Need Some Corrupting Ideas to Tempt my players

[Ace32]

I've got a campaign going, with a bunch of characters that are around level 15. We've been playing since level 1, and they've gone quite a way with these characters, but they haven't really had to do much internal struggling. It's sort of a stereotypical campaign, go out and fight the evil baddies. Only the evil baddies are a huge army of human-like fiends, that keep coming back under different leadership. I've decided that instead of just out-and-out combat all the time, I'm gonna make them struggle a bit with their power lust.

Basically, I want ideas for ways to tease my players with power. They need to be pretty demanding and corrupting, but look really nice.

Some ideas I've had:

- One of my players is a really into how strong he is compared to everybody else, as a result, one of the vampire's that we've run afoul is going to start guerrilla attacking him, and taunting him with his own strength and regenerative properties... until the player decides he wants to become a vampire himself.

- Another of my players is a wizard who can't get enough direct damage spells. He likes to roll as many dice as he can, and have as many spells as he can. I'm going to have him stumble upon an ancient ritual book, full of powerful, evil, and corrupting spells. Once he possesses the book, he will become haunted by the book's phantom, the spirit of the last owner, who will convince him of the benefits and powers of the book, with no words about the corrupting nature.

Anybody else have any other ideas? My party is:
CG Half Elf Ranger/Fighter (the first example)
CG Dark Elf Necromancer (the second example)
LG Human Paladin/Fighter (he's gonna be the toughest)
CG Lizardman Sorcerer
CG Human Barbarian
LG Half-Dragon (Elf) Paladin/Wizard (a total munchkin, he's also a poor roleplayer, and is a ways behind the party in levels (even with Half-Dragon level adjustment made)

The Campaign is a near-future fantasy game, with a lot of magic and space/planar stuff.

 

[The Dungeon Nazi]

The DN that trained me was -- and still is -- the absolute master when it comes to this sort of thing. Power *always* comes with a price.

Since we game strictly in FR, these ideas might not be totally relevent, but I'm sure you can do some tweaking if you find something you like.

The final AD&D game we played before switching to 3E (an adaptation of Night Below set in the Underdark beneath Shadowdale) ended when the group followed our cocksure party leader to do some tomb-raiding and stumbled upon a drow lich who had been sealed in there for centuries. The entire party was slaughtered, save for one silvery fire-wielding priest of Mystra who refused to enter. He decided to put together another party and go after the bodies of the first for raising purposes, and was rewarded when he was captured by illithids and doomed to decades of torture as they mined his brain for the secrets of silvery fire. Mike, our DN, consistently draws up side-quests filled with such drow liches, eye tyrants, Cult wizards, powerful vampire spellcasters and the like, and leaves it up to the party to know when they're outmatched and outgunned. Sometimes, if it's particularly dangerous, he'll go out of his way to hide such passages and chambers, and we may never even stumble upon them. But when we do, and if we manage to survive, the rewards are always great. The problem is that sometimes (as the Warriors of Shadow Light found out the hard way) we wind up wondering if the price was really worth paying.

Earlier in this same campaign, I was playing a thief -- the Swashbuckler kit from the Complete Thief's Handbook -- whose *only* assets were a 17 Dex and a rapier of speed (otherwise, he was completely beat). After failing one too many Resurrection Survival rolls -- and this is where DM-Player trust comes in *really* handy -- the character was reborn as a Chosen of Mask, with a shapeshifting Malaugrym body and 18s for all three physical ability scores (I think I also got minor boosts to Cha and Wis to satisfy Specialty Priest of Mask requirements). The big caveat was that all my fun-loving, carefree swashbuckling days were over -- Lexavian was now a neutral evil tool of Mask, and while the party generally assumed he was just another thief, he had on occasion served as a foil for the party, and the shapeshifting allowed him to disrupt their efforts (when the party's wishes ran contrary to the will of Mask) virtually unnoticed.

So secretly pitting your players against each other makes for a *really* interesting game, and if you haven't done so already, start instituting a communicate-with-the-DM-via-written-notes-only policy to start getting away from the idea that each party member automatically knows what's going on with every other party member simply because the players announce aloud what they're doing. The notes aren't necessary all the time, but essential for when characters wish to act without the rest of the party's knowledge -- some of the greatest sequences in-game would be triggered by one of our players passing down a folded piece of paper to the DN, and we'd all be wondering what he or she was up to.

That seems to be enough for one post. If you're interested in hearing more of what went on with the Warriors or their 3E counterparts, I've got plenty more stories to tell.

 

[LostSoul]

I think that the best way you can make them "soul-search" is to make thier actions pointless. Whatever they are fighting for, make them take one step forward and two steps back.

That can get frustrating, though. The players have to have faith that there will be a moment of revelation when the PCs see thier fate and accept it (or fight against it, or whatever).

