The Cults of Cerilia.

[geeman]

One of the odd situations in the BR materials is the existence of cults to

various awnsheghlien. Most notably the Serpent has extensive temple

holdings dedicated to his worship, but a few others have their own temples

(the Sphinx for one, and it`s not entirely clear to whom/what the Hand of

Azrai in the Gorgon`s Crown is dedicated to) and one or two would appear to

have a following that would seem to merit a kind of clergy. Arguably

almost any of the major awnsheghlien could inspire such a cult. However,

when it comes to actual worship in BR we have only a few deities with their

own clergy.



In order to reflect the worship of various Cerilian cults might the

prestige class system be useful? Let`s say, for instance, I wanted to

portray the clergy for the Sons of the Serpent. The prestige class for

such characters might have prereqs that coincide with the

espionage/intrigue aspect of that temple (that is, things most appropriate

to rogue levels) and then a character class description that basically had

all the features of the cleric with a few tweaks here and there to coincide

with the worship of that particular awnshegh.



Such characters would not have the same kind of ability with their magics

as the worshippers of the standard gods because they would have to hold off

on taking the class until 5th+ level, so they would never be as effective

in terms of spellcasting ability with a character who started off as a

cleric of a particular deity.



The same kind of thing could be used to address the other perennial BR

issue when it comes to the use of magic; elven access to druidic "nature"

spells. If such a thing were portrayed as a prestige class then they could

gain access to a spell list specifically written up to address their use of

nature magic in a way that A) functions in "the 3e way" which seems to be

of such concern to many people and B) would maintain parity with the BR

materials in that such a character class would not be "a druid" in the same

sense that Erik`s priesthood is, but does allow them to cast the kinds of

magics that the BR texts indicate they should have access to. Such a

prestige class could have its charisma-based spellcasting and various

things to make it an "elven equivalent" of a druid, but different enough

not to make it comparable to the worshipper of Erik.



Comments?



Gary

[CMonkey]

In my campaign (god I hope none of my PC's are reading this) the Big Bad is becoming / possessed by a manifestuing god and has a whole slew of shapeshifting minions who are basically doppleganger clerics of this baddy.

Anyhoo, when statting up this Big Bad, I used a prestige class designed by a friend of mine for a different campaign, the Perfecti (http://uk.geocities.com/MChevallier/prestigeclasses/perfecti.htm).

It's from level 7 on that it starts to get interesting...

CM.

[Benjamin]

I like the idea of prestige classes for the various cults. If you created a specific write-up, I could give better feedback. But the idea of a Serpent cult requiring some rogue levels is intriguing.

[teloft]

When I have been thinking of the Sons of the Serpent, i have mostly been thinking of them as multiclass rouge / clerics.

But for the Serpent: he needs to pay Rp in order to grant spells to his followers.

Its not cheep to be a god.

RP per 3 months
1st lv spells = 1 Rp
2nd lv spells = 3 Rp
3rd lv spells = 6 Rp
4th lv spells = 10 Rp
5th lv spells = 15 Rp
6th lv spells = 21 Rp
7th lv spells = 28 Rp
8th lv spells = 36 Rp
9th lv spells = 45 Rp

by paying thees RP the Demigod can grant spells to all his followers for one season.

[geeman]

At 12:24 AM 2/17/2004 +0100, Benjamin wrote:



>I like the idea of prestige classes for the various cults. If you created

>a specific write-up, I could give better feedback. But the idea of a

>Serpent cult requiring some rogue levels is intriguing.



I`ve got one half written up for the Sandman`s cult, so it`ll appear in

that thread (since that`s the character description that inspired the idea

in the first place....) I`m thinking of writing up a 3e version of the

Serpent or the Sphinx, however, to extend the concept, but I want to see

how the Sandman`s clergy turn out before committing to something like that.



Gary

[geeman]

At 12:49 AM 2/17/2004 +0100, teloft wrote:



> by paying thees RP the Demigod can grant spells to all his followers for

> one season.



I like the mechanic here an the point costs, but I think there should be

some sort of domain level effect for spending all those RP to represent the

effects of followers actually gaining spells from the worship of a regent

rathre than a power. In general, I don`t think being a god should be

something that is a drain on a character`s domain alone--it strikes me more

as something that is going to be of positive benefit overall. That`s not

to say that it couldn`t/shouldn`t cost RP, but their should be domain level

benefits for the cost.



