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[Let's Read] The Adventurer's Guide to the Bible
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8775160" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/OBmdTP3.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Events & Encounters, Part II</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>This section has been split into two parts for ease of length</strong></p><p></p><p>For the second half of this chapter, roughly half of the sections detail the remaining archdemon lairs, two important settlements in Judea, two that are Jesus-centric, and one is an escort mission for a holy artifact. The settlements follow a similar layout to the Atlas entries in showing a birds-eye view of locations filled with people and quest hooks that tie into other events and encounters.</p><p></p><p><em>Tomb of the Buried Queen</em> is a dungeon crawl taking place in and under the Great Pyramid of Giza. Back in the day, the archdemon Mammon masqueraded as the goddess Selket to trick the Pharaohs into burying themselves with their royal wealth, believing that their bounties will come over with them in the afterlife. This worked out well for Mammon, as the Pharaohs offered her tribute while living and she turned the Pyramid of Giza into her personal treasure trove. As an 18 room, multi-level dungeon filled with a variety of monsters, traps, and puzzles, this is definitely one of the highlights of the campaign. I can see gaming groups having a lot of fun going through it. Some interesting features include scarab beetle swarms which can be kept at bay via fire, a room filled with trapped hieroglyphic tiles that zap people with magical energy if they step on any tiles besides the ones with the Ancient Egyptian word for “life,”a “wishing well” that opens up doors of a certain metal matching the coins dropped in, and Golden Calf construct guardians which reform into a golden key upon death to unlock doors to proceed further into the dungeon.</p><p></p><p>Mammon will be encountered in the big treasure room, her human form looking like an Ancient Egyptian aristocrat. She can attack with a dagger that deals bonus necrotic damage as well as use a rechargeable telepathic AoE attack. Like Naamah she can turn invisible and teleport to dodge attacks, albeit also in simulacrum form, and has the benefits of Spider Climb in both forms. Her true form is a centaur-like monster but with the bottom half having scorpion legs, claws, and tail. In this form she gets access to new features such as a Flesh to Gold spell and a poisonous sting attack. Being a literal load-bearing boss, the pyramid will enter a timed collapse, and PCs can stick around each round to loot her treasure trove with some randomly-generated treasure and magic items. This comes at increased risk of being buried alive, naturally; such is the price of greed.</p><p></p><p><em>Pleasure Cruise</em> involves Moloch, the Archdemon of Gluttony. His simulacrum is known as Captain Gula, the owner of a floating luxury resort ship called the Laimargia, docked in the city of Tarsus. Already infamous for his decadent parties, people curry favor to gain tickets to the cruise where everyone has to wear a mask. This allowance of anonymity encourages party-goers to engage in excesses they wouldn’t otherwise, and also allows Moloch to discretely murder and eat people with minimal risk as few can truly say who is attending beyond speculation.</p><p></p><p>There are multiple hooks and reasons the PCs may board the Laimargia, but this event is less a dungeon crawl and more a murder mystery. The cruise lasts for 6 days out on the open sea, and the ship has 3 levels (or decks) along with 10 party-goers. A league of goat demons (new monsters) are in the bowels of the ship rowing. The party-goers have randomly-generated false names, appearances, vices, and secrets. Vices in this case are more character flaws and indulgences that can determine where they are on the ship and how Moloch may take advantage of them, while secrets are reasons the party-goers won’t trust other people or the PCs. Secrets include things like being one of Moloch’s agents, a Roman senator frightened of being assassinated by the Sicarii, or a religious leader in Tarsus who preaches the virtues of moderation and self-control.</p><p></p><p>I wanted to mention that one of the sample Vices is “flirting with women…or men…or both.” While this isn’t being portrayed as an explicit moral flaw, it being listed alongside other Vices such as opium, gambling, and being the center of attention, this comes off as a “bisexuals are overly lustful” reading.</p><p></p><p>Over the course of 6 days Moloch will slowly isolate, kill, and eat passengers who wander off alone, and by the fourth day it will be obvious to everyone that something terrible is going on. If the PCs haven’t confronted Moloch by then, he will go after them.