D&D 5E How would you make this cool effect? Should I bother?

[Not a Hobbit]

Dear ENworlders:

My players are about to stumble into a library, where they will be greeted not by books, but by Knowledge itself. A humanoid person will appear and talk to them, so they can ask questions and receive vague answers in reply.

My concept is that each of the characters sees the humanoid in a different way, and that way changes constantly. One will see an old woman, who speaks very slowly and deliberately. Another will see a child, who speaks really fast and says "your know, like" a lot. And then a few seconds later the first person will see something totally different, like a condescending middle aged dragonborn or something.

So my question is, What can I do to accomplish this in game? Of course, I can tell the players "Now you see an old woman, but you see a little child. And now what you thought was an old woman is now a haughty dragonborn." But this seems like it would take a lot of time, be very confusing for the players, and frankly become boring and frustrating for both them and me.

I could also just tell them "The humanoid changes form and speech pattern constantly." But if it's that simple, should I even bother? I mean, it's a nice touch, but it doesn't really have a cool factor. It's possible that this is something that can only work in a movie, and not so well in a Tabletop game.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks for reading. You guys are a great help.

--Scott

 

[iserith]

So my question is, What can I do to accomplish this in game? Of course, I can tell the players "Now you see an old woman, but you see a little child. And now what you thought was an old woman is now a haughty dragonborn." But this seems like it would take a lot of time, be very confusing for the players, and frankly become boring and frustrating for both them and me.

I could also just tell them "The humanoid changes form and speech pattern constantly." But if it's that simple, should I even bother? I mean, it's a nice touch, but it doesn't really have a cool factor. It's possible that this is something that can only work in a movie, and not so well in a Tabletop game.
--Scott

Some combination of the above two approaches seems sufficient. As DMs, we're charged with presenting a fantastical world and these are the sorts of things that make a fantasy world come alive. Just keep it tight and colorful and move on. If you want to make it more of a social interaction challenge rather than just color and exposition, the different images should have personalities and agendas the PCs must figure out and manipulate or navigate in order to get the information they seek.

 

[jaelis]

One will see an old woman, who speaks very slowly and deliberately. Another will see a child, who speaks really fast and says "your know, like" a lot. And then a few seconds later the first person will see something totally different, like a condescending middle aged dragonborn or something.

Describing it like that sounds fine to me. If you're cool with using accents, keep changing yours around.

 

[Mercule]

I've done something like this, in the past. What I did was to just deal with each player, as they came in. So, just describe the room (box text). When the first person comes into the room, tell them that an old lady comes out from behind a bookshelf and greets them (or whatever). As long as they're the only one who engages, let it go. As soon as another player interacts with the scene, in some way (say, picks up a book), narrate the entity's reaction with a brief description ("The scholarly young man turns his attention from Bob to you and says, 'Please be careful, those are old and fragile.'"). You can do the same sort of thing, even if only one PC is interacting with it, too.

The first time or two, the players will probably assume they missed the description of someone else being in the room, or you made a mistake. Maybe one of them will even say, "I ask the little girl XXX," and you can say, "There's no little girl, just a talking cat." It'll be a bit confusing, which is the point, but they'll eventually either catch on or ask direct questions of you (as GM), at which point you can be explicit about what each of them sees.

This works well because it simulates the assumptions each character would make about the others seeing the same thing and/or consistent perceptions, while giving clues that things are not all as they seem. One would think it'd be as subtle as a sledgehammer, but my experience is that players never pick up on things as quickly as you'd expect.

Now, the above assumes you want to have some subtlety. If you really want it to be more freaky than mysterious, then just narrate it plainly and tell each of them that they see something different and that the appearance changes every so often.

Also, if your players are the sort to be upset that you're "messing with them" then skip the effect altogether and just pick a form for Knowledge to appear as. Maybe it changes on each visit, but is set while being observed -- which might actually be appropriate for Knowledge, which tends to have assumptions reinforced during focused study and deviations only revealed when you step back or change your approach.

 

[wwanno]

If you ever played Planescape: Torment you should remember a dungeon with some stone faces on the wall.

That would be how I would represent it.

