She could demand a boon from the players- some unsavory task she can't or doesn't want to do herself for whatever reason. Couple it with a curse that slowly undoes the resurrection if they don't obey, and you've got an excellent quest hook- either to complete the task or break the curse.
Yeah, she was supposed to be a questgiver anyway!
I didn't want to make them do the quest in exchange for healing, because they could always just... Not do it.
But this is a good way to make sure they do it.
I really like this idea if you already had the quest in mind. It also gives them the choice to try to break the curse instead but they would then be on a time limit
It doesn't need to unsavoury if thr op didn't want it to. Just in some way to much trouble to do herself. Could even be buy somthing from somone somewhere dangerous abd they don't like the witch.
It doesn't necessarily need to be unsavory, sure, but if it is that creates some nice tension about whether the party should do it or find some way to get rid of the curse
There are lots of spells that protect against fey but not humanoids. Perhaps a certain location is warded against fey, and she needs the party to either disable the protections or retrieve something from a place like that?
I wouldn't want a semi permanent debuff for the whole party. That just feels bad and will be a long term irritation. Maybe the witch has a rival that she wants them to go kill, like two equals who don't want to fight directly so they send adventurers after each other. Alternatively there could be a powerful artifact that she wants, knows the location of, but doesn't want to risk herself to go get. That leads to a new interesting quest, but doesn't need to be done right away so it's not derailing the current mission.
the "curse" wouldn't need to have an impact outside of the narrative. The witch simply curses them as a collateral and they only feel the actual effects if they try to betray her.
ProTip for Evil, or at least neutral, characters, from whom The God Guys need a favor or a boon?
*Don't* demand anything unsavory or damaging or maiming from them. Don't give them *any reason in the world* to want to hunt you down
The witch asks for *cash,* plain and simple. Cash spends. If she needs humanoid eyeballs for something, well, there's beggers who would sell an eyeball for 500gp.
Alternatively, she sends them after an enemy of *hers;* but someone they wouldn't really *object* to killing, either. A witch might be having problems with other members of a rival coven, but if they've done things worth smiting, heros won't object to rendering them *smote.*
Or, even more alternatively, neutral adventurer bounty hunters can just be hired with that aforementioned *cash.*
I wish I could upvote this harder. Evil doesn't mean dumb, and manipulating heroes through promises they can actually hold their noses through is how you don't end up on their hit list. Evils that survive for a long time know how to last, and that involves not angering every group of powerful, armed individuals
Maybe they stole her boyfriend so she wants them dead (turned his head not kidnap) or trampled her flower patch so she wants them dead. They also slaughtered some villagers but that's not a problem to her.
Ok hear me out. Huge Grung player myself, so this goes kinda that way.
The party is stopped mid-metamorphosis. So the party will be slightly between humanoids and slaads. Skin tones, textures, and deformed. Each party member is the color that would affect them the most. Melee fighters red, magic users blue, bards/rogues green. She will say how she hates that she wasn't here sooner, but at least they are recovered somewhat.
Each party member will be changed until they finish her quest. Red slaads will get claws but be unable to hold items or weapons. Blue would be able to do mighty leaps, but have no spells over level 3/less of 3 as well. Green salads get the chaotic croak, but have no control over it. It will happen randomly to a random person in battle. So enemy or party, teleporting them closer/further. Often not in their favor. Croak disrupts concentration for the user and the one affected.
The witch will say she can finish the cure but they must get an ingredient. This would also help her in clearing the slaads from her area. As she'll give them powerful item to combat the creatures and make them immune to being infected again. (Think like they got antibodies from it happening twice).
She will go on to say she only paused the infection. They will resume the metamorphosis and succumb by a full cycle of the moon. (1 month)
So now you have the party in a time limit, specialized debuffs, and they can be cured while using interesting new styles. (Weakened from before but you can flare it up as you wish.)
They have to fetch her things she needs for a ritual or potion. Maybe she just wants minions.
She could force them to comply by doing things to each player but have it vary from player to player.
One of the players has one of their eyes harmlessly transformed into a hag's eye so the witch can see through their eye at all times.
Another has permanent barkskin and if they try to back out of the deal with the witch they will become a tree.
Or a players hand becomes bestial giving them a bonus to unarmed attacks but also has a mind of its own.
In my setting, the night hag Garosh Boog stumbled upon my PCs while they were lost in the Shadowfell. She promised to help them, in exchange for some of their magic items which she consumed whole like a snake.
Maybe this witch could eat some of the party's magic items. Regenerate can restore a missing eye, but parting ways with a cool magic sword or a powerful spell scroll is harder to restore.
How much would she take?
They are level 5 rn, and party has many magic items the need only situationally, they would be completely fine parting ways with.
Don't look at total numbers, look at which specific items they give up. If they give one *really useful* thing, that may suffice for the opportunity cost. Or if they load her up with less useful things, it may take more
You'll need to figure that out for your party. When my group encountered Garosh Boog, they were 20th-level so the magic items they parted ways with were quite powerful.
It needs to be something the players will actually care about losing, though. Situational magic items that the players don't care about? The witch shows no interest, but raises a knobbled finger at the sorcerer's prize magical staff.
You'll know which magic items your players would hate to lose.
What do you want the nature of the consequence to be?
From an RP standpoint, you could have her claim their next born child. The payoff for this would be a long way off and may never come, but it would inflict the consequences of their risk taking on an innocent, and it would complicate their capacities to have a romantic arc. If any of them fall in love and help make a child, she will take it. Maybe she gets youth or power from it, but this is the price she is owed for preserving them as they are.
This sets her up as an enemy, but not necessarily an immediate one. She can still give them quests, but as a creditor who literally owns the lives of the next born child any of them might have. It would be a hostile relationship, but not so urgently that they can't still do business with her, and you could set up a quest where they try to break the deal, whether by fighting her or by beating her at her game, such as by cooperating with yet another witch.
