Would your character use it?

Don't know about the first two, but that last one was pretty obvious trolling, Mr. Asperger.

I've 2 guys on the go at the moment, so you get two answers
>paladin
sounds like consorting with devils He'd probably try destroying it, and failing that, see that it was locked up away from idle hands. so that's a no

>warlock
the warlock embodies the concept of "turn it up to 11"
so yes, several times, till they'd worked out how it works. then they'd probably try one or all of the following;
making their own,
gaming the system,
opening a portal to where or what is handing out the goodies.

It's the Crimson Behelit. Basically, during an eclipse that happens every 216 years, it creates a space between the mortal realm and the spirit world, and the person who is destined to hold it is given the option to sacrifice their loved ones in exchange for becoming a demonic demigod.

>Cleric
With how the Behelit works he definitely would.
>Ranger
His goal is to get his love back so definitely not. Not even if it would save his life because all the shit he's already dealt with he doesn't really care. Especially since the world is already gonna end.
>Sorcerer
In a fucking heartbeat.

It doesn't matter if you would or wouldn't.
What matters is is it meant for you?
You don't get one of these and hang onto it unless you are meant to use it or inadvertently bring it to someone who will.

And if you are meant to use it, then at the right time and place you will.
That's it.

He wouldn't have much of a choice, now would he?

>Berserk
>shitty chinease cartoon

>locking it away
It's destined to find whoever it was meant for at the right time, when they're at your absolute lowest. If it is your fate, throwing it away won't help in the slightest. That's why OPs question is pointless. If your paladin was meant for it, his very ideals would be twisted against him by that point by being made totally untenable without the use of the behelit, and those he would sacrifice would already seem to have betrayed him or his ideals. That he loves them would only make it easier with that in mind. Whoever set your paladin on their righteous path may well have been manipulating them from the start: every sacrifice you made before then will make the death toll for completing the ritual seem small, and almost comforting after it's done. It's causality, plain and simple. The worlds true privileged class, those above fate, doesn't include anyone destined for those damned things. That said, it's not like just anyone is meant for it. Perhaps you trying to lock it up somewhere brings it to it's proper owner. They're items that take a hold of the plot in that sense. If they exist you're probably fucked one way or the other.

>they can't even reverse image search to figure shit out
>being indignant in their ignorance
Pic related.

Hey we pretend the anime adaptations of berserk dont exist

Berserk is a manga I dont know what you mean by anime

Maybe he has only seen the last anime.

But he's right tho

See, my character wouldn't/couldn't use it.
He might try to destroy it, if it even can be destroyed.
But the Behlit is activated by despair and desperation, two emotions this character has severed.

He already hit his lowest point in his backstory when he lost his entire squadron to demons when he didn't know or believe they even existed.

He hit that point already, and his fire went out. But still he kept moving. Something cold kept him going that couldn't be extinguished.

It wasn't hatred or vengeance. It was a cold, serene motivation to find every single creature that could be considered a "monster" and kill them.

Not to torture them, or scare them, or do anything of the sort, just kill them as quickly as possible and erase every trace of their work and actions in the greater world.
Some are captured live for study and experimentation, but that's done purely for practical reasons.
He hooked up with a larger organization that does the same, thing, and he appreciates the company, but does not share the hatred or curiosity of his co-workers.

So for the Behlit, he would study it, figure out what it does, and use it to lure in demons. Kill or capture them, and probably wind up just keeping the behlit to himself.

Because in his possession it is completely inert.

He hit the point of "fuck it" and went full existential nihilist. He knows the world doesn't make sense and doesn't mind it when bad things happen to him. That being said he certainly does try to prevent them, but the damn artifact wouldn't work.

If anything, the godhand has seen fit to deliver a behlit into the possession of a man that will never stop trying to figure out how to kill them no matter how convoluted a plan it would take, but is completely immune to all their manipulation power. Because he lacks all the drives they would use against him.

I mean they are inspired by a guy who did nothing wrong (Griffith) so yea

My character doesn't really have any loved ones, so would it even work for him?

What is-
Oh. Yeah, no. He already can create his own space between the two realms AT WILL, and while there he's on the same level as a god, and he didn't have to sacrifice anything or anyone to do it, he just had to WIZARD harder than every other wizard, until he synced up with God O Wizards completely.

