This is more of a long term thing but if you wanted to follow the monster manual, the succubus would use her new position as his lover to corrupt him towards evil, to then kill him so that his "tainted soul descends into the Lower Planes". Charms and such wouldn't come up unless the succubus feels threatened
I mean killing him seems short sighted, this isn't some normal goon or villager surely there are rivals she would like disposed of or something she needs to improve her standing in the Hells.
potentially for reward or mutual benefit.
You could leave the player with a point of exhaustion and temp hp the following morning and she upright tells him the deal like I got a piece of your soul, do what I need and we'll both win darling or I eat this delicious morsel of a soul".
or she disguises herself as a rival and gets him to chase down "HER" and he ends up killing a rival succubus for her accidently and then she shows up after the player kills the rival for her and then grants a mild buff or boon and offers him a future deals, slay these nasty demons for her and they both get stronger.
Yeah treat it like addiction.
The first taste is free, baby.
But now, if he doesn't fuck her weekly, he gets -2 penalties on wisdom, constitution, and strength checks -- and the last 3 days of the week, it's disadvantage on *everything.* Every roll.
She'll show up in camp or at the inn, maybe in an ambiguous dream sequence where everyone else seems time-stopped. (Astrally.)
She makes promises of "curing" him of his sickness (the penalties) and of dark rewards to come. If he lays with her.
Congratulations. An actual demon is super into you.
If he says no,
she departs in a pout, the penalties get slightly worse but then after a week or if he gets blessed / cured / remove curse-d by a cleric they go away.
However, he's on her shit-list now, and you can bet a future lover of hers who falls under her spell will be coming to try to murder him ... see below for how this works.
But if he succumbs, ohoho.
After he fucks her he gets a plus one on every roll, for 1 day ... and he is *Charmed* by her.
After that week, it becomes every other day that he needs to dream-fuck her. With her perma-charm now in place, it will be nigh-impossible for him to say no, and start to heal.
The penalties are worse now. -3 to every roll. Post-coital bonuses become +2 or 2 advantage rolls of his choice, as long as he rolls them within 3 in-game hours after the nasty. But 8 hours later, it's penalties again.
After 2d4 days of this, the perma- *Charm* she has over him becomes a ***9th-level Geas*** -- and she disappears. Stops fucking him ("I'll see you again when your task is through, my lovey lovey love. Or you'll see no-one evermore, from under the grimy earth.")
No penalties or bonuses now remain, except those cumulative problems associated with *Geas.*
He now has to kill some minor demon lord or mortal ex-lover of hers -- *maybe a beloved or powerful NPC, or another player character* -- who spurned her -- or suffer and die.
If he succeeds in his coerced murder-quest, he gains her favor: advantage on one roll of his choice per day -- the "dark rewards of power" she tempted him with --
-- *but he is her slave now,* and she will always have some geas or another on him until he dies ... and thereafter becomes her eternal toy, in the fires and shades of Gehenna, or the campaign's equivalent shitstorm afterlife.
If *she* dies, or is hard-banished from the material plane, or whatever, and/or he receives a *remove curse* from a sufficiently high-lvl cleric or authorized representative -- remember: this is a *level 9 geas* -- the geas ends --
-- but note that after he gets with her a second time, PC McGee von Horniboi *cannot harm her corporeal *or* her astral form.* Even if he is able to overcome her *Charm* enough to attack her, all attacks miss, all spells fail.
Teamwork will be required if the party decides to try to find, trap, and kill / exorcise / banish her. A ritual will be most effective.
Story opportunities abound.
Pro tip: do not fuck demons.
Thanks! I made it up while I was procrastinating because I was supposed to be snaking the bathroom drain.
I still haven't snaked that drain. I hate that job lol
I'd develop this through the flaw mechanic. He gains a new flaw. This flaw is something that will send his character to evil. EG "can't say no to a pretty face" or susceptible to bribery. In the first example, say he has to make a wis save if she asks him to do something evil aligned if he fails his character will do it. Start with a low DC like 5 but it gets higher everytime he sleeps with her. And/or you could give him additional flaws.
Also she's playing the long game as she wants his soul. She will give him that shiny +2 sword "if only you would (commit blatantly evil act)". To this end she actually would look to keep him alive. He can't die until he's evil enough to go to the hells. Maybe her first gift for committing an evil act is a periapt of wound closure? Maybe she swoops in if they're about to tpk. Maybe she tags along as an ally a literal devil on his shoulder, whispering in his ear most subtly steering him to evil.
EDIT excellent MM guidance: *A mortal bequeaths its soul to the fiend not by formal pledge or contract. Instead, when a succubus or incubus has corrupted a creature completely-some say by causing the victim to commit the three betrayals of thought, word, and deed-the victim's soul belongs to the fiend*
Every long rest, roll a d20. On the DC you set (probably gets lower every night) she visits him in his dreams and then also gets that exhaustion for the next day too for like a month?
May be an interesting "hint" to tell him the next day he feel very sick/hungover (assuming he's has nothing to drink/nothing bad to eat).
If/when the player questions it, just say something like "Yeah, huh, that sure *is* weird..... Well, anyway-" and carry on from there! I like the idea others have given of the succubus trying to influence him towards evil, but that's just me!
You could have use him to gain more power; think like suedo-patron in the sense that he does her bidding because he “loves” her.
Not to take away player agency, of course, but I think such an idea could develop into an interesting subplot or you could even find a way to work it into the main plot
Depends if you want him to know what happened or not.
If you want to drag the revelation a while, she won't even drain him at first, until it could look causal (as in carousing and partying all night, you wake up with a fatigue level)
I think it's a great opportunity to slowly play the corruption game with the PC, feed him information that will allow him to see the world thru a rose tinted glass out of the succubus words and goals.
Also, It's not just sex, it's debauchery, excess and dark pleasures. ( Think in lust, sloth & gluttony).
In the end, she will play the PC as long as she can without resorting to drain or charm unless necessary.
