Help with my Epic Eberron Campaign (How to turn my PCs into Demons?) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Help with my Epic Eberron Campaign (How to turn my PCs into Demons?) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
kntshade
08-18-05, 02:19 PM My Eberron campaign has entered its second year (didn’t start out in Eberron but as soon as the setting came out we quickly and eagerly adopted it as our setting, its awesome!).

Since the beginning of my campaign one of the biggest questions for the players has been, “Who are we?” You see, when we were first rolling up characters I gave them all, the following requirement: Every player is required to have a background written for their character, this background can be as short as a few sentences (stating the character just awoke and is now experiencing this world for the first time), or many pages in length. However, each of these backgrounds must start out the same way. At some point in your life, it doesn’t matter when, you awoke with no memory. You don’t remember who you were; you have no idea where you came from, and no one seems to recognize you. It is as if you appeared suddenly from nowhere. When you appeared you were naked, and you had nothing that would indicate your name, or age, or anything else about who you are or where you came from. Oddly, you know things, things that could provide clues. You know skills, and are able to perform feats; you have abilities that you cannot explain, for you have no memory of ever learning them. Perhaps you were a warrior where you came from, with skill with a sword, or perhaps a Wizard, or a Bard, or Priest. Regardless, no matter how far back in your life you can remember, at some point you awoke with no memory.

The only clues to your past come to you in dreams, fleeting and often times disturbing dreams of which you have yet to make any sense.

The natural reaction to this is to try to find someone who knew you, to tell you who you are, to help you remember, but to everyone around you, you are a stranger, no one has ever seen you before, no one knows anything about you. Despite this, you have found that you are an extraordinary individual, possessed with great power.
So, for the longest time they had no idea who they were, but then they started to discover clues. Each of them began to manifest markings on their bodies, like Dragonmarks, but not any known mark.

Following clues from their dreams and through the events of the last 2 years they have come to find that they are each in actuality Demon Lords from the future, infused with aspects of divine power (it was so priceless when they discovered this, oh the horror!).

Anyway, in the future, there was a great war between the gods (Gods no one in present day Eberron have ever heard of). The conflict ended when the first god awoke and began devouring all that existed, including all the lesser gods. The deities of the future came together then, good and evil, and realized that the only way to save themselves was to choose their greatest champions and infuse them with their divine essence and then send them far back to a time where it would be possible to prevent this first god from ever awakening. The majority of the PCs are all aspects of the God of Hate, Ire, and they have to save the world.

SO, they have come to a place where they have discovered the vast majority of what’s going on, and now it’s time for them to embrace who they are and move forward with saving all of creation (this game is going Epic, in case you wondered).

The first manifestation of the vast power contained within them has manifested physically as a mark on their backs. These marks are not Dragon Marks, but rather Divine Marks. (though they look a lot like dragon marks).

The first stages of learning to access the divine power within them is by mastering the power of their marks and causing them to fully manifest in their Grater form.

To do that they must take the three feats listed here:

(These are just examples and will be further customized depending on what deity the PC is an aspect of).

The aspects of the Mark of Ire grant the following benefits:
Least Mark: Cause Fear 1/day, Inflict Moderate Wounds 1/day, or Darkness 1/day; +2 Bonus on Intimidate checks.
Lesser Mark: Bestow Curse 1/day, Contagion 1/day, Poison 1/day, or Inflict Critical Wounds 1/day.
Greater Mark: Eyebite 1/day, or Harm 1/day.

Once they have mastered the Greater Mark, and it is fully manifested, they will then be ready for the next stage of accessing their power.

For this stage, they must seek out several items. First they will need a perfect Khyber Dragonshard, this will act as a focus crystal, and this focus must be attuned to each individual through some ceremony, maybe grafted to their bodies? I don’t know, I’m getting stuck at this point.

Essentially my end goal will be to allow them to have a Demonic template applied to their characters and allow them to change form at will between their demonic form and their mortal form. In the demonic form I want them to have access to much greater powers (kind of along the lines of the Half-Fiend template, but maybe more powerful and more configurable).

To obtain this greater power I want them to have to work for it, but I don’t want it to interrupt their normal level progression (essentially, if they do the things that I have listed for them, it will be added at no cost of xp).

So what kinds of things can I make them do to further access the power that is hidden within them? I want it to actually be attainable, but also challenging so they feel rewarded once they get the power.

But not sure what the specifics would be. That’s where I need you guys. Any ideas or thoughts would be so helpful here!

Thank you!