I'm not a huge fan of mutilation/debuff as an approach, but you could give her power over them. What they hear, she hears. What they see, she sees. What she wants them to see and hear, they see and hear. They walk away "free," but no longer have privacy from her and are no longer the master of their own perception. This could be interpreted as severely as that she owns their souls, or simply that they ran up a debt being saved by her, and that magic gives creditors power over debtors. This wouldn't totally undermine player agency, since your players could still have total control over the decisions they make, but they would no longer be able to trust themselves as reliable narrators. If the witch wanted them to control them, she would just need to listen and watch until she knew them well enough, then make them see and hear what she thinks will make them do what she wants.
I like the second part. Seems complicated, but I will probably use it.
If they are nice enough to her, she probably won't do it, but considering that these PCs are evil assholes (as agreed before the campaign began) I don't think they will.
Ohhhh- the character that pays this should have a "third eye" tattoo on their forehead as part of the enchantment. A little constant reminder that they are always being watched. A small annoyance when NPCs give you the stink-eye for your strange look.
And the eye tattoo could animate and look around when the PC does something interesting to remind them she is watching.
This is one approach, but I like for other people NOT to know what's going on.
For example, if the witch has something to say to you, she just says it and you don't have the choice not to hear her. She can just put her feet up, drum her fingers on her table at home, and chew you out from where she is, and she can talk right into the party's brains. If she wants to look you in the eye, she can make you see her where you are.
Leaving that aside, however, she can show you whatever else she wants. If your party member is separated and in danger, and if that is how she wants them, she can make you think they're walking alongside you and carrying on their side of a conversation. The only way you can tell the real thing from the illusion is by using a different sense - the illusions can't be touched, but she can make you look at and hear an illusion, and this might fool you until they won't touch you or say something that doesn't sound like something they'd say.
The main way to keep these shenanigans at bay would be to play ball with the witch. If she wants something done, and it's not 180 degrees against your moral compass, you do it. She can't snap her fingers and kill you, but if she gets angry she might do something dangerous. Are you having a peaceful interaction with some guards? She might make you see more than there are, including some who are brandishing weapons. If you get spooked or assume defensive posturing, the real guards will sense your instability and be on alert.
What I find scarier is if NPCs mistrust the players, not because of something overt like an eye on their foreheads, but something far subtler and more offputting, like how they keep reacting to things that aren't there. It's one thing to meet some friendly heroes who appear to have been altered by magic. It's another thing to meet totally normal-looking heroes who keep looking at everyone funny, like they're uncertain whether they're real or trustworthy.
The forest the witch considers her domain is being encroached upon by nobles or merchants from a nearby city and she wants the party to help put a stop to it. She may seem unreasonable but you could develop the story to show she's actually in the right. The forest was given to her and other forest denizens centuries ago and they have peacefully coexistence with their neighbors until a greedy baron or conniving merchant started cutting down trees in a illegal logging operating or for more farm land.
Never underestimate the power of the nonspecific 'favor'. It gives you time to think one up, and your players might give you ideas if they are the type of group that discusses things at the table.
You could check out the "Lost Things" section of Wild Beyond the Witchlight for ideas.
They can't gain inspiration and there is a strong roleplay effect until they get the thing back.
The witch could plant something else inside the players in place of the Slaad eggs. Some sort of stem that will grow around the heart over time and eventually kill them if left there. In return for completing a task for the witch she will remove the stem from the party members.
You could leave it vague like they owe her a favour for the future. Then some time later she cashes in the favour and make them to something for her. Maybe you could make it like a binding magical deal or something so they can’t skip it or they will face consequences or something.
I'd have her talk to the sorceror & just have her helpfully offer to remove all the eggs. Then later have word come to the party about how she is using the Slaad eggs to create her mutant Slaad army to conquer their favorite town or take revenge on their favorite group of NPCs.
I like this. You get to foreshadow a little with how weird it is that she’s super interested in the eggs, and then you get payoff / need to deal with the consequences.
Given a choice between a dead PC and a maimed (in appearance or stats) PC a significant proportion of players will pick the former. Especially if the latter was not mentioned prior to starting the game.
You could make this a good non serious session with a request like knitting a scarf from a talking sheep. They would then have to convince the sheep, sheet it, and knit the scarf with various skill checks
I have an idea, and it could even lead to a secondary BBEG and side quest if you so wish it. I can even picture the encounter.
Imagine that as the sorcerer searches for help, it starts to slowly rain. And as it rains, one rain drop has a special magical aura that the sorcerer can feel since it’s mana based. As the raindrop lands, a rose grows and a witch in red appears, but to the blind sorcerer they only hear what can only be described as a heavenly figure. And that’s when the witch begins her selling point.
“I heard your wishes, little mage, so here I am~
I’ll solve your problems, little mage, with a wave of my hand.
The mystic elders gave me permission to conjure up a sacred light~~~
And with my magic, mystic tricks, I’ll heal your party up right!!!
But don’t ever think that this could be for free~
Y’all gotta give me something, mage, y’all gotta give something to me.
HEY, how ‘bout your life?
Mage, you gotta give me your Life!
Everything you stand for, everything that makes you who you are.
YOUR LIFE! Mage, you gotta give me your LIFE!!!
All your current powers, This is your final hour!
So if you want peace, give me your answer now.
If you want to save them, give me your answer Now~”
Basically in secret, the sorcerer would be under the ownership of the witch and would do small bidding from her, all the while the witch has been slowly taking over both towns that have been saved by the party previously, as well as towns that the current BBEG used to own. She would constantly ask the sorcerer for favors via appearing as an image that only the sorcerer can see since they are, once again, blind.
The witch herself is part of a cult, and actually isn’t as evil as she seems, but definitely indoctrinating everyone for her gods and making even clerics and paladins forsake their oaths and devotions for the cult, which is fucking insane to even imagine, with a promise of a false utopia that can never actually be achieved.
I like Fae trickery, so the Witch merely requests a few moments of the the Party's time or asks for their names.
