to resist temptations, but maybe something which could tie into that characters backstory, or really hooks deeply into one of their weaknesses.
None of the things should imbalance your game, and ought to give them some good role-playing opportunities. They'll also make your 'turning into a lich for dummies' handbook appear less suspect as a future plot device. If they're upset that they didn't get what they were hoping for, you could probably just play up the duplicitous nature of green dragons and you've got yourself a good heel they'll be glad to get even with later.
Power is not a sticking point. They have not met the dragon yet. They only know of its existence and will be meeting him in the next few sessions. So I am free to change any of this.
I think a dragon would be ok with giving away part of its horde if it is just knowledge, or will cause corruption, or both!
Syzygyeolith is getting at the core of what I am looking for. The "Shakespeare" idea is not bad, except I am afraid he may actually use that one. It's not particularly corrupting. Just dishonest.
The cleric thing could work. Information on how to bind a demon to your will, or something along those lines.
Unless they are profoundly thick, the "lich guide" should be seen as very important the moment they see it. They have been equal parts harassed / on the trail of someone gathering spell components for the ritual since they were level 1. Seeing the ritual spelled out should, hopefully, give them an "AHA!" moment on what the BBEG has been doing this whole time.
"Hiding the important thing" among decoys is not a huge concern here.
It is extremely satisfying for everyone when you present your group with something that makes them feel like they just solved a puzzle, even if it's as basic as spotting the worlds most obvious plot device in a pile of decoys. Don't forget, you know the answer because you wrote it.. once they receive their rewards they have to take a little time to think about it all. Especially so when they're each given their own little bauble!
The mileage you'll get on the plagiarism thing might mostly depend on your players RP interactions with each other, since they would all know if he did do the immoral thing. Could be fun to have NPC's constantly lauding him for his genius work every time they visit a town. Bit of side eyes from the other PC's, hah.
I admit that "important thing in a pile of decoys" is sort of the angle I was going for here, but the fact is that the "how to become a lich at home in 10 easy steps" pamphlet SHOULD stick out the moment that they start reading it. If they think about it extra hard, it will actually point them directly at which NPC has been the actual villian this whole time.
I was thinking I would actually make props for each of these "gifts", or at least for the ones that are not "the dragon gives you a ring/sword/carpet/pair-of-glass-eyes". I really want a prop for the Lich stuff, and it would be weird if that was the only one that got a prop.
I am secretly hoping that they ask the dragon who else he has given this to. At that point, he is 100% going to lie to see if I can get them to try to assassinate someone on bad info :)
This is all besides the point.
I need to have a "pile of decoys" ready. At this moment, I have maybe the Shakespeare thing (which... maybe... need to think about it. I like the concept but I need to mull on it. Though I like the idea of printing out the lyrics of a bunch of Beatles songs and giving them to the bard :-D ) and some sort of demon thing. We only play 2 or 3 times a month and it will take AT MINIMUM 4 sessions before they get to this point. I have plenty of time to figure this out.
Edit: Just hit me that one of the songs could create some sort of enchantment that bends the listener towards violence. Like what conservative moms were convinced heavy metal was doing in the 80s... only real! The idea of the song in question being Eleanor Rigby just put a big dumb smile on my face.
I was also considering having the Dragon give them an Efreeti Bottle... except now the dragon is giving them something of actual value which I highly doubt he would do willingly.
There is one more important thing to consider, and thats your players might not strictly value things in the way you expect them to. More often than not I'm stunned as my players literally leave a +1 weapon I've put in a room (and described in no sparing detail how sharp and finely made it looks), but get utterly fixated by a random trinket I might say is on a shelf. It depends on your players, and perhaps the foreshadowing they might have been given, but often if they see an item they have no interest in using, their imaginations simply won't be taken by it (no matter how sharp and shiny it is).
Sorry, but I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around a dragon giving away anything of value from its hoard for any reason. Especially a green dragon! Even if the players directly saved its life, a green dragon would still be conniving enough to work the situation to its own advantage. Maybe if the dragon had offered a great "reward", and the players manage to kill the black dragon, the green dragon would say their "reward" is the honor of serving it. Or if the word "power" is a sticking point, it should be a power that comes at a cost. Or at least a power that will only take effect once the player proves their willingness to accept it. There should always be a catch. Especially in a deal between a good-aligned party and an evil dragon.
