Need help with a character concept

[reelo]

I'm about to start DMing in the Realms and one of my players has an interesting character concept: he rolled a Scourge Aasimar (VGtM) Hexblade Warlock (UA) with the Haunted One background (CoS)

Now, I have several possibilities and I'm wondering which way I should twist this: either I could remodel the hexblade to be an agent of a celestial instead of the Shadowfell (not much of the subclass perks strike me as particularly evil anyway) so as to emphasise his celestial heritage (he is supposed, after all, to be guided by a Deva), or, he could unknowingly have made the warlock pact with an evil entity (pit fiend?) who wants to corrupt him.
Besides, the Haunted One background has a flaw which makes him converse with voices only he can hear, so this could either be his Deva Guide trying to put him back on the path of righteousness (in case the pact is with an evil entity) or it could be a devil pouring sweet poison in his ears.

What should I do? Or, how would you do this?

Oh and as additional information, the rest of the party is a Half Elf Rogue Urchin (will go Assassin, but is nevertheless good, as he funnels money to an orphanage so others are spared his fate of growing up in the streets), a Halfling Cleric of Urogalan (Grave domain), a good-natured Gnome Wizard (Folk Hero) and a human Paladin (the specifics of that one haven't been decided yet)

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[transtemporal]

I think it's fine. The funny thing with WEAPONS OF TERRIBLE POWER is that most people tend to think that using them for "good" ends is justifiable, especially when you literally have voices in your head telling you what to do. Best intentions and all that.

"Wait, did you go ahead and forge the shadowsword..."
"YES!"
"...after I specifically told you not to?"
"Wellll, to be fair you didn't actually say 'no'"
"I said don't forge that weapon under any circumstances!"
"I don't know what to tell you man. I think I kinda heard you say 'DO IT'."
"I did not."
"Well, it's too late now. Whats done is done. Let's go destroy some evil!"

 

[reelo]

I think it's fine. The funny thing with WEAPONS OF TERRIBLE POWER is that most people tend to think that using them for "good" ends is justifiable, especially when you literally have voices in your head telling you what to do. Best intentions and all that.

Thanks for your comment. Yes, the concept is fine, but he specifically lets me decide whether his Hexblade pact is with a good entity (just re-fluff the subclass) and he's hearing evil voices that tempt, taunt or mock him, or whether his pact is (unknown to the player and the character) in fact with an evil entity masquerading as a good one.



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[Valmarius]

Aasimar tend to be created/born with some kind of divine purpose or destiny.
This seems like the perfect setup for a martyr style destiny where perhaps this Aasimar's purpose is to be the keeper and protector of this evil blade. They have a quite literal devil and angel on each shoulder in the form of their hexblade and their angelic guide and their duty is to make sure the blade doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Because surely, this noble aasimar is the only one who could possibly resist the corruption...

 

[discosoc]

Main thing is to be careful about letting the player focus too much on his character at the expense of the others. That seems to happen pretty often when one guy has an overly-dramatic background that straddles a bit on the dark side. 50 bucks says you'll even start seeing some Final Fantasy style character references.

 

[Shiroiken]

I'd actually go with both! He would have two patrons, one celestial and one evil (devil, or whatever), but he doesn't know about this. The two have a wager going for the soul of this Aasimar, with one trying to show him the way of righteousness and the other trying to trick him into evil. They both appear as a voice in his head, sounding exactly the same (make sure to use the same voice and speach pattern). They cannot directly oppose each other (no countermanding instructions), and cannot inform the character of what's actually going on. Even if the player somehow figures out what's going on (unlikely), it'll drive him nuts trying to figure out which is the correct one to listen to (and which one is which).

For an extra level of cruelty, have the Deva be unaware of the other patron. The voices should use vague generalizations, rather than direct instructions, to keep things from being too easy to figure out. This can lead the character into some very interesting situations, with the voice seeming like it's schizophrenic

 

[reelo]

Main thing is to be careful about letting the player focus too much on his character at the expense of the others. That seems to happen pretty often when one guy has an overly-dramatic background that straddles a bit on the dark side. 50 bucks says you'll even start seeing some Final Fantasy style character references.

Thanks for the heads-up. While I would have been a lot happier had he chosen a run-off-the-mill race and class combo, I trust the player well enough that he's not trying to crash the party. He actually *wants* his character to be a LG Aasimar and as far as I can tell, chose Hexblade for the interesting mechanics, and the background to make him less goody-good.

