"Radiation accidents" - major alterations to existing PCs

[Psion]

For those not aware of the terminology, a "radiation accident" is a term HERO/Champions used to describe a radical alteration to a character justified by some major in game event.

A player left his PC at home yesterday and wrote up a new character. A bit of perspective here -- in past conversations with him, he's has expressed a history/tolerance of GM kibitzing in characters (to the tune of "wouldn't it be cool if a character was secretly an amnesiac polymorhed dragon.")

It's almost part of the 3e philosophy to discharge making character definition the duty of the player. But the character he made last night clearly is experiencing a gap between rules support and concept. He made a half-dragon wizard -- level adjustment and all. He said the concept was that his father was trying to create some synergy between the magic of elves and dragons that would be more powerful.

I realized from the outset that this is not the most potent combination. But it didn't occur to me at that point that a much better fit for this concept would be the dragon-legacy template from Quintessential Sorcerer.

Then it occurred to me that, given his attitude towards tolerance of GM kibitzing, perhaps I could retrofit this change into the game... the proverbial Champions style radiation accident.

Okay, I can consider this, but the sort of GM that I am, I would want to orchestrate this event in a way that seems logical and not arbitrary. I am thinking an FF VII style journey of discovery.

Any ideas of how I could pull this off in a satisfying manner? Or more general thoughts on techniques and pitfalls in GM morphing of PCs?

 

[Turanil]

During the course of adventures he more and more gets clues, dreams, visions, or what not, of someone very much like him "who waits for the time when he will be unleashed on the world..." So the character must be nervous about this.

But then, unknown to the player, when his character was a baby, his wizard father took some of his cells and began a long cloning experiment. Then, at one point, if the player character dies, he will be immediately awake reincarnated into that new body which actually use the new character class(es).

 

[Psion]

But then, unknown to the player, when his character was a baby, his wizard father took some of his cells and began a long cloning experiment. Then, at one point, if the player character dies, he will be immediately awake reincarnated into that new body which actually use the new character class(es).

Hey, that's actually sort of cool. Danke.

 

[Kunimatyu]

If the player's cool with it, these 'modifications' can be really awesome. In an Eberron game I'm running, several players have the modification thing going. It also helps when players decide they like the amnesia thing as a background.....heh heh.

One character (an aasimar cleric) is actually a normal human with a celestial identity 'grafted' on via summoning. The player thinks that they're actually an aasimar from Syrania, when in reality they're a human cleric of the Flame who sacrificed their identity to bring a champion of good into the world. After the first year, the character surprised me and used his powers to absorb the soul of a well-intentioned but misguided couatl that was attempting to become part of the Silver Flame. So now, they're human + aasimar, with a couatl soul inside as well. I'm going to need the character to take over spellcasting for the entire party, so the couatl trick allows me to explain why the character can cast both arcane and divine spells.

Another character, a slightly crazy artificer, also underwent 'modifications'...sort of. Turns out he was working on the project in Cyre that ended up creating the Mournland, making him responsible for the deaths of thousands of his countrymen. A rakshasa, one of the principal campaign villains, curses him, drawing on the power of all the souls he's murdered. Later in the campaign, he dies, only to slowly regenerate in the slums of Sharn, looking considerably less...alive. Oops. The lich transformation, which was a combination of racial 'lich' levels and a reworking of his artificer levels into warlock levels, was part player wish(he wanted to lose the artificer levels and gain warlock levels instead) and part me-taking-advantage of a player wish.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I have to admit that that sort of tinkering would drive me batty as both a player and as a DM.

I realize that this is a personal thing, and if both you and your player are okay with it then go for it, just make sure that he really is okay with the changes. (Though I think that you are both crazy... )

Part of the problem is that I had a GM who was into tinkering with people's PCs without their permission. Some of the players were okay with that, but it made me quit the game, it is my PC dammit!

The Auld Grump

 

[Kunimatyu]

You're quite right. In every case, the PC tinkering was the result of me and the player sitting down and talking about how they saw their PC, what direction they wanted go to with them, etc. The aasimar player wanted to be from Syriania(eberron's "heaven"/plane of air) from the start, and the couatl-soul thing was completely driven by him, the lich player wanted the warlock change and a 'darker' feel to his character; I just tried to find ways to make these player-driven changes an integral part of the plotline. Also, in general, when a player goes with the amnesia storyline, I take that as a "do something cool/horrible with my character in the story".

 

[kigmatzomat]

IMC a player wanted to take Dragon Disciple and I agreed but with some caveats. There would be no changes to the DD rules but there would be in-game consequences and events to justify this previously unknown mixed heritage.

The player experienced a series of dreams from the vantage point of his draconic great^X grandsire, including the birth of the half-breed ancestor and his grandsire enchanting the child to mask the draconic heritage from the dragonslayers. His use of magic is progressively breaking down the protective enchantments.

Of course he now has to worry about the social details of draconic society: fail to declare your lineage & get eaten; belong to a competing lineage and get eaten; claim to be of a lineage without being formally accepted so you get eaten by your own great^x grandsire, etc, etc.

Ask me to ret-con your character, will you.....