I have been writing my own campaign setting for quite some time and I'm polishing off the 6th iteration of my list of deities. One thing that I have been working with is the idea of removing alignment entirely from deities.
Alignment still does exist normally for everything else, but deities are far too powerful and mysterious for mortal ethics to be used for the gods. They are all working toward goals that are so long term that even something as ancient as a dragon or a lich would last a mere fraction of a single move in a god's plans.
As such, I will be allowing players to have any alignment and worship any deity they want to. Deities do typically attract mortals of certain alignments, but religious dogma is still up to interpretation for individual mortals. This leads to different sects of the same deity that have vastly different views and alignments.
For example, the god of war may have a LG/LN sect that views war as something that must be fought honorably, with no advantages taken over their opponents. A CN sect would likely take advantage of anything they can. A CE sect would most likely stoop to deception and mass murder in order to begin wars between kingdoms and groups for the express purpose in fighting in them because they like killing.
Id love for some advice and critiques on my deity list, as well as ideas for potential sects for my gods. Specifically I'd love to see ideas of how to corrupt the deities portfolios and create potentially evil cults for these gods.
Deity List:
Varangian
God of Battle, Strife, and War
Domains: Destruction, Glory, Protection, Strength, War
Favored Weapon: Battleaxe
Eunna
Goddess of Agriculture, Family, the Sun
Domains: Community, Earth, Healing, Plant, Sun
Favored Weapon: Sickle
Edall
God of Cities, Invention, Law, and Wealth
Domains: Artifice, Community, Nobility, Rune, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Warhammer
Aavith
God of Honor, Justice, Redemption, and Virtue
Domains: Fire, Glory, Protection, Strength, Sun
Favored Weapon: Bastard Sword
Ellerin
Goddess of the Heavens, History, Knowledge, Magic, and Prophecy
Domains: Destruction, Knowledge, Magic, Darkness, Void
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Harean
Goddess of Birth, Healing, Illness, and Medicine
Domains: Charm, Death, Healing, Madness, Protection
Favored Weapon: Morningstar
Sylys
God/Goddess of Art, Beauty, and Music
Domains: Air, Charm, Glory, Luck, Water
Favored Weapon: Scimitar
Iros
God of Illusion, Mystery, Secrets, and Subterfuge
Domains: Darkness, Knowledge, Luck, Trickery, Travel
Favored Weapon: Dagger
Draseriss
Goddess of the Afterlife, Death, Dreams, and Time
Domains: Darkness, Death, Madness, Repose, Void
Favored Weapon: Halberd
Udena
Goddess of Nature and the Wilds
Domains: Animal, Earth, Plant, Water, Weather
Favored Weapon: Longspear
Abrisi
Goddess of Change, Companionship, Love, and Pleasure
Domains: Air, Charm, Community, Healing, Liberation
Favored Weapon: Shortbow
Samarand
God of Adventure, Bravery, Freedom, and Luck
Domains: Glory, Luck, Strength, Travel, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Rapier
So I'm working on a new campaign idea and I always like to start by working on the main antagonist of the campaign.
The antagonist is, at this point, something along the lines of a wizard that wants to bring about world peace and order by stripping the souls of people of most of their emotions and individuality and bonding them to golem-like bodies. Without emotions or outward differences in appearance, the antagonist feels that he could structure society to become far more ordered and peaceful.
Right now, I'm looking at the antagonist being something like a high level spellcaster that has bound his soul to a golem, possibly even something as strong as an adamantine golem. However, I have no idea how to create stats for this correctly. Do I build the character like normal and then change his HD to d10s and give him the resistances and defensive abilities of the adamantine golem (not the size though, this body would more resemble the antagonists original form)?
For the campaign I'm currently working on, one of the major villains is going to assassinate the leaders of another city but does not want to be anywhere near the effect when it happens. In fact, this villain is planning on using this assassination to implicate and get rid of the PCs.
I'm not sure what to use to kill this city leader though. I would like something capable of killing him outright, preferably with no save or miss chance. If it can take out a good area that'd be better. Also, I would want it to be carried by good PCs, so it cant be something like a scroll of gate to pull in an angry demon to rip everyone apart.
I already know about Explosive Runes, but 6d6 (average of 21 damage) seems a little low to be full proof. Does anyone have any better ideas?
I'm working through designing a villain for a new campaign and found a Bard archetype that fits rather well with how I picture him, the demagogue. However, I'm having trouble figuring out how he can use his higher level Demagogue abilities on large groups of people, which is how the archetype seems to be pointed toward doing.
Relevant Abilities:
Gather Crowd:
Gather Crowd (Ex): At 5th level, the celebrity is skilled at drawing an audience to his performances. If he is in a settlement or populated area, he can shout, sing, or otherwise make himself noticed in order to attract an audience to his impromptu stage. The size of the crowd depends on the local population, but typically is a number of people equal to 1/2 the bard’s class level × the result of the bard’s Perform check. The crowd gathers over the next 1d10 rounds. If the bard fails to engage the crowd (such as by performing, kissing babies, trying to use fascinate, and so on), it disperses over the next 1d10 rounds.