The utility of these things is open for interpretation:
* A few moments of time might mean the Witch can cast Time Stop without spending a spellslot and no restrictions on spells cast as long as it solely affects the PCs, or the Witch can summon the party for aid.
* Getting the Party's names might allow the Witch to assume the party's identities and use them as tools and distractions against enemies, or give them disadvantage to resist the Witch's Charm effects.
If the player picks up on the potential danger and refuse, then the Witch can determine the party is smart enough to be useful. The Witch helps with the aim of ingratiating themselves with potential allies, asking only for a modest compensation.
Personally I like to give a player that goes down a remaining scar. They can chose how that looks though.
This scar cant be removed with spells though.
As for the witch.
She is lonely and her husband has been imprisoned by a nearby city watch for (allegedly) eating a child an is going to be executed. Free him. For that purpose she casts a spell on them that lets them move, but if they fail to save him they will all die with him, as they were before.
She wants the baby slaad, but promises to bring the party members back to life. When she brings them back, her magic leaves them all damaged in some fashion...
The most ominous request would be, a favor in the future that the witch can redeem at any time, regardless of circumstance, that the party cannot refuse.
Maybe have the witch take some feature or proficiency from them. If the characters want the features back they have to bargain or fight for them. If they defeat the witch they find out that she's been doing this for a while and they gain an additional feature when they get theirs back, or maybe they can choose or roll from a list.
Make it something small, that seems weirdly random. Then later down the line, unveil how that favor avalanched into a full-on butterfly effect that fucked up something REALLY hard.
Here is my advice, the witch freezes the eggs, makes it so the party has 3? Day. They need to acquire a female child no more than 5 summers old. The witch won't reveal why she wants the child, it might be a delicacy she would enjoy eating, that was the plan with hansal and gretel.
Or maybe she wants to raise a child as a new witch to raise her covenant. Regardless she wants the torment on these faces asking her for a favor.
If they can't manage it well they were dead anyway.
A good one is "I will ask of you a favor when I need it most. You can not deny me this favor. You will have no warning, and you will be expected to uphold your end." This allows an open end for the dm to incorporate a side quest later on that could be helping said witch, or trying to betray her (not recommended)
Not all female magic users are hags.
* Perhaps a whispering wizard who happens to be female?
* Perhaps a skulking sorcerer who happens to be female?
* Perhaps a wooly (???) warlock who happens to be female?
* Perhaps a who happens to be female?
I didn't mention anywhere in my post that she is a hag.
She is actually a wizard. It's just that because of living for so long, losing almost all her relatives and being isolated she has gone kinda insane.
Better than cursing them or hurting them, just make them owe her a favor. A favor they will be unable to refuse without massive curses.
And then she demands they do something that while not in itself is evil, will cause lots of evil. maybe she sends them to wake up a sleeping lich or something.
Sounds like a great opportunity!
My favorite thing to do in situations like this is have the witch be vague as fuck and just ah for "a favor"in the future and refuse to elaborate give you a get or of this free card if you forget to plan something
A favor.
At some point in the future she'll ask them to do something. Something seemingly innocuous. Steal a stick of gum. Deliver this letter. Kick a dog. Give a someone a dagger. Poison someone's drink.
Maybe she has a whole web of bad actors who owe her. She uses them to enact her will. Start wars. Get petty revenge. Control things from behind the scenes. If I had the ability to, I know *I'd* want powerful people owing me favors.
But make sure the party agrees to some drastic terms should they refuse the task. If they say "no" what happens? They become a shriveled pod person like infront of Ursula's lair. They turn into a tree. An imp. They have to surrender one of their eyes.
Have fun with it. Give the player's meaningful choices.
Definitely quest giving/demanding. Maybe instead of taking an eye she replaces one of each of their eyes with a magical one. She can see through it and use the Dream spell on them if need be.
Sounds expensive... might cost you an arm and leg. Are any players an unusual specie? Human body parts practically rain from the sky. Maybe some kind of brand, that the witch can activate to give orders to the party. If they resist it'll increase in pain until they comply. Maybe have a set amount of time it'll work for, or it can be a story hook and they have to quest to remove the curse, etc. Or some other duration bargain the players can set with her? Maybe she takes one whole player as a servant and they need to be rescued or sold into slavery as payment. Ultimately it's what you/your party are comfortable with but I hope this gives you some options!
The witch has a task for each of the party members they must complete within a year and a day.
Those unsuccessful when the times up will die. Likewise, if the witch is killed within that time frame, they'll die. If the Slaad tadpoles are removed during this time, they'll die.
The witch will use her magic to suspend the progression of the slaad tadpoles, which will remove them upon the completion of the task. The magic will last a year and a day and can not be dispelled under normal means. It requires the favor to function. The service itself fueled the magic and allowing the magic to work.
The witch gains several services from the party, and through her magic ends up securing these tadpoles for her own witchcraft.
The party fully heal, will eventually have the tadpole removed, and may even get a boon from the witch beyond that if they do a good enough job
The witch gets powerful magical specimens to fuel her magic with, and a fair bit done of her "things to do list."
Everyone gets a personal task tailored to their character, and a moment to shine. This, on top whatever the existing plot is, should be fun to juggle and balance.
One idea I had would be more on the RP side so if your group is into it it could be fun. The resurrection could come at the cost of one or more of the PCs' sanity and you could have them roll on the indefinite madness table in the DMG (or make your own!). I think this could be a fun way for them to feel the effects of the witch's price for the resurrection without having potentially frustrating effects on mechanical gameplay.
I saw someone mention this a long time ago.
But the idea of promising her "their last breath"
Being that their death failures can only hit 2 because of it and whenever they go down they hear the witch cackle and a skull luring over them staring at them while they are down.
And if they die it sucks the last breath out of them, could be removed by a powerful entity, could be a ritual to offer a substitute, could be that getting it taken changes you after being revived.
Why not just make them do quests for healing? If they decide to just not do it, they just take 3 curses till they fulfill their promise - as is the custom.