So maybe the next "fiends" your party slaughters end up to be powerful good-aligned rebels, or maybe good guys who are in disguise.

Give your big bad bruiser fighter a sword that can spy on the party. It gives thier location to the new fiend leader. But since it has some wicked combat bonuses, the fighter won't want to give it up - even after the PCs are really really hurt by it.

Talk to a players. See if anyone is bored with thier current character. Keep that PC in mind and set up a trap where the party can pick "power" if they sacrifice one of thier own. Or something like that. Then the "power" turns out to be cursed somehow.

Well, I hope that gives you some inspiration.

 

[Micar Sin]

One of my favorite tools of corruption was an intelligent sword. I tailored it to the party's 'Errol Flynn' player, as it was a basket hilted saber. The sword would influence his behaviour empathically, but I never described it as such... It would exagerate(sp) his emotions, such as turning minor irritation from another party member usurping the spotlight into full blown anger, and progressing as the campaign went on... He eventually met his end when he freaked out and attacked the party cleric

 

[The Dungeon Nazi]

One of my favorite tools of corruption was an intelligent sword. I tailored it to the party's 'Errol Flynn' player, as it was a basket hilted saber. The sword would influence his behaviour empathically, but I never described it as such... It would exagerate(sp) his emotions, such as turning minor irritation from another party member usurping the spotlight into full blown anger, and progressing as the campaign went on... He eventually met his end when he freaked out and attacked the party cleric

So how were you able to influence a PC like that? Elaborate, man!

 

[Kichwas]

Using mind control or horrid villains is too over the top to really make the players feel the impact of their moral betrayal.


I like subtle approaches that lead down the path of depravity.

There's an old movie about two guys riding the train or maybe sitting in a room while one tries to get the other to kill his wife.

Hire them out to put somebody on ice. Somebody who's totally innocent. Somebody who's only 'crime' is knowing somebody who knows something that the bad guy doesn't want told. So he wants to send a message.


Will they do it or not? Make the reward big enough to really get their interest.

This idea might work better for a lower level group or one with less social contacts. For me; it's my 'test of the dark side' that I'd use if I got a PC who I felt was sliding towards evil.

Make the victim something like a young woman or girl. People seem to feel that more than just about any other group.

If they do take the money and go after her; make her do a lot of sobbing and pleading during the act. Set it up in an environment where they can't go in with big spells and be all impersonal. Where somebody has to go in with a rope and hold her down while they slowly take her out. So that you have time to show the player what he's doing up close.

Perhaps she lives in a boarding house next to a city guard station and the PCs have reason to not get 'chased out of town'.

This is a scenerio I'm itching to run next time I do Shadowrun or Cyberpunk.

There are other tests along this line you can pull.

Essentially find something which is really morally dark, and stick a big reward on doing it. Set it up so the PC has to get very personally involved and has to learn more than they want to know about the victim(s) of the crime. So that anyone with any sense of a conscience will come away feeling dirty.

Don't attach any counter reward to not going through with it or ratting out the villain. Doing 'the right thing' should be it's own reward. This heightens the pull towards evil for the greedy PCs.

Essentially everything but their conscience should say 'do it'.

 

[Ferret]

Paladinuel, cripple a man, helps his familiy, part of occult of demon, mages


He has a duel with a man, and cripples him for life, he goes to see his fammily, and his Detect evil finds some demons.

He's crippled a man for life and helped some demons...

 

[mythusmage]

LG Human Paladin/Fighter (he's gonna be the toughest)

Okay, what does the paladin want? What is his goal? What does he seek to achieve?

Help him achieve that goal. Let him do it without compromising his principles, his code of conduct. Let him "win".

He achieves his life's ambition, now comes the fun part. He now has to maintain things as he wishes them to be. Now is when you introduce the compromises. Now is when you present the temptation to do the expedient thing. Now is the time when you give him situations where he can rationalize his deeds.

You know, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." Or, "The ends justify the means."

And all in the name of the greatest good for the greatest number.

Have fun.

 

[Don21584]

The 'ol "Who's going to carry the great magic item" (and receive its benefits) could work. Or perhaps a minor magic item that anyone could carry and benefit from would work, like a Coin of Luck or such.

Or perhaps the Deck of Many Things could work. They could help out a kingdom, and as their reward, they get to pick ONE card from the Deck, and it would be disgraceful to turn down the reward. So the party gets to decide which member gets to choose for the group.

Maybe a "friendly contest" of some kind where in the rules it says you win by "any means necessary."

Perhaps a one hand 7 card poker game for a reward, and in which, one player gets 3 of a kind, and another player gets a pair of the same kind.

Eh, you probably won't like these ideas but that's the best I can think of at the moment, heh.