I need some Birthright Campaign Advice

[Abraxas]

I am currently running a Birthright campaign converted to 3E. One of the players is going to be taking levels in the Acolyte of the Skin PrC. For those of you that don't know it is a class for arcane casters that gets interesting powers in exchange for 1/2 casting progression by grafting a demon's or devil's skin onto himself. However, demons and devils don't really fit the Birthright setting - although undead do. So I am going to alter things to fit the campaign.

I've changed the name to Acolyte of the Soul.
Instead of a demon or devil hide hes going to grafting spirit of a Reaver to himself. A Reaver is the remnant spirit of one of 13 paladins that fell from grace following Lord Tarravok (see Eden Studios "Liber Bestarius" pg 98 - 99)

I've checked out the guidelines for the class given in the Living Greyhawk 3.5 conversion guide. There are a few things that still need to be adjusted.

The biggest change is how the character is going to become an Acolyte of the Soul. The player has come up with a backstory that involves a pact his family has made to contain this spirit and prevent it from continuing it's service to Lord Tarravok. What I need to come up with is the circumstances that cause this spirit to be passed on from one person to the next.

Right now I'm drawing a blank - any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Nightfall]

Using their swords or maybe a piece of armor might work.

 

[Abraxas]

Sorry, I didn't make myself very clear. I know how the transfer will occur. What I haven't figured out is why it is time for the transfer to occur - I need some sort of event that signals its time for a successor to be chosen. And it has to be an event that could possibly occur to the players character also - the possibility of losing the benefits of being the vessel carrying this spirit has to be present. Otherwise it doesn't mean anything.

I also have to figure out why he would be allowed to go out and adventure after taking on this burden - Lord Tarravok is going to be looking for him - and theres no good reason he wouldn't find him before he stands a chance of survivng if they did meet.

Actually - the more I think about it the less this PrC seems to fit Birthright

 

[Felix]

You might go the Diablo route and imprison the spirit in a gem... to be stored in the next of kin of that family charged with the keeping of the soul.

[EDIT]
After reading your reply to Nightfall... It's time to pass on the gem because the former bearer of it is passing on, and it is at this point that he is most vulnerable to be corrupted by the spirit of the Gem. So it is at this time when the gem is moved into another vessel.

The PrC could represent the amount of corruption of the character. Once the PC reaches 10th level of the PrC, the spirit of the fallen overpowers the mind of the vessel, and the spirit takes over. (ie, he is NPC'd, and becomes a problem for the rest of the party when he goes to fight for Lord Tavarrok.)

This way, there could be a real relationship between one of the BBEGs (the former PC) and the party. The other PCs don't want to hurt their friend, but cannot kill the enemy without doing so.

 

[Nightfall]

As to why then, perhaps the spirit was waiting for an experienced body to use. I mean why just use any old body IF you can get a virile and often willing one instead.

 

[GMVictory]

The current person who is containing the spirit has become corrupted by it and the player must kill him to take the spirit. All those in the family who are eligible to take this duty feel a compulsion to find the current vessel and confront him. Or the spirit of the family member who made the pact appears before those it feels are worthy enough to be the new vessel.

The player may need to keep on the move to prevent Lord Tarravok from finding him. Perhaps a side effect of being the vessel means that Lord Tarravok can't use divinations or spells to locate him.

 

[mattcolville]

I am currently running a Birthright campaign converted to 3E. One of the players is going to be taking levels in the Acolyte of the Skin PrC. For those of you that don't know it is a class for arcane casters that gets interesting powers in exchange for 1/2 casting progression by grafting a demon's or devil's skin onto himself. However, demons and devils don't really fit the Birthright setting - although undead do. So I am going to alter things to fit the campaign.

I've changed the name to Acolyte of the Soul.
Instead of a demon or devil hide hes going to grafting spirit of a Reaver to himself. A Reaver is the remnant spirit of one of 13 paladins that fell from grace following Lord Tarravok (see Eden Studios "Liber Bestarius" pg 98 - 99)

I've checked out the guidelines for the class given in the Living Greyhawk 3.5 conversion guide. There are a few things that still need to be adjusted.

The biggest change is how the character is going to become an Acolyte of the Soul. The player has come up with a backstory that involves a pact his family has made to contain this spirit and prevent it from continuing it's service to Lord Tarravok. What I need to come up with is the circumstances that cause this spirit to be passed on from one person to the next.

Right now I'm drawing a blank - any suggestions would be appreciated.

::cough::

As the guy who invented Lord Tarravok and the Reavers, as well as his blade; Zjaresko, Demon Blade of the Planar Lords, I may be able to provide some insight. Or maybe not. As a former Birthright GM (it's always been my favorite published setting and, indeed, my frustrations with it led me to pitch Fields Of Blood: The Book of War to Eden), I see no reason why there can't be demons and devils running around. There are mages and clerics, mages and clerics can summon demons and devils. Seems pretty straightforward. I mean, demons and devils aren't going to have the same presence in Birthright as they would in, say, Greyhawk or the FRCS, in that occationally you might get a whole army of them doing something on the material plane, but there's no reason you couldn't have one or two here and there. But this does not address your problem.