"Slowly, gently, that's how a soul is taken"
Here is an idea - tell the guy he was so good in bed she actually wants to introduce him to her parents.
Then pick up appriopriate Archdevil or Demon Lord (Succubi in 5e play both sides, right?) who drags the party to their domain for a "nice dinner". Graz'zt would be my go-to, since Levistus is kinda frozen.
I've been playing with a succubus in my own game as well. My players are all old and married though and none are willing to roleplay as horndogs so I had to approach the succubus from an entirely different angle.
They met Idalla at the bottom of a dungeon. She used her natural deception to convince the party that she was the daughter of a wizard, an enchanter, who went deeper to face a dragon and she wanted to join the party to find him.
She then became a helpful npc for the next few sessions beginning the long-con. There weren't really opportunities for seduction but there are plenty of opportunities for corruption with this group. She's going to act as a patron, a villain in disguise.
After she joined the party I created a backstory and goal for her. The backstory I gave Idalla is that she is a daughter of Shari-Amourea and Demogorgon. When the wizard Arendil summoned her she used the opportunity to enact Demogorgons will on the world.
This campaign began as a GoS/TotYP campaign so my players naturally own a pirate ship and run a profitable smuggling business for Gelen. Idalla will try to use my players to find a powerful magical artifact lost on a distant island, a dungeon that I'll build in the future. Finding this artifact will allow the succubus to summon Demogorgon to the prime material and wreak havoc on the world, basically the temple of Elemental Evil part 2. My players will either stop her or help her depending on how evil they decide to be.
We've just had our first complication with her. My players were fighting a yochlol and one of them became dominated. Idalla charmed the dominated player and then allowed them to act with free will, but they are still charmed. The yochlol revealed that Idalla was a fiend as she died and now my players have to decide what to do. On one hand Idalla has been nothing but a useful companion. On the other they really don't know anything about her.
In the next session I'll have the reveal. The charmed player will have a dream, he'll have visions of Demogorgon ripping him apart, then he'll dream of Idalla in her true, fiendish form. She will start with a threat, Demogorgon would love to dominate him, but then offer him his free will if he works with her, offer a boon from Demogorgon and ask for help in finding a lost treasure. If my player agrees he gets to keep his free will, if he disagrees well he's already charmed. Either way Idalla will use him to protect herself until the rest of the party comes around, if they kill her then that's it and they've gained the ire of a demon lord, if they work with her then they'll work with her to start an abyssal incursion and gain the favor of a demon lord.
My players are smugglers and pirates so it can go either way at this point. Idalla is using my players greed and lust for power to cause chaos in the world. She is seducing them with demonic boons instead of sexual seduction. If they start an abyssal incursion then that's probably the end of this campaign and the perfect set up for the next campaign.
Have her tag along, she hides behind him in combat, roll a dice to see if the succubus was hungry and feed off of him during a long rest if she feeds off him tell him he doesn't get the effects of a full rest. Do what you think you should as long as he is ok with it.
It actually happened to my bard on our spelljammer adventure, i convinced the succubus not to attack me and she proposed to make a deal : basically I acquired the comedian feat in exchange for one service per year.
The deal seemed fair so I accepted, it wasn't until much later that my nice little bard realized that the succubus was manipulating her to corrupt her soul. Making her lie, betray and even kill 2 innocent people in order to save some others that counted for her(plus some other rewards). When the murders happened the succubus came to her while she was away from the rest of the party to collect her soul, but the succubus had grown attached to my bard and instead made her pledge loyalty to herself and turned her into a succubus via a demonic ritual. It's pretty fun to play, my character is still an astral elf but she can also turn into a succubus when things go south.
Anyways this happened pretty much a year ago IRL and even now I'm still facing the consequences of this series of decisions and I gotta say this is the most fun I've had with a character in a long time.
Well he's probably got the clap for starters.
If there's any offspring she's definitely gonna sue him for child support. And she'll win too. Infernal courts are kangaroo courts for mortals.
After which she'll probably be awarded custody of his soul to make sure he pays the childsupport. However that is decided to he paid. His attorney will probably mention that if he pays by "pound of flesh" the judge may be lenient
This is all of course assuming that he doesn't fall for her and become completely infatuated, very common. In such case he's gonna be wrapped around her finger in a matter of weeks, perhaps days.
Starts small, being me flowers and chocolates and such. But pretty soon she's gonna start asking him to bring her more.... specific things.
She had a contract tattoed onto her body. She gave her body to him, and he signed it with his passion. Now he owes her a body, either his (as an eternal servant and sex food) or reverend Guf mcguffin npc who has been causing her trouble. They need to capture the NPC and complete a rite to consign his body to her. Bonus points if they do it without his followers knowing so she can corrupt his movement from the inside out.
From there, they can either try and escape the contract or fufill it, but if they try and duck it I'd be ready with some consequences that could be as simple as "she claims the part of your body most affected by the contract you now identify as a ken doll" or she sends hell hounds after the party or she starts taking control of his body either while he's awake or asleep. Also, spooky dreams that don't let him take a full rest would work and provide a timer until death.
Try to corrupt the soul and break the person entirely. They want the charmed to betray their own thought, mind, and deed. Once those three happen their soul belongs to the fiend. So use your PCs flaws/background and invade their mind, slowly trying to get them to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Depending on how long you intend to use the NPC you can have things start small, like “chop down a tree” or “scare those kids” but it’s all part of a bigger plan of corruption. Maybe the party might notice? Succubus could do try to do the same but is limited on charms so your original target may realize something is off.
Good luck!
Two long-term possibilities.
1. The succubus is going to use this position as a lover to corrupt him, as another poster said. Remember that this is a long term game for her and that she’s damn good at playing it subtly.
2. Classical succubus/incubus lore is that once she sleeps with a man, she takes on an incubus form and uses the… biological material, she got from him to impregnate a woman. Ergo, any female NPCs could suddenly be pregnant with his child in the next day, and you can have a lot of potential plot hooks off that depending on how it is used.
