Dark Powers Check Failure Assistance

[Damien Logos]

So, I've been running a rather lengthy campaign. There's a ton of content, and it's actually a follow up to a prior campaign, so it would be rather difficult to summarize everything that's happened. I'll try to keep this short, however.

One of my players recently failed his first Dark Powers check and I'm having difficulty coming up with anything unique and interesting for him. His character is a rather codgery old man, lawful evil, and rather interested in gathering as much arcane knowledge as possible. Of course he sounds similar to Azalin in that regard, and so I hesitate to bolster his magical prowess in one aspect and limit in another. I, of course, prefer mechanics that directly impact the players' emotions, as well as the plot.

Plot

To give you an idea of the character and the plot we're dealing with, I started the campaign out by running the characters through the Waterdeep Assylum, which has just had Jander Sunstar slaughter all the inmates. Due to the evil act, the Mists sweep up the players while they're trying to find out what happened, and the players end up leaving the Assylum to find themselves near Martira Bay.

I then ran them through Child of the House, the first Mists of Darkon campaign on the FoS website, as it's a fabulous campagin, and then went in the direction of my own story. The Shadow Fey are snatching up children (or any innocents they find) and replacing them with dolls, converting the children into new Shadow Fey. They are aware of Gwydion influencing them from the Obsidian Gate, and are trying to build an army to stop him should he ever escape. Loht has secretly begun having the Unseelie Court snatch children up, and the players slowly encounter the Shadow Fey more and more frequently on their unrelated adventures.

The players will run into Azalin and be tempted by information of a way out of Ravenloft and back home: The Obsidian Gate. Azalin recruits them for various missions to find out where the entrance to the Shadow Rift is, as well as gathering the Regalia of Arak to open to gate, not knowing about Gwydion. During this process they'll be visiting Rivalis and Darkagnon Estates, Castle Avernus, and being sent into the past to Strahd's wedding and to I6/Expedition to gain information from Strahd regarding the Shadow Rift, capturing Ebb to fly to the Shadow Rift, and then descending in to help save all the missing children and try to escape Ravenloft.

In addition, they will be finding that any Shadow Fey that they slay that are actually converted children will revert back into children upon being slain. So, cleaving a convert in two will result in the body transforming back into a baby sliced in half in front of them, possibly inducing madness effects.

Character

Now, about the character I'm having difficulty determining an engaging Dark Powers Check failure for: He's been rather inquisitive, and picked up a child after the party saved the children in the village of Talanka from the ghost of Alara Undral's curse, where children were being sacrificed to this ghost to keep her "content." He took this child on as a ward. The players were then recruited by a merchant heading to Rivalis to check out a merchant lord's tomb along the way to Rivalis, as the merchant was a miser and had his tomb trapped heavily and had all his belongings interred with him. One of these traps poured grease through the ceiling that was intended to make the players slide down a ramp, but the grease caught fire. The player accidentally opened a door leading to a room with this flaming grease and it poured out, killing his ward. The character was rather irked, of course, but I would not say he is grieving. His overall goal in life is to attain as much magical knowledge as possible. Any suggestions? As I said, I'm trying to steer clear of any curse like Azalin's or any increase/reduction in magical power/knowledge, like a + to spells memorized per day known but - to spells cast per day. I want something more emotional. I know it's difficult with what I've given you guys, but this is all I've had to go on.

[vipera aspis]

"The player accidentally opened a door leading to a room with this flaming grease and it poured out, killing his ward."

This isn't the reason for the dark powers check is it?

[Damien Logos]

"The player accidentally opened a door leading to a room with this flaming grease and it poured out, killing his ward."

This isn't the reason for the dark powers check is it?

Nope, it's because they keep casting evil spells over and over, primarily "shatter," and managed to work their way up to a 19 on their dark powers check then failed the throw.

[Jimsolo]

Is 'Shatter' an evil spell? What edition are you playing?

I'm primarily familiar with 3rd/3.5, and I think I might be a little confused. If your players are casting evil spells, each evil spell is its own Dark Powers check, with no bearing on the others. They definitely shouldn't be cumulative. Short of an Act of Ultimate Darkness, there is no way in the book to get a 19% failure chance on a DP check. The highest a failure chance gets (in the book, anyhow) is an 18%. (For a ninth level spell of both the evil subtype and the Necromancy school.)

For a failed Dark Powers check for him, I would go with this: The player can cast Detect Magic 1/day, picking up on the magical auras of the items and texts he so greedily covets.

The downside? Any magical item (or book containing magical writing) in his possession has a 1% chance per week of suffering permanent disjunction. (Including his spellbook, if he's a wizard!) He might try to weasel out of this by having other characters take his magical items and hold onto them until he needs them. This in and of itself would be a hassle, so I would let him get away with it. If he tries to use it intentionally to disjoin a magical item, then I wouldn't let it work. (I never let the PCs turn the downside of their curse into an upside.)

The easiest way to craft a DP curse is to give them what they want, but remove their ability to enjoy it.

Hope that helps.

[vipera aspis]

Jim i couldn't have said it better myself.

The thing is: the dark powers don't just notice anybody. It has to be something special. Something dark and emotional must occur to earn their attention and the mere chance of their malign focus.

