Building up a player's unknown past (LONG)

[scruffygrognard]

At the start of my homebrew campaign, one of my players requested he start the game with an item tied to his lost past.

The item was a plain iron band that he has had for as long as he remembers. The character is a hard-drinking, axe-wielding human cleric/fighter of my world's god of war and conquest, Maredon. He was raised as an orphan by the church and has no idea of the ring's significance or of his parentage. Basically he wanted a bit of mystery in his background that could factor into later storylines.

Here's my idea:

The character was born as a dwarf, the heir to a destroyed clanhold whose few remaining members are refugees. The dwarves of his clan, in order to ensure his safety, sent a small band of warriors to deliver him into a nearby, allied human city so he would be be placed into the care of an orphanage (the pantheons of my world are not race specific) dedicated to the goddess of motherhood and protection, Jenia.

Even though the city is home to some dwarves, the remaining clan elder thought to conceal the heir's identity, and ensure his safety, by having him polymorphed from a dwarven to a human infant. The ring's purpose is to conceal the magical alteration upon him through the use a permanent Nystul's Magic Aura (which can conceal a magical aura).

As the party advances in levels and has more interactions with dwarves, the cleric/fighter will eventually learn of his destroyed clan and may meet some of the clan's few remaining members. Eventually, once his true heritage is revealed, he will lead his people and allied clans to reclaim his lost stronghold from the duergar, mind flayers, and aboleths that lay waste to his people.

What do you think? Good, bad, too convoluted?

 

[scruffygrognard]

Is there anybody out there?....

BUMP

 

[Zappo]

That could work, but does the player agree about the race change? Such a background makes it almost certain that the character will eventually revert to being a dwarf, and the player may not desire this.

Also, doesn't Nystul's Magic Aura only conceal auras on items, not people?

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Some remarks:

Does a Balefully Polymorphed creature still have a magical aura? I know the Polymorph effect is Permanent and not Instantaneous, but still...

Why hasn't the character in question tried to Identify his mysterious ring? (probably not if it doesn't even register as magical)

What happens, if, for some reason, the character is subjected to a spell that will negate the effect of the Polymorph?

I don't think it's a bad idea. If the transformation is reversed, will the character gain Dwarven characteristics (Con bonus and Cha penalty, for one)? I'm not sure, though, as a player, that I would like for my race to be changed...

AR

 

[scruffygrognard]

My guess was that a polymorphed character would detect as magical after the transformation. The ring doesn't detect as magical (Nystul's) and would have the added benefit of concealing the Polymorph (and only the Polymorph). If the polymorphed character doesn't radiate a magical aura after the transformation, the ring would merely serve as a sign of his true heritage.

The character would have the choice of remaining human and aiding the dwarves and denying his birthbirth (and birth race) or leading them as their prince (and reverting to his birth race).

I found it interesting that he chose an axe-wielding god, is Lawfully-aligned, drinks heavily, and is terse (very dwarven qualities in my book).

If he does revert to being a dwarf, he'd have to alter his character accordingly (though he'd probably get a CHA boosting item (i.e. crown) to offset his lowered CHA).