u/Gylfi_

Hello everyone,

This is my first time DMing and the campaigns I played werent really lore heavy so I am honestly a bit overwhelmed with lore. I don't want to homebrew because I know I would forget world rules I set 😅

All my players are new so everyone basically made a PC that grew up kinda isolated so everything is new. One of my players plays a Warlock with tome of book and in his backstory a drunk in his local tavern gave him a book and disappeared. When he read the book he accidentally made a pact with a demon who send him an imp in form of a duck. We agreed that I could use the duck for some lore dumb to help players out in recognizing creatures or understanding the world a little better.

The concept really sounded interesting because as far as I know demons are absolute chaos. I tried to get into the demon lore after I got into Devils lore but it was so much that I am not sure what kind of demon would possibly made such a pact. I was thinking maybe the demon is bound to the book and wants to get out, so possibly the PC gets some quests that seem harmless but help in some kind of ritual if that makes sense?

I also wanted to use the demon to give the players a more obvious non combat option, like a necromancer who is working for that demon so the duck knows the necromancer and the players can choose to fight him or find a solution with the help of the duck.

Basically I need help figuring out who this demon is or what kind, if they premise makes any sense and if what I have planned actually sounds fun? We start with LmoP but after that we don't really have anything planned, so the demon being the actual Bbeg sounds kinda intriguing, but I also don't know how it would be handled for the Warlock if they want to get rid of the demon, they would lose the power wouldnt they? And if the demon sees the Warlock not doing his deed he would probably also just not give him any power? I am not 100% sure how a pact works with a demon. If I understand correctly a devil would be bound to the contract but a demon wouldn't care?

I was also wondering if the Warlock dies and the player wants to keep their character, would they be send to the abyss and possibly be taken back via a ritual or such?

Thanks for any input or idea on how to handle this. In the end I dont need to utilize the demon and we could just play modules, but I thought it would be more fun for players to have a personal goal/quest that we can expand on after the module.

Hello everyone,

LmoP is the first campaign I am DMing before that I only made one shots and played some campaigns myself. I am not very well versed in DNDs universe and would like to get some input from experienced DMs. I am trying to Tie the backstories of my players to the LmoP quests so they actively look for them and have a reason to be in Phandalin. These are all first time players.

1. Barbarian is coming from the cold north and his village was raised and he was the only survivor and looking for revenge. -> was thinking about Black Spider to be the one who destroyed the village to get some kind of artifact. But don't know what could be the reason for him to go to neverwinter and join the rest

2. Warlock worked at a tavern where a drunk gave him a book which he read and accidentally made a pact with a demon and now has a server of that demon by his side in a form of a duck (only for roleplay as I am not sure how I would handle a demon duck as help). I honestly don't know if a pact can work like that and as far as I know demons are chaotic evil? -> for him the demon told him to help the red wizard close to phandalin.

3. Druid wants to get rid of phandalin because it destroys the forest 😅 -> Helping the other druid in thunder tree would probably make sense and that he will need help with it. There he might be convinced to not destroy phandalin

4. Bard is basically a circus clown who was hired by gundren as support (players idea). Don't know what to do with that honestly

5. Rogue is coming from a rich family but was bored and stealing stuff for the thrill of it. She wanted to steal some kind of magic weapon that was rumored to be in another families fault. Unfortunately it was stolen and now she wants to know who did it and get it back -> probably stolen by Glasstaff and redbrand. Would make sense to me that it was the glassstaff and maybe she found a red fabric which leads her to phandalin?

6. Paladin is from a wealthy family from neverwinter whose family was raided and couldnt get back to its glory. He was Sent to the Temple of Lathander to restore the glory of his family through Helping others. Also hired by gundren as protection. -> I was thinking about extending his Mission to help sister G?

I would appreciate any input if anything doesnt really make sense and better ways on how to Tie the characters in the story of LmoP. I dont know if we will continue after LmoP so I would try to kinda resolve their stories as well as possible.

Thank you very much