Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Oompa 11-24-04, 06:38 AM	MY pc's are going on a adventure, they find out there village is slaughterd by an evil cleric that went insane.. Now the pc's are going after the cleric, leading them to an ruined church on a lonely hill top "how dramatic" So they go in the ruined church, find a secret underground cave, fight hordes of undead and then the cleric, the cleric escapes, becoming an BBEG.. But what now? the cleric escaped, they will go look for him, but the cleric will hide and recover from the fight.. and then im stuck.. what should the pc's do.. they're hometown ruined and nowhere to go.. hating the BBEG for it.. they want revenge.. but i dont plan on letting the BBEG appear every session.. I need some adventure idea's they can do meanwhile.. something that leads to the cleric and stuff.. Sorry if im a dazehead :p Edit: Party= Lvl 4 fighter Lvl 6 Ranger Lvl 5 Wizard Lvl 5 Rogue Lvl 4 Rogue And soon joining an Lvl 3 cleric
Primal 11-24-04, 07:25 AM	One option would trying to discover what happened before the massacre. What drove the cleric insane? Could be contact with an entity or an artifact. Following the cleric's footsteps before the events that led to the massacre can provide may possibilities. Then again, the BBEG would probably want revenge and although it may be wiser to lay low for a while he could have contacts that could be utilized in his place. Assasins come after the characters, the characters find themselves framed for crimes they did not commit, unsavory rumors about the character make their life difficult etc. Following available leads they could find out that someone is out to get them, they could probably suspect the cleric but they should have no definite proof that he is behind it. Rebuilding the village is another option. Such a task will require resources and money and attracting people which could also lead to many adventures.
Oompa 11-24-04, 07:33 AM	One option would trying to discover what happened before the massacre. What drove the cleric insane? Could be contact with an entity or an artifact. Following the cleric's footsteps before the events that led to the massacre can provide may possibilities. Then again, the BBEG would probably want revenge and although it may be wiser to lay low for a while he could have contacts that could be utilized in his place. Assasins come after the characters, the characters find themselves framed for crimes they did not commit, unsavory rumors about the character make their life difficult etc. Following available leads they could find out that someone is out to get them, they could probably suspect the cleric but they should have no definite proof that he is behind it. Rebuilding the village is another option. Such a task will require resources and money and attracting people which could also lead to many adventures. Sounds interesting, does anyone know of any artifacts that could drive an cleric insane? Maybe he devoted a part of his life to a god and then he got denied for something from his god, turning the cleric in an rampaging bringer of death :D
MegaFreggle 11-24-04, 07:37 AM	Sounds interesting, does anyone know of any artifacts that could drive an cleric insane? Maybe he devoted a part of his life to a god and then he got denied for something from his god, turning the cleric in an rampaging bringer of death :D and if it doesn't exist, you can always CREATE such thing :D hmmm... suddenly all kinds of idea's are popping in my head :D
Joe Khol 11-24-04, 07:40 AM	Assuming the players are going to want to track down the cleric it's only fair to leave them a few clues. The clues don't have to lead to where the cleric is now of course and in the process of tracking him down you can take them on a series of side adventures. They could also learn why he went insane in the first place, maybe leading to an even bigger BBEG or some none-sentient cause. Maybe they'll end up with the option of 'curing' the cleric of his insanity. Revenge or compassion? Of course, always remember than the PCs decide what they want to do. You can provide hints, clues or great big flashing neon signs but they may still choose something completely different. You could always leave things a little open and see where the players take things. Not an easy option for a DM but it can be an interesting one.
Oompa 11-24-04, 07:53 AM	Assuming the players are going to want to track down the cleric it's only fair to leave them a few clues. The clues don't have to lead to where the cleric is now of course and in the process of tracking him down you can take them on a series of side adventures. They could also learn why he went insane in the first place, maybe leading to an even bigger BBEG or some none-sentient cause. Maybe they'll end up with the option of 'curing' the cleric of his insanity. Revenge or compassion? Of course, always remember than the PCs decide what they want to do. You can provide hints, clues or great big flashing neon signs but they may still choose something completely different. You could always leave things a little open and see where the players take things. Not an easy option for a DM but it can be an interesting one. I think ill let them find some clue's about an small village that should be the next target for the cleric.. the village is his hometown.. but the pc's dont know that so go after the village, find out in the village who the cleric was and then the cleric attacks, pc's help defend, cleric flee's and pc's go search for an ending.. Something like that :P and it sounds if im going to railroad them.. but this is like the main plot.. if they do something else i have to anticipate...
