D&D 5E Some clever ideas wanted for a twist my players threw at me

[Wik]

So, we just finished up the old 2e Dungeon Mag adventure "keep for sale". In it, the Players found a magical pool that was "haunted" by the spirit of a dead bard named Reginald. Reginald, in my 5e conversion, is a 7th level bard who can cast spells from his magic pool, but little else.

The adventure as originally written has a lot of info on moving reginald, and how the bard would like to be put in a town square or something, if the PCs don't retain ownership of the keep they just liberated. When the PCs spoke to Reginald, he floated this possibility.

Now, as a sidenote, one of the players is running an Arcane Trickster who JUST hit 3rd level. Her goal is to have a mechanical ferret that she keeps running with a variation on the Find Familiar spell. This player is my girlfriend, and I can tell you that she's been excited about this mechanical ferret for, well, months of real time.

Anyways, the players realize that, if they do some spell research, that they could possibly move Reginald's soul into the body of the mechanical ferret, giving them access to a bard henchmen in a ferret form.

I'm just looking for ideas on this possibility. Obviously, the "Ferret Reginald" will not be a 7th level bard (in a 3rd level party) - he'll lose power as "part of the conversion". But I'm hoping some people will give me some curve balls I could throw at the PCs as the hope to research a "Magic Jar/Magic Ferret" spell.

 

[Unwise]

You could go the steampunk route. The mechanical ferret is powered by a magical substance, that substance happens to be the water from Reginalds pool. It has the power and soul-residue in it enough to allow the ferret some basic intellect, about what you would expect for a familiar. The power supply only lasts so long, so you have to refresh the water powering it every so often. As the used water is poured back into Reginald pond, he gains the memories of the part of him that was in the ferret.

As time progesses and the character gets better at refining it. In time, Reginald maintains more of his consciousness in the water that pumps through the ferret. He uses it to explore the world and see life outside of his pool. He is happy with the arrangement, as long as you come back and pour the water back into his pond, that is how he gains the memories of that time in the ferret.

I would say that even when fully powered up, it is impossible to cast spells in a mechanical ferret body, he simply does not have the essence/mana to do so. He does however start gaining/retaining more and more of his lore skills, so he will chitter and chirp at ancient writings and read books that others can't understand.

This lets you A) Keep Reginald as recurring character and B) Give the PCs a reason to come back to a certain homebase now and then C) Have an NPC that can feed people lore they would not otherwise have access to.

 

[Mistwell]

I'll think on it, but wanted to say I love this idea. Very cool.

 

[Wik]

SNIP

This is exactly the sort of idea I was hoping for. Love stuff like this, and it could be a perfect fit. Gives the players what they want, without exactly giving what they want.

 

[PnPgamer]

This is exactly the sort of idea I was hoping for. Love stuff like this, and it could be a perfect fit. Gives the players what they want, without exactly giving what they want.

Never give them what they say they want, but give them what they dont know they want.

 

[Unwise]

Never give them what they say they want, but give them what they dont know they want.

I normally think the same, but it has bitten me a lot of time now. I at least tend to give them a way to make it into what they originally wanted. Players have spent a lot of time visualizing and thinking about certain items and traits and tend to have a set image of what they want. I have in the past, given PCs cool items and opportunities that have just not fit with their vision of their character. Like giving a PC an axe only to find out that they had been picturing their character as more of a fencer. Making a PC a favored one of a god, only to find that they really didn't want a religious character at all and didn't even like having gods in a campaign.

In this instance, I would suggest against anything that modifies the image that the player has of the mechanical ferret, it sounds like she has spent a long time thinking about it. As to what must be done to reach that point, what powers it or what mechanical benefits/drawbacks it has, that is another thing. As long as the imagery remains intact.

 

[KarinsDad]

With regard to spells, it could be that Reginald "gets tired" being transferred.

At level 3, Reginald is a level one Bard. Only a portion of Reginald is within the ferret. As the PCs level, they can somehow go back to the pool and gain more and more of him. Alternatively, all of Reginald is within the ferret, but due to the PCs being low level, the ritual they use to transfer him is a bit faulty. As they level up, they can use Arcana in an attempt to fix it.

As the PCs level, so does Reginald (maybe 2 PC levels for 1 Reginald level). He maxes out at his original level 7. This makes him equivalent to say a powerful Bard Staff eventually.


Another idea: After a long rest, Reginald is fine. After casting all of his spells, he might become "sleepy" and it takes an Arcana check or something to wake him up. This means that using all of his spells means that the party cannot use the mechanical ferret as a familiar until Reginald is awake. So, it becomes a resource decision to use his spells.

 

[trentonjoe]

Another idea: After a long rest, Reginald is fine. After casting all of his spells, he might become "sleepy" and it takes an Arcana check or something to wake him up. This means that using all of his spells means that the party cannot use the mechanical ferret as a familiar until Reginald is awake. So, it becomes a resource decision to use his spells.

I like that idea but the all or nothing mechanic would be easily manipulated by my players. I would suggest an endurance (con) check (or Arcana or whatever) after each spell cast. Start it at 10 but then add one for every spell level cast. Make the checks after every combat or after every noncombat spell.

 

[trentonjoe]

Never give them what they say they want, but give them what they dont know they want.

Just don't be wrong. I love when I play with DM's who think of something totally awesome for my character and don't really like when DM's make a big deal how they designed a magic item "just for me" and have it be something I don't really want or like.

 

[transtemporal]

If it was me, I'd want the party to do some kind of task to undo whatever it was that bound the bard's spirit to the pool in the first place. Either the bard couldn't move on in death because of something that happened at the pool (that he might well have suppressed). Or, if you want to go a lighter route, the bard pissed off a megapowerful caster who bound his living soul to the pool as punishment/retribution/comedy. Transference of souls is powerful magic to mess with though. Who knows what might happen if you unravelled it...

Once they'd done the task and cast the ritual, I'd just let the familiar retain the bards intellect, personality and ability to speak. Wouldn't be game breaking if you gave it a cantrip either.