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Local pride / exclusivity is a thing to prey on / feed. Find some aspect of the local community, like the hard existence they have where they are and encourage them to think that they are tougher stock than the soft city folk who look down on them and are afraid of getting a little dirt on them, the sign of honest work and blah, blah other-ing divisive nonsense like that.
Add some stuff about simple honest folk, salt of the earth, homespun folk wisdom, hard lessons learned from a life that's not handed to them, being more in touch with the natural world, the rhythms of the seasons, etc. with the dirt under their fingernails being proof of their being 'of the world' and not just 'on the world.'
Convince them that the things that make them 'dirty' and 'small town' are somehow virtue signals, and that the cleaner big city folk look down on them, but those highfalutin' folk are 'dirty' and 'small' underneath all their airs and pretensions. The city folk set standards for what's considered smart or pretty, and those standards are always unfairly engineered to exclude these swampfolk, not just accidentally, but deliberately, maliciously...
And then hate leads to fear, and first you get the money, and I don't know where I was going with this...
Good luck!
But also try to remember that the game is not just for you, try not to game things so that it leads to the game being not-fun for your other players, some of whom seem to be playing good characters. If all of you are totally on-board for some conflict over the soul and character of this town (or even some straight-up PVP), then, go for broke. But if your evil schemes are going to ruin their good times, dial them back, or even make them deliberately cartoonish ineffective, like something Pinky's friend 'the Brain' would try (and thus making it super-easy for your good-guy friends to stymie your schemes and leave your evil PC fuming over how he was foiled again!).
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Make sure the other players and GM are on board. This feels like it could eat up a lot of game time unless handled between sessions.
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We're an accredited organization of legitimate businesses, not a cult.
How are you... an evil Cleric radiating the evilness of your God... allowed to live in the presence of a Paladin? And a good Inquisitor?
How are you... an evil Cleric radiating the evilness of your God... allowed to live in the presence of a Paladin? And a good Inquisitor?
Undetectable alignment is a 2nd level cleric spell?
How are you... an evil Cleric radiating the evilness of your God... allowed to live in the presence of a Paladin? And a good Inquisitor?Undetectable alignment is a 2nd level cleric spell?
For sure, and it lasts 24hrs... still, a level 5 Cleric has a Strong Aura... and what, ~3+1 2nd level spells... better be on point making sure you keep that spell up all the time... any gap in coverage is going to give off quite the Evil stink.
But, anyways, let's get down to the brass tacks of starting a collective... in my normal circles, we call it a Coven, but I am sure your Paladin sister and her Inquisitor friend would probably have issues with that, too...
You said your sister and her friend are spreading their gross goodness, so you and your minions pay attention to the people who roll their eyes when your sister preaches her BS... talk the those townsfolk separately, find out who else is less than thrilled about a Paladin and an Inquisitor being in their little hamlet.
Figure maybe ~20 people will buy into their BS, have need of actual help/healing, or be willing to convert to the Paladin's or Inquisitor's faith(s)...
Another ~20 people will be completely indifferent. None caring. Might not even notice at all.
The other ~20 people are probably unhappy about the Paladin/Inquisitor being here snooping around, preaching that BS... we need to talk to these people, obviously.
Do YOU have plans to establish any sort of home base in this swamp village? What sort of trade or communication do they have outside the swamp? Will you be coming back to this swamp village often? Will your sister be with you every time?
Frame your faith as the more effective option. You ask less and give more.
As an example:
Go along with the goody goody stuff. Tell followers, in private, that whatever the good sorts are offering is freely given by any other god and that you're happy to help without exploiting their soul for some persnickety god's benefit. If approached for something evil, tell the person that you could help them but it would be very difficult for you, and it's very embarrassing to you that it is difficult. Then send them along to one of the good people who will likely reject them(or corrupt them, win-win). If they come to you, tell them that for you to make the spell work, you need X. Either something that would require them to do some evil within your god's niche, or wealth that forces them to rely on you more.
If questioned about your previous "freely given" thing, explain that your influence is still week with the more generous gods and you need the sacrifice to appeal to the gods of your companions.
Have your agents out of town send like-minded, but not obviously Evil, people to this little swamp village in order to start swelling the odds in your favor.
The more useful they are, the better... mundane healers, engineers, craftsmen, hunters, brewers... even if your sister establishes a church, make sure it's your people that build it... have your people build walls and establish guards... keep the town safe, and drunk...
Make this place a holy city to your collective without anyone in this town even knowing about it.
How does your Cleric feel about Mystic Theurge? A few levels of Sorcerer with the Accursed Bloodline, or Witch, and you can be in an actual Coven. And that's better than any mere cult.
And Mystic Theurges make fun Liches, if you REALLY want to be piss off your Paladin sister. Lol.