I get the impression from your post that the player wants his character to be a good guy. I.e. he doesn't want to become a Reaver. This doesn't really make sense with the Acolyte of the Skin/Soul PrC which states A: you can't be good and B: you have to have been friendly (specifically; make "peaceful" contact) with an EVIL outsider).

So I think there are maybe more problems here than meet the eye. If the player wanted his character to be Evil, there'd be no problem. You could easily say that the PC killed one of the Reavers using special magics designed for that purpose (because, otherwise, Reavers cannot be killed unless Lord Tarravok is killed, IIRC) and was 'promoted' to Reaver status by Lord Tarravok. Maybe he made a bargain with the Captain of the Company of Autumn, and Tarravok gave him the PrC powers in exchange for service.

But be an Acolyte of the Soul AND be a good guy? That seems problematic. I might warn a player that such exploration into things Man Was Not Meant To Know could always go awry and, if he was still in favor of it, let him perform a ritual in which he consumes the life energies of a Reaver. Not through any crude gem, but really ingest the soul of the Reaver, gaining the powers of an Acolyte of the Skin. Then he'd have to fight pretty hard, many Will Saves, to avoid becoming a Reaver himself, under the power of the Dread Captain.

Glad to see someone getting some use out of my favorite guy from the Liber!

 

[Nightfall]

Nice to see you Matt (btw Reavers, Lord Tavorrok and the Blade of the Planar lords, I thought was some of your best work! )

I guess maybe he sees this as a kind of spawn character. Me I'd just keep it simple. Keep him evil and that's it.

 

[Abraxas]

Some interesting things to think about. This is what I've come up with so far.

Lord Tarravok is vying for power in Cerilia. Personal power - he is not Blooded and doesn't need the crutch of divine essence to augment his abilities. His chief rival is the Cold Rider. In order to weaken Lord Tarrovak, the Cold Rider has made pacts with Cerilian mortals to imprison a number of Lord Tarravok's Reavers.

The characters family, a line of Vos necromancers, entered into one such pact. They are seeking to gain power and overthrow the regional control that the preists of Kriesha exert over Vosgaard. The Cold Rider grants long lost arcane knowledge in exchange for their co-operation and promises positions of power when he takes over Cerilia.

Once the character becomes the vessel that restrains the essence of the Reaver he begins a constant struggle to contain it. The side effects of this controlled possesion are the powers the character gains as he advances in levels of the PrC. To represent the struggle I'm going to require Will Saves each time the character advances in level. If he fails the save he MUST advance in the AotS PrC. If he makes the save he can advance in any manner that he wishes. If he willingly chooses to advance as an AotS he receives a penalty to his will save the next time he advances a level. Once he reaches 10th level in the PrC he must seek out a replacement because he has been completely corrupted by the essence of the Reaver. If he advances a level before finding a replacement the Reaver takes over and is free to return to Tarravok's service.

When the Reaver's essence is passed on the character passing it on will lose all levels that don't include spellcasting advancement. So a Wiz 8/AotS 10 who passes on the essence becomes a Wiz 13 - losing the 5 levels that didn't give advancement in his spellcasting class. Some of the powers will remain I just haven't decided which ones.

I think the will save will always be at least a 50/50 affair (ignoring magical bonuses). So if the character has a will save of +6 (base) +3 (ability mod) = +9 the DC will be 20. If he has willingly taken levels in the class the DC will increase by 1 for every level taken willingly.

Now I have another question for any of you familiar with the AotS PrC and the Reavers. How should the AotS's abilities be modified to account for the differences between the Reavers and Demons/Devils?

Posted by mattcolville
As a former Birthright GM (it's always been my favorite published setting and, indeed, my frustrations with it led me to pitch Fields Of Blood: The Book of War to Eden), I see no reason why there can't be demons and devils running around.

1. I'm going to have to look into Fields of Blood

2. The no demons/devils is a personal thing. Right now when outsiders are summoned - evil outsiders are all various undead templated creatures. Thats just the way I like it right now.

The character is going to make his peaceful contact with an evil outsider when he accepts the Cold Riders terms of service for the power he is going to get.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

You could make the Acolyte/Reaver progression reflect the PC's ongoing failure to control the inner Reaver, with the Reaver gaining more and more power - hence the PC's advancement in the PrC. When he hits the last level in the PrC, he must undergoe some major quest, or face some major crisis that will determine if the Reaver wins, or if he wins. If the Reaver wins, hey, great, new NPC. If the PC wins, he defeats the Reaver, and all of his Reaver class levels are immediately converted into another suitable PrC (or maybe just a modified Acolyte).