Maybe the dragon will offer each of them some of its own blood for them to drink, and if they drink it they'll need to make a Con save. If they can beat a certain DC, they become resistant or maybe even immune to poison. If they fail, they take massive poison damage. Technically, the dragon offered them power; it's not the dragon's fault that some of the players were too weak to handle it.
Or maybe the dragon will offer them that same deal - poison immunity - no Con save required - but first each player must tell the dragon their deepest darkest secret. Green dragons love secrets, and they love having secrets that they can lord over lesser creatures. It's like an insurance policy. Maybe you think if you can kill the black dragon, why not just come back and kill the green one, too? Well, now if you do that, all of your secrets will be make public somehow.
The poison immunity is a far stretch for a green dragon to give. Why would they lose their strongest weapon, to people they want to work for them?
I desperately need to get my group to see more whimsy in the game. I have attempted to introduce some magic items that might spark creativity, but so far that has mostly failed.
They are not a particularly imaginative bunch.
That is mostly besides the point.
I think I have settled on the dragon supplying the bard with several songs that, when played, will earn him extra money for the day but also creates a mild enchantment that brings out violent tendencies in those hearing them. I may flesh out this idea later a bit more, but I think as a base concept that's pretty solid and in keeping with the Green Dragon's MO.
Edit: This will not play out as people suddenly attacking each other when he's playing. It will play out as an increase in violent crime when he's around playing the songs which will, if he does it enough, bring out the local enforcers on him as the source of the "moral decay" and eventually result in him getting run out of whatever town he's in.
Edit 2: Knowing my group, the chances of the Bard actually playing the songs is close to 0.
So, I actually did something really similar with my group currently.
What I found to be useful was to give them something that had a positive, but came from a negative. For example, My sorcerer who specialized in fire gained the ability to ignore fire immunity when they deal damage, however the object that was giving him that ability was killing people who were prescribed to the religion tied to the artifact. The cleric got "the ability to change" which was a wish spell, but it had a twist like a genie. She wished alive her lover that died during the game, but it cost the life of one of the other party members pregnant wife and thusly their child.
Things like that caused a massive character growth for the party when they found out about how these abilities were functioning. I don't know if that is really what you want for your party.
Also, I would usually stay away from things that change alignment because for me that's taking away agency from my players and the last thing I want is to force my players to play something they don't want to. I think that alignment is bad anyway.
Also, I would usually stay away from things that change alignment because for me that's taking away agency from my players and the last thing I want is to force my players to play something they don't want to. I think that alignment is bad anyway.
I 100% agree with this. Also, as you may have gathered from above my players are not great at the actual role playing part, so forcing them to play something they don't want to is likely to end poorly. They are having enough trouble with what they already have.
So, I actually did something really similar with my group currently.
What I found to be useful was to give them something that had a positive, but came from a negative. For example, My sorcerer who specialized in fire gained the ability to ignore fire immunity when they deal damage, however the object that was giving him that ability was killing people who were prescribed to the religion tied to the artifact. The cleric got "the ability to change" which was a wish spell, but it had a twist like a genie. She wished alive her lover that died during the game, but it cost the life of one of the other party members pregnant wife and thusly their child.
Things like that caused a massive character growth for the party when they found out about how these abilities were functioning. I don't know if that is really what you want for your party.
This is interesting. Unfortunately, I have distinct plans for the relationships that my players have with some of the NPCs and killing them off now would screw me up.
I am glad to have another voice in this conversation, though.
Any ideas on what would be thematic and reasonable for a monk, given what I'm going for here? I am considering giving him the "booby prize" of the group ("And to you, the hat of silence! Your meditations will now be uninterruptible and twice as effective!" as he hands him a pair of earmuffs) because it amuses me, and because I can't come up with anything better.
Another option is that the Monk could be the one to get the legitimately cursed magic item. I was thinking "bracers of defense +2, but they become heavy and useless when in the presence of a dragon (or dragon-like creature), losing their bonus and wiping out your dex bonus to your AC. Cannot be taken off without "remove curse" once put on." Not super creative, but it gets the job done.
Cleric: The green dragon could teach them a ritual to speak directly with a god, but make it one that is completely antithetical to what your cleric stands for.
