Torture in a magical world (Rated R)

[drunkmoogle]

Recently IMC, my PCs were recently captured and tortured. I pretty much just said "you were tortured for two days, the details of which are best left undescribed." However, that didn't satisfy them, masochists that they are.

They pressed me for details, and I was truly at a loss. In a fantasy world of magical healing, it seems OOC that torture is no big deal. They took the torture pretty light-heartedly, which was not the effect I intended. Hell, they didn't even go after their tormentor when given the chance!

So I have to go shock-value. It's the only way that I believe I can engrave deep feelings of hatred into the players, as well as add to the atmosphere to the world. I'm a fan of Japanese films, which glorify violence like no other (these guys have NO taboos ). I want to make their skin crawl. Then make them laugh nervously. Then make them try to supress their gag reflex.

That's where you guys come in. In your infinite creativity, I beg of you to grant me your boon of knowledge of torture in a fantasy world where healing comes easily. I already know of mundane techniques (The Rack, thumbscrews, The Wheel, the Pear, etc.); I want to see what you guys come up with. Let's assume we have an evil Lich wizard and cleric, each with 15 class levels and wands of Cure Whatever Wounds and Restoration. Also, they have access to an original spell that prevents the body from passing out due to extreme pain.

I'll get you guys started. I've created a custom Shatter spell which tunes in on the shatter frequency of human (or elfin, or dwarfin, whatever) bone. Ever have a bone fracture? Multiply the pain by a hundredfold, starting from the ankles up.

Keep it clean, though. If something does involve sexuality/sexual abuse, give us fair warning and put it in SPOILER text. (BTW, someone tell us how to do that)

I think I just gave the mods some more work to do.

/walking the thin line between Creative Integrity and Just Plain Sick

 

[Goobermunch]

I'll start with something nice and basic. Flaying.

Step One: Take a knife and slowly make a shallow cut through the PC's skin.

Step Two: Make pretty shapes.

Step Three: Remove the shape.

Step Four: Pack the wound with salt.

Once a substantial portion of the victim's skin is removed, use CLW to restore the victim to health. Rinse, repeat.

--G

 

[Morpheus]

Sacrifice one of the PCs to some Dark God using BoVD sacrifice rules. I guarantee you that will show them you mean business...

 

[Talmun]

Book of Vile Darkness has lots of ideas for stuff like this...
One of the more horrific fantasy-world torture ideas actually relies on magical healing...
The victim is given a ring of regeneration, and then tortured to the point of death. The ring heals them back to full and the process starts all over. This could conceivably go on for generations, with victims being inherited by the sons of the original torturers.

 

[drunkmoogle]

The victim is given a ring of regeneration, and then tortured to the point of death...

That's the idea . Everyone's a Prometheus in DnD .

Note to self: pick up BoVD.

 

[Silveras]

That's actually one of the reasons I liked the idea of Fear and Horror checks in the 2nd Edition Ravenloft rules. It was a good way to "encourage" the character to react appropriately.

I'm going to go with the key here being to help the PLAYERS appreciate the situation better.

In that vein,

• You could give each PC a phobia that only kicks in when facing their tormentor. Perhaps they freeze up (become Shaken) whenever they see him.
• You could use the players own fears/phobias.. describe spiders in detail, etc.
• You could use real-world metaphors ... almost nobody likes nails-on-blackboard, and if you play that sound a few times .. over and over... your players may get the idea that their characters were not just hanging out
• insects give many people the willies... the torturers allowed carnivorous vermin to burrow into the PCs flesh, then cured most of the damage
• Don't forget the power of illusion. Spells that make the PC *feel* the pain without any damage. Spells that let the PC see himself/herself slaughtering his/her own parents at the command of the tormentor -- psychological torture.
• Looking into the Book of Vile Darkness (tame by some standards, but works for me), how about the torturer extracting Liquid Pain during the process ? Maybe a new spell that allows the torturer to inflict the same pain again on the victim, incapacitating him/her ?

