Honey, I mutated the PCs!

[Raven Crowking]

That eye-on-the-palm-of-your-hand thing happened in my game, but 1) the eye doesn't work and 2) it was the result of a curse. Needless to say, my player wasn't happy either (but the rest of the group is quite amused).

RC

 

[Evilhalfling]

The eye in the hand thing must be a common idea, I gave one to a Tiefling, It started as a scar that would'nt heal, and itched, and eventually opened as a Eye - it was actually used as a scrying focus by a demonic grandparent until he got a dispel evil on it. He really enjoyed the story, but it had a heafty build up, and he agreed to the scar at the begining as a tiefling problem. His response was to get a gauntlet that left the eye exposed, and told people it was a magic item.

 

[blargney the second]

Is there a cat familiar named Chester?

No... but during the same adventure they disrupted a pair of weird diabolists who were sacrificing a Tanil's Fox (from Creature Collection). It sort of got bonded to one of the PCs when he was brought to negative hps.

Thanks for the responses! This is my first time DMing (and apparently last time until I find a new group in Victoria), so it's interesting to hear the input of more experienced players and DMs.

I see what you all mean about not asking them beforehand if they had any problems with me modifying their characters. I've been pretty good so far at asking them what sorts of things they want to do, but I decided not mention this one because I didn't want to spoil the surprise. I did manage to surprise them , but ultimately I think they were disappointed to not be in control of the development of their characters.

This discussion made me think of Greg Kostikyan's article on game design, I Have No Words And I Must Design. In RPGs, the player's character is their only way of interacting with the game, hence the complicated rules involved with their creation and for performing actions. By forcing a change on the PCs like I did, I violated the sanctity of their in-game actor. If they'd given me permission for modification beforehand, at least they'd have had an opportunity to prepare themselves mentally for the changes necessary in their outlooks.

Next time I'll make sure that the players at least understand what sorts of things I might spring on their characters!

-blarg

 

[Darklone]

Hmm. I had one player who had a nice little accident while wearing some special armour... he died but was instantly reincarnated as genasi (the armour was living metal-fire).

Next time he died and got resurrected, he asked to change his PC more into the fire elemental direction. I liked it and allowed him to exchange levels to pyrokineticist.