Post/Author/DateTime	Post
daneofdanger 01-26-07, 01:31 PM	A friend of mine was starting up a campaign recently, and I decided to be utilitarian about it. I decided that the party needed a healer, so I basically rolled up Jozan of Pelor right out of the PHB. While he's super useful, and kept the 5th level party alive when we fought a White Dragon, he's very, very boring. Last night, I got The Complete Divine, figuring I'd find ways to roll more interesting clerics in the future. What I found instead was the Ur-Priest prestige class, and the potential for a character with far more flavor, as well as a built in story hook for the DM. (Ur-Priests do not follow any god or pantheon. They hate religion and distrust gods. They spend part of each day in a trance, during which the steal divine energy from various gods, making use of it as they see fit.) Right now, the party's in the middle of a side quest on our way to a large city. I was thinking that some sort of betrayal or tragety could happen to my cleric- something so terrible that it could cause him to lose faith in and turn away from the church of Pelor. He would then spend, let's say, a level's worth of time away from the party, where his detest for organized religion grows. He would meet an Ur-Priest, and be trained in thier ways. Assuming that the encounter leading to his betrayal results in enough XP to level the party, he would rejoin the party as a neutral evil Cleric 5/Ur-Priest 2. He would spend his level from the betrayal on Ur-Priest and gained a level during his training (my DM has approved this, along with a few minor tweaks to meet the pre-reqs for the prestige). He would be evil not towards people, but in the ways that he deals with gods and religion. He would return to his friends in the party because after he lost the church, he doesn't really have anywhere to go. I think there's some great roleplaying potential here. I can foresee spitting in a paladin's face for lecturing me, bearing the seal of pelor across my shield, but flipped upside down and desecrated. While this is a good start, I still need help in a few places-- First, what is it that's going to drive me away from the church? Corrupt officials? An un answered prayer in a time of great need? A holy war that claims too many innocent lives? Second, how exactly am I going to meet the Ur-Priest to trains me? And lastly, what's a good way to rejoin the party?
Infantryman 01-26-07, 04:19 PM	It sounds like you already have ideas for how he could lose faith but a lot depends on the DM and the campaign setting. Hopefully your DM will put an encounter your way that will give Jozan a reason for losing faith. Alternatively you might be able to find a way in the normal course of events. Example: the party arrives just in time to drive off bandits who are attacking some innocent villagers. Jozan uses his last spells in the battle only to find that the bandits left a smalll child dying from a sword blow. He cradles the child in his arms and calls on Pelor to heal the child. Nothing happens and the child dies in his arms. Thereafter he loses faith in Pelor and when the DM puts an Ur-Priest in his path he finds himself drawn to their teachings. As for rejoining the party, the easiest solution is that they come and find you. Even if the characters aren't friends, the chances are that they'll need their healer. It could be quite interesting to roleplay them persuading Jozan to leave his new teacher and rejoin them!
daneofdanger 01-26-07, 09:30 PM	It sounds like you already have ideas for how he could lose faith but a lot depends on the DM and the campaign setting. Hopefully your DM will put an encounter your way that will give Jozan a reason for losing faith. Alternatively you might be able to find a way in the normal course of events. Example: the party arrives just in time to drive off bandits who are attacking some innocent villagers. Jozan uses his last spells in the battle only to find that the bandits left a smalll child dying from a sword blow. He cradles the child in his arms and calls on Pelor to heal the child. Nothing happens and the child dies in his arms. Thereafter he loses faith in Pelor and when the DM puts an Ur-Priest in his path he finds himself drawn to their teachings. As for rejoining the party, the easiest solution is that they come and find you. Even if the characters aren't friends, the chances are that they'll need their healer. It could be quite interesting to roleplay them persuading Jozan to leave his new teacher and rejoin them! that seems like a pretty good senario for leaving the church. I was having issues thinking of somehting serious enough to make him abandon his religion. Any other possibilities?
