Dragonborn Sorceror Decides to Drink Blood

[Aplus]

Thanks for all the tips.

I think I am going to make him change his alignment from good to unaligned, and give him a curse of some sort. It will give him a new power or buff, and also a penalty which will probably be slightly worse than the buff, but happen at random. I'll just have to work out the details. I'll have his dreams be plagued by visions of Orcus, and have him wake up from extended rests one or two healing surges short of his max per day.

I'll have to find a way to integrate into the story how he and everyone else learns he has the curse, and how it can be undone.

I think I'll have to take him aside and explain to him that he can do what he wants, but once his actions contradict the goals of the party to the point that going on together is no longer possible, his character will probably have to become an evil NPC and make a new character.

I think I will also have to encourage the rest of the party to allow him to make the choices for his character, and have faith that I will not screw the entire party based on his actions. A lot of them were really getting on his case about the decisions he wanted to make, and I think some of them (myself included) need to back off and let it play out.

Really, he hasn't done anything overtly chaotic. He's just done a few things that people didn't like, such as searching bodies of dead villagers for loot and things like that.

Another thing that makes it difficult is that his character has no backstory whatsoever. As a result, he doesn't have much direction and his choices seem completely random. I've encouraged him to make up a backstory, but so far he hasn't done so.

Hopefully, I can artfully find a way to give him the freedom he is looking to exercise without having the path of the entire group disrupted. Wish me luck, and more ideas are always welcome!

 

[malraux]

Another thing that makes it difficult is that his character has no backstory whatsoever. As a result, he doesn't have much direction and his choices seem completely random. I've encouraged him to make up a backstory, but so far he hasn't done so.

Are you using backgrounds? If not, you might want to ask him to select one. They aren't particularly inspired story-wise, but will at least give him a few motivations.

That said, at 13 and being new to TTRPGs, making a story background is probably pretty unobvious. I mean, at 13, pretty much having no direction and making choices complete at random should sum up much of his life.

The important thing is to sit down and explain the consequences of being evil/anti-party, that the character will become an NPC.

 

[Reyemile]

What's important is threefold: first, that the 13 year old learn that actions have consequences and that just being totally crazy will eventually bite him; second, that those consequence be in-game and that you're not trying to punish him for his creativity; and third, that he isn't bothering the other players.

It sounds like you're handling it perfectly. Surges/Endurance checks gives him an easy-to-deal with consequence that's clearly not intended to chastise him, but that gives him a sense of where his actions lie on the good idea/bad idea spectrum.

My one suggestion is to talk to the rest of your players, with the young kid out of the room, and check to make sure that they are all okay with his impetuousness. I've known a lot of gamers that think kids' RPG behavior is cute, but I've also know a lot who think it's unbearable. You definitely want the kid to have fun--more gamers am more gooder!--but not at the expense of everyone else.

 

[Aplus]

here's what I came up with. the party is currently level 2, almost level 3, so this will need to be resolved sometime in the next 3 levels. let me know what you think...


Curse of the Blood Lord
* Your dreams are plagued by visions of Orcus. He tells you that he owns your soul. Whenever you wake up from an extended rest, you have two less healing surges than your maximum, due to your inability to get a full night’s rest.
* Whenever you roll a natural 20 for an at-will attack, the attack becomes a necrotic attack, and you do an additional 1d4+1 necrotic damage.
* Certain followers of Orcus have a Recharge5 minor action ability to Dominate you. They then get to take your next turn for you, using any of your at-will powers on an ally. This is done at the DM’s discretion.
* This curse is very difficult to remove. If you wish to remove it, you should seek out a church of Pelor, Avandra, or Bahamut. If you reach level 6 and the curse is not removed, you will become undead and commit unspeakable acts against your friends, and surrender your character to the DM.

 

[Wepwawet]

Curse of the Blood Lord
...

Nice!

I especially like how you give his character carte blanche to be totally evil as a way of removing his character from play

 

[renau1g]

One thing I might be careful of (depending on your cousin's folks) is progressing too far down the demonic line. If you start introducing sacrifices and stuff like that to him, his parents might put the kibosh on the whole deal. Don't know the kid, but not sure if he's ready for that stuff.