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Which PC would this follower of an evil "racial purity" deity attack?
This is a high level 3.5E campaign that is in the process of finishing up after about 2 years of gaming.
One of my players is a human sorcerer. Part of his background is that he is the 4th son of a minor noble, and something of the prodigal son in that he took up sorcery instead of learning diplomacy & becoming knights/warriors/fighters like his older brothers and his father and uncles. As part of his being a noble from close to a nation that is aggressively anti-elf and anti-anything not human, he has played his character as somewhat snooty & condescending, especially towards the non-humans in the group. However, its been more words than actual action, though. In action, he has been a valuable party member.
His family is a bit different, though,
The party met the sorcerer's more open-minded younger brother earlier in the campaign - he was pretty accepting of elves, dwarves, etc. I had hinted that the sorcerer's father holds a similar view to the group sorcerer (elves and such are okay - as long as they keep to themselves...) However, I also said at the time that the hot-tempered eldest brother in the family holds more extreme views on non-humans and outsiders that were in-line with a follower of an evil racial purity deity (The Emperor of Scorn) the party met a while back in game. The eldest brother is obviously the one that is in line to inherit the family estate.
Coming up soon in the campaign, the party will need to help save the elven kingdom from a crusade started by the Emperor of Scorn. This happened because the drow & some of their allies had captured some good elves, then raided some human villages near the elf lands & conveniently executed the captured good elves & left the dead elf bodies in the raided towns as evidence the "good" elves did it...thus inciting even greater ire among the humans towards the elf kingdom, leading to the crusade.
The crusade is being led by a former human, now a Death Knight, and the brother of the group sorcerer, who is a raging barbarian/berserker type warrior.
Upon confronting the party, would this raging & hateful racist attempt to attack:
a) the party non-humans first (the elf paladin/Champion of Corellon from the elf kingdom, the halfling psion, the goliath barbarian & the dwarf fighter)?
b) Or would he attack his brother because he has been associating with these impure non humans, and his impurity must be purged?
c) Or, would he maybe attack another human party member (the human rogue or human cleric of ta nature goddess?) in an attempt to strike out their impurity first and hope his brother is turned to his point of view?
I would think he would strike down either the elf or his brother first, but I'm not sure.
Thanks for any input.
__________________ "Who's more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi
If he is a true berserker, then he attacks whoever is closest.
If he isn't berserking at the time, then he is most likely to take his brother's actions in trying to stop him personally, and he may target him first. That probably will drive him berserk pretty quickly.
In general, a god focused on "racial purity" isn't going to care much about attacking anybody who isn't a half-breed (e.g., half-elf). Even if he's espousing racial supremacy, his followers aren't likely to ignore good tactics to target non-humans first. Non-humans and humans who associate with them basically all fall into the "enemy" list, and are probably looked down upon equally. At best, such a human foe might be the target of annoyance and dislike rather than overt disgust in non-violent circumstances.
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Assuming he's not stupid, he'll attack whoever it makes the most tactical sense to attack at the time. Just because he's an evil racist doesn't mean he'll forget everything knows about fighting effectively.
drothgery makes a good point. Unless the brother flies right into a berserker rage and targets whomever is closest, tactical opportunity should be as much a consideration as his motivations based on racial prejudices.
But as far as motivation goes, I'd suggest the crucial factor is how you choose to define his reaction to his brother. Does he regard his brother's association with nonhumans as a crime and betrayal demanding punishment? Is the sorcerous brother regarded as a lost cause, racial betrayer, and stain on the family honor? Or does he consider his younger brother foolishly ignorant, and instead want to 'save him from himself' and show him the error of his ways?
If the former, then he would likely attack the sorceror first. If the latter, then he'd go after the nonhuman 'bad influences'.
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#1: Kind of go after creatures you hate. You don't care if the elves or whatever live or die, and you'd prefer them to die, so go after them first.
#2: Anyone who defends them is one of them. If any of the human characters decide to defend those vermin, they're sympathizers, and must be treated with the same rutheless punishment.
