D&D 5E Need ideas/help for succubus taking a soul

[werecorpse]

In a game I run one of the characters who is a tempest cleric of a chaotic good deity attracted the attention of a succubus. I decided she would try and corrupt him with the three elements as stated in the MM. The first one was to commit an evil deed - she tricked him into releasing a lich. I then told the player what was going on and that the succubus would be trying to observe him to see if he would commit 2 other acts of evil. He later abandoned the rest of the party who were trying to kill a priest of Orcus in his lair. He and the wizard retreated as their two companions had been knocked to 0 but had killed all the enemy except the last tough bad guy, the wizard readied himself to return and when the bad guy came after them the cleric drank a potion of gaseous form that had multiple uses without offering it to the wizard and seeped away leaving the wizard behind. The wizard got knocked to 0 and the last tough bad guy (not knowing that the priest had seeped away) chased after where he thought the fleeing priest had gone. The wizard rolled a 20 on his second death save and doubled back to where the other two characters had been abandoned, one had died, he revived the other.
The final act came during treasure division. There are up to 8 players and due to characters getting captured only 3 have solid loot. The cleric has if not the most and best magic loot he is in the top 2 or 3. During the latest division he lied saying that he hadn’t got any loot in the last 3 treasure divisions (he had). He is good at getting loot as he can be quite persuasive and he cares about it and most others let him have his way if he kicks up a fuss. One of the other characters with good loot felt bad and gave the cleric an item to make up for this apparent “discrepancy.” Some of the others who actually have very little loot got nothing or a small item.

So after all that I have decided that he has now committed 3 acts and his soul is forfeit. I suppose I could say that when he dies he will discover he is in the abyss but I want to make more of an adventure and story out of it. Have him try and recover his solid etc.

So I’m looking for help and ideas.

Thanks.

 

[Al2O3]

The soul is forfeit, and will be connected upon death. The actual collection part is probably not that interesting.

The character learning that the soul is forfeit IS interesting. Who does he learn it from? Maybe the succubus comes by to gloat (or to kiss)? Another priest or similar recognizing the claim on his soul? Maybe even a devil?

If you want to really go all out you could have the deity take note and send a messenger to check if the character would perhaps prefer to get the spells from someone else in the future?

EDIT to add:
I will just ignore the parts about loot division and the unclear line in the description between character conflict and player conflict. I hope it's not the player being evil.

 

[werecorpse]

Yup I agree the fact of forfeit is only interesting if it leads to something. I’m thinking gloating, maybe a chance of redemption etc. just not sure how

Re edit: the player is a good guy who is just a more personal win/tactical war game style player than the rest of the group. That’s fine and we’ve played together for 30 years so we can handle that players side stuff. I’m more looking for good in game stuff for a character who has “lost his soul”

 

[Draegn]

You could give the character ED until death or redemption.

 

[R_J_K75]

You could give the character ED until death or redemption.

Or peronis disease, or a bottle of little blue pills with a "child" proof cap. Even I have trouble opening those things.

 

[tommybahama]

I would say that a man cannot serve two masters so he loses his divine powers granted by his deity. He can choose to go on a redemption quest to restore his powers or multiclass into something else (warlock?). I would have a celestial come down and announce to the party that he has sold his soul with his three evil acts. If he argues then spell the evil acts out in front of everyone. And take all his ill-gotten treasure as property of the church.

 

[Shiroiken]

So after all that I have decided that he has now committed 3 acts and his soul is forfeit. I suppose I could say that when he dies he will discover he is in the abyss but I want to make more of an adventure and story out of it. Have him try and recover his solid etc.

So I’m looking for help and ideas.

Thanks.

Story-wise, I'd have the succubus come to him and congratulate him, while wearing a pendant or other small item. She'd explain that his soul is bound within, and if it's destroyed, he'll die. She'll threaten him in order to get him to do more evil deeds, which causes her to gloat more. If the player actually gets the item, they find out it's nothing more than Nystul's Magic Aura (the soul is immaterial). The player might try to find some way to undo the effect, seeking redemption, possibly by redeeming the succubus (a daunting task!).

Mechanically, there's two ways to handle it, only one of which is actually fun. You could have the character become an NPC at some point, who becomes a villain over the course of the campaign. The other is to inform the player that if they die (not just 0 HP, but actual death), they cannot be resurrected by any means short of a Wish (which undoes the deal).

 

[werecorpse]

I like the idea of the character having the chance to redeem himself, regain his soul etc.

just not sure how. I don’t want to be too heavy handed about it and want it to be an opportunity for adventure rather than his deity telling him to shape up (though that an happen too but feels too much like me just criticising his decisions - which I am, but I guess what I’m looking for is a way to fail forward?)

 

[tommybahama]

Send him on a quest that he will hate like Jonah had to do. Does he have a racial animosity like orcs or giants? Send him on a mission to proselytize them in a far away land to his religion.

 

[Samloyal23]

Based on a lot of myths and legends and horror stories, I like to picture succubi just being like a drug, they addict you to their sex, so you forego rest, food, water, until you die from exhaustion. Think about the experiments where lab mice were able to push a button that stimulated the pleasure centers in their brains. They gave up everything to push the button over and over until they died. That is what sex with a succubus is like. You fall in love and can't get up. Even when you removed from her presence she is all you think about. All you can do is pine for her. You can't sleep, you don't dream unless it is of her, you cannot eat or drink because it seems futile. She is all you think about. The only thing you can focus on is getting back to her and feeling her embrace, even if it kills you...