>My character doesn't really have any loved ones, so would it even work for him?
Actually yes. Your character just needs to get to a low point in their lives. I mean really fucking low. Dying in the gutter after whoring themselves out for booze then getting their teeth knocked out with everyone laughing at them or throwing rocks low.
Low so that dying would be mercy but not even death is humoring you. And you gotta be aware of just how shitty your situation is.

Then the behlit will activate, summoning whichever of the godhand tossed it into the world (Only the crimson behlit summons all 4 now 5) and your character will have to perform some sort of perverse act for them. Usually for most people its sacrificing all their loved ones, but for your character with no loved ones it will probably be something like sacrificing innocents or anyone would would be nice to them.

Great bargain too, you don't even need to do the heavy lifting yourself, you just have to make the decision to join them and they send a bunch of demons to do all the horrible stuff for you. Then you get rid of your dumb old human body and get a brand new demon body like the one pictured here.

EVERYBODY WINS!

Nah. His whole goal is to become fully human and not die as a cursed half-spirit. Using the behelit to not die would pretty much fuck his goals completely, even if he'd lost everything else.

There are characters I've played in the past that definitely would, though.

>dicks mcgee, barbarian warlock
absolutely, when he started maybe not, but after he pacted to become a warlock he wouldn't give a shit if it meant his survival and increased power
>paladin
Yea, its complicated, but in her moment of greatest despair? The moment she'd most likely unlock it, she'd basically have no choice.
>druid
probably yea, poor kid had his arms and legs shattered. After that he was pretty fucked up. He really just doesn't give a shit about anyone or anything aside from his adoptive mother, so sacrificing her might be hard, but yea I could see it.

My character is Lawful Good like Griffith, so yes he'd almost certainly use it.

I'm assuming OP meant "would your character make the sacrifice," in which case there is ALWAYS a choice.

A more simple (and more accurate) answer than the other guy's would be yes. The behelit can activate for anyone fated to use it.

If there was anyone or anything the person cared about, they'd ask for it. If said person had nothing, they'd give him something to care about then ask for that. That's what happened with Eggy. He didn't sacrifice a specific person, he sacrificed "his world," meaning the area immediately around his cave and whoever happened to be there, including himself.

And it definitely can't be just some random person off the street, unless the Godhand convinced the poor schmuck to care about them somehow. Void and co. specifically tell the Count that ain't how it works. And Eggy had to be taken on an Aladdin-style "I can show you the world!" montage.

Still though, if fate (causality) determined you should have the behlit then you will have it and it can activate for you.

Now you CAN manipulate causality if you are aware of it or if you step outside of it.

In terms of just activating the Behelit, yeah it can potentially be anybody as long as they are ordained by the laws of fate. I don't know about forcing it to activate. I think Flora said that's not how it works, and she's about as aware as they come....yeah, here it is.

Here's a direct explanation of the object's nature from the very next page.

Maybe. He's a cynic that loves magic in all its former and feels crushed under his burdens and the tasks ahead.

Isn't there some dude in that series that got around those rules, and refused to sacrifice anyone?

Damn, but I'm pretty sure that it IS possible to manipulate fate.
That is precisely what the Godhand is doing, and its hinted that Guts has moved contrary to fate several times in his life. Hence why Slaan and Spookyknight are so interested in him.

Well, all sorts of things can happen. Take Ganishka's work around, for example. It was quite effective, even if it didn't work quite out the way he planned.

>even if it didn't work quite out the way he planned.
Even the Godhand gets suprises, like Guts surviving the eclipse.
That brand fated him to die before Femto emerged from his cocoon. However he's still kicking.

The Dragonslayer was a hunk of iron and a gag "weapon" until Guts changed its fate by using it to kill paranormal creatures. Once it became known as a weapon, its very concept changed through his force of will and action.

So in Berserk, fate can change, but it requires tremendous amounts of effort and an awareness of ones place in the flow of causality.

Not to say you're wrong, but the Dragonslayer was just a big heavy sword. Guts took a shine to it because he was used to wielding a huge greatsword. But over time it became infused with spiritual residue. Guts didn't do that on purpose though. He still may not be aware of the special properties imbued into his weapon (and probably wouldn't care)

A better example of someone aware of causality and attempting to create a weapon that can defy fate would be the Skullknight, I think.

I will add however, that Skullknight's attempt to change fate seems to have failed, and he was merely caught up in fate's flow and inadvertently became part of the cause and effect chain created by Femto's advent.

