Wizard Eyeball Transplant

[Hunter]

I have been running a 3 E game in the World of Greyhawk converting over the Village of Hommlet. One of my players wanted to play a wizard hailing from the Caliphate of
Ekbir. No problem. He insisted on completely concealing his features with a great cowl.

‘None can see my face, for it is hidden in the shadows of my cowl. I never reveal my face. No one knows what I really look like..’-lol! (at first level)

Anyway he played his character (all dressed in black desert dervish robes) most dramatically, scaring the beejesus out of the Village inhabitants but not intentionally. Just dramatically playing his character. I got into playing the inhabitants shocked and a little scared every time he encountered them or walked into an establishment. I would let him know that they were scared but it didn’t seem to register on the player. He always would say something like-‘No, no its alright I’m here to help you crush the evil of the moathouse’ or something like that.

Anyway I decided to go with it (the player was doing really good and having a great time) so I made a reason for his strange shadowy concealment.
What his master had done was to surgically transplant some type of creature’s eyes into his fledgling pupil. This gives him nightvision and maybe able to see invisible creatures.
His master is an arch-mage and his ulterior motive is to use the eyes to see through as a kind of camera or scrying device or maybe a conduit to his scrying device (like to a crystal ball). Maybe so when he looks he can see things closer (through the wizard’s eyes) than he could if he used his crystal ball. I don’t know. He has another motive and use for his disciple that comes up later in the game.

The real reason is to give the character an excuse for his dramatic concealment of his face. I asked the player first if he thought that would be cool for his character and he was all for it.
Since then things have worked out great and he has grown more experienced and powerful. Now he is 7th level (8th with his quasit familiar). He is not evil. His eyes have been put on the backburner up to now and I thought that it would be cool to add more to this.

I was looking for suggestions as to what type race/creature’s eyeballs I could put in his head. Also any suggestions for new kinds of abilities/powers/feats that I might be able to add to this power (Possibly through the connection with his arch-mage) would be most helpful.


~Hunter

 

[jgbrowning]

Now he is 7th level (8th with his quasit familiar). He is not evil.


~Hunter

He will be soon. Having a demon as your familiar is pretty much a constant evil act.

Unless it's the one quasit that has a soul, like Angel, from buffy....

joe b.

 

[Dirigible]

Well, the obvious comes to mind:

Beholder (many choices), gorgon, cateopleplasploobyploobplob.

Have a look for walkthroughs/guides to the CRPG Planescape:Torment. The protagonist in that game had the ability to implant new eyes that gave him powers; they come with backgrounds, too!.

In Thief 2: The Metal Age, the main character could throw a metal sphere that would act as a remote camera, transfering images to his 'cybernetic' eye.

 

[Hunter]

Yes,YES beholder eyes hmmmmm…why it was so obvious I overlooked it!!!!!!
Bwahaahaaha..ha. heh heh….heh.

I think I will make his eyes on stalks as well like Fritz Lieber’s Fahfrd and Grey Mouser’s wizard Ninguable of the Many Eyes.

That way as he gains new abilities with the eyes they will sort of come to life at certain moments rising out of his skull to look around-(say when he is looking through at something interesting like a newfound tome of spells in some dungeon).
This of course is his master remote controlling the eyes for a better picture so to speak.
I do want the player to eventually control his eyes so I will take control of his eye balls only very rarely.

Thank you, ‘The Complete Guide to Beholders’ is a must for my campaign setting now!!!!

To Jgbrowning’s comment on the quasit, yes the player is slowly being turned to evil ways by his nasty familiar. There such bastards those little demons!!!
Another ‘gift’ granted to him by his master.
Its all part of a long range plotline of corruption/redemption for the player. Corrupted by evil only to rise up from this to finally redeem himself. The how and why I do not know. Yet.
When the game starts to take a life of its own, things seem to fall into place.
From fun and kooky Buffy type first level role playing to a reason for his shadowed cowl to now mid-level where the game is quite serious –(as the player now wields real power).

When playing this game I strangely thought of Paul Newman’s character in The Verdict.
Totally two different situations mind you, but still the fall down then the rise up theme.
Instead of alcohol my player will fall into the addiction of evil magical ability.
I did not know how until recently.
Deciding to give the player more freedom of choice I made up three dungeons completely randomly. I even used the old DMs guide of random dungeon generation(only to roll for the level difficulty of each adventure). Then I made up each adventure based on the random level of difficulty. I rolled two mid-level (dungeons) adventures and one high level one.
One was undead Desert Dervishes (ghouls) complete with character classes raiding unsuspecting nomads and living in a sand buried underground crypt. To add more to the plot of this adventure the lead ghoul was once a disciple of the arch-mage and the players rival.
The other adventure concerned a map to a gem mine found by the player when he found a man dead in his room (hung himself). He had had a drink with the player earlier showing signs of great sorrow on how he lost his mine everything to a fierce tribe of Bugbears located North of the Caliphate of Ekbir.
The High level adventure is the classic dwarves looking for wizard or priest to go on expedition to uncover some lost prospecting tunnels of an old relation. This old dwarf was in turn looking for a long lost city of the dwarves-(through archaeological digging)
What he found first was an ancient human city that apparently built next to the old dwarven mountain city. Inadvertantly the old dwarf had uncovered a lost and fabled city of wicked humans called Leng-(Leng from H.P. Lovecraft).
The player knew from his Lore skill that Leng was said to have been ruled by a powerful Wizard. Incredibly powerful he was said to have survived the Invoked Devastation and flee to the Yatil Mountains, to establish the horrifying City of Leng. Fables tell of his vile deeds and his great artifacts he possessed. One such artifact was a staff, a staff of the Magi!!!!!