If you more seriously want the PCs to appreciate the torment of their characters, you may want to maim the characters. Loss of a hand, leg, or eye should help the PC realize that this was not light-hearted. Open sores with virulent diseases ? Rotting stumps where their feet were ?

 

[Gothmog]

A couple nasty ideas:

1) Place a PC on top of a hollowed out stone altar with a hole in the roof of the altar. Position the PC such that his stomach is over the hole and chain him in place so he cannot move. Then you release the starving rats into the hollow chamber below the PC. Rats smell fresh flesh, and begin to climb up to the PC to knaw on his stomach, arm, or whatever is over the hole. This torture was actually used in the middle ages, usually with the end result that the rats ate through the victim's belly and went into the body cavity, eating as they went. A really gruesome way to die.

2) Systematically break bones in the PCs body, then set them badly or in warped positions and have the injury healed. Hey, if the good guys have healing, the baddies can use it too for torture. Plus, to repair the damage done, the PC has to have the bones re-broken and set correctly.

3) This one is guaranteed to freak out your spellcasters. Cut out their tongues, break their fingers, then proceed to torture them normally. Once the spellcaster seems about ready to talk, have another spellcaster use ESP or other thought reading spell to extract the info.

 

[Michael Tree]

In a fantasy world of magical healing, it seems OOC that torture is no big deal.

I would say that the exact opposite is true. With magical healing, there's no limit to the types of greivous injuries you can inflict and then heal.

I would actually suggest that you don't use the standard medieval torture devices. They're so well known that they're almost cheezy.

Also, don't forget about psychological torture. Make liberal use of illusions and mind control. Make them inflict injuries upon themselves, and upon each other. Mind probe them to find their deepest fears, then explot them. Mind probe them to find their deepest loves, the people they hold most dear, the situations they find most relaxing and peaceful, and subvert them. Play their favorite music during torture. Polymorph the torturer into their mother, sister, lover, liege, son, and daughter. Associate everything they love and hold dear with pain and degredation, so that afterward everything reminds them of the torture.

Create a full-life illusion that they've been rescued, taken to a temple, healed, reunited with their families, and returned to their lovers beds, etc. (they'll be expecting to be rescued, so they'll hopefully fall for this hook line and sinker) and then, then, just as they're about to go to sleep happy, revoke the illusion and have them back on the torture table, and start some horrible mutilation.

Do this again.

Then again.

Then again.

Then again. Do each in different ways. A few of the times they escape, and then are captured and brought back, without any sign that it's all been an illusion. Vary the length of time they're free from hours to days even to months. Make them doubt reality. Make them always paranoid that their new freedom is just another illusion.

 

[RangerWickett]

In a game I played in, one player really really hated popcorn flavored jelly beans. Really, these things taste atrocious.

So, when his character was captured, the DM went out and bought a bag of jelly beans, systematically found all the popcorn flavored ones, and, each time he refused to answer questions they asked, he had to make a Will save for his character to resist the pain of the torture. If the character failed the save, the player had to eat one of the jelly beans, to make the pain more real. *grin*

 

[Talmun]

Note to self: pick up BoVD.

Defiantly worth it IMO.

A couple of real world tortures:

The Iron Boat
A large metal device, roughly shaped like a boat, fits around the torso of the victim, it's weight keeps the victim immobile. The poor sap is taken out to a field or garden and left. Now for a little twist, the victim is regularly fed and given water...this way his waste will accumulate around him, attracting insects and small vermin. After about a week, the pests begin to nest in the victims flesh as well as the fecal mater, and his muscles atrophy...this kind of torture could go on for months.

A Walk around the Tree
A hole is cut in the victims stomach, and a loop of his small intestine is pulled out and nailed to a tree. The 'subject' is then forced to walk around and around the tree, as his guts are pulled out and wrapped around its trunk.