I'm currently running a game set in the Abyss and the players have awoken on the banks of the River Styx, with Charon awaiting them there and offering to ferry them wherever they should desire on the River Styx. Reading through his article on the Forgotten Realms Wiki to get some ideas on how to play him, I was wondering what kind of steep price would he choose/desire for adventurers seeking to make the trip down the Styx with him?
He's a major altraoloth, connected to the River Styx and all life, and cannot be destroyed. All merrenoloths follow him, so I'm curious what he'd ask for to ferry these poor lost souls in the Abyss. I'm basically going to be running him as a highly modified and powerful merrenoloth because well, he used to be one before a Night Hag turned him into the being known as Charon.
It mentions he'd come to the aid of any fiend who asks for him, but he'd charge hundreds of thousands of platinum pieces to do so.
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The fee was usually a silver or copper/bronze coin placed in/on the mouth of the dead. The living would probably have a significantly different price to pay. Orpheus was able to use charm to gain passage and Heracles was able to force Charon to grant him passage. There are no accounts, that I can recall, of any specific price being paid for passage made by a living being.
It's hard to know how to answer your question if we don't know what kind of price seems reasonable to you as the DM, or the personality of this NPC. Is your version of Charon sadistic or merely selfish? What are its emotions regarding mortals? Does it hold any grudges towards them?
Per MM2 1e p.29: Merrenoloths charged either 10 pp, two gems worth at least 50 gp each, or a magic item worth at least 100 gp per passenger, in advance. But (per MM2 3e) were known to sometimes lead their passengers to traps laid out by a third paying party. It was advisable to increase the payment to a merrenoloth to avoid such an inconvenience.
For Charon himself? I'd charge the group one soul (i.e. PC permanently dead). Let the group decide for themselves who to sacrifice. Summoned creatures and such wouldn't count, but NPC's might (but would probably count as an evil act). Alternately, a soul coin should suffice (detailed in WotC's next adventure "Descent into Avernus")
Soul Coin. Simple Enough or a valuable item or something like a memory. I saw one group have the ferryman say "Whatever the journey is worth to you will suffice."
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I'm currently running a game set in the Abyss and the players have awoken on the banks of the River Styx, with Charon awaiting them there and offering to ferry them wherever they should desire on the River Styx. Reading through his article on the Forgotten Realms Wiki to get some ideas on how to play him, I was wondering what kind of steep price would he choose/desire for adventurers seeking to make the trip down the Styx with him?
He's a major altraoloth, connected to the River Styx and all life, and cannot be destroyed. All merrenoloths follow him, so I'm curious what he'd ask for to ferry these poor lost souls in the Abyss. I'm basically going to be running him as a highly modified and powerful merrenoloth because well, he used to be one before a Night Hag turned him into the being known as Charon.
It mentions he'd come to the aid of any fiend who asks for him, but he'd charge hundreds of thousands of platinum pieces to do so.
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In Greek mythology it was a silver coin, usually placed in the mouth of the dead.
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The fee was usually a silver or copper/bronze coin placed in/on the mouth of the dead. The living would probably have a significantly different price to pay. Orpheus was able to use charm to gain passage and Heracles was able to force Charon to grant him passage. There are no accounts, that I can recall, of any specific price being paid for passage made by a living being.
It's hard to know how to answer your question if we don't know what kind of price seems reasonable to you as the DM, or the personality of this NPC. Is your version of Charon sadistic or merely selfish? What are its emotions regarding mortals? Does it hold any grudges towards them?
Per MM2 1e p.29: Merrenoloths charged either 10 pp, two gems worth at least 50 gp each, or a magic item worth at least 100 gp per passenger, in advance. But (per MM2 3e) were known to sometimes lead their passengers to traps laid out by a third paying party. It was advisable to increase the payment to a merrenoloth to avoid such an inconvenience.
For Charon himself? I'd charge the group one soul (i.e. PC permanently dead). Let the group decide for themselves who to sacrifice. Summoned creatures and such wouldn't count, but NPC's might (but would probably count as an evil act). Alternately, a soul coin should suffice (detailed in WotC's next adventure "Descent into Avernus")
Soul Coin. Simple Enough or a valuable item or something like a memory. I saw one group have the ferryman say "Whatever the journey is worth to you will suffice."