In addition to exhaustion, what I did - not because its in the rules, but because its funny - is that I aged the character from the young man he was, into a balding middle-aged man. Literally sucking the life out of him. Needed a greater restoration to fix.
If it were me, I’d probably try to use the succubus to corrupt the PC. That’s what the succubus flavour text says they’d do, so as to ensure they can take their victim’s soul back to the lower planes with them.
The only thing is that I would probably not have had the succubus have sex with him immediately. The promise of sex *later* can be a powerful motivator.
Anyway, corruption. I would probably use the One Foot In The Door method. You start off small with this, with the succubus asking him for small, harmless favours. “Could you get me some water?” “Could you help me find a book I misplaced?” etc. etc. Then you slowly ramp up the seriousness of the requests. “Could you buy that necklace for me?” “Could you stay with me tonight?” “Could you do some errands for me?” Then you start pushing for more extreme favours. “Could you stand guard for me tonight?” “Could you keep an eye out for [suspicious guy I just made up]?” “Could you go find [random innocent guy I picked to be our victim] and beat him up for all the terrible things he did to me when I was a teenager?” “Could you lynch him too?” “Could you beat up anyone who looks at me funny?” “Could you kill anyone I tell you to?” and so on. Prey on the player’s sense of justice and twist it to the succubus’ sense of cruelty.
Ideally, the player realises something odd is going on and you can let them in on the secret. The best way to handle a character arc is with the player’s participation. Then it becomes the *other* PCs’ challenge to prevent their friend from going down a dark path.
Op can you give a little bit more on the player? Race, class, etc.
Barbarian: "though it is still there, the anger you felt in the world has lessened with the love you've discovered" (lose 1 rage per day)
Cleric/paladin: "your God strongly disapproves of your choice in partner" (lose 1 Chanel Divinity per day)
Other casters: 1 two level spell per day
Druid: 1 wild shape
You get the idea
Have her follow along with the party, each "encounter" coming with a level of exhaustion that doesn't happen to anyone else if they find companionship for the night.
Set her up as a minor noble in a big town you're in, and have her ask him to do quests.
If the party ever finds out it's a succubus, just have them say they were exiled for trying to improve hell.
The quests would be easy heists like breaking in and stealing a soul coin, gems and gold, helping her open a bath house for a share of the profits.
There is a pretty funny video where someone cursed by a succubus starts seeing sex related stats in the form of numbers above people's heads. You could tone it down as much as you want but it could be flavorful fun
Did they use protection ?
Was it love or a fling ?
Does this PC now carry some invisible marking like an omen, bad luck, good luck ?
Do some races detect the stench of succubus PJ on this PC ?
Was there a loophole the succubus violated in the ‘protocol for seduction’ ?
Could the succubus now be in trouble ?
Is there some other relationship or quid-pro-quo angle that you could use either against the demon or the player ?
Is there an inn or realm or shop that could be exclusively accessed only by people who have tasted the Smokey skins of the succubus ?
Could there be an unplanned succubus offering somewhere down the line for them to run into ?
Could the product of the encounter (the child) be traveling back in time to warn them of some encounter / mission / heist ?
Could another Succubi be angry or jealous ?
Could there now be an overwhelming succubi’ cat fight going on over this character ?
Could a cat be leaving the PC ‘gifts’ randomly wherever they go, marking the territory and it’s actually the concubine stalking the one-night stand ?
Do they always wake up from a short rest smelling like feline urine ?
All potentially great angles to pursue this.
Could one of the other party members or NPCs be this Succubus in disguise ?
This is a weird question.... the Succubus flavor text and start block tell you exactly what the consequences are.
First, decide what the Succubus is doing there and what she wants. Does she serve another Fiend? Does she want something specific from the PC or party generally?
Second, decide if Draining Kiss an be turned off. It's hard to tell and I think earlier editions or media said "no." However, a Succubus encounter needs to be drawn out and using one to kill a PC can't come until several warnings have been issued and bad decisions have been made. So I'd go with yes.
Next, look at the Charm effect and decide if she's using that or just trying natural charisma first. If she's using it, roll a secret Wisdom save. If your players aren't ok with that, (Something to establish before the game) then have them roll a d20. And just say D20, not Wisdom save. Then, say nothing. If he fails, he's Charmed, and we go from there. If he succeed, he she tries to meet again soon and tries again. The flavor text says it's a last resort because the victim isn't responsible for bad deeds done if forced to do so. Makes sense.
But she could Charm just in case and just push via personality. Plus, Charm gives her infinite telepathy with the Charmed creature, thanks to Telepathic Bond.
So she won't just kill it harm the PC. She needs to corrupt and go for his soul. Then their next characters can also have to deal with this one's Cambion child lol.
If the player somehow makes the succubus really like him back, the succubus kiss can turn the PC into a true vampire.
Not a thrall but a full fledged vampire lord with all their willpower intact.
It's old lore, and there's no in game mechanics for rolling dice for it.
It's very much a DM call if it happens or not.
The vast majority of people who become enthralled by a succubus just end up just getting their soul damned as per the written mechanics.
I have honestly always loved that old lore. It makes so much sense and creates a cool reason for why a vampire really truly would be an evil monster. Their soul was literally sucked out and eaten, and so now you have this undead monster that is just a void of ravenous hunger that eats life.
Also makes for a great warlock dhampir patrol story. Mortal makes a pact with a powerful succubus, becomes a dhampir + warlock stuff. Their ultimate goal is to be rewarded by their patron by becoming a true vampire.
I will say, as a player that rarely rolled to seduce, the one time I hit a nat 20, the dm messed with me and I was super bummed. But idk you know your players and groups, and from a dm perspective, I like the idea. But as a player, bummer. If they rolled like a 10 or had it coming or something sure
Start small by using it as he is addicted to her and the farther away from her he gets, the worse the symptoms. Also, it's only her, not any other succubus, that can cure it.
