Hey /tg/. I had an idea but I want a second opinion before I commit to it.
One of my players is a kobold who worships a fang dragon he calls "The Master". His main goal with his character is to become a dracolyte (a specialized dragon cleric) so he can eventually get a baby dragon to raise. His character's most notable trait is being utterly stupid. (Mechanically speaking, his Int is 6)
Last session he decided he wanted to return to The Master and on that journey he encountered a caravan of refugees fleeing from 'The Metal Men'. In their desperation he was able to convince them to accompany him on his journey to meet The Master with promises of food, shelter, and security. Some of these refugees are suffering from a plague. The party knows this since 3 people have exhibited signs of the disease (throwing up, having brief seizures, and outright becoming plague zombies before their very eyes). The kobold player wants to present them to The Master and hopefully be rewarded for his offering. Fang Dragons are kinda moronic by dragon standards and have a bit more of a primitive mentality.
So what I was thinking was for The Master to be very pleased with the offering the kobold's offering and rewarding him with a dragon egg (that way he has his baby dragon ready when he becomes a lvl 5 dracolyte and gains his Foster Dragon class feature). I then want The Master to feast on the refugees and become infected with the plague which would result in him becoming a plague zombie for the party to fight and kill.
The pros:
>kobold gets a dragon egg with no oversight from the parent
>party gets a small hoard of riches and a base of operations should they decide to take up residency in it's mountain cave
The con
>I would be destroying a fundamental character to a PC's backstory
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 Tip Your Landlord Shirt $21.68 |
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I figure the player would just consider the whelping as The New Master and the riches from the hoard would be beneficial to the party as a whole, but I am very reluctant to mess with characters from backstories since it discourages PCs from making anything other than "my PC is an orphan" or "my family is all dead" backstories.
Have the master explicitly tell the character the egg is it's new master, or an extension of the master etc. When they are presented with the egg.
> Oh no, I am so scared of putting consequences from stupid player decisions in my games! What will I do, /tg/ tell me!
This is how stupid you sound. You figured a sensible continuation for the story, go with that and stop complicating your prep time so much. You are the storyteller, noone is going to decide for you, just go with the plan, it makes a lot of sense and will expand the kobold's story.
Didn't read.
Have The Master fly away in a fever. Or have it seek a cure for the disease. Meanwhile, the party are caretakers of the cave and the treasure.
Sounds like a perfectly fine plot hook. Backstory characters are there to be used.
Sort of depends on the player
Some players would be very angry at killing an important NPC
Others would love the use of their background in any way
You know your player better than us. So you'd be a better judge if he'd be angry or delighted.
You COULD clear it with the player first. This deflates any surprise the situation would create and is a big downer from that perspective, but the pros are you'll know for sure if the player is cool with it. You could couch it in hypotheticals and vaguery to hide the details, but its still going to lose impact.
That all being said, I think its a cool idea. To sort of head off the above, I might write in a way to cure The Master if the player is insistent on it. Basically allow for the players to frick over your cool story moment if they think thats what they actually want. You can make that difficult but saying "sorry your character's important person is dead because I said so" is a bit of a dick move.
Over all, you know your group better than us, so do what you think they'd find fun.
>You COULD clear it with the player first.
You could tell the PCs that The Master is getting sicker and sicker, and then, according to the player's reaction either continue with your plan, or send the party on quest for cure or some rare healing herbs or whatnot.
Holy shit this thread is still up. I thought it would have been drowned out by the slop threads days ago.
I decided to take advice and sort of cleared it with the player first. I asked for a backstory on The Master and his relationship with The Master. I almost burst out laughing when the player told me that The Master was infected with the plague (everyone is but he is starting to exhibit actual symptoms which means he is in stage 2) and his kobold was tasked with obtaining knowledge about the plague or a cure if possible. From the details we hashed out it sounded like he isnt overly attached to The Master and is more or less using him as a legitimate reason to obtain a dragon egg for his Dracolyte class.
Last session while they were traveling through The Master's territory the party came across a kobold den and they interacted with another kobold who hates the kobold PC because he convinced The Master to eat his family over the PC's and is journeying with the party to meet The Master.
So my plan is for the kobold npc to backstab the party by presenting the refugees as his offering. The Master will eat the refugees which will put him into stage 3. The Master will freak out and eat the Kobold NPC and as he is succumbing to the plague, he will task the kobold PC with the care of The New Master.
I get my plague dragon encounter, the party gets a hoard, and the kobold can enter into the dracolyte and have the egg hatch at lvl 5 so he has his baby dragon.
The plague has stages but those stages accelerate as you progress. If youre at stage 2 youre exhibiting symptoms but wont progress unless youre exposed to it further, stage 3 is rapid degeneration which can be as quick as a few minutes or as long as a few days, and stage 4 is full blown plague zombie.
Ive shot myself in the foot before when implimenting background characters in my games so whenever I get risky ideas involving them I will usually ask for a second opinion.
> I asked for a backstory on The Master and his relationship with The Master. I almost burst out laughing when the player told me that The Master was infected with the plague (everyone is but he is starting to exhibit actual symptoms which means he is in stage 2) and his kobold was tasked with obtaining knowledge about the plague or a cure if possible.
How the frick this wasn't already known to you? That's an entire quest right there, to cure the Master and you knew nothing about it? Like, wtf? Did the player hide this detail from you, you are shit at reading backstories or he made this up on the spot? This is so bizarre situation, player knowing more about the story than the GM...
Congrats it worked out OP. Especially glad it seems to have been so easy, and your player was already on the same page as you.
Aren't dragons immune to disease?
It all sounds great except for the killing the players Master. It does not sound like he is playing a grow stronger than your god type character, or conquering above the thing that originally brought you your power type character. I'd assume he wants the master to worship sorta. So I wouldn't cause the party to fight The Master, but the best thing to do would be to ask the player what his desires for The Master are in the campaign without giving away to much of your plot. Communication is key.
even dumb animals know not to eat diseased meat
>The con
>>I would be destroying a fundamental character to a PC's backstory
Well two things I'd do.
A
Some how allow the player to make the choice ahead of time.
Discover the master is infected, and have the player make a difficult decision between doing X (some other equally as impossible choice) or saving his master. As a DM this will also help you see what the player priorities.
You can still rail road a fight after that if you must with with either: Killing the Zombie master, or "Subduing" a half turned master afterward they need to chain down and administer a cure.
Alternately.
B
Kill the Zombie Dragon as intended, but some up allow the player to pick up a speak with dead and allow the master to give me one last instruction.
>Warning!!
Warning on Fighting the Zombie Dragon at all. Your player may not wish to even engage in the fight with the rest of the party at all. That may piss off your Kobold player for seeing you putting him in an impossible choice, and that may make the other players pissed off that he didn't engage in a fight. From previous experiences like this I always find it's important to allow the Character decide what their going to do. Impossible choices are still choices the players make.
Is my psyche trying to tell me something?
>to give me one last instruction.
*to give HIM one last instruction.
I don’t know how long the onset time is, but you could have the dragon succumb to the disease more slowly, sending the player out on a quest for a doctor/cure, and depending on their timeliness have the dragon live or die. If it succumbs to the plague instantly it reads a bit as a “frick you”, but if it takes time it could be a satisfying bit of questing.
Sounds good.
Depends on the player. I have players HATING me interacting with their backstory. Others, me inculding would love this.
If he is easy going, can improvise and wants maximum chaos and does nto take this too seriously I would go do it.