The Art of the Flesh

Adorable kitty

There comes a time in every DM's development when they start to get a special feeling. Deep in their heart, they realize there's more to RPGs than just hanging out with your friends and making jokes about elves. There's a story, a world to develop. And since about 99% of gamers are also nerds, players will usually leap at the chance to be great heroes acting out epic quests.

But there's another part to being epic heroes of legend: struggle. And not just struggle against harder and harder monsters.

Great heroes don't just fly forward and destroy evil. If they did, they would be no different than Gods. Pure, uncorrupted beings without flaws and humanity, who exist solely to save the world.

Great heroes need a way to connect to the common people, to be their champions. Being a hero isn't just killing evil things, it's inspiring others by action and word. And nothing is more inspiring (and relatable) than a flawed hero.


Adorable flap kitty

This is why people want OSR-like content. This is why there's thousands of RPG forums dedicated to forcing your players to make moral decisions. This is even why players choose "Grimdark" characters, because those are the characters they relate to in movies.

Now, if you are starting out a campaign, it's fairly easy to set up these sort of flaws and weaknesses. Backstory is a great way to establish the humanity of a character, and a new character can take on personality flaws easily.

But what about existing characters?

Torture Tables

Adorable hat kitty

So if your characters need help transitioning from immortal murderhobos into flawed, realistic characters, a good way to do that is to have them undergo severe physical or psychological trauma. A few weeks ago we talked about curses as a way to add role-playing depth to a character. But what about physical trauma? What great hero didn't have a scar-covered back, or an eyepatch, or a few less fingers than normal?

Before we really dig into this, however, I want to emphasize something: this isn't about knocking your players down a peg, or getting even with them for hurting your story. If you want to transition into a more story-centric game with flawed characters, you ABSOLUTELY MUST discuss it with your players first. Some people like to drop in to RPGs, see their friends, kill some goblins, and call it a day. If your group isn't fully on-board, then you're going to have a lot of trouble down the line. Personally, I'd recommend starting a second group for the alternate playstyle. That might not always be possible, but anything less will not turn out well.

So, back to business. For this method, you'll need someone who wants information out of the PCs. This would be a great way to introduce a secondary evil faction, who is looking for the information the PCs have been unearthing on the main storyline. Alternately, your main villain could be looking for a better idea of what the PCs know.


Adorable spoopy kitty

This also requires capturing the PCs. Obviously, the higher level the PCs, the harder capturing them will be. When I use this method, I usually set up a situation that the PCs will obviously not be able to win in, and then handwave the capture. Again, this requires quite a bit of trust between the players and the DM.

First come up with 7-10 questions that you can ask the heroes. Both times I've used this method, I've asked each player individually, but you can ask the whole group, choosing one person at random as well.

If the players answer a question honestly, no check is required. If they lie, do a deception check vs the interrogator's insight DC. I usually make this 15-20.

If they fail the deception check, or if they refuse to answer, then roll on the table below.


Adorable bubbly kitty

Use a d4 first, then a d6, then d8, d10, d12, and finally d20. If the players get to d20, I would ask no further questions. Do the whole "I'll be back later" bit and give them a chance to recover or escape.

1. Slap: ouch. Take 1 damage.
2. Punch to the gut: ouch. Take 3 damage
3. Punch to the face: ouch. Take 5 damage
4. Fingernail removal: on your next crit fail, you drop your weapon/spellcasting focus. You must spend an action picking it up
5. Toenail removal: on your next crit fail, you fall prone
6. Hand Skewering: For the rest of the session, when you crit fail, you drop your weapon/spellcasting focus. You must spend an action picking it up
7. Foot Skewering: For the rest of the session, when you crit fail, you fall prone
8. Tooth removal: 7 damage but you are permanently disfigured
9. Ear Removal: 10 damage and you are permanently disfigured
10. Finger removal: From now on, when you crit fail, you drop your weapon/spellcasting focus. You must spend an action picking it up
11. Toe removal: From now on, when you crit fail, you fall prone  
12. Face branding: You are hideously disfigured. Permanent disadvantage on persuasion checks and advantage on intimidation checks
13. Knee Reversal*: For this session, speed reduced by 5 ft. After dashing, make a Dexterity saving throw DC 10 or fall prone.
14. Hand Break: For this session, cannot hold two handed objects, or more than one object at once.
15. Face Break: For this session, disadvantage on Perception rolls made to see, and ranged attack rolls
16. Whipping: For this session, speed halved. Fall prone after dash actions, disadvantage on Dexterity checks made to balance
17. Kneecapping: Speed reduced by 5 ft. After dashing, make a Dexterity saving throw DC 10 or fall prone.
18. Hand removal: Cannot hold two handed objects, or more than one object at once.
19. Eye removal: Disadvantage on Perception rolls made to see, and ranged attack rolls
20. Foot removal: Speed halved, must use cane/crutch/peg leg. Fall prone after dash actions, disadvantage on Dexterity checks made to balance

*This is more like a knee sprain than actually breaking a kneecap. That would be #17.

How it played out in my session

Adorable ball kitty

I had the players sit together while I took them away one at a time. I asked each person the same 6 questions, plus 1 question tailored to their individual plotlines. Honestly, once the players realized what was at stake, they were very compliant. The enemy got a lot of information out of them.

The worst torture I ended up inflicting was a tooth removal. The players were very hesitant to get all the way up to the d20, so if I did it again I'd add more questions to get more information out of them.

Also, I think I would keep the players together for the torture session. It was fun getting some one-on-one time while the others planned their escape and discussed the different torture techniques, but I think I could generate a better aura of tension if I was there in the room with all of them.

As far as making the characters more invested in the story, I think it helped. I was able to use my questions to foreshadow future plots, and I definitely felt that going through that shared struggle brought the group together more.

In the end, I'd use it again! Maybe even to start a campaign. That could be fun - and immediately set up some group that the PCs could love to hate.


It's my blog, I can put adorable kitties in hats instead of pictures of torture

Thanks for reading!