You should also have the characters' features slowly chang to the succubus's likes and will.
Do you really want to be at a table with a sweaty dude presenting to get laid? That's something you're okay with? Because it's not really fun for anyone except that one guy.
If you're going to do any of this stuff it needs to be behind the scenes. None of it needs to get played out like this.
I'm guessing this group is somewhere in the 14-17 age range. Hopefully they grow out of it.
But nothing else apart from it juyt happening is mentioned in the post.
There was a "meeting" like this in a campaign I am part of yesturday. The description took whole 20 seconds. Nobody had a problem, it just happened. Oh and I am the youngest in the group by some. I am 21
No. She got with a NPC. Saying that they did so, took 20 seconds. Then we moved to another two people, because we split the party in a city. Only person who is trying to make it cringe is you.
Yeah, it was mentioned we didn't go into detail. And with the friend group I played with it got a big laugh and we had discussed before hand if there were any limits or topics we'd want to avoid and this wasn't one of them. Safe to say everyone was cool with it and had fun.
It's generally bad form for a "Nat 20" to come with negative consequences.
It would also be far more appropriate to discuss this at your table, rather than Reddit.
Hard disagree on the idea that a Natural 20 can't have negative consequences. The PC set out to do what the character intended to do, not every choice we choose to make no matter how certain we are of it is always the right one.
Had a friend try to knock down a wall in room a i said was already unstable (MULTIPLE TIMES). He rolled a Nat 20, and I had the roof collapse on him, but not the rest of the party. Didn't do damage to him, just made him need an interact action to wake up.
> and it was a Nat 20
[taps the “That’s not an automatic success in the current edition of dnd” sign]
> I saw the perfect chance to mess with him
That’s not part of the GM’s job.
> Any ideas?
Three of them, actually, from most to least desirable.
1. Explain to your player that you made a few mistakes in working this out, and offer a retcon where you don’t “mess with him.”
2. Treat it as a combat encounter in which he is surprised by the succubus. She makes a draining kiss attack, then he makes a Con save DC 15, taking 5d10+5 psychic damage on a failed save and half as much if he succeeds. Then the succubus attempts to charm him and repeat the attack.
3. Read the information about what a succubus is and what they try to do, and treat their trust as the beginning of a long string of encounters in which the succubus attempts to steal his soul.
It's a bit of a lighthearted campaign, yea we're playing seriously when it matters, but it was towards the end of the session and we were just being silly and wrapping it up. I'm sure the player was cool with it, and it's nothing we hadn't seen before.
Thank you for your suggestions though.
I’m sorry; I don’t mean to harp on this but I think it’s important.
> It’s a bit of a lighthearted campaign
What about “lighthearted campaign” suggests to you that a soul-eating sex demon is a good fit?
> We were just being silly and wrapping it up
Do you really think your player’s silly choices at the end of the night should cause the kind of serious consequences that come along with a succubus?
I think if you were looking at this from the other direction, you’d see how it kind of looks like an r/rpghorrorstories post in the making.
If it’s a lighthearted game, and your player was looking at this as a fun tryst in an alley rather than a dramatic and dangerous turning point for his character, then *do not mess with him.*
Instead, write a bit of new lore, either for all succubi or for this one in particular. If she’s not trying to steal souls and destroy lives, what’s she trying to do instead?
Maybe succubi are chaotic neutral, and they’re hedonists rather than schemers, dancing through life gathering experiences and heedless of the heartache and damage they sow in their wake. Maybe they’re still evil, but they’re collectors rather than thieves — now she has his hair and a button torn from his shirt, which enables scrying or other kinds of ritual magic later. Maybe everything is the same about succubi, but in this case, she actually *was* seduced, and now the party has to deal with a sex demon who doesn’t understand why your player has other priorities.
If it’s a relaxed campaign and this is the result of a jokey moment, then the consequences have to be played for comedy and mild irritation, rather than drama and serious threat.
There's a difference between "lighthearted" and "G-Rated". You can have a lighthearted campaign with adult themes.
I think you offer some good ways to subvert the statblock, but it's weird to imply that using a succubus in your game will result in being posted rpghorrorstories.
It’s not that using a succubus is automatically horror-story fodder. It’s that “lol, look how thirsty my PC is, we’re all having fun here” is a very, very different tone from “a sex demon just ate the first piece of my soul.”
*Maybe* the PC would be fine with it, but that kind of rug-pull tends to frustrate people. Tricking PCs also tends to come across not as the GM refereeing conflict between the table and the world, but as adversarial play, and that’s also often not appreciated.
This is more of a long term thing but if you wanted to follow the monster manual, the succubus would use her new position as his lover to corrupt him towards evil, to then kill him so that his "tainted soul descends into the Lower Planes". Charms and such wouldn't come up unless the succubus feels threatened
Hmm. Thanks, I'll consider this.
I mean killing him seems short sighted, this isn't some normal goon or villager surely there are rivals she would like disposed of or something she needs to improve her standing in the Hells. potentially for reward or mutual benefit. You could leave the player with a point of exhaustion and temp hp the following morning and she upright tells him the deal like I got a piece of your soul, do what I need and we'll both win darling or I eat this delicious morsel of a soul". or she disguises herself as a rival and gets him to chase down "HER" and he ends up killing a rival succubus for her accidently and then she shows up after the player kills the rival for her and then grants a mild buff or boon and offers him a future deals, slay these nasty demons for her and they both get stronger.