Considering he may have caused a lot of deep gnome casualties, he'll probably do it

>Righteous Victory of Valley Village

A martial artist whose goal is to become the best at the art of murder in the whole world.

>summoning whichever of the godhand tossed it into the world

He'd probably try to find a way to deliberately activate it just so he could seize the chance to fight a godhand.

>seize the chance to fight a godhand.
Oh my sweet summer child

>seize the chance to fight a godhand.
Buddy, I'm not gonna sugar coat it. A modern Abrams tank would have a difficult time killing ONE of the demons that the godhand have at their beck and call.

Each one of them presents a unique threat as they are basically ironic twisted reflections of their former human selves. Some spit acid, some are covered in dicks tipped in steel shredding claws, some can fly at MACH 2, its really a toss up.

But all of them are wicked tough and have Wolverine like regenerative abilities that lets them reattach their heads if you remove it, and quite a few of them have multiple functioning heads.
They have an entire army of these creatures, they are all intelligent and unbelievably petty.

Then you have the Godhand themselves, which are just giant versions of these demons roughly the size of an average mountain (They can project more human sized avatars). Just one of them spreading her wings was enough to cause a small hurricane that threw horses around.

Each of them has power over a certain human emotion and if you happen to have that emotion in excess they basically can control you like a puppet on strings.

They also have their own unique abilities such as the ability to create multiple portals at will. Pic related is Spookyknight trying to stab one of them and a portal just opens up in front of his sword and fucks with the fabric of space so that he's stabbing at himself. They like to do shit like that.

Hell, a projection of Slaan got off on getting shot with an arm cannon because it tickled her a bit, then stabbed with a steel construction beam.

What's your plan skippy? Gonna punch them to death?

my current character believes that you should put effort into earning any sort of power and doing it on your own, so no lol

Hey I didn't say he was that smart did I?

We don't know what the scope and limits if their powers are so its difficult to say for sure who can and cannot defeat them. Voids weird portals, Femto's telekinesis, Slan's...womb thing... it could be the tip of the iceberg it could be close to all they can do. We can only guess, so I would hesitate to speak with certainty.

>seize the chance to fight a godhand.
The Godhand are amongst those beings I put above Chaos when it comes to reality-fuck erythromycin. These are beings who view the flow of fate as a story that they can warp and twist in whatever manner they see fit. They can screw with causality to the point that many people don'the even realize that they are being used until it is far, far too late. Unless your character is on the level of an Exalt or a Noble, they won'the be doing shit against them.

That...that's a good point

>they are all intelligent and unbelievably petty.
Then they are writing demons correctly

>Hell, a projection of Slaan got off on getting shot with an arm cannon
She even asked for a round 2

He'd use the hell out of it and then pick a fight with the God Hand

It'd end badly, probably, but that's what he'd do.

I think any character given the right set of circumstances would. That's the scary part. Everyone is breakable. Everyone has that potential for such evil inside them

You can refuse to sacrifice someone. Count did.

I played a noble lady once who dabbled in magic, was branded a witch and had her entire house, fortune and lively-hood destroyed by the township.
She was on the run with her sister and the one maid that stayed with them.
During that time, if she had the face-egg-thing, she would of probably embraced it until she finds out about the 'kill your loved ones' clause.
As if so happens, she ended up selling her soul to some patron of fire to save said sister and maid who was now bossing them around anyway and ended up going full Quelaag in the end. Lava-Spider body and everything.

I ended up retiring her as her patron was beginning to become antagonistic towards the party so she grabbed her Sister, MasterMaid and left before she was forced to choose a side, instead doing her patrons bidding elsewhere.

>I don't need you to find what I wish.
>And it's much more... exciting... to paitiently lie in wait until what you want has reached maturity.

...

Guess what? None of the other players give a DAMN about what happened to your character before the game, and neither does the GM.
Why? Because thats not the SHARED story, its just something you made up.

A narrative, that you force others to listen to that pleases you because you have every control over its effects and interpretation for future implications.

It happened off screen, and IT DOESN'T MATTER.

If I was your gm, I would engineer something to happen in scope to make you forget all about your flowery and self indulgent back story.

Thats not what makes a character cool at the table anyway.

Not him, but I would be turned off by a GM who doesn't use elements of the character's backstory against them. Or features them somewhat in the current campaign.

