Fucking Awesome DnD Moments/Campaigns - Page 11

Corel · 08-09-2009, 02:43 PM

Oh, do Diablo. "Diablo uses flamethrower breath for *rolls* 12 rounds. If he so much as turns his face towards you make a reflex save."

As this is the only D&D thread on the page, I have an off topic question. I don't have any of the books on me at the moment so I ask NPF.

What actions will exactly shift a person's alignment? Is it internal motives or actual effects on the world? For example if someone does an action for good purposes, and the action actually has evil consequences, would this constitute to a good or an evil action? Same thing for evil actions with the above question vice versa.

BitVyper · 08-09-2009, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corel

What actions will exactly shift a person's alignment? Is it internal motives or actual effects on the world? For example if someone does an action for good purposes, and the action actually has evil consequences, would this constitute to a good or an evil action? Same thing for evil actions with the above question vice versa.

Wholly dependent on the DM and the player. Aside from unnatural methods of alignment-shifting, of course.

I don't generally make players change their alignment unless that's the direction I know they're taking the character. What I WILL do, is say "this is what X alignment-based spell counts you as, even if it's not what's on your sheet." So say Vaarsuvius comes up against Protection From Evil: While I still think of Vaarsuvius as more of a neutral type in terms of what is actually going on inside his head, Protection From Evil says "you made a Faustian deal and nearly committed genocide. You shall not pass." But it's not like his internal programming has changed to [if baby then consume]. It's a bit more complex that way, but I think it's a bit more realistic too, and with good players, it can give them a bit of enforced method acting where they realise just how far down that road they've gone. I mean really; why would any of us actually know whether heaven/Gaia/whatever considers us good or evil without being told?

DarkDrgon · 08-09-2009, 04:58 PM

Personally, when I DM, I use a kind of point system. I start everyone at true neutral (no matter what the Alignment on their sheet says) and give them points based on what they do. If its, say, an Evil action and they know and view it as evil then they get 2 points under evil. If its an evil action with good consequences its only 1 point. Whichever is highest on each scale is their alignment.

The Argent Lord · 08-09-2009, 11:07 PM

I would say it's about half intent, and half what the actual action is, varying by the action. For example, if you are a hero whose attempts to do good end up causing more misery than they prevent, you're still a good person. Likewise, if a villain's world domination plots instead end up accidentally feeding orphans and saving drowning puppies, he is still evil, though admittedly an utter failure at such.

Krylo · 08-09-2009, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Argent Lord

Likewise, if a villain's world domination plots instead end up accidentally feeding orphans and saving drowning puppies, he is still evil, though admittedly an utter failure at such.

Well that depends--did feeding all those orphans and saving all those drowning puppies allow him to dominate the world or at least significantly further his plan toward doing so?

For an example see Evilness's evil dictator making life generally better for a lot of people, but he did it to become ruler of the country so he could use the country for his own gain.

EVILNess · 08-09-2009, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krylo

For an example see Evilness's evil dictator making life generally better for a lot of people, but he did it to become ruler of the country so he could use the country for his own gain.

Our number one export is slaves from neighboring countries!

Krylo · 08-10-2009, 12:07 AM

But how many starving orphans did you feed in the process?

Also: your progress as an evil mastermind is most of the reason I keep checking this thread. Just to be clear.

EVILNess · 08-10-2009, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krylo

Also: your progress as an evil mastermind is most of the reason I keep checking this thread. Just to be clear.

High expectations indeed. Before I continue I should elaborate a little more on the world in which I interact.

TLDR INCOMING. I am also summing up a few play sessions.

We've been playing this campaign for about 1 year and a half now, and about 5 years of in-game time has passed. I've been the ruler of this country for 2 in game years now.

I do make sure my country has as high a quality of life as I can give it. So they love me. Like North Korean leader love. It's really no surprise though since this country has basically been picked on for generations and it people were widely discriminated against, their country was poor and plague and famine were common, and its neighbors didn't respect its borders, often raiding into my country and enslaving people. Their king was a kind and gentle man who would have been a legendary leader for any big prosperous country who wasn't the world's punching bag. He was too nice. So I stepped in.

Country's poor? Bam, here are orphanages, food banks, and other public projects to give jobs and ease the burden of the poor. PROBLEM SOLVED. Oh wait, your king's weak? Bam, disinformation campaign leading to a coup instilling me as monarch. PROBLEM SOLVED. Your neighbors don't respect your borders? Bam, invade them, kill their kings, enslave the populations that have tormented you for so long, and annex their lands. Now we have new neighbors. PROBLEM SOLVED.

I also recently started a Wizard Academy (I actually have a Bard college, a fighter's guild, and have a contract with the thieves' guild making them nationally sponsored privateers). It's completely free and open to anyone who passes the entrance test, except for the fact that being in the academy means you are in my army for a period of no less than the duration on your enrollment + 5 years.

