I’ve Been Framed

Curse of the Crimson Throne Pathfinder dice
Q-Workshop sent me some lovely Pathfinder Curse of the Crimson Throne dice. These dice are beautiful and they made me think of politics, which then made me think about plots where an NPC or PC has been framed for a serious crime they did not commit along with clever use of spells as the punishment.
What better way to celebrate dice than with some random tables? So, please use the tables I’ve created below inspired by political machinations, one table for each type of die that comes in the Curse of the Crimson Throne set, to generate a political plot as follows:
In the [Type of State] of [State Name of Your Choice] ruled by a [Type of Government], a character must undergo a [Type of Trial]. He has been framed by [Power Behind the Throne], and if found guilty of [Type of Serious Crime], his punishment will be [Spell-Based Punishment].
I’ve Been Framed random generator thanks to dice generously donated by Q-Workshop
Type of State
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Type of State |
---|---|
1 | Archduchy |
2 | Barony |
3 | Diocese |
4 | Caliphate |
5 | Margraviate |
6 | County |
7 | Duchy |
8 | Emirate |
9 | Grand Duchy |
10 | Fief |
11 | March |
12 | Principality |
Type of Government
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Type of Government |
---|---|
1 | Autocracy |
2 | Bureaucracy |
3 | Confederacy |
4 | Democracy |
5 | Dictatorship |
6 | Feudalist |
7 | Magocracy |
8 | Matriarchy |
9 | Military Dictatorship |
10 | Monarchy |
11 | Commonwealth |
12 | Oligarchy |
13 | Plutocracy |
14 | Republic |
15 | Syndicate |
16 | Theocracy |
17 | Demonarchy |
18 | Technocracy |
19 | Coalition |
20 | Totalitarian |
Type of Trial
Power Behind the Throne
Type of Serious Crime
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Type of Serious Crime |
---|---|
1 | Treason |
2 | Murder |
3 | Embezzlement |
4 | Spying |
5 | Counterfeiting |
6 | Terrorism |
Spell-Based Punishments
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Spell-Based Punishments |
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1 | Bestow Curse. The prisoner loses 6 off his ability score. That is devastating, possibly cutting it in half or worse. Forcing them to become an imbecile is a good way to keep the person useful doing menial chores without needing high security. The GM can also craft their own Curse effect, such as 50% chance of lying down every six seconds – it’s hard to escape while taking a siesta. |
2 | Baleful Polymorph. The prisoner permanently changes into a small animal. One of my favourite D&D modules is Castle Amber. Wouldn’t it be a neat twist for the central garden to be the prison of several banished beings changed into the form of small animals? If the subjects fail their second saving throw, they even gain animal intelligence, in effect becoming just another creature in the garden. |
3 | Imprisonment spell. According to the spell description, the creature is entombed in a state of suspended animation in a small sphere far beneath the surface of the ground. Cast Freedom to release the prisoner. Imprisonment and Freedom indicate you can reach the prisoner, so presumably you can choose the prisoner’s location. This is a perfect setup for dungeon design – put the prisoner at the heart of it. |
4 | Resurrection. You just need a portion of the creature’s body to bring them back to life. So, kill the prisoner and bring them back when their sentence ends. There’s an expense of 10,000 gp, but a wealthy family might be given annual Resurrection privileges for an hour or so if they pay the bill. |
5 | Insanity. The imprisoned can only act normally 25% of the time, and their state of mind changes every six seconds with equal chances of babbling incoherently, hurting themselves or attacking someone else. Being imprisoned in your own skull is a harsh sentence. |
6 | Flesh to Stone. Perfect for filling an art gallery or museum. Under careful watch of security to prevent an ally from casting Stone to Flesh, prisoners can be put on display as an example to all, or kept in a private collection for the warden to gloat over or decorate as he sees fit. |
7 | Symbol of Death. Cast Permanency, place the symbol so its 60 foot radius crosses the only entrance. Cast Curse on the prisoner to lower their saving throw. This still gives the prisoner a chance at a saving throw, so you will want to target those with naturally poor Fortitude, and this is better as a deterrent than a cell because the desperate will take their unknown-but-poor chances of surviving, sometimes. Substitute other Symbols to create other defenses in the prison. |
8 | Wall of Force. The perfect barrier combined with Permanency assuming the other surfaces of the cell are secure. Put a curtain across when you get tired of watching the prisoner make rude gestures at you. |
9 | Trap the Soul. Put the prisoner into a gem. Break the gem when the sentence finishes. Note the gem must have a value based on how powerful the prisoner is, but the type and shape of the gem remains up to you. Perhaps those glowing red gems in the horned demon statue’s eyes have more than just good market value…. |
10 | Feeblemind. The prisoner not only gets reduced to animal-level intelligence, he is also barely conscious. |
(Thanks to Colin Walmsley for spell punishment ideas.)
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August 16th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Johnn, I suspect that for many of our readers, Item #8 (Trial by Question) of the d8 table could do with a bit of amplification, possibly in a followup post sometime down the track.
One of my favorite trial-by-ordeals is the old standby of submergin an accursed witch for 10 minutes. If they drown, they were innocent, if they survive they are guilty and must be burned at the stake in a basket of cats…
August 17th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
That is a good idea, Mike. I will add that to my queue of upcoming blog posts.
August 19th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Thanks for permission to use the material in this article to create a random generator for the nbos software Inspiration Pad Pro 2 (you can find the program at http://www.nbos.com). I have submitted it to the nbos website for random generators, and it has been accepted!
August 22nd, 2010 at 7:22 am
That list of spell-based punishments are great. No stone prisons with bars for me!
August 30th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
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August 31st, 2010 at 7:13 pm
I think the dice are cute. They inspired you to come up with some really cool ideas ;-)
September 15th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
[…] I’ve Been Framed! […]