</p><p></p><p>As Captain Gula, Moloch is a physically-oriented enemy with a powerful slam attack and the ability to heal damage by gorging himself on food. He has a variety of good spells such as Cloudkill and Gaseous Form, as well as Disguise Self which he can use to impersonate other passengers. His true form is a large frog-like demon with a powerful bite and poisonous belch attack. Moloch doesn’t have any spells in this form, but his legendary actions are more physical, such as saliva which mimics the Grease spell, the ability to swallow targets, and increasing in size categories the more creatures he eats. Even if slain, the goat demons will leap out of the Laimargia, stranding the boat at sea. The PCs can help sail it to the island of Cyprus, which depending on their earlier actions may either help them find Caspar and/or put them in the crosshairs of Simon Magus. There’s also a sidebar for turning the Laimargia into a mobile base of operations. Much like Naamah, Moloch has letter correspondence with other archdemons, and this can reveal the location of Naamah and Beelzebub’s lairs.</p><p></p><p><em>Tending to the Garden</em> is where we’ll find Beelzebub, Archdemon of Sloth. Making his lair in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, he has perhaps the most inefficient means of locating the Messiah: by encouraging travelers to relax and hang out in the gardens, he can keep up with gossip and tales and learn more about the Messiah that way.This comes off as an excuse, but is very in-character for a demon that is the representation of laziness so I’m cool with it.</p><p></p><p>The Hanging Gardens are treated as a dungeon crawl, separated into leveled tiers with Beelzebub at the top. There’s also a hedge maze, and he has swarms of Abyssal Flies which keep in telepathic contact with him at all times to keep tabs on intruders. Abyssal Flies individually are incredibly weak, having just 1 HP and doing 1 damage with their sting. But the real danger here lies in Exhaustion ratings. Not only does Beelzebub’s Aura trigger a level of exhaustion on a failed Constitution save, so too do the sting attacks of Abyssal Flies. So PCs can be worn down by the lethargic atmosphere just as much as damage. Otherwise the only other enemy types here are Shedim and Goat Demons.</p><p></p><p>Beelzebub, once encountered, isn’t in the mood for conversation. So beyond a brief welcome he will attack the party as he grows bored of them. His simulacrum is an old man with a giant scythe who as a reaction can knock opponents prone by making them drowsy. He can also summon decorative garden statues to fight in battle, which the stat block calls…Garden Gnomes.</p><p></p><p>Beelzebub’s true form is a frightening-looking classical demon: a Huge-sized, horned, red-skinned humanoid with sharp teeth and mighty strength. He can’t cast spells, but he wields Goliath’s Greatsword which is a +2 magic weapon that ignores slashing resistance and deals +4d8 damage on a critical hit. He can also hurl enemies up to 40 feet, damaging them depending on how far they traveled. The text points out he can use this to throw PCs off the current tier of the Garden, and for ease of movement-tracking characters must spend their entire turn to return to the battlefield.</p><p></p><p>Upon defeat, the PCs can find a horde of gems as well as a partially-dissolved leatherbound scroll signed by Lilith giving orders to the various Archdemons and what to do. The most useful information is that Legion is underground somewhere in Judea.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/ZXPxR02.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><em>Welcome to Galilee</em> details the region of Judea famed for containing Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. In addition to that settlement, it has a full-page map detailing 10 unique locations for the PCs to visit. Galilee is a poor, rural region, and besides the richer Roman-sponsored cities of Capernaum and Magdala the majority of settlements are in states of disrepair that can be most accurately described as rural slums. Nazareth is regarded as one of the worst settlements, with its neighbors often joking that nothing good can come out of there.</p><p></p><p>Galilee is one of the likely places PCs can meet Jesus and possibly witness a few of his more notable deeds, such as the verse where he multiples bread and fish or stopping an angry mob from stoning a woman to death via his “he who is without sin” speech.* This isn’t a railroad. PCs have a chance to deal with the mob on their own first, and Jesus does his challenge if the party doesn’t otherwise intervene or manage to quell their wrath. This section also serves as a good means for inquisitive PCs to learn more about him (or rumors of the Messiah) by visiting friends and family.