Help! My character has lost his motivation to travel! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Help! My character has lost his motivation to travel! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Kuroimaken
03-29-08, 11:13 PM A little background on this:

My character began play with a powerful curse (that I specifically asked the DM for) that was passed down through generations of his family. Basically, he was compelled to seek out stories and characters, whether involving himself personally or not, and he was forced to continue his bloodline so his children would also be compelled to do the same. The curse had been done well before his own generation, and it did not allow him to die as long as his bloodline did not continue: basically, if he died, he'd be ressurrected, but lose 2 points of Constitution every time that happened (and there was no way, EVER, to revert that loss), unless he had a grown son, in which case the curse passed on to him (if he ever reached 0 CON, he'd become a ghost, then he'd have to possess someone and continue his bloodline that way). The curse itself was also not possible for him alone to get rid of, since it was cast with the aid of an artifact.

Long story short, he ended up in the company of a young vampire lady while looking for someone (as part of a request by the local government, which basically involved money). He was dominated by said vampire, which meant he had to follow her anyway, but managed to convince her to release her hold, since hers promised to be a great story anyhow. So, while we were headed to a local capital that she intended to seize, we ran into a poor village beset by a curse/plague of sorts (and being a follower of the God of Plague, she wanted to know what was behind it so she could study it). This meant dungeon crawl time. Periodically the party would get certain visions about the story behind the dungeon, its symbolisms and the items stored within, which basically related to the God of Plague. We learned that said God had been sealed into five cursed spheres and that the dungeon likely contained one of them. By the end of the dungeon we ran into said sphere. My character happened to be detecting magic by then (he's a Bard, in case you're wondering) and he looked directly at it. For some reason, he went nuts and started attacking the party. One of the characters was Lawful Evil, so he didn't take it easy on me, and wound up decapitating my character. I learned that the artifact his ancestors had been cursed with was one of the black spheres (something the DM decided, and which I found VERY cool), and also that the vampire hanging around with us was actually the High Priestess of the God of Plague. Then along came the Oracle of the God of Plague (someone who happened to have a direct connection with said God's will), who further explained the situation, and told us that the High Priestess' role was to unseal her God and its 'Master', the God of Death. Which basically leads to my current predicament.

One: my character is Chaotic Neutral. While he doesn't care about anyone else's motives for doing stuff, if he keeps around this party, he's going to turn Evil soon due to their objectives alone. While that isn't a bad thing in and of itself (specially since I've been starved for a 'full evil' sort of campaign for a while now), I'm not sure if I really WANT him to be evil.

Two: while the curse did provide him with certain benefits (namely, you know, not dying), I liked its flavor better than I liked the benefits themselves. The whole process left him curse-free (with no drawbacks), which also means that the compulsion is gone, and it basically means his primary motivation for helping the party is gone as well(namely: getting the story about everyone else's deeds).

Three: although I did intend to 'soup up' the character with a build before (since he was offensively weaker compared to the rest of the party), at least then I probably had a better idea of the direction I'd give it (like giving him a focus on cursing people, for an ironic twist, or on knowledge-gathering, because of the curse itself). Right now I'm not really sure what to do. Thankfully, I still have a while to figure it out due to the length of time it takes our characters to level.

For now, he claims to be following the party around to get revenge on the guy who initially cursed his family (the Oracle told him the guy is still 'alive', so to speak), but the reality is, I don't think this character was really THAT dissatisfied with his lot in life when he was still cursed, and as such is hardly that bent on revenge. Sure he still wants to kick the guy's nuts, but he's not crazy about it -- plus, revenge can make a character VERY one-dimensional.

Thoughts?
Terjon of the Blue Rose
03-29-08, 11:48 PM It's a very interesting predicament you're stuck in. I would think that, at least for the time being, you should have you're character stick around on the basis that he doesn't really have any other aim in life.

Having spent his whole existance knowing what he would be doing up until the moment he died (permanently), he has never given any consideration to the concept of the future. Never thinking he would get a chance to make a choice, he has chosen to accept his lot in life. Now that lot has changed and he has no idea where to go (much like his player :P ). Let him develop his plans for the future over the next couple of weeks/months of in game time.

There are a few points which could easily become driving motives for him now that he is freed of his curse. Revenge is one, but as you pointed out it doesn't seem that his curse hurt him that much and so it doesn't make the best option.

Stories are another. Just because the curse no longer compels him doesn't mean he must stop. As far as he is concerned this was a perfectly acceptable fate and he may choose to continue it. For an evil twist you may decide to ruin other's stories though. Freed of the curse of gathering others stories you become a subtle counter to them. You make your own story in the ruination of others (fitting nicely to the desire for an all evil game). This gives you a chance to play against the other players to some degree (fitting for an evil campaign) but does require that the group be capable of seperating your character's antagonistic nature from you the player.

