A question of should I or shouldn't I?

[Joachim Schipper]

I have a question that I would like answered, please.
I DM for a group of D&Ders who are on a quest for a magical amulet
controlling these little 3 foot gremlin/kobold thingies. A wizard has

it.

The main problem is, once they get it, they've talked about using it for
their own ends. How do I let them succeed in their quest without

actually

letting 'em get a little army of their own? Or do I just let them have

the

gremlin army? Or...? Any suggestions would be welcome.

What is so terrible about letting the group have an army?
It's not like there are no other armies in the world, after all, and
most of their commanders will have far more experience at running an
army (*not* an easy job, even when they are magically obedient) than
the PCs... if they make trouble, they're liable to have war declared
on them.

And, at that, armies are pretty useless in the D&D universe. If they really
get too problematic, just have your resident 20th-level magic-user show up
and waste them. You'll be surprised how easy that is, utilizing
Fly/Protection from Missiles/Protection from Elements (each)/Stoneskin, and
optionally Shield and Contingency, coupled with as many Fireballs as you can
get. [Note: none of these spells are particularly high-level - some
high-level spells are *way more* capable of killing armies than Fireball,
which only gets a few dozen at a time...]
[Second note: don't do this if you don't want to kill SoD - D&D is supposed
to have armies that are actually effective.]

If you're in for a challenge, let them keep the army. Making sure such an
army is fed is enough of a problem, let alone equipping them. You're also
likely to become the target of many do-gooders and rival armies.

The only problem with that approach is that D&D has a pretty strong focus on
balance. Having them take some Leadership feats would be in order, at least
for as long as they can keep the army.

Joachim


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[Neelakantan Krishnaswami]

I DM for a group of D&Ders who are on a quest for a magical amulet
controlling these little 3 foot gremlin/kobold thingies. A wizard has it.
The main problem is, once they get it, they've talked about using it for
their own ends. How do I let them succeed in their quest without actually
letting 'em get a little army of their own? Or do I just let them have the
gremlin army? Or...? Any suggestions would be welcome.

First, what kind of PCs are these? Are they larger-than-life heroic
figures, or are they mercenary freebooters making their way through an
indifferent world? Magically enslaving hundreds or thousands of people
seems like a very immoral act to me.

If the game is epic, high fantasy, then I'd explicitly warn the
players (not the characters) about the moral decision involved, and
let them know that I didn't sign up as GM to valorize slavers as
heroes. Then I'd leave figuring out why the PCs don't use the amulet
for ill as the players' responsibility.

On the other hand, if the game is a gritty low fantasy, then I'd let
them use it if they wanted to, and let the chips fall as they may. In
this case, I'd probably also do something to help make the fact of the
decision a little clearer, in order to give the players' decision more
punch. For example, I might rule that the amulet needs to be activated
by performing a ritual that involves sacrificing a gremlin and bathing
the amulet in its blood. Having that line to cross will make the
decision more dramatic, and more fun.

The second question is, do you feel comfortable with GMing if the
players have an army? There's no shame in saying "no", but if that's
your reason it's a good idea to just tell your players so, before
inventing a reason for them not to use the amulet. Then they won't
waste effort trying to get around it, and you won't have to stonewall
them.

However, I find that if you have good players, it's a lot of fun to
put a little more power than you're comfortable into their hands.
This helps shift the creative vibe so that they are closer to equal
partners in the action of the game.

[Warren J. Dew]

"SteelCaress" posts, in part:

I DM for a group of D&Ders who are on a quest for a magical
amulet controlling these little 3 foot gremlin/kobold
thingies. A wizard has it. The main problem is, once they
get it, they've talked about using it for their own ends.
How do I let them succeed in their quest without actually
letting 'em get a little army of their own? Or do I just
let them have the gremlin army?

I would personally just let them have the army, if that's how the magic item
works. Letting the NPC wizard have it, but not allowing it into player
character hands, seems a little like cheating to me - though in some groups it
would be fine.

I would note that whatever they can do with the amulet afterwards, the wizard
can presumably do with it now. Thus, player characters are going to have to be
strong enough to defeat the gremlin army in order to get the item in the first
place, right? If the gremlin army and its wizard master can be defeated by the
player characters, the gremlin army by itself shouldn't be all that powerful.

Warren J. Dew
Powderhouse Software

[Robert Scott Clark]

Post by Warren J. Dew
I would note that whatever they can do with the amulet afterwards, the
wizard can presumably do with it now. Thus, player characters are
going to have to be strong enough to defeat the gremlin army in order
to get the item in the first place, right? If the gremlin army and
its wizard master can be defeated by the player characters, the
gremlin army by itself shouldn't be all that powerful.

Thanks for putting that into words. I was having trouble coming up with a
way to explain why I didn't see what the problem was.

[Chris J. Whitcomb]

I have a question that I would like answered, please.
I DM for a group of D&Ders who are on a quest for a magical amulet
controlling these little 3 foot gremlin/kobold thingies. A wizard has it.
The main problem is, once they get it, they've talked about using it for
their own ends. How do I let them succeed in their quest without actually
letting 'em get a little army of their own? Or do I just let them have

the

gremlin army? Or...? Any suggestions would be welcome.

I'd allow them to have it, but make the amulet evil-aligned.... that is, any
good character wearing the amulet gains one negative level similar to the
description of the 'Unholy' enhancement to weapons.

[SteelCaress]

I appreciate everyone's ideas and posts. Thank you *very* much. You've
given me lots of food for thought. The army's power doesn't worry me too
much, but the fact that they're enslaving any race at all does. I mean,
debtor's prison is common on my world, but these things haven't done
anything wrong.

To elaborate, a wizard named Xolon owed a debt to a wizard named Palandro.
Xolon had fashioned a magical amulet to control these little agile but
annoying gremlin thingies. They were always getting underfoot and weren't
really that useful. To pay off the debt, Xolon told the gremlins to obey
Palandro, but kept the amulet for himself. Palandro's apprentice was given
control of the gremlins while Palandro was away. Havoc ensued when the
apprentice kidnapped someone and held him for ransom, with the gremlins
doing the dirty work. The gremlins begged for mercy and the PCs (after
slaughtering quite a few) eventually came to understand they were magically
compelled to obey, and that Xolon held the magic amulet that forced their
obedience. So, the army of gremlins is not even at the wizard's tower where
the party is at.

Regrettably (my fault), they never said whether they wanted the amulet
brought to them, or destroyed. My group isn't really *good,* more
neutralish, but I still didn't like what they were planning. They'd even
talked about jumping the wizard and jacking him for his stuff, which I
thought was dumb, dumb, dumb, and already worked out a tactical plan whereby
Xolon casts a number of spells specifically calculated to kill them all.
This is part of a puzzle, leading up to an epic confrontation; not "let's
assault something far beyond our power." Thankfully, they've chosen their
battles wisely.

SteelCaress
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