BlackZed 01-26-07, 10:28 PM	The backstory of one of my characters involved a betrayal from within the church. He was a good little boy that wanted nothing more than to be a paladin. Basic breakdown, as this is the longest background I've made. I'll cut to the heart of the matter. The church sponsored a corrective facility for young girls with psychological problems. His sister was sent there after having killed a few pets. He found out that the facility was simply a face, a way for corrupt officials to get their hands on young women that wouldn't be believed if they did happen to remember being molested. It was a church of some evil god masquerading as a church of Pelor. Confronted the head priest of the church, was laughed at, and given over to a bunch of wizards to play with, breaking his spirit down from LG to LN. He developed the idea that religion required a complete and ultimate trust, and it was better to keep one's religion or lack thereof to oneself. Humans could betray trust, and it was too easy to place trust in a god that might not always be there for you. To expand on the previous idea, as the child dies in his arms, but have that be the intro for the ur-priest. "Is your god so weak that he will not even spare the life of a child?" Salt to the wound, so to speak.
daneofdanger 01-26-07, 11:16 PM	I'm liking the dead child idea. It's very stong. After being failed by my prayers to Pelor, I could carry the child into the city, and to the temple there, and beg for a ressurection, only to be turned away for not having the money to pay for the spell. To expand on the previous idea, as the child dies in his arms, but have that be the intro for the ur-priest. "Is your god so weak that he will not even spare the life of a child?" Salt to the wound, so to speak. The Ur-Priest could say this to me as I walked away from the church to bury the child. my char could lash out, charging the man for an Inflict Wounds spell. he could win the opposed grapple check, pinning my to the ground and whisper, "Blind faith can only lead the blind out of the dark. Those of us who can see must depend on something much more real to help those around us." He'd leave me sobbing on the ground, with the great temple of the sun looming overhead. After about a month of solitude, I'd be driven to seek out the man who left those fateful words echoing in my head, and learn just what he meant by it. I am absolutly LOVING the roleplaying potential that this character has. this is gonna be alot of fun.
Infantryman 01-27-07, 09:27 AM	More nice ideas coming out here.. If I was DMing for you I'd be thinking of ways to turn the screw even more! Let us know how it goes. Infantryman
daneofdanger 01-27-07, 02:36 PM	Oh, I just realised somehting else that I need. Right now, my cleric's name is Victor Victoria, obviously a joke. But I can't allow my first character with any real depth to have a joke name. I need to come up with an apporpriate name for an incredibly stereotypical Cleric of Pelor, and also a name that he would choose after leaving the church as a way of furthering himself from the sun god. Any ideas? I'm really bad with names.
Try 01-27-07, 03:05 PM	I'd keep the old name for while he's a cleric of Pelor, and then pick something latin or greek for his new name.
Infantryman 01-28-07, 05:06 PM	I like Try's idea. Latin names that spring to mind are Lucius, Claudius, Petronus Camillus, Verus, Titus, Honoratus, Severus, Faustus and Scipio. (Yep, I know my Roman history!) Of course you could Google Latin or Greek names for a longer list. Oh and for the time being, you could simply alter his name to Victor Victoriatus. Sounds a bit more impressive but isn't a huge change. Infantryman
daneofdanger 01-28-07, 08:21 PM	I like Try's idea. Latin names that spring to mind are Lucius, Claudius, Petronus Camillus, Verus, Titus, Honoratus, Severus, Faustus and Scipio. (Yep, I know my Roman history!) Of course you could Google Latin or Greek names for a longer list. Oh and for the time being, you could simply alter his name to Victor Victoriatus. Sounds a bit more impressive but isn't a huge change. Infantryman Victor Victoria is the name of a movie about a woman pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman. That's why I wanna change the name. Faustus seems apropriate. I'm also considering something related to Fenir, given his hatred of the gods...
Infantryman 01-29-07, 12:04 PM	Victor Victoria is the name of a movie about a woman pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman. That's why I wanna change the name. Never heard of the movie, but I see your point. Fenir sounds good for a new name.