About 6 months ago I took my group through Waterdeep Dragon Heist. Xanathar was the BBG and of course the group held Sylgar (his fish) hostage in order to escape. From there we went on to the next campaign in the series, Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Most played new characters, so in between we gave a send off to some of the other character. One in particular had his character going to Avernus, apparently to get something for Xanathar to gain his favor in some way. Apparently, This characater felt really bad for messing with Xanathar and his fish. His idea was to go to Avernus and get Xanathar a sizeable but manageable amount of infernal war machines...his thinking is that it is something Xanathar does not have and it gives him the ability to expand and grow his criminal empire. My first reaction to this is WTF?!? Why would you do that? I don't even think Infernal war machines would work on the material plane. Thoughts?
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‘A’OHE PU’U KI’EKI’E KE HO’A’O ‘IA E PI’I – (No cliff is so tall it cannot be climbed.)
Honestly, a campaign to smuggle tanks out of Hell to work off a debt from an otherworldly mob boss sounds really awesome.
It's not a debt though, he wants to do it just to do it. I know the rest of the group wouldn't go for it. The group consists of good and neutral alignments, but this particular player (who is neutral) plays alignment like it's relative (what's evil to one person is perfectly fine for another and vice versa). Not to mention that you have to be a pretty evil SOB to run these things ( I mean, they run on soul coins-the souls of the dead).
I'm with the walrus. It sounds like gonzo, silly entertainment. I don't know that I'd personally go to the trouble of writing it and running it, and it makes a mockery of my homebrew cosmology, but if you like high-concept, that's as high-concept as it gets.
Why would he do that, rather than send an apology muffin basket and a fish toy for Sylgar? Maybe the player likes batshit-crazy premises more than you.
Would they work in the material plane? We all know the answer is: you're the DM. My personal argument against is that taking material objects to or from the Outer Planes is like when you wake up from a dream thinking you brought something back with you and look in your hand and it's not there. There are ways to do it, but they often involve the acts of deities. It would be the kind of thing that Xanathar would negotiate with Shemeshka the Marauder to smuggle parts through Sigil and then construct them in Skullport with technical support from yugoloth mercenaries so Silverhand didn't find out until too late..
My personal argument for them working is that I've always thought their engines sound like reconfigured Spelljammers that devils modded to burn something useless that they have a lot of (mortal souls) and preserve something useful and in limited supply (spell slots for frontline troops). A good artificer could probably get it running on efficient renewable magic, although Xanathar obvs wouldn't care.
If the rest of the group won't go for it, then that's the end of the discussion, but it honestly does sound like a fun story, even if the hook is super-silly.
If it's happening offscreen and the character's had his send-off, there's no need to address it. He leaves for Avernus with a mission, doesn't return for years (at least the whole of DotMM). The rest is up to your headcanon: neither you nor your player actually decide how it resolves. If you want to imagine he died when Asmodeus got ticked about something so stupid, you can. If he wants to imagine he's kicking butt on an epic demon tank heist, he can. Loose ends are cool; I don't think it needs to go any further.
That said, I don't think there's a canon on whether infernal war machines work outside of Avernus (though you'd still need soul coins to fuel them). I would DEFINITELY rule that they do! It might be cheesy, but if you bring the character back into the story at all, you don't want to disappoint his player!
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Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
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About 6 months ago I took my group through Waterdeep Dragon Heist. Xanathar was the BBG and of course the group held Sylgar (his fish) hostage in order to escape. From there we went on to the next campaign in the series, Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Most played new characters, so in between we gave a send off to some of the other character. One in particular had his character going to Avernus, apparently to get something for Xanathar to gain his favor in some way. Apparently, This characater felt really bad for messing with Xanathar and his fish. His idea was to go to Avernus and get Xanathar a sizeable but manageable amount of infernal war machines...his thinking is that it is something Xanathar does not have and it gives him the ability to expand and grow his criminal empire. My first reaction to this is WTF?!? Why would you do that? I don't even think Infernal war machines would work on the material plane. Thoughts?
‘A’OHE PU’U KI’EKI’E KE HO’A’O ‘IA E PI’I – (No cliff is so tall it cannot be climbed.)
Honestly, a campaign to smuggle tanks out of Hell to work off a debt from an otherworldly mob boss sounds really awesome.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
It's not a debt though, he wants to do it just to do it. I know the rest of the group wouldn't go for it. The group consists of good and neutral alignments, but this particular player (who is neutral) plays alignment like it's relative (what's evil to one person is perfectly fine for another and vice versa). Not to mention that you have to be a pretty evil SOB to run these things ( I mean, they run on soul coins-the souls of the dead).
‘A’OHE PU’U KI’EKI’E KE HO’A’O ‘IA E PI’I – (No cliff is so tall it cannot be climbed.)
I'm with the walrus. It sounds like gonzo, silly entertainment. I don't know that I'd personally go to the trouble of writing it and running it, and it makes a mockery of my homebrew cosmology, but if you like high-concept, that's as high-concept as it gets.
Why would he do that, rather than send an apology muffin basket and a fish toy for Sylgar? Maybe the player likes batshit-crazy premises more than you.
Would they work in the material plane? We all know the answer is: you're the DM. My personal argument against is that taking material objects to or from the Outer Planes is like when you wake up from a dream thinking you brought something back with you and look in your hand and it's not there. There are ways to do it, but they often involve the acts of deities. It would be the kind of thing that Xanathar would negotiate with Shemeshka the Marauder to smuggle parts through Sigil and then construct them in Skullport with technical support from yugoloth mercenaries so Silverhand didn't find out until too late..
My personal argument for them working is that I've always thought their engines sound like reconfigured Spelljammers that devils modded to burn something useless that they have a lot of (mortal souls) and preserve something useful and in limited supply (spell slots for frontline troops). A good artificer could probably get it running on efficient renewable magic, although Xanathar obvs wouldn't care.
If the rest of the group won't go for it, then that's the end of the discussion, but it honestly does sound like a fun story, even if the hook is super-silly.
If it's happening offscreen and the character's had his send-off, there's no need to address it. He leaves for Avernus with a mission, doesn't return for years (at least the whole of DotMM). The rest is up to your headcanon: neither you nor your player actually decide how it resolves. If you want to imagine he died when Asmodeus got ticked about something so stupid, you can. If he wants to imagine he's kicking butt on an epic demon tank heist, he can. Loose ends are cool; I don't think it needs to go any further.
That said, I don't think there's a canon on whether infernal war machines work outside of Avernus (though you'd still need soul coins to fuel them). I would DEFINITELY rule that they do! It might be cheesy, but if you bring the character back into the story at all, you don't want to disappoint his player!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club