| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 09 Apr 2004 : 06:37:15
So, I'm fiddling with ideas for 3 NPCs. At the moment, I have no specific plans for any of them, but I still feel like working these out...
And I'm not worried about scores and feats, either. Numbers are easy; it's the concept that interests me. All of these are still very rough concepts, and I welcome any input!
Concept 1: Manshoon
My current idea for this (there have been many) focuses on a Manshoon clone that was placed in a small lair hidden in the High Forest. When this Manshoon awoke during the Manshoon Wars, he did the same thing the rest of them did: he went looking for some of his caches of magic. He narrowly survived an encounter with one of his fellow clones, which led him into trying to find a way around the compulsion. He quickly arrived at the conclusion that doing some form of mind swap would get him free him from the constraints of being a Manshoon clone. But what should he choose for his new body?
And that was when he encountered a fey'ri, and saw what all the members of that race were capable of.
So this particular Manshoon captured a fey'ri, and used some arcane ritual (that I still need to figure out) to switch minds with the fey'ri. Now Manshoon was in a powerful new form, and could, if he so desired, hang out with other Manshoon clones with none of them the wiser...
Queries: Would this work? How plausible is it? And would this method allow him the full use of a fey'ri's racial abilities?
Concept 2: the psionic greater doppelganger
Monsters of Faerūn brought the greater doppelganger to 3E. Basically, if one of these critters eats your brain, they can become you -- right down to having the same abilities, all of your memories, and just about every feature of you except for divinely granted abilities.
My idea is that one of these baddies somehow killed a powerful psionicist, and ate his brain. But the first time the greater doppelganger assumed the psionicist's identity, that identity, which somehow retained a spark of the original lifeforce, mentally overwhelmed the doppelganger and took full control of the body. If any of the doppelganger's original personality is left, it's powerless now...
I need to figure out how that piece of the psionicist's personality was around enough to do that...
Again, do you think this would work? How plausible is it? And would this method allow him the full use of the greater doppelganger's abilities?
Concept 3: an Alias vessel
If you've not read Azure Bonds or the rest of The Finder's Stone trilogy, read no further!
Spoilers!
Okay, so we know Alias is a construct, and that there were twelve duplicates of her.
On pages 363 thru 364 of Azure Bonds, some of the Alias duplicates are described: a Mulhorandi warrior, one from the far north, a Waterdhavian courtesan, a Moonshae druid, one with eastern weapons and clad entirely in black (a ninja?), and a cleric of Tymora (Zhara, perhaps?).
The Wyvern's Spur introduces us to two more: Jade More, a thief, and Cat of Ordulin, a mage.
Song of the Saurials introduces another Alias duplicate, Zhara, a Turmish cleric of Tymora. On page 193, five of the duplicates are mentioned: a sage in Candlekeep, a mage in Immersea (Cat), an eastern warrior (the possible ninja), a thief who was murdered (Jade More), and a "lady of some power in Waterdeep" (the courtesan?).
That leaves some of the duplicates undescribed...
The Realms Bestiary, Volume 1, which can be found on Eric L Boyd's website, (specifically, at http://www.ericlboyd.com/dnd/monsters.html) details Alias and Cat, and presents a template for making your own Alias vessel.
That's what I want to do, create an Alias NPC. But I've absolutely no ideas to even start from. So, does anyone have any ideas for an Alias that they'd like to share?
Again, this is all very rough, and I welcome any and all input! |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Maskanodel |
Posted - 11 Apr 2004 : 03:05:57
How about an evil Alias vessel? While the Bestiary does say that they're always good due to a sliver of Dragonbait's soul. But I'm sure there could be some spell that could remove this esscence. So heres my idea. Bear with me as I havent read the books, but after reading the Bestiary, I'm pretty sure I can put together a halfway feasible idea. Hope it helps, even in the smallest way.
The Cult of Moander, with an overwhelming hatred of Finder Wyvernspur (and rightfully so, he killed Moander), have set forth a plan to destroy him. Hoping to begin this plan by striking a personal blow to Finder, they first decide to destroy the Alias vessels. While it's unknown if this will actually have an effect on Finder, as he is the creator of the vessels, they feel it would bother him. But being aware of the fact that some of the Vessels are extremely diffucult to find, they are faced with a conundrum. Just how will they find the Aliases?