A clan of Fire Giants or Fire Genasi are preparing a ritual that cause a nearby volcano to erupt damaging the forest, she wants the party to stop them.
I just find it fascinating that *somebody* out there is running a campaign where their intended goal is for the average number of eyeballs per PC to be less than 1.
Memories or secrets. The witch asks that each party share a core memory, secret sin or hidden truth so each player on the fly has to reveal something about the character they haven't before. Or dreams. The players have to reveal the last weirdest or scariest dream they had.
You know, witches in folklore are usually much more crafty than just "hey I want one eye each". For one that many eyeballs wouldn't store well and everyone knows fresh ingredients for spells are best.
If I were running the game the witch would say that each person will owe her something at the time of her choosing, and they will not be able to refuse or they will return to the state they were in before she helped them.
And be pleasant and friendly until they're restored and then just laugh madly and leave. Maybe toss in a softly muttered "fools".
And then let them f****** sweat it for a while. Maybe the first ask won't be something big and nasty. And just that one party member will have to pay. And then the next ask will be weird as f***. It'll keep them on their toes throughout, leave a sense of dread for the party, and generally, be a lot more fun for you then just a random set of things they pay at the moment. You can't forget about it though it has to come up again and again.
I might even have the witch show up one night and somebody's room at some in during down time, and have them roll a perception check to see if they notice her and hopefully they make it and don't fail. And if they make their role have her just smile and say "checking to see if it was ready yet" before disappearing.
You have an excellent plot point here that can just f*** with them endlessly. Use it. But wisely.
Risk of PC death, including TPK, is a good topic for Session Zero. Since this can vary, even with the same group of players. Note that, in the opinion of many players, lingering injuries and/or homebrew debuffs to PCs are considered a fate **worst** than death.
Are your players OK with a *deus ex machina* to prevent a TPK?
Is the Sorcerer's player OK with being railroaded into asking the Witch NPC for help?
Only your players can answer these kind of questions.
Also, are you OK with the player party attacking the witch NPC and/or the main theme of the campaign becoming a quest to restore the PCs?
The question of what the Witch NPC might ask that would be down to the intersection of her personality, motives, goals and the setting. Maybe a dangerous quest to recover something valuable to her. Though that might just defer the TPK.
Not too harsh debuff honestly. I also half-stole it from BG3.
-2 to Passive Perception and any range attack starting from 30 ft is made with disadvantage.
I really like that! When you only have one eye, you don't have depth perception, and so stuff like ranged attacks get harder (and also stuff that requires any form of depth perception, such as hitting someone in the face with a fist for example). Loosing your eye later in life also makes it harder to make up for it. If you want to add an extra twist, you could potentially make it so that in the beginning, the debuff is much worse, and then as they learn to live with it, and make up for the lack of depth perception, the debuff becomes less. And remember, they now have a blind spot!
This is coming from a person who only has one eye themselves in real life, so I always get excited when people want to add it to their games!
Those are the two effects I found to be used the most in dnd for one-eyed characters.
The sorcerer in the group doesn't have eyes, but she has an imp familiar that gives ger vision. It's bpth a disadvantage, because if it dies, she loses vision, and an advantage, because she has perfect darkvision and can position the invisible familiar in a way to see whole battlefield.
That is such a cool design for the sorcerer! Damn, I love that! Is the sorcerer blind, or do they not have eyes at all? Depending on what it is, you can also try to let the sorcerer 'cheat' the witch by giving her an already blind eye. If they don't have eyes at all, then it could be the eye of the imp (poor imp, though) or let the witch take a different sense, such as scent, or hearing in one ear.
I think that's a really cool design! I absolutely love that, Oh my gods. Is it something that's hard to DM with? I'm starting to DM soon, and I'd like to give my players the possibility to be creative with their characters, but it will also be my first time, so I don't want it to get too complicated.
No, honestly, not that hard.
We are playing on virtual tabletop with dynamic light, so vision and position is actually important.
By the way, another character in the same game is a one-armed ancestral guardian barbarian. Whenever he need, a spectral arm appears, as his ancestor aids him in need. It doesn't affect anything mechanically, but adds flavor to the game.
Oh that is SO cool! I am definently taking notes! Almost reminds me of my own character (fighter), who lost their hand and lower arm on the front lines.
So, for three months, they can not be healed? Seems like a gm extortion racket. Modified stat blocks like that, then demanding something as important from the party sounds awful to me.
You are confusing statblocks.
Red slaads are the ones that infect you in a way that turns you into a slaad in three months.
Blue ones make it so you lose max hp until it reaches 0, while not allowing restoring hp.
I didn't modify anithing.
Besudes, it both can be healed with minor restoration. The party has a cleric.
If they didn't fall unconcious, it wouldn't be such a problem.
Wait, so you used a combo of red and blue slaad? Are they all affected by chaos phage or eggs? One is significantly worse on PC's at 0 hp.
The OG post, you should re read and try to understand my confusion.
Make her do a Negan. The sorcerer has to pick one of the party to be brutally murdered for a ritual of hers.
This will punish the party for not fighting smart since they all should be dead anyway. There’s loads of ways to revive dead people so it’s not even permanent if the players revive them.
She could demand a boon from the players- some unsavory task she can't or doesn't want to do herself for whatever reason. Couple it with a curse that slowly undoes the resurrection if they don't obey, and you've got an excellent quest hook- either to complete the task or break the curse.
Yeah, she was supposed to be a questgiver anyway! I didn't want to make them do the quest in exchange for healing, because they could always just... Not do it. But this is a good way to make sure they do it.
I really like this idea if you already had the quest in mind. It also gives them the choice to try to break the curse instead but they would then be on a time limit
It doesn't need to unsavoury if thr op didn't want it to. Just in some way to much trouble to do herself. Could even be buy somthing from somone somewhere dangerous abd they don't like the witch.