The last suggestion for a good reason to go on is perhaps the simplest. You want to know your own story. Depending on how much backstory you have you may be getting the first chance in your life to learn when, how, and why this curse was placed. If you have spent your life collecting the stories of others than knowing your own is a very simple and realistic desire.
Kuroimaken
03-30-08, 08:08 PM It's a very interesting predicament you're stuck in. I would think that, at least for the time being, you should have you're character stick around on the basis that he doesn't really have any other aim in life. Yes, that's more or less the kind of mess he's in. The whole "forces beyond his control" thingie isn't helping him any, either.

Having spent his whole existance knowing what he would be doing up until the moment he died (permanently), he has never given any consideration to the concept of the future. Never thinking he would get a chance to make a choice, he has chosen to accept his lot in life. Now that lot has changed and he has no idea where to go (much like his player ). Let him develop his plans for the future over the next couple of weeks/months of in game time. Yes, there appears to be a lot of incoming events for him and his party... Let's hope the campaign doesn't get tiresome anytime soon.

There are a few points which could easily become driving motives for him now that he is freed of his curse. Revenge is one, but as you pointed out it doesn't seem that his curse hurt him that much and so it doesn't make the best option.

Stories are another. Just because the curse no longer compels him doesn't mean he must stop. As far as he is concerned this was a perfectly acceptable fate and he may choose to continue it. For an evil twist you may decide to ruin other's stories though. Freed of the curse of gathering others stories you become a subtle counter to them. You make your own story in the ruination of others (fitting nicely to the desire for an all evil game). This gives you a chance to play against the other players to some degree (fitting for an evil campaign) but does require that the group be capable of seperating your character's antagonistic nature from you the player.

The last suggestion for a good reason to go on is perhaps the simplest. You want to know your own story. Depending on how much backstory you have you may be getting the first chance in your life to learn when, how, and why this curse was placed. If you have spent your life collecting the stories of others than knowing your own is a very simple and realistic desire. As things stand now, revenge is his excuse. He doesn't really FEEL that way, but it doesn't mean he's not going to fool everyone else into thinking he does. As for the tales, he actually had a genuine interest in them, but he feels a bit like maybe that could be a result of the curse conditioning the way his family thinks for generations, and is thus shunning it.

He knows the reason his family was cursed, however. It happened because his ancestor and a necromancer used to adventure together, and they fell in love with the same woman. His ancestor, being a bard with no scruples, decided to win her the good old-fashioned way: talking smack about the necromancer. In this case, "talking smack" was convincing her he had murdered people in cold blood. Truth, however, has this way of showing up. When it did come up, the woman was so torn between the two, that she killed herself.

