New answers tagged world-building
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Not sure what system you're aiming for, but Bestiary 3 for Pathfinder has a good amount of eastern themed monster content.
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For Chinese-themed beasts I think you'd find it hard to top the Qin Bestiary. It's published in English by Cubicle 7 although originally is a French-language game that depicts a fantasy game set in ancient China. The feel of the game is very different from Western fantasy and there's plenty of cultural, historical and mythical information in the other Qin ...
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I'm not quite sure if that's what you mean by "unnatural", but if you want to make magic inherently evil, I suggest to make it powered by sacrifice of the unwilling.
Make the cultists keep chambers full of slaves (human or other empathy-inducing creatures, such as fairies) who suffer and weaken (and eventually die) every time the magic is cast, through some ...
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Unnatural magic must feel different than other forms of magic; when I need to do this it typically comes in one of three forms (or as a hybrid of the above):
Uncontrolled Magic
Typically, magic is a tool; it may be a contractual thing, but it is always done, at least in a normal fantasy setting, with a certain degree of control, conscious or not. When I ...
10
In order for magic to seem unnatural, it needs to have noticeable difference from the "natural" magic that it's being compared to.
Along with the other answers, consider allowing the unnatural magic to break some of the rules of natural magic (or all magic as the PC's previously knew). In order for this to work you need at least a couple well defined ...
5
If magic is commonplace, you'll need to be able to emphasize the unnaturalness of the evil magic in a special way that sticks out and is unusual. Something like:
Strange power source. For example, make it be fueled by cultists injuring themselves or others and your players should be shocked. The shrieking man drives a knife into his hand and waves it at ...
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(I haven't played 13th Age, but this sounds pretty system agnostic.)
Start the campaign with no usage of the unnatural magic, and have it be introduced with, for example, the first "mini-boss." Increase use of it after that point. To further the difference, give the "unnatural" magic a different name, like witchcraft, demon-magic, old-magic, depending on ...
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I agree that this is very like Fred in Angel. I second the remarks about building trust, showing vulnerability and exchanging stories. In real life a great deal of a relationship is established by sharing personal information. One way to drive this would be to make the NPC erratically psychic: this would allow her to make predictions that would be of great ...
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"Like" can take a number of forms, each of which can be achieved in a different way.
One of the most reliable ways to get the players to like/respect an NPC is trust. Set up multiple scenarios where the NPC takes a big risk in trusting the players and having it payoff, and vice versa. This is the classic, "I got your back" situation, used very frequently ...
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Having her be useful in combat would certainly be nice, but its not essential. People you like do not need to be useful to you, much less useful in any particular way.
But she probably shouldn't be a liability either. She could either be useful in combat, or just really good at staying out of the way.
To be really likable, a character needs to be well ...
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In combat have her consistantly using aid another (or similar buff) to one or all members of the team (via magic) and give her the ability to bestow blessings on the characters allowing them a reroll an attack or get temp hp (aka slight dodge) as an automatic interupt once a combat encounter so the characters will like her for helping them be more bamf and ...
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Align her with the party's own interests. Make her be a foil to someone the characters hate. Have her do things that the characters would want to do, but couldn't for purely social reasons. This would work especially well with the whole "half-mad" thing.
You should consider allowing some sort of compromise to be possible; maybe they still have to return ...
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Make them believable and not ridiculous.
For instance, let's look at a Dark Heresy NPC I created.
Three times stronger than any character in the party (in combat, at least).
Inquisitor's pet, so anything he said was what their handler believed.
Complete disregard for his own safety, and that of party members.
The players were in shock when he died-and I ...
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Make her a respected asset in the group - have her intelligently contribute to battles.
That, however, is not relevant to how much your players will like her - her likability is much more related to how you role play her character:
Give her memorable traits: have one, or two, major character traits, and several minor ones, that define her. She might be a ...
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Should she be an asset in combat or should she need their protection?
I would vote for an equal. If she's too powerful she'll look like a DMPC. If she's needy, the players won't like that either. Make her contribute without stealing anyone's spotlight. If your players are particularly gamey, make her a healer or buffer.
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