If you were a Beholder.........what would you ask of my players?

[Three_Haligonians]

It has been mentioned before, but it is not the "what" and the "why" that is so important, but the "how".

You need to come up with a way to let the Beholder enforce the PC's into holding up their end of the bargain other than holding onto the petrified character. Otherwise that player is just going to sit there and listen the whole session.

Personally, I wouldn't bank on any Lawful characters keeping their word just for the sake of keeping their word - that could easily dissolve into an argument about alignment, character choice and DM railroading and other such things:

"You can't just walk away, you said you would do it!"
"Sure I can, we got Virgal back and I'm certainly not going to honour any agreement I made with a Beholder - they are evil/I was under duress/he didn't specify when etc.."
"Well fine, then you'd better change your alignment over to Chaotic then"
"Oh come on! one out of character act doesn't require an immediate alignment change"

And so forth.. besides, since Beholder's are usually ridiculously paranoid, and distrustful of anything "not them" it doesn't really make sense to have one accept a deal on the merit of someone else's word.

So to bind the characters, you have a few options. Someone already mentioned geas/quest, the Complete Arcane has a magic item called a Contract of Nepthas which kind of does the same thing - only to either party who breaks the deal.
Perhaps the Beholder forces the party (or at least one of the party) to accept one of these before it restores the petrified member.

The Book of Vile Darkness has a set of magic rings called the Master Ring and Slave Ring; the wearer of the former able to deal damage to anyone wearing the latter. Best of all, the latter cannot take the ring off without the permission of the designated "Master" so maybe when the party gets their friend back - they'll have some new jewelry.

At any rate, my suggestion for the actual task is that somewhere in the nearby area, a group of fanatical cultists exists - people who are devoted to the beholder and worship the.. uh.. "ground it walks on" like some kind of god. The beholder, in its typical xenophobic arrogance, finds the cultists absolutely abhorrent and wants them exterminated.

Anyway - this sounds like a cool little side adventure that just spontaneously jumped into your lap. The best thing you can do is enjoy it and make it memorable

J from Three Haligonians

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Think like a beholder.

This party was scary, they could challenge it. The beholder will assume that they are out to kill it but they'll want to rescue their friend first.

The first thing it will do is move its lair. It will sort itself out with a new home a safe distance away, ensuring that the new home has better defensive features and more escape routes.

Then it has to decide what to do about the statue. Dusting it doesn't make sense because that statue's perfect bait in a trap.

It'll set a trap where the party expects the statue to be. The trap will be designed to wipe out the party but leave their equipment and wealth intact for the beholder to collect later (something like a poison or sleep gas cloud, yellow mold spores, or whatever depending on the resources available to the beholder in the local dungeon) -- and there will be a backup trap in case the first one fails. The backup trap will be designed to destroy the statue and slaughter the party -- personally I'd think in terms of a ceiling collapse for that.

The beholder will be lurking nearby and alerted when the trap is triggered. It, and whatever minions it possesses, will be ready to charge in and mop up if necessary, but also able to flee if the party has returned in overwhelming strength.

 

[Ry]

If he asks for something that doesn't make a lot of sense, but that he could still conceivably want, I think your players would be more likely to accept. I mean, you could turn him into a funny side-NPC "Ned the Beholder"

So I think he should ask for a salve for his bunions.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Visine.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

"Do you have cheese?"

 

[rossik]

i agree with the guys who went for "kill an enemy" for the beholder..

maybe he just doenst wanna get his "hands" dirty...


oh, i had a narcoleptic (sp) beholder as npc

 

[Merkuri]

You need to come up with a way to let the Beholder enforce the PC's into holding up their end of the bargain other than holding onto the petrified character. Otherwise that player is just going to sit there and listen the whole session.

I was just going to make this point, but I see I was beaten to it.

Whatever you do, make sure the petrified player can participate in some way. I feel like making the party go out and do something while the beholder holds their petrified companion is the most logical thing to do next, but that keeps the petrified PC out of the game for probably an entire session, maybe more if the task is long.

If the player's willing to put down his PC for a while, you can have the beholder send a minion of some sort along with them to help keep them focused on their goal, and give the reigns of that creature to the player. It can be fun to play something unusual once and a while. The player of the petrified PC may even have the most fun out of that little side-track as he gets to play with a new toy, even for a short while.

 

[joshuakanton]

If I were the Beholder I would use several of the ideas mentioned above.

I would hide the petrified character somewhere safe and difficult to reach.

I would have the characters, all of the characters including the petrified one, sign a contract agreeing to perform some task and include language that conflicts with the Beholder for the next five years will be settled non-violently (maybe a game of chess or rock – paper – scissors).

Also, the task may not be obvious in its intent; for example, one of the Beholder’s rivals may be wearing a cursed ring that can only be removed upon its death. The Beholder would ask for that ring and then warn the rival about the characters’ approach in order to gain a favor from the rival and ensure the maximum amount of damage is caused if the characters succeed.

While the characters are performing the task, the Beholder should move its lair. That way the characters and its rival are busy while it moves to a safer location. The Beholder may require that one of its underlings accompany the players to ensure the job is done and warn the Beholder that the characters are returning.

Just think, how much can I get for one petrified character? What cost will the characters pay for their friend?

 

[Merkuri]

Wow, it looks like if done right, this one misadventure could change the entire course of the campaign! Whether the DM wants to let it is up to him, but I could imagine running with these ideas the way joshuakanton put it for a long time, even after the petrified character is returned to them, especially if they sign an agreement and have it be magically binding somehow. They could find out that a quest they thought was completely unrelated has this beholder at its core, and when they discover it they now have to find a non-violent way around it, like agreeing to do another favor for the beholder if it stops what it's doing.

I likey.

 

[grodog]

Vogon poetry...ugh! Rather listen to Yanni.

I'll take the Vogon poetry any day

Gro, Good stuff there. I think that's an excellent suggestion.

Thanks!

Whatever you do, make sure the petrified player can participate in some way. I feel like making the party go out and do something while the beholder holds their petrified companion is the most logical thing to do next, but that keeps the petrified PC out of the game for probably an entire session, maybe more if the task is long.

Perhaps the beholder, in an act of "good faith", un-petrifies another NPC statue whom the PCs don't know, and the player can portray that character. Perhaps that character is really not a victim of the beholder's at all, but one of the beholder's henchmen. Perhaps that character is under another compulsion/has other motivations that will further complicate the story....