So, after a long path culminating with her betrayal and death at the hands of Sial, followed by her resurrection by the Party, Laori in my campaign has renounced Zon Kuthon, and may end up as a follower of Desna, the deity of the Party's cleric.
So how do I handle her? RAW says, "A cleric who grossly violates the code of conduct required by her god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons."
I understand taking away her spells and abilities but what about her base stats (e.g., HP, BAB, saves, etc.)? What if I make her a 1st level cleric or fighter? It's not like she can suddenly take less damage or forgets how to use weapons. She has attached herself to the Party's cleric and will likely accompany them back to Korvosa for Chapter Six. Not sure if she'll stay in Korvosa or travel with the Party to the Sunken Queen.
You lose spellcasting, channeling, domain powers, and any other spell-like or supernatural ability you may have gotten from the god that abandoned you. You keep skills, saves, feats, hit points, BAB, proficiencies and any other ability you may have received from a source other than the abandoning god.
That makes sense - thanks!
I would say Laori needs to spend time retraining her abilities in order to change her religion. At least her domains.
I would say Laori needs to spend time retraining her abilities in order to change her religion. At least her domains.
Agreed. I suspect she's stuck for the rest of the campaign as an 11th level cleric in terms of her base stats, but without any actual clerical spells or powers. If she survives, maybe as part of the finale she'll get 1st level powers from Desna so she finishes the adventure with a new path ahead of her.
Realistically, "losing your faith" is a purely roleplay mechanic. If she was a follower/cohort of the party, not just temporary assist for Scarwall, I would let her spend some downtime (not necessarily "retraining" but) to find someone of a new faith and join that. She still would have the strength of her faith, but it is now under the new meaning of their new faith, letting them retain features.
That said, in any campaign I run, if she is redeemed, she almost always turns to the worship of Abadar, both to close off the failing church of Abadar line at the end of the campaign and because it genuinely makes the most sense to me for where she would go next:
Given her cruel upbringing on the streets, she recognizes the suffering she received because of a broken community, but now she rejects the necessity or "benefit" that the suffering brings. She sees the restoration and strengthening of community as the best way to prevent the suffering of others, and this is reflected heavily in Abadar's faith, even from neutral and evil followers. The fact that Korvosa and Korvosa's church of Abadar is splintered provides her an easy route enact her new faith.
Most groups also spend extra time between Scarwall and Crown of Fangs to prepare, many of them using things like greater teleport to travel to major cities like Absalom, and this is where whomever has Laori as a cohort usually seeks out some for of support for her post-Ildervok crisis of faith and trauma. Whatever faith you do give her, there should be plenty of chance for the party to find Laori help from said faith either during campaign or afterwards in another major city. If it is Desna, she is also one of the few that could be "discovered on her own", but LE to CG/NG/CN is a wider change to make than even LE to LN.
Those are extremely thoughtful points - thanks! I hadn't mulled over the alignment issue yet as her resurrection just occurred, although I'm not going to worry too much over that, since this is really just a story element without any long-term consequences.
I'm not sure how much prepping my group is going to do. They seem to be feeling a little urgent now that their return to Korvosa is imminent, and they're concerned about reports that the Shoanti are massing for an invasion to dethrone Ileosa, and the suffering that would undoubtedly inflict upon Korvosa's ordinary citizens. Considering how little preparation they did before Scarwall, I wouldn't be surprised if they jump straight in.
Yeah, you know your group best, but that said, if Laori is only level 11, she might be a bit too far out of her depth for the final book anyway. She can still have that development after Ileosa has been defeated as the city rebuilds whichever way you take her with it.
My group is deliberately underleveled, as there are six, sometimes seven, of them, so I'm always buffing encounters to challenge them. They're starting Chapter 6 at level 14, and will hit 15 after clearing out Castle Korvosa. They pretty much steamrolled most encounters until they hit Scarwall. The only PC death before then was at the hands of the leukadaemon, and in Scarwall 2 of the 3 deaths was due to Zev Ravenka! Somehow they make rolls when they need them and the monsters don't!
So each extra person lowers the APL by one I guess. I guess more actions a round is more powerful than bigger actions a round.
Actually, 3 players is an APL of -1, 4-5 is no adjustment, 6-7 is +1, 8-11 is +2, and god help you if you are running 12+ players. But that also assumes they are all constantly active party members, of the same level (as level scaling isn't linear), and even then if you want to counter balance that, you just push the party's level in the opposite direction.