Post/Author/DateTime	Post
CS_Buddy 02-27-04, 04:23 PM	Well I think the title says it all... in my last gaming session, one of our characters (Serena, CG Bard) finally gave birth. She'd been pregnant for about a month, and we were all pretty sure the pregnancy had divine machinations behind it. A little background: My character is a NG Exalted Cleric. He is using a lot of the stuff from the Book of Exalted Deeds.. Vow of Poverty, Vow of Peace etc... he gets visions from a Coulatl (Giant Holy Winged Snake) who uses my character (Phillip) as a conduit to deliver messages etc. When we first found out Serena was pregnant, the night before, I had a vision where the Coulatl said "Congratulations", and when I woke up, I was holding a baby rattle. I probably brought this upon myself... one of the adventures our group had was to deliver a freakishly disturbing table to a high elf in a city... without his knowledge. Even though I knew it was breaking and entering, I came along to make sure nobody got hurt. Serena was the one who wanted to do this, because the reward was a singing rapier. Afterwards, I had a vision while praying, and asked for punishment for participating in the escapade, and hinted that Serena might benefit from some as well. I sort of said it offhand, but the DM took it literally. So here's the deal: Our group uses the Greek Pantheon as the Gods in the homebrew world our DM made up. I worship Helios, Serena worships Aphrodite, and a couple of the others worship Hermes and Athena. The "God" who was just born was born a 16 year old male teenager. He flies around on a floating surfboard, and has 2 Kamas attached to his wrists by chains.. one glows bright white, and the other radiates darkness. He is the child of Aphrodite and Hades. His portfolios (if I can remember) are Love, Death, Madness, and one more I can't think of. He can change into whatever size he wants, and anyone (other than people in the party) who come within 50-ft of him are affected by his emotions. Right now he's not too happy, because I told him why he's here. Essentially Aphrodite and Hades got a little "intimate", and he was the result. Aphrodite got pregnant, and not wanting to take responsibility for her actions, transferred the child to Serena, one of her followers... partially as "punishment", but I won't be telling Serena that ^_^. In any case, according to the Coulatl, I'm in charge of "Afrades" while he stays on the mortal plane, as the Gods are hoping my moral sensibilities will rub off on him. The idea is that if he becomes happier, his aura will make people fall in love, and be devoted to their significant others, instead of right now, where people just get jealous and fight when they are around him. One of the members of the party- a Chaotic Air Mephit, is already trying to subvert Afrades to play pranks with his divine power. Since they both can fly, I can't keep up to try to watch over him. I'm really not sure how I can teach Afrades some good values and keep the influence of the Air Mephit to a minimum. I'd really appreciate any suggestions on how to deal with this. The game will be later tonight, so I hope to hear some suggestions by then. Thanks in advance!
Heron_Marked_Blade 02-27-04, 05:26 PM	Engage in the liberal use of Mind Blank (if you can find it/get it cast/have the Protection domain) and Wind Walk. What are your domains? What level is the party? I assume pretty high level if you're supposed to babysit a minor DEITY.
CS_Buddy 02-27-04, 06:02 PM	Right now the average party level is 6. Phillip is a Monk1/Cleric 6. Serena and myself are a bit higher since we're original party members... a few others joined in late or changed characters at least once. Domains are Glory and Sun. I'm planning to go into Apostle of Peace, and possibly into Sacred Exorcist and Radiant Servant of Pelor (would be Helios for our campaign). I plan to have him focus on undead/demon turning/censuring, and be as nonviolent as possible. I'm maxing out Diplomacy, and he only does subdual damage if he does have to attack, which is rarely, since he's the medkit of the party. Once I hit level 8, I'll have the permanent Mind Shielding ability from Vow of Poverty- same as having protection against Detect Thoughts and Discern Lies, as well as any method of detecting my alignment. We're playing straight 3.0E D&D. Wind Walk is a Clr6 spell... I won't be getting that for a while. If I really have to fly to keep up, I can cast Celestial Aspect (Sanctified 3) which can give me Wings of Astral Deva- for 1 minute/level. It has a 1d3 Strength Damage sacrifice component though, so I'd rather not use it if possible. I also should mention I have a pet silver dragon wyrmling nammed Bobby Drake (my friends are X-Men fans and they named him)... I raised him from an egg. He's not strong enough to carry me really, but he helps in a pinch. I can cast Bull's Strength on him and have him ferry people across slowly if needed. Probably won't help in this situation though.
CS_Buddy 02-27-04, 06:04 PM	Oh, as far as keeping up... if Afrades really wants to, he can Dimension Door every round at will... forgot to mention that. Keeping up to him won't be that easy.
Heron_Marked_Blade 02-28-04, 10:35 AM	At this point, I suggest you go along for the ride. Your DM will obviously be using this event as a plot-hook (or any number of plot-hooks), and since you're too low of a level to really do anything about the task he's given you, you might as well see where it leads.
