[Pendants of
Tor-Logos]
Pathfinder
RPG
Achaerbas, the chaotic wizard, returns do the capital
to make a claim for the throne, exhibiting a show of force to support his
intent. The PCs drive him away, and go to the imprisoned devil Kyros Vidar to
try to discover the location of the captives. Meanwhile, with the death of the
Agatarkion V, the kingdom is left without rulership. Can the PCs’ suggestion of
a joint theocracy be the solution?
Barion
(rogue), Bellerophon (paladin), Thorkron (cleric/wizard/mystic theurge)
When you
spend a four hour session roleplaying:
- a
chaotic-insane all powerful wizard riding a tsunami, followed by elder water
elementals that carry ships on their shoulders;
- a
chaotic-insane former PC cleric, devoted to the god of madness, unwilling to
commune with his god because "the dice told him so";
- an arrogant
commander that hates one of the PCs so much that he refuses to act with minimal
logic, because the PC took his favorite toy;
- an imprisoned
erinyes hit by a Geas that tries in every way to refuse to speak, twisting,
growling, biting his tongue, and so on.
You know two
things:
1st: You must
schedule an appointment with a
psychiatrist to check your sanity.
2nd: You're
having a great time playing D&D!
I'm risking
becoming a more efficient kingslayer than Jaime Lannister, since I've already
killed two kings in the present campaign (as DM).
The
all-mighty-crazy-magician returns to the city riding a tsunami, followed by a
mythological gargantuan sea monster (Charybdis), and two elder water elementals
carrying ships over their shoulders. He starts speaking to the populace,
announcing that he has blood bonds to the former kings. Now try to imagine
doing this epic speech with the three PCs trying to hit him while charging on a
pegasus, with a magical spear, throwing all sort of spells against him, or
trying to backstab him with daggers containing Touch of Idiocy!!!!
If the PCs
seem edgy... maybe it's the DM's fault given the amount of EVERYTHING AND THEN
SOME MORE that seems to hit them simultaneously. Never a dull day in the
kingdom!
Following
that encounter we had another one that made us laugh to tears, but at the same
time made me hate even more the spell system of D&D (3.5/Pathfinder for
reference).
So, a lot of
important people have been disappearing, captured by devils, and taken to an
unknown place. One of the devils (an erinyes) was captured, and the PCs decided
to question him. He proposed a deal: he was willing to share the information if
he was freed from captivity and given some land to claim as his own where he
would be left in peace. The players wrinkled their noses, twisted in the chair,
and grumbled, and for some reason did not embrace this generous offering from
the DM (I wonder why...).
That's when
high level magic enters play. The mage/cleric/mystic
theurge/generic-guy-that-makes-the-DM-curse-every-spell-in-the-game, which is
for some reason the most hated man in the kingdom (and beyond it), provokes an
intense debate around the possibilities of the Geas spell. While I believe the
spell to work only in the way that you can order a specific ACTION to be
performed by the target, the bastard twisted the phrasing of the spell
defending that "ordering the guy to tell us all that he knows is an action".
Since I am a
very generous DM (and the campaign is nearing its end), I decided to give him a
free pass.
Nonetheless,
I made them fight for every answer, using all possible evasive actions, from
speaking Infernal, to mumbling and gabbling, even having the devil rip its
tongue so that he couldn't speak. When they presented him with a map and said
"point where they are being held", I just couldn't stop laughing and
had the devil bite his fingers off!!!!!
Eventually
they discovered everything needed to get to the desired location, but I
couldn't help but regret that the impact of high level magic is such in the
game, that it shuts down roleplay. Why use diplomacy, negotiation, intimidation,
or search for info in any "roleplayesque" way, when you can simply
use spells that pinpoint the location of what you want to find? Or supply
divine answers that solve any doubt?
Session Chronicle and Epilogue (Portuguese): link
No comments:
Post a Comment