WotBS Struggling with Haddin

Hey all,
My players have brought Haddin along into the fire forest, but I'm really struggling to utilize him in any meaningful way.
He tends to just be following them through the forest, and I'm finding it hard to have him do anything interesting.
Most of the time he seems to stay out of the way, protecting Crystin (who is essentially still completely mute, as she is still under Haddin's control).
I think he's an interesting character (though tbh I think it might have been nicer if they left him behind!) but I'm just not too sure how to play him during my sessions.

Does anyone have any good ideas on how to play him, and integrate him into the game a bit more? Or if not, is there a good place that I could 'dispose' of him? I feel like he is getting in the way of Crystin being a good NPC at this point in time, and I want the players to have a good relationship with Crystin.

Thanks

The best thing you can do with Haddin is, whenever the party is trying to make up its mind about something, have one of the PCs make a Will save, and have Haddin tell that PC he should pick {whatever option Haddin prefers}. Or during a combat, when it's winding down, have Haddin cast a spell (which the party probably won't be able to identify, because the Spellcraft DC is 20), and which they could believe he's maybe helping and it just didn't work. Then ask a PC to make a Will save against dominate person.

Make him pragmatic but not evil. He wants to get out, and thinks he knows best, and he doesn't respect any of the PCs enough to let them make decisions he disagrees with. The party can turn on him, but maybe recognize that he's still useful if they can keep him in line. And if they knock him out or threaten to kill him, that can snap Crystin free so she can explain her backstory, and create a moral dilemma for the party.

Haddin is there to be a jerk. He is the first NPC the heroes have a chance to interact with and show a better way of living (more important ones like Katrina and Shalosha come later).

I had Haddin lay it on thick early. He locked the door to his house, splitting the party with some people inside and others outside during the inquisitor attack. He only came out later to dominate the barbarian. When one of the heroes was burning his hands searching the bodies at the entrance to the fire forest, Haddin laughed at him afterward and used mage hand to finish searching them. Haddin was severely disliked.


However the behavior of the heroes, particularly the tiefling cirquelist, caused Haddin to rethink his life. Haddin first fell at the bridge with the fire bats. The cirqueliste, the same hero who had been locked in the house and burned his hands, healed Haddin when he was at 0 hp before running across the bridge and using healing word to revive a comrade who had fallen off the bridge into the burning brush below. During the first fight with Kazyk, one of the imps grabbed the fighter's battleaxe that he had dropped to switch to his crossbow. The imp flew it into the forest and dropped it in the burning brush before returning to the fight. The cirqueliste ran and used misty step to get to the axe, grabbed it, and ran and used misty step again to get back out.

Between seeing the cirqueliste's constant heroism and selflessness and his loss of control of Crystin as Foresight's power helped her break free, Haddin rethought things and became less of a jerk. He wasn't perfect by any means. He dominated a ship captain to help them get to Seaquen faster (which failed once he became seasick) and dominated the boat salesmen in Vidor when the heroes were presented with exorbitant prices, and he will suggest Machievellian solutions to the heroes in the future, but he is much less of a jerk than he could have been.

My Haddin was completely useless during the trip through the forest, but he had one of the pcs dominated so he made sure he lived (and they did portray good characters, who did try their best to save him - and they did regret it). Haddin in general just rubs pcs the wrong way, meaning he is a joy to have around as a GM to rub things in their faces. For instance, when it came to the war council he made a point out of emphasizing the party's disposition to making deals with devils.

It was never explained how or why - but in my campaign Haddin soon became deputy headmaster and held a highposition in Lyceum for the rest of the campaign. They even named an award after him, the Haddin Pin - of which the PCs where the first recipients.

He did help them out though, once, he "acquired" some boats during the travel til Seaquen.

In short - make him useless, make him a pain in the ass, make the pcs hate him - it is his job. Yours is to keep him alive to rub it in their faces for the rest of the campaign .