What do I do now?

Before I get to the problem I’ll give you all a little background on the situation. In the Freeport campaign that I am currently running one of the players in running a different, but interesting, PC. His character is more like 2 characters and is kind of like the Hulk.

The first character is Cornealius. He is a slightly built, charismatic, mild-mannered and softly spoken wizard who fancies himself as a bit of a ladies man. (In reality he is a Sorcerer, but he truly believes that he’s a Wizard, even to the extent that he studies for spells each day) He hates dirt and filth and prides himself on his appearance. He also hates confrontation of any sort and gets very stressed and nervous when placed in those situations. This is when the change occurs. When Cornealius is stressed, the other personality in him, Vargus comes out.

Vargus is the total opposite of Cornealius. He is much stronger than Cornealius, physically and in his opinions. He is the loud, rude and obnoxious. He is quick to anger and if people don’t do or give him what he wants he then tends to resort to more physical means to get his way. He has a hatred and distrust for arcane magic and is a little wary of divine magic. In mechanical terms he is a Barbarian 2/Rogue 3.

In game what happened was that Vargus, being Vargus, offended a rather high-level mage. As punishment the mage cast a spell on him, making him live in his own private hell. He placed the personality of Cornealius in Vargus body. Vargus was still aware of everything that was going on, seeing what Cornealius saw, hearing everything, etc, but at the same time unable to do anything about it. However, the mage underestimated the force of Vargus’ will. He found that when Cornealius was stressed he was able to take back control, at least for a short period of time.

(Mechanically, I worked out with the player that whenever he felt Cornealius was stressed, he would make a Will save to see if Vargus would take control. When he felt the stress had passed, Cornealius would come back. Unless there were exceptional circumstances, Cornealius would always have control after sleeping.)

While Vargus is aware of what is happening when Cornealius is in control, when Vargus takes over Cornealius “thinks” that he has blacked-out. He does not remember anything that has happened. This has resulted in some hilarious roleplaying moments in the group, especially since no one besides 1 other player knew about the whole Vargus/Cornealius thing before we began.

Now, after that incredibly long back-story I come to the problem. Cornealius has now been made aware by the other party members of what actually happens when he “blacks-out” and is rather alarmed by what he supposedly does. He believes that he is inhabited by a demon and has enlisted the help of a sage within the Wizard’s Guild and 2 Church’s to try and find out what exactly is going on and how he can “exorcise” the demon.

The trouble is, as Cornealius will soon find out, there is no demon. Cornealius doesn’t even really exist. He is just something that has been created by a powerful mage to torment Vargus. So the question is, what do I do next?

Do I get the temple(s) to try and exorcise the demon and fail? What information could the sage find? So far this has been a great storyline that the whole party has enjoyed and I would like that to continue. The player is aware of the “real” story behind the character(s) (he actually came up with it) but he is an excellent roleplayer and isn’t meta-gaming with the knowledge. Everyone else is completely in the dark.

Eventually we (the PC’s player and I) plan for the real truth to be discovered by the group and either Cornealius (since he doesn’t “really” exist) be removed or they somehow come to an arrangement with the two minds living together in the one body. I’m just not sure where I go from here. What ideas do people have? Let me know if you would like any more details.

Thanks in advance for your help and apologies for the extremely long post.

Olaf the Stout

I don't have a great answer for you yet - but this is a wonderful character hook.

Cleric/wizard 1 spell, protection from evil. Prevents possession control. That is the first strategy for a spellcaster dealing with a suspected possessing demon. When this doesn't work that could be the tip off. Detect evil would detect the evil presence of a demon and could be the tip off as well.

Cornelius finding out he's not real sounds like the climax to a short story, good plot element.

This knowledge won't end Cornelius as his existence does not seem tied to ignorance but a full creation of the curse. So Cornelius will be like a good character with lycanthropy who knows the condition and can possibly take appropriate precautions.

Break enchantment might free Vargus and remove Cornelius though.

Piratecat said:

I don't have a great answer for you yet - but this is a wonderful character hook.

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I wholeheartedly agree with you. It certainly got my creative juices flowing, thinking of all the different ways I could go with this hook. I was a little apprehensive at first as I hadn't played with him before and this was the first character concept he came up with. I was worried that he would abuse the situation so that he flipped between the sorcerer and the barbarian/rogue depending what the best option was for the situation.

It hasn't been like that at all though. The player is a fantastic roleplayer and has done a great job. There were some great moments in the first few sessions when the other players didn't quite understand what was going on and thought that the player was actually forgetting what had happened when really it was just that Cornealius didn't remember what had happened and just thought that he had blacked-out again.

Another great moment was when Vargus was carrying an unconscious NPC through town and suddenly collapsed under the weight. What had happened was that Vargus had calmed down enough for Cornealius to take control again. Unfortunately Cornealius' strength score is much lower than Vargus' and he crumpled in a heap!

