So I was thinking, that I would like to bring in one of the lesser used entities of d&d - the lady of pain.
My idea was that I would have my players go to sigil, where they needed to buy a map for one of the mazes that the lady of pain uses as her prisons, so they could acquire a legendary artifact that would protect them from Baba Yaga.
(This is related to one of my players requests about her backstory, so the party will need to confront Baba Yaga eventually)
The problem is, the only way into these mazes, seems to be getting sent there by the lady herself.
So my question is, how psychologically scared would my players characters be after an encounter with the lady of pain, and escaping from one of her mazes?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
If the player had any idea what they would be getting into, would you give them an opportunity to do something or get something that could shield their minds to some degree? Also, would you be using the optional madness rules in this situation?
I'm interested in how you are approaching this situation as the DM.
Based on both my reading and playing in Planescape encountering the Lady of Pain has a couple of effects. First she is the de facto god of Sigil. Don't call her that though...she hates it. As such her ability to banish you into a Maze is pretty insurmountable. IIRC, you really should treat the Maze like a roach motel: they don't check out. Second, her gaze and even the merest touch of her shadow can cause pain or outright kill. I had her pretty much running PW:Stun and Kill at will in my games as long as she was in power of Sigil.
If you want to have the part retrieve something from Sigil, have it in Sigil and not in a Maze. If you are dead set on a Maze make it so that there is a reason that the maze is not only findable but escapable. Such as an ancient maze that is degrading since the occupant has long since passed.
I believe this is a wonderful time to delve into the wide world of psychosis! Put into effect the Madness rules, however I'd play it with a homebrew twist.
The very act of being in the maze will be enough to cause Madness, albeit slowly, and each day in the maze grants a Madness point.
Each combat in the maze will grant a Madness point
Each encounter with an NPC in the maze will grant a Madness point
Each puzzle/trap interacted with will grant a Madness point
At the end of a long rest half of all Madness points will be removed. Every long rest roll a d20:
1 = Lady of Pain visits in a dream, Madness points are doubled.
2-10: Nightmares wrack the character's dreams, wake with an extra Madness point.
11-19: Dreamless sleep, wake feeling fatigued, no effect.
20: Sleep is peaceful, dreams of heroism and valor, reduce Madness points to 1.
Madness points cannot be reduced by any means except leaving the Maze or by the Lady of Pain.
From there we break into the Madness rules specifically, first tally up Madness Points at the end of the Maze:
1-5: Roll on Short Term Madness table multiplying duration with Madness points. 5-10 Roll on Long Term Madness table multiplying duration with Madness points. 11+: Roll on Indefinite Madness table.
Every so often, I'd say every hour after the first encounter, roll on the Short Term Madness table to randomly affect the players.
This has given me an idea. What if the maze itself caused madness? The idea is that the maze is like the perfect prison, there is no escape, no end to the torment. Not even death is a way out because the maze refuses to let you die.
So when you die or you are killed in the maze, the maze brings you back to life.
Each time you are resurrected, the maze consumes a part of your mind and soul and this slowly drives you into madness. Escape the maze in time (possible for game purposes and only because this maze is so old that its energies are beginning to fade, creating cracks in the mazes defences, through which the players can escape) and it will be possible, using wish or or true resurrection, to restore yourself fully; but die enough times, and you will be lost to madness.
The longer you spend in the maze, the more risk you run of having your mind and soul consumed by the maze and being trapped there for all eternity as a mindless undead, alone, forgotten and screaming your rage into the cold and the dark.
I believe this is a wonderful time to delve into the wide world of psychosis! Put into effect the Madness rules, however I'd play it with a homebrew twist.
The very act of being in the maze will be enough to cause Madness, albeit slowly, and each day in the maze grants a Madness point.
Each combat in the maze will grant a Madness point
Each encounter with an NPC in the maze will grant a Madness point
Each puzzle/trap interacted with will grant a Madness point
At the end of a long rest half of all Madness points will be removed. Every long rest roll a d20:
1 = Lady of Pain visits in a dream, Madness points are doubled.
2-10: Nightmares wrack the character's dreams, wake with an extra Madness point.
11-19: Dreamless sleep, wake feeling fatigued, no effect.
20: Sleep is peaceful, dreams of heroism and valor, reduce Madness points to 1.
Madness points cannot be reduced by any means except leaving the Maze or by the Lady of Pain.
From there we break into the Madness rules specifically, first tally up Madness Points at the end of the Maze:
1-5: Roll on Short Term Madness table multiplying duration with Madness points. 5-10 Roll on Long Term Madness table multiplying duration with Madness points. 11+: Roll on Indefinite Madness table.
Every so often, I'd say every hour after the first encounter, roll on the Short Term Madness table to randomly affect the players.
Following on from the idea that I had after reading the above link, posted by @TexasDevin, I am tempted to say that the madness caused by the maze can only be undone by either a wish or true resurrection spell.
This is not impossible, as I have Temples of Light in my world, inhabited by monks who can perform true resurrection and wish isn't beyond the abilities of some of the characters themselves, once the can cast level 9 magic. So there are ways that the madness could be removed but the question is; given their maddened state, would the characters even think they were mad and even if they did, would they seek help for it?
If the player had any idea what they would be getting into, would you give them an opportunity to do something or get something that could shield their minds to some degree? Also, would you be using the optional madness rules in this situation?
I'm interested in how you are approaching this situation as the DM.
Following on from both my last replies, I was planning on having the encounter with The Lady of Pain, and the adventure through the maze, change the characters. They are going into this relatively naive, still quite childish and fairly innocent, and coming out the other end changed for ever - real world parallel, think of those soldiers who went off the the Vietnam war as children and came back men, who had seen and possibly done things that no man ever should.
