I think what's happening is that you have 5 hookups, but only 2 really present like potential 'romances' with somewhere interesting left to go from the first outing. The Shadowheart version and the Minthara one, with a pretty sharp contrast. Both are along the more 'evil' path, or with evilish characters, so that's a bit of an issue. Somebody wanting something more wholesome and enduring will likely balk at every hookup scene, except for Shadowheart's perhaps, which is the only 'let's take it slow' fair on offer. Minthara is definitely not a rehash of Viconia's one nighter for example, with the one and done. She leaves the door ajar a bit more, provided you don't get insta-knifed right after and can thread the needle there.
Minthara is a good fit for the archetypal fanatic. A cultist and a narcissist who reads grand design into everything that happens. She shuns and murders the outsiders, and would do the same to you two seconds ago, but then as soon as you deliver the secret code word and say "Absolute!" she turns on a dime. You're on the in-team again. Suddenly its like "This is destiny! Lets go down to the temple and make this official. Tonight, right now. I own you! The Absolute just told me so!" And the PC is like "yeah! OK! Why not? What could possibly go wrong!" Lol
Cause in order to activate this path the PC has to mirror her capriciousness and capacity for wanton murder and heedlessness.
Why should it be rational at all? Hehe
I mean for this character isn't it better to have it be frenetic and impulsive? Are we looking for sensible and generally relatable from Minthara the Drow murder machine? I don't need that from this one. This sort of villain can totally be about psychopathy and holding hands while diving headlong into a volcano if that's what the PC elects to do with it.
The charm there would be that she's insane, but also insane for you, and maybe if she doesn't decide to kill you on a whim 'cause Absolute!' it can pan out into something even more ridiculous later.
Let the slow build be for Shadowheart or Gale or whoever. Minthara can't even be bothered to wipe the blood off her face lol. She's ready to floor it at 100 mph straight off the side of the cliff, and its kinda great for what it is!
Chaotic villains have something chaotic to look forward to in their questionable sexual entaglements. Something that doesn't have to make sense but just is. This crazy church lady with all the baggage and no blinders is perfect for that.
Later when she flips the switch and we go from soul mates to vendetta divorce proceedings with absolute alimony, that'll be great too.
Sure the sex scene itself is a bit weak, but they could clean that up. Minthara is for the character who has already decided they have more in common with the disorganized Goblins than the people anyway. So I think in many respects its fun. There just aren't a lot of other alternatives on offer currently, so it's strained by players wanting it to adapt more and fit all molds. What they probably need is another villanous romance that follows a more reliably Lawful Evil or Neutral Evil arch, but for a Chaotic arch this one is servicable. They just need to play into that with the follow up.
Also, for a more Lawful or Neutral take as opposed to Chaotic on this one (or perhaps more in keeping with her high WIS and CHA scores)... for all we know by the close here, Minthara could have just made the Absolute up on a whim. Invented the name, convinced a bunch of goblins to go along along with it like a proper charlatan power grab. Or else perhaps she really believes like a prophetic schizophrenic, depending how we take her waffling on the issue. I think both have potential. The first so we can eventually lift the veil and see that she's a manipulator and puppeteer but sort of in over her head with it and needs our help to maintain the deception with everyone else. The second so that we can turn the tables, steal the master manipulator show, and have her as our true believer who buys into whatever we say, so long as it's prefaced by "Absolute" talk to get her on board. Either probably work. As the PC we sort of know that 'the Absolute' is a proxy for mindflayer trickery, but Minthara is the one turning it into a cult religion among the locals, so as chaotic maybe we join in just to be disruptive, as neutral or lawful to harness this one for our own ultimate designs. I see some payoff for either approach.
Not exactly related, but I still think a Sazza 'romance' has some potential too heheh
Last edited by Black_Elk; 24/10/21 09:22 PM.
