D&D 5E Mephits on strike

[Shades of Eternity]

Unionizing and strikes do not just come out of nowhere. You have to plant the fact that the mephits have a gripe - presumably a legit gripe - beforehand. And there has to be a reason they do not just rise in revolt to slay the message-senders and free themselves from the onerous labor.

I got an idea.

The Elemental Princes have got a new idea (although this might be a new rumor).

They summon messangers, and then immediately absorb the mephits.

This has caused a rapid drop in Mephits across the universe and they aren't dumb.

They have decided that the PCs are their best bet to start this process and start helping them under the radar.

 

[Faolyn]

Unionizing and strikes do not just come out of nowhere. You have to plant the fact that the mephits have a gripe - presumably a legit gripe - beforehand. And there has to be a reason they do not just rise in revolt to slay the message-senders and free themselves from the onerous labor.

In Planescape, mephits have "meaning" in the same way that flowers have meaning--only their meanings are always negative. Like, a mist mephit is "A mysterious warning that someone close to the recipient is an assassin." This was mentioned in one of the books and expanded upon here. Of course this means that the recipient often just kills the mephit out of anger.

Even if these meanings aren't used, mephits could be seen as disposable--you can always summon more, so who cares if they get killed?

 

[Umbran]

Traditionally, mephits are... not nice. PCs are apt to say, "You're abused? But, you are yourself abusers of others. Why should we assist you?" You may need to do so work to establish them as sympathetic, and worthy of aid.

Even if these meanings aren't used, mephits could be seen as disposable--you can always summon more, so who cares if they get killed?

Indeed, in the traditional metaphysics, they're immortal elemental spirits who are specifically NOT killed if they get beat up on the prime material plane. So, while the process may be unpleasant, it is not presented as doing them permanent harm.

So, I think for this to work, you may need to reposition them somewhat in the grand scheme of things.