Petrified Player Characters and how to Cure them
Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 2:03 pm
Yes, the subject sounds like another JK Rowling film, and no I wouldn't complain if it actually was one.
On top of hitting up the Troll Lords' booth at Garycon for lots of awesome books that have not been found on my local comic shop's shelves, I also picked up the Monster Alphabet from Goodman Games, and have been having fun creating unique monsters for my homegame using that fun little book. Perhaps I got a little ambitious, in that I rolled out a flock of Fey Helmuth-raptors on them, which were dinosaur-headed, worm-bodied, horrors that flitted through the air on no less than 3 sets of dragonfly wings, packed a nasty bite, and even had a petrifying gaze attack from their insect-like compound eyes, which were constantly flashing in hypnotic red patterns and throwing off what I described as red sparks as they assaulted the party. 3 of the 4 players were slowed by the gaze attacks (1st failed save), and one was petrified (2nd failed save).
This is the 1st brush with 'character death' in my homegame, or at least the closest I've bother to bring them to the real deal. Half my players are noobs and this is their 1st time playing an RPG that doesn't involve a Nintendo in their lives, so I've been pretty gracious. My adventure style is definately 'high adventure' and I do tend to balance my encounters pretty heavily in my players' favor. So a petrified bard in the party has lead to much upset and trepidation by the players. Yes, its probably my own fault for not have already killing them like a good old school DM by now anyway, and the party is now carrying with them a petrified halfling (at least it wasn't a hulking half-orc, right?) and I'm thinking a side quest is in order to save their companion.
I've given a cursory glance through the PHB spells and googled "de-petrification", which pulled up a few spells from AD&D rules that would do the trick, along with some recommendations of chiselling and some other jokes. It looks like the most appropriate spell from C&C would be Dispell Magic, which no-one in the party can cast. I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with de-petrifying characters without access to this spell, and also without access to a nearby town rife with high-level clerics to hire to do the job. In my campaign, the PC's have just stepped through a planar gate into Fairyland-- which I'll probably be borrowing heavily from Skottie Young's "I Hate Fairyland" comic to describe to the players (should be fun). But in the meantime, they'll have no contacts in this strange realm, and I'd like to throw a few sessions at them where they need to quest for either the right components to end the petrification or to win the favor of a magic user to cast the spell for them. I'm always interested in the input from other, more experienced CK's as well as any zany ideas anyone here may have.
On top of hitting up the Troll Lords' booth at Garycon for lots of awesome books that have not been found on my local comic shop's shelves, I also picked up the Monster Alphabet from Goodman Games, and have been having fun creating unique monsters for my homegame using that fun little book. Perhaps I got a little ambitious, in that I rolled out a flock of Fey Helmuth-raptors on them, which were dinosaur-headed, worm-bodied, horrors that flitted through the air on no less than 3 sets of dragonfly wings, packed a nasty bite, and even had a petrifying gaze attack from their insect-like compound eyes, which were constantly flashing in hypnotic red patterns and throwing off what I described as red sparks as they assaulted the party. 3 of the 4 players were slowed by the gaze attacks (1st failed save), and one was petrified (2nd failed save).
This is the 1st brush with 'character death' in my homegame, or at least the closest I've bother to bring them to the real deal. Half my players are noobs and this is their 1st time playing an RPG that doesn't involve a Nintendo in their lives, so I've been pretty gracious. My adventure style is definately 'high adventure' and I do tend to balance my encounters pretty heavily in my players' favor. So a petrified bard in the party has lead to much upset and trepidation by the players. Yes, its probably my own fault for not have already killing them like a good old school DM by now anyway, and the party is now carrying with them a petrified halfling (at least it wasn't a hulking half-orc, right?) and I'm thinking a side quest is in order to save their companion.
I've given a cursory glance through the PHB spells and googled "de-petrification", which pulled up a few spells from AD&D rules that would do the trick, along with some recommendations of chiselling and some other jokes. It looks like the most appropriate spell from C&C would be Dispell Magic, which no-one in the party can cast. I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with de-petrifying characters without access to this spell, and also without access to a nearby town rife with high-level clerics to hire to do the job. In my campaign, the PC's have just stepped through a planar gate into Fairyland-- which I'll probably be borrowing heavily from Skottie Young's "I Hate Fairyland" comic to describe to the players (should be fun). But in the meantime, they'll have no contacts in this strange realm, and I'd like to throw a few sessions at them where they need to quest for either the right components to end the petrification or to win the favor of a magic user to cast the spell for them. I'm always interested in the input from other, more experienced CK's as well as any zany ideas anyone here may have.
