Maybe you were once a deity, or a legendary wizard that failed in your ascent to godhood, or just the congealed faith of a long dead civilisation. You floated amongst the dead gods in the astral plane for aeons, and then when almost all of your form had rotted away, you awoke.
So now you are a sentient walking vestige. The general idea is to use the Warlock class (or maybe Sorcerer), as your way to connect to the power you once had. Your pact magic/spells/etc, is simply you granting power to yourself. It like trying to open a door within your mind, allowing tiny threads of your spirit to manifest. You know you have earth shaking forces locked away in your soul, but you can't feel it, can't summon it. You only get to crack open the door.
Could this be a viable concept? If not, how could be be balanced. What would the racials of a Vestige be?
Also, imagine the fun if some academic lore-master recognised you...
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When faced with an issue, most people would rather be negative than find a solution.
I don’t think there’s anything to be balanced. It’s just a backstory. A pretty common trope, really. The biggest risk, to my mind, is main character syndrome. If you walk around and everyone recognizes you, it could easily become “there’s the archmage and his band of retainers.” Though that could be solved by setting your return far enough after your fall that no one really remembers you anymore, so it doesn’t turn into your backstory meaning all the powerful people in the world remember you and are going to work with —or against — the person they remember.
Now, being your own warlock patron can be odd, but that would depend on the table. Some DMs like to have patrons give the warlock a mission. Some completely ignore the patron. But something like GOO could possibly fit nicely.
Just choose a race and apply the normal stuff. Frankly it's a bit stale, very similar to the former great wizard who lost their powers or mighty king cast down to the hoi polloi. In their worst incarnations, players expect the character to be treated differently due to their former awesomeness.
Yeah, the biggest issue with fairness and balance really comes from how you expect the character themselves to be treated/function in a roleplay sense. Joining a tier 1 party when your character was some huge mover and shaker previously can present a lot of issues if you try to leverage that to get past social/knowledge obstacles, and as noted this concept is generally at least a yellow flag for a group if they don't know you and how you roleplay well and you want to bring it to the table.
What you could do to avoid the "main character syndrome", is have basically nobody recognize you. You feel like all should know who you are, and bow before your magnificence....but the people you meet have no clue who you are, and just think you are crazy when you tell them of your magnificent power, causing your character some hard feelings that could eventually lead to some serious soul searching.
Also could change the dynamic of meeting someone who recognizes you. "Finally- someone who's aware of my magnficence!"
I was concidering a Vestige that was once a god of arrogance, evil, and hubris. Now he has to pull out all the stops just to beat a level 2 ghoul. He's keeping his former identity a secret, partly because he's had to come to terms with his fall, and partly because he knows what adventurers do to folks like him.
Maybe he's even learning to be good.
Meeting a scholar that recognises him, thats gonna be a nightmare (and a role playing opportunity).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When faced with an issue, most people would rather be negative than find a solution.
Before getting too invested in this concept, clear it with your GM. You're making demands on the world-building that they may not be cool with.
And, if they are cool with it, they'll be able to help you shape your background to fit the world. They may also be interested in homebrewing something, and they'll definitely come up with ways to make you regret it keep your life interesting.
it'd be down to your DM, as a DM, I'd say no. Vestiges are basically immortal existences that can never die, if you're character is something that can't die... it's not exactly the easiest thing to work with as a DM. Then on top of this, you're the lowest form of a deity (quasi-deity) but still essentially a deity. So not only do you need to massively weaken a god-like being, you've also got to explain how nobody knows they're dealing with a god-like being...
Maybe you were once a deity, or a legendary wizard that failed in your ascent to godhood, or just the congealed faith of a long dead civilisation. You floated amongst the dead gods in the astral plane for aeons, and then when almost all of your form had rotted away, you awoke.
So now you are a sentient walking vestige. The general idea is to use the Warlock class (or maybe Sorcerer), as your way to connect to the power you once had. Your pact magic/spells/etc, is simply you granting power to yourself. It like trying to open a door within your mind, allowing tiny threads of your spirit to manifest. You know you have earth shaking forces locked away in your soul, but you can't feel it, can't summon it. You only get to crack open the door.
Could this be a viable concept? If not, how could be be balanced. What would the racials of a Vestige be?
Also, imagine the fun if some academic lore-master recognised you...
When faced with an issue, most people would rather be negative than find a solution.
I don’t think there’s anything to be balanced. It’s just a backstory. A pretty common trope, really.
The biggest risk, to my mind, is main character syndrome. If you walk around and everyone recognizes you, it could easily become “there’s the archmage and his band of retainers.” Though that could be solved by setting your return far enough after your fall that no one really remembers you anymore, so it doesn’t turn into your backstory meaning all the powerful people in the world remember you and are going to work with —or against — the person they remember.
Now, being your own warlock patron can be odd, but that would depend on the table. Some DMs like to have patrons give the warlock a mission. Some completely ignore the patron. But something like GOO could possibly fit nicely.
Thanks dude, checking I wasn't being unfair/unbalanced.
When faced with an issue, most people would rather be negative than find a solution.
Just choose a race and apply the normal stuff. Frankly it's a bit stale, very similar to the former great wizard who lost their powers or mighty king cast down to the hoi polloi. In their worst incarnations, players expect the character to be treated differently due to their former awesomeness.
Yeah, the biggest issue with fairness and balance really comes from how you expect the character themselves to be treated/function in a roleplay sense. Joining a tier 1 party when your character was some huge mover and shaker previously can present a lot of issues if you try to leverage that to get past social/knowledge obstacles, and as noted this concept is generally at least a yellow flag for a group if they don't know you and how you roleplay well and you want to bring it to the table.
What you could do to avoid the "main character syndrome", is have basically nobody recognize you. You feel like all should know who you are, and bow before your magnificence....but the people you meet have no clue who you are, and just think you are crazy when you tell them of your magnificent power, causing your character some hard feelings that could eventually lead to some serious soul searching.
Also could change the dynamic of meeting someone who recognizes you. "Finally- someone who's aware of my magnficence!"
I was concidering a Vestige that was once a god of arrogance, evil, and hubris. Now he has to pull out all the stops just to beat a level 2 ghoul. He's keeping his former identity a secret, partly because he's had to come to terms with his fall, and partly because he knows what adventurers do to folks like him.
Maybe he's even learning to be good.
Meeting a scholar that recognises him, thats gonna be a nightmare (and a role playing opportunity).
When faced with an issue, most people would rather be negative than find a solution.
Before getting too invested in this concept, clear it with your GM. You're making demands on the world-building that they may not be cool with.
And, if they are cool with it, they'll be able to help you shape your background to fit the world. They may also be interested in homebrewing something, and they'll definitely come up with ways to
make you regret itkeep your life interesting.it'd be down to your DM, as a DM, I'd say no. Vestiges are basically immortal existences that can never die, if you're character is something that can't die... it's not exactly the easiest thing to work with as a DM. Then on top of this, you're the lowest form of a deity (quasi-deity) but still essentially a deity. So not only do you need to massively weaken a god-like being, you've also got to explain how nobody knows they're dealing with a god-like being...
Fair point. Some say yarp, some narp. Clearance with DM and homebrewing ahead.
When faced with an issue, most people would rather be negative than find a solution.