Can you chose to not use it?

Sure, I'm willing to grant you that reasonable point, well made and succinct.

You're right.

But the time to have a detailed back story is after you've already done something, and you're fleshing out a character that already exists.

Before you know it, your back story starts growing, and has explanations for why you acted the way you did (after the fact), and that give the gm something to work with.

But where I'm going is making a stance against tell gaming of the sort that the poster made.
"Can't experience my characters lowest moment in game! All my characters pathos is tied to an event where I was both the gm and the player and it happened JUST THE WAY I WANT IT TO but it was TOTALLY BEYOND MY CHARACTERS CONTROL"

An example is the over used trope:
"My mother was raped. RARRRHH I HATE RAPISTS"

I agree with your point. This is another reason why I usually write a succint backstory and let the GM have a go at it, before writing in more detail, letting the GM sift through it again and then putting in some finishing touches with the nuances of the character and to be able to explain the choices of character creation that I went with.

Brilliant. You had me at 'succinct'. If you can't explain it in a sentence, its too convoluted for a gm to MANAGE working with, and too deeply personal, at least when theres also a campaign to begin at the same time.

I actually could have made better examples, and I'm glad you got the thrust of my frustration...

Your character sounds like an insufferable faggot.

>undead machinist
No. Magic is cheating. He won't even use magically enhanced building materials in his equipment because he feels it insults his intelligence.

>Revenant Elf spellsword
Also no. Dude's incredibly pious. He died and his faith is still intact (which is fitting, as he was reincarnated as an avatar of devotion) He'd try and destroy it if he knew what it did

>Troll witchdoctor
Also no. His entire goal is to make Destiny eat his boot. Wouldn't touch the thing.

>CLANG

>Revenant Warlock/Rogue
He has one goal in his unlife: Wipe out the knightly order that betrayed and murdered him, and he doesn't care what comes after that. His patron, Mephistopheles, probably wouldn't take kindly to him gaining enough power to actually become a threat to him, though.

>can't be just some random person off the street
No, it can't be someone you hate or your enemy, 'cause either Gaisselick or Boid sacrificed an entire fucking kingdom

>turn into a creature at will
Understatement of the fucking century

Basically, you can become the equivalent of Demon Jesus and make the world your twisted playground.

>ganger woman in her early forties
>have quite dickish family
>still love them all too much, will die for them without hesitation
No sacrifice possible

>young and ambigious temple maid
>wants fame, love and influence
>afraid to become mutilated, abandoned and powerless
>one of party members is a huge one-eyed warrior with giand sword and enough balls to survive whole thing
>no reference intended, he became like that naturally during the game
This is even more obvious than I thought.

In fact yes. Repeatedly. He will attach it to a stick and use a mace to bludgeon all the fuckers who already have Behelit.

Agreed, but omits the central point - the most interesting thing in character development is not what has happened in their past, but where they will go in the future. A character that has been finalized as "done with the world, set on fighting coldly until he's dead" has nowhere to go. He's like a joke that keeps rambling on after the punchline.

They are nearly literally the HAND of GOD, (hence, the name) the only problem is that god is evil and made of humanity's pure self-loathing an nihilism. But it's still a full-blown god, with absolute power over fate. Very certain people and places exist outside of its domain, and it's very difficult to break somebody out of fate, Gut's entire life has been fucked completely in the fight to escape destiny and it's not any better when you do get out of the frying pan. has it right, certain beings like Skull Knight can apparently keep behelits away from their true owners and prevent sacrifices from dying, and other "god's plan" breaking stuff, but not always.

Trick question. My character is a murderhobo, and so doesn't hold anyone dear. This way the DM can't fuck with me.

You're missing out on some premium drama (the good kind) by making your character imperturbable. But perhaps not every group can deal with the twists and turns of storytelling.

I had a character in similar situation and he basically used the same approach as Skullknight. Though not because he couldn't punch other beings to death (he actually could), but because he considered it ultimately useless in the long run.

The problem with such beings is not to kill them (that is very hard but doable) but to stop the possibility of their creation in the first place. And that is almost impossible.

