The Dungeon Masters' Foundation

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

Soudns good Mordmorgan, great ideas coming from all sides. I have ot admit that's a creative story line you've got there. how long did it take for you to think up that one?

The storyline is still being worked on, but what I've got so far took a total of about 3 hours (That cut scene was impromptu, though).

I find that it really helps to watch movies, or at the very least listen to thier soundtracks, while I write. I find that 13th Warrior, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstien, The Last Samurai, Dark City, and any movie with Hannibal in it work best. I purposely avoid the LOTR movies because they don't help my creativity any (for some reason).

I could never do that. I get too board as a PC. I need to scheme constantly or my head starts to hurt.

I might encourage our DM to come here if he feels I would be above metagaming...(though I hate ruining surprises for myself)

Now that I'd like to see. You could always encourage him to use the [sblock] for spoiler stuff.

 

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

I'm trying to figure out the perfect class for Leyla. I found a (5 level) PrC in the Ravenloft book Champions of Darkness called Master of Curses. This definitely fits with how I see her (all except the 5th level ability which allows her to take a curse of another upon herself).

One of the PrC's requirements includes having been previously cursed, or having cursed someone and later regretted it. I was pondering that first part, and I thought this might be a good twist: As a child she was unusually cruel to a young man who was quite taken with her. The man could not take her rejection, and killed himself that night. His mother cursed Leyla with a burning and desperate passion for a man with whom her love would never fully blossom or be accepted by her tribe.

This curse may be part of the reason she's so possessive of the warlock, and the source of cursing power. It'd definitely be part of her undoing. What if the curse is broken when the Warlock truely does come to love her? Maybe she finds that she no longer has any feelings for him, but pretends to, just to destroy him. (I see her as very arrogant, and I think she'd feel low and dirty for having been intimate with a giorgio [non-gypsy]. It might be a strong enough feeling for her to destroy him in an attempt to restore her "honor")

Anyhow, I'm thinking of making her a cleric (with no god) to qualify for the PrC. I'd like to give her the Knowledge domain (because she's one of her tribe's great seers), and she gets the Curse domain upon taking the 1st level of the PrC. Does anyone have any suggestions as to another good domain to take?

EDIT: This is what I'm thinking of so far:

PHB: Trickery
PGtF: Fate -or- Time

Of these, I think Fate might work best, but Trickery is very tempting.

 

[Dyne]

I'm not very familiar with the Ravenloft Setting, so I don't know what the requirements would be. But, Cleric sounds very fitting for her.

You might give her the Evil domain, depending on how evil you want her to be. And I think there's a Darkness domain in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.

EDIT: You might be able to use that 5th level ability. For example:

Leyla was cursed with a burning passion for the Warlock, and she feels very possessive about him until the time that the curse is broken. During that time, she might actually be nice toward the Warlock, and possibly get him to like her. When the curse is broken, she no longer has feelings for him. The Warlock is kinda disappointed at such a drastic change of heart. Leyla become dark, and the Warlock distances himself from her. The Warlock may try to foil Leyla from time to time, and her foil him. Eventually, the come to really dislike one another.

Later, however, Leyla comes to admire the Warlock for his amazing abilities. Eventually, a fatal curse is bestowed on Warlock. Seeing him in such pain, Leyla pities him. She comes to realize how dark she has become, and takes the curse upon herself, dying from the curse and leaving the Warlock with a sense of loss for the conflict between the two of them, and that she destroyed herself for his sake when she had no reason to do so. Such might make the Warlock feel guilty.

Of course, I'm making pretty big assumptions about the Warlock. I have no idea what the Player is like, or how he would play the Warlock, so you would have to seriously adjust my ideas if you wanted to use them in the campaign. Just a thought, thouh.

 

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

I'm not very familiar with the Ravenloft Setting

All you need to know about Ravenloft is that it's a horror setting. It's a lot like the worlds created/described by Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Lovecraft, et al. We're specifically playing in an area that resembles the standard D&D game in regards to Technology, but magic is much more sinister and occult. Common people fear the night, and would not venture outside after dark to save thier own children from hungry wolves. It's a very dark setting, not unlike the World of Darkness (from White Wolf).

You might give her the Evil domain, depending on how evil you want her to be. And I think there's a Darkness domain in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.

I was thinking of doing that, but I don't see her casting many spells, even evil ones. I kinda see taking the Evil Domain as a cleric's devotion to Evil itself, and I think she's to selfish to worship anything but herself. Darkness might be a good fit, so I'll have to take another look at that.

