I am DMing Decent into Avernus, and I am looking for ideas for quest or encounters to slowly turn a player into evil... and who knows... maybe even replace Zariel by the end of the campaign.
She became an assassin because she was indirectly saved by one when she was a kid. She has been trying to find this mysterious savior ever since.
My plan is to make this guy a devil from avernus, and once she finds him, he will try to slowly turn her into the dark side, little by little. By the time they get to lvl 10-13, it would be great if at least she is moving in shades of gray, where the devil, with Asmodeus’ direction, will offer her replace Zariel.
Do you have any ideas for encounters to put here and there to effectively make this transition? Or at least give her a bad time. Even if she refuses everything I would like to have this devil appearing, teasing her.
My #1 piece of advice going in is don't expect her to actually be corrupted: let her make her own decision. My #2 piece of advice is to throw in similar old allies/rivals for the other players to meet along the way so they don't feel left out. That said, sounds like an awesome idea!
For encounters, I'd suggest that he shows up when the party's in need and offers her just a little bit of aid (maybe a healing potion after the cleric's gone down, or the whereabouts of a villain the party's trying to locate) in exchange for a meaningless action (like carving a symbol on a pub table). But over time, his stakes get higher. Maybe he'll give the rogue free magic items or kill off major enemies...in return for increasingly dark favors. If she keeps going with it, she might eventually move from petty vandalism or pranks to theft, animal cruelty, murder, torture...
Or she might realize what he's doing and demand that he leave. In which case he might...but return for vengeance near the end of the campaign!
My only real suggestion is that devils dont act out of loyalty (even toward asmodeus or other archdevils), they act out of self interest.
What does this devil gain by having the PC become a lord of hell? Why isn't the assassin devil trying to replace zariel himself? Why does asmodeus want to make this PC a lord?
So building on this, why would Zariel get kicked out of her arch devil spot, if anything wouldn’t it make more sense for Zariel to maybe take a liking to the player and try to make a contract with her
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Marvarax andSora (Dragonborn) The retired fighter and WIP scholar - Glory
Brythel(Dwarf), The dwarf with a gun - survival at sea
Jaylin(Human), Paladin of Lathander's Ancient ways - The Seven Saints (Azura Claw)
Urselles(Goblin), Cleric of Eldath- The Wizard's challenge
Viclas Tyrin(Half Elf), Student of the Elven arts- Indrafatmoko's Defiance in Phlan
My brain is thinking that there's some tricky, self-serving caveat involved with the future, possible offer to replace Zariel, but I could be wrong. Beside that, I don't know the character enough to suggest specific temptations. (Chocolate chip cookies go a long with with me.)
In general for swaying someone's Good alignment, I think that "no right answer" scenarios are a decent starting point - situations where morality is difficult to determine such as choosing between two Evils (as in no Good answers). Situations where adherence to morality leads to the failure of accomplishing a greatly desired goal is also a decent tactic - a price too high for adhering to a Good alignment.
It can't be as simple as that, though. A true test is when someone doesn't know they're being tested.
The Chaotic part is a bit tricky. That gives Good people a lot of wiggle room in moral interpretations. I wouldn't envy any Devil assigned to try this.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
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Hi everyone!
I am DMing Decent into Avernus, and I am looking for ideas for quest or encounters to slowly turn a player into evil... and who knows... maybe even replace Zariel by the end of the campaign.
She became an assassin because she was indirectly saved by one when she was a kid. She has been trying to find this mysterious savior ever since.
My plan is to make this guy a devil from avernus, and once she finds him, he will try to slowly turn her into the dark side, little by little. By the time they get to lvl 10-13, it would be great if at least she is moving in shades of gray, where the devil, with Asmodeus’ direction, will offer her replace Zariel.
Do you have any ideas for encounters to put here and there to effectively make this transition? Or at least give her a bad time. Even if she refuses everything I would like to have this devil appearing, teasing her.
My #1 piece of advice going in is don't expect her to actually be corrupted: let her make her own decision. My #2 piece of advice is to throw in similar old allies/rivals for the other players to meet along the way so they don't feel left out. That said, sounds like an awesome idea!
For encounters, I'd suggest that he shows up when the party's in need and offers her just a little bit of aid (maybe a healing potion after the cleric's gone down, or the whereabouts of a villain the party's trying to locate) in exchange for a meaningless action (like carving a symbol on a pub table). But over time, his stakes get higher. Maybe he'll give the rogue free magic items or kill off major enemies...in return for increasingly dark favors. If she keeps going with it, she might eventually move from petty vandalism or pranks to theft, animal cruelty, murder, torture...
Or she might realize what he's doing and demand that he leave. In which case he might...but return for vengeance near the end of the campaign!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
My only real suggestion is that devils dont act out of loyalty (even toward asmodeus or other archdevils), they act out of self interest.
What does this devil gain by having the PC become a lord of hell? Why isn't the assassin devil trying to replace zariel himself? Why does asmodeus want to make this PC a lord?
So building on this, why would Zariel get kicked out of her arch devil spot, if anything wouldn’t it make more sense for Zariel to maybe take a liking to the player and try to make a contract with her
Marvarax and Sora (Dragonborn) The retired fighter and WIP scholar - Glory
Brythel(Dwarf), The dwarf with a gun - survival at sea
Jaylin(Human), Paladin of Lathander's Ancient ways - The Seven Saints (Azura Claw)
Urselles(Goblin), Cleric of Eldath- The Wizard's challenge
Viclas Tyrin(Half Elf), Student of the Elven arts- Indrafatmoko's Defiance in Phlan
My brain is thinking that there's some tricky, self-serving caveat involved with the future, possible offer to replace Zariel, but I could be wrong. Beside that, I don't know the character enough to suggest specific temptations. (Chocolate chip cookies go a long with with me.)
In general for swaying someone's Good alignment, I think that "no right answer" scenarios are a decent starting point - situations where morality is difficult to determine such as choosing between two Evils (as in no Good answers). Situations where adherence to morality leads to the failure of accomplishing a greatly desired goal is also a decent tactic - a price too high for adhering to a Good alignment.
It can't be as simple as that, though. A true test is when someone doesn't know they're being tested.
The Chaotic part is a bit tricky. That gives Good people a lot of wiggle room in moral interpretations. I wouldn't envy any Devil assigned to try this.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.