I know a handful of us play D&D or other tabletop games so I figure I can get at least one person's insight on an issue I've got with my PCs.

In my Ravenloft game (modified for Pathfinder), I have two 5th characters with fox familiars (one's a sorcerer and the other's a witch), yet they have done next to nothing with their foxes. They basically forget about them unless I ask about them in combat, to which both players will say "he's on me, keeping in my space." I've already decided the casterss are going to contract fleas (we'd keep good care of them!/you don't have a flea brush or animal care kit in your pack) from the constant contact as well as the familiars becoming resentful of not being able to contribute in a fight. Any ideas on how I can make them actually use their class feature?

Yes, the sorcerer took the Obtain Familiar feat from Complete Arcane.
And yes, I've had the occasional attack come up on the familiars when it was warranted.

Okay, so the sorcerer's player raised an interesting point that the alchemist's player might be intentionally trolling my game.

The players were tasked with relieving a 13 year old boy of the burden of wielding it (the trident, Riptide, has an ego of over 20 and the boy was a 13 year old human--no chance at making the Will save), at the request of his brother (himself being guided by a CG-aligned magic harp, Riverbend, designed to protect people). When the party met with the boy and found out he was dominating people (Riverbend's only spell-like power other than circle dance) and telling them to head toward an immensely high tower; the highest structure on the island to be precise, one of the CG party members (William, a Fighter 5/Barbarian 1) asked if he could wield her.

I should mention that the LG sorcerer's hand passed right through the harp and that the alchemist (neutral) was scalded upon trying to touch it. Anyway, as William holds Riverbend, she speaks through him and tells the PCs that Riptide is her magical sibling. Furthermore, while she can only be wielded by one "whose goodness knows no limits;" her brother will accept anyone as a vessel for his truly evil purposes of destroying all humanoid beings. The boy is being guided by Riverbend to usher the villagers of three small populated areas to the tower for safety, as Riptide is quite capable of causing a flood.

Anyway, the players are told that the only indication of the brother and Riptide's presence is that they are underwater. Through some magical hand waving, Riverbend is able to send the party underwater, actually teleporting them into an underwater force bubble that also contains the trident-possessed boy (imagine some of the milder mutations from RE; Revelations, the thing has a sea motif afterall) for a big boss showdown. All they had to do was disarm the kid or knock him unconscious. However, after the alchemist hit with her flintlock for 10 damage, the fighter/rogue scored a triple crit with a greataxe for a total of 54 damage...the kid was dead at -14 hit points. After the carnage, the alchemist used her grappling hook, intending to bring Riverbend with them when they returned to the surface. When they returned, the rogue/fighter was still enlarged and carrying the axe he'd felled the controlled child with (not even having bothered to wipe it clean yet) and Riverbend's wielder fainted from the sight (a 13-foot humanoid with leathery, withered skin wielding a massive greataxe covered in gore). I ended the game there because it had passed midnight and some of my players have to drive a good distance.

Anywho, the entire reason I'm posting about this is that despite the alchemist's Intelligence of 21 and Wisdom of 16; in these days between that session and the next, his player says he wants to try wielding Riptide, fully aware that it's an evil item that could likely control him. Now granted, the character has failed two of Ravenloft's powers checks for doing evil deeds (torture on both accounts), so she's had a pain devil psychically urging her to cause more suffering. I'm worried he may see this as a convenient out to troll the party and give them a considerable fight (that's another reason why I ended the session where it was).

Now the sorcerer and witch's players plan to Cooperatively Cast lightning bolt on the trident as soon as the next session starts, but it's a minor artifact and that won't do anything. Getting back to the familiars before, I'm considering just having everyone roll initiative and hopefully one of the familiars will go ahead of the alchemist; at which point I plan on having it grip the trident in its mouth and chuck the trident off the tower roof (where they were at the end of the session, the water level had receded back when they'd killed the boy).

Any ideas on how to handle this from both the character issues and the player's?

aeonic wrote:

Honestly, if they're on their second powers check and headed towards a third... well, let's start from this point. Are they playing the effects of the failed powers checks with the appropriate gravitas/horror, or are they just using it as a 'means for kewl powerz?'. Honestly, the easiest thing to do would be to say, "The trident's possessed you, I'll need your sheet as I'll be running your character as an NPC until the possession fades." If that didn't take the shine off of things real quick, I don't know what would, but it's perfectly reasonable to do so, especially since they're about two powers checks away from turning their PC over to you anyhow.

To clarify, this specific character is being exposed to the Transposition path of failures. Stage 3 adds the fiendish template, Stage 4 changes it to half-fiend and stage 5 is when they're doomed and the fiend is now in her place. This cuts off from the normal path as there's actually a Stage 6 (Darklorddom).

My one annoyane with the pain devil (Fiendish Codex II) is that there isn't any artwork given for it.

Stage 1. The first failure turned her entire skin an ashen gray and her eyes turned blood red, the boon for this was that she can now see perfectly in darkness, be it natural or magical, just like any devil. She dresses very conservatively and fully so it wasn't much of an issue.

Stage 2. The second failure turned her entire face black and craggy like a crusted over scab, with bone spurs manifesting at various points around her face. Her body is in enough constant pain to impose a -1 penalty on all d20 rolls. The boon for this step was gaining Torturer's Eye (spend a move action to ignore the DR of any single creature for 1 round) and Sadism (For every 10 damage dealt in a round, she gains a cumulative +1 luck bonus to d20 rolls on the following round). She's gotten around the face issues by first purchasing a black veil and then commissioning a blacksmith to forge her a trio of masks (sort of a cross between Hexadecimal and Doctor Doom, her name is even Victoria for Ezra's sake).

Now, they've come across a hat of disguise from a ghoul lord they've slain and she's using it to pass like normal. I realize this ameliorates a lot of issues with her appearance (I think I said her Outcast Rating would be 5 or 6 if she revealed her true form) so I'm planning on upping the devilish urgings as well as having the hat stolen at some point.

Party build is as follows:
LG sorcerer. Just being around the alchemist has taken a toll on his moral fiber and I'm thinking he may slowly ebb into NG if it continues.

NG witch, focused on healing hexes.

CG fighter 5/barbarian 1. This character was finding himself attracted to the alchemist despite her appearance, though he hasn't seen her face proper, only aware that her body is an ashen gray.

CG caliban rogue 3/fighter 3. He's only been around for one session, but until the player corrected the languages he knew, the alchemist was the only character with a common language. Because of this, the caliban obviously trusts the alchemist.

N alchemist. Originally she was LN, but torturing someone repeatedly and against the common law of the area, even if the nobles have a different sense of justice was enough to knock any lawfulness out. This character is dangerously close to shifting into NE alignment, after first leashing the only gnoll that surrendered to them, handing it an axe and telling it to chop a path through what portions of the forest the party didn't burn down on threat of death if it refuses, only to turn around and tell the caliban to decapitate it after it had chopped through enough trees to leave the forest (7 hours). Even if it was a gnoll, and thus an evil monster, it's not something to be proud of.
Another wrinkle about her player, he seems to interpret alignment as subjective, which everyone else had to hammer into him isn't how D&D's alignment system works. His definition of chaotic good, more often than not falls into CN/CE territory.

Looking over my last session, it dawned on me that Victoria (the alchemist) invoked a powers check I forgot to roll for (Major Betrayal with the gnoll, Extortion doesn't call for checks against evil NPCs). I foresee her downfall quite soon as Riptide has an ego of 37, and even bearing/using an evil magic item calls for checks. Though, should I still call for checks if Riptide is making her perform the acts?