Ok, so this is one thing that happened in yesterday's game and I'm interested in hearing how you'd carry it on. If you don't like romance or sex in your games, this thread isn't for you (though it is not graphic). I am the DM, not Balthra's player.
My PCs entered an archmage's tower, and used a time travel device to go back in time by 100 years
They arrived in the midst of a party where the mage was going to show off his new device
At the party, Balthra met Bethany, one of the succubi & incubi who had been summoned up to act like models who are paid to go to nightclubs to look beautiful. I hadn't intended Bethany to become a recurring character (her name was chosen on the spot from a list of names I could assign to random party attendees the PCs might talk to), but Balthra made some good Performance checks to go dance with her and then wanted to chat her up. I decided that succubi, while being Neutral Evil and doing all the things described in the MM, can also have wants of their own and personalities and not just be "Evil sex minions."
Balthra and Bethany hit it off. They both made opposing charisma checks and had the hots for each other (Balthra is a Charisma 20 Drow Bard, famed across the world for her astonishing beauty) and both failed Insight checks to determine if the other really liked them. Neither of them charmed one another (actually Bethany charmed another partygoer who tried to muscle in on them flirting on the sofas and made him go and stand in the corner).
Balthra and Bethany ended up making out in the bar while the rest of the party tried to locate the incredibly evil doodad they'd come back in time to break
Eventually the party dragged Balthra away to go do more time travelling stuff, travelling 200 years into their own future to take on the archmage in lich form, then coming back again to the party to break the doodad prior to the first time they travelled back (before Balthra and Bethany met) for very convoluted time travel reasons.
Anyway, a lich, a dragon, a vampire and a summoned Balor and a ton of RP later they break the doodad and flee the tower by travelling back to their own time, and the tower collapses there
It's now 100 years since Balthra and Bethany met, but Bethany is a succubus and time is of limited importance to her. She may well be back in the Nine Hells, and is probably in service to a demon prince or princess.
As a Bard, Balthra has no ability to summon demons. But I know next session she's going to want to start looking for ways to find and get in touch with Bethany because the player was having a blast and we were all howling with laughter as she got totally sidetracked from the quest.
Bethany may previously have looked for Balthra, but if she did then Balthra was only born a year after they met, and was turned to stone for 80 years when she was 20, so has been non-existent to Bethany for most of a century. So I can't see she'd be looking for her now.
What longer story arc would you go to? I note from the MM that Bethany can morph into an Incubus if she wants to, and then Bethany and Balthra could have Cambion offspring but they would be pretty evil.
Can you think of any story threads that would majorly benefit from having a succubus ally but that wouldn't involve the succubus going off doing things alone? Balthra is a College of Glamour Bard, so Charm and manipulation is entirely her thing already.
(note that I am not going to generally have Bethany along with the party and fighting - if Balthra can find her she'll mostly be around in downtime, but I might run one encounter where she helps out)
Should I have Bethany become mortal to escape her bond to the Nine Hells? Maybe run it as a side-goal in the greater campaign?
How evil should she be? The party is generally good aligned, except Balthra seems to be turning a blind eye. Love is blind...
Hit me up with all your ideas for fun continuations of these concepts. Ever run anything similar? I'd love to hear your best supernatural romance arcs from your own campaigns too.
My first thought is that Bethany is probably not her real name, as she would go around just giving that out so any old mortal could summon her. But maybe the wizard/lich knew Bethany’s real name, and has it written down somewhere in the ruined tower. Along with a few other names of other succubus who were there.
If I were the bard, first thing I’d do is try a sending, even if Bethany is on a different plane, there’s a 95% chance it will work. Though that gets back to the name thing.
Then there’s decisions to make. Does Bethany remember an hour long fling from 100 years ago? It might not have meant that much to her. Could be Bethany is imprisoned somewhere and needs rescuing. But she doesn’t know where. Now Balthra needs to comb through 100 years worth of stories and legends about Bethany the succubus for clues. And after all that, and the party rescues her, Bethany, who didn’t remember the night, just leaves. Now you have a recurring villain and a scorned lover.
Or Bethany has been pining away all these years. She knew about the time travel, and has been watching Balthra as a kind of guardian devil. Using her shapechanging to appear as different people at different times, protecting and subtly guiding Balthra to that fateful night. And now that it’s happened can finally appear as her true self and re-unite. But she knows Balthra still has work to do before they can settle down. It gives Balthra something to look forward to at the campaign end.
Quote from Xalthu>>Or Bethany has been pining away all these years. She knew about the time travel, and has been watching Balthra as a kind of guardian devil. Using her shapechanging to appear as different people at different times, protecting and subtly guiding Balthra to that fateful night. And now that it’s happened can finally appear as her true self and re-unite. But she knows Balthra still has work to do before they can settle down. It gives Balthra something to look forward to at the campaign end.
