Good Intentions: The Road to Hell

[Xeviat]

My personal thought is along the lines of Steerpike's-- characters should feel the effects of the terrible things that they are put through, and that can help inform how far they want to push things. One way to do it mechanically would be to give the PCs double HP, but have progressively greater penalties below half; at this point, HP stops being any sort of abstraction and their body is actually being destroyed bit by bit. It might turn into something of a "death spiral," but I feel like it wouldn't be as bad because staying above half is like playing the game normally anyway.

That's an interesting thought. Heck, that's an interesting thought just for D&D in general. Negative HP up until your max with greater and greater penalites as you go further down. Hmmm ...

[sparkletwist]

It could work! I mean, having 0 Str, 0 Dex, 0 Con, 0 Int, 0 Wis, and 0 Cha is a pretty good definition of "being dead." :P

[Xeviat]

Still haven't gotten the game going yet, but I have an update on some of my ideas. This could change as the campaign progresses, but because of the nature of the campaign, I figured it would be good to know what's going on in the background.

The players are going to be, at first, pawns in the machinations of devilish and demonic powers. Ultimately, their quest for redemption/salvation/whatever (I'll have the players figure out why they came to hell after the first adventure in the campaign) is going to pit them against Devil Lords, and once that happens the others will want to use their power. As they are in hell and their beef lies with some power in hell, I'm going to have Grazzt of the Abyss offer them aid. Ultimately, though, I think having them unwittingly work for the big man himself, Asmodeus, as part of a plot to make his enemies move at the wrong moment, is tickling my fancy.

But I don't want to pull something over on the players. I intend to telegraph, to give them a chance to see that they're being set up, and to change course.

The first adventure I'm going to thrust upon them was inspired by one of the Planescape books I was reading. Apparently, an Outlands town slipped entirely onto the first plane of hell, and now the residents of that town are desperately trying to do enough good deeds to pull their town back out of hell. The ruler of that plane, the previously deposed but now sitting upon her throne again, is seeking to make an example of the town so the players will have the opportunity to fight some devils, defend the town, then help the town move on.

The PC Tiefling Paladin (vengeance) is my big springboard for plot ideas. Either he did something bad or he's in hell trying to save someone important to him. Two members of his order, a Tiefling Warlock/Paladin and a Human Rogue/Paladin (both who were on the wrong path before but found salvation in the church) are trying to stop the PC paladin from doing what he's doing. They know something. They're going to be a thorn in his side, and I intend to use them as frequent foils for the players. Are the player's actions threatening to end the Blood War, which will change the balance of the planes?

Just some ideas.

[Steerpike]

Are the player's actions threatening to end the Blood War, which will change the balance of the planes?

If this were a realistic option, I'd imagine a lot of Celestials getting very annoyed - the Blood War continuing forever is the best possible outcome for them, because if the Demons and Devils actually made peace and unified, you can bet they'd start eyeing the Upper Planes pretty quickly.

I'm curious, are you going to let your players into Sigil?

[Rhamnousia]

Since the Outer Planes also double as physical afterlives, how much free reign do the PCs have to go tramping through the various Planes? I'll admit that I'm totally ignorant as to how Planescape handled the issue of death in the multiverse.

[Steerpike]

I'll admit that I'm totally ignorant as to how Planescape handled the issue of death in the multiverse.

Vaguely and inconsistently, by design.

According to a very strict interpretation of "canon," petitioners (souls of the dead) lose their memories upon dying and assume the form particular to their plane. So most in the Lower Planes become larvae and can eventually work their way up the demonic hierarchy over the centuries.

But Planescape is deliberately very loose with particulars and left big margins for DMs to play around with. The idea of competing truths and mutually-incompatible-but-simultaneously-true ontologies and stuff is very ingrained in the setting. So, like, for some factions that believe in reincarnation you automatically re-enter the great wheel somewhere and get another body depending on your good or ill deeds (maybe?), for some you achieve the True Death and transcend the multiverse entirely, etc.

[HippopotamusDundee]

I was reading something on an RPG blog elsewhere and came across the following. I immediately thought of the Revenant angle you're taking and thought this might be a way to handle "can't die" while maintaining consequences:

"You can't really die in Hell, you can only transform into a lesser form.  Die, and you'll return as a shambling undead.  Die again, and you'll become a crawling thing.  Die again, and you'll become a soul-maggot, good for nothing except consumption and too weak to even turn a doorknob.  But even that is not the end.

And with each death, you lose a little bit more of yourself.  Memories fade and your sense of purpose numbs." (Source)