One of my players has found a Sword of Vengeance. The ruling is that when he is damaged, he must roll a Wisdom Saving Throw, or be overcome with the urge to fight the creature to the death.
I would prefer that this be a puzzle for them.
What is the best alternative?
Roll secretly, using information from his character sheet, and then narrating what happens. "You feel a piercing ringing rise up in your ears and all you can see is this rabid creature in front of you, and all you can hear is a voice in your head, urging you to kill it. 'Kill, kill, kill'. Is this your voice?"
Ask him to roll a d20, and then use information from his character sheet.
Ask him to roll several d20s before the session and record them, using them later.
If you're going for a "They don't really understand now, but they might after a few attempts" type of scenario, then I'd start by doing the rolls yourself privately. Upon the first failure, or if the character starts getting suspicious, then let them start doing the rolls themselves. You don't have to tell them what they're rolling for right away. Give them more information as things progress naturally.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I personally like seeing their reactions and thought processing when I say, "roll me a wisdom saving throw", and they succeed, and I say, "thanks" then move on. In my experience players typically do not like agency being taken away from them, so again, from my personal experience, I would not roll something impacting for them.
Where is the puzzle in this? As a player, if I hit someone with a magical sword and feel a strange compulsion the there will be no puzzle - it's the sword.
As an aside, it sounds more like a Charisma saving throw to me, or maybe Constitution.
Thanks everyone! I decided to take Lyrak's advice and simply asked the player to roll a Wisdom Saving Throw, which he failed. His next turn, his monk was going to attack with his fists. It isn't a requirement of the item that he attack with the Sword of Vengeance, but for flavor since it was the first time affected by the curse, I told him he remembered the sword, gripped the hilt in his belt and pulled it, then allowed him to attack as he already desired using it.
I am playing it that he MUST attack the creature that attacked him, however I am not telling him this requirement. If he wishes to do something else, I describe a ringing in his ears and a blurred focus on everything but his target. And then he is compelled to attack. The player still thinks he has agency somewhat, but it's only when he's doing what the spirit inhabiting the sword already wants him to be doing.
By puzzle, I mean I want them to figure out what is going on rather than explicitly tell them. Connect it to the sword, figure out the condition that causes the player to lose agency, and they can figure out how to remove the sword from him, with the curse gone or persisting. For example, I didn't just give him a Sword of Vengeance in his inventory, I gave him a custom Sword + 1. The player didn't pick up that it was due to him taking damage, but he does think the sword is cursed somehow.
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One of my players has found a Sword of Vengeance. The ruling is that when he is damaged, he must roll a Wisdom Saving Throw, or be overcome with the urge to fight the creature to the death.
I would prefer that this be a puzzle for them.
What is the best alternative?
Roll secretly, using information from his character sheet, and then narrating what happens. "You feel a piercing ringing rise up in your ears and all you can see is this rabid creature in front of you, and all you can hear is a voice in your head, urging you to kill it. 'Kill, kill, kill'. Is this your voice?"
Ask him to roll a d20, and then use information from his character sheet.
Ask him to roll several d20s before the session and record them, using them later.
Ask him to roll a Wisdom saving throw on demand.
If you're going for a "They don't really understand now, but they might after a few attempts" type of scenario, then I'd start by doing the rolls yourself privately. Upon the first failure, or if the character starts getting suspicious, then let them start doing the rolls themselves. You don't have to tell them what they're rolling for right away. Give them more information as things progress naturally.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I personally like seeing their reactions and thought processing when I say, "roll me a wisdom saving throw", and they succeed, and I say, "thanks" then move on. In my experience players typically do not like agency being taken away from them, so again, from my personal experience, I would not roll something impacting for them.
Where is the puzzle in this? As a player, if I hit someone with a magical sword and feel a strange compulsion the there will be no puzzle - it's the sword.
As an aside, it sounds more like a Charisma saving throw to me, or maybe Constitution.
Thanks everyone! I decided to take Lyrak's advice and simply asked the player to roll a Wisdom Saving Throw, which he failed. His next turn, his monk was going to attack with his fists. It isn't a requirement of the item that he attack with the Sword of Vengeance, but for flavor since it was the first time affected by the curse, I told him he remembered the sword, gripped the hilt in his belt and pulled it, then allowed him to attack as he already desired using it.
I am playing it that he MUST attack the creature that attacked him, however I am not telling him this requirement. If he wishes to do something else, I describe a ringing in his ears and a blurred focus on everything but his target. And then he is compelled to attack. The player still thinks he has agency somewhat, but it's only when he's doing what the spirit inhabiting the sword already wants him to be doing.
By puzzle, I mean I want them to figure out what is going on rather than explicitly tell them. Connect it to the sword, figure out the condition that causes the player to lose agency, and they can figure out how to remove the sword from him, with the curse gone or persisting. For example, I didn't just give him a Sword of Vengeance in his inventory, I gave him a custom Sword + 1. The player didn't pick up that it was due to him taking damage, but he does think the sword is cursed somehow.