And I guess you know how the story goes from there...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kuroimaken 03-29-08, 11:13 PM	A little background on this: My character began play with a powerful curse (that I specifically asked the DM for) that was passed down through generations of his family. Basically, he was compelled to seek out stories and characters, whether involving himself personally or not, and he was forced to continue his bloodline so his children would also be compelled to do the same. The curse had been done well before his own generation, and it did not allow him to die as long as his bloodline did not continue: basically, if he died, he'd be ressurrected, but lose 2 points of Constitution every time that happened (and there was no way, EVER, to revert that loss), unless he had a grown son, in which case the curse passed on to him (if he ever reached 0 CON, he'd become a ghost, then he'd have to possess someone and continue his bloodline that way). The curse itself was also not possible for him alone to get rid of, since it was cast with the aid of an artifact. Long story short, he ended up in the company of a young vampire lady while looking for someone (as part of a request by the local government, which basically involved money). He was dominated by said vampire, which meant he had to follow her anyway, but managed to convince her to release her hold, since hers promised to be a great story anyhow. So, while we were headed to a local capital that she intended to seize, we ran into a poor village beset by a curse/plague of sorts (and being a follower of the God of Plague, she wanted to know what was behind it so she could study it). This meant dungeon crawl time. Periodically the party would get certain visions about the story behind the dungeon, its symbolisms and the items stored within, which basically related to the God of Plague. We learned that said God had been sealed into five cursed spheres and that the dungeon likely contained one of them. By the end of the dungeon we ran into said sphere. My character happened to be detecting magic by then (he's a Bard, in case you're wondering) and he looked directly at it. For some reason, he went nuts and started attacking the party. One of the characters was Lawful Evil, so he didn't take it easy on me, and wound up decapitating my character. I learned that the artifact his ancestors had been cursed with was one of the black spheres (something the DM decided, and which I found VERY cool), and also that the vampire hanging around with us was actually the High Priestess of the God of Plague. Then along came the Oracle of the God of Plague (someone who happened to have a direct connection with said God's will), who further explained the situation, and told us that the High Priestess' role was to unseal her God and its 'Master', the God of Death. Which basically leads to my current predicament. One: my character is Chaotic Neutral. While he doesn't care about anyone else's motives for doing stuff, if he keeps around this party, he's going to turn Evil soon due to their objectives alone. While that isn't a bad thing in and of itself (specially since I've been starved for a 'full evil' sort of campaign for a while now), I'm not sure if I really WANT him to be evil. Two: while the curse did provide him with certain benefits (namely, you know, not dying), I liked its flavor better than I liked the benefits themselves. The whole process left him curse-free (with no drawbacks), which also means that the compulsion is gone, and it basically means his primary motivation for helping the party is gone as well(namely: getting the story about everyone else's deeds). Three: although I did intend to 'soup up' the character with a build before (since he was offensively weaker compared to the rest of the party), at least then I probably had a better idea of the direction I'd give it (like giving him a focus on cursing people, for an ironic twist, or on knowledge-gathering, because of the curse itself). Right now I'm not really sure what to do. Thankfully, I still have a while to figure it out due to the length of time it takes our characters to level. For now, he claims to be following the party around to get revenge on the guy who initially cursed his family (the Oracle told him the guy is still 'alive', so to speak), but the reality is, I don't think this character was really THAT dissatisfied with his lot in life when he was still cursed, and as such is hardly that bent on revenge. Sure he still wants to kick the guy's nuts, but he's not crazy about it -- plus, revenge can make a character VERY one-dimensional. Thoughts?
Terjon of the Blue Rose 03-29-08, 11:48 PM	It's a very interesting predicament you're stuck in. I would think that, at least for the time being, you should have you're character stick around on the basis that he doesn't really have any other aim in life. Having spent his whole existance knowing what he would be doing up until the moment he died (permanently), he has never given any consideration to the concept of the future. Never thinking he would get a chance to make a choice, he has chosen to accept his lot in life. Now that lot has changed and he has no idea where to go (much like his player :P ). Let him develop his plans for the future over the next couple of weeks/months of in game time. There are a few points which could easily become driving motives for him now that he is freed of his curse. Revenge is one, but as you pointed out it doesn't seem that his curse hurt him that much and so it doesn't make the best option. Stories are another. Just because the curse no longer compels him doesn't mean he must stop. As far as he is concerned this was a perfectly acceptable fate and he may choose to continue it. For an evil twist you may decide to ruin other's stories though. Freed of the curse of gathering others stories you become a subtle counter to them. You make your own story in the ruination of others (fitting nicely to the desire for an all evil game). This gives you a chance to play against the other players to some degree (fitting for an evil campaign) but does require that the group be capable of seperating your character's antagonistic nature from you the player. The last suggestion for a good reason to go on is perhaps the simplest. You want to know your own story. Depending on how much backstory you have you may be getting the first chance in your life to learn when, how, and why this curse was placed. If you have spent your life collecting the stories of others than knowing your own is a very simple and realistic desire.
Kuroimaken 03-30-08, 08:08 PM	It's a very interesting predicament you're stuck in. I would think that, at least for the time being, you should have you're character stick around on the basis that he doesn't really have any other aim in life. Yes, that's more or less the kind of mess he's in. The whole "forces beyond his control" thingie isn't helping him any, either. Having spent his whole existance knowing what he would be doing up until the moment he died (permanently), he has never given any consideration to the concept of the future. Never thinking he would get a chance to make a choice, he has chosen to accept his lot in life. Now that lot has changed and he has no idea where to go (much like his player ). Let him develop his plans for the future over the next couple of weeks/months of in game time. Yes, there appears to be a lot of incoming events for him and his party... Let's hope the campaign doesn't get tiresome anytime soon. There are a few points which could easily become driving motives for him now that he is freed of his curse. Revenge is one, but as you pointed out it doesn't seem that his curse hurt him that much and so it doesn't make the best option. Stories are another. Just because the curse no longer compels him doesn't mean he must stop. As far as he is concerned this was a perfectly acceptable fate and he may choose to continue it. For an evil twist you may decide to ruin other's stories though. Freed of the curse of gathering others stories you become a subtle counter to them. You make your own story in the ruination of others (fitting nicely to the desire for an all evil game). This gives you a chance to play against the other players to some degree (fitting for an evil campaign) but does require that the group be capable of seperating your character's antagonistic nature from you the player. The last suggestion for a good reason to go on is perhaps the simplest. You want to know your own story. Depending on how much backstory you have you may be getting the first chance in your life to learn when, how, and why this curse was placed. If you have spent your life collecting the stories of others than knowing your own is a very simple and realistic desire. As things stand now, revenge is his excuse. He doesn't really FEEL that way, but it doesn't mean he's not going to fool everyone else into thinking he does. As for the tales, he actually had a genuine interest in them, but he feels a bit like maybe that could be a result of the curse conditioning the way his family thinks for generations, and is thus shunning it. He knows the reason his family was cursed, however. It happened because his ancestor and a necromancer used to adventure together, and they fell in love with the same woman. His ancestor, being a bard with no scruples, decided to win her the good old-fashioned way: talking smack about the necromancer. In this case, "talking smack" was convincing her he had murdered people in cold blood. Truth, however, has this way of showing up. When it did come up, the woman was so torn between the two, that she killed herself. And I guess you know how the story goes from there...