[DF] Infernal Venom

[b-dog]

When this venom is injected by the teeth or claws of one of Satan's minions then evil thoughts fill the mind of the afflicted. The afflicted feels the affects of 1d6 damage per minute unless he commits malicious lies, theft, or harm to others nearby. He will also shun bright light and holy items as well. The only cure is to have an exorcism or to have successful Remove Curse cast upon him. The afflicted must make a Will roll based around n the amount of damage that was initially injected in order to seek help from a cleric and even then he will take damage as he undergoes the ritual cleansing. Often the afflicted must be held down and subdued in order to perform a cleansing ritual.

[Walrus]

A bit too strong for using against PCs. May be used against McGuffin NPC, though, if the adventure allows either bringing Cleric with you or assumes hasteful delivery to some temple.

To nerf it for PCs, I'd suggest resisting damage with highest of HT and Will (it's possible to increase penalty each X minutes), maybe damage is cosmic (unhealing, bypass immunity) toxic 3-MoS, and define necessary behaviour more clearly. I mean, is 1-point scracth to helpful buddy enough? What about painful Wrestling lock?

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by Walrus

A bit too strong for using against PCs. May be used against McGuffin NPC, though, if the adventure allows either bringing Cleric with you or assumes hasteful delivery to some temple.

I agree. I always hated those things in That Other Game which did a change alignment on you. I created my character's personality and didn't want to play him as evil. I left at least one campaign because of it. If I want to corrupt a character I do it much more subtly.

On the other hand, there was Murph. He loved it as long as it changed his character into chaotic/evil. On the other hand, his alignment rarely bothered him, he'd play even a good paladin as chaotic evil.

[Varyon]

1d6 damage per minute is going to result in a person who's a complete monster for at most an hour then promptly dies. He's going to run out of victims rather quickly if he's being vile that frequently. Change it to once per day, or perhaps have it give the PC certain "evil" Disadvantages that, rather than (or in addition to) allowing a 3d roll determine if they have to indulge, set it so that they take damage any time they have the opportunity to but don't indulge (that is, anytime they'd normally have to roll against the SC number, opting to not indulge causes damage).

[b-dog]

Evil must be chosen in my gameworld. So the PC must choose to be evil or take damage. It is not the result of a failed Will roll that the PC does evil because the PC is in complete control of his evil deeds. He could choose to be good and sicken and die if he wanted.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by b-dog

Evil must be chosen in my gameworld. So the PC must choose to be evil or take damage. It is not the result of a failed Will roll that the PC does evil because the PC is in complete control of his evil deeds. He could choose to be good and sicken and die if he wanted.

The problem is that the "sicken and die" part is nearly instant, unless the PC is lucky enough to be around a cleric who has all the materials necessary for a ritual cleansing/exorcism. With average damage, 1d6 per minute is going to take at most half an hour to kill an HP 18 character (assuming the character manages to make all his HT rolls to avoid death), and most of that time is going to be spent at 1/3 Move and/or unconscious. If he isn't already rather close to a cleric, he probably isn't going to find one before he expires.

If you don't want the venom to dictate actions in any way other than causing damage when the character isn't evil (why then does it require a Will roll to be able to see a priest?), I think the best bet is going to be to have them take damage anytime they have a good opportunity to be evil (something that would normally trigger an SC roll for those with "evil" Disadvantages) and opt not to be. I think this will do what you want a lot better than what you currently have, unless what you want is something that's inconsequential if you have a cleric around, fatal (but possibly preceded by a bit of being evil) if you don't.

EDIT: And, you could even tailor the Disadvantage to the demon inflicting it. You can work with the classic Seven (Bad Temper for Wrath, Bully for Envy, Gluttony for Gluttony, Laziness for Sloth, something like Megalomania for Pride, Greedy for Greed, and Lecherous for Lust) or have some extras.

[Libertine]

I say cycle it by the hour, than alternate between dmg, fatigue, and ultimately, every third hour, an "evil" psychological flaw, than a supernatural feature. This could be a cascading cyclical and onset effect.

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by b-dog

Evil must be chosen in my gameworld. So the PC must choose to be evil or take damage. It is not the result of a failed Will roll that the PC does evil because the PC is in complete control of his evil deeds. He could choose to be good and sicken and die if he wanted.

If you want evil to truly be chosen, then don't do tactics like this. This is "become evil or die" as opposed to a true choice, such as "enter freely and of your own free will."

[Pagan]

Originally Posted by DangerousThing

If you want evil to truly be chosen, then don't do tactics like this. This is "become evil or die" as opposed to a true choice, such as "enter freely and of your own free will."

Support This.

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by Pagan

Support This.

OK. I'm mainly using horror stories for my background now.

In a good traditional modern day horror story the protagonists do *something* to invite the evil in. It might be that they decide to stay at a haunted house overnight, or film a former sanitarium, or in play accidentally summon a demon. In older stories the summoning of the evil could have been done by their ancestors.

One lesson I learned as a writer is that a good story can be had of a good man slowly turning to evil, while in the background an evil man slowly chooses good.

Since b-dog keeps trying to use monotheistic examples, and from their tone I assume that his world has a very Christian worldview, I'll go there too. There is a very strong motif of having to invite evil in. This stems from the whole concept of free will. Without being able to make a free and unhindered choice to be evil, we really can't choose to follow good. From the first temptation with the apple, evil has come in the form of temptation.

In some games that use this mythology, the higher the demon, the more subtle the temptation.

One meme that comes out of this is that great evil cannot face great good. Evil is always weaker because it's evil. There are many religeous, mythological, and real reasons for this.

Frankly I would never let any party come close to one of the great demons, just as I'd never let them meet Cthulhu. That's just my style. For one thing, meeting them makes them seem smaller in the eyes of the players. It would take somebody with much more skill than I have to have them meet a great demon and truly have them feeling great fear and coming away (if they survived) with great fear and thankfulness that they have their souls and lives.

I think that games that actually give stats to the truly great of any pantheon are mistaken.

Oh well, that's my argument.