Morka 11-24-04, 12:59 PM	Sounds interesting, does anyone know of any artifacts that could drive an cleric insane? Maybe he devoted a part of his life to a god and then he got denied for something from his god, turning the cleric in an rampaging bringer of death :D Helm of Opposite Alignment: Take your standard LG cleric of Pelor, give him a Helm of Opposite Alignment, he is now a CE cleric of Nerull... Berseker Sword: Take your standard CN cleric of Kord(sp?), give him a Berseker Sword, and you have a tornado killing everyone around him. Of course, this event cut him from Kord, and Erythnul make him an offer he can't refuse...
EatFlan 11-24-04, 01:05 PM	how about they find a letter on his desk, it's one of the only things not all broken and screwed up in his office. Picture: Broken desk, over turned chair, downed bookshelves. Pristine vellum letter sitting open in middle of desk. The letter appears to be from a colleague/good friend in X land. There is a passage of the writing that appears to be charred as if the writing has burned. This is the charge of X spell being expended apon reading. Cleric went insane killed everyone. now the PCs have a plot hook, they could go to X land and find Y person. from there you can go anywhere. Y person is dead Y person doesn't exist Y person is his best friend but never wrote no damn letter rumor about these letters perhaps X faith is under attack and quite a few clerics have gotten these letters god i could go on forever, but that would imply you are not smart enough to figure out your own hooks. ....don't worry i'll write again later.
Oompa 11-24-04, 05:44 PM	how about they find a letter on his desk, it's one of the only things not all broken and screwed up in his office. Picture: Broken desk, over turned chair, downed bookshelves. Pristine vellum letter sitting open in middle of desk. The letter appears to be from a colleague/good friend in X land. There is a passage of the writing that appears to be charred as if the writing has burned. This is the charge of X spell being expended apon reading. Cleric went insane killed everyone. now the PCs have a plot hook, they could go to X land and find Y person. from there you can go anywhere. Y person is dead Y person doesn't exist Y person is his best friend but never wrote no damn letter rumor about these letters perhaps X faith is under attack and quite a few clerics have gotten these letters god i could go on forever, but that would imply you are not smart enough to figure out your own hooks. ....don't worry i'll write again later. Every idea is a good idea.. exept when they use fluffy bunny's :D
Daoud 11-24-04, 07:27 PM	The whole letter writing campaign is a good idea, but you can also go back to the artifact. The artifact that drove cleric insane has now exploded into mutiple pieces which have been scattered all over. To reverse the effect, the pcs have to gather all the pieces and put them back together in the opposite order. Acquiring the pieces and knowledge of the necessary order can provide whatever type of sessions best suit your group: dungeon crawl, political intrigue(Baron X has begun acting oddly and wearing something strange around his neck), stealth(sneak into too powerful to fight dragon's lair and "liberate" piece of artifact), etc. Just a thought -Child of Keep on the Borderlands "What are you a tribble hopped up on Crack?" Elf Only Inn
Primal 11-25-04, 04:12 AM	Or you could combine both ideas. In this case, the letter itself is the artifact. It could even mail itself to other clerics (like a virus :D ).
ImmortalBlueMage 11-25-04, 04:34 AM	Artifacts artifacts artifacts, how cliche. These aren't bad ideas, but any DnD player with more than a year's experience has gone on a zillion quests for ancient artifacts. I say that the Cleric was driven insane by the tragic death of his beloved wife. Mad with grief, he boards up his home, abandons his shrine, and refuses to talk to anyone. He won't even allow the body to be taken away for funerary treatment. Weeks pass and he's not seen or heard from. Finally everyone decides he must be dead, wasted away from despair or maybe killed himself in a fit of grief. The townspeople send the town Sheriff into the mad priest's home to investigate. Of course, he finds that the Cleric is not dead after all. In fact, when the Sheriff stumbles into the main bedroom and finds a gruesome scene, the withered, gaunt man in soiled robes, muttering insanities to himself, his wife's now skeletal remains laying on the bed nearby, the Cleric turns on him, and, in a fit of rage, blasts him off the face of the world with a spell. Then he plunges into a frenzy, burns the home to the ground, and destroys the entire village. The plot hook to keep the story going would be the Cleric's deceased wife, now a restless Ghost, who begs the players to kill her husband and end his torment while his soul still has a chance for absolution.
