Title says it all. A PC died and their soul went to the Abyss, so now they’ve been trying to get back a body by taking a demonic one. How would you suggest I run this reincarnation in game?
Sounds fun! I think it depends on the demon. I had a similar situation in my previous campaign, where the dwarf fiend warlock failed his patron (Baphomet) and was thus turned into a minotaur after failing to escape the Endless Maze. He ended up staying a minotaur. But in your situation, it sounds like you could have some fun with plane traveling here.
Perhaps an adventure that requires the party to perform a ritual, using materials gathered from the upper planes, in the Temple of Lathander, god of rebirth. Perhaps finding the temple is simple, but gathering the components are not. Such things might include a vial of divine water from Elysium, the blessing of an honored spirit of Ysgard (which could invoke a trial of strength), and the tome that contains the actual ritual incantation to transfer a soul from a library on Arcadia.
Could have a ton of epic heroism to this adventure!
You could pick a low-level fiend (demons for more monstrous races, devils for a more humanoid look) and homebrew a race based on some of the defining characteristics of that monster.
Just let them play their character, just as you would if you turned into a Vampire or a Were-Wolf! Find a demon that has a CR closest to the player's LVL, then there you have it! If the player's LVL is really high, I recommend using a devil. But as you would as transforming into a monster, you would have to modify the abilities.
I also love d̶̡̼̥̻͙̣̼̿͂͐͘ę̴̢̨̛̼̙̤̻̞̠̗̳̝̦̹̹̦͍̉̏͛̽͠͠sţ̵̢̼̹̭̖͔͎̞̪͇͚̞̇̀̇̀̒͂̇̍͊̏ru̸̮̭̪̠͆̑̍́̈́̑̾̒̑̂̕ͅc̶̢̜͓̮̩͎͕̄́͑̃̈͋̈͌̑̽͠ͅͅţ̵̢̼̹̭̖͔͎̞̪͇͚̞̇̀̇̀̒͂̇̍͊̏io̵̪̭̞̗̝͙̝̬̥͕̒ͅn̸̨͖̳͓͍̜̬̗̪̜̪̗̺͆̏̆̊́̈́̿̎̅̈͠͝͝ in my campaigns! In other words, i'm an evil DM.
My advice is keep it simple and used premade content as much as possible to keep it easy for you but there's a few options of what you could do.
You could just run their character largely as normal if you wanted and just give them some demonic aesthetics. This would have the least balance issues as it would be entirely role play and visual. For example they may appear skeletal or with a melted mutated face. Aesthetics and skinning can make a very big difference. You could also do something small like a feat for example the eldritch invocation cloak of flies through the eldritch adept feat.
As others have suggested you could also run them as a monster stat block. This is a bit harder to balance but relatively easy to do. If you are willing to put up with them maybe being a bit out of the player power curve for a bit and want them to feel really different as a demon then this is a good option. You can even add some unique flare to it if you want by giving the demon one or two unique traits representative of the character but I wouldn't change it too much as that would be allot of effort and compound balance issues
The third option is trying to make something in the middle which could be a bit of work and depending how you do it could end up with balance issues. This could include making a unique demon race or class. At the easy end you could just change their race to teifling of the appropriate type and the hardest option would be making a unique class.
As for the process of regaining human form. Salvation can be earned or stolen, they could either look for something good to destroy and consume for an evil route to escape or they could undergo a ritual of atonement proving virtue or making up for past wrongs.
sell souls to a demon to be released
beg a god or angel
Bathe in unicorn blood
Complete the trials of limbo (dantes inferno limbo not dnd limbo)
Complete noble and selfless acts on the material plain ( you know like Pinocchio becoming a real boy)
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Title says it all. A PC died and their soul went to the Abyss, so now they’ve been trying to get back a body by taking a demonic one. How would you suggest I run this reincarnation in game?
Be Excellent to one another. Rock on dude.
Sounds fun! I think it depends on the demon. I had a similar situation in my previous campaign, where the dwarf fiend warlock failed his patron (Baphomet) and was thus turned into a minotaur after failing to escape the Endless Maze. He ended up staying a minotaur. But in your situation, it sounds like you could have some fun with plane traveling here.
Perhaps an adventure that requires the party to perform a ritual, using materials gathered from the upper planes, in the Temple of Lathander, god of rebirth. Perhaps finding the temple is simple, but gathering the components are not. Such things might include a vial of divine water from Elysium, the blessing of an honored spirit of Ysgard (which could invoke a trial of strength), and the tome that contains the actual ritual incantation to transfer a soul from a library on Arcadia.
Could have a ton of epic heroism to this adventure!
You could pick a low-level fiend (demons for more monstrous races, devils for a more humanoid look) and homebrew a race based on some of the defining characteristics of that monster.
Devil ideas: cambion, incubus/succubus
Demon ideas: babau, gnoll, some color of abishai
Just let them play their character, just as you would if you turned into a Vampire or a Were-Wolf! Find a demon that has a CR closest to the player's LVL, then there you have it! If the player's LVL is really high, I recommend using a devil. But as you would as transforming into a monster, you would have to modify the abilities.
Anyways, good luck!
Monsters: Brathkal
Weapons: Sword of Ni , Bow of Ni
Spells: Zone of Ni
I also love d̶̡̼̥̻͙̣̼̿͂͐͘ę̴̢̨̛̼̙̤̻̞̠̗̳̝̦̹̹̦͍̉̏͛̽͠͠sţ̵̢̼̹̭̖͔͎̞̪͇͚̞̇̀̇̀̒͂̇̍͊̏ru̸̮̭̪̠͆̑̍́̈́̑̾̒̑̂̕ͅc̶̢̜͓̮̩͎͕̄́͑̃̈͋̈͌̑̽͠ͅͅţ̵̢̼̹̭̖͔͎̞̪͇͚̞̇̀̇̀̒͂̇̍͊̏io̵̪̭̞̗̝͙̝̬̥͕̒ͅn̸̨͖̳͓͍̜̬̗̪̜̪̗̺͆̏̆̊́̈́̿̎̅̈͠͝͝ in my campaigns! In other words, i'm an evil DM.
Make them a quasit and have them summoned as a super incompetent warlock's new familiar 😂
My advice is keep it simple and used premade content as much as possible to keep it easy for you but there's a few options of what you could do.
You could just run their character largely as normal if you wanted and just give them some demonic aesthetics. This would have the least balance issues as it would be entirely role play and visual. For example they may appear skeletal or with a melted mutated face. Aesthetics and skinning can make a very big difference. You could also do something small like a feat for example the eldritch invocation cloak of flies through the eldritch adept feat.
As others have suggested you could also run them as a monster stat block. This is a bit harder to balance but relatively easy to do. If you are willing to put up with them maybe being a bit out of the player power curve for a bit and want them to feel really different as a demon then this is a good option. You can even add some unique flare to it if you want by giving the demon one or two unique traits representative of the character but I wouldn't change it too much as that would be allot of effort and compound balance issues
The third option is trying to make something in the middle which could be a bit of work and depending how you do it could end up with balance issues. This could include making a unique demon race or class. At the easy end you could just change their race to teifling of the appropriate type and the hardest option would be making a unique class.
As for the process of regaining human form. Salvation can be earned or stolen, they could either look for something good to destroy and consume for an evil route to escape or they could undergo a ritual of atonement proving virtue or making up for past wrongs.