Rebuilding Jhod

[borodino21]

I'm thinking about rebuilding Jhod. My party already has a cleric of Erastil and he seems overly duplicative if I keep him as is. I'd even choose the same domains for him that my player has (law and community). But I'm having a hard time deciding which class to rebuild him as.

I have a five person party: human sorcerer (destined bloodline), human cleric of Erastil, half-orc warpriest of Gorum, half-orc inquisitor of Gorum, and elf slayer. Therefore, I'm slightly disinclined to rebuild him as a warpriest or as an inquisitor.

The other choices don't seem that exciting though. I don't like any of the oracle mysteries for the character. (Likewise for the shaman's spirits, since they're the same pattern.) Druid just seems off somehow, but maybe it would work? He'd have a hawk animal companion, I think, if I go that way.

Part of me actually wants to go adept. It's a nerf, but I already have a five-person party and will largely be trying to keep the NPCs out of combat. Adept Jhod could serve on their council just as easily as Cleric Jhod.

All that said, from a back-story perspective, given his troubled past, maybe inquisitor is best alternate fit? It has all the right skills to be a woodsman, and inquisitor seems like a good class to get caught up in the sort of trouble Jhod did. An inquisitor of Erastil seems like it shouldn't step too badly on the toes of an inquisitor of Gorum.

Thoughts?

[KenderKin]

Johod initially is a higher level NPC, though eventually the party surpasses him. His job is to man the temple and possibly fill a role in the kingdom. most of the time he is not involved in combat at all.

[pennywit]

IMC, Jhod Kavken was an evangelist cleric of Erastil. He provided some healing services and helped the players defend Oleg's Rest during a mite attack. He later married Svetlana (Oleg died in a battle) and became mayor of one of my players' settlements. He's strictly a background character at this point, although he does come up once in a while ...

[Philip Knowsley]

Yeah - depends how you want to play it, so up to you in the end...
..but, I would have thought it put forth it's own story ideas to have a higher
level cleric of the same faith as a PC - imagine the fun you could have... :)

Other than that - Jhod won't steal any of the PC's thunder later on, so does he
need to change really?

Besides that - he doesn't need to be played the same way as the PC - they could
both have completely different ideas about how the church of Erastil should
work, for example...

[Haldrick]

It does depend on your role for Jhod in your campaign.
1. He can be a higher level NPC at first (before the PCs overtake him)
2. Plays a part in the Kingdom
3. Anything else you come up with

While it does Nerf him Adept works for 1, and is fine for 2

Ranger could work

Personally I would not worry about classes you do not like (he is only a NPC) and go with oracle.

[Norin d'orien]

In my opinion jhod's main problem is that he is not useful at all with a bow in hand, wich should be his favourite weapon, given his allegiance. For this reason the ranger seems a good idea to me, mainly because it would fit him to have some sort of "hunt" theme, while also allowing him to be a devout (and later a divine caster) of Erastil.
If you wish a more active role for him tough i could suggest to rebuild him as an inquisitor: hell-bent on building back his reputation he could also be looking fir Akiros as a mean to look good in the eyes of the church, while later in the game he could be a fine ally for the cleric in your party, maybe even forcing him to make difficult choices!

[tonyz]

Or just let him retire and run the temple, maybe organize the community around him. (If the PCs start building a non-Lawful or non-Good kingdom, Jhod can even become an opposition figure -- e.g., training the villagers in archery so they can resist bandits and tax collectors).

[RuyanVe]

I had him as a high lvl druid worshipping Erastil (elf lvl 9) who has lost most of his powers due to misdeeds in the past. He has spent most of the past years in a drunken stupor and self-disgust.
The "occupant" of the temple is actually a former disciple of his and he has received a vision sent from Erastil how to redeem himself and setting his disciple free. He gained back his powers gradually.

I don't see him as combat oriented at all as the main theme for Erastil is "community". The temple would serve as a beacon of hospitality in the wilds and show people how civilization and nature can live in harmony.

Ruyan.