Monk: The green dragon gives the monk the name of a truly enlightened one who could teach and train them. Nothing more than the name, use it either as a plot device in the future, or maybe just as a red herring "the journey itself was your path to enlightenment" sort of thing.
Bard: The green dragon teaches the bard the secret chord which creates the 'Brown Noise'
Cleric: The green dragon could teach them a ritual to speak directly with a god, but make it one that is completely antithetical to what your cleric stands for.
Monk: The green dragon gives the monk the name of a truly enlightened one who could teach and train them. Nothing more than the name, use it either as a plot device in the future, or maybe just as a red herring "the journey itself was your path to enlightenment" sort of thing.
Bard: The green dragon teaches the bard the secret chord which creates the 'Brown Noise'
Cleric: perform this absolutely unholy and awful ritual, and you will be able to become Cyric's avatar!
Monk: His name is Kretis. He was once famous, but has been expunged from history after a surge of his power murdered thousands. He has secluded himself in the trashlands. Go to him, and learn the ways of enlightenment.
Bard: If you take this mouth organ, and play these three pipes at exactly this pitch, just... poop... poop everywhere. BWAHAHAHA!
I think there is promise in the Cleric one, though that will require me to come up with yet another ritual, and in this case it's one that I don't actually have any plans for anyone ever actually attempting. Though... who knows! Unsure if I like it more than the "bind a demon to your will" idea.
The Monk idea is promising.
I like the cursed songs idea for the bard from earlier, and will be likely using a modified version of that.
My party is going to be doing a quest for a Green Dragon in the near future. As payment for completing the quest, he is going to promise them "power".
Obviously anything a Green Dragon says is suspect, and the party is mostly good, but the quest he is requesting them complete (kill a Black Dragon horning in on his turf) is something they are likely to complete happily.
The party is a mage, a cleric, a bard, and a monk.
I am hoping to fulfill this promise of "power" with something tailor made for each party member.
The Mage is getting a written out ritual on how to become a Lich. I am not expecting him to actually use it, but this is plot relevant for other things going on in the campaign and is the real reason that the Green Dragon even exists my the setting. To ultimately give the mage this ritual.
I am at a loss for what to give the rest of them.
I was thinking cursed, but reasonably powerful, magic items would be very fitting for a green dragon. But I can't give each of the other 3 members a magic item and one of them an ultimately-unusable-plot-device.
I am looking for Ideas.
It is fine if the other gifts are also theoretically-powerful-but-in-practice-kind-of-useless items as well. I am not intending to use this to massively power up the party, though if some of the gifts are actually useful, that is also fine too. Just keep in mind we are talking about a Green Dragon here. None of these gifts are going to be "here is a +3 sword... go nuts"
By the time that they get to receiving these gifts, they will probably be level 7, if that helps. They are currently level 5, but they have a whole lot of stuff to kill between now and then :)
Why not give them each a useful potion or scroll? Something that’s rare or very rare. Give them all a single use item that’s nice.
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The scroll doesn’t even have to be part of it. Why not give them a temporary boon? They each get the same ability or stat increase for like a day, week, month, or whatever period of time suits you and then when it wears off it gives them reason to try and seek out the dragon to do more nefarious things for it to get other boons, if that is something that could work for you. The boon doesn’t even have to be from the dragon itself. Maybe the dragon has some sort of magical spring in their lair and they will let them drink from it and gain its gifts. You could come up with like 6 boons and when someone drinks from it roll a d6 and that’s what you get.
Ideas could give them:
For the Bard, I would let him have an item that allows him to Charm Person once a day, as this give him "power" over a person, but doesn't really give him much more than he already has. It only prevents him from using one first level spell slot on a day when Charm Person fits into his plans. Otherwise it is a useless thing to carry about.
BUT ...