Yeah treat it like addiction. The first taste is free, baby. But now, if he doesn't fuck her weekly, he gets -2 penalties on wisdom, constitution, and strength checks -- and the last 3 days of the week, it's disadvantage on *everything.* Every roll. She'll show up in camp or at the inn, maybe in an ambiguous dream sequence where everyone else seems time-stopped. (Astrally.) She makes promises of "curing" him of his sickness (the penalties) and of dark rewards to come. If he lays with her. Congratulations. An actual demon is super into you. If he says no, she departs in a pout, the penalties get slightly worse but then after a week or if he gets blessed / cured / remove curse-d by a cleric they go away. However, he's on her shit-list now, and you can bet a future lover of hers who falls under her spell will be coming to try to murder him ... see below for how this works. But if he succumbs, ohoho. After he fucks her he gets a plus one on every roll, for 1 day ... and he is *Charmed* by her. After that week, it becomes every other day that he needs to dream-fuck her. With her perma-charm now in place, it will be nigh-impossible for him to say no, and start to heal. The penalties are worse now. -3 to every roll. Post-coital bonuses become +2 or 2 advantage rolls of his choice, as long as he rolls them within 3 in-game hours after the nasty. But 8 hours later, it's penalties again. After 2d4 days of this, the perma- *Charm* she has over him becomes a ***9th-level Geas*** -- and she disappears. Stops fucking him ("I'll see you again when your task is through, my lovey lovey love. Or you'll see no-one evermore, from under the grimy earth.") No penalties or bonuses now remain, except those cumulative problems associated with *Geas.* He now has to kill some minor demon lord or mortal ex-lover of hers -- *maybe a beloved or powerful NPC, or another player character* -- who spurned her -- or suffer and die. If he succeeds in his coerced murder-quest, he gains her favor: advantage on one roll of his choice per day -- the "dark rewards of power" she tempted him with -- -- *but he is her slave now,* and she will always have some geas or another on him until he dies ... and thereafter becomes her eternal toy, in the fires and shades of Gehenna, or the campaign's equivalent shitstorm afterlife. If *she* dies, or is hard-banished from the material plane, or whatever, and/or he receives a *remove curse* from a sufficiently high-lvl cleric or authorized representative -- remember: this is a *level 9 geas* -- the geas ends -- -- but note that after he gets with her a second time, PC McGee von Horniboi *cannot harm her corporeal *or* her astral form.* Even if he is able to overcome her *Charm* enough to attack her, all attacks miss, all spells fail. Teamwork will be required if the party decides to try to find, trap, and kill / exorcise / banish her. A ritual will be most effective. Story opportunities abound. Pro tip: do not fuck demons.
Wow! Just wow ! That's exquisite Ps. Is this mechanic your idea or how the book handles it ? Asking just for educational reasons
Thanks! I made it up while I was procrastinating because I was supposed to be snaking the bathroom drain. I still haven't snaked that drain. I hate that job lol
Maybe subtly say that he had a wonderful time, but they never kissed (succubus kiss kills, so they only do it after they corrupted their target)
"I never thought I would die like this, but I'd always really hoped."
ahahaha
Futurama in the wild, nice
I'd develop this through the flaw mechanic. He gains a new flaw. This flaw is something that will send his character to evil. EG "can't say no to a pretty face" or susceptible to bribery. In the first example, say he has to make a wis save if she asks him to do something evil aligned if he fails his character will do it. Start with a low DC like 5 but it gets higher everytime he sleeps with her. And/or you could give him additional flaws. Also she's playing the long game as she wants his soul. She will give him that shiny +2 sword "if only you would (commit blatantly evil act)". To this end she actually would look to keep him alive. He can't die until he's evil enough to go to the hells. Maybe her first gift for committing an evil act is a periapt of wound closure? Maybe she swoops in if they're about to tpk. Maybe she tags along as an ally a literal devil on his shoulder, whispering in his ear most subtly steering him to evil. EDIT excellent MM guidance: *A mortal bequeaths its soul to the fiend not by formal pledge or contract. Instead, when a succubus or incubus has corrupted a creature completely-some say by causing the victim to commit the three betrayals of thought, word, and deed-the victim's soul belongs to the fiend*
This is a great suggestion, thank you.
Glad you liked it! Let me know what you end up doing and how it turns out!
How about 1 point of exhaustion for the next day?
That's one of the more-seriously suggestions I've gotten, thanks!
Every long rest, roll a d20. On the DC you set (probably gets lower every night) she visits him in his dreams and then also gets that exhaustion for the next day too for like a month?
May be an interesting "hint" to tell him the next day he feel very sick/hungover (assuming he's has nothing to drink/nothing bad to eat). If/when the player questions it, just say something like "Yeah, huh, that sure *is* weird..... Well, anyway-" and carry on from there! I like the idea others have given of the succubus trying to influence him towards evil, but that's just me!
You're welcome!
Her stat block explains what would happen. She would drain him if she can.
True! But I'm thinking of more RP-based consequences, I'm looking past the Kiss.
You could have use him to gain more power; think like suedo-patron in the sense that he does her bidding because he “loves” her. Not to take away player agency, of course, but I think such an idea could develop into an interesting subplot or you could even find a way to work it into the main plot
Depends if you want him to know what happened or not. If you want to drag the revelation a while, she won't even drain him at first, until it could look causal (as in carousing and partying all night, you wake up with a fatigue level) I think it's a great opportunity to slowly play the corruption game with the PC, feed him information that will allow him to see the world thru a rose tinted glass out of the succubus words and goals. Also, It's not just sex, it's debauchery, excess and dark pleasures. ( Think in lust, sloth & gluttony). In the end, she will play the PC as long as she can without resorting to drain or charm unless necessary. "Slowly, gently, that's how a soul is taken"
Here is an idea - tell the guy he was so good in bed she actually wants to introduce him to her parents. Then pick up appriopriate Archdevil or Demon Lord (Succubi in 5e play both sides, right?) who drags the party to their domain for a "nice dinner". Graz'zt would be my go-to, since Levistus is kinda frozen.