The DM actually started his new group of in my country and gave them the option of choosing to enroll in my academies and starting as level 3 and my army standard equipment and being bound by the obligations that that brings, or being freelance and starting at level 1 with the normal starting packages. They actually all chose to start in my schools.

Speaking of my army, I have been making preparations to attack the abby where a pillar is housed. I have determined that the abby houses about 10,000 fighting capable people of level 3-7 and are a mix of clerics, monks, paladins, and fighters. They aren't an army, but they live in a fortress on the top of a mountain with a spiderweb of caverns and catacombs underneath. I am currently making preparations to map the underground.

From my academy, I currently have 300 level 1-2 wizards, 150 3-5 Wizards, and 120 6-8, and 50 10+ at my disposal. That may not sound like much, but it really is. Let's say I have 50 units. Each one can have a wizard of level ten or higher, and many lower leveled to back him up.

I also have a highly funded*** Artificer research facility that has made the standard grunt equipment all be +1 (swords/maces, shields, and chain-mail). The higher ranking soldiers has exponentially better stuff. And since I require every citizen to take at least basic soldiering instructions, I have a very good army. I could honestly say with confidence I have the best trained, equipped, and most loyal army in the world.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krylo

But how many starving orphans did you feed in the process?

As for the orphans... well... ever seen the movie Soldier with Kurt Russel? Picture that, but we give them aptitude tests and stick them where they would grow the most.

We have four basic places they could go. They could be put into the wizard's academy, the rogue's guild, the fighter's guild, or the bard's college. Each of these places are place's I personally built up (Except for the Thieves' Guild, but we have a privateer arrangement with the guild leader.) The fighter's guild is basically a glorified orphanage where the students are taught to master weapons, the wizard's academy I have already explained except an orphan student isn't considered graduated until he turns 21, the rogue's guild has a contract with me to train "special" troops such as burglars or assassins, and the bard's college is where we train our bards (They make great spies.), and artificers.

Also, we managed to break through to the tomb with the pillar. You know? The one I invaded a country to get to? Its not there. Apparently you can actually move the pillars and someone thought to do this. So we have another pillar to find.

As for the other group I finally managed to get an eye on them and they destroyed the pillar for us. The reverb after effects sank actually sank the Isle that the Pillar was on. They managed to survive though. They have realized they have been tricked and while they were recovering on their boat I appeared before them. They were kinda shocked that I was still alive (They still think I am an npc.), but quickly attacked me. Them being completely wiped out and exhausted from their trek into the Isle, the loss of powers due to alignment shifts, and I being much more powerful than them I quickly subdued them.

I did not kill them though, in fact I had no intention of killing them at all even if they refused the request they were about to receive. These guys were just too much fun regardless of what their answer was. I told them such. (Classic overlord mistake I know, but PKing a whole other DnD group seemed kinda lame.)

I stepped into the room and basically explained everything to them. The pillars, their purpose, and my plan, and this is where the quality of the DM and players really shines.

The paladin who had snapped long ago from my incessant mind games had long ago traded in his alignment for Lawful Evil and his paladin-hood in for the Blackguard prestige class (although his other party members thought he was still a paladin.) and jumped at the chance for more power.

The cleric, powerless from what she did before and already teetering on the brink of insanity due to guilt over her part in my death and my mental prodding snapped when she heard she sank an island and kill hundreds of thousands of people. She decided that the true path to heal a person was to free them from this coil of mortal suffering and that I was the perfect embodiment of that ideal since I wanted to remake the world into a "better" place. She chose me as her new "God" and her fervor and devotion to me is so strong her spells work. I am now a god for a death obsessed cleric. I pulled a break the cutie!

The Rogue/Illusionist having had a taste of the good life while impersonating me coupled with me exploiting her inner insecurities of having been very poor when growing up with her master (They used illusion magic to make grass taste like real food.) she jumped at the idea of power and infinite wealth.

The fighter was actually the one to think the longest. He had surprisingly been most resistant to my mind games and was probably the most sane, still he was true neutral since the start of his character and analyzed my offer with a Spock like logic and ultimately chose to join.

I then gave them all special gems that I had personally designed and manufactured. Basically, these gems are permanent loyalty-geas stones. They imbed themselves onto your soul and can only be removed through a wish or divine intervention. Basically when you make the stone you inscribe taboos onto them and the person becomes unable to go against that. Before you cry foul on that magic item, I spent a great deal of resources (The materials required to make one of these is staggering and I made four.) to make them, and there are only 4 in existence and they aren't reusable. Trust me when I say I won't be making any more.

I had them swear me to be their leige and take the stone into themselves.

The taboos are 1) Disobeying, Ignoring, or Perverting the orders of your leige. 2) Harming your liege or allowing harm to come to your liege. 3) Trying to remove this Geas. The stone also provides other benefits including a 1 point DR to all damage and +1 to Str, Dex, Wis, and Int, and well as +2 to all saving throws. It uses no equipment slots either.

So I now own an adventuring party. They are currently searching for the missing pillar and it is their job to retrieve it and bring it back.