Primal 11-25-04, 04:56 AM	Artifacts artifacts artifacts, how cliche. These aren't bad ideas, but any DnD player with more than a year's experience has gone on a zillion quests for ancient artifacts. I say that the Cleric was driven insane by the tragic death of his beloved wife. Mad with grief, he boards up his home, abandons his shrine, and refuses to talk to anyone. He won't even allow the body to be taken away for funerary treatment. Weeks pass and he's not seen or heard from. Finally everyone decides he must be dead, wasted away from despair or maybe killed himself in a fit of grief. The townspeople send the town Sheriff into the mad priest's home to investigate. Of course, he finds that the Cleric is not dead after all. In fact, when the Sheriff stumbles into the main bedroom and finds a gruesome scene, the withered, gaunt man in soiled robes, muttering insanities to himself, his wife's now skeletal remains laying on the bed nearby, the Cleric turns on him, and, in a fit of rage, blasts him off the face of the world with a spell. Then he plunges into a frenzy, burns the home to the ground, and destroys the entire village. The plot hook to keep the story going would be the Cleric's deceased wife, now a restless Ghost, who begs the players to kill her husband and end his torment while his soul still has a chance for absolution. You mean that this is not cliche ????? :) I am joking. It is a good idea although the point was to expand the plot without making the cleric the focus of every intermediate plot. It does not have to be artifact though. What I meant initially was for the characters to aim towards what caused the slaughter rather than going after the cleric, which I assume will happen later.
Snytherion 11-25-04, 05:35 AM	hi why not just let it rest for a while and now and again throw hiim into the mix again. The hatred calms down they do something else.... Evil person does something bad... they track him down YOU AIGAIN!!!!! hatred is back stronger then ever that's more lieflike then them waiting for the cleric to pull his fith and final stunt give him some time
grimfaery 11-25-04, 05:45 AM	Now back to your original question. First, give the cleric some other goals to achieve. Thus the players could attempt to undo his plots one at a time. I.e. the cleric wants to cause an entire costal city to fall into the ocean as a sacrifice to his god. Think of all the different things he would need to pull this off and not just the magical but also the mundane. Maybe he wants to use alchemical means by blowing up the city supports and thus he need to recruit people from the masonry or alchemical guilds. How can the party deal with this? Also never miss a chance to make it personal. Maybe the cleric tries to kill a family member of one of the party members or actually manages to pull it off. That will really get them hot under the collar. Second, give him minions. This will allow you to develop other NPCs than the main villain with different flavor and character to them. Give them interesting motivations that would cause them to side with the evil cleric. I.e. A swashbuckler who signs on to get revenge on a local lord. He doesn’t care about the evil cleric’s main goal he only cares that the cleric is going after some royalty that he has a beef with. Sometimes a minion may not even realize they are working for a bad guy. In the guild example above, the cleric may just show himself to the guilds as a rich noble looking noble looking to legitimately hire them for work. But he is using them to recruit its less scrupulous members to do a little “no questions asked” side work. Thirdly, less is more. Every time they uncover or thwart one of his evil plots the bad guy doesn’t need to show up and give a twenty minute speech about revenge on the party for ruining his scheme and his ultimate evil goal. This is corny and keeps players from trying to kill him every single time the see him. Leave him in the shadows and have him be subtle. Perhaps his madness has given him an insane cunning. Fourthly, remember its not about the evil bad guy with his evil plans, its about the evil bad guy with his evil plans and what the party is doing to stop him. A lot of DMs get so wrapped up in their bad guys’ plots and goals that they forget that it not about them, it’s about the players. Hope I helped a little. :)
Stormbright 11-25-04, 06:44 AM	If you're just looking for something to do in the meantime that makes sense, might I suggest one of these. As PCs wander about the village trying to figure out what to do next, they are approached by... The local ranger and his apprentice. They saw the smoke rising over the landscape and came back to find out what had happened. The ranger knows that there is a nearby lair of [insert favorite humanoids] that will probably discover the wreckage of the town and come to pilfer and loot, and that certain things must be saved/stashed. Alternately, the PCs could take the fight to the humanoids. [Cleric tie-in: perhaps he's already turned to the same band of humanoids, and seeks to enlist their aid] A bedraggled merchant arrives in town wounded, and totally disheartened when he discoveres the ruins of the town. He moans and groans about how even if he survives his wound, that the burnt to a crisp town means he won't make any profits, that he'll be lucky if his provisions last him and his team to the next town, and he'll be totally oblivious to the pain and anguish of the PCs at having lost THEIR town. [Cleric tie-in: perhaps the merchant saw the cleric leaving town. The cleric and his troop of undead could be the source of the wound] Outlying farmers come into town, scared to death that they won't make it the winter, not with the monsters that lurk about. With no town and no protection, they all fear that the monsters will take over these parts, and they begin planning together to totally abandon the area. It may be up to the PCs to convince them to stay, or to help them to move on out. [cleric tie in: The cleric has been causing grief, digging around family cemetary plots to rebuild his troop of undead soldiers]
Oompa 11-25-04, 10:17 AM	I think im going with an artifact.. i liked the helm and i also like the idea of that the artifact exploded and they have to bring the pieces together and trie to stop the cleric.. As my party is not an experienced d&d party i could use the artifact.. they even havent seen one in there lives so thats fun.. Now i have an other question thats driving me mad.. and i dont want to open an topic for it.. If this is my party.. Lvl 4 fighter Lvl 6 Ranger Lvl 5 Wizard Lvl 5 Rogue Lvl 4 Rogue an effective lvl of 4.8 rounded up to 5.. Would that mean my party could only take on 13-15 skeletons in one fight? or am i doing something tottaly wrong here?