</p><p></p><p>Nazareth, unsurprisingly, is where the most potential character development in learning about Jesus can happen, particularly at the house of his mother. Appropriate role-playing, social skill checks, or even mind-reading magic can cause the family members to open up a bit and reveal more details. For instance, Mary’s virgin birth was not well-regarded initially; rumors around the town spread that she conceived a child out of marriage, and that her husband Joseph believed that she had cheated on him. This scandal caused most of her friends in Nazareth to abandon her.</p><p></p><p>So I cannot say how Biblically accurate this is, but I really like this little detail. Contemporary Christian culture often exalts the Virgin Mary as a paragon of feminine ideals, but if something like a virgin pregnancy were to happen in the times before the miracle of artificial insemination, it sadly makes sense that most people would assume that the woman would be lying about it. Also given that Jesus’ own mother has been viewed in such a way adds a bit more depth to the time when he protected the woman accused of adultery from being stoned to death. Yes I know it’s Jesus, protecting the innocent and abhorring murder is his bread and fish, but it helps paint a more empathetic picture.</p><p></p><p>For some non-Jesus related interesting areas, there are local hot springs which have possible randomly-determined healing properties, the PCs can also beat Jesus to the punch at a few of his miracles in healing several people if they have the right spells, engage a friendly one on one duel with the angel Barachiel in a swamp who can give them a Holy Ground benefit if they win, and visit the Witch of Endor in a cozy-looking cottage. For some reason the duel brings to mind the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf1KaB0XGGg" target="_blank">sword-training duels in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.</a></p><p></p><p>I figure that now’s as good a time as any to discuss the Witch of Endor. She’s an immortal mage who was cast out of Israel by King Saul for her powerful divination magic, and ever since has pursued power and knowledge for its own sake. She has a complex relationship with God, hating the idea of living under a moral code that can inhibit her own power. Yet she hates Satan’s minions for the lies they spread which in turn hampers the ability to pursue truth. For this reason she can serve as an enigmatic ally, and her quaint little cottage is capable of teleporting, meaning it can also be found as a random encounter. She can use her powers to aid the PCs, but in exchange she asks them to perform seemingly innocuous errands which will pit them against the archdemons or otherwise get them involved in some other quest in this book. A few examples are laid out in a sample table.</p><p></p><p>In terms of stats the Witch of Endor is a wizardly mage who can cast up to 5th level spells. She has a damaging at-will energy bolt that can inflict various damage types, can force a targeted creature to transform into a form reflecting their physical vices on a failed save, and has Legendary Actions which she can spend to make a free Perception check, teleport, or cast a spell. Overall a pretty cool character to meet.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/b6F2Gsd.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><em>Meeting Jesus</em> is likely something most readers here have been waiting for. It’s not really an encounter or event so much as general role-play advice which is surprisingly pretty good. Basically it tells the DM to relax and not overwhelm themselves with worrying about getting an historical figure’s exact mannerisms right. The book explains that many people have an image of Jesus as a formal, uptight preacher, but for the standards of his day his speech was actually rather plain and he used slang and jokes. In other words, Jesus “was a very normal person,” and should overall be role-played as a chill dude who is engaging in comfortable chats with close friends.</p><p></p><p>There will inevitably come times when the PCs, or players channeling their own views through the PCs, attempt to get Jesus’ opinion on some moral issue. Jesus’ overriding concern is love: the correct thing to do is always the most loving thing to do. The purpose of morality is not to determine who to condemn, it is to determine how to best uplift and support one another. This is also the closest the Adventurer’s Guide gets to an explicit stance on LGBT issues:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>When it comes to combat encounters, the DM is advised to avoid placing Jesus in such scenarios, as the majority of his portrayals in the Bible were less action-packed barring a few circumstances. He has the uncanny ability to get out of harm’s way and defuse tensions, no matter how bloodthirsty his enemies are at the moment. That being said, there are times when Jesus rolled up his sleeves to layeth the smackdown, and there are Bible verses cited for all of these as examples for “when he rolls initiative” such as the infamous public freakout when he drives money-lenders out of a temple which sadly isn’t a scenario that happens in this book. Interestingly one of these “combat verses” (Mark 5:1 to 5:20) has him exorcize Legion from a possessed man. Which means that Jesus has encountered one of the archdemons! So shouldn’t this be used as an obvious plot hook by the DM? The book doesn’t say; bit of a wasted opportunity.