[Delyun]

I think they are using a moment of truth type powers check that was an example in Masque of the red death.

[Boris Drakov]

Why not have him wake with a smell of burnt flesh and the faint memory of dreaming of the child's scream every morning?

This might disturb any rest he needs if he beds down too late but it also gives him bonuses when it comes to resisting fire-based attacks?

Or something?

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I've never liked that casting a spell can cause a powers check. Magic shouldn't be inherently good or evil. Saying that, how about this;

The spell might be the cause of the check, but the "evil" can still come from the child; what if he gains the ability to reduce the durability of an item, say no bigger than a door, making it easier to break (due to his reliance on Shatter), but the cost is that he suffers a -2 penalty on any Charisma based check when dealing with children, child-like people or in any situation that involves children: His refusal to grieve is actually causing him to become detatched from people. It'll start with people who remind him of his ward, but as he falls, he will slowly become detached from people around him.

As he continues to fall to the powers, his curse grows;

Stage 2 has him able to instantly destroy any item (even magical ones) he can hold in one hand. His touch is living entropy. However, his Charisma penalty falls to -4 to children and the above, but he also gains a -2 penalty to Charisma checks across the board. Also, his touch causes 1 point of damage if he touches a child. The touch causes odd, shiny welts to appear.

Stage 3 has him able to cast Shatter 3/day as a Spell-like ability, and to destroy items upto the size of a large shield with a touch. His Charisma penalty drops to -6 with children and above, -4 across the board as he becomes more and more detached from people. Also, his touch will now cause 1d6 points of damage to a child, and the wound will cause the child's flesh and bones to become transparent for a minute after the touch.

At Stage 4, he gains Shatter 6/day as a spell like ability and now gains a +4 bonus to AC as any item that touches him becomes brittle and can break due to his breaking touch. His Charisma penalty drops to -8 with children, and -6 across the board as he withdraws into himself and people sense there's something not quite right with him. His hands become calloused and the skin like leather due to his destroying touch and if he touches a child, that child now takes 1d10 points of damage and their skin becomes transparent for an hour after he touches them.

At Stage 5, Shatter becomes at will, AC bonus becomes +6 and he gains a supernatural ability to create an aura of entropy around him once a day which casts Shatter on everything in a 15ft radius at Caster Level = His level +10. However, if he uses this, he is stunned for a round and dazed until he can rest for 8 hours. His Charisma penalty drops to -8 across the board. Now, with a touch, he can turn any child into glass. Anyone but him touching the child acts as if the child is made from diamond, but to him, the child is the most fragile crystal.

Stage 6: Darklord, tailored curse + domain - happiness.

[brilliantlight]

I've never liked that casting a spell can cause a powers check. Magic shouldn't be inherently good or evil. Saying that, how about this;

The spell might be the cause of the check, but the "evil" can still come from the child; what if he gains the ability to reduce the durability of an item, say no bigger than a door, making it easier to break (due to his reliance on Shatter), but the cost is that he suffers a -2 penalty on any Charisma based check when dealing with children, child-like people or in any situation that involves children: His refusal to grieve is actually causing him to become detatched from people. It'll start with people who remind him of his ward, but as he falls, he will slowly become detached from people around him.

As he continues to fall to the powers, his curse grows;

Stage 2 has him able to instantly destroy any item (even magical ones) he can hold in one hand. His touch is living entropy. However, his Charisma penalty falls to -4 to children and the above, but he also gains a -2 penalty to Charisma checks across the board. Also, his touch causes 1 point of damage if he touches a child. The touch causes odd, shiny welts to appear.

Stage 3 has him able to cast Shatter 3/day as a Spell-like ability, and to destroy items upto the size of a large shield with a touch. His Charisma penalty drops to -6 with children and above, -4 across the board as he becomes more and more detached from people. Also, his touch will now cause 1d6 points of damage to a child, and the wound will cause the child's flesh and bones to become transparent for a minute after the touch.

At Stage 4, he gains Shatter 6/day as a spell like ability and now gains a +4 bonus to AC as any item that touches him becomes brittle and can break due to his breaking touch. His Charisma penalty drops to -8 with children, and -6 across the board as he withdraws into himself and people sense there's something not quite right with him. His hands become calloused and the skin like leather due to his destroying touch and if he touches a child, that child now takes 1d10 points of damage and their skin becomes transparent for an hour after he touches them.

At Stage 5, Shatter becomes at will, AC bonus becomes +6 and he gains a supernatural ability to create an aura of entropy around him once a day which casts Shatter on everything in a 15ft radius at Caster Level = His level +10. However, if he uses this, he is stunned for a round and dazed until he can rest for 8 hours. His Charisma penalty drops to -8 across the board. Now, with a touch, he can turn any child into glass. Anyone but him touching the child acts as if the child is made from diamond, but to him, the child is the most fragile crystal.

Stage 6: Darklord, tailored curse + domain - happiness.

I like this terror track. I might add whenever he touches a child and causes damage it appears to everyone that he beat the child when he gave the injury. Unprovked attacks on children should give him an additonal penalty to all reactions with people who actually seen it and if bad enough the city watch is likely to be called.