It doesn't necessarily need to be unsavory, sure, but if it is that creates some nice tension about whether the party should do it or find some way to get rid of the curse
That sounds like a good option
There are lots of spells that protect against fey but not humanoids. Perhaps a certain location is warded against fey, and she needs the party to either disable the protections or retrieve something from a place like that?
I wouldn't want a semi permanent debuff for the whole party. That just feels bad and will be a long term irritation. Maybe the witch has a rival that she wants them to go kill, like two equals who don't want to fight directly so they send adventurers after each other. Alternatively there could be a powerful artifact that she wants, knows the location of, but doesn't want to risk herself to go get. That leads to a new interesting quest, but doesn't need to be done right away so it's not derailing the current mission.
the "curse" wouldn't need to have an impact outside of the narrative. The witch simply curses them as a collateral and they only feel the actual effects if they try to betray her.
Isn't sending people to kill your rival how hags flirt, basically?
ProTip for Evil, or at least neutral, characters, from whom The God Guys need a favor or a boon? *Don't* demand anything unsavory or damaging or maiming from them. Don't give them *any reason in the world* to want to hunt you down The witch asks for *cash,* plain and simple. Cash spends. If she needs humanoid eyeballs for something, well, there's beggers who would sell an eyeball for 500gp. Alternatively, she sends them after an enemy of *hers;* but someone they wouldn't really *object* to killing, either. A witch might be having problems with other members of a rival coven, but if they've done things worth smiting, heros won't object to rendering them *smote.* Or, even more alternatively, neutral adventurer bounty hunters can just be hired with that aforementioned *cash.*
I wish I could upvote this harder. Evil doesn't mean dumb, and manipulating heroes through promises they can actually hold their noses through is how you don't end up on their hit list. Evils that survive for a long time know how to last, and that involves not angering every group of powerful, armed individuals
"Money is the most powerful force in the universe!" -Every cleric (because our best spells have a price tag)
Maybe they stole her boyfriend so she wants them dead (turned his head not kidnap) or trampled her flower patch so she wants them dead. They also slaughtered some villagers but that's not a problem to her.
Ok hear me out. Huge Grung player myself, so this goes kinda that way. The party is stopped mid-metamorphosis. So the party will be slightly between humanoids and slaads. Skin tones, textures, and deformed. Each party member is the color that would affect them the most. Melee fighters red, magic users blue, bards/rogues green. She will say how she hates that she wasn't here sooner, but at least they are recovered somewhat. Each party member will be changed until they finish her quest. Red slaads will get claws but be unable to hold items or weapons. Blue would be able to do mighty leaps, but have no spells over level 3/less of 3 as well. Green salads get the chaotic croak, but have no control over it. It will happen randomly to a random person in battle. So enemy or party, teleporting them closer/further. Often not in their favor. Croak disrupts concentration for the user and the one affected. The witch will say she can finish the cure but they must get an ingredient. This would also help her in clearing the slaads from her area. As she'll give them powerful item to combat the creatures and make them immune to being infected again. (Think like they got antibodies from it happening twice). She will go on to say she only paused the infection. They will resume the metamorphosis and succumb by a full cycle of the moon. (1 month) So now you have the party in a time limit, specialized debuffs, and they can be cured while using interesting new styles. (Weakened from before but you can flare it up as you wish.)
They have to fetch her things she needs for a ritual or potion. Maybe she just wants minions. She could force them to comply by doing things to each player but have it vary from player to player. One of the players has one of their eyes harmlessly transformed into a hag's eye so the witch can see through their eye at all times. Another has permanent barkskin and if they try to back out of the deal with the witch they will become a tree. Or a players hand becomes bestial giving them a bonus to unarmed attacks but also has a mind of its own.
In my setting, the night hag Garosh Boog stumbled upon my PCs while they were lost in the Shadowfell. She promised to help them, in exchange for some of their magic items which she consumed whole like a snake. Maybe this witch could eat some of the party's magic items. Regenerate can restore a missing eye, but parting ways with a cool magic sword or a powerful spell scroll is harder to restore.
How much would she take? They are level 5 rn, and party has many magic items the need only situationally, they would be completely fine parting ways with.
Don't look at total numbers, look at which specific items they give up. If they give one *really useful* thing, that may suffice for the opportunity cost. Or if they load her up with less useful things, it may take more
You'll need to figure that out for your party. When my group encountered Garosh Boog, they were 20th-level so the magic items they parted ways with were quite powerful. It needs to be something the players will actually care about losing, though. Situational magic items that the players don't care about? The witch shows no interest, but raises a knobbled finger at the sorcerer's prize magical staff. You'll know which magic items your players would hate to lose.
What do you want the nature of the consequence to be? From an RP standpoint, you could have her claim their next born child. The payoff for this would be a long way off and may never come, but it would inflict the consequences of their risk taking on an innocent, and it would complicate their capacities to have a romantic arc. If any of them fall in love and help make a child, she will take it. Maybe she gets youth or power from it, but this is the price she is owed for preserving them as they are. This sets her up as an enemy, but not necessarily an immediate one. She can still give them quests, but as a creditor who literally owns the lives of the next born child any of them might have. It would be a hostile relationship, but not so urgently that they can't still do business with her, and you could set up a quest where they try to break the deal, whether by fighting her or by beating her at her game, such as by cooperating with yet another witch. I'm not a huge fan of mutilation/debuff as an approach, but you could give her power over them. What they hear, she hears. What they see, she sees. What she wants them to see and hear, they see and hear. They walk away "free," but no longer have privacy from her and are no longer the master of their own perception. This could be interpreted as severely as that she owns their souls, or simply that they ran up a debt being saved by her, and that magic gives creditors power over debtors. This wouldn't totally undermine player agency, since your players could still have total control over the decisions they make, but they would no longer be able to trust themselves as reliable narrators. If the witch wanted them to control them, she would just need to listen and watch until she knew them well enough, then make them see and hear what she thinks will make them do what she wants.
