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Ethical DM Dilemma in Shackled City - Spoiler
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<blockquote data-quote="airwalkrr" data-source="post: 6042053" data-attributes="member: 12460"><p>I always thought the simulacrum suit was a very silly magic item; essentially it was a fiat that no one could see through the disguise unless they had a really high Spot check. Problem is, plenty of people in Cauldron with high Spot checks would get to see Vhalantru on at least an occasional basis. Beholders don't go out in public. They charm and manipulate people into doing their bidding. Having read the whole AP already (and having played in it), I never saw anything that the Vhalantru did that couldn't be accomplished with a combination of beholder charm monster and Thifirane's transmutation. No need for the simulacrum suit whatsoever.</p><p></p><p>So here it is in a nutshell. There are two possibilities for the Lord Mayor. 1) He was a tool of Lady Thifirane and the beholder all along. The beholder charmed him and on occasion Lady Thifirane would polymorph either herself or the beholder into his visage. But he stopped cooperating, broke free of the charm, and had to be done away with, which explains his absence. 2) The beholder actually WAS the Lord Mayor, but didn't need anything fancy like a simulacrum suit because he was never in the public eye in the first place. On the rare occasions he needed to appear in public, Thifirane would polymorph him into human form. Either of these explanations works well.</p><p></p><p>When the beholder had to go away for awhile to deal with the Cagewrights, he and Thifirane found it easier to have the mayor "disappear" and let Vhalantru, a young and pliable noble with more money than he knew what to do with, take over the position of Lord Mayor. As a matter of fact, in my game, the politics of the city made this quite reasonable. The Aslaxin and Taskerhill families have always been at odds, something I have played up quite a bit. Traditionally they have always settled on a "compromise" candidate for Lord Mayor, someone whom both believed they could manipulate to their own ends. With the beholder already having charmed Vhalantru and built his dungeon base under Vhalantru's home, this played right into the Cagewright's hands. As a tool of the Cagewrights, Vhalantru proved to be far less pliable than the Aslaxin and Taskerhill families had hoped. He increased taxes and brought in House Tharashk (the half-orc mercenaries in my campaign) to assist in the collection of these new taxes.That is a great idea. Thanks!This I like. The idea of Vhalantru as a rakshasa would be awesome, especially considering that I have my game set in Eberron. Vhalantru could actually be an agent of the Lords of Dust whose endgame is to become ruler of Cauldron after the Cagewrights have built their gate to Xoriat and then use his power to help free the Overlords. Then he'd still be a villain. The beholder could be just an illusion created by Thifirane when she went to pick up Terrem. I like this idea quite a lot.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="airwalkrr, post: 6042053, member: 12460"] I always thought the simulacrum suit was a very silly magic item; essentially it was a fiat that no one could see through the disguise unless they had a really high Spot check. Problem is, plenty of people in Cauldron with high Spot checks would get to see Vhalantru on at least an occasional basis. Beholders don't go out in public. They charm and manipulate people into doing their bidding. Having read the whole AP already (and having played in it), I never saw anything that the Vhalantru did that couldn't be accomplished with a combination of beholder charm monster and Thifirane's transmutation. No need for the simulacrum suit whatsoever. So here it is in a nutshell. There are two possibilities for the Lord Mayor. 1) He was a tool of Lady Thifirane and the beholder all along. The beholder charmed him and on occasion Lady Thifirane would polymorph either herself or the beholder into his visage. But he stopped cooperating, broke free of the charm, and had to be done away with, which explains his absence. 2) The beholder actually WAS the Lord Mayor, but didn't need anything fancy like a simulacrum suit because he was never in the public eye in the first place. On the rare occasions he needed to appear in public, Thifirane would polymorph him into human form. Either of these explanations works well. When the beholder had to go away for awhile to deal with the Cagewrights, he and Thifirane found it easier to have the mayor "disappear" and let Vhalantru, a young and pliable noble with more money than he knew what to do with, take over the position of Lord Mayor. As a matter of fact, in my game, the politics of the city made this quite reasonable. The Aslaxin and Taskerhill families have always been at odds, something I have played up quite a bit. Traditionally they have always settled on a "compromise" candidate for Lord Mayor, someone whom both believed they could manipulate to their own ends. With the beholder already having charmed Vhalantru and built his dungeon base under Vhalantru's home, this played right into the Cagewright's hands. As a tool of the Cagewrights, Vhalantru proved to be far less pliable than the Aslaxin and Taskerhill families had hoped. He increased taxes and brought in House Tharashk (the half-orc mercenaries in my campaign) to assist in the collection of these new taxes.That is a great idea. Thanks!This I like. The idea of Vhalantru as a rakshasa would be awesome, especially considering that I have my game set in Eberron. Vhalantru could actually be an agent of the Lords of Dust whose endgame is to become ruler of Cauldron after the Cagewrights have built their gate to Xoriat and then use his power to help free the Overlords. Then he'd still be a villain. The beholder could be just an illusion created by Thifirane when she went to pick up Terrem. I like this idea quite a lot. [/QUOTE]
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