I would describe a great number of stone faces covering the walls, then, when a player makes a question, I would let one or more faces speak.

The answers could be even in contrast with each other because the truth is not always only one.

Inviato dal mio ASUS_Z00AD utilizzando Tapatalk

 

[TwoSix]

My concept is that each of the characters sees the humanoid in a different way, and that way changes constantly. One will see an old woman, who speaks very slowly and deliberately. Another will see a child, who speaks really fast and says "your know, like" a lot. And then a few seconds later the first person will see something totally different, like a condescending middle aged dragonborn or something.

In general, trying to communicate different perceptions to different PCs is a major table challenge. Heck, think of how complex narration gets when you're in a dark cave and half the party has darkvision, and half doesn't.

Maybe just have Knowledge take a different form depending on the type of question asked. Asking about something happening in the present might bring up the small child. Asking about something ancient brings up the old woman. Asking about something related to dragons brings up the dragonborn. If you have an idea about what kind of questions the PCs might be interested in, come up with 4 or 5 personas related to broad swathes of lore, and maybe one wild-card if they ask something you weren't anticipating.

 

[Satyrn]

. . . each of the characters sees the humanoid in a different way, and that way changes constantly. One will see an old woman, who speaks very slowly and deliberately. Another will see a child, who speaks really fast and says "your know, like" a lot. And then a few seconds later the first person will see something totally different, like a condescending middle aged dragonborn or something.

So my question is, What can I do to accomplish this in game? Of course, I can tell the players "Now you see an old woman, but you see a little child. And now what you thought was an old woman is now a haughty dragonborn." But this seems like it would take a lot of time, be very confusing for the players, and frankly become boring and frustrating for both them and me.

Telling them that right there ought to work. Just make another similar mention of it as the scene plays out and your players should probably be grokking it. (Maybe mention it a third time if the scene runs long)

 

[Tony Vargas]

My concept is that each of the characters sees the humanoid in a different way, and that way changes constantly. ...

So my question is, What can I do to accomplish this in game? Of course, I can tell the players "Now you see an old woman, but you see a little child. And now what you thought was an old woman is now a haughty dragonborn." But this seems like it would take a lot of time, be very confusing for the players, and frankly become boring and frustrating for both them and me.

If the players interact with the entity one at a time, you can describe it differently each time, and they'll figure it out as they compare notes, then you can have a scene where you describe the entity cycling through different forms, explain what it is, and only reference that with future interactions, instead of describing each of it's changes in detail.

Of course, if it changes rapidly even when interacting with only one PC, it'll become evident that much more quickly, and you can just cut the level of description with each new form, so it doesn't get boring or time consuming. The idea is to establish the weirdness of the entity, get that little senseofwonder from the players, and then move on to the information they're there for.

 

[Oofta]

I've done things like this a few ways.

• I use different accents and act out the character I'm playing, so do an old woman while hunched over and squinting. A young girl is bouncy, sits upright and head held high.
• Other times I will hand cards to people, with written notes (pre-written if I'm giving them a different vision. The card has everything, including description.
• Take people to a separate room.
• Have pictures on my laptop/phone that represent the people they are talking to.

Choose whatever will make sense to you, what you will be comfortable with and what makes sense. Things like this can be great fun for you and your players if you put a little effort into it.

 

[Shiroiken]

In an IRL game, I'd write down a dozen descriptions on 3x5 note cards. When they first meet Knowledge, pass one out to each player. I'd have the appearance change about every minute or two IRL, and explain that it happens when the character blinks or looks away for a moment, and that the time change isn't simultaneous for everyone. When the change happens, have everyone pass their card clockwise around the table, removing an old one from the player to your right and give a new one to the player to your left. If you think you need more, you can always recycle old ones, but I'd try to avoid that.

As for types of humanoids, I'd make sure to include a few that are personal. Either an NPC the group has met, or perhaps a mentor or family member are perfect. I would make sure those notes have an extra message (an "I love you" from your mom can be very meaningful) to make it more personal, even if you have to use only vague references. This should give the players the idea that this being knows EVERYTHING, no matter how small or private.