My other idea is to have the whole quest be a twist on words. The items should be in the Black Dragon's Horde, and not given to them by the Green Dragon. When the party returns to receive their powerful reward, the Green Dragon simply replies, "You found the Scroll, the <music thing>, the ..., which all grant you great power. Did I not fulfil my part of the agreement?" And thus the party learn Never to make an agreement with a dragon, cause it doesn't turn out like it sounds. And the Green Dragon should be quite dismissive about the whole reward thing after that too. As a matter of fact, he could go a step further and ask them to bring him [this thing] from the black dragon when he suggests they will get a reward of power from him. Something like, "Bring me the twelve great red gems, and a small chest of gold from the Black Dragon and I promise, you will have the Gift of Power, for this is what you seek, is it not?" "The Black Dragon has been hunting, preying in my land. He steals from ME! He's a Dog! A Black Dog that cowers in his den. Rid me of the Black Plague, the cowering cur, the burrowing blind mole. Bring me the gems, the gold, and you will have the Power, yes, the Power you seek."
So the party runs off, risks their lives to kill the Black Dragon, finds some special loot you want them to have, gathers the twelve great red gems and a small chest of gold and brings that back to the Green Dragon. And when they return the Green Dragon says something like "The Cur is Dead?! Splendid. Now away. For I only tolerate you. I don't care for your smell." And when the party asks for their reward, the Green Dragon recites the treasure they kept for themselves, showing that he knows what they took from the Black Dragon's horde, and he specifically recounts the magic items you (the DM) wished them to find and points out they have received the Power that was promised.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Titles like a knighthood or lordship, the deed to a merchant company, a tower or small keep, the one-time ability to resurrect a family member or lover, a piece of forgotten knowledge, a small battalion of kobold flunkies, an insanely powerful non-combat item (like a harp that sings with Taliesin's own voice), the location of a really cool dungeon, a cure for a local plague that gets them the favor of the monarch...these are all awesome ways to grant different kinds of "power," but none is likely to imbalance your game. Think about your characters aspirations, backgrounds, and between-adventures activities, and give them something that makes them powerful there!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
My issue with the "boon" plan is that I know my party and they won't drink it. Not if it's being offered by the manifestation of corrupting evil.
The one off items is a decent plan, but seems too small.
"To you, I give the power to defeat death itself! And to you, I give the power of 10 extra hit points for 1 day!"
I want everything to seem big and impressive, even if in practice it is not. Maybe that is asking too much...
I kind of love the idea of the green dragon giving them nothing and saying they should have gotten it from the black dragon.
The issue with this plan is that it isn't the green dragon trying to corrupt anyone, it's just him being a jerk. Handing out the secret of lich-dom to anyone that asks, knowing quite well the havoc that will cause in the hands of the wrong person, feels much more "corrupting"
I was looking for a bard/monk/cleric equivalent of that.
Of course, you did provide an out. He could just give the lich ritual and say they should be happy to have thst kind of power in their hands.
I need to think on this.
I mean, it doesn’t have to be something they drink from. The dragon can just bestow some magic on them without their consent or choice. Or, you can come up with your own way they acquire the boon. Dragons have hoards, perhaps there is a statue to a god one of them worships so they know they can trust the statue and that’s how they acquire it. Mine was just but a single example of so many possibilities.
I’m sure you‘lol come up with something you know will work.
Sorry, but I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around a dragon giving away anything of value from its hoard for any reason. Especially a green dragon! Even if the players directly saved its life, a green dragon would still be conniving enough to work the situation to its own advantage. Maybe if the dragon had offered a great "reward", and the players manage to kill the black dragon, the green dragon would say their "reward" is the honor of serving it. Or if the word "power" is a sticking point, it should be a power that comes at a cost. Or at least a power that will only take effect once the player proves their willingness to accept it. There should always be a catch. Especially in a deal between a good-aligned party and an evil dragon.
Maybe the dragon will offer each of them some of its own blood for them to drink, and if they drink it they'll need to make a Con save. If they can beat a certain DC, they become resistant or maybe even immune to poison. If they fail, they take massive poison damage. Technically, the dragon offered them power; it's not the dragon's fault that some of the players were too weak to handle it.
Or maybe the dragon will offer them that same deal - poison immunity - no Con save required - but first each player must tell the dragon their deepest darkest secret. Green dragons love secrets, and they love having secrets that they can lord over lesser creatures. It's like an insurance policy. Maybe you think if you can kill the black dragon, why not just come back and kill the green one, too? Well, now if you do that, all of your secrets will be make public somehow.
Also, green dragons are extremely territorial (even for a dragon!). So it will figure that if you can kill the black dragon, you're definitely a threat to it, too. So it offers you a domain of your own to rule over. Your own kingdom. Not a bad deal, right? And when you accept, you are teleported to your new castle, in the middle of some remote region on the other side of the planet! As far away from that green dragon's territory as possible.
