grrrr - "unknown" templates in party HELP!!!

[the_mighty_agrippa]

in a highly modified version of rtttoee, two of our characters died in the moathouse. to date, three characters have died, coming back as weird-a** templated nightmares.

mind you, i know what the templates are, but my character does not. he's a lawful mystran church inquisitor who saw every one of the deaths & resurrections. he's only 8th level, so really nice things like commune are out.

one died right beneath the black, veiny shaft and rose up seconds later. in the battle to escape the place, she showed exponentially more arcane firepower than she was capable of.

next, the monk dies in the same basic locale (away from the shaft, but underneath the moathouse) and he comes back the same way. just stands up and looks around.

so my character flat out does not trust them. hell, they died in an evil temple and came back within seconds! i know (player) that they are shades but my character only knows a they died, b they came back immediately after, and c they came back more powerful than they were before.

the dm just loves this, because he knows i will draw a line in the sand the minute i learn what they are. hell, he'll probably do it right in the middle of some crucial fight. i need to out them by then.

yeah, yeah - i could do it via roleplaying but one player travels and the other doesn't roleplay. so i'm stuck and my character is more obsessive than i am.

.....

lastly, the rogue got turned into vampire spawn, got impaled with a holy stake and became some kinda anti-vampire. i'm not worried about him; it's the other two, you see?

 

[Desdichado]

I'm sorry; is there a question involved?

 

[sithramir]

All I gotta do is die in that campaign to gain 4 levels of shade template? Um i'd suggest dying and then the role playing of "trusting" them will be easier. Plus all those insane benefits.

 

[howandwhy99]

Hmm..

Maybe you should get you character a template? I hear they're going cheap these days.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

the question is... (wait for it)

how can i out these two characters?

yeah yeah, it's a high powered game. i actually don't mind that they are templated characters because it's a plot point meant to get them to roleplay more, i dunno. templates can kiss my human mystran butt.

i'm more concerned because they all always dodge the question or just never communicate with anyone.

so far, we've uncovered a number of sleeper agents in hommlet (big shock), found a doppleganger, had not one but two elves act contrary to plan in combat (one of them getting killed, death one) and had a dominated thief kill the elven archer (same character, death two).

how can i out these two characters?

 

[Umbran]

how can i out these two characters?

Sorry Agrippa, but as described you're engaging in "metagame thinking", which we folks here usually frown upon. You (the player) know something the character does not. You should not use that knowledge in game.

Since your character doesn't know about the template, he should not be seeking to undertake actions specifically designed to "out" these people. Finding a pattern of odd behavior and investigatingis one thing. Looking to prove something specific that the character knows nothing about is another thing entirely.

 

[Baron Von StarBlade]

Sorry Agrippa, but as described you're engaging in "meatfgame thinking", which we folks here usually frown upon. You (the player) know something the character does not. You should not use that knowledge in game.

Since your character doesn't know about the template, he should not be seeking to undertake actions specifically designed to "out" these people. Finding a pattern of odd behavior and investigatingis one thing. Looking to prove something specific that the character knows nothing about is another thing entirely.

Not really, if someone dies then starts showing a massive power increase (casting more spells, doing lots of damage, etc) I would say that the character would recognize this and that wouldn't be meta gaming. Now if the player in question knew it was a specific template and started using knowledge about that template against the players then that would be flat out meta gaming. At least IMNSHO.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

here's the sequence of events -

• 
  character one dies beneath evil, negative-energy altar, in presence of a withered husk of a demon and two former characters, now infused with some kind of dark planar energy.
  
  character one stands up as soon as battle is over.
  
  character one subjected to detect evil, holy water, bound & gagged, etc.
  
  character one released from bonds to defend herself from marauding gnoll warband.
  
  character one then unleashes fireball and magic missile spells at significantly greater levels of power than before. in fact, this may be first time character one ever uses fireball.
  
  character two killed in combat; comes back just like character one.

now, my character has seen both deaths and resurrections. the characters are noticeably more powerful than before. they died in the presence of an evil altar to an unknown god.

while i might know they are shades-esque, i have made it clear that my character has none of that knowledge. he does not throw around (or even memorized) light based magics to screw them over.

what he does know is that they are more powerful and spontaneously resurrected. other pc deaths have not been as dramatic, so there's no benevolent god watching over us with a re-start button.

he doesn't know what they are, but he suspects that they are not human and they sure as hell are not celestials or obvious outsiders or undead. i don't think it's metagame knowledge if someone walks out of his casket at a funeral and has miracously mastered the voilin, do you?

 

[Voadam]

Ok, two suggestions

1 in character confront them and say, we need to figure out what happened to you, lets contact a church.

2. you IC suspect them of being possessed in some manner due to the evil altar and despite the non-evil results of the tests. Send messages to sages, church, etc. asking what could it be and what to try out.

Shades are a possibility but not the only one, there are a lot of templates out there.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

thanks v -

i have contacted a few sages and am having some researches done inside of my church (in another land). i am hesitant to involve too many "outsiders"; my character just pulled off a major land grab and is politically connected. a lot of our pull comes from our very good nature and having a vampire and two unknowns in the group is a mccarthy-era reprise just waiting to happen.

the characters in question have been subjected to some low-level divinations, but we have missed a number of betrayals in the past and the spells we have cast were not able to tell us much more than your enworld profile would tell about you.

i was really hoping there was something i might have missed in the "my 8th level cleric with a 16 int, 18 wis & knowledge skills" arena.

thanks all.