I'd actually go with both! He would have two patrons, one celestial and one evil (devil, or whatever), but he doesn't know about this. The two have a wager going for the soul of this Aasimar, with one trying to show him the way of righteousness and the other trying to trick him into evil. They both appear as a voice in his head, sounding exactly the same (make sure to use the same voice and speach pattern). They cannot directly oppose each other (no countermanding instructions), and cannot inform the character of what's actually going on. Even if the player somehow figures out what's going on (unlikely), it'll drive him nuts trying to figure out which is the correct one to listen to (and which one is which).

For an extra level of cruelty, have the Deva be unaware of the other patron. The voices should use vague generalizations, rather than direct instructions, to keep things from being too easy to figure out. This can lead the character into some very interesting situations, with the voice seeming like it's schizophrenic [emoji317]

Something along those lines has crossed my mind indeed. But I don't want the rest of the party to merely be his "supporting actors".

Aasimar tend to be created/born with some kind of divine purpose or destiny.
This seems like the perfect setup for a martyr style destiny where perhaps this Aasimar's purpose is to be the keeper and protector of this evil blade. They have a quite literal devil and angel on each shoulder in the form of their hexblade and their angelic guide and their duty is to make sure the blade doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Because surely, this noble aasimar is the only one who could possibly resist the corruption...

This is interesting as well. I'll keep you updated on how this will evolve. Thanks for your creative input!

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[hastur_nz]

Well, the UA Hexblade is modelled of Elric, with the Patron being Blackrazor aka Stormbringer or similar, tied to the Raven Queen instead of Arioch. Bear that in mind, in relation to being an Aasimar. For example, Elric wasn't especially Evil, but with Swordbringer in is hands, more often than not it made him do Evil things. So your Hexblade may not be evil, but isn't he tied to a sword that's most likely not Lawful or Good? And the Haunted One sounds very much like an opportunity to link into the Raven Queen; she's from 4e, but the Shadowfell is in 5e somewhere, so for example maybe the PC is haunted by a brush with Death that the Raven Queen saved them from, at the price of becoming a Hexblade and wielding powers of Chaos (in 4e, the Raven Queen was unaligned, but for me I figure she's just as likely CN in 5e terms).

Personally I actually just created a Scourge Aasimar Hexblade myself last week (background: Urban Bounty Hunter; setting = Planescape), and gave him a first run. My take on my PC is along the lines of "touched by an angel", not so much "angelic"; I made mine CN, mainly because he's not religious but because his Patron is a sword of CE and he calls to the Raven Queen as he Hexes and generally chops things to pieces with his sword. It's a fairly powerful combo, not broken but a decent 'gish', as you can stack a fair number of things onto your weapon attack(s). So for me, being an Aasimar is a good mechanical synergy, but it's also what keeps him from spilling completely into CE territory (my original thought was to be a Tiefling, ala Hellboy). I dunno, I just made it up myself, my DM plays a different type of Aasimar in the game I run; there, I really just use the Deva thing to give him a vision here and there that vaguely hints at some future plot.

Anyway, in my world the player decides all this stuff, the DM might just help tie it into the future plot points. Have a think about those...

 

[reelo]

An idea is shaping in my head:

The Haunted One background defines a "Harrowing Event" which, in the case of this character is "A monster that slaughtered dozens of innocent people spared your life, and you don’t know why."

The player also has rolled for a trinket which is an "urn with the ashes of a dead relative".

So, what if this character hasn't actually made the pact himself, but comes from a family of evil warlocks? Maybe a celestial tricked his mother into concieving him (disguised as her husband maybe?) in order to "break the lineage". When the evil entity found out, it eradicated the warlock's coven before the infant's eyes, unable to slay him because of the Deva's protection.
The character might have grown up as a foster child, blessed with celestial heritage as well as a family curse (the warlock's pact) not knowing about the true dealings of his ancestors. The celestian intends for him to remain good, and use the pact weapon against some evil outsider in order to end the pact forever.

Good? Bad?

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[darthzader]

This is very late, but I made one. It was an aasimar whose deva was tasked by a god to send out the aasimar as a spy to do the god's dirty work without getting too connected.