</p><p></p><p>When it comes to stats Jesus doesn’t have a stat block. Instead he has guidelines; while Jesus is God and has the ability to know and do whatever he wants, while in human form he wishes to “have a true human experience and accept things as they come.” Basically in terms of physical stats he’s a Commoner, but when it comes to mental and magical abilities he’s out of this world. When making mental ability checks he either has a significantly high bonus or is assumed to auto-succeed. As for his miracles, a list of spells along with chapters and verses in which he uses them are provided; Jesus has no spellcasting bonus or save DCs, as the DM can decide whether they are successful or not, and his spells don’t require material components.</p><p></p><p>There is one exception: Jesus, and only Jesus, has the True Atonement spell. As sins have often been atoned via sacrifice, Jesus can perform this ritual on behalf of the world by offering his own blood as the material sacrifice. But as God, he is an infinitely perfect being, which means that the spell’s duration, range, and level are also infinite. What this means is that his sacrifice is capable of dispelling all sin everywhere for those who atone. In practical game terms, this means that any spells requiring human sin* as a material component are instantly dispelled, meaning that any surviving archdemon simulacrums are destroyed and reveal the demons for who they truly are. Without this ability, the demons will be unable to return to the material plane should they die.</p><p></p><p>*doesn’t specify for sins of other creatures such as giants, monsters, and nephilim.</p><p></p><p>So what happens if someone tries to divine Jesus’ true nature, such as reading his thoughts, tracking down his location, or similar abilities? Well that caster is Stunned for one hour, no save, and talks nonstop in a stream-of-conscious manner about the nature of life, the universe, and everything for the duration.</p><p></p><p>There are also brief write-ups on Jesus’ Disciples in listing their Quirks, Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws. These include the 12 Apostles, Judas, and three women allies of Jesus: Susanna from the Book of Daniel, Joanna the wife of Chuza, and Saint Veronica.</p><p></p><p><em>Welcome to Jerusalem</em> is like Galilee in being an open-ended settlement with a series of various locations, characters, and quest hooks. As the home of the holiest location of Judaism, the Temple Mount, Jerusalem is a city of immense value to the Jewish people and its historical and cultural legacy is intertwined with them. There are other cultural influences present, the most prominent being the Roman Empire. Jerusalem has a heavy Roman military presence, and Pontius Pilate serves as the Proconsul and is rather unhappy in having to deal with the ever-present social strife underlying the occupation. Jerusalem’s previous ruler, King Herod, still lives in his palace, but being stripped of official duties he’s willing to while away the rest of his days in idle amusements.</p><p></p><p>There’s a lot of things the PCs can do here. If they’re at least level 7 they can encounter hooks for the Protectors of the Ark sidequest. Otherwise Pontius Pilate may hire the PCs as an outside neutral party to investigate Jesus of Nazareth. Caipahas, one of the high priests of the Sanhedrin (the supreme council of Jewish religious authorities), is accusing Jesus of planning a violent insurrection and is thus pushing Pilate to do something about him. The marketplaces sell some holy magic items, and there’s a network of subterranean tunnels leading to various locations. These underground areas include the Ruins of Solomon’s Temple which holds the sacred stone of Urim guarded by a pair of Dybbuks (undead shadowy monsters), the headquarters of the Sicarii, and the secret hideout of Legion in the Caverns of Salt and Silver.</p><p></p><p>Legion is hard at work in Judea. In his lair he’s been minting cursed silver pieces designed to make its owners intensely jealous of the Messiah and seek to thwart his plans. There’s a 25% chance such silver ends up in the PC’s inventory every time they engage in a financial transaction in the city. The curse has affected Caiaphas as well as one of Jesus’ own apostles, Judas.