Well I should have known before I created all three adventures that the player would go for the staff of the Magi. This put me in a challenging position. I was effectively painting myself into a corner. There was no way at his current level that he could face the being creature that was guardinig the staff at the lowest level of that dungeon.
What I needed was something that would enable him to increase his power dramatically as well as not give him another magic item to get (effectively) an artifact!!!
Friends I gave him many powerful friends but still around his level of power. Still looking at the stats it was not enough. I was thinking of giving him the opportunity of finding powerful scrolls or even a new magic item I was coining a philosopher’s stone of my creation. Something to give him the ability to face or thwart (through magical burglary) what dwelt below….

Like divine providence my solution came in the form of another gaming supplement:
Blight Magic. Another Mystic Eye Games product.
It not only helps the spellcaster increase his power dramatically and quickly, it corrupts the individual as well. Which fits perfectly into my plotline!!!!!
Not only that but now I think I have a reason as to why the arch-mage created those eyes in my player.
The arch-mage wishes to study Blight Magic without incurring the corruptive influence that goes along with reading such magical tomes.
Thus he first creates the eyes then begins to slowly corrupt his disciple (through a Quasit) until he reaches the lost city of Leng to where he will find the tomes of Blight Magic.
By slowly corrupting him the arch-mage makes the player susceptible to the addiction of power the Blight Magic has to offer. In turn allowing the arch mage the ability to read the magic without incurring the corruptive influences gained through the side effects of Blight Magic.
How I am going to eventually get the player out of this and return to normal I do not know. Yet.
My new question however is this:

Would the arch-mage be susceptible to a curse or corruptive influence if say he read the magical tome through his disciples camera-like eyes???

~Hunter

 

[Hunter]

Thanks again Dirigible for the advice
Strange as it sounds I never thought of Beholder eyes or Ningauble for ideas for this player.
I was thinking, Couatl, Ki-Rin, Iron Golem eyes when you posted that suggestion.
I guess its because I was to close to the plotline as well as the fact that Beholders are some of my favorite monsters.
I try to keep my favorites out of game until I come to a really juicy plot/story line in the campaign. Usually when the party gets more experienced and the campaign escalates.

With your suggestion however this really opens up the possibilities of a Beholder monster/ally storyline in my game.
I am thinking along the lines of the player gaining the ability to communcate through flashing his eyes and moving his stalks in a primitive sign-like language indigenous to Beholders. I know they know languages and speak of course but they might also have a private language only their race can speak: like a thieves cant.
Something that is intregal to their race and cannot be mimicked except through the eyes.

Although the player only has two eyes so maybe it would be like the Beholders are talking to one of their own albeit a mental retard.
They of course would know he is human or humanoid but the added acquisition of beholder eyes and the communication may cause them to pause and communicate with this oddity.
Whatever, just thinking aloud.
I'll be able to know more once I get The Complete Guide to Beholders.

By the way you wouldn’t happen to go by another user name on this site:
Say by the name of Black Dirge? Hm? Curious.

Also don’t think for a minute that I am handing my players the Staff of the Magi and requiste treasure. By balancing the stats and adding magical tomes that will ‘possibly’ enable the player to win the day I have far from given it to him. The tomes will be placed inside the dungeon for him to find if he is ingenious.
Also given the extra power he is still not sure of victory.
Against Tiamat he has a small fighting chance at best. He could very well be fried/crushed/eaten.
His allies as well I gave him are at best neutral to him. A 10th level Troglodyte Chieftain, (with body guards) two 12th half-orc fighters with one 16th level evil fighter who once knew and fought alongside one of the fighter players as mercenaries years ago, one NPC Timitrious Spartakos (updated to 3e from old Greyhawk adventures) with Efreeti Bottle, and 5 assasin/priests of Ekbir that follow a scorpion god similar to the serpent cult in the first Conan Movie.

They supply a lot of conflict in the party especially with the troop of dwarves coming along as well.

Its all the player can do to placate both sides to continue with the mission
They can betray and destroy the player characters at any given time in the adventure. And the way I play NPCs they will make an attempt. Sooner or latrer.
One player (a fighter dragonslayer) has already lost his right eye fighting Abishai. They have at the moment charmed a Red Abishai that is leading them down the dungeon below.
Anyway thanks again!

~H