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I am working toward starting a campaign of this AP, after my current campaign finishes. I have not read it entirly as of yet, but I will before we start. One of my players has expressed interest in playing a Lawful Good Cleric to Wee Jas. I am curious as to what problems or opportuities this will cause. What part does the Temple in town play in the the AP? Should I allow it or warn the player?
FYI I do play with a strict interpritaion of alignments and the role-play ramifications of them IMC.
Embril Aloustinai, the high priestess of the Cathedral of Wee Jas in Cauldron is a member of the Cagewrights (the bad guys). While it won't cause a problem early in the campaign, later on your PC may find him/herself in conflict with the church. Of course, this could make for some run RP opportunities!
--Fang
In the long run it will likely mean that the PC will end up as the High Priest of Wee Jas in Cauldron at the end of the campaign, which is a pretty cool thing.
For most of the campaign it should be just fine and then the PC will be cut off (at this point the PC would likely be the third most powerful priest of Wee Jas in the city... or really second since Embril has already bailed).
It will also present you with some REALLY good opportunities for RP sessions and foreshadowing. And more than most peoples campaign Embril's betrayal will be much more poigniant. In fact I would consider having her an early patron of the PC, grooming him to fall and follow her only to pull away mysteriously some point as she goes mad.
Sean Mahoney
Well, if you are looking to have a lot of eclisiastical intrigue this is right up your ally. Read everything on the Temple of Wee Jas that is presented in the hardcover as well as the messageboard, and get a good felling for how Embril and primarily Ike Iverson will deal with this cleric. As the party begins to cause problems for the Cagewrights of whom Embril is a senior member and Ike a conspiritor what will there reactions be? Will they attempt to turn your cleric? User her unwittingly to gain info on the parties motivations, or just out right eliminate him? Also, what will happen when the party raids the temple itself?
Good luck, this could be really really fun!
I had a cleric of Wee Jas in my party too. Super lawful, but not LG. I had him sent by a chapter in Sasserine to root out possible corruption in the Cauldron church, although he had no authority and answered for the time being to Ike.
Eventually the cleric uncovered Ike and Embril's treachery, and took great pleasure in killing his former boss.
Check out the detailed profile of her church in this file (.zip download), then print a copy of the Wee Jas page (pg. 186) for yourself and another for your player. This document can help you define the legitimate purpose of this church in the city. For example, it states that magic item creation is an important duty of the church. I declared that the church would sell and create arcane and divine magic items of up to 6th level caster level at book price. Anything of higher caster level would require a favor from one of the high priests. This would take the form of a social challenge for the PCs to negotiate.
Because Wee Jas is a goddess of magic, the church has very strong support for all things arcane. Almost all of the nonchaotic NPC wizards, such as Weer, are worshippers and esteemed members of the church. The church also provides spells, spell components, spell books, research libraries, magic item creation materials and labratories. The church of Wee Jas functions very much as a wizard's guild for the town. It is also in charge of the magical education provided by the Bluecrater Academy.
In my game, the dwarven wizard PC picked up the Craft Arms & Armor feat. Since she is a member of the church of Wee Jas in good standing and she donates her magic item crafting skills to the church and has demonstrated a proper lawful attitude, she has been awarded acceptance into the "outer circle" of the church, which grants a 20% discount on any Wee Jas crafted items or service, and she may copy any wizard spell they have and it only costs her the cost of scribing the spell.
Since Wee Jas is a very lawful deity, the church works with the city guard to solve crimes and find criminals with their divinations. They also provide their divinations for the courts for the trying of capital crimes, and Ike Iverson is part of the judging tribunal along with Jenya and Terseron. These are services that the church of St. Cuthburt would also be called to do, but the church of Wee Jas used its size and political influence to have exclusive rights to provide these services for the city.
As a church with the domain of death, they provide full funeral services for the city, including bereavement counseling, speak with dead services, cremation of the deceased's body (standard operating procedure in my D&D world to prevent animatation), and entombment of the deceased wealthy in the church's secured tombs. In addition, they keep detailed geneology and historical records of all of the being that have lived and died in or around the city. However, they are primarily a lawful church and because in my game evil magic is outlawed in the city they do not animate undead or have spells or items available that animate undead. Of course, certain corrupt NPCs in the campaign are the exception.
Hopefully, these ideas can help you answer any questions of the purpose of this church in the city.
Check out the detailed profile of her church in this file (.zip download), then print a copy of the Wee Jas page (pg. 186) for yourself and another for your player. This document can help you define the legitimate purpose of this church in the city. For example, it states that magic item creation is an important duty of the church. I declared that the church would sell and create arcane and divine magic items of up to 6th level caster level at book price. Anything of higher caster level would require a favor from one of the high priests. This would take the form of a social challenge for the PCs to negotiate.
Because Wee Jas is a goddess of magic, the church has very strong support for all things arcane. Almost all of the nonchaotic NPC wizards, such as Weer, are worshippers and esteemed members of the church. The church also provides spells, spell components, spell books, research libraries, magic item creation materials and labratories. The church of Wee Jas functions very much as a wizard's guild for the town. It is also in charge of the magical education provided by the Bluecrater Academy.
In my game, the dwarven wizard PC picked up the Craft Arms & Armor feat. Since she is a member of the church of Wee Jas in good standing and she donates her magic item crafting skills to the church and has demonstrated a proper lawful attitude, she has been awarded acceptance into the "outer circle" of the church, which grants a 20% discount on any Wee Jas crafted items or service, and she may copy any wizard spell they have and it only costs her the cost of scribing the spell.
Since Wee Jas is a very lawful deity, the church works with the city guard to solve crimes and find criminals with their divinations. They also provide their divinations for the courts for the trying of capital crimes, and Ike Iverson is part of the judging tribunal along with Jenya and Terseron. These are services that the church of St. Cuthburt would also be called to do, but...
Frank an excellent post!