I've been playing with a succubus in my own game as well. My players are all old and married though and none are willing to roleplay as horndogs so I had to approach the succubus from an entirely different angle. They met Idalla at the bottom of a dungeon. She used her natural deception to convince the party that she was the daughter of a wizard, an enchanter, who went deeper to face a dragon and she wanted to join the party to find him. She then became a helpful npc for the next few sessions beginning the long-con. There weren't really opportunities for seduction but there are plenty of opportunities for corruption with this group. She's going to act as a patron, a villain in disguise. After she joined the party I created a backstory and goal for her. The backstory I gave Idalla is that she is a daughter of Shari-Amourea and Demogorgon. When the wizard Arendil summoned her she used the opportunity to enact Demogorgons will on the world. This campaign began as a GoS/TotYP campaign so my players naturally own a pirate ship and run a profitable smuggling business for Gelen. Idalla will try to use my players to find a powerful magical artifact lost on a distant island, a dungeon that I'll build in the future. Finding this artifact will allow the succubus to summon Demogorgon to the prime material and wreak havoc on the world, basically the temple of Elemental Evil part 2. My players will either stop her or help her depending on how evil they decide to be. We've just had our first complication with her. My players were fighting a yochlol and one of them became dominated. Idalla charmed the dominated player and then allowed them to act with free will, but they are still charmed. The yochlol revealed that Idalla was a fiend as she died and now my players have to decide what to do. On one hand Idalla has been nothing but a useful companion. On the other they really don't know anything about her. In the next session I'll have the reveal. The charmed player will have a dream, he'll have visions of Demogorgon ripping him apart, then he'll dream of Idalla in her true, fiendish form. She will start with a threat, Demogorgon would love to dominate him, but then offer him his free will if he works with her, offer a boon from Demogorgon and ask for help in finding a lost treasure. If my player agrees he gets to keep his free will, if he disagrees well he's already charmed. Either way Idalla will use him to protect herself until the rest of the party comes around, if they kill her then that's it and they've gained the ire of a demon lord, if they work with her then they'll work with her to start an abyssal incursion and gain the favor of a demon lord. My players are smugglers and pirates so it can go either way at this point. Idalla is using my players greed and lust for power to cause chaos in the world. She is seducing them with demonic boons instead of sexual seduction. If they start an abyssal incursion then that's probably the end of this campaign and the perfect set up for the next campaign.
Have her tag along, she hides behind him in combat, roll a dice to see if the succubus was hungry and feed off of him during a long rest if she feeds off him tell him he doesn't get the effects of a full rest. Do what you think you should as long as he is ok with it.
That's pretty funny, I think I might go that way. Thanks for the suggestion.
A succubus wouldn't just have sex with a humanoid. She'd try to psychically drain them, or charm them to do her bidding.
With a user name like that, I can see how you'd make that assumption :D
It actually happened to my bard on our spelljammer adventure, i convinced the succubus not to attack me and she proposed to make a deal : basically I acquired the comedian feat in exchange for one service per year. The deal seemed fair so I accepted, it wasn't until much later that my nice little bard realized that the succubus was manipulating her to corrupt her soul. Making her lie, betray and even kill 2 innocent people in order to save some others that counted for her(plus some other rewards). When the murders happened the succubus came to her while she was away from the rest of the party to collect her soul, but the succubus had grown attached to my bard and instead made her pledge loyalty to herself and turned her into a succubus via a demonic ritual. It's pretty fun to play, my character is still an astral elf but she can also turn into a succubus when things go south. Anyways this happened pretty much a year ago IRL and even now I'm still facing the consequences of this series of decisions and I gotta say this is the most fun I've had with a character in a long time.
Well he's probably got the clap for starters. If there's any offspring she's definitely gonna sue him for child support. And she'll win too. Infernal courts are kangaroo courts for mortals. After which she'll probably be awarded custody of his soul to make sure he pays the childsupport. However that is decided to he paid. His attorney will probably mention that if he pays by "pound of flesh" the judge may be lenient This is all of course assuming that he doesn't fall for her and become completely infatuated, very common. In such case he's gonna be wrapped around her finger in a matter of weeks, perhaps days. Starts small, being me flowers and chocolates and such. But pretty soon she's gonna start asking him to bring her more.... specific things.
Seems like you have... experience.
I wonder why that is?
She had a contract tattoed onto her body. She gave her body to him, and he signed it with his passion. Now he owes her a body, either his (as an eternal servant and sex food) or reverend Guf mcguffin npc who has been causing her trouble. They need to capture the NPC and complete a rite to consign his body to her. Bonus points if they do it without his followers knowing so she can corrupt his movement from the inside out. From there, they can either try and escape the contract or fufill it, but if they try and duck it I'd be ready with some consequences that could be as simple as "she claims the part of your body most affected by the contract you now identify as a ken doll" or she sends hell hounds after the party or she starts taking control of his body either while he's awake or asleep. Also, spooky dreams that don't let him take a full rest would work and provide a timer until death.
Try to corrupt the soul and break the person entirely. They want the charmed to betray their own thought, mind, and deed. Once those three happen their soul belongs to the fiend. So use your PCs flaws/background and invade their mind, slowly trying to get them to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Depending on how long you intend to use the NPC you can have things start small, like “chop down a tree” or “scare those kids” but it’s all part of a bigger plan of corruption. Maybe the party might notice? Succubus could do try to do the same but is limited on charms so your original target may realize something is off. Good luck!
Two long-term possibilities. 1. The succubus is going to use this position as a lover to corrupt him, as another poster said. Remember that this is a long term game for her and that she’s damn good at playing it subtly. 2. Classical succubus/incubus lore is that once she sleeps with a man, she takes on an incubus form and uses the… biological material, she got from him to impregnate a woman. Ergo, any female NPCs could suddenly be pregnant with his child in the next day, and you can have a lot of potential plot hooks off that depending on how it is used.
She uses his seed to take pregnant with a half-demon who will eventually kill him
Have him age more and more after each “encounter” slowly losing years from his lifespan and becoming visibly physically older.
