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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ed" data-source="post: 1165594" data-attributes="member: 14042">I'm jumping on the bandwagon a bit late but a concept I've used in a similar situation involving a 3E halfling and a fiend is:Generations ago, one of the halfling's ancestors foiled (inadvertantly) a major scheme of the fiend.  Several (Centuries/Decades/Whatever Timeframe is Apppropriate) of it's time were wasted, flushed right down the pooper. The fiend, now having nothing to do with all this freed up time on it's schedule, slowly attacked the halflings family and surrounding friends in a variety of subtle ways, poisoning some, inflicting killing diseases on others, masquerading as potential mates for yet other lonely members and then abandoning them or leaving or humiliating them and forcing them into suicide, etc. etc. etc.  The halfling who caused all of this was slowly made aware that something was targeting him indirectly and several years were ate up trying to deal with it when time permitted and finding little bits and pieces out about it. Eventually, at the climax, the halfling discovered the truth of the matter, that all this grief and torment was indirectly his fault and that the plague of sadness that had fallen around his family and friend's ears was the result of a fiend's twisted sense of 'revenge', well, the guilt and grief was almost overwhelming. But it's not done yet.  In the climatic battle with the fiend, the halfling falls and the fiend Traps His Soul.  The fiend then continues, over the next several centuries, to torment the halfling by inflicting grief and sadness of a truly twisted sort on the surviving generations, always leaving a few direct descendants alive to carry on the line. The trapped halfling is forced to watch all of this.  Over and over.  He even watches the fiend indirectly save the lives of some of his family only to see them die later or live to continue a seemingly 'cursed' family line. Since family to a halfling is so critically important in my 3E games, this was some good stuff. It's also an interesting way IMO to make the PC a pivot point of a storyline while making him an indirect victim to a greater wrong.  And it's kind of twisted to boot, gives you lots of good oppurtunities for asides and whatnot.  Player characters tend to be an egocentric lot, they like that the story focuses around them and sometimes get a little surprised when they see that's not always the case.  It's a good wake-up call. Just my two cents, Ed</blockquote>

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