Villains, Darklords, Power checks and Paths of Corruption

[The Giamarga]

I have a question about power checks and the paths of corruption that they ultimately entail.

Why is it that almost none of the RL official NPC stats include any dark powers from paths of corruption? (The only one i can recall is the Dilsnya who can count coins from LotB)

What about the Darklords. Do they loose them? Don't they get them in the first place? Are they replaces by Domain powers and monstrous templates? In some cases i can see this , i.e. Strahd getting the Vampire template and domain powers. In others it doesn't make sense.

But mostly the lesser NPC stats bother me... Or did i not read my Gazetteers thoroughly enough?

[Willowhugger]

The Paths of Corruption are more for PC's honestly than Dark Lords.

Dark Lords usually attract the Dark Lord's in one fell swoop rather than building themselves upwards with increasing acts of darkness.

For example, if a Paladin of my group suddenly turned against his church after they denied him the right to marry and butchered them all. I'd say that he's a Darklord in one fell swoop.

[Dark Whisper]

You might want to read this thread although it is not exactly the same question.

[Jennifer]

Hi all,

For example, if a Paladin of my group suddenly turned against his church after they denied him the right to marry and butchered them all. I'd say that he's a Darklord in one fell swoop.

Wow! And here I was thinking I had trouble with my amoral characters. I find myself wondering, did he kill his wife to be as well?

Jennifer

[Willowhugger]

Wow! And here I was thinking I had trouble with my amoral characters. I find myself wondering, did he kill his wife to be as well?

Jennifer

That was only figurative. The closest a paladin ever came to falling was when he used the "Fang of the Nosferatu" (which can grant 'wishes' in this game) to heal his child while using it to butcher his wife's murderers.

(Though if he did that then I imagine he'd probably end up killing his wife when she tries to flee the psychopath)

We did have a PC become a darklord though.

In his case, the PC betrayed the party to Gabrielle Aderre before running her through after her betrayal of his love (she survived BTW) and calling down a curse on himself of all people.

He would never wear a face of trustworthiness or compassion again but would ever find himself the foe of anyone who dared offer him a hand in friendship.

His domain was in the middle of Invidia. Since the Pcs had defeated the Hive Queen of Timor, the city was his. The Party visited only once but the adventure was amusing as they found everyone in New Timor was completely unable to tell the truth about anything.

The curse of the PC Darklord (aside from incredibly close proximity to Gabrielle Aderre) was the fact that he couldn't lie at all and oh yes, I ruled he didn't have a face.

[The Giamarga]

You might want to read this thread although it is not exactly the same question.

I did in fact read it and it adresses some parts of my question.

But one thing remains: Why is it that there are so few NPCs which have coruption powers? Do you have any homemade corruption steps added to any NPCs?

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Do you have any homemade corruption steps added to any NPCs?

For most NPCs IMC, I give them paths of corruption. I use the "Terrible Transformations" entry of the Kargatane Book of Shadows for this, although they need to be tweaked for 3.5.

These paths are, maybe inadvertently, similar to the New World of Darkness's "Morality" rating, wherein if one falls by the wayside, he/she is given a derangement unless he/she succeeds in a derangement roll. If you're quite unsure if you would use the paths listed in the RLPHB, then I suggest you give them derangements (aka failed Madness rolls) instead.

[Dark Whisper]

Why is it that there are so few NPCs which have coruption powers? Do you have any homemade corruption steps added to any NPCs?

Yes, for some of them - although I normally don't label them like this. But I like giving my NPCs minor powers that are not "in the rules" (meaning that they can't be copied by any skill, feat or most spells). For the most part, those powers are closely tied to the NPCs background and are therefor often a good example of a coruption power. Many NPC (actually less or more all with a detailed background) have a special characteristac, be that a physical or mental one that could easily be labeled "corruption effects".

I do not (or very, very rarely) design an actual path of corruption for a NPC. Usually, a kind of path develops automatically by adding characteristicas and/or powers...