D&D 5E 5e: Stat the Lady of Pain...so we can overthrow her

[the Jester]

D&D ought to be a game of gonzo heroism.

Depends on your playstyle.

Isn't it unmanly that we're told that the Lady of Pain is an unknowable, unstattable, unkillable character?

Depends on your playstyle.

Immortal-level PCs ought to be able to eventually supplant any god, demon, pantheon, and overgod in every D&D world. And eventually rule any and all planets, planes, and multiverses as their personal dominion.

Depends on your playstyle.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Depends on your playstyle.

Depends on your playstyle.

Depends on your playstyle.

If there are no 5e Immortal/Divine-level Rules Set for PCs, there will be no play to style.

 

[M.L. Martin]

D&D ought to be a game of gonzo heroism.

So the only thing D&D can be is late-70s hallucinatory weird adolescent power fantasy a la Gygax and Otus?

Well, that's one way to unify the editions--drive out everything that doesn't appeal to a narrow style of play as 'not proper D&D'. I expect to see more and more of that around here the next two or three years.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

So the only thing D&D can be is late-70s hallucinatory weird adolescent power fantasy a la Gygax and Otus?

In short, yes.

 

[Quickleaf]

I am a diehard Planescaper, and what I'm about to share might seem odd but here goes...

As the capstone to my long-running Planescape campaign I had the PCs discover a truth about the Lady of Pain: she once was a Sensate who loved an abyssal lord (the BBEG who the PCs defeated) and in an attempt to take on her love's suffering she became the epitome of pain. So the last scene of the campaign was the PCs finding this sensory gem with that experience burned into it. Both PCs were Sensates. So the question was: do we access this experience or not? should we destroy the gem or protect it? Implicit in the dilemma was a way to "defeat" the Lady of Pain. Know the source of her pain and gain power over her, but if the pain is that powerful risk becoming her.

Much more interesting than a fight IMO. But definitely breaking canon.

Does this mean I lose my Planescape wings now?

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Fair enough. I also appreciate those willing to resist the status quo...just as long as they don't insist upon purposeful ignorance of the consequences.

To resist the Gods of the Gods, one must adopt the view that consequences are inconsequential. Me and my Gygaxian/Erolicious D&D comrades are the ones who are going to be dishing out the consequences.


El Mahdi, we like your style--you go in with guns a-blazin', and then pat the enemy on the back. You're welcome to join the upcoming seige of the Krynnish High God's citadel.

We'll send you in first, and then you kick the tar of him, and then make friends with him. He's welcome to join our adventuring party...we could use a Cleric.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

I am a diehard Planescaper, and what I'm about to share might seem odd but here goes...

should we destroy the gem or protect it?

Much more interesting than a fight IMO.

Does this mean I lose my Planescape wings now?

This means that if you let us borrow that gem, we'll give you a full share of the loot. You can have one-fourth of Sigil.

 

[jonesy]

You're welcome to join the upcoming seige of the Krynnish High God's citadel.

I don't think he has a citadel. I think he just has a hammock he lies in all day long watching the setting war itself to pieces. But it's a big hammock with turrets and a spacemoat.

 

[Yora]

I am a diehard Planescaper, and what I'm about to share might seem odd but here goes...

As the capstone to my long-running Planescape campaign I had the PCs discover a truth about the Lady of Pain: she once was a Sensate who loved an abyssal lord (the BBEG who the PCs defeated) and in an attempt to take on her love's suffering she became the epitome of pain. So the last scene of the campaign was the PCs finding this sensory gem with that experience burned into it. Both PCs were Sensates. So the question was: do we access this experience or not? should we destroy the gem or protect it? Implicit in the dilemma was a way to "defeat" the Lady of Pain. Know the source of her pain and gain power over her, but if the pain is that powerful risk becoming her.

Much more interesting than a fight IMO. But definitely breaking canon.

Does this mean I lose my Planescape wings now?

I would only add the tiny detail, that the gem is believed to hold the memory that made the Lady of Pain what she is. In a well run planescape game, this thing would be so scary that I have serious doubt the players would risk to put it to the test. And if they do... it's Planescape! It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with crazy results that still don't give a final answer to the question. ^^
But the idea itself is amazing. An item that may break the multiverse in completely unpredictable ways with several options what the players can do with it.

 

[El Mahdi]

I don't think he has a citadel. I think he just has a hammock he lies in all day long watching the setting war itself to pieces. But it's a big hammock with turrets and a spacemoat.

...and don't forget the sharks. Sharks in the pool with freaking lasers on their heads!