Oompa 11-26-04, 05:06 AM	I think im going with an artifact.. i liked the helm and i also like the idea of that the artifact exploded and they have to bring the pieces together and trie to stop the cleric.. As my party is not an experienced d&d party i could use the artifact.. they even havent seen one in there lives so thats fun.. Now i have an other question thats driving me mad.. and i dont want to open an topic for it.. If this is my party.. Lvl 4 fighter Lvl 6 Ranger Lvl 5 Wizard Lvl 5 Rogue Lvl 4 Rogue an effective lvl of 4.8 rounded up to 5.. Would that mean my party could only take on 13-15 skeletons in one fight? or am i doing something tottaly wrong here? Small Bump :)
BRJN 11-26-04, 03:58 PM	Well, they need a new hometown. Then they need to learn the ins and outs, the dos and don'ts of the new home. They probably will want to talk to some other gods' priests about a certain crazy fellow. They should inform the Lord of the Land that his village is destroyed and will not be paying him any taxes anymore. (He may choose to shoot the messengers, or throw them in jail for 'false' informing, or something.) They should unCurse the chapel, and this could be suggested to them by a local druid/holy person. They may get hints and rumors about how and where BBEG is recovering from his drubbing, and go on a wild goose chase or two. They could be led into a trap by BBEG and his hired minion du jour, the idea being to get them to lay off until BBEG's plans for revenge are complete. They could meet an NPC who gets a wild crush on one of them. They might accidentally interfere in Random Higher-Level NPC's plans and have to get him off their backs. And, of course, they could take the time to actually plan out how to deal with BBEG once and for all.
BRJN 11-26-04, 04:11 PM	an effective lvl of 4.8 rounded up to 5.. Would that mean my party could only take on 13-15 skeletons in one fight? or am i doing something tottaly wrong here? Maybe 13 skeletons in ONE fight, but you could have a few skeleton-squads patrolling the dungeon complex, making more total for BBEG to use in a raid. Plus some more just sitting in rooms waiting for orders, because he can't Command as many as he has made. (True-Neutral Cleric plot hook? It would also enrage BBEG for his own creatures to be used against him. He might let secrets slip in his anger.)
Darkblade40001 11-27-04, 12:48 AM	Here are some things u can do. On the next session, have them find him (he should have some sort of special mark this time, like an Z on his forehead), fight again, and him escape. Then, on the 2nd session, have the PCs searching for him, but to no avail. On the 3rd session, and many sessions after, have quests that involve things that sound like him ,"an evil cleric has been spotted in town X. I want you to go capture him," or, "Undead have been wandering near town Y. Please drive them away," and such, but it ends up not being him in the end. After this frusturating experience, have rumors about another town being destroyed. The PCs investigate, emerging from the ground will be some Colosal Undead monsters to ambush them, all with the same Z on their foreheads that the evil cleric had. Then they'll know he's after them, you'll have blown some sessions, and now have a weird clue about anything that associates with the evil cleric (the Z on the forehead). There's an idea for you. :lightbulb
dexdynamo 11-27-04, 01:03 AM	Perhaps someone drove him insane... someone who would benefit from a crazed cleric... or even better, someone who wanted to distract a certain band of adventurers.