I do love this idea. However there should be hiccups in it. Love is hard and not a fairy tail. Perhaps bethany has been sworn to a demon lord as a concubine so balthra has to do something to win her freedom. Or the party can go murder hobo and fight a demon lord, Or ex demon lord. Either way i am favored to this option he gives, with a catch. If possible always make a quest out of it
Quote from Xalthu>>Or Bethany has been pining away all these years. She knew about the time travel, and has been watching Balthra as a kind of guardian devil. Using her shapechanging to appear as different people at different times, protecting and subtly guiding Balthra to that fateful night. And now that it’s happened can finally appear as her true self and re-unite. But she knows Balthra still has work to do before they can settle down. It gives Balthra something to look forward to at the campaign end.
I do love this idea. However there should be hiccups in it. Love is hard and not a fairy tail. Perhaps bethany has been sworn to a demon lord as a concubine so balthra has to do something to win her freedom. Or the party can go murder hobo and fight a demon lord, Or ex demon lord. Either way i am favored to this option he gives, with a catch. If possible always make a quest out of it
I agree about adding some more obvious D&D style impediments. But the whole scenario is kind of one. Once the character realizes they’ve spent their entire life being groomed to be the ideal lover of an evil sex demon, it gets pretty awful pretty fast. There’s a lot of rp potential in how the player wants to deal with it. Come to think of it from that angle, it’s the kind of thing you might want to be sure won’t upset anyone before you do it.
Quote from Xalthu>>Or Bethany has been pining away all these years. She knew about the time travel, and has been watching Balthra as a kind of guardian devil. Using her shapechanging to appear as different people at different times, protecting and subtly guiding Balthra to that fateful night. And now that it’s happened can finally appear as her true self and re-unite. But she knows Balthra still has work to do before they can settle down. It gives Balthra something to look forward to at the campaign end.
I do love this idea. However there should be hiccups in it. Love is hard and not a fairy tail. Perhaps bethany has been sworn to a demon lord as a concubine so balthra has to do something to win her freedom. Or the party can go murder hobo and fight a demon lord, Or ex demon lord. Either way i am favored to this option he gives, with a catch. If possible always make a quest out of it
I agree about adding some more obvious D&D style impediments. But the whole scenario is kind of one. Once the character realizes they’ve spent their entire life being groomed to be the ideal lover of an evil sex demon, it gets pretty awful pretty fast. There’s a lot of rp potential in how the player wants to deal with it. Come to think of it from that angle, it’s the kind of thing you might want to be sure won’t upset anyone before you do it.
I do agree with this. Make sure you aren't gonna upset your players. But if they give the green light (Or even already like her for some reason) Then have fun with it.
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Ok, so this is one thing that happened in yesterday's game and I'm interested in hearing how you'd carry it on. If you don't like romance or sex in your games, this thread isn't for you (though it is not graphic). I am the DM, not Balthra's player.
It's now 100 years since Balthra and Bethany met, but Bethany is a succubus and time is of limited importance to her. She may well be back in the Nine Hells, and is probably in service to a demon prince or princess.
Hit me up with all your ideas for fun continuations of these concepts. Ever run anything similar? I'd love to hear your best supernatural romance arcs from your own campaigns too.
My first thought is that Bethany is probably not her real name, as she would go around just giving that out so any old mortal could summon her.
But maybe the wizard/lich knew Bethany’s real name, and has it written down somewhere in the ruined tower. Along with a few other names of other succubus who were there.
If I were the bard, first thing I’d do is try a sending, even if Bethany is on a different plane, there’s a 95% chance it will work. Though that gets back to the name thing.
Then there’s decisions to make. Does Bethany remember an hour long fling from 100 years ago? It might not have meant that much to her. Could be Bethany is imprisoned somewhere and needs rescuing. But she doesn’t know where. Now Balthra needs to comb through 100 years worth of stories and legends about Bethany the succubus for clues. And after all that, and the party rescues her, Bethany, who didn’t remember the night, just leaves. Now you have a recurring villain and a scorned lover.
Or Bethany has been pining away all these years. She knew about the time travel, and has been watching Balthra as a kind of guardian devil. Using her shapechanging to appear as different people at different times, protecting and subtly guiding Balthra to that fateful night. And now that it’s happened can finally appear as her true self and re-unite. But she knows Balthra still has work to do before they can settle down. It gives Balthra something to look forward to at the campaign end.
I do love this idea. However there should be hiccups in it. Love is hard and not a fairy tail. Perhaps bethany has been sworn to a demon lord as a concubine so balthra has to do something to win her freedom. Or the party can go murder hobo and fight a demon lord, Or ex demon lord. Either way i am favored to this option he gives, with a catch. If possible always make a quest out of it
I agree about adding some more obvious D&D style impediments. But the whole scenario is kind of one. Once the character realizes they’ve spent their entire life being groomed to be the ideal lover of an evil sex demon, it gets pretty awful pretty fast. There’s a lot of rp potential in how the player wants to deal with it. Come to think of it from that angle, it’s the kind of thing you might want to be sure won’t upset anyone before you do it.
I do agree with this. Make sure you aren't gonna upset your players. But if they give the green light (Or even already like her for some reason) Then have fun with it.