Montarri's Mess

[Zettaijin]

Regarding the basement o heads, I don't think that's the right type of horror. Like they say, one is a victim, a hundred is a statistic. Putting them all in a huge group like that just dehumanizes them more. Give the PC's one head to deal with, have her slowly losing her mind, and they can't stop it.

Not to mention the Futurama references...

Or can they? If the heads are conscious, can they be healed? Would a regenerate spell grow a new body for one of them? Or a Heal spell? Now I've got an image of putting a ring of regen in a nose piercing...nah...but what about the neck slot? Put a ring of regeneration on a hand of the mage, put it around her neck, and she grows back...???

And yes, she'd be out of her mind, but restoration ought to fix that. Or a heal spell might fix both!

I dabbled with the idea of a Mordenheim copycat trying to graft one such head onto a new body with some success (and issues).

I'm not sure that magically growing a new body is fitting for the setting, though. Wolverine-like regenration just feels a bit much. Kind of like Monster Squad's werewolf piecing himself back together after an explosion.

[alhoon]

Markov would IMO be better suited, not Mordenheim. Markov sews parts together of living creatures to make Broken ones. Mordenheim is too frequently the "go-to" guy for anything remotely medical.

Losing of one's mind:
I would actually doubt the process is slow... just realizing that your head is cut-off and you see your body before you're thrown in a bag and then the monster that killed you tries you on as a hat... that would do it. That's IMO 2 madness checks right there.

[Jimsolo]

I've always treated half races as both parent races for rules purposes. (So Jackie would be fine with a half elf, half Vistani, or half orc head.)

[jamesfirecat]

I've always treated half races as both parent races for rules purposes. (So Jackie would be fine with a half elf, half Vistani, or half orc head.)

Orcs (and thus half-orcs) aren't supposed to be a thing in Ravenloft and even if they were I doubt Jackie could find a half-orc head pretty enough for her...

[Joël of the FoS]

Indeed, with 30-40 bodies a year, someone would have noticed the disappearances, or found an awful lot of headless bodies, or withered lone heads ... Part of the problem can be solved if she has a gelatinous cube in her mansion, but still that's a lot of woman killed each year.

I've barely used her, but if I did, I think I'd just tweak the numbers to be more manageable. The core concept is great. It's the just standard "where are all the dead bodies?" problem but moreso due to poorly thought out numbers. Keep the concept. Lose the numbers.

I think most of us delay the aging of the heads considerably.

Indeed what I did in my campaign.

Also, IMC, she has a head that doesn't age but doesn't give her anything either (no powers whatsoever). It's an average pretty looking barovian woman head, not extremely pretty by her standards (image: RL MC2). When she wears it, she looses a level a week.

She hates it, but keeps it and uses it because she needs it: with this ageless head, she can be met at different point in time with the same head - public appearances and long time relations solved.

Joël

[Jimsolo]

I've always treated half races as both parent races for rules purposes. (So Jackie would be fine with a half elf, half Vistani, or half orc head.)

Orcs (and thus half-orcs) aren't supposed to be a thing in Ravenloft and even if they were I doubt Jackie could find a half-orc head pretty enough for her...

A) Not naturally, but outlander ones are a possibility.

B) Not usually, but it's possible. (Charisma not being a direct indicator of attractiveness.) It's highly unlikely she'd USE one though, no matter how attractive. She judges appearance against her own standards, so half breeds, be they half orc, elf, celestial, demon, elemental, vampire, dragon, or ogre are unlikely to be something she'd willingly pick. Nonetheless, she COULD if she wanted to.

[Zilfer]

Maybe if she could get Isolde's head as an Ex-angel it might not age.... <.<' (Sounds like a campaign idea to me!)

[Jimsolo]

If she found out about Isolde's head, that would make a great campaign/story.

I wonder if a transpossession victim would be a viable target?

[Suvie]

Markov would IMO be better suited, not Mordenheim. Markov sews parts together of living creatures to make Broken ones.

That's assuming the heads count as living. We know they are conscious, yes, but I'm not sure they should qualify as "alive." After all, they don't ingest anything or have a working circulatory system. Sounds like a preserved form of undeath to me.

Losing of one's mind:
I would actually doubt the process is slow... just realizing that your head is cut-off and you see your body before you're thrown in a bag and then the monster that killed you tries you on as a hat... that would do it. That's IMO 2 madness checks right there.

True 'nuff. And if you take my above ruling that they are undead, you can't use a Heal spell to restore their sanity--it would just destroy them.

[alhoon]

That would be a mercy.

But as far as my campaign goes, they're not undead. I'm not sure what I will make of them but undead is not it.
As for that, in From the Shadows, the PCs are not undead when they're just heads.

[thekristhomas]

Hey, just a thought, has she still got Madame Eva's head?

If so, could she not impersonate her (at least to a Giorgio audience I think Vistani would see through it), might that not explain at least some of the reported "sightings" of Madame Eva that occur after her death.

As I said, just a thought, but it might be useful if you need to trick your PCs into doing something "for the Vistani"

[alhoon]

I think she lost the head once she woke up.
And IMC... that was not Madame Eva. Seriously, there are several Vistani Raunies. It doesn't have to be Madame Eva for everything. It could be Madame Reva. Or madame Teva. Or Madame Keva. The developers decided to make Madame Eva a time traveler but that doesn't mean we HAVE to use her everywhere.

To be sincere, I have Montarri as "40-60 years as a cursed monster" not more. I slowed her head-aging by 1 year\week, so heads are good for 2-4 months. And I consider Canon the domain of Donskoy where he would send her a couple of girls\heads every month or so.

[Zettaijin]

Markov would IMO be better suited, not Mordenheim. Markov sews parts together of living creatures to make Broken ones. Mordenheim is too frequently the "go-to" guy for anything remotely medical.

The copycat in question is from a previous hook I devised wherein the DP provided rather sensitive information regarding the mad scientists of the realm to a group of bizarre would-be mad scientists who revere these misunderstood geniuses.

Each one chose a "mentor" and tries (to the best of his/her ability) to BE their mentor, right down to mannerisms and physical appearance along, of course, with their field of expertise.

Mordenheim's work on his wife Elise is what inspired the copycat this time.