Making A PC Temporarily Evil

[Andrew D. Gable]

Well, maybe not an actual alignment change... but I have an idea that in the future I'd like to have one of the PCs get captured by an evil faction, and be coerced into helping them do something nefarious for a session or two until the other PCs rescue them. Basically, I had an established evil group... and the wizard in the group focuses mainly on ice and necromantic magic... which align extremely well with the evil group's goals and MO. Like I say, they won't be becoming an NPC permanently... I'll send the other PCs on a rescue mission after the wizard does some bad stuff.

The main question I have is how to go about this. It's a similar sort of quandary to what deckers have in Shadowrun - I'd be basically juggling two seperate plotlines, or having one player sitting around doing nothing while the others play. My real question isn't how to do it plotwise - it's DnD, so I can just make the character be geased or whatever into service. But, practically, how should I handle this? Have any of you ever done something similar in a game, and if so, how did you implement things?

 

[Varchild]

Can you run the stuff with the wixard over email or I'm or something? Maybe have a seperate 1-on-1 session?

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[athos]

Sounds like something I would definitely avoid doing.

We tell players, NEVER, EVER split the party, and then you would be forcing them to split the party. Just evil man

I think it is bad enough when a PC gets hit with a confusion or charm and they have to fight for the monsters for one battle, making it more than that is not going to be fair to the PC/NPC in your game.

 

[Dausuul]

Well, maybe not an actual alignment change... but I have an idea that in the future I'd like to have one of the PCs get captured by an evil faction, and be coerced into helping them do something nefarious for a session or two until the other PCs rescue them. Basically, I had an established evil group... and the wizard in the group focuses mainly on ice and necromantic magic... which align extremely well with the evil group's goals and MO. Like I say, they won't be becoming an NPC permanently... I'll send the other PCs on a rescue mission after the wizard does some bad stuff.

The main question I have is how to go about this. It's a similar sort of quandary to what deckers have in Shadowrun - I'd be basically juggling two seperate plotlines, or having one player sitting around doing nothing while the others play. My real question isn't how to do it plotwise - it's DnD, so I can just make the character be geased or whatever into service. But, practically, how should I handle this? Have any of you ever done something similar in a game, and if so, how did you implement things?

First off, if you haven't already, talk to the player and make sure s/he is okay with the scenario. A setup like this could be very fun if the player is on board, but if not, it could lead the player to disengage from the campaign--"What's the point of me playing if you're going to dictate what my character does?"

Assuming everything is cool with the player, there are a couple of ways you can handle it. A separate session for the wizard is probably what I'd do; play out the wizard's evil deeds one-on-one, and then when you run the rescue session, make up an NPC ally and have the wizard's player run that character for the evening.

Alternatively, if you've got some gamer friends who aren't already in the campaign, you could recruit one for a couple sessions as assistant DM. That poses its own logistical challenges though, mainly the task of keeping everything coordinated.

 

[Diamond Cross]

It's generally a bad idea to take over a player's character.

My group split up last year from this and the guy and the DM aren't speaking over it now.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

First off, if you haven't already, talk to the player and make sure s/he is okay with the scenario. A setup like this could be very fun if the player is on board, but if not, it could lead the player to disengage from the campaign--"What's the point of me playing if you're going to dictate what my character does?"

That first point is the most important. Definitely get the player's buy-in on it.

If I were doing this, I'd take complete control of the PC for the story arc and let the player play a new character. But I would get some general boundaries from the player of what they wouldn't want their character to do and stick within those guidelines. That way you get your story and the player can be part of the session but almost as in the dark as the rest of the players.

Or if the player is going to be on a hiatus, I'd time this story arc to occur during that time. Before the session I would run a one-shot of the beginnings of the arc with the player to give them more control over what happens.

But whatever you do, remember to get the player's feedback on the idea before messing with their character!

 

[fba827]

well, a couple thoughts come to mind (several of which are coverd by other posters)

1) Does the wizard PC/player have the option of joining? Or is this something you planned to forceably do to make the plot point(s) work? -- a PC should always have the choice. Thus, present it to the player and see what he would do. If possible, roleplay out the scenario of the offer - as a one-on-one sort of thing or via email or something.

2) If he does accept, I'd make the wizard a temporary NPC (perhaps with some guidance from the wizard player as to what extremes he's willing to go to and how involved he would be or if he's just doing it to act as a double agent, etc).

3) I'd let the wizard's player make up a temporary PC to play in the meantime and to help on his own resuce mission to keep him from being left out at the table during the session.

 

[Praetor]

Of course ask the player's permission... but also, there are ways to circumvent the "plot necessity syndrome" and the set character roles. You can give the PC an ultimatum resulting from a past plot ocurrence - for example [referencing a The Order of the Stick, a spoof comic] a PC kills a dragon. That dragon was the son of a much more powerful dragon. The much more powerful dragon threatens the PC's family, and the forces of evil offer some sort of deal to allow the PC's family to not be destroyed. Then it is the PC's choice whether they are evil... or evil. Just an idea. I could help flesh that out more if you want, but right now all I have time for is a quick exposition.

 

[Nagol]

Of course ask the player's permission... but also, there are ways to circumvent the "plot necessity syndrome" and the set character roles. You can give the PC an ultimatum resulting from a past plot ocurrence - for example [referencing a The Order of the Stick, a spoof comic] a PC kills a dragon. That dragon was the son of a much more powerful dragon. The much more powerful dragon threatens the PC's family, and the forces of evil offer some sort of deal to allow the PC's family to not be destroyed. Then it is the PC's choice whether they are evil... or evil. Just an idea. I could help flesh that out more if you want, but right now all I have time for is a quick exposition.

At which point, the DM has to be prepared for the answer "No." -- even Geas / Quest allows for "No." with penalties.

The only way to forcibly avoid "No." is with compulsion magic. Then the DM has to be prepared for the rest of the party to say "He went along! Kill him!"

Actually, the DM has to be prepared for that response in pretty much any of the potential scenarios.

 

[amnuxoll]

I played in a 2nd ed. game many moons ago in which my PC was possessed by an evil NPC. The DM explained the situation to me and I simply continued to roleplay my character but with a few innocent-seeming, sinister goals. It played out very well. Very fun. Also, at the end, my PC wasn't culpable for the evil deeds he'd done since he had been possessed and was not acting on his own initiative. So, party cohesion was not damaged (much).