Incite Violence:
Incite Violence (Ex): At 6th level, the demagogue can use his performance to fan the fury of a crowd of people he has fascinated. Using this ability does not disrupt the fascinate effect, but does require a standard action to activate (in addition to the free action to continue the fascinate effect). The bard selects a number of targets equal to his level, who must make Will saves (DC 10 + 1/2 the bard’s level + the bard’s Charisma modifier) or be affected by rage for a number of rounds equal to the bard’s level. The bard indicates who is the intended target of violence (either after using this ability or as part of the performance leading to it) and the enraged members of the crowd immediately attack the target if possible. The target does not need to be present (“kill the king” is a suitable choice) and can be an object instead of a person (“destroy the prison!” is likewise appropriate). Other members of the crowd may follow suit, though they do not gain the benefits of rage. This is a sound-based effect and is affected by countersong. If two or more bards are attempting to direct the crowd against different targets, they must make opposed Charisma checks, with the crowd following the directions of the winner.
Righteous Cause:
Righteous Cause (Ex): At 18th level, the demagogue can lift a crowd’s emotions and turn them toward a common purpose. First, he must fascinate the crowd, and then use incite violence without designating a target, at which point he can use righteous cause. Instead of driving the crowd with anger, he fills them with purpose. Fascinated creatures must make Will saves (DC 10 + 1/2 the bard’s level + the bard’s Charisma modifier) to resist. Those who fail are affected by mass suggestion of a plausible idea that lingers with them for one day. Typical uses of this ability are to spark rebellion, overthrow a king, build a beneficial structure such as an orphanage, or donate money to a cause.
Fascinate:
Fascinate (Su): At 1st level, a bard can use his performance to cause one or more creatures to become fascinated with him. Each creature to be fascinated must be within 90 feet, able to see and hear the bard, and capable of paying attention to him. The bard must also be able to see the creatures affected. The Distraction of a nearby combat or other dangers prevents the ability from working. For every three levels a bard has attained beyond 1st, he can target one additional creature with this ability.
It looks like a high level Demagogue could pull in a lot of people (easily hundreds for a high level bard) but could only Fascinate and boost up to Righteous Cause on half a dozen people.
Can the bard use Fascinate on six or seven people and push them up to Righteous Cause, then let those people go and move on to another group to Fascinate without ending and restarting their performance?
I'm working on a new campaign idea and I'm a bit stuck trying to flesh out and identity three cities central to the campaign.
In short, a blue wyrm is plotting to forge its own kingdom from behind the scenes by inciting war between these three independent city states and then positioning a loyal pawn in place to end the wars and unite the cities under the pawn's rule, and the dragon's by extension.
What I'm hoping for is some ideas as to what these three cities may be like to come up with ideas for how the dragon plans to incite these wars. What goods are likely produced, traded, and imported into a region hospitable for a blue dragon. I'm not sure what is generally found in and around the desert regions favored by blue dragons.
I figure each city would have an effective, if not total, monopoly on certain goods or else one would have probably already dominated the others by now. Is this a realistic assumption or am I incorrect in this?
I'm currently on my third version of a homebrew adventure path and have run into some idea blocks.
At the beginning of the AP (going from levels 1 to 4~5) the PCs will be in a large city that was the capital city of one part of a now crumbling empire. The new King of this newly formed kingdom has moved to another city and left this large city of about 50,000 to fend for itself.
What would be of great help would be some ideas on size, activities, and organization of the organized crime within the city.
One of the larger organizations is run by a small group of elite persons that are all cultists of Mammon, which will be a source of conflict for the PCs for most of the AP. Other than that, I have very few ideas on size, organization, etc. Thing's that I have few ideas about would be how a high fantasy medieval drug trade would work? How about underground gladiatorial combat?
Im working on a character for an evil campaign and was looking for advice on the build.
For a 20th level character, would it be more optimal to go for Rogue 5/Assassin 10/Master Spy 5 or Rogue 5/Master Spy 10/Assassin 5?
Both builds give a total of 10d6 Sneak Attack damage, which is a definite plus. However, Im not sure which would be overall better for your run-of-the-mill master killer.
The Assassin levels I would miss mean that I would not have access to Quick Death, Hide in Plain Sight, Silent Death and Angel of Death, meaning that he would be less able to do things like murder a group of people in a room without anyone knowing he is killing them.
The Master Spy levels would give bonuses like Shift Alignment, Fool Casting and Hidden Mind. I dont care about the Assumption ability, because that really does not seem all that great to me, but the permanent Mind Blank with a DC to bypass at 31 by 20th level seems almost to be worth it.
Im torn between those two overall builds, so any advice (even different builds if they keep with the same line of concept) would be welcome.