#3: Your brother is a special case. If you think he can be persuaded, or if you just don't want to kill him and think maybe he's just being misled, use nonlethal damage to KO him.
#4: Don't Abandon Strategy. Par for the course is, of course, taking out the healer and the high-damage guys first, but maybe you should wait for them to give you a reason to strike them (like defending nonhumans), if they are humans.
Out of curiosity, do sorcerers in your game world (sometimes) derive their power from bloodlines (dragons, fey, etc.)? If so, shouldn't people be suspicious of the racial purity of the human sorcerer character and his siblings? That could make for some amusing irony.
Yeah, like the other guys said, being a racist doesn't dictate your tactical targeting. It goes to motivation and allegiance -- it is what makes him attack the party (as a whole) in the first place.
Once he's decided to attack the party, then normal tactical considerations come into play. I could see him wanting to NOT kill his little brother, but otherwise, he'd be as effective as he can be.
Cheers, -- N
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Out of curiosity, do sorcerers in your game world (sometimes) derive their power from bloodlines (dragons, fey, etc.)? If so, shouldn't people be suspicious of the racial purity of the human sorcerer character and his siblings? That could make for some amusing irony.
yes, yes they do sometimes have power from the draconic bloodlines... heh heh.
I had almost forgotten about that.
__________________ "Who's more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi
I think the above posters nailed it. Good tactics until flying into beserker rage and then attacking the nearest opponent.
Along those lines, perhaps the brothers' allies would point him in the direction of being closest to the one they want eliminated first (i.e., if the death knight and his evil brethren want the elf killed first, then they maybe Dimension Hop the berserker brother next to the elf or next to the sorcerer, etc.
__________________ "Who's more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi
Quick questions -- will Evil Racist Berserker Elder Brother be attacking alone, or with a group? If it's with a group, what will the composition (roughly) be? E.g., will it be him, the death knight, and a bunch of mooks; him and a bunch of mooks; or something else? Are they going to have the chance to plan some tactics for their attack?
Is his hatred so extreme as to be irrational? Is he a macho or (nominally) honorable type of guy -- the kind that wants to fight the most dangerous foe?
If so, I would have him plan the attacks so that goons/others tie up the other members of the party (especially the cleric), while he personally focuses on obliterating the lead abomination (i.e., the elf). If you can, arrange for the sorcerer to be near the paladin at the start of the fight. Then ERBEB can try to verbally urge the sorcerer to "come to his senses", "join us", and otherwise get his Vader-recruiting-Luke on. Once the sorcerer firmly rebuffs the recruitment efforts (by, say, saving the elf, or blasting ERBEB with the biggest spell possible), the ERBEB should go totally berserk, screw the plan, and attack his traitorous brother.
They may even want to try some less-lethal means of trying to take out the humans (e.g., tanglefoot bags, hold spells, silence spells, etc.), just in case the humans can be persuaded to come around, and also to allow them to focus on all the unholy inhumans (who happen to include all the solid warrior-types).
The less extreme his hatred, the less their tactics should be warped towards the non-humans, and the less irrational the ERBEB should be. OTOH, the fact that they do genuinely hate non-humans should have some effect on their tactics, and it should be possible for someone to taunt the berserker ERBEB into less-than-brilliant tactics. 'Cause that would be fun.
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Quick questions -- will Evil Racist Berserker Elder Brother be attacking alone, or with a group? If it's with a group, what will the composition (roughly) be? E.g., will it be him, the death knight, and a bunch of mooks; him and a bunch of mooks; or something else? Are they going to have the chance to plan some tactics for their attack?
well, one PC does have the "Goad" feat...
but, it will be the berserker, the death knight, a couple of supporting spellcasters and some mooks, most likely.
__________________ "Who's more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi
The spellcasters can toss some wall of obnoxiousness-type spells to split the humans from the "impure demihumans", then send some/most of the goons to engage the humans & keep them busy, while ERBEB, the death knight, and the other goons try to "cleanse" the elf, dwarf, halfling, & goliath.
__________________ - Bob Huss
[H]e's dead and poisoned and possibly insane on another plane. It's a very stylish death, but a definitive one. - Piratecat
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