The party has also had trouble trying to keep the PC alive since he has such a hatred for magic items. The party is getting used to picking up the magic items that Vargus has discarded that Cornealius had put on earlier in the day. I wouldn't say it is the easiest character to play or GM since he is very dominating and unpredictable but he certainly livens things up and keeps everyone on their toes.

I only wish that all my players were as into the game and their character as much as this player is.

Olaf the Stout

Voadam said:

Cleric/wizard 1 spell, protection from evil. Prevents possession control. That is the first strategy for a spellcaster dealing with a suspected possessing demon. When this doesn't work that could be the tip off. Detect evil would detect the evil presence of a demon and could be the tip off as well.

Cornelius finding out he's not real sounds like the climax to a short story, good plot element.

This knowledge won't end Cornelius as his existence does not seem tied to ignorance but a full creation of the curse. So Cornelius will be like a good character with lycanthropy who knows the condition and can possibly take appropriate precautions.

Break enchantment might free Vargus and remove Cornelius though.

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Since Vargus isn't evil (he's Chaotic Neutral) the protection from evil spell or detect evil spell wouldn't work. Of course that could be some of the suggestions that the Clerics or Sage could make. Cornealius won't be too happy when he finds out it doesn't work though!

How do you think he could discover that it isn't actually a devil but actually another person in his body? And how could he find out that he's not actually the owner of the body, but rather the invader? It will be interesting to see what happens when he does find that out. I'm not necessarily after a textbook answer. I'm happy to go outside the RAW for this.

I'm not sure whether break enchantment would free Vargus. That sounds too easy a way to end the problem and I see a spell that is powerful enough to create another entire personality inside someone's body against their will to be a pretty powerful spell.

Thanks for the ideas Vodam. They are very much appreciated. Keep em' coming.

Olaf the Stout

Was Vargus Cursed?

Olaf the Stout said:

In game what happened was that Vargus, being Vargus, offended a rather high-level mage. As punishment the mage cast a spell on him, making him live in his own private hell. He placed the personality of Cornealius in Vargus body.

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How did the mage do this? Was it a Bestow Curse spell? That seems likely to me, especially given the expanded possibilities of this spell as detailed in Dragon #348 (October 2006). If so, a Remove Curse spell would restore Vargus.

However, I would suggest that the high-level mage was high enough that it won't be an easy fix. This sounds like a great character, and I wouldn't want to change his dual personality until the player was ready for it to happen.

polymorph him into an ettin then both personalities can marrily co-exist. at least until the Vargus personality strangles the other head. . .

TarionzCousin said:

How did the mage do this? Was it a Bestow Curse spell? That seems likely to me, especially given the expanded possibilities of this spell as detailed in Dragon #348 (October 2006). If so, a Remove Curse spell would restore Vargus.

However, I would suggest that the high-level mage was high enough that it won't be an easy fix. This sounds like a great character, and I wouldn't want to change his dual personality until the player was ready for it to happen.

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Bestow Curse (or a variant of it) could work I suppose. I would make it so that the caster has to be the same level or higher as the mage who cast it. That does seem a bit of a cheap way out of it though considering how big a plotline it is.

I imagine the spell that was cast would have to have been a rather high level spell as it was able to dominate an unwilling subject and create a whole new personality (including past memories).

What ideas do people have for complicating things? Perhaps the only way to remove the curse is to kill the mage or get some part of his body (like a hair or something) as a material component of the spell.

Just throwing out possible ideas. Feel free to add your own.

Does anyone have any ideas on what information the Clerics or Sage might find that I might be able to tell Cornealius? And how would he figure out that he's really the invader and doesn't really exist?

Olaf the Stout

Olaf the Stout said:

How do you think he could discover that it isn't actually a devil but actually another person in his body? And how could he find out that he's not actually the owner of the body, but rather the invader? It will be interesting to see what happens when he does find that out. I'm not necessarily after a textbook answer. I'm happy to go outside the RAW for this.Olaf the Stout

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Olaf, I don't have any great ideas for Cornelius discovering he's not real. I do however have an idea (I'll leave it to you to decide whether it's good or not ) for what to do when that happens. What about some kind of modified version of the Simulacrum spell that would hold Cornelius' personality? It could activate right away since it is not technically the same person as Vargus. Might not even have to be lower powered since we are not going RAW here. I would love to see the interaction between the 'twins' Vargus and Cornelius once they are not inhabiting the same body.
Another idea is that perhaps the remove curse and/or break enchantment simply supress Cornelius personality for a time? This could lead to some interesting (and humorous) happenings as Vargus has to overcome his hatred of magic and magic items if he wants to remain dominant.

Keep us posted. I look forward to hearing more about this character's development.

GO liket hat movie where hte guy has to be with adrenaline running all the time or he dies.