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We've just started a new game and it just happened that all but one of the PCs are followers of Kelemvor.
What are the best sources for learning about how Kelemvor's clerics and followers think and behave?
faiths and avatars 2e and the faith and pantheons book 3e.
otherwise you coult try the FRwiki,
or
go to Candlekeep or Loremaster and ask Ed Greenwood, or one of the other authors their oppinion on a follower of the Lord of the dead.
They dont like undead thats all I can say from the top of my head.
Despise the undead. Act like funeral directors, consoling the grieving, etc. But preaching the message that death is natural and neccesary to life. That's how I've always read it
So what...he's like the FR version of the Raven Queen?
So what...he's like the FR version of the Raven Queen?
Well, since Kelemvor's been around a helluva lot longer, it'd be more appropriate to say the Raven Queen is the core version of Kelemvor. And even so, though it's been some time since I last read up on RQ, there are big differences between them. Namely that RQ is ambitious and revels in collecting new souls, whereas Kelemvor is all business and seems a lot more focused on judgment.
I am still trying to figure out why someone wants to know more about Kelemvor?
We should be enlightening them about Curellon!
Namely that RQ is ambitious and revels in collecting new souls, whereas Kelemvor is all business and seems a lot more focused on judgment.
Yeah, he's quite "apolytical" as far as gods go. Apart from iirc one or two good-ish stints in the start of his career, he's about as impartial as you can hope for. Almost like a divine bureaucrat, really. Also, his clergy is very much into the whole "death is not to be feared" thing, which iirc most death cults don't do.
I like the guy, by and large. He and Jergal are a pretty interesting pair.
I like the guy, by and large. He and Jergal are a pretty interesting pair.
As do I. I know a lot of people dislike just how impartial Kelemvor is, especially after that 90 degree shift in Crucible, but I like him more as the impartial judge rather than Dudley Do-Right. Jergal's cool, too. Incidentally, when I was updating my group's Realms to 1479 DR, I originally offed Jergal in an attack by Myrkul (whom I restored with the Spellplague by having him absorb Velsharoon). But then I realized I had nothing to gain by erasing Jergal, and that with the more thought I gave it, the more I liked his role as Seneschal of the Dead. So *poof*: Jergal never perished in Myrkul's assault on the Fugue Plane, and both he and the Boss are doing well in the New Age.
In my campaign Kelemvors servants tend to contain more crusader types, bound to eradicate all those that transgress the rules written in the liturgies of the upper echelon of Kelemvors clergy. The written works of Myrkuls priests tends to be valued by archbishops aswell, just to (re)define those passages in the dogma of Kelemvor that differ from Myrkuls dogma. By understanding death they try to educate the people, and Myrkulite works are a terrific aid in this endeavor.
In game terms this clergy would have a comparitvely large amount of officially sanctioned avengers who hunt down murderers and those who seem to have cheated death. The clerics are the active undead hunter section of the church. Palladins would be those clergymen that (manage the) guard holy sites of Kelemvor such as mausoleums and actively protect clerics and wandering priests in hostile territories. Wandering priests offer solace for grieving families and try to give rest to ghosts and lost souls.
Invokers would solely be invested by Jergal i.e. his order of Doomscriveners. This ancient clergy has always seemed very interesting to me. Their the ones that instill the beaurocratic and distanced judgemental flavor into Kelemvors church and fearuns other divine communities that deal with the passing of the dead.