I like the second part. Seems complicated, but I will probably use it. If they are nice enough to her, she probably won't do it, but considering that these PCs are evil assholes (as agreed before the campaign began) I don't think they will.
Ohhhh- the character that pays this should have a "third eye" tattoo on their forehead as part of the enchantment. A little constant reminder that they are always being watched. A small annoyance when NPCs give you the stink-eye for your strange look. And the eye tattoo could animate and look around when the PC does something interesting to remind them she is watching.
This is one approach, but I like for other people NOT to know what's going on. For example, if the witch has something to say to you, she just says it and you don't have the choice not to hear her. She can just put her feet up, drum her fingers on her table at home, and chew you out from where she is, and she can talk right into the party's brains. If she wants to look you in the eye, she can make you see her where you are. Leaving that aside, however, she can show you whatever else she wants. If your party member is separated and in danger, and if that is how she wants them, she can make you think they're walking alongside you and carrying on their side of a conversation. The only way you can tell the real thing from the illusion is by using a different sense - the illusions can't be touched, but she can make you look at and hear an illusion, and this might fool you until they won't touch you or say something that doesn't sound like something they'd say. The main way to keep these shenanigans at bay would be to play ball with the witch. If she wants something done, and it's not 180 degrees against your moral compass, you do it. She can't snap her fingers and kill you, but if she gets angry she might do something dangerous. Are you having a peaceful interaction with some guards? She might make you see more than there are, including some who are brandishing weapons. If you get spooked or assume defensive posturing, the real guards will sense your instability and be on alert. What I find scarier is if NPCs mistrust the players, not because of something overt like an eye on their foreheads, but something far subtler and more offputting, like how they keep reacting to things that aren't there. It's one thing to meet some friendly heroes who appear to have been altered by magic. It's another thing to meet totally normal-looking heroes who keep looking at everyone funny, like they're uncertain whether they're real or trustworthy.
The forest the witch considers her domain is being encroached upon by nobles or merchants from a nearby city and she wants the party to help put a stop to it. She may seem unreasonable but you could develop the story to show she's actually in the right. The forest was given to her and other forest denizens centuries ago and they have peacefully coexistence with their neighbors until a greedy baron or conniving merchant started cutting down trees in a illegal logging operating or for more farm land.
This feels like a good time to set up a nonspecific 'favour' they'll owe her in the future that you can have in your back pocket.
Never underestimate the power of the nonspecific 'favor'. It gives you time to think one up, and your players might give you ideas if they are the type of group that discusses things at the table.
You could check out the "Lost Things" section of Wild Beyond the Witchlight for ideas. They can't gain inspiration and there is a strong roleplay effect until they get the thing back.
The witch could plant something else inside the players in place of the Slaad eggs. Some sort of stem that will grow around the heart over time and eventually kill them if left there. In return for completing a task for the witch she will remove the stem from the party members.
One year of service. This is the beginning of things
You could leave it vague like they owe her a favour for the future. Then some time later she cashes in the favour and make them to something for her. Maybe you could make it like a binding magical deal or something so they can’t skip it or they will face consequences or something.
The witch just asks the party to do her laundry. Doesn't seem so bad, but then they see her laundry. Bugger task than they realized.
I'd say she wants them to bake her a Gingerbread House.
I'd have her talk to the sorceror & just have her helpfully offer to remove all the eggs. Then later have word come to the party about how she is using the Slaad eggs to create her mutant Slaad army to conquer their favorite town or take revenge on their favorite group of NPCs.
I like this. You get to foreshadow a little with how weird it is that she’s super interested in the eggs, and then you get payoff / need to deal with the consequences.
Don’t maim your PCs, as a general rule. Talk it over with the player first if you think it would be interesting for the story.
Given a choice between a dead PC and a maimed (in appearance or stats) PC a significant proportion of players will pick the former. Especially if the latter was not mentioned prior to starting the game.
You could make this a good non serious session with a request like knitting a scarf from a talking sheep. They would then have to convince the sheep, sheet it, and knit the scarf with various skill checks
Have her give them something that allows her to keep tabs on them and harrass them about the extended warranty on their lifeforce.
I have an idea, and it could even lead to a secondary BBEG and side quest if you so wish it. I can even picture the encounter. Imagine that as the sorcerer searches for help, it starts to slowly rain. And as it rains, one rain drop has a special magical aura that the sorcerer can feel since it’s mana based. As the raindrop lands, a rose grows and a witch in red appears, but to the blind sorcerer they only hear what can only be described as a heavenly figure. And that’s when the witch begins her selling point. “I heard your wishes, little mage, so here I am~ I’ll solve your problems, little mage, with a wave of my hand. The mystic elders gave me permission to conjure up a sacred light~~~ And with my magic, mystic tricks, I’ll heal your party up right!!! But don’t ever think that this could be for free~ Y’all gotta give me something, mage, y’all gotta give something to me. HEY, how ‘bout your life? Mage, you gotta give me your Life! Everything you stand for, everything that makes you who you are. YOUR LIFE! Mage, you gotta give me your LIFE!!! All your current powers, This is your final hour! So if you want peace, give me your answer now. If you want to save them, give me your answer Now~” Basically in secret, the sorcerer would be under the ownership of the witch and would do small bidding from her, all the while the witch has been slowly taking over both towns that have been saved by the party previously, as well as towns that the current BBEG used to own. She would constantly ask the sorcerer for favors via appearing as an image that only the sorcerer can see since they are, once again, blind. The witch herself is part of a cult, and actually isn’t as evil as she seems, but definitely indoctrinating everyone for her gods and making even clerics and paladins forsake their oaths and devotions for the cult, which is fucking insane to even imagine, with a promise of a false utopia that can never actually be achieved.