As your more and more people flock to the little swamp village, you will set up secure lines of funding for your organization... legit/legal funding and/or otherwise sourced... and you will be able to afford to build a phylactery. Hide it in your sister's church... or build it into the foundation of your sister's church...
Your Coven will need a Hag... Gyronna is the mother of all Hags, and the Black Sisters of Gyronna are a cult you want on your side... they have already toppled Heibarr in the River Kingdoms.
Remember that a cult doesn't have to be overtly religious or overtly evil. The best cults blend in.
Watch Cobra-Kai... there's a cult!
It is most wise, in fact, to not be overtly evil, at all. You want your members to be indistinguishable from every other member of society.
Like Fight Club/Project Mayhem without all the Toxic Masculinity and overcompensation syndrome stuffs... although, it may be argued that no gang/cult/club exists without compensating for insecurities on some level.
Anyways, send a brewer and some builders to town that are on your side. Build a little brewery. Build a little tavern. Build a little inn/brothel.
Send some rangers and some muscle down to keep these establishments safe. Make sure these guards are approachable to help the townsfolk with various other tasks... tasks that townsfolk might otherwise ask a Paladin to do... like find a missing person or kill a crocodile...
Won't lie, assuming you have a positive Charisma modifier (Channel and stuffs)... Cult Master Mesmerist could be a righteous multiclass... even if you have to wait to level 16 to become a Lich. Lol... you could get to Lich at Cleric 5/Mesmerist 9 if you took the Additional Traits feat for Magical Knack Mesmerist... only half joking about the Lich stuffs...
Mesmerist stuffs might be completely worth the switch depending on your Charisma score right meow... or worth taking Leadership to have as a Cohort... you want followers, right?
AND, your Cult Master Mesmerist Cohort could legit be a Lich at 11. Lol. Still only half joking. But your Cult Master Cohort gets a Cohort at level 7, and could take an Instructor Wizard Necromancer... who gets an Apprentice Necromancer... who could ALSO be an Instructor, which ALSO gets an Apprentice Necromancer... which ALSO could be an Instructor... SO MANY Necromancers... every single one takes Student of Philosophy to lie with their Intelligence... every single one VMC Witch for the Coven Hex...
Your village is SO freaking safe from undead... nobody needs no Paladin/Inquisitor around here...
This is "How to start a cult 101"... it's like you've never done this before...
A Cult Master Mesmerist Cohort frees you up to persue Mystic Theurge, so grab some False Priest Sorcerer levels... or Eldritch Scrapper... Mystic Theurge Lich can still be yours...
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One of my players started his own cult-like religion in our last campaign. He was playing as a Psionic class and took 1 level in the Thrallherd PrC, which acts mechanically-similar-but-slightly-different to the Leadership feat.
It was a lot of hard work on his part, and a lot of it had to be done behind the scenes with me in "out of session"-sessions. But it paid off big time.
Every time he went to a new city, he would have his followers go hand out food, clothing, etc., to the poor and they would minister his religion to them. In major cities, he himself would get on a podium/soapbox and proselytize "Our time has come, when the Four Suns Shine as One, Blah blah hokey religious stuff..."
In the middle/late part of the campaign, he had thousands of people convert to his religion-- he started two towns from the ground up, he set up a gondola to act as a ferry between two cliffs and made passive income from his followers operating it, he put temples in almost every city/town he visited, and even had a system of teleportation between all his temples via a demiplane with gates going everywhere. His 100ish Thralls (cohorts/followers) were essentially like his inner circle, and everyone else were just parishioners that didn't count towards his number of followers. A couple of his Thralls were like a Seal Team 6 crew of assassins following him around as covert security with Adjustable Disguise. At the very-very end, he severed a massive landmass to float away, so then he had his own continent.
I can see how this would frustrate other GM's, but honestly it was pretty fun to watch. 10/10 would do it again.
TLDR: if you want a cult, take Leadership or Thrallherd and be creative with your followers, and have fun with it
That sounds incredibly fun. Just out of curiosity though, was that character evil?One of my players started his own cult-like religion in our last campaign. He was playing as a Psionic class and took 1 level in the Thrallherd PrC, which acts mechanically-similar-but-slightly-different to the Leadership feat.
It was a lot of hard work on his part, and a lot of it had to be done behind the scenes with me in "out of session"-sessions. But it paid off big time.
Every time he went to a new city, he would have his followers go hand out food, clothing, etc., to the poor and they would minister his religion to them. In major cities, he himself would get on a podium/soapbox and proselytize "Our time has come, when the Four Suns Shine as One, Blah blah hokey religious stuff..."