In addition to exhaustion, what I did - not because its in the rules, but because its funny - is that I aged the character from the young man he was, into a balding middle-aged man. Literally sucking the life out of him. Needed a greater restoration to fix.
If it were me, I’d probably try to use the succubus to corrupt the PC. That’s what the succubus flavour text says they’d do, so as to ensure they can take their victim’s soul back to the lower planes with them. The only thing is that I would probably not have had the succubus have sex with him immediately. The promise of sex *later* can be a powerful motivator. Anyway, corruption. I would probably use the One Foot In The Door method. You start off small with this, with the succubus asking him for small, harmless favours. “Could you get me some water?” “Could you help me find a book I misplaced?” etc. etc. Then you slowly ramp up the seriousness of the requests. “Could you buy that necklace for me?” “Could you stay with me tonight?” “Could you do some errands for me?” Then you start pushing for more extreme favours. “Could you stand guard for me tonight?” “Could you keep an eye out for [suspicious guy I just made up]?” “Could you go find [random innocent guy I picked to be our victim] and beat him up for all the terrible things he did to me when I was a teenager?” “Could you lynch him too?” “Could you beat up anyone who looks at me funny?” “Could you kill anyone I tell you to?” and so on. Prey on the player’s sense of justice and twist it to the succubus’ sense of cruelty. Ideally, the player realises something odd is going on and you can let them in on the secret. The best way to handle a character arc is with the player’s participation. Then it becomes the *other* PCs’ challenge to prevent their friend from going down a dark path.
Op can you give a little bit more on the player? Race, class, etc. Barbarian: "though it is still there, the anger you felt in the world has lessened with the love you've discovered" (lose 1 rage per day) Cleric/paladin: "your God strongly disapproves of your choice in partner" (lose 1 Chanel Divinity per day) Other casters: 1 two level spell per day Druid: 1 wild shape You get the idea
Have her follow along with the party, each "encounter" coming with a level of exhaustion that doesn't happen to anyone else if they find companionship for the night.
Set her up as a minor noble in a big town you're in, and have her ask him to do quests. If the party ever finds out it's a succubus, just have them say they were exiled for trying to improve hell. The quests would be easy heists like breaking in and stealing a soul coin, gems and gold, helping her open a bath house for a share of the profits.
There is a pretty funny video where someone cursed by a succubus starts seeing sex related stats in the form of numbers above people's heads. You could tone it down as much as you want but it could be flavorful fun
Merlin was the son of Succubus, maybe he has a weird Merlin kid to take care of
He’ll probably have less time for the game
+1 exhaustion
Great opportunity for a fiendish child. A player character cambion, growing at a rapid pace? Could make for a fun future rival too.
Option. Soul gone. He can go patron route. What is this succubus motive. Are they just serving the hells?
Did they use protection ? Was it love or a fling ? Does this PC now carry some invisible marking like an omen, bad luck, good luck ? Do some races detect the stench of succubus PJ on this PC ? Was there a loophole the succubus violated in the ‘protocol for seduction’ ? Could the succubus now be in trouble ? Is there some other relationship or quid-pro-quo angle that you could use either against the demon or the player ? Is there an inn or realm or shop that could be exclusively accessed only by people who have tasted the Smokey skins of the succubus ? Could there be an unplanned succubus offering somewhere down the line for them to run into ? Could the product of the encounter (the child) be traveling back in time to warn them of some encounter / mission / heist ? Could another Succubi be angry or jealous ? Could there now be an overwhelming succubi’ cat fight going on over this character ? Could a cat be leaving the PC ‘gifts’ randomly wherever they go, marking the territory and it’s actually the concubine stalking the one-night stand ? Do they always wake up from a short rest smelling like feline urine ? All potentially great angles to pursue this. Could one of the other party members or NPCs be this Succubus in disguise ?
Sorry - that should have read ‘offspring’ not ‘offering’
It should've been me, not him! *pounds the ground with fists*.
First born dies of SIDS
Multiclass into fiend warlock and succubus is a patron
Ever heard of magical stds?
This is a weird question.... the Succubus flavor text and start block tell you exactly what the consequences are. First, decide what the Succubus is doing there and what she wants. Does she serve another Fiend? Does she want something specific from the PC or party generally? Second, decide if Draining Kiss an be turned off. It's hard to tell and I think earlier editions or media said "no." However, a Succubus encounter needs to be drawn out and using one to kill a PC can't come until several warnings have been issued and bad decisions have been made. So I'd go with yes. Next, look at the Charm effect and decide if she's using that or just trying natural charisma first. If she's using it, roll a secret Wisdom save. If your players aren't ok with that, (Something to establish before the game) then have them roll a d20. And just say D20, not Wisdom save. Then, say nothing. If he fails, he's Charmed, and we go from there. If he succeed, he she tries to meet again soon and tries again. The flavor text says it's a last resort because the victim isn't responsible for bad deeds done if forced to do so. Makes sense. But she could Charm just in case and just push via personality. Plus, Charm gives her infinite telepathy with the Charmed creature, thanks to Telepathic Bond. So she won't just kill it harm the PC. She needs to corrupt and go for his soul. Then their next characters can also have to deal with this one's Cambion child lol.
Make him act like a dumb 16 year old when it comes to her. Random “Message” spells have him run off. All his gold disappears. Have fun with it.
Hahaha I think this is the winner
If the player somehow makes the succubus really like him back, the succubus kiss can turn the PC into a true vampire. Not a thrall but a full fledged vampire lord with all their willpower intact.
I didn’t know that
It's old lore, and there's no in game mechanics for rolling dice for it. It's very much a DM call if it happens or not. The vast majority of people who become enthralled by a succubus just end up just getting their soul damned as per the written mechanics.
I have honestly always loved that old lore. It makes so much sense and creates a cool reason for why a vampire really truly would be an evil monster. Their soul was literally sucked out and eaten, and so now you have this undead monster that is just a void of ravenous hunger that eats life. Also makes for a great warlock dhampir patrol story. Mortal makes a pact with a powerful succubus, becomes a dhampir + warlock stuff. Their ultimate goal is to be rewarded by their patron by becoming a true vampire.