This is the reason why I am starting with the Druid. Her expanded backstory is the perfect chance to prepare the players and set the tone for the dark worlds that are to come in future campaigns.
The loss of innocence, the end of summer and the gradual awakening to the reality of why lies beyond this mortal coil.
To paraphrase a quote from Bloodborne: "our eyes have yet to open" but soon they will and when they do, we can never go back to the way things were before. In becoming something other, what do we leave behind and is that sacrifice really worth it in the fist place.
These are the themes that I plan to explore, slowly at first, starting with the 2019 campaign (which will be almost like the prologue to future stories)
Would they seek help for it? I guess that would come down to how the madness affects them, whether they see it as a bad thing, and how the world around them responds to their madness. Hannibal Lecter was a great man, until he was hungry. Syd Barrett had Schizophrenia and he started Pink Floyd.
I've yet to implement madness or similar in my games so I hope this goes well for you and your players enjoy it!
So I was thinking, that I would like to bring in one of the lesser used entities of d&d - the lady of pain.
My idea was that I would have my players go to sigil, where they needed to buy a map for one of the mazes that the lady of pain uses as her prisons, so they could acquire a legendary artifact that would protect them from Baba Yaga.
(This is related to one of my players requests about her backstory, so the party will need to confront Baba Yaga eventually)
The problem is, the only way into these mazes, seems to be getting sent there by the lady herself.
So my question is, how psychologically scared would my players characters be after an encounter with the lady of pain, and escaping from one of her mazes?
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
If the player had any idea what they would be getting into, would you give them an opportunity to do something or get something that could shield their minds to some degree? Also, would you be using the optional madness rules in this situation?
I'm interested in how you are approaching this situation as the DM.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Based on both my reading and playing in Planescape encountering the Lady of Pain has a couple of effects. First she is the de facto god of Sigil. Don't call her that though...she hates it. As such her ability to banish you into a Maze is pretty insurmountable. IIRC, you really should treat the Maze like a roach motel: they don't check out. Second, her gaze and even the merest touch of her shadow can cause pain or outright kill. I had her pretty much running PW:Stun and Kill at will in my games as long as she was in power of Sigil.
If you want to have the part retrieve something from Sigil, have it in Sigil and not in a Maze. If you are dead set on a Maze make it so that there is a reason that the maze is not only findable but escapable. Such as an ancient maze that is degrading since the occupant has long since passed.
I believe this is a wonderful time to delve into the wide world of psychosis! Put into effect the Madness rules, however I'd play it with a homebrew twist.
From there we break into the Madness rules specifically, first tally up Madness Points at the end of the Maze:
1-5: Roll on Short Term Madness table multiplying duration with Madness points.
5-10 Roll on Long Term Madness table multiplying duration with Madness points.
11+: Roll on Indefinite Madness table.
Every so often, I'd say every hour after the first encounter, roll on the Short Term Madness table to randomly affect the players.
Just today, Sly Flourish just revisited madness and working it into storylines.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
This has given me an idea. What if the maze itself caused madness? The idea is that the maze is like the perfect prison, there is no escape, no end to the torment. Not even death is a way out because the maze refuses to let you die.
So when you die or you are killed in the maze, the maze brings you back to life.
Each time you are resurrected, the maze consumes a part of your mind and soul and this slowly drives you into madness. Escape the maze in time (possible for game purposes and only because this maze is so old that its energies are beginning to fade, creating cracks in the mazes defences, through which the players can escape) and it will be possible, using wish or or true resurrection, to restore yourself fully; but die enough times, and you will be lost to madness.
The longer you spend in the maze, the more risk you run of having your mind and soul consumed by the maze and being trapped there for all eternity as a mindless undead, alone, forgotten and screaming your rage into the cold and the dark.
Following on from the idea that I had after reading the above link, posted by @TexasDevin, I am tempted to say that the madness caused by the maze can only be undone by either a wish or true resurrection spell.
This is not impossible, as I have Temples of Light in my world, inhabited by monks who can perform true resurrection and wish isn't beyond the abilities of some of the characters themselves, once the can cast level 9 magic. So there are ways that the madness could be removed but the question is; given their maddened state, would the characters even think they were mad and even if they did, would they seek help for it?
Following on from both my last replies, I was planning on having the encounter with The Lady of Pain, and the adventure through the maze, change the characters. They are going into this relatively naive, still quite childish and fairly innocent, and coming out the other end changed for ever - real world parallel, think of those soldiers who went off the the Vietnam war as children and came back men, who had seen and possibly done things that no man ever should.
This is the reason why I am starting with the Druid. Her expanded backstory is the perfect chance to prepare the players and set the tone for the dark worlds that are to come in future campaigns.
The loss of innocence, the end of summer and the gradual awakening to the reality of why lies beyond this mortal coil.
To paraphrase a quote from Bloodborne: "our eyes have yet to open" but soon they will and when they do, we can never go back to the way things were before. In becoming something other, what do we leave behind and is that sacrifice really worth it in the fist place.
These are the themes that I plan to explore, slowly at first, starting with the 2019 campaign (which will be almost like the prologue to future stories)
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Would they seek help for it? I guess that would come down to how the madness affects them, whether they see it as a bad thing, and how the world around them responds to their madness. Hannibal Lecter was a great man, until he was hungry. Syd Barrett had Schizophrenia and he started Pink Floyd.
I've yet to implement madness or similar in my games so I hope this goes well for you and your players enjoy it!