Good Saturday Morning! I hope everyone is doing well and is not working too hard this Saturday morning! I had some questions about two characters I am DMing in a game and I would love everyones advice on the matter, including a campaign session.
As a disclaimer, my group is JUST starting off building characters and our first session is in a month, so you might have to dumb it down for me!
Firstly, one of my players wanted to play a ghost, specifically something along the lines of a Danny Phantom (yay if you remember that show!) I have two questions, one revolving his backstory and the other about what powers you would recommend he could take?
1. We already worked out his backstory to be able to get him to being a ghost. We know for sure we wanted him to have an 'earthly item' that was not easily destroyed so he could have a presence on the planet. In addition, we had the idea that the way he is able to have ghost powers in any way was because he was a knight, follower, or emissary of an Egyptian god. I believe it was Nepethys (sp?) In addition to the thing that would kill him if destroyed, we also figured that his Egyptian god would want something in return, so hes thinking of one thing he could never get back until hes truly dead. Regardless, we both had an idea but were not sure if this would work or not.
A. We thought, to add some freshness to his character and such, because hes a 'ghost' the only way for him to use those ghost powers would be to possess a dead body. Obvious advantages and disadvantages (no same identity, but not healing for example), but would that be something that is doable? I havent found anything otherwise. In addition, we figured that he could possess a living host but it would be for a finite amount of time, say 6 hours or something. The second idea was he can become a 'ghost' with those type of powers but someone has to 'babysit' his body. The final idea was something along the lines of 'Xehanort' final boss from Kingdom Hearts, where his powers manifest as a 'shadow' and he can use both at the same time, with the shadow connected allowing him to use 'ghost powers' while the other is him 'disattaching' and being a true ghost but again someone would have to babysit his body. Any thoughts or recommendations?
B. What powers would you recommend for him
2. For my character, I am running a mermaid. I pretty much have her figured out about how I would wish to play her, stats, and her curse (water turns her into a mermaid). I had two question however.
A. For her, I figured that water turns her into a mermaid, like a significant splash or like a full body. I had a secondary idea though as well and I wasnt sure if that is doable. In the theme of mermaid, I figured she would want water, whether it be craving it or has to go swimming. Should I incorporate that as a hunger for her, in that in the early stages, she has to drink more water than usual but, if she ignores it for a long enough time, say a week, she craves going into a pool to be her mermaid self? Is that too much drama to add? How would the DM handle that mechanically?
B. Im having some trouble getting some motivation for my mermaid. For example, as a mermaid, I have some of powers including Aquatic, Inhuman Speed (fins only), and Incite Emotion: Lust. But, as a human, I feel she wont be contributing as much as I would like. Do you have any recommendations on something reasonable obviously that a mermaid could do as a human that would benefit the group? I initially thought I wanted her to be a research heavy or 'item' creating character, but the former looks to be taken by another character and the later would require being a wizard (i think.) I would want her to do something interesting that does contribute.
C. Finally, for a mermaid, what would you recommend for weapons? I figured in her human and mermaid form, there should be something that, when she transforms, doesnt weigh her down. So obviously, something like a firearm or a sword would be bad. I had initially knives, taser, and pepper spray. Any ideas? Same as a mermaid? Do mermaids have a natural defense I am not thinking of?
3. FINALLY! I had an idea that I would love everyones recommendatoin on. So far, I am planning out a session for my players. I have their first 5 done, but I need some help in forming the 6th one. In this sixth one, from the DM side, Mab is gonig to visit them due to the heightened supernatural activity, including involving a fae (one of my players character is a Fae.) To 'test' them (for story elements later revealed) I was going to have them play a game of Munchkin. So, my idea was in the first two turns, have it run normally, but then, by turn 3 or 4, stuff starts to happen. For example, the first thing to happen was a labrynth was going to appear and spearate them out. Another was the sqaures they are in turn into random effects, ala pool of water, smokescreen, etc. Another was a minotaur would appear. But, I wanted to make it more interesting as well as, if a player outright wins, they 'keep' whatever items they gained, or if they made it to the end and beat the final boss, they would get an item of power. But, i wanted to make it more interesing, as in for the fae to say that whoever comes in last dies, players who die in the game die in real life, or players who dont win keep a curse or something to make them want to work together, such as not using Wandering Monster cards, etc. How would you add to something like this and, in a larger retrospect, how would you incorporate elements to outwit the fae, as in nobody dies, for example?
Thank you all so much this will help with anything you think is great!