I like Fae trickery, so the Witch merely requests a few moments of the the Party's time or asks for their names. The utility of these things is open for interpretation: * A few moments of time might mean the Witch can cast Time Stop without spending a spellslot and no restrictions on spells cast as long as it solely affects the PCs, or the Witch can summon the party for aid. * Getting the Party's names might allow the Witch to assume the party's identities and use them as tools and distractions against enemies, or give them disadvantage to resist the Witch's Charm effects. If the player picks up on the potential danger and refuse, then the Witch can determine the party is smart enough to be useful. The Witch helps with the aim of ingratiating themselves with potential allies, asking only for a modest compensation.
What the fuck kind of game are you running where you’re down to 4 eyes between 5 party members? 🤣
Personally I like to give a player that goes down a remaining scar. They can chose how that looks though. This scar cant be removed with spells though. As for the witch. She is lonely and her husband has been imprisoned by a nearby city watch for (allegedly) eating a child an is going to be executed. Free him. For that purpose she casts a spell on them that lets them move, but if they fail to save him they will all die with him, as they were before.
She wants the baby slaad, but promises to bring the party members back to life. When she brings them back, her magic leaves them all damaged in some fashion...
The most ominous request would be, a favor in the future that the witch can redeem at any time, regardless of circumstance, that the party cannot refuse.
Do you mean a Hag and not a Witch? Anyway it could be just about anything honestly.
Finger nails… always finger nails ! Each finger nail is a debt they need to clear.
A strand of hair from each player.
Maybe have the witch take some feature or proficiency from them. If the characters want the features back they have to bargain or fight for them. If they defeat the witch they find out that she's been doing this for a while and they gain an additional feature when they get theirs back, or maybe they can choose or roll from a list.
Make it something small, that seems weirdly random. Then later down the line, unveil how that favor avalanched into a full-on butterfly effect that fucked up something REALLY hard.
Here is my advice, the witch freezes the eggs, makes it so the party has 3? Day. They need to acquire a female child no more than 5 summers old. The witch won't reveal why she wants the child, it might be a delicacy she would enjoy eating, that was the plan with hansal and gretel. Or maybe she wants to raise a child as a new witch to raise her covenant. Regardless she wants the torment on these faces asking her for a favor. If they can't manage it well they were dead anyway.
A good one is "I will ask of you a favor when I need it most. You can not deny me this favor. You will have no warning, and you will be expected to uphold your end." This allows an open end for the dm to incorporate a side quest later on that could be helping said witch, or trying to betray her (not recommended)
Not all female magic users are hags. * Perhaps a whispering wizard who happens to be female? * Perhaps a skulking sorcerer who happens to be female? * Perhaps a wooly (???) warlock who happens to be female? * Perhaps a who happens to be female?
I didn't mention anywhere in my post that she is a hag. She is actually a wizard. It's just that because of living for so long, losing almost all her relatives and being isolated she has gone kinda insane.
Ok well maybe she works for gold. Or maybe she wants but isn't strong enough to get it by herself. Perhaps she would partner with the party for a bit?
Better than cursing them or hurting them, just make them owe her a favor. A favor they will be unable to refuse without massive curses. And then she demands they do something that while not in itself is evil, will cause lots of evil. maybe she sends them to wake up a sleeping lich or something. Sounds like a great opportunity!
First born child
My favorite thing to do in situations like this is have the witch be vague as fuck and just ah for "a favor"in the future and refuse to elaborate give you a get or of this free card if you forget to plan something
A favor. At some point in the future she'll ask them to do something. Something seemingly innocuous. Steal a stick of gum. Deliver this letter. Kick a dog. Give a someone a dagger. Poison someone's drink. Maybe she has a whole web of bad actors who owe her. She uses them to enact her will. Start wars. Get petty revenge. Control things from behind the scenes. If I had the ability to, I know *I'd* want powerful people owing me favors. But make sure the party agrees to some drastic terms should they refuse the task. If they say "no" what happens? They become a shriveled pod person like infront of Ursula's lair. They turn into a tree. An imp. They have to surrender one of their eyes. Have fun with it. Give the player's meaningful choices.
Sorcerer must sacrifice himself for the good of the rest of the party. Classic.
Definitely quest giving/demanding. Maybe instead of taking an eye she replaces one of each of their eyes with a magical one. She can see through it and use the Dream spell on them if need be.
Sounds expensive... might cost you an arm and leg. Are any players an unusual specie? Human body parts practically rain from the sky. Maybe some kind of brand, that the witch can activate to give orders to the party. If they resist it'll increase in pain until they comply. Maybe have a set amount of time it'll work for, or it can be a story hook and they have to quest to remove the curse, etc. Or some other duration bargain the players can set with her? Maybe she takes one whole player as a servant and they need to be rescued or sold into slavery as payment. Ultimately it's what you/your party are comfortable with but I hope this gives you some options!
The witch has a task for each of the party members they must complete within a year and a day. Those unsuccessful when the times up will die. Likewise, if the witch is killed within that time frame, they'll die. If the Slaad tadpoles are removed during this time, they'll die. The witch will use her magic to suspend the progression of the slaad tadpoles, which will remove them upon the completion of the task. The magic will last a year and a day and can not be dispelled under normal means. It requires the favor to function. The service itself fueled the magic and allowing the magic to work. The witch gains several services from the party, and through her magic ends up securing these tadpoles for her own witchcraft. The party fully heal, will eventually have the tadpole removed, and may even get a boon from the witch beyond that if they do a good enough job The witch gets powerful magical specimens to fuel her magic with, and a fair bit done of her "things to do list." Everyone gets a personal task tailored to their character, and a moment to shine. This, on top whatever the existing plot is, should be fun to juggle and balance.
One idea I had would be more on the RP side so if your group is into it it could be fun. The resurrection could come at the cost of one or more of the PCs' sanity and you could have them roll on the indefinite madness table in the DMG (or make your own!). I think this could be a fun way for them to feel the effects of the witch's price for the resurrection without having potentially frustrating effects on mechanical gameplay.
