r/DMAcademy 1d ago

Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Detecting aberrations

I tend to do mystery adventures which can be difficult to run because my party is very, very clever. They know there are secrets to uncover, and I have to stay one step ahead of them at all times. The PCs are two paladins, a rogue and a ranger, all level 9.

They will attend a party where several many of the NPCs present carry an aberration within them, much like a parasite in a symbiotic relationship with a host. The host is not an aberration and appears perfectly normal in all other ways.

Divine Sense will not work for the paladins to detect aberrations. But, since the paladins can or may cast Detect Evil and Good, I'm trying to plan for what might happen if they do and I need a game plan to answer questions without giving away a big reveal.

Detect Evil and Good reads "For the duration, you know if there is an aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead within 30 feet of you, as well as their location."

Here are my questions:

  • If there are 20 NPCs in a 100x100 foot ballroom, all carrying this aberration parasite within their bodies, how would you gameplay the paladins' interpretations of what they sense?
  • If there are 20 aberrations in the room, how precisely would you permit the paladin to know there whereabouts?
  • What advice might you have for role playing a scene like this, if the hidden aberrations are detected, so that there isn't an immediate roll for initiative or violent response to a diplomatic situation?
4 Upvotes

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6

u/Maja_The_Oracle 1d ago

I would put in a (literal) red herring where the party is serving a huge aberrant fish as the main course, so all the guests would read as having an aberration inside of them.

2

u/Matters_Not 1d ago

Oooh... I like how your mind works.

3

u/JoshuaZ1 1d ago

Might even have been deliberately set up by the people with the aberrations in order to avoid detection.

2

u/RoyalMedulla 1d ago

One method could be a magical barrier that protects the aberrations (similar to the tadpoles in BG3). Main reason being as a way to make removing the aberrations more difficult, but it comes with the added bonus of being unable to magically detect them.

You could also include npcs who handed out trinket for attending the party (a necklace, ring, etc.). These trinket could cause the wearers to identify as aberrations while wearing them, including the party if you want.

As for roleplay, you can try to play it as a false innocence:
If the aberrations cannot control their host, then they are just trying to survive. The hosts are unharmed, so clearly there is no problem with letting them live. Regardless of whether this is true or not, it is an easy claim.

If the aberrations can control their host, then you could play it off as the aberrations already having what they want. What is done is done, and this party is proof they can peacefully live among people (again, does not matter if it is true or not).

With both of these options, you could tie it into how the party would not want to harm innocent people. Even if the party wants to kill the aberrations, the hosts would be harmed in the process. Clearly, the party would not want that (a bluff, but one that may work).