Suggestions for a party with a 10-year-old Ghandi

[Psionicist]

Sounds almost exactly like my character, a 15-16 year old human (Gur, subrace in Forgotten Realms) bard. Same feats (Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, Vow of Non-Violence and Vow of Peace) and same general "Gandhi" feel. Diplomacy instead of combat, ideals of the purest good.

A blast to play!

However, be careful. A character like this can potentially ruin the whole party. Don't let this character disrupt the other players/characters, if the other players want to fight, let them fight. I don't think new players appreciate in game discussions, moral questions etc. in game as more experienced players. On the other hand, the experienced player probably want as much attention as the others...

Let the experienced player solve about 1/4th of the encounters with diplomacy or he might get upset because his thought out character is worse than a general figher (for some reason, it's okay to slay enemies because we are used to it, other means should also be possible).

 

[Viehl]

...and his church already has a homepage.

http://fanclub.megatherion.com/

 

[Pielorinho]

I would be very careful with this character concept.

One of the biggest conceits of gaming is that all these characters just happen to get along. If the game worked plausibly, very often the PCs would split up at the first opportunity, based on their wildly different philosophies. In real life, there's a reason why Mahatma Gandhi and Douglas MacArthur didn't adventure together .

In gaming, everyone more-or-less agrees to overlook their differences and fudge on the fact that they shouldn't be working together. But the flip side of that is that nobody should do anything to really uset the boat. If the party might contain a paladin, you probably ought not play Hannibel Lecter.

This character sounds to me like it might disrupt that balance.

With an experienced group, I'd allow the character with the proviso that people don't need to fudge the getting-along aspect: if people want to dump the golden child, well, the player of the GC knew that might happen, and that's the price of a risky character. But with a new group, I wouldn't rely on the other players having the confidence to dump the disruptive PC. They might tolerate it because they kinda think they HAVE to tolerate it, that the game requires them to.

That said, it's an interesting concept. If you allow it, I'd strongly recommend that you remove the supernatural guilt-trip powers: that's just an unfun mechanism that allows one player to control the actions of another player. And I'd also be very careful about how much of a god avatar he is: avatars tend to be the spotlight of a game, and that could end up really putting off the newbie players.

In fact, if I were you, I'd tell the player that the character concept was fine, but that he could expect you to tweak it without his knowledge if he really wanted to play it. And the tweak I'd use is that the character isn't the avatar of the God: he only thinks he is. That way, he can lead through example, but he won't dominate the game and decrease everyone else's fun.

Daniel

 

[Umbran]

Hm. I don't know exactly what the various feats do, but it seems an interesting enough concept.

The question will come up - as an avatar of a god, does this character have to be "aggressively" pacifist? Does he not only have to eschew violence himself, but also attempt to keep others from being violent? If all that matters to him is his own conduct, it should not be too much of an issue.

 

[rvaughn_ffg]

A "let's get along" option

I would be very careful with this character concept.

One of the biggest conceits of gaming is that all these characters just happen to get along. If the game worked plausibly, very often the PCs would split up at the first opportunity, based on their wildly different philosophies.

Seems to me that the Boy would be in the minority, the one that the other party members would not want to adventure with. So all you need to do is give the party a reason for wanting to have him around, despite the potential drawbacks, and give him a reason for NEEDING to be around them, which would limit his ability to preach to them, be "annoying", bring up the philosophical stuff more than others, etc.

The first thing that comes to mind is that the Boy's church could want him to experience violence and evil so he can judge for himself on what is right and wrong. As such, they sponsor the adventuring party (give them healing when necessary, maybe minor magic items, or just plain give them work and jobs and adventure leads), on the condition that they bring along the boy and let him experience the world along with them.

The boy, meanwhile, knows that the PCs could drop him at any time they wished, which would disappoint his church elders; they might even refuse to sponsor another party, so this would be his "one shot." So he'd keep any desires to control the party or limit their activities to a minimum.

This allows for both groups to want to remain near each other, plausibly. The party could still ditch the boy (not kill him or anything extreme like that, just go their separate ways), but it would be at a cost of losing their sponsor and some nice bennies; the boy could alienate the party with his preaching, but it would be at the cost of losing potential friends, allies, and protectors, and the chance to adventure out in the world.

Good luck, sounds fun.

 

[Pielorinho]

Rob, that's a brilliant suggestion, IMO; it gives them reasons to be together without making the boy the central focus of the campaign.

As a fun little touch, what if the boy is the younger sibling of another PC? That could lead to some wacky fun roleplaying, as the Divine Messiah gets big-brother noogies.

Daniel

 

[Stormborn]

Check our Christopher Moore's "Lamb" for dealing with a similar character in adventuring situations, as well as the origins of "Judo."

 

[RavenSinger]

Thanks folks,

Some great food for thought here. I appreciate your cautions, Daniel. But I think with Rob's idea of making the 'Golden Boy' and the rest of the party need each other, that is the way to go about it. It still makes the GB the center of attention, but less so. I am reminded of the short-lived Ars Magica campaign I participated in. In that, there were mages, companions, and grunts. Each worked at different power levels, and yet each class of character was vital.

I like the idea of the church hiring the party to watch over GB--like transport him from a small town to the main city. Then, if I set it up that the GB needs "guardians" to get around much of the city, that would be a hook to keep GB with the party. Like if there is a series of child-murders--no, murders of street kids, the clerics of Therion would be going crazy to find out what was going on. And thus our adventure starts. . . . hmmmm. . .

Thanks for all the good suggestions! Keep em' coming if you've got 'em.

--Brian

 

[jester47]

--sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

...and sometimes a gazeebo is just a gazeebo...


Aaron.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Funny. I noticed a complaint about Golden Child Syndrome... but all the child-characters I've seen in my games have been gleefully homicidal little mutant freaks.