P.S. Also I’m sure that I will have a million questions about how the rest of the world will view them once they become known more (at this point they are all 12th to 13th level… and have been pretty low key (they have been at war with the Church of the Silver Flame for quite a while, and the Lords of Dust know about them…) However, I wonder what the Dragons think of them and how they fit into the prophesy? There are so many others too… I love Eberron, it’s such a wonderful and complex world…

***Quick Note*** I didn’t feel that posting this in the Campaign Help thread would be the best thing for me as I would like all discussion about my campaign confined to one thread for my own organization and future reference. I feel as a member of these boards I’m entitled to that. Should an Eberron specific Campaign Help Forum be created I will have no problem with this thread being moved there, however. Please reply only in this thread and not in some other thread. Thank you!
Charles Phipps
08-18-05, 02:26 PM ***Quick Note*** I didn’t feel that posting this in the Campaign Help thread would be the best thing for me as I would like all discussion about my campaign confined to one thread for my own organization and future reference. I feel as a member of these boards I’m entitled to that. Should an Eberron specific Campaign Help Forum be created I will have no problem with this thread being moved there, however. Please reply only in this thread and not in some other thread. Thank you!

It's okay, I largely thought it would help people but it's hardly like I expected it to work 100%, I was always prepared that people wouldn't want to share their stories in a single environment. I just thought more people would post to people's questions if they had the stake of their own comments in the thread.

In any cases I think some definite ideas are

1. They might develop cults that worship them as gods and conflict with the local priesthood to fully manifest their power.

2. They have to slay and eat a outsider equal to their new hit dice level.

3. They must seek out a demon (probably a fun one like Xellos from Slayers) and learn from him a power ritual.

4. They have to sacrifice magic items, wealth, and experience to themselves and absorb the essence and develop abilities on a regular basis.

I love the background btw, while it may not seem very "Eberron" to some, I think that explaining the state of the planet in your own way is a fully valid joy of the system.
Thrincold
08-18-05, 02:30 PM Why not use savage species to figure out the levels of the demons you wish to emulate. Then you could tailor them into Prc type classes for each of your players. They earn great power, yet you get to lead them by the nose on what powers and when they get them. Leaves the illusion of freedom without having to give them any. :evillaugh
kntshade
08-18-05, 02:40 PM It's okay, I largely thought it would help people but it's hardly like I expected it to work 100%, I was always prepared that people wouldn't want to share their stories in a single environment. I just thought more people would post to people's questions if they had the stake of their own comments in the thread.

And that’s a good point Charles, and I agree with you. Your thread is a good thread chock full of great information and speculation. However, at a certain point it just gets too big to wade through all the information and it becomes not very accessible to the majority of the people skimming the boards. My post is already pretty big, so that would further exacerbate the problem. What we really need is an Eberron Campaign help Forum, but for now I shall make due.

1. They might develop cults that worship them as gods and conflict with the local priesthood to fully manifest their power.
That is a great idea and one I had thought about long ago but forgotten about. Instead of them creating cults for themselves (something they would never do, you see they are all quite disgusted with the fact that they are Demons and are trying to be “Good”). Perhaps Cults dedicated to them would pop up against their will, further complicating their lives and creating this thing where they become the unwilling prophets of doom or something… hehe I love it!

I love the background btw, while it may not seem very "Eberron" to some, I think that explaining the state of the planet in your own way is a fully valid joy of the system.
That’s why I love Eberron, because it is so different from my future homebrew campaign world that it works perfectly as my homebrew campaign world as it was thousands of years in the past. This way I am able to tie in aspects of both campaign worlds and create a richer, deeper, universe.

Big question in my players minds now is, how did the world go from how it is NOW (Eberron) to how it becomes in the future (the ruined half dead world that is my Homebrew?)
kntshade
08-18-05, 02:49 PM Why not use savage species to figure out the levels of the demons you wish to emulate. Then you could tailor them into Prc type classes for each of your players. They earn great power, yet you get to lead them by the nose on what powers and when they get them. Leaves the illusion of freedom without having to give them any. That’s a good point, and actually I will probably pull information from that book, however, I don’t want them to have to spend levels on this stuff…. Essentially I want it to be fairly easily accessible in that they don’t have to choose between embracing their demonic selves or leveling up in their class. I want them to be able to have both (the path to the dark side is always easiest and most promising with its vast amounts of seductive power is it not?!)

I have been a DM for many, many years, and part of this is a challenge for myself. In the beginning of this campaign I wondered how difficult it would be to take my group of players who always generally play “The Good Guys” and corrupt them and make them CHOOSE to embrace the dark side, but still, in the end, save the world? It’s been very interesting so far.
Charles Phipps
08-18-05, 02:52 PM Another option is to make it 'necessary' to have a cult in order to be able to defeat an enemy.

And I don't think people should 'wade through' the thread, just post their stuff and get their comments while maybe commenting on any current topics. Oh well, if it's a failure, it was.