They'd have to care deeply for the kingdom and its subjects in general. I never said it had to be an individual. In fact I made it clear it doesn't need to be using Egg Apostle as an example. It can be a person, or an institution or even a concept but it has to be something you feel very strongly about. Thems the rules. If a shit ton of people get caught up in your sacrifice its because they each happened to be a piece of that thing that was super duper ultra special important to you. Subjects of your beloved kingdom, soldiers of your beloved band, neighbors in your wonderful neighborhood, etc. etc. etc.

Its still a choice to make the sacrifice. Fate will fuck you in the mouth as normal if you aren't a fish swimming against its current though.

Yes. You can refuse to make a sacrifice and the Godhand have to fuck off. You'd have to have quite the backbone to go against them though, and the Behelit usually targets the type of people that when pushed to the edge, will break. It always comes at you when you're at your worst and your weakest.

Lurk moar

Literally, actually, seriously kill yourself. Don't care how, just stop breathing as soon as possible

Didn't Griffith have it for a long time before it activated? It was called "The King Maker" in the show, iirc.

Yes. He was dragged screaming into hell shortly after.

I think pretty much every single character I've ever played would use a crimson one unless they are already around the level of the godhand. Of course the problem is anyone who would want to use a Behelit also will likely never get one because of how fate works.

The real question is more if the character can fight off fate well enough to not decide to take the choice at the end.

>No, it can't be someone you hate or your enemy

I'm pretty sure you could actually sacrifice one of those. But it would need to be something like you hate the person but also have made that a part of your identity and killing them would be like ripping a piece of yourself out. All that is really needed is that you need to be willing to give up the most important thing to you. Which I could see as your rival or something like that.

I think it depends on how the GM likes to cause this drama. Having things you love get shit on all the time gets old. There's loss, and there's wholesale slaughter of your whole family.

>There's loss, and there's wholesale slaughter of your whole family.

The best kind of drama is not where there is a wholesale slaughter of your entire family. It's when your whole family wishes it was a slaughter instead of what they go instead.

Yes, he had it since he was a child, and I think he was in his early 20's at the time of the Eclipse.

He already has.

Yes, and he lost it when he was tossed in the clink, and it returned to his hand right at the moment he really needed it. Behelits travel around, with the person their meant for or away from them, but you can be sure that when the time is right they'll find their way to where they are supposed to be. That is their nature.

That is absolutely right. Well put.

It has to be someone or something you care very deeply for. It can be someone you both love the most deeply and whom you hate the most deeply in the whole world. In fact, those two feelings seem to go hand in hand most of the time. Every Apostle that we've seen sacrifice someone has followed that trend. The Count, Rosine, Nameless, Ganishka, even Griffith to some extent. All of them both loved and hated their sacrifice, but in all cases it was something that meant more to them than anything else in the world. It was a huge part of who they were, like tearing out their own soul.

So a cause you fight against and someone who symbolizes that can be used as a Benhilit Sacrifice even if it means there would be no more conflict related to that?

So a crusader who feeds a prime evil demon his order has fought again even though he was cast out of the order a long time ago could the Benhilit for that purpose?

> even though he was cast out of the order a long time ago could the Benhilit for that purpose?

Depends on if he sees the order as still being the most important thing in his life. If he still cares and especially if some of the people in there is loved ones then it should work.

Of course. It is just if he use the Benehlit on the demon the order will lose the only thing they have fighting for and thus suffer a painful decline and fall they are now withput a cause

>So a cause you fight against and someone who symbolizes that can be used as a Benhilit Sacrifice even if it means there would be no more conflict related to that?
Absolutely. No longer having that most important thing to cling to is pretty much the whole deal.

As to the second part, I'm not sure I understand. Is he sacrificing the Order, or the demon they fought again? In any event, as long as he has a very strong sentimental attachment to the demon or the order in question, it should work. Like Ahab might be able to sacrifice Moby Dick for example. Maybe, been a long time since I read that book.

Wait is he trying to sacrifice the demon just to spite the order or is the demon something that defines him as a person, something that is like a part of his soul? Cause I don't think indirect sacrifices count.

The demon they fought against.

Is this more about the demon itself or the Order's mission?

If it would make me the greatest rapist of all time then yes

Nah, he'd probably throw holy water all over the thing.

The Order's misson. Their whole goal had been to slay the demon and they have done a lot of misdeeds to do it. So the guy thought of sacrificing the demon using the thing would kill two birds in one stone as during that moment he is about to be turned to an unwilling puppet of the demon and turned against his order and he wants the demon dead at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing the order in a figurative way