Calling for aid from the Abyss, the demon Phalse told them of a previously unknown Alias vessel. Alandra (working name only. Change it if you please), a young rogue, was quietly gaining renown in the streets of Westgate for her skills at thievery. While she could have made herself a wealthy woman, she gave the majority of what she stole to slaves and beggars of the city. After observing her from afar for a tenday or so, the Cult sent forth agents to retreive Alandra and return her to their lair.
Upon returning her,they perfromed a series of magical rituals upon her (the vast majority of which were used to remove the soul of Dragonbait from her being), as well as painful psychic surgery to remove all traces of her former life (as well as her good alignment)and an intense hatred of anything dealing with Finder Wyvernspur adn the other Alias vessels.
When the processes were over, Alandra was no longer the woman she once was, mentally or physically. While the green eyes of her previous life remained, they were now sunken, and her face sallow. As well, her hair had lost its reddish-blonde color, and was now raven-black in color.
After her transformation, the Cult gave her extensive training as an assassin in additon to the further honing of her rogue skills. Now Alandra travels the Realms with a singular purpose in mind: the immediate destruction of the other Aliases and Finder Wyvernspur.
Phewf. Took me a while, but it was the best I could do on such short notice. If theres any mistakes I made in relation to the Cult of Moander or the demon Phalse, please point them out. And if you were wondering how I would stat Alandra out, I'd give her 6 or 7 levels in Rogue and I'd probably make her low to mid level assassin as well. I was thinking itd probably be neat to give her some sort of new ability to be able to find the other vessels, maybe something like the Thunder Twin feat from the FRCS. Shed know if the other vessles were alive, and know the general direction shed have to move in order to find them, just not how far. And because she no longer has part of Dragonbaits soul inside of her, shed no longer recieve the benefits of the Strong Soul feat.
Maskanodel |
| Steven Schend |
Posted - 09 Apr 2004 : 18:30:07
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Concept 1: Manshoon
My current idea for this (there have been many) focuses on a Manshoon clone that was placed in a small lair hidden in the High Forest. When this Manshoon awoke during the Manshoon Wars, he did the same thing the rest of them did: he went looking for some of his caches of magic. He narrowly survived an encounter with one of his fellow clones, which led him into trying to find a way around the compulsion. He quickly arrived at the conclusion that doing some form of mind swap would get him free him from the constraints of being a Manshoon clone. But what should he choose for his new body?
And that was when he encountered a fey'ri, and saw what all the members of that race were capable of.
So this particular Manshoon captured a fey'ri, and used some arcane ritual (that I still need to figure out) to switch minds with the fey'ri. Now Manshoon was in a powerful new form, and could, if he so desired, hang out with other Manshoon clones with none of them the wiser...
Queries: Would this work? How plausible is it? And would this method allow him the full use of a fey'ri's racial abilities?
Sure it would work (since you need it to work in your campaign).
Plausibility in fantasy is entirely up to how you pitch it at your players and/or their ability to suspend their disbelief. Frankly, you could have this fey'ri dogging them for years before they figure out what the truth of the matter is here...
As for the plausibility of Manshoon doing this, we're talking about a guy who had 40 duplicates of himself lying around "just in case..." NOTHING is a stretch for him. 
I'd say he has his own normal mental abilities (INT/WIS/CHA stats, any skills or abilities based on mind/soul) and he has all the physical abilities of the body he now inhabits but not the physcial skills (i.e. possess a body with 20 STR, but he doesn't get any levels in fighter if the former owner of the body was a warrior, etc.)
Wouldn't it be just like Manshoon to set this up to swap minds just as another clone was homing in on him? Thus, there's probably not a fey'ri trapped in a Manshoon body to worry about either...
I see this ritual as either a 9th level spell or an epic spell (probalby more appropriate) that paralyzes the participants (caster and victim) and then rewrites everything from one brain to another, effectively working like a cross between rebooting and defragging computer hard drive and scribing a scroll or writing in one's spellbook. And no, I don't intend to try and write this out for actual use, as it's better as a story point rather than "crunchy bits" (which require such things as worrying about game balance, etc.).
Best of luck on the other concepts, but I've no input (even though I'm the bozo who introduced the greater doppelganger to begin with back in City of Splendors...) or ideas on them.
Steven
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