Situation
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| Picture courtesy of http://willobrien.deviantart.com/ |
The players face a group of henchmen who follow their orders
absolutely – who cannot be bribed or reasoned with. This is because the bad guy possesses a
magical jar or urn with their souls (and therefore their capacity for free
will) sealed inside it.
The henchmen may or may not have an “undead” appearance,
depending on GM preference. But like
other soulless creatures, the soulbound henchmen are (more or less) incapable
of dying.
If the jar is broken, the souls return immediately to their
natural place inside the henchmen’s bodies.
What the henchmen choose to do with their new freedom depends on your
story – but they likely won’t have any warm feelings for the master who held
them in thrall.
Technical stuff
Why not all the henchmen?
If you think an elite
group of soulless henchmen suits your game better than an entire soulless
army (which could also be cool), you’ll need an answer to this question. Here are two good answers:
·
Scarcity – the spell is very difficult and/or
costly, so the bad guy has only used it to create one special hench-squad.
·
Practicality – the removal of free will cuts
both ways: a soulbound henchman must follow literal commands, incapable of
adapting to fit a changing situation.
How do the players learn of the jar?
·
From the henchmen – the henchmen themselves may
tell the PCs why and how they are compelled to obey. Of course, it’s a little silly that the bad guy
wouldn’t have given them a standing order: “never tell anyone how your souls
can be made free.” But the players have
got to find out some way.
·
Townspeople – these henchmen are probably a
local ghost story. The tales the
townspeople tell the PCs may not be accurate, but will probably lead them
toward the truth.
·
Spying – if the PCs have an opportunity to snoop
around in the bad guy’s castle beforehand, they may learn of the jar by
overhearing a convenient conversation.
If they’ve already met the “invincible” undead henchmen, this discovery
will be a miraculous breakthrough – the weakness they’ve been looking for.
·
Informant – the information is in the possession
of an NPC who is willing (or whom the PCs have made willing) to betray the bad
guy. Note that the information has
likely been acquired the exact same way as above, but by an NPC for the sake of
the story.
·
Lore – a wizard PC or NPC may know how this
spell works and recognize it upon meeting the henchmen.
·
Tracking the magic – if a wizard PC or NPC attempts
to determine a weakness by examining the magical auras surrounding the
henchmen, he’ll discover what’s missing and where it is. Depending how magic works in your game, you
could describe this in a number of ways: magical senses receive the impression
that the henchmen are in two places at once, namely their spiritual prison
inside the castle in addition to their actual physical positions; because souls
are unique, a magician who has encountered the henchmen may be able track their
souls, not unlike like following a “scent.”
Possible plot devices
Turning the tide of battle
If you are fighting a battle against the bad guy, breaking
the jar turns his best men against him.
In PRGs, pitched battles tend to be less fun when the
players are expected to participate, and more fun more fun when they serve as a
background for the players’ individual, heroic exploits. A plot device like the Jar allows PCs to step
into the role of a heroic commando strike, while still letting the battle feel
very present and connected to the players’ success or failure.
The letter of the law
The henchmen are compelled to obey the master’s literal
command (for example, “bring me the PCs, dead or alive”), but they always obey
it literally. The thing about literal instructions is
there’s always a loophole – the kind that players find a certain glee in
exploiting.
The soulbound can’t spot the loopholes in their own orders
because soulbinding prevents that degree of clear thinking (also because it’s
lame for NPCs solve puzzles that the PCs could have solved), but they do desire
freedom. But if the players come up with
a loophole that does not conflict with the henchmen’s literal orders (for example,
“we’ll play dead, you bring us to him, then we’ll set you free by breaking the
jar”), the henchmen might be eager to go along with it.
No soul = no humanity
You could play it such that the henchmen have no humanity,
no desire for freedom, sympathy for the PCs, etc. They are no more human than zombies.
With this plot device, the henchmen are not characters that
the PCs can relate to. Breaking the jar
might restore their personalities, or it might just send them on.
Ironic Command
The henchmen (or a small group of them) have
been ordered to attack anyone who approaches the jar. This is a diabolical irony that can lead to
some interesting roleplay material as you battle the very men whose souls you
are attempting to liberate! The henchmen
may even be shouting encouragement to the PCs, rejoicing when they are struck
down, etc.
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