A good man's motives [Archive] - Wizards Community

A good man's motives [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Aramar the Black
10-18-07, 12:39 AM My PC's rescued a young child sacrifice from a secret cult just recently, and have come to discover that he is the child of a respectable noble family in the nearby small town.
Here's the tricky part: The child was not stolen from his home, but rather given (not so willingly) to the cult by his father (a good-aligned figure).
What might motivate/pressure the man to give up his only child as a sacrifice?
Majick
10-18-07, 01:12 AM This is quite a classic example in my opinion of 'sacrifice of one for the greater of all' which also happens to be a common Paladin question that seems to come up a lot.

If he is Neutral Good or Chaotic Good i could see him doing it. If he was Lawful Good he would have even more confliction than the other alignments but i could still see him doing it.

Theres a literal plethora of reason he could be doing this:

1. The boy is 'tainted' by dark and malevolent forces, and the father was 'swayed' into giving the child willingly to a group that understood and would 'nurture' his potential - a father's love is a powerful thing, and even knowing his son would grow up evil and twisted, at least he was alive and happy.

2. Blackmail, pure and simple "Give us your son or your entire extended family dies. Tell the town guard and we murder an entire school of children. Tell the king/queen/other nobles and we poison the whole towns drinking water" etc. etc. - A simple one. He just didn't know what else to do. Very black and white.

3. The father is actually evil simply masquerading as good, and is apart of the cult himself (could even be a prominent member) - good hook for PC's when they find out it's all been a lie... but what do we do now we know?

4. The father honestly believed he was doing the right thing, because they were convincing enough to make the father believe it was some sort of specialist school for potentially elite wizards and gifted arcanists (or clerics, or bards, or fighters etc.) - basically whatever the father would want his son to be involved in (class wise).

5. There is a prophecy that the boy, on achieving adulthood, will usher in an apocalyptic age of terror and destruction, and that the only way to stem the coming disaster is to 'fight evil with evil' - the father simply assumes that this is what the scriptures refered to, and when the cult conveniently appeared and said they wanted the boy for a sacrifice, it seemed like this would solve both problems

That's all i got off the top of my head but, is it really all that hard to come up with plot hooks? Com on guys! THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!
FrostWolf
10-18-07, 04:40 AM The kids a lycanthrope and the cult posed as a group that raised such children in a manner that allowed them total control over their alignment and shapechanging. Side Quest: Get the kid to a group that actualy dose this befor the full moon or deal with a were critter cub! Hilarity ensues!
SeptimusMagistos
10-19-07, 12:28 PM The cult pretended they were his particular god and ordered him to let his child be sacrificed.
Riastlin
10-19-07, 01:08 PM Yeah the sacrifice one for the good of all works, or just have the cultist's having duped the nobleman into thinking that he was giving his child to them in order to help the kid in some fashion.
Thevail
10-22-07, 12:01 AM Maybe the specific cult isn't who he "gave" the child to. He may have "given" the child as a squire to another local, or not so local, higher up nobleman as a Squire or something.

That leaves the father happy, the PCs heroes, and an almost untouchable bad guy in the form of a cultist (who is probably really mad about the botched sacrifice and the dead cultists) and who has lots of money and clout to protect himself with and use to harass the PCs.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Aramar the Black 10-18-07, 12:39 AM	My PC's rescued a young child sacrifice from a secret cult just recently, and have come to discover that he is the child of a respectable noble family in the nearby small town. Here's the tricky part: The child was not stolen from his home, but rather given (not so willingly) to the cult by his father (a good-aligned figure). What might motivate/pressure the man to give up his only child as a sacrifice?
Majick 10-18-07, 01:12 AM	This is quite a classic example in my opinion of 'sacrifice of one for the greater of all' which also happens to be a common Paladin question that seems to come up a lot. If he is Neutral Good or Chaotic Good i could see him doing it. If he was Lawful Good he would have even more confliction than the other alignments but i could still see him doing it. Theres a literal plethora of reason he could be doing this: 1. The boy is 'tainted' by dark and malevolent forces, and the father was 'swayed' into giving the child willingly to a group that understood and would 'nurture' his potential - a father's love is a powerful thing, and even knowing his son would grow up evil and twisted, at least he was alive and happy. 2. Blackmail, pure and simple "Give us your son or your entire extended family dies. Tell the town guard and we murder an entire school of children. Tell the king/queen/other nobles and we poison the whole towns drinking water" etc. etc. - A simple one. He just didn't know what else to do. Very black and white. 3. The father is actually evil simply masquerading as good, and is apart of the cult himself (could even be a prominent member) - good hook for PC's when they find out it's all been a lie... but what do we do now we know? 4. The father honestly believed he was doing the right thing, because they were convincing enough to make the father believe it was some sort of specialist school for potentially elite wizards and gifted arcanists (or clerics, or bards, or fighters etc.) - basically whatever the father would want his son to be involved in (class wise). 5. There is a prophecy that the boy, on achieving adulthood, will usher in an apocalyptic age of terror and destruction, and that the only way to stem the coming disaster is to 'fight evil with evil' - the father simply assumes that this is what the scriptures refered to, and when the cult conveniently appeared and said they wanted the boy for a sacrifice, it seemed like this would solve both problems That's all i got off the top of my head but, is it really all that hard to come up with plot hooks? Com on guys! THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!
FrostWolf 10-18-07, 04:40 AM	The kids a lycanthrope and the cult posed as a group that raised such children in a manner that allowed them total control over their alignment and shapechanging. Side Quest: Get the kid to a group that actualy dose this befor the full moon or deal with a were critter cub! Hilarity ensues!
SeptimusMagistos 10-19-07, 12:28 PM	The cult pretended they were his particular god and ordered him to let his child be sacrificed.
Riastlin 10-19-07, 01:08 PM	Yeah the sacrifice one for the good of all works, or just have the cultist's having duped the nobleman into thinking that he was giving his child to them in order to help the kid in some fashion.
Thevail 10-22-07, 12:01 AM	Maybe the specific cult isn't who he "gave" the child to. He may have "given" the child as a squire to another local, or not so local, higher up nobleman as a Squire or something. That leaves the father happy, the PCs heroes, and an almost untouchable bad guy in the form of a cultist (who is probably really mad about the botched sacrifice and the dead cultists) and who has lots of money and clout to protect himself with and use to harass the PCs.