*** Via exports. (Well, that's not really fair, we export many other things. Our Artificers alone bring in 40% of our GNP via magic item sales to foreign powers. That's actually a part of my spy network, I put special gems in certain objects that can be activated to allow my spymasters to view through them. Not to mention the 3rd party merchants that secretly report to me.)

Meister · 08-10-2009, 06:17 AM

This took place in a campaign world made up of floating islands.

Three islands had a problem. Island A was a merchant place that had a pirate problem. Island B ("Poison Island") had served as a landfill for Island C's industrial and magical waste for centuries and was almost completely diseased. The people who lived there had almost no choice but to resort to piracy (the merchant guilds having a part in the pollution to helped). And thanks to them discovering an ancient arcane engine on their island and some of the more radical-minded citizens being in charge, Island C was about to have the entire diseased part of the island dumped on top of them.

We infiltrated the tunnel system they'd built where they had placed explosive charges to separate the settlement section from the diseased part of the island. We set those off prematurely. In the ensuing panic we made our way to the engine's control room and used the engine to steer the entire settlement far, far away. We found a new island for them where agriculture was possible and informed them they were sitting on a huge database of maps, which in this world are a vital commodity. This gives them a serious edge in any negotiations with merchant guilds, or in building their own should they be so inclined.

We offered to take anyone who was dissatisfied with this turn of events onboard and take them whereever they wanted to go. No one took us up on it.

Professor Smarmiarty · 08-10-2009, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corel

Oh, do Diablo. "Diablo uses flamethrower breath for *rolls* 12 rounds. If he so much as turns his face towards you make a reflex save."

As this is the only D&D thread on the page, I have an off topic question. I don't have any of the books on me at the moment so I ask NPF.

What actions will exactly shift a person's alignment? Is it internal motives or actual effects on the world? For example if someone does an action for good purposes, and the action actually has evil consequences, would this constitute to a good or an evil action? Same thing for evil actions with the above question vice versa.

Players are whatever alignment will currently hurt them. Players are your enemy.

08-09-2009, 02:43 PM	#101
Corel Welcome, to Paedogeddon! Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 1,015	Oh, do Diablo. "Diablo uses flamethrower breath for rolls 12 rounds. If he so much as turns his face towards you make a reflex save." As this is the only D&D thread on the page, I have an off topic question. I don't have any of the books on me at the moment so I ask NPF. What actions will exactly shift a person's alignment? Is it internal motives or actual effects on the world? For example if someone does an action for good purposes, and the action actually has evil consequences, would this constitute to a good or an evil action? Same thing for evil actions with the above question vice versa. __________________

08-09-2009, 04:58 PM	#103
DarkDrgon Always Trick Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 978	Personally, when I DM, I use a kind of point system. I start everyone at true neutral (no matter what the Alignment on their sheet says) and give them points based on what they do. If its, say, an Evil action and they know and view it as evil then they get 2 points under evil. If its an evil action with good consequences its only 1 point. Whichever is highest on each scale is their alignment. __________________ [color=red] Kneel before the Lord Drgon, or you will be knelt.

08-09-2009, 11:07 PM	#104
The Argent Lord Master of Silver Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Silver Keep Posts: 1,433	I would say it's about half intent, and half what the actual action is, varying by the action. For example, if you are a hero whose attempts to do good end up causing more misery than they prevent, you're still a good person. Likewise, if a villain's world domination plots instead end up accidentally feeding orphans and saving drowning puppies, he is still evil, though admittedly an utter failure at such. __________________ Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

08-10-2009, 12:07 AM	#107
Krylo The Straightest Shota Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: It's a secret to everybody. Posts: 17,789	But how many starving orphans did you feed in the process? Also: your progress as an evil mastermind is most of the reason I keep checking this thread. Just to be clear. __________________ I am very tired.

08-10-2009, 06:17 AM	#109
Meister Pure joy Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 10,689	This took place in a campaign world made up of floating islands. Three islands had a problem. Island A was a merchant place that had a pirate problem. Island B ("Poison Island") had served as a landfill for Island C's industrial and magical waste for centuries and was almost completely diseased. The people who lived there had almost no choice but to resort to piracy (the merchant guilds having a part in the pollution to helped). And thanks to them discovering an ancient arcane engine on their island and some of the more radical-minded citizens being in charge, Island C was about to have the entire diseased part of the island dumped on top of them. We infiltrated the tunnel system they'd built where they had placed explosive charges to separate the settlement section from the diseased part of the island. We set those off prematurely. In the ensuing panic we made our way to the engine's control room and used the engine to steer the entire settlement far, far away. We found a new island for them where agriculture was possible and informed them they were sitting on a huge database of maps, which in this world are a vital commodity. This gives them a serious edge in any negotiations with merchant guilds, or in building their own should they be so inclined. We offered to take anyone who was dissatisfied with this turn of events onboard and take them whereever they wanted to go. No one took us up on it.