Jagyr Ebonwood 02-28-04, 01:39 PM	Originally posted by CS_Buddy We're playing straight 3.0E D&D. BoED is 3.5E. And if you're babysitting deities AND dragons...at level seven...I suggest quickly biting whatever plot hook the DM throws at you...this kind of situation can self-destruct very quickly, and it's better not to make much of a fuss (besides the fuss that would be expected of your cleric).
CS_Buddy 02-29-04, 02:58 PM	Most of what I'm using from the BoED we've converted back to 3.0E. There's not that much of a difference. I am keeping kind of a low profile with regards to Afrades... he didn't really come up at all last session except that the DM noted he wasn't quite as angry as before. I just hope if I stay in character and try to influence him a bit without pushing too much that'll be enough. I'll try to get some more instruction out of the Coulatl next time I have a vision. My character seems to attract these types of creatures. I try not to use the dragon in combat too much... I don't want him getting targeted if I can help it. It's more of a roleplay thing than anything. I also had a Mimic named Albert following him until recently... just went on his own to do something. And we had a monkey until recently that got eaten by a brass dragon when we weren't looking. I feel like Dr. Doolittle sometimes, but it's fun. My character doesn't collect items or get treasure or anything, so maybe the DM started pushing this on me to give me something to do. I'm not sure. But it's fun =)
E-Vile 02-29-04, 10:53 PM	Show him the consequences of his actions, good deeds spread joy, evil ones sorrow. Show him it's nice to be nice. If you could somehow make his power work in reverse it would be a great help, he'd feel what others feel. He'd make people happy at first because he'd become happy and if he plays pranks, he'd be the victim too.
BenjCano 03-01-04, 03:16 AM	:OMG! Words fail me.
TheGogmagog 03-01-04, 12:53 PM	Originally posted by CS_Buddy The "God" who was just born was born a 16 year old male teenager. He flies around on a floating surfboard, and has 2 Kamas attached to his wrists by chains.. one glows bright white, and the other radiates darkness. He is the child of Aphrodite and Hades. His portfolios (if I can remember) are Love, Death, Madness, and one more I can't think of. Yet another DM introduces his uber NPC to shadow the efforts of the players. Follow along the DM's plot line for as long as you can take it. As you lose more interest in watching the DM entertain himself you might want to think about running your own game. If you must have an NPC join the player group, make it half the power of the party average.
BenjCano 03-01-04, 01:53 PM	All right. I'm better now, had a good night's rest, cup of tea, and I think I can comment on this topic. Say what you will (railroading) about the DM, you must give him credit for actually saying that his pet NPC is a god. Most DMs, when they have a character present who can overshadow the PCs at every opportunity, making light of their achievements and doing anything they can do better, won't go so far as to make them deities, despite the fact that they usually could go toe to toe with greater powers. If I was in this campaign (thankfully I'm not), I'd express my displeasure by attempting to wreak havoc with the story you're being shoehorned into. Find the nearest temple of Hepheastus and tell the God of the Forge that his little wify has been unfaithful to him, and that the proof is right outside. Knowing the Greek pantheon, a live volcano will go off under his feet and solve your problem. But then your DM will probably have some lame reason why it won't work. Understand that your efforts are going to be doomed to failure, but you should do them anyway to voice your outrage at what's being forced upon you.
Arakano 03-01-04, 03:41 PM	Well, Hephaistos is one of the nicer gods... Still, babysitting a god is no good idea. Especially considering you are unable to handle him. I mean, itīs like having a 6 year old babysitting a 16 year old...
CS_Buddy 03-01-04, 08:52 PM	I don't think it'll be a bad thing that he's with us. Most of the NPCs that have come our way have been fairly non-interfering. He hasn't participated in combat at all, and he probably won't unless we're in a really big pinch. The DM even asks us out of game before we start a combat if we want any of the NPCs participating. Serena had a Half Dragon bodyguard for a short time- she'd pay him a Gold a day to protect her and anyone else under contract. He died, and was reincarnated as a sword that I was given in a vision to give to her. Its kinda fun being the conduit of the Gods sometimes ;) They have to come to me for divine favors and such... Still, the NPCs haven't been that interfering. I control the dragon as if he was a cohort, but he has his own mind as well, and if I overuse him, or anything like that, he'll probably fly off to do his own thing. I think that's why the Mimic left- the DM probably though I had too big of an entourage, and I would have to agree... just couldn't figure out a good in-game reason to let him go, since I converted him to good by bribing him with chickens, and that's about as far as he could think. My character has another cause other than taking care of Afrades. He was commissioned by the Gods to convert the followers of the Church of Joe. The followers of Misdirected Anger. They are mostly hobos and street people who wear trash cans on their heads, heckle people for no reason, and for some reason think forks are amazing. It's really funny because they can't get mad at someone if they actually deserve it, so if someone does something bad to them, they have to smile about it, but maybe yell something like "Nice Hat!". I was given the power that if I touch their food, and they eat it, I will have a chance to convert them over to Helios with a good enough diplomacy check.. and if there is a church nearby. Its a whole fake religion my DM pulled from another game. I have a permanent red "M" stitched into my robe, that not even a gelatinous cube engulfing me could get rid of. I didn't think of bringing up anything with Hephaestus... I'll have to look into that.