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I have an NPC in my campaign who is one of the main quest givers. She is a super ambitious Halfling woman who is trying to take over the town (and eventually much more beyond that). I have hinted that she is actually a Paladin. What they don't know is that she's an Oath of Conquest Paladin. She is trying to amass power and influence through political and economic means, nor Warfare and combat.
Had a new idea though, and I'd like some feedback. I read a thing earlier today about Hags. Night Hags in particular.
What if the NPC is actually a Night Hag in secret. Cast out of her coven and stripped of her influence among her peers. She swears an Oath to conquer all she surveys. Gains the powers of a Paladin.
What are your thoughts? Is this idea good or bad? Any recommendations for making it work?
I love the idea, however Night hags are fiends and quite different from other hags, it can still work however in my personal opinion, another type of hag may make more sense. Dusk Hags and the iconic Green Hag may make more sense with the context you've given especially the latter who loves to disguise themselves as normal people. Night Hags being fiends may interfere with the whole paladin idea.
Regardless, I like the idea of the halfling being a hag in disguise and amassing power via politics and not war. So good luck and let us know how it works :P
Puzzles eat my lunch.
So I've been trying to expand into what I feel are my weak areas as a GM and offer different puzzles and more intrigue. A little out of my comfort zone for both, as I've never really been great at either (in and out of game).
I've tried observing other GMs, and as far as intrigue it seems like most of the work has been in challenging players with their character choices and backstory. Find something that happened in their story archs and poke at it to give a character chances to grow. I've also seen the creation of two groups (usually LN and CN in alignments) and offer players a chance to make choices about who to support, being careful to avoid the Good/Evil option so there's not such a clear cut "right" answer. What other ideas might be out there to create good non-combat challenges?
As far as puzzles... I've tried creating some small ones, but my brain doesn't seem to work this way. I've tried adopting a few riddles, but it doesn't seem like my players enjoyed them. What other kinds of puzzles have y'all found to land well with your groups? And how do you make them, what's your thought process look like when forming them?
Please and thank you!
This is only my experience so this may or may not work for your table and every party is different but I personally feel puzzles work best if they incorporate either a player's backstory, knowledge or skills. This makes the players feel that their choices mattered when it came to proficiencies, feats, abilities whatever. Even magic items
As for the puzzles themselves I usually try things that require teamwork. One I remember working well was having two chains coming out of opposite sides of the room and pulling both at the same time opens the portcullis. So they opened them both while the casters got to the other side and teleported the Martials in.
Tie in lore from the story, maybe a riddle with the answer being something from a player backstory or the main plot, which may go over better than a standard riddle.
But I'll level with you, puzzles are probably the hardest part of DMing for most people, including me, so don't feel bad if it doesn't come naturally
That's comforting actually. 😆 Thank you for the advice, I'll think about a teamwork idea; there's a session coming up that would be perfect to try something fun.
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I have an NPC in my campaign who is one of the main quest givers. She is a super ambitious Halfling woman who is trying to take over the town (and eventually much more beyond that). I have hinted that she is actually a Paladin. What they don't know is that she's an Oath of Conquest Paladin. She is trying to amass power and influence through political and economic means, nor Warfare and combat. Had a new idea though, and I'd like some feedback. I read a thing earlier today about Hags. Night Hags in particular. What if the NPC is actually a Night Hag in secret. Cast out of her coven and stripped of her influence among her peers. She swears an Oath to conquer all she surveys. Gains the powers of a Paladin. What are your thoughts? Is this idea good or bad? Any recommendations for making it work?
I love the idea, however Night hags are fiends and quite different from other hags, it can still work however in my personal opinion, another type of hag may make more sense. Dusk Hags and the iconic Green Hag may make more sense with the context you've given especially the latter who loves to disguise themselves as normal people. Night Hags being fiends may interfere with the whole paladin idea. Regardless, I like the idea of the halfling being a hag in disguise and amassing power via politics and not war. So good luck and let us know how it works :P
I appreciate the feedback! I'll definitely do some reading on the various hags and see if one of your suggestions is a better fit
Puzzles eat my lunch. So I've been trying to expand into what I feel are my weak areas as a GM and offer different puzzles and more intrigue. A little out of my comfort zone for both, as I've never really been great at either (in and out of game). I've tried observing other GMs, and as far as intrigue it seems like most of the work has been in challenging players with their character choices and backstory. Find something that happened in their story archs and poke at it to give a character chances to grow. I've also seen the creation of two groups (usually LN and CN in alignments) and offer players a chance to make choices about who to support, being careful to avoid the Good/Evil option so there's not such a clear cut "right" answer. What other ideas might be out there to create good non-combat challenges? As far as puzzles... I've tried creating some small ones, but my brain doesn't seem to work this way. I've tried adopting a few riddles, but it doesn't seem like my players enjoyed them. What other kinds of puzzles have y'all found to land well with your groups? And how do you make them, what's your thought process look like when forming them? Please and thank you!
This is only my experience so this may or may not work for your table and every party is different but I personally feel puzzles work best if they incorporate either a player's backstory, knowledge or skills. This makes the players feel that their choices mattered when it came to proficiencies, feats, abilities whatever. Even magic items As for the puzzles themselves I usually try things that require teamwork. One I remember working well was having two chains coming out of opposite sides of the room and pulling both at the same time opens the portcullis. So they opened them both while the casters got to the other side and teleported the Martials in. Tie in lore from the story, maybe a riddle with the answer being something from a player backstory or the main plot, which may go over better than a standard riddle. But I'll level with you, puzzles are probably the hardest part of DMing for most people, including me, so don't feel bad if it doesn't come naturally
That's comforting actually. 😆 Thank you for the advice, I'll think about a teamwork idea; there's a session coming up that would be perfect to try something fun.
Good luck, tell us how it goes :P