</p><p></p><p><em>Protectors of the Ark</em> has the PCs visiting a priestess in the Essene Quarter of Jerusalem with an important, secret mission. The Roman occupiers have been looting Judea of prized cultural artifacts, and combined with their tightening grip on Jerusalem it’s only a matter of time until they find the holiest treasure of all: the Ark of the Covenant, which is discretely kept in her house. As the artifact has been prized by people in power throughout history, the PCs must covertly transport it out of the city and carry it all the way to Ma’rib. As part of an ancient oath, the Queen of Sheba will safely transport it further into Africa where it will be held until it can be safely returned to Jerusalem.</p><p></p><p>In spite of whatever best efforts the PCs take, trouble is bound to find them. Random encounters on the way to Ma’rib are replaced with 9 predetermined ones of ascending difficulty, being a mixture of more mundane Roman spies, soldiers, and Spartan mercenaries as well as cultists of the Shadow of the Beast. If the party is truly unlucky, the 9th encounter can place them toe to toe with the archdemon Abaddon himself! An encounter which would ordinarily cause a TPK instead has the party left alive, but when they come to the Ark has been stolen and lost forever.</p><p></p><p>The Ark of the Covenant is a potent artifact. Those who come in close proximity gain a variety of immunities and have their alignment change to good due to becoming aware of God’s presence while they remain in close contact. People have an intuitive understanding that opening the lid would be disrespectful and cannot do this while under the aura’s influence. But if it somehow happens they are smote with a whopping 28d6 radiant damage on a successful Constitution save, and instant death on a failed one. Characters who enter combat in defense of the Ark gain access to a Lair action which casts the Call Lightning spell.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8775160, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/OBmdTP3.png[/img] [b]Events & Encounters, Part II[/b][/center] [b]This section has been split into two parts for ease of length[/b] For the second half of this chapter, roughly half of the sections detail the remaining archdemon lairs, two important settlements in Judea, two that are Jesus-centric, and one is an escort mission for a holy artifact. The settlements follow a similar layout to the Atlas entries in showing a birds-eye view of locations filled with people and quest hooks that tie into other events and encounters. [i]Tomb of the Buried Queen[/i] is a dungeon crawl taking place in and under the Great Pyramid of Giza. Back in the day, the archdemon Mammon masqueraded as the goddess Selket to trick the Pharaohs into burying themselves with their royal wealth, believing that their bounties will come over with them in the afterlife. This worked out well for Mammon, as the Pharaohs offered her tribute while living and she turned the Pyramid of Giza into her personal treasure trove. As an 18 room, multi-level dungeon filled with a variety of monsters, traps, and puzzles, this is definitely one of the highlights of the campaign. I can see gaming groups having a lot of fun going through it. Some interesting features include scarab beetle swarms which can be kept at bay via fire, a room filled with trapped hieroglyphic tiles that zap people with magical energy if they step on any tiles besides the ones with the Ancient Egyptian word for “life,”a “wishing well” that opens up doors of a certain metal matching the coins dropped in, and Golden Calf construct guardians which reform into a golden key upon death to unlock doors to proceed further into the dungeon. Mammon will be encountered in the big treasure room, her human form looking like an Ancient Egyptian aristocrat. She can attack with a dagger that deals bonus necrotic damage as well as use a rechargeable telepathic AoE attack. Like Naamah she can turn invisible and teleport to dodge attacks, albeit also in simulacrum form, and has the benefits of Spider Climb in both forms. Her true form is a centaur-like monster but with the bottom half having scorpion legs, claws, and tail. In this form she gets access to new features such as a Flesh to Gold spell and a poisonous sting attack. Being a literal load-bearing boss, the pyramid will enter a timed collapse, and PCs can stick around each round to loot her treasure trove with some randomly-generated treasure and magic items. This comes at increased risk of being buried alive, naturally; such is the price of greed. [i]Pleasure Cruise[/i] involves Moloch, the Archdemon of Gluttony. His simulacrum is known as Captain Gula, the owner of a floating luxury resort ship called the Laimargia, docked in the city of Tarsus. Already infamous for his decadent parties, people curry favor to gain tickets to the cruise where everyone has to wear a mask. This allowance of anonymity encourages party-goers to engage in excesses they wouldn’t otherwise, and also allows Moloch to discretely murder and eat people with minimal risk as few can truly say who is attending beyond speculation. There are multiple hooks and reasons the PCs may board the Laimargia, but this event is less a dungeon crawl and more a murder mystery. The cruise lasts