D&D General Heart of an Honest Man

[Umbran]

Read that link. Diogenes was considered the founder of the philosophy Cynicism.

With the note that the Greek philosophy of Cynicism has little or nothing to do with the modern attitude of cynicism. The philosophy is about how to have a happy life, not how to be disappointed in everyone.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I'd make it turn out to be referring to the phylactery of the obsessively truthful lich big bad, who became undead because only the dead tell no lies.

 

[Shiroiken]

"Heart" might also be the daughter of the honest man, who was kidnapped by someone and the cleric was being told to go see to her rescue and safe return to her father.

Johnathan

His daughter was absolutely the first thing I thought of! This is a good expansion of this idea, and I'd consider working it in to the early part of the campaign. It could either be for the introductory scenario, where the group goes to rescue her, or you could use it as a campaign side-story.

To do a side story, I'd introduce a young girl in the first session. She should be wearing a heart shaped pendant made out of a material suitable for her stations (clay, wood, stone, brass, copper, silver, etc) that her father gave her, but they don't meet him. She should appear to be simply background for the area, so other types of people and items should be noticeable to keep her from standing out. Over the course of the campaign, introduce various "honest" men (ones who appear honest by the PCs perspective), but as the player tries to find his "heart" they keep finding his dishonesty instead. The conclusion can happen in one of two ways

1) PCs rescue the daughter before meeting the father, bringing his heart to him before they even know him. This points out the futility of searching for an honest man, as no man is truly honest (i.e. no one is perfect).

2) The father cannot get anyone to help him rescue his daughter. In the case where help should logically be available, I'd have a changling occur, where everyone else sees his daughter, but he sees a monster. In this case the man should be perfectly honest, an embodiment of the ideal, whom the priest/bbeg is trying to corrupt.

 

[Dross]

I like the idea of playing into the player's fears of needing a physical heart. However I'd have someone planning to use the heart for some evil purpose so it needs to be saved.

Could also have it in a construct that the cleric needs to convince to stop doing something bad, or it could provide vital info relative to the campaign.

 

[Vael]

"Heart" might also be the daughter of the honest man, who was kidnapped by someone and the cleric was being told to go see to her rescue and safe return to her father.

Johnathan

If you want to hide it a little, look up "heart" or "love" in other languages to name her. Cœur or Corazón, for example.

 

[Umbran]

I like the idea of playing into the player's fears of needing a physical heart. However I'd have someone planning to use the heart for some evil purpose so it needs to be saved.

A couple years ago, there was a short-lived try at a TV series for Constantine (the DC comics character).

I just re-watched an episode in which... Maybe this doesn't need a spoiler block, but I'll use one to be considerate...

Spoiler

The episode concerned a fallen angel, manifest on Earth. The fallen angel needed to be stopped, so a not-fallen angel, who was not manifest, had to possess a human, and use her to... rip out the heart of the fallen angel. The human wakes up with this still-beating angel heart in her hand. Kinda messed up.

Now, make that fallen angel's name translate to "The Honest One" or something, and you have yourself a plot![/color]

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I love a good message with multiple layers to it. "Seek the heart of an honest man."

1. Find a truly, completely honest person. [Secretly: it will be you, when your journey is done.]
2. Save the child (whose name means "heart") of a guy you'll eventually run into (whose name means "honest").
3. If a person is honest to you, do what you can to fulfill their desires. (Great for quest hooks.)
4. If someone lies to you, dig deeper. When you have gotten to the heart of the matter, they will speak truth--perhaps without knowing they do. (Beneficial effect: by truly connecting with a person, the character has a chance to get a single question answered honestly, even from a recalcitrant person.)
5. Tell no lies, if you wish to retain your favor.
6. You will find your true love (heart) when you find someone who cannot bring themselves to tell you a lie.
7. Kill the vampire-lord whose name means "honest" in a forgotten language.

Etc.

Come up with as many equally-valid interpretations as you can, and try to make ALL of them come true at one point or another. If the player pieces together that this is a Prophetic Commandment, awesome. If not, keep notes; you can later have a montage of all the times the character "sought the heart of an honest man," in the lead-up to the final "your heart is the honest one" reveal at the end, making it that much more impactful.

 

[toucanbuzz]

I'm not a student of Maistre, but "honest" hearts can do a great amount of harm through ignorance (perpetuation of a crime without knowing you're doing wrong). Honesty is not the same as a caring heart, or a good one, or a generous one.

Perhaps the cleric is there to save an "honest" pastor from falling from the faith. S/he has come to believe, perhaps from a malicious branch of the clergy or perhaps from rituals that have become more important than actual faith, his own greatness. He has come to believe his faith is strong because others tell him it is, or because he piously follows the rituals, rather than a private discipline. He has come to believe his words are above the law because they are inspired by his god, when in reality those words are a byproduct of a corrupt ritual. As a result, he is doing great harm.

Could go on and on, but saving the pastor from a fall and opening his heart to the faith's true tenets (thus bringing his "heart" to the deity) is the goal.