Or maybe the green dragon was actually being honest - for once! Whatever gift it gives to each player, it should be something related to the dragon's sphere of influence. Something related to the forests, or poison, or flight, or longevity,
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Anzio Faro. Lvl 5 Prot. Aasimar Light Cleric.
Would it be possible that he could offer very similar 'gifts' to the cleric, bard, and monk? As in offering them forbidden knowledge that your players are either unlikely to want to use, and which would fit the description of a typical green dragons evil amusements? For example, the cleric could be offered information on how to summon help or communicate with entities which that character and their deity would find blasphemous. The bard could be given reams of unpublished manuscripts from your worlds version of Shakespeare, which that character could plagerise and call their own. Lore wise, monks are a bit trickier for being offered difficult to resist temptations, but maybe something which could tie into that characters backstory, or really hooks deeply into one of their weaknesses.
None of the things should imbalance your game, and ought to give them some good role-playing opportunities. They'll also make your 'turning into a lich for dummies' handbook appear less suspect as a future plot device. If they're upset that they didn't get what they were hoping for, you could probably just play up the duplicitous nature of green dragons and you've got yourself a good heel they'll be glad to get even with later.
Power is not a sticking point. They have not met the dragon yet. They only know of its existence and will be meeting him in the next few sessions. So I am free to change any of this.
I think a dragon would be ok with giving away part of its horde if it is just knowledge, or will cause corruption, or both!
Syzygyeolith is getting at the core of what I am looking for. The "Shakespeare" idea is not bad, except I am afraid he may actually use that one. It's not particularly corrupting. Just dishonest.
The cleric thing could work. Information on how to bind a demon to your will, or something along those lines.
Unless they are profoundly thick, the "lich guide" should be seen as very important the moment they see it. They have been equal parts harassed / on the trail of someone gathering spell components for the ritual since they were level 1. Seeing the ritual spelled out should, hopefully, give them an "AHA!" moment on what the BBEG has been doing this whole time.
"Hiding the important thing" among decoys is not a huge concern here.
It is extremely satisfying for everyone when you present your group with something that makes them feel like they just solved a puzzle, even if it's as basic as spotting the worlds most obvious plot device in a pile of decoys. Don't forget, you know the answer because you wrote it.. once they receive their rewards they have to take a little time to think about it all. Especially so when they're each given their own little bauble!
The mileage you'll get on the plagiarism thing might mostly depend on your players RP interactions with each other, since they would all know if he did do the immoral thing. Could be fun to have NPC's constantly lauding him for his genius work every time they visit a town. Bit of side eyes from the other PC's, hah.
I admit that "important thing in a pile of decoys" is sort of the angle I was going for here, but the fact is that the "how to become a lich at home in 10 easy steps" pamphlet SHOULD stick out the moment that they start reading it. If they think about it extra hard, it will actually point them directly at which NPC has been the actual villian this whole time.
I was thinking I would actually make props for each of these "gifts", or at least for the ones that are not "the dragon gives you a ring/sword/carpet/pair-of-glass-eyes". I really want a prop for the Lich stuff, and it would be weird if that was the only one that got a prop.
I am secretly hoping that they ask the dragon who else he has given this to. At that point, he is 100% going to lie to see if I can get them to try to assassinate someone on bad info :)
This is all besides the point.
I need to have a "pile of decoys" ready. At this moment, I have maybe the Shakespeare thing (which... maybe... need to think about it. I like the concept but I need to mull on it. Though I like the idea of printing out the lyrics of a bunch of Beatles songs and giving them to the bard :-D ) and some sort of demon thing. We only play 2 or 3 times a month and it will take AT MINIMUM 4 sessions before they get to this point. I have plenty of time to figure this out.
Edit: Just hit me that one of the songs could create some sort of enchantment that bends the listener towards violence. Like what conservative moms were convinced heavy metal was doing in the 80s... only real! The idea of the song in question being Eleanor Rigby just put a big dumb smile on my face.
I was also considering having the Dragon give them an Efreeti Bottle... except now the dragon is giving them something of actual value which I highly doubt he would do willingly.