In the middle/late part of the campaign, he had thousands of people convert to his religion-- he started two towns from the ground up, he set up a gondola to act as a ferry between two cliffs and made passive income from his followers operating it, he put temples in almost every city/town he visited, and even had a system of teleportation between all his temples via a demiplane with gates going everywhere. His 100ish Thralls (cohorts/followers) were essentially like his inner circle, and everyone else were just parishioners that didn't count towards his number of followers. A couple of his Thralls were like a Seal Team 6 crew of assassins following him around as covert security with Adjustable Disguise. At the very-very end, he severed a massive landmass to float away, so then he had his own continent.
I can see how this would frustrate other GM's, but honestly it was pretty fun to watch. 10/10 would do it again.
TLDR: if you want a cult, take Leadership or Thrallherd and be creative with your followers, and have fun with it
Yes, we were playing an Evil campaign, so all characters were either Evil or Neutral, and this particular character was Evil.
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@OP;
So here's my advice for creating a successful cult:
1) Take Leadership or Thrallherd PrC at level 7-9ish, but generally as early as possible. The sooner you get a Cohort, the sooner you can get the ball rolling on expanding your Cult.
2) Keep your primary Cohort/Thrall working on furthering/growing your cult behind the scenes. Rather than making this guy into someone who would help you in combat, make this guy into a Skillmonkey instead, specifically Cha-based skills like Diplomacy/Intimidate/Bluff/Disguise, as well as Appraisal, Stealth, Knowledge (engineering, local, history, nobility, arcana), Sense Motive, and most importantly USE MAGIC DEVICE! These will all be handy skills for getting the most success out of your Cult, because you can use your Cohort as your own personal emissary. Figure out some way of communicating directly with him while you're out adventuring and have him constantly working behind the scenes back at your Home Base and various Temples/Guilds you send him to create for you. Make your top 3 followers after your Cohort similarly-- Cha-based skills focused, and have these guys kinda/sorta like deputy emissaries to do the mundane diplomacy stuff while your Cohort does the heavy lifting as needed. Also, the only time that YOU personally need to show up for Cult business is when your Cohort doesn't have the "umph" for a particular event/encounter.
3) As someone said earlier, don't call it a Cult, and don't call it a religion either (unless you're specifically creating a religion). It's a Collective of Like-Minded Progressive Individuals working for a better future for all.
4) Spread your Cult far and wide-- absolutely everywhere you go. When you arrive at a new town/city, have 5-6 of your lowest level followers who come with you wherever YOU go, and as soon as they arrive they're distributing clothes, food, and commodities to the poor and powerless, while preaching your ideals. You won't win them all, but you'll always get 1, and 1 is all you need to start an operation in any given town/city.
5) Make a passive income via your followers! Have them creating textiles, magic items, smithys, and every profession/craft under the sun and sell this stuff in major cities while taking the profits and giving anything in excess GENEROUSLY to the poor and disenfranchised NPC's absolutely everywhere you go. Use this passive income to further your operations, and DON'T use it to outfit yourself with gear. For one, your GM and players will get frustrated with you showing up to combat with all kinds of new toys and "I win" buttons if you spend that money on yourself, and two, you're taking that income away from furthering your behind-the-scene goals. So, use this income to start Temples, Guilds, Charities, and anything you can possibly think of that will help further your Cult's goals.
6) This isn't a requirement, but something you *could*/*should* consider. Protect your Cohort, followers, and yourself with a "Seal Team 6" of 8-10 Assassin followers. These Assassins don't need to *win* per se, but they need to provide your followers, yourself, and your Cohort the ability to RUN if necessary. These assassins are essentially fodder, but assigning 8-10 of your followers as security detail for you and your 100ish followers can ensure less impact from DM shenanigans and chicanery on your behind the scenes efforts. There are penalties for allowing your followers to die, and you can greatly mitigate your losses to 1, 3, 4, or 10 deaths, instead of 40-100, when something bad happens. Split these 10ish assassins up into smaller groups to protect your efforts in various locations-- have 2-3 of them with you and your low level followers, and then have the other 7-8 assassins guard your other operations.
7) BUILD an Empire! Make a small team of your followers into Engineers and Architects. Build Temples, Guild Halls, Bridges, Towns, whatever your Cult needs.
8) Keep exceptional bookkeeping and records of everything your followers are doing. Start an Excel file or a Binder with all your Followers' information and character sheets in it-- you can make individual character sheets for each one of your followers. Make a list of goals for your Cult, itemize who is working on what projects, and check them off when they're complete.
9) Have "out-of-session"-sessions with your DM. Come up with a way to meet with your DM for wings and beer, or for coffee, on a semi-regular basis-- once every 2-4 weeks should suffice. Everything you do is going to come down to DM approval, and you don't want to bog down your in-game sessions with all your Cult's machinations and projects. Some of your cult stuff will come up multiple times in every session, but these should be as brief as possible and mainly only to show the other PC's what your cult is doing on the surface. Have the bulk of your Cult's work done out-of-session.
10) Remember your ABC's! Always Be Culting!