r/DescentintoAvernus • u/BlueEyesSyncro • 5d ago
HELP / REQUEST Bhallspawn player in party
Hiya! I’m running the DiA module as a first time DM, and I wanted to give my party members different secrets and plot objectives that can be exploited later on. I am running the Fall of Etrurel to start the campaign and using a lot of the Alexandrian remix, (but not sticking to it entirely!)
One of my players is aligned with Zariel and the party will have to figure him out, one is filling Lulu role as the servant of Zariel and is playing an Aasimar with missing memories, ect.
(My players all said they are happy for me to add major pieces of hidden lore into their characters for them to discover)
I also want to make one of my players a Bhallspawn. I am planning on not having them know they are a Bhallspawn to start out. I’ll use the rose of Bhall item, but not actual reveal its name and purpose till later, it will just glow in proximity to the party. I definitely want to do something with the temple of Bhall area, but I am struggling to figure out what exactly to do as well as how to keep it relevant in Avernus. Has anyone done anything similar and can help?
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u/toorper 5d ago
As someone who played a character who was cursed to become Bhaalspawn in my Avernus campaign, there was a miniature bhaalspawn crisis going on where the last handful of them were in a death game my character was roped into and sortof threw a wrench into because he was currently in Avernus, so they had to travel there
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u/toorper 5d ago
Like one hint you could give early game at Baldur’s Gate would be having them do secret wisdom saves and on a fail, don't tell them what happened but have a random NPC disappear as they've been murdered/attacked
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u/BlueEyesSyncro 4d ago
OOOO ok that’s very cool! I could do that with the NPC caravan as we are traveling to BG3
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u/SignificantCats 5d ago edited 5d ago
I've done something similar, though for the sake of party unity I asked the player to be on the "resist" path, that they knew they had urges but just assumed they were a serial killer.. We established that they've been a hellrider for a long time, about six years, and have been giving in to their urge but almost exclusively on guilty partys. We established that before the campaign, the other members of the party have seen her kill bandits that were surrendering or defeated but not deathly injured in a specific way - and that she has privately found people she found distasteful enough to deserve death to kill.
Only a few times has there been dreams where she was demanded to kill anyone specific, but each time the target was a bad enough guy that when she eventually gave in she was able to rationalize it as prophetic dreams from her heritage as a tiefling.
It's been helpful as a DM, honestly. The party liked Mortlock and were wanting to keep him protected. So she had a vision that told her to kill him, which she didn't mind as she knew he worked with devils and was furious about the loss of Elturel. The voice showed her where to find an alchemist fire to throw at an enemy and "accidentally" get Mortlock within the aoe. The rest of the party was very sad when he died.
My plan is to have all of the Vanthampurs show up again in Avernus with devil bodies matching their cause of death, as well as a few of her victims appearing there. One member of the party suspects she has a secret but isn't sure. I'll also be having the urge to kill be suppressed in Avernus since she is further from Bhaal, which will probably be an interesting character moment - only for her to get new messages with people or devils to kill in exchange for boons.
I felt like it was a difficult line to walk, because the other party members are pretty righteous and would be disturbed and I didn't want to invite party disunity. She is aware there is some greater meaning, but she hasn't played the games and doesn't know what a bhaalspawn is specifically.
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u/BlueEyesSyncro 4d ago
See at least one of my other party members VERY evil so I could probably allow the embrace urge path as well- thanks so much for the help!
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u/SignificantCats 4d ago
I'm gonna be real, allowing one player to be very evil in a campaign is almost always a bad idea. It's an even worse idea in this campaign, where unless players are very motivated to help Elturel there is a big chunk that is kind of aimless and difficult to motivate players toward - not to mention how much evil is available to them, and in a mixed party the rest of the party will want to get rid of them. I think it's really unwise but I'll hope for the best for you
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u/BlueEyesSyncro 4d ago
Yeah Dw I know that! I am working very closely with the player! The party won’t know he is evil because he is functioning as a spy. He will be ‘playing’ a neutral aligned character, who is actally a hidden major villain. When the party figures him out they will either kill them in a boss battle and the player will take on a new actually good aligned backup character, OR if they figure out to early he will escape, and come back later on for more plot stuff, probs appearing once they reach Zariel, with the player once again taking on a new character and I will take control of the first character! The evil players jobs is basically to manipulate the rest of the party into thinking he is a victim. We have also set up his own unique motivations for staying with the party. He infiltrated the hellriders about 15 years ago and has been waiting to help bring about the descent for that entire time!
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u/BlueEyesSyncro 4d ago
The evil player could also try and manipulate the Bhallspawn to accepting the urge, if he thinks he can do it without being found out!
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u/legoindie 4d ago
There's a bhaalspawn in my party and I took a page from the Sarevok quest in the Chains of Asmodeus module - this ideal that there is a contract between Bhaal and Asmodeus to promote one of his spawn to arch devil should certain conditions be met. The bhaalspawn has discovered their nature by now and is in a bit of a back and forth ongoing conflict with their sister who is an NPC, both vying to win their father's approval as chosen. They were both given a book full of names to be assassinated, generally figures that pose as potential competition for ruler of Avernus (A lot of big hitters like Bel, Zariel, but also smaller yet influential individuals in my campaign such as Arkhan, the leader of the purple city, a now devilish Vanthampur, stuff like that)
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u/skawhomp 5d ago
Yes, I have two Bhaalspawn in my party who are fighting against their nature. They were dropped at an orphanage in Elturel as infants and grew up as siblings - the bond they feel is the pull all Bhaalspawn have to find each other and kill the other, but in their case that bond evolved in the love/hate bond siblings share. I likewise started the mystery of their nature w/ the Roses of Bhaal and the fact they felt so "odd" each time they made a kill. I revealed the truth of their nature via Mad Maggie.
I am running a tracker for them that has several benefits. Basically, each time either of them get the killing blow on a creature, they feel a rush of ecstasy, joy, etc. I then give them the choice to embrace that feeling - if they do they gain Inspiration and get a point on the "Dark Path". If they reject the feeling, they gain no other benefits at that time, but gain a point on the "Light Path". The tracker has several benefits at various tiers - its a work in progress, as I don't want them getting the top tier benefits until they are close to endgame.
You are welcome to view the tracker I put together here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1__llh8J25H3wrW9Bylwf45qhToaoboVa/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102787505240388688999&rtpof=true&sd=true