I thought I saw a Greed Domain somewhere (maybe the Draconomicon), but I can't find it now :\ . I'm trying to write up her sheet now, and I think I've ruled out Trickery. It fits really well with her, but I don't think it's a perfect fit yet. I don't think she'd actually use any of the spells on the Domain list, so I think it's kinda a waste.

EDIT: I think I've settled on Rogue 1/Cleric 6/Master of Curses 1. I wish I could give her a few more rogue levels (instead of Cleric levels), but the Will save req. for the MoC is +5, so no luck.

 

[Nightcloak]

She could start out with the trickery domain but later it changes to darkness or evil as she becomes corrupt. By the time she becomes the BBEG later you may have a use for those evil spells, but not now while she is with the warlock.

If I may, what sources do you permit for your campaign? Don't wanna offer rule machanics you aren't playing with.

 

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

She could start out with the trickery domain but later it changes to darkness or evil as she becomes corrupt. By the time she becomes the BBEG later you may have a use for those evil spells, but not now while she is with the warlock.

I'm not sure I like the idea of changin domains. I think the PCs need to have some idea of what she's capable of (and I need to be able to keep her abilities straight in my own head) to effectively combat her later. I want them to feel like they're fighting the young vistani girl they knew when they started thier careers. (I think it'd be cool for her to appear as her 15-year-old self in the final battle, no matter how old she is).

If I may, what sources do you permit for your campaign? Don't wanna offer rule machanics you aren't playing with.

For the PCs I allow any Ravenloft material, and official WotC stuff on a Case-by-Case basis. For the villains, anything goes. I own most of the Ravenloft and WotC stuff, but little 3rd party stuff.

 

[Nightcloak]

I'm not sure I like the idea of changin domains. I think the PCs need to have some idea of what she's capable of (and I need to be able to keep her abilities straight in my own head) to effectively combat her later.

Got ya. Just throwing curve balls to get the creative juices flowing. Would the retribution domain fit her well with her vengeful side?

I want them to feel like they're fighting the young vistani girl they knew when they started thier careers. (I think it'd be cool for her to appear as her 15-year-old self in the final battle, no matter how old she is).

That will be creepy. Will she stay 15 throughout the story arc or is she showing up for the final battle that way?

For the PCs I allow any Ravenloft material, and official WotC stuff on a Case-by-Case basis. For the villains, anything goes. I own most of the Ravenloft and WotC stuff, but little 3rd party stuff.

Crude. I'm the opposite these days. Lots of third party fun on the shelf lately but not as much WotC material and no Ravenloft 3E material (tons of 2E Ravenloft though – those books are great).

It seems cleric is your best bet. I’m not sure the sorcerer or wizard has the right “feel” based on your description of Leyla.

 

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

Got ya. Just throwing curve balls to get the creative juices flowing. Would the retribution domain fit her well with her vengeful side?

I'm thinking of giving her one of the feats in Champions of Darkness which allows her to take another domain. I think Retribution would be good for her later on, but I don't think she's truely going to come into that side of her personality until later.

That will be creepy. Will she stay 15 throughout the story arc or is she showing up for the final battle that way?

Well, she's a member of the Manusa tasque, specifically Zarovan, so technically, I could actually have her 15 year old self face the PCs in the finnale, but I think I'm just going to use illusions or something to get her there.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I'd like to join. I'm a pretty new DM, and have never really gotten a chance to play. "Credentials:" A straight-PHB homebrew campaign over one winter and a bit of summer; 1st to 10th level, 4 PCs and my DMPC (I kept him quiet to let the others shine). A 1st to 8th level Iron Kingdoms campaign, sped up near the end, with some of Monte Cook's Chaositech. A few levels in Eberron. Multiple 1-2 level dead ends in AU. A AU-rules homebrew from 1st-4th level that's stalled right now.

I'm still not a very good DM; I tend to lose interest and have trouble keeping games going. I really hope to get a chance to play sometime soon.

 

[Mordmorgan the Mad]

I'm still not a very good DM; I tend to lose interest and have trouble keeping games going. I really hope to get a chance to play sometime soon.

That doesn't make you a bad DM. I have the hardest time keeping games going, and I lose interest fairly quickly too. Course, that's usually because I think of something that'd be soooo much better, and then I want to do that.

The best advice I have for that is to keep looking for a campaign setting/game/whatever that will hold your interests. For me, that's Ravenloft. I DM Forgotten Realms every once in a while, and I've thought about doing Eberron for a while, but Ravenloft is the only setting that really captures my interests for any period of time.