Advice on an adventure [Archive] - Wizards Community

Advice on an adventure [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
LewisLlynn
08-04-04, 05:29 PM I need advice on a certain aspect of this adventure I'm working on creating.

It is a mystery adventure. The PCs are in Sharn, and call for a sky-coach. When it arrives, a dead goblin falls out of the coach. The Watch is called in, and the Sargeant has the PCs deal with the case.

The jist is that the goblin is, in fact, a member of House Phiarlan, using "disguise self" to take on the appearence of this goblin, who is a member of an underground gang who deals in black market magic items. The House memeber is trying to intercept the trading of a magical goblet. However, while in the sky-coach, he is killed by the driver. The driver is really a corrupt officer of the Watch who wants to take the law into his own hands. He kills the disguised half-elf, thinking he is the goblin of the gang.

Now, my problem is this: how can I, as DM prevent the half-elf from reverting to his natural form when killed???
Zedium
08-04-04, 05:54 PM Maybe a magic item?

I can immagine the following item:
Amulet of Appearances.

This is a small amulet, nothing special, except for the minor dark green Khyber dragonshard in the middle.
The magic of this amulet is quite powerful, upon killing an opponent, the amulet can absorb the victims looks. The amulet can store up to 5 different appearances, and once a disguise is absorbed by the amulet it can't be removed except by a Wish or simular spell.
1/day, the owner of the amulet can choose to look like one of his victims, but putting his own appearance into the amulet, in effect switching appearances until he uses the special ability again. No spell can detect the true appearance of the owner, although true seeing reveals up to 5 small figures floating around the amulet, each representing a different victim or the owner if the owner is disguised.
If the amulet is ever removed from the owner, he is stuck in his current shape. Also, if the owner is killed while not in his own shape he won't revert back to his original self.
Gurv
08-04-04, 06:40 PM What exactly is the problem? Disguise self doesn't fail when the target is killed. If the caster level is high enough for the duration to be a minor issue (must be, if the guy is infiltrating), then it should last a while after his death. As long as no one handles the body, there is no save, allowing your PCs to be the ones to make the discovery.

What source is the spell actually from? Is the half-elf a spellcaster? You mention that he is a member of House Phiarlan, which I have no issue with, but since he is not a full-blooded elf, he can't have the Mark of Shadow.

Both Seeming and Veil have a much better duration (and high save DC). If the half-elf is an arcane spellcaster, or someone with a decent UMD score, then a wand of disguise self would work wonders for refreshing the spell (until he died, of course).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
LewisLlynn 08-04-04, 05:29 PM	I need advice on a certain aspect of this adventure I'm working on creating. It is a mystery adventure. The PCs are in Sharn, and call for a sky-coach. When it arrives, a dead goblin falls out of the coach. The Watch is called in, and the Sargeant has the PCs deal with the case. The jist is that the goblin is, in fact, a member of House Phiarlan, using "disguise self" to take on the appearence of this goblin, who is a member of an underground gang who deals in black market magic items. The House memeber is trying to intercept the trading of a magical goblet. However, while in the sky-coach, he is killed by the driver. The driver is really a corrupt officer of the Watch who wants to take the law into his own hands. He kills the disguised half-elf, thinking he is the goblin of the gang. Now, my problem is this: how can I, as DM prevent the half-elf from reverting to his natural form when killed???
Zedium 08-04-04, 05:54 PM	Maybe a magic item? I can immagine the following item: Amulet of Appearances. This is a small amulet, nothing special, except for the minor dark green Khyber dragonshard in the middle. The magic of this amulet is quite powerful, upon killing an opponent, the amulet can absorb the victims looks. The amulet can store up to 5 different appearances, and once a disguise is absorbed by the amulet it can't be removed except by a Wish or simular spell. 1/day, the owner of the amulet can choose to look like one of his victims, but putting his own appearance into the amulet, in effect switching appearances until he uses the special ability again. No spell can detect the true appearance of the owner, although true seeing reveals up to 5 small figures floating around the amulet, each representing a different victim or the owner if the owner is disguised. If the amulet is ever removed from the owner, he is stuck in his current shape. Also, if the owner is killed while not in his own shape he won't revert back to his original self.
Gurv 08-04-04, 06:40 PM	What exactly is the problem? Disguise self doesn't fail when the target is killed. If the caster level is high enough for the duration to be a minor issue (must be, if the guy is infiltrating), then it should last a while after his death. As long as no one handles the body, there is no save, allowing your PCs to be the ones to make the discovery. What source is the spell actually from? Is the half-elf a spellcaster? You mention that he is a member of House Phiarlan, which I have no issue with, but since he is not a full-blooded elf, he can't have the Mark of Shadow. Both Seeming and Veil have a much better duration (and high save DC). If the half-elf is an arcane spellcaster, or someone with a decent UMD score, then a wand of disguise self would work wonders for refreshing the spell (until he died, of course).