Celestial Template PCs...

[Vrylakos]

Ok... so in my campaign, now going on for 3 flipping years... a bit of a ramble followed by a question, as last night's game was SO good...

The main leader of the party, a cleric, finally found his long lost father...

His father, a paladin, had been sent on a doomed crusade against the forces of darkness by petty higher-ups in the church.

Despite it all, when the forces of darkness pressed in upon his tattered fleet, our hero's father soldiered on, driven by faith and his belief in his men.

At that point he achieved a spiritual apotheosis, and became a divine servant, a half-celestial paladin.

Unfortunately, he was still surrounded by the legions of the unholy, and he was captured and chained. Over time, the loss of his wife and infant children overcame him, and he became bitter and twisted by sorrow and loss.

The forces of evil bound him in adamantine chains, piercing each of his six limbs, and these chains drew upon his now-immortal anger.

This wrath filled a suit of enchanted armor, the Reaver Blackheart, which soon became the scourge of the campaign setting. The Reaver contains an army of shadows within it, souls slain by the Reaver or its army of shadows. Its original shadow-host was the paladin's fallen comrades.

Finally, after a teleportation accident, the party finds themselves in the flying keep of the enemy, chased by the Reaver Blackheart. They managed to force their way into the chamber of the fallen paladin and as the Reaver pounded his way through the door and began to strangle the party's psychic warrior, the cleric revealed his long-hidden family name, and the bitter angel let go of his grief and resentment, and was at peace. The angel, ashamed of the results of his anger, was forgiven by his son.

The Reaver Blackheart fell apart into a heap of armor, and as the angelic paladin felt the pull of his god after being too-long trapped in the mortal world, he gave his son his blessing, and told him how proud he was that he had not given up hope when his own father had.

The angel touched him upon the forehead, and the golden fingerprint burst into light as the angel disappeared. A column of light fell from the heavens and the cleric is raised on high - wings burst from his back, his skin becomes luminous, and he feels the touch of his god.

So... the campaign is winding down. The cleric has his Big Reward... but how should I implement it mechanically? I was just going to slap on the Half-Celestial template, but is there a more graduated Savage Species-like version? I'm at work and thus don't have access to my books, but has anyone else had to deal with the addition of celestial power to a character?

Any suggestions?

Vrylakos

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

So... the campaign is winding down. The cleric has his Big Reward... but how should I implement it mechanically? I was just going to slap on the Half-Celestial template, but is there a more graduated Savage Species-like version? I'm at work and thus don't have access to my books, but has anyone else had to deal with the addition of celestial power to a character?

You can find the template class you're looking for in Malhavoc Press' Anger of Angels book. I've used it for our resident Half-Celestial Steel Golem, and it worked perfectly, without breaking the balance of the game.

 

[shilsen]

Here's a graduated Savage Species type progression for the Half-Fiend from Wizards. You can just switch the appropriate stats and immunities around to make it work for half-celestials too: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20031010a

 

[Nifft]

http://klimt.cns.nyu.edu/~fishman/DnD/templates.shtml

Scroll down for the Specific Half-Celestial Templates, so you can make him a half-Lantern Archon or half-Hound Archon instead of a half-Planetar (which is what the Core Half-Celestial seems to be).

-- N