I also wonder if taking on the mantle of demi-godhood should have some sort

of character level game mechanic. That could be something like the

proposed "Perfecti" prestige class or it could be any number of

things. Generally, I think the point is that not just any regent should be

able to spend RP to grant spells to people. It should have some sort of

demonstrable (game mechanical) basis in the character stats.



Gary

[Osprey]

In general, I don`t think being a god should be
something that is a drain on a character`s domain alone--it strikes me more
as something that is going to be of positive benefit overall. That`s not
to say that it couldn`t/shouldn`t cost RP, but their should be domain level
benefits for the cost.


Priest regents can build temples to the awneshegh - that's an obvious domain benefit. And if the awneshegh is either the regent or another regent is his vassal, it could actually gain back some regency through worship - helping to balance out the equation. You could even rule that any deity automatically gains RP from temples in their name - maybe a percentage of the temple levels (1/4)?

[teloft]

well, now we have a regent able to grant acsess to his divine energy. and he can grant spells he cant even cast himselfe.

I dont know. but I feel like there sould be a blood ability thet alows the regent to spend RP in order to grant spell lvs.

not all regents can spend there Rp's to grant spells.

Now the level of the aboility minor/major/grate will then determen the spell level he is able to grant.

and ofcours. by the taste of te regent he sould be able to create or pick several domains for his clerics to specialice in

[geeman]

At 05:20 PM 2/18/2004 +0100, Osprey wrote:



>
In general, I don`t think being a god should be

> something that is a drain on a character`s domain alone--it strikes me more

> as something that is going to be of positive benefit overall. That`s not

> to say that it couldn`t/shouldn`t cost RP, but their should be domain level

> benefits for the cost.

>

>

>Priest regents can build temples to the awneshegh - that`s an obvious

>domain benefit. And if the awneshegh is either the regent or another

>regent is his vassal, it could actually gain back some regency through

>worship - helping to balance out the equation. You could even rule that

>any deity automatically gains RP from temples in their name - maybe a

>percentage of the temple levels (1/4)?



True. However, a regent could have temples dedicated to an existing god

and enforce vassalage agreements upon those temples rulers (the way the

Gorgon does) to do that. Continuously spending RP to allow for the

existence of clerics who can control temple holdings with whom one can have

a vassalage agreement that transfers RP back to the original

regent/demi-god strikes me as a lot of hoops to jump through with little

relative benefit, especially since one needn`t do it in the first

place. Plus, it creates a rather odd circular subsystem to add to the

concept of regency collection. In the most general terms, it shouldn`t be

to one`s overall disadvantage to be considered a living god. Spending RP

to gain RP back through a circuitous route makes it possible to have a net

gain of RP, but on the whole its not as efficient as simply having temples

dedicated to one of the existing gods.



What I was leaning towards were things more along the lines of loyalty of

one`s provinces and an extension of the effects of being the "official"

temple of a land. What are the material and domain level effects of being

considered a god? RP collection happens whether one is considered a god or

not--and if one wanted to gain that benefit there`s really no need to be

considered a god oneself.



Maybe if the RP expenditures were a one time deal rather than an ongoing

"spend X, gain Y" kind of thing it might make more sense. Sort of the

regency equivalent of creating a palace that continuously grants a domain

level benefit.



Gary

[Benjamin]

I think the Serpent is a very special case. I don't know of any other temples that 'worship' an awnsheghlien that get spells. Perhaps I'm wrong? [I tend to think Hand of Azrai is an incarnation of Belinik]

The Serpent was a very powerful Masetian, among Azrai's primary champions. At Deismaar he absorbed lots and lots of divine power, and probably could have ascended as a god. But due to personal ambition and desire for power, didn't. And thus was transformed into a demi-god.

Yes, I know his clerics didn't get spells for quite some time, but perhaps that's due to the fact that he didn't understand his own powers, and didn't organize a faith. If we look at the old 2E books (Dieties and Demigods?), there were rules for how a player could become a demigod. I think that the Serpent followed those steps, and with his power boost of Azrai, did it fairly easily.

[teloft]

well I never got my selfe a copy of Dieties.