Deck of Many Things, changing alignments and a negative level

[atom crash]

I need a bit of help here.

I have a player in my game whose character has changed alignments from CN to LG by way of the balance card from a Deck of Many Things. This happened a little more than a month ago in game time. Right after he pulled the card and changed alignments, the character died and was raised two days later, and the player has since played the character as a reluctant LG. he is compelled to act in a lawful and good manner though he is still tempted by his former tendencies.

Now the player has intimated to me his desire to change alignment back toward the original. So he's gonna get a negative level. But what after that? Is that negative level a one-time deal for failing to act according to the new alignment? Or does he keep getting a negative level for not acting LG? Or does he just keep getting a negative level until he finally loses a level?

I'm leaning toward just giving him one negative level, making him roll a Fort Save after 24 hours, and then letting him change his alignment. Normally, there'd be no game penalty for changing alignment -- none of his class abilities are restricted by alignment -- but this is an alignment imposed by an artifact.

Also, what would the DC be for that Fort Save against the negative level?

Here's the relevant rules info:

From Deck of Many Things, SRD:
Balance: The character must change to a radically different alignment. If the character fails to act according to the new alignment, she gains a negative level.

From Energy Drain and Negative Levels, SRD:
Negative levels remain for 24 hours or until removed with a spell, such as restoration. After 24 hours, the afflicted creature must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 attacker’s HD + attacker’s Cha modifier). (The DC is provided in the attacker’s description.) If the saving throw succeeds, the negative level goes away with no harm to the creature. The afflicted creature makes a separate saving throw for each negative level it has gained. If the save fails, the negative level goes away, but the creature’s level is also reduced by one.

 

[MerakSpielman]

My interpretation of the card would bestow one negative level for each act that did not correspond with the character's new alignment.

 

[Ferret]

My interpretation of the card would bestow one negative level for each act that did not correspond with the character's new alignment.

And it being the deck of many things, that wouldn't surprise me.

I'd give it once, though, but first talk to the player about trying to make the new alignemnt work, don't push him though.

 

[dagger]

It is kind of a tough situation for the player.

His LG character knows how he used to act, but he probably disapproves of his past attitudes and actions. The player wants to play a CN character but the LG wouldn’t just suddenly switch to CN.

We don't normally penalize characters for switching alignments if it is done in a logical way. But this is different since it really results from an artifact curse, and you still want the player to have fun. I think a permanent loss of a level is a fair way to get around the artifact curse but not totally make it a free ride.

 

[Shadeus]

I took the negative level to be like the negative levels gains by grasping an inappropriately aligned weapon (an evil PC grabbing a holy weapon). And when you let go of that weapon, you gain the levels back. In this instance, he would get a negative level but would never run the risk of permanently losing a level. So I wouldn't let him get the Fort save. With artifacts being "outside the rules," it's impossible to assign a DC to it anyway. Maybe DC 30 is appropriately high, but that's an arbitrary number.

Now the deck description of the card isn't very thorough. I looked at the helm of opposite alignment, but that's little to no help either. I would suggest treating it like a curse cast by a 20th-level caster. There's definitely rules for breaking curse, including remove curse or break enchantment.

There's two ways to approach this though:

1. The player took the risk by drawing from the deck, force him to jump through hoops to get it fixed. This takes game time away from the group though or could be a possible quest for the group.

2. This is really just a hassle and you don't want to take away from the whole party by RPing this out. Let's get it done with and get on with the adventure!

If you are in group 1, I'd say make it a unique "cure." The player's PC would need to not know about it though because he IS lawful-good now. Make the cure a special adventure, like going into the Underdark to find the Fount of Lies, the last altar of a forgotten god and make a worthy sacrifice (like his tongue ).

Or you could be in group 2 where you tell the player, "Look, you have to buy a wish to get your alignment back. If you can't afford it, he'll trade you for your magic shield." Whatever the cost is, it should really hurt.

 

[Hypersmurf]

We came across a DoMT on Saturday.

The DM described a leather pouch, and the dimensions of the oblong shape within it. Then he flicked through his DMG, puzzled... followed by 'Ah! It's in a different section now.'

Horrified realisation - I knew what it was. Clapped my hands over my ears and started chanting 'LalalalaI'mnotlistening!'... but the other players gently reminded me of player vs character knowledge.

I hate that damned thing, and I drew two cards anyway; Euryale and Fates. I've considered using Fates to negate Euryale, but I might keep it in hand a while just in case.

But our wizard drew three cards.

The DM had left in a Scroll of Protection from Magic converted from 1E, that I'd been drooling over for the last few minutes, and which the wizard was holding. And since our Tank had been Str-drained down to 2 by a Shadow, he'd given his flaming mace to the wizard to use until he was back up to strength. "But I'll want it back!", he'd warned.

The wizard drew Balance, switching from CG to LE without anyone knowing. Then she drew Talons... losing the scroll, the mace, two rings, three wands... well, it was bad I was miffed about the scroll; the Tank was livid about his mace

And the third draw was... Balance So she's back to CG... but I suppose now it's mandatory

-Hyp.

 

[atom crash]

Thanks for the feedback, folks.

The night I had the misfortune of bringing my Deck to the game (I have a cool set of cards taken from Dragon issue #148), the rogue of the party drew 3 cards: Balance (switched align CN to LG), Rogue (an ally will turn on you) and Flames (enmity of an outsider).

I should have known better than to bring the Deck.

Only the rogue and the cleric were aware that the rogue had drawn from the Deck. The paladin of the group was already very suspicious of the rogue, so when he started acting "wierd" (now LG, oh the irony) an argument broke out. The paladin had also just gotten his holy mount, so before long the paladin and mount were fighting another party member -- existing tension with the barbarian, you see. The LG rogue jumped in the middle of the fight to break it up and got killed (technically it was an accident, but the rogue intentionally stepped into the way of a swinging axe) by the paladin. Holy mount disappears, paladin loses class abilities, dead rogue.

To atone for his sins, the paladin had to single-handedly kill a bearded devil (it had been gated into town to kill the rogue via the Flames card) -- and mind you he had lost his paladinhood so he lost cool things like divine grace, lay on hands and smite evil , but luckily he had a mace +1/bane of evil outsiders -- AND he had to accept the level loss from raise dead in place of the rogue (rogue gets raised, patron god intervenes, paladin loses a level). The rogue lives again, and the paladin had begun to teach him about being good and just. But the paladin isn't around fulltime anymore, as the player has moved away.

So now the rogue is LG because of the Deck. And Tyr (Norse pantheon) is somewhat interested in him because of the paladin. So I don't want him to get away with a free alignment change, but also I don't want to overly penalize him because of how much the Deck has already disrupted the campaign.

I'm thinking now that I should just zap him for a level and be done with it since he already got away with a risk-free raise dead (for him, at least) due to divine intervention. But playing it as a curse and giving him a persistent negative level until he performs a minor quest to remove the curse is a nice option too.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I should have known better than to bring the Deck.

Have I mentioned 'I hate that damned thing'?

-Hyp.

 

[dagger]

Sean K Reynolds has a variant deck on his website that has an effect for every card. Good times!

 

[Warehouse23]

I have to say that I'm of the hardnosed school when it comes to the deck of many things. If the deck has been identified (someone tells your character what it is, etc.) drawing from the deck is a conscious choice that has consequences. I've seen PCs change alignments, thus booting them from their class. At high level, that's pretty much the end of a PC. Then again, yous draws yous cards, yous takes yous chances.