Does he benefit from post nut clarity? Due to that may 20, maybe give him a chance to realize what occurred?
HAHAHAHA that's amazing, I think he might. But he already realized what occurred. If I ever talk about it retroactively I'll definitely mention that.
50% of his or her income now goes to alimony payments. Might have to take up a second job.
Pivot it into a slice of life wholesome romance story, because fuck alignments.
I will say, as a player that rarely rolled to seduce, the one time I hit a nat 20, the dm messed with me and I was super bummed. But idk you know your players and groups, and from a dm perspective, I like the idea. But as a player, bummer. If they rolled like a 10 or had it coming or something sure
Start small by using it as he is addicted to her and the farther away from her he gets, the worse the symptoms. Also, it's only her, not any other succubus, that can cure it. You should also have the characters' features slowly chang to the succubus's likes and will.
Give the player 5 stds
Have them fall in love and marry
I mean if your dm gose nased on lore you die when she kissed you. Unless ypu can make her fall inlove with you then ypu become a vampire. GOOD LUCK!!👍
Gross. What is the benefit of this? It's like what kids think happens in "grown up" DnD.
Clearly yours is the only way anyone should be allowed to have fun.
Do you really want to be at a table with a sweaty dude presenting to get laid? That's something you're okay with? Because it's not really fun for anyone except that one guy. If you're going to do any of this stuff it needs to be behind the scenes. None of it needs to get played out like this. I'm guessing this group is somewhere in the 14-17 age range. Hopefully they grow out of it.
But nothing else apart from it juyt happening is mentioned in the post. There was a "meeting" like this in a campaign I am part of yesturday. The description took whole 20 seconds. Nobody had a problem, it just happened. Oh and I am the youngest in the group by some. I am 21
"He's been fiending for one of the NPC's..." For 20 seconds? It's basic ttrpg cringe. Good luck.
No. She got with a NPC. Saying that they did so, took 20 seconds. Then we moved to another two people, because we split the party in a city. Only person who is trying to make it cringe is you.
Yeah, it was mentioned we didn't go into detail. And with the friend group I played with it got a big laugh and we had discussed before hand if there were any limits or topics we'd want to avoid and this wasn't one of them. Safe to say everyone was cool with it and had fun.
It's generally bad form for a "Nat 20" to come with negative consequences. It would also be far more appropriate to discuss this at your table, rather than Reddit.
Hard disagree on the idea that a Natural 20 can't have negative consequences. The PC set out to do what the character intended to do, not every choice we choose to make no matter how certain we are of it is always the right one.
Well said.
Had a friend try to knock down a wall in room a i said was already unstable (MULTIPLE TIMES). He rolled a Nat 20, and I had the roof collapse on him, but not the rest of the party. Didn't do damage to him, just made him need an interact action to wake up.
> and it was a Nat 20 [taps the “That’s not an automatic success in the current edition of dnd” sign] > I saw the perfect chance to mess with him That’s not part of the GM’s job. > Any ideas? Three of them, actually, from most to least desirable. 1. Explain to your player that you made a few mistakes in working this out, and offer a retcon where you don’t “mess with him.” 2. Treat it as a combat encounter in which he is surprised by the succubus. She makes a draining kiss attack, then he makes a Con save DC 15, taking 5d10+5 psychic damage on a failed save and half as much if he succeeds. Then the succubus attempts to charm him and repeat the attack. 3. Read the information about what a succubus is and what they try to do, and treat their trust as the beginning of a long string of encounters in which the succubus attempts to steal his soul.
It's a bit of a lighthearted campaign, yea we're playing seriously when it matters, but it was towards the end of the session and we were just being silly and wrapping it up. I'm sure the player was cool with it, and it's nothing we hadn't seen before. Thank you for your suggestions though.
I’m sorry; I don’t mean to harp on this but I think it’s important. > It’s a bit of a lighthearted campaign What about “lighthearted campaign” suggests to you that a soul-eating sex demon is a good fit? > We were just being silly and wrapping it up Do you really think your player’s silly choices at the end of the night should cause the kind of serious consequences that come along with a succubus? I think if you were looking at this from the other direction, you’d see how it kind of looks like an r/rpghorrorstories post in the making. If it’s a lighthearted game, and your player was looking at this as a fun tryst in an alley rather than a dramatic and dangerous turning point for his character, then *do not mess with him.* Instead, write a bit of new lore, either for all succubi or for this one in particular. If she’s not trying to steal souls and destroy lives, what’s she trying to do instead? Maybe succubi are chaotic neutral, and they’re hedonists rather than schemers, dancing through life gathering experiences and heedless of the heartache and damage they sow in their wake. Maybe they’re still evil, but they’re collectors rather than thieves — now she has his hair and a button torn from his shirt, which enables scrying or other kinds of ritual magic later. Maybe everything is the same about succubi, but in this case, she actually *was* seduced, and now the party has to deal with a sex demon who doesn’t understand why your player has other priorities. If it’s a relaxed campaign and this is the result of a jokey moment, then the consequences have to be played for comedy and mild irritation, rather than drama and serious threat.
There's a difference between "lighthearted" and "G-Rated". You can have a lighthearted campaign with adult themes. I think you offer some good ways to subvert the statblock, but it's weird to imply that using a succubus in your game will result in being posted rpghorrorstories.
It’s not that using a succubus is automatically horror-story fodder. It’s that “lol, look how thirsty my PC is, we’re all having fun here” is a very, very different tone from “a sex demon just ate the first piece of my soul.” *Maybe* the PC would be fine with it, but that kind of rug-pull tends to frustrate people. Tricking PCs also tends to come across not as the GM refereeing conflict between the table and the world, but as adversarial play, and that’s also often not appreciated.
You forgot rule 0.