GMing-Handling a stubborn fallen cleric

[expectorus]

I'm GMing Council of Thieves, and some of the characters were brought it from a 5e module. There, a dwarf cleric of a custom deity (LN) cut the nose off, then beheaded a man that was tied up because he wouldn't give answers. Consequently, I've had his powers removed, and in his meditation, Asmodeus has said he would be better to worship him rather than 'Bob' as they both desire to destroy everything that gets in their way.

In this order only male dwarves, everyone is known as Bob. Gametime wise, they've spent 6 months in Westcrown, and the dwarf has met Arael, who's offered to help him restore his connection with Bob. He's also met another Bob-this one left the order and now serves Milani. This Bob has helped our Bob learn to resist the calling of Asmodeus (Demon Hunter Trait) and has suggested to him that there are other ways of fighting evil other than destruction.

Bob doesn't trust anyone that isn't a male dwarf, and thinks that because of the evil in Westcrown, the city should be destroyed. I've used this as a way for Asmodeus to continue tempting Bob, but in classic dwarven pride, Bob thinks he's repented enough.

I'm looking for ways to go beyond just removing his powers and make it clear that it's not just repenting, but this pride, this stubbornness will be his downfall. Should I have him start to channel negative energy? I'm thinking of a story that would lead him down to serving Asmodeus directly if he's not careful. Have you encountered this in your game(s)?

[Mysterious Stranger]

I don’t have all the facts but I am not sure why you had him “fall”. A LN deity is not really concerned with good and evil. What he did could be considered LE. This is still within 1 step of his deity so there are no alignment issues that would cause him to fall. Unless he broke a major taboo of his religion he should not really be stripped of his powers. If the infraction was a minor taboo then he should get warnings.

Again I do not have all the facts, but it seems to me you are treating the deity as LG instead of LN.

[Wheldrake]

Even a LG cleric doesn't "fall" as easily as a paladin.

I would agree that torturing, disfiguring and killing a helpless captive isn't a very "nice" thing for a cleric to be doing, but is it really a case of "A cleric who grossly violates the code of conduct required by her god"?

Kind of hard for us here on the forum to give advice about tenets of a faith based on the worship of Bob.

I can see where a temptation gambit from Asmodeus could be a cool thing to have going in your campaign. But as a DM you should really avoid stripping a PC of all his class powers over a single action.

[expectorus]

Mysterious,
The were rescuing a friend, but I read the act more as CE rather than LE. I did warn the character after chopping off the victim's nose there would be repercussions before the executions.

Side note: This isn't the first beheading of the group-it's how they ended up in Westcrown.

Wheldrake, I think you're right and I'll 'return' the powers next session. But I do think I'll keep the temptation gambit in play. I'm interested in teasing out the 'destroy everything' and where it leads. However, I think I'll keep the powers out for longer if he continues on this path.

[Kifaru]

I have a cleric of a lawful good god in one of my games. The short version is that he did a number of things the god would probably not approve of. He was given a few warnings and then stripped of his power.

Every session that he acts in a way that his god would approve of he gets back a D4 caster levels.

[expectorus]

Kifaru wrote:

I have a cleric of a lawful good god in one of my games. The short version is that he did a number of things the god would probably not approve of. He was given a few warnings and then stripped of his power.

Every session that he acts in a way that his god would approve of he gets back a D4 caster levels.

Thanks-that gives me another look. We play again on Tuesday, so I think if he meditates he'll get a vision where he gets to choose. As he's L3 and to make it easier, I'll say he gets his orisons and channel back. Good acts will restore his caster levels. However, bad acts will 'poison' his channels and pull him closer to Asmodeus.