I don't like "short threads" and my bias may be influencing me ;-)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
kntshade 08-18-05, 02:19 PM	My Eberron campaign has entered its second year (didn’t start out in Eberron but as soon as the setting came out we quickly and eagerly adopted it as our setting, its awesome!). Since the beginning of my campaign one of the biggest questions for the players has been, “Who are we?” You see, when we were first rolling up characters I gave them all, the following requirement: Every player is required to have a background written for their character, this background can be as short as a few sentences (stating the character just awoke and is now experiencing this world for the first time), or many pages in length. However, each of these backgrounds must start out the same way. At some point in your life, it doesn’t matter when, you awoke with no memory. You don’t remember who you were; you have no idea where you came from, and no one seems to recognize you. It is as if you appeared suddenly from nowhere. When you appeared you were naked, and you had nothing that would indicate your name, or age, or anything else about who you are or where you came from. Oddly, you know things, things that could provide clues. You know skills, and are able to perform feats; you have abilities that you cannot explain, for you have no memory of ever learning them. Perhaps you were a warrior where you came from, with skill with a sword, or perhaps a Wizard, or a Bard, or Priest. Regardless, no matter how far back in your life you can remember, at some point you awoke with no memory. The only clues to your past come to you in dreams, fleeting and often times disturbing dreams of which you have yet to make any sense. The natural reaction to this is to try to find someone who knew you, to tell you who you are, to help you remember, but to everyone around you, you are a stranger, no one has ever seen you before, no one knows anything about you. Despite this, you have found that you are an extraordinary individual, possessed with great power. So, for the longest time they had no idea who they were, but then they started to discover clues. Each of them began to manifest markings on their bodies, like Dragonmarks, but not any known mark. Following clues from their dreams and through the events of the last 2 years they have come to find that they are each in actuality Demon Lords from the future, infused with aspects of divine power (it was so priceless when they discovered this, oh the horror!). Anyway, in the future, there was a great war between the gods (Gods no one in present day Eberron have ever heard of). The conflict ended when the first god awoke and began devouring all that existed, including all the lesser gods. The deities of the future came together then, good and evil, and realized that the only way to save themselves was to choose their greatest champions and infuse them with their divine essence and then send them far back to a time where it would be possible to prevent this first god from ever awakening. The majority of the PCs are all aspects of the God of Hate, Ire, and they have to save the world. SO, they have come to a place where they have discovered the vast majority of what’s going on, and now it’s time for them to embrace who they are and move forward with saving all of creation (this game is going Epic, in case you wondered). The first manifestation of the vast power contained within them has manifested physically as a mark on their backs. These marks are not Dragon Marks, but rather Divine Marks. (though they look a lot like dragon marks). The first stages of learning to access the divine power within them is by mastering the power of their marks and causing them to fully manifest in their Grater form. To do that they must take the three feats listed here: (These are just examples and will be further customized depending on what deity the PC is an aspect of). The aspects of the Mark of Ire grant the following benefits: Least Mark: Cause Fear 1/day, Inflict Moderate Wounds 1/day, or Darkness 1/day; +2 Bonus on Intimidate checks. Lesser Mark: Bestow Curse 1/day, Contagion 1/day, Poison 1/day, or Inflict Critical Wounds 1/day. Greater Mark: Eyebite 1/day, or Harm 1/day. Once they have mastered the Greater Mark, and it is fully manifested, they will then be ready for the next stage of accessing their power. For this stage, they must seek out several items. First they will need a perfect Khyber Dragonshard, this will act as a focus crystal, and this focus must be attuned to each individual through some ceremony, maybe grafted to their bodies? I don’t know, I’m getting stuck at this point. Essentially my end goal will be to allow them to have a Demonic template applied to their characters and allow them to change form at will between their demonic form and their mortal form. In the demonic form I want them to have access to much greater powers (kind of along the lines of the Half-Fiend template, but maybe more powerful and more configurable). To obtain this greater power I want them to have to work for it, but I don’t want it to interrupt their normal level progression (essentially, if they do the things that I have listed for them, it will be added at no cost of xp). So what kinds of things can I make them do to further access the power that is hidden within them? I want it to actually be attainable, but also challenging so they feel rewarded once they get the power. But not sure what the specifics would be. That’s where I need you guys. Any ideas or thoughts would be so helpful here! Thank you! P.S. Also I’m sure that I will have a million questions about how the rest of the world will view them once they become known more (at this point they are all 12th to 13th level… and have been pretty low key (they have been at war with the Church of the Silver Flame for quite a while, and the Lords of Dust know about them…) However, I wonder what the Dragons think of them and how they fit into the prophesy? There are so many others too… I love Eberron, it’s such a wonderful and complex world… *Quick Note* I didn’t feel that posting this in the Campaign Help thread would be the best thing for me as I would like all discussion about my campaign confined to one thread for my own organization and future reference. I feel as a member of these boards I’m entitled to that. Should an Eberron specific Campaign Help Forum be created I will have no problem with this thread being moved there, however. Please reply only in this thread and not in some other thread. Thank you!
