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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RealAlHazred" data-source="post: 6748701" data-attributes="member: 25818">Originally posted by Hellcow:I'll just note that to me, part of point of not being bound by canon is that you don't have to be bound by your own previous assumptions, either. In one campaign, I might run the Emerald Claw as 100% evil villains, with no thought for their motivations or humanity, because it fits the theme and player expectations of the game. On the other hand, when I get a campaign with a PC like Essar, I'd stop to say "OK, he wants more complexity from the Emerald Claw - what can I do to work that into this story?"In the same campaign that had the BoV paladin, another player wanted to play a good-aligned warlock working for the Lords of Dust. Essentially, his idea was that he believed the eventual release of the Overlords was inevitable, and his Overlord was MORE benevolent than the others... sure, humanity would be enslaved by a fiendish monster, but at least they'd be alive, sane, and have some semblance of life as we know it, as compared to the utter devastation some of the other Overlords would bring. I'd never considered the idea that I might have a PC working to free an Overlord, or that there might be an Overlord whose rise would be anything but apocalyptic. But I ran with it and worked with the player to develop the story of the Overlord, and it turned out to be a very interesting character and campaign. So back to the original point, if the PC's desired story is "I must find a way to redeem the Order of the Emerald Claw", I'd try to find a way to make that a challenging and interesting ongoing story as opposed to saying "It can't be done, those bastards are just too evil"... even if that's how I've run them in previous campaigns.Originally posted by Hellcow:OK, so coming back to suggestions that might be more concretely useful in the current campaign: I think this works perfectly with Essar's story... I'd just change the idea of what it means to "get rid" of the Order of the Emerald Claw. Rather than say that the EC must be utterly eliminated, I'd personally establish their undead commander as Erandis' representative and the person who is keeping the unit focused on her mission. I'd further consider having this commander have some sort of mental coercion ability, so it can later be established that he was influencing or directly forcing some of his soldiers to do things that they wouldn't do in their right minds. I'd then have an encounter with the EC in which the priest recognizes former comrades, and is surprised by their utter devotion to Erandis and by their willingness to engage in horrifying actions. He may well have no choice but to kill them - but it should seem strange to him that he can't reason with them and that these people he has fought alongside in the past are taking actions so at odds with their former idealism. A second encounter could establish the undead commander, thus giving the key clue as to what is going on, and reinforcing Essar's basic story: the Blood is being corrupted by Erandis's undead cabal.The final mission, therefore, would focus on eliminating this leader while ideally killing as few of the EC soldiers as possible, so that he can then see who can be freed from the corrupting influence once the undead leader is removed. It might not be possible to redeem all of the prisoners, but he can save some. The story thus ends with the Emerald Claw influence in the city being broken, and with Essar now having a few allies on the inside who are dedicated to helping him with his ongoing quest.</blockquote>

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