There is one more important thing to consider, and thats your players might not strictly value things in the way you expect them to. More often than not I'm stunned as my players literally leave a +1 weapon I've put in a room (and described in no sparing detail how sharp and finely made it looks), but get utterly fixated by a random trinket I might say is on a shelf. It depends on your players, and perhaps the foreshadowing they might have been given, but often if they see an item they have no interest in using, their imaginations simply won't be taken by it (no matter how sharp and shiny it is).
The poison immunity is a far stretch for a green dragon to give. Why would they lose their strongest weapon, to people they want to work for them?
I desperately need to get my group to see more whimsy in the game. I have attempted to introduce some magic items that might spark creativity, but so far that has mostly failed.
They are not a particularly imaginative bunch.
That is mostly besides the point.
I think I have settled on the dragon supplying the bard with several songs that, when played, will earn him extra money for the day but also creates a mild enchantment that brings out violent tendencies in those hearing them. I may flesh out this idea later a bit more, but I think as a base concept that's pretty solid and in keeping with the Green Dragon's MO.
Edit: This will not play out as people suddenly attacking each other when he's playing. It will play out as an increase in violent crime when he's around playing the songs which will, if he does it enough, bring out the local enforcers on him as the source of the "moral decay" and eventually result in him getting run out of whatever town he's in.
Edit 2: Knowing my group, the chances of the Bard actually playing the songs is close to 0.
So, I actually did something really similar with my group currently.
What I found to be useful was to give them something that had a positive, but came from a negative. For example, My sorcerer who specialized in fire gained the ability to ignore fire immunity when they deal damage, however the object that was giving him that ability was killing people who were prescribed to the religion tied to the artifact. The cleric got "the ability to change" which was a wish spell, but it had a twist like a genie. She wished alive her lover that died during the game, but it cost the life of one of the other party members pregnant wife and thusly their child.
Things like that caused a massive character growth for the party when they found out about how these abilities were functioning. I don't know if that is really what you want for your party.
Also, I would usually stay away from things that change alignment because for me that's taking away agency from my players and the last thing I want is to force my players to play something they don't want to. I think that alignment is bad anyway.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
I 100% agree with this. Also, as you may have gathered from above my players are not great at the actual role playing part, so forcing them to play something they don't want to is likely to end poorly. They are having enough trouble with what they already have.
This is interesting. Unfortunately, I have distinct plans for the relationships that my players have with some of the NPCs and killing them off now would screw me up.
I am glad to have another voice in this conversation, though.
Any ideas on what would be thematic and reasonable for a monk, given what I'm going for here? I am considering giving him the "booby prize" of the group ("And to you, the hat of silence! Your meditations will now be uninterruptible and twice as effective!" as he hands him a pair of earmuffs) because it amuses me, and because I can't come up with anything better.
Another option is that the Monk could be the one to get the legitimately cursed magic item. I was thinking "bracers of defense +2, but they become heavy and useless when in the presence of a dragon (or dragon-like creature), losing their bonus and wiping out your dex bonus to your AC. Cannot be taken off without "remove curse" once put on." Not super creative, but it gets the job done.
Cleric: The green dragon could teach them a ritual to speak directly with a god, but make it one that is completely antithetical to what your cleric stands for.
Monk: The green dragon gives the monk the name of a truly enlightened one who could teach and train them. Nothing more than the name, use it either as a plot device in the future, or maybe just as a red herring "the journey itself was your path to enlightenment" sort of thing.
Bard: The green dragon teaches the bard the secret chord which creates the 'Brown Noise'
Cleric: perform this absolutely unholy and awful ritual, and you will be able to become Cyric's avatar!
Monk: His name is Kretis. He was once famous, but has been expunged from history after a surge of his power murdered thousands. He has secluded himself in the trashlands. Go to him, and learn the ways of enlightenment.
Bard: If you take this mouth organ, and play these three pipes at exactly this pitch, just... poop... poop everywhere. BWAHAHAHA!
I think there is promise in the Cleric one, though that will require me to come up with yet another ritual, and in this case it's one that I don't actually have any plans for anyone ever actually attempting. Though... who knows! Unsure if I like it more than the "bind a demon to your will" idea.
The Monk idea is promising.
I like the cursed songs idea for the bard from earlier, and will be likely using a modified version of that.
This has been a very productive thread! Thanks!