Charles Phipps 08-18-05, 02:26 PM	*Quick Note* I didn’t feel that posting this in the Campaign Help thread would be the best thing for me as I would like all discussion about my campaign confined to one thread for my own organization and future reference. I feel as a member of these boards I’m entitled to that. Should an Eberron specific Campaign Help Forum be created I will have no problem with this thread being moved there, however. Please reply only in this thread and not in some other thread. Thank you! It's okay, I largely thought it would help people but it's hardly like I expected it to work 100%, I was always prepared that people wouldn't want to share their stories in a single environment. I just thought more people would post to people's questions if they had the stake of their own comments in the thread. In any cases I think some definite ideas are 1. They might develop cults that worship them as gods and conflict with the local priesthood to fully manifest their power. 2. They have to slay and eat a outsider equal to their new hit dice level. 3. They must seek out a demon (probably a fun one like Xellos from Slayers) and learn from him a power ritual. 4. They have to sacrifice magic items, wealth, and experience to themselves and absorb the essence and develop abilities on a regular basis. I love the background btw, while it may not seem very "Eberron" to some, I think that explaining the state of the planet in your own way is a fully valid joy of the system.
Thrincold 08-18-05, 02:30 PM	Why not use savage species to figure out the levels of the demons you wish to emulate. Then you could tailor them into Prc type classes for each of your players. They earn great power, yet you get to lead them by the nose on what powers and when they get them. Leaves the illusion of freedom without having to give them any. :evillaugh
kntshade 08-18-05, 02:40 PM	It's okay, I largely thought it would help people but it's hardly like I expected it to work 100%, I was always prepared that people wouldn't want to share their stories in a single environment. I just thought more people would post to people's questions if they had the stake of their own comments in the thread. And that’s a good point Charles, and I agree with you. Your thread is a good thread chock full of great information and speculation. However, at a certain point it just gets too big to wade through all the information and it becomes not very accessible to the majority of the people skimming the boards. My post is already pretty big, so that would further exacerbate the problem. What we really need is an Eberron Campaign help Forum, but for now I shall make due. 1. They might develop cults that worship them as gods and conflict with the local priesthood to fully manifest their power. That is a great idea and one I had thought about long ago but forgotten about. Instead of them creating cults for themselves (something they would never do, you see they are all quite disgusted with the fact that they are Demons and are trying to be “Good”). Perhaps Cults dedicated to them would pop up against their will, further complicating their lives and creating this thing where they become the unwilling prophets of doom or something… hehe I love it! I love the background btw, while it may not seem very "Eberron" to some, I think that explaining the state of the planet in your own way is a fully valid joy of the system. That’s why I love Eberron, because it is so different from my future homebrew campaign world that it works perfectly as my homebrew campaign world as it was thousands of years in the past. This way I am able to tie in aspects of both campaign worlds and create a richer, deeper, universe. Big question in my players minds now is, how did the world go from how it is NOW (Eberron) to how it becomes in the future (the ruined half dead world that is my Homebrew?)
kntshade 08-18-05, 02:49 PM	Why not use savage species to figure out the levels of the demons you wish to emulate. Then you could tailor them into Prc type classes for each of your players. They earn great power, yet you get to lead them by the nose on what powers and when they get them. Leaves the illusion of freedom without having to give them any. That’s a good point, and actually I will probably pull information from that book, however, I don’t want them to have to spend levels on this stuff…. Essentially I want it to be fairly easily accessible in that they don’t have to choose between embracing their demonic selves or leveling up in their class. I want them to be able to have both (the path to the dark side is always easiest and most promising with its vast amounts of seductive power is it not?!) I have been a DM for many, many years, and part of this is a challenge for myself. In the beginning of this campaign I wondered how difficult it would be to take my group of players who always generally play “The Good Guys” and corrupt them and make them CHOOSE to embrace the dark side, but still, in the end, save the world? It’s been very interesting so far.
Charles Phipps 08-18-05, 02:52 PM	Another option is to make it 'necessary' to have a cult in order to be able to defeat an enemy. And I don't think people should 'wade through' the thread, just post their stuff and get their comments while maybe commenting on any current topics. Oh well, if it's a failure, it was. I don't like "short threads" and my bias may be influencing me ;-)