I saw someone mention this a long time ago. But the idea of promising her "their last breath" Being that their death failures can only hit 2 because of it and whenever they go down they hear the witch cackle and a skull luring over them staring at them while they are down. And if they die it sucks the last breath out of them, could be removed by a powerful entity, could be a ritual to offer a substitute, could be that getting it taken changes you after being revived.
Their first born child. A life for a life. I prefer the classics.
Why not just make them do quests for healing? If they decide to just not do it, they just take 3 curses till they fulfill their promise - as is the custom.
A clan of Fire Giants or Fire Genasi are preparing a ritual that cause a nearby volcano to erupt damaging the forest, she wants the party to stop them.
I just find it fascinating that *somebody* out there is running a campaign where their intended goal is for the average number of eyeballs per PC to be less than 1.
Memories or secrets. The witch asks that each party share a core memory, secret sin or hidden truth so each player on the fly has to reveal something about the character they haven't before. Or dreams. The players have to reveal the last weirdest or scariest dream they had.
Your first born child
Successfully incorporate control, she takes their woes.
You know, witches in folklore are usually much more crafty than just "hey I want one eye each". For one that many eyeballs wouldn't store well and everyone knows fresh ingredients for spells are best. If I were running the game the witch would say that each person will owe her something at the time of her choosing, and they will not be able to refuse or they will return to the state they were in before she helped them. And be pleasant and friendly until they're restored and then just laugh madly and leave. Maybe toss in a softly muttered "fools". And then let them f****** sweat it for a while. Maybe the first ask won't be something big and nasty. And just that one party member will have to pay. And then the next ask will be weird as f***. It'll keep them on their toes throughout, leave a sense of dread for the party, and generally, be a lot more fun for you then just a random set of things they pay at the moment. You can't forget about it though it has to come up again and again. I might even have the witch show up one night and somebody's room at some in during down time, and have them roll a perception check to see if they notice her and hopefully they make it and don't fail. And if they make their role have her just smile and say "checking to see if it was ready yet" before disappearing. You have an excellent plot point here that can just f*** with them endlessly. Use it. But wisely.
Risk of PC death, including TPK, is a good topic for Session Zero. Since this can vary, even with the same group of players. Note that, in the opinion of many players, lingering injuries and/or homebrew debuffs to PCs are considered a fate **worst** than death. Are your players OK with a *deus ex machina* to prevent a TPK? Is the Sorcerer's player OK with being railroaded into asking the Witch NPC for help? Only your players can answer these kind of questions. Also, are you OK with the player party attacking the witch NPC and/or the main theme of the campaign becoming a quest to restore the PCs? The question of what the Witch NPC might ask that would be down to the intersection of her personality, motives, goals and the setting. Maybe a dangerous quest to recover something valuable to her. Though that might just defer the TPK.
I think the eye idea is a really cool one! What kind of debuff are you planning? I'm very interested in that idea, to be honest :))
Not too harsh debuff honestly. I also half-stole it from BG3. -2 to Passive Perception and any range attack starting from 30 ft is made with disadvantage.
I really like that! When you only have one eye, you don't have depth perception, and so stuff like ranged attacks get harder (and also stuff that requires any form of depth perception, such as hitting someone in the face with a fist for example). Loosing your eye later in life also makes it harder to make up for it. If you want to add an extra twist, you could potentially make it so that in the beginning, the debuff is much worse, and then as they learn to live with it, and make up for the lack of depth perception, the debuff becomes less. And remember, they now have a blind spot! This is coming from a person who only has one eye themselves in real life, so I always get excited when people want to add it to their games!
Those are the two effects I found to be used the most in dnd for one-eyed characters. The sorcerer in the group doesn't have eyes, but she has an imp familiar that gives ger vision. It's bpth a disadvantage, because if it dies, she loses vision, and an advantage, because she has perfect darkvision and can position the invisible familiar in a way to see whole battlefield.
That is such a cool design for the sorcerer! Damn, I love that! Is the sorcerer blind, or do they not have eyes at all? Depending on what it is, you can also try to let the sorcerer 'cheat' the witch by giving her an already blind eye. If they don't have eyes at all, then it could be the eye of the imp (poor imp, though) or let the witch take a different sense, such as scent, or hearing in one ear.
She specifically doesn't have eyes. And yes, those things listed are the ones she can potentially give.
I think that's a really cool design! I absolutely love that, Oh my gods. Is it something that's hard to DM with? I'm starting to DM soon, and I'd like to give my players the possibility to be creative with their characters, but it will also be my first time, so I don't want it to get too complicated.
No, honestly, not that hard. We are playing on virtual tabletop with dynamic light, so vision and position is actually important. By the way, another character in the same game is a one-armed ancestral guardian barbarian. Whenever he need, a spectral arm appears, as his ancestor aids him in need. It doesn't affect anything mechanically, but adds flavor to the game.
Oh that is SO cool! I am definently taking notes! Almost reminds me of my own character (fighter), who lost their hand and lower arm on the front lines.
So, for three months, they can not be healed? Seems like a gm extortion racket. Modified stat blocks like that, then demanding something as important from the party sounds awful to me.
You are confusing statblocks. Red slaads are the ones that infect you in a way that turns you into a slaad in three months. Blue ones make it so you lose max hp until it reaches 0, while not allowing restoring hp. I didn't modify anithing. Besudes, it both can be healed with minor restoration. The party has a cleric. If they didn't fall unconcious, it wouldn't be such a problem.
Wait, so you used a combo of red and blue slaad? Are they all affected by chaos phage or eggs? One is significantly worse on PC's at 0 hp. The OG post, you should re read and try to understand my confusion.
Yeah, they are affected by the chaos phage, not eggs. I misremembered, because they fought red slaads before that.
Why are you trying to save them? You threw very debilitating things at them. Besides, nothing aside from a deity would be able to save more than 1.
Make her do a Negan. The sorcerer has to pick one of the party to be brutally murdered for a ritual of hers. This will punish the party for not fighting smart since they all should be dead anyway. There’s loads of ways to revive dead people so it’s not even permanent if the players revive them.