for 6 days out on the open sea, and the ship has 3 levels (or decks) along with 10 party-goers. A league of goat demons (new monsters) are in the bowels of the ship rowing. The party-goers have randomly-generated false names, appearances, vices, and secrets. Vices in this case are more character flaws and indulgences that can determine where they are on the ship and how Moloch may take advantage of them, while secrets are reasons the party-goers won’t trust other people or the PCs. Secrets include things like being one of Moloch’s agents, a Roman senator frightened of being assassinated by the Sicarii, or a religious leader in Tarsus who preaches the virtues of moderation and self-control. I wanted to mention that one of the sample Vices is “flirting with women…or men…or both.” While this isn’t being portrayed as an explicit moral flaw, it being listed alongside other Vices such as opium, gambling, and being the center of attention, this comes off as a “bisexuals are overly lustful” reading. Over the course of 6 days Moloch will slowly isolate, kill, and eat passengers who wander off alone, and by the fourth day it will be obvious to everyone that something terrible is going on. If the PCs haven’t confronted Moloch by then, he will go after them. As Captain Gula, Moloch is a physically-oriented enemy with a powerful slam attack and the ability to heal damage by gorging himself on food. He has a variety of good spells such as Cloudkill and Gaseous Form, as well as Disguise Self which he can use to impersonate other passengers. His true form is a large frog-like demon with a powerful bite and poisonous belch attack. Moloch doesn’t have any spells in this form, but his legendary actions are more physical, such as saliva which mimics the Grease spell, the ability to swallow targets, and increasing in size categories the more creatures he eats. Even if slain, the goat demons will leap out of the Laimargia, stranding the boat at sea. The PCs can help sail it to the island of Cyprus, which depending on their earlier actions may either help them find Caspar and/or put them in the crosshairs of Simon Magus. There’s also a sidebar for turning the Laimargia into a mobile base of operations. Much like Naamah, Moloch has letter correspondence with other archdemons, and this can reveal the location of Naamah and Beelzebub’s lairs. [i]Tending to the Garden[/i] is where we’ll find Beelzebub, Archdemon of Sloth. Making his lair in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, he has perhaps the most inefficient means of locating the Messiah: by encouraging travelers to relax and hang out in the gardens, he can keep up with gossip and tales and learn more about the Messiah that way.This comes off as an excuse, but is very in-character for a demon that is the representation of laziness so I’m cool with it. The Hanging Gardens are treated as a dungeon crawl, separated into leveled tiers with Beelzebub at the top. There’s also a hedge maze, and he has swarms of Abyssal Flies which keep in telepathic contact with him at all times to keep tabs on intruders. Abyssal Flies individually are incredibly weak, having just 1 HP and doing 1 damage with their sting. But the real danger here lies in Exhaustion ratings. Not only does Beelzebub’s Aura trigger a level of exhaustion on a failed Constitution save, so too do the sting attacks of Abyssal Flies. So PCs can be worn down by the lethargic atmosphere just as much as damage. Otherwise the only other enemy types here are Shedim and Goat Demons. Beelzebub, once encountered, isn’t in the mood for conversation. So beyond a brief welcome he will attack the party as he grows bored of them. His simulacrum is an old man with a giant scythe who as a reaction can knock opponents prone by making them drowsy. He can also summon decorative garden statues to fight in battle, which the stat block calls…Garden Gnomes. Beelzebub’s true form is a frightening-looking classical demon: a Huge-sized, horned, red-skinned humanoid with sharp teeth and mighty strength. He can’t cast spells, but he wields Goliath’s Greatsword which is a +2 magic weapon that ignores slashing resistance and deals +4d8 damage on a critical hit. He can also hurl enemies up to 40 feet, damaging them depending on how far they traveled. The text points out he can use this to throw PCs off the current tier of the Garden, and for ease of movement-tracking characters must spend their entire turn to return to the battlefield. Upon defeat, the PCs can find a horde of gems as well as a partially-dissolved leatherbound scroll signed by Lilith giving orders to the various Archdemons and what to do. The most useful information is that Legion is underground somewhere in Judea. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZXPxR02.png[/img][/center] [i]Welcome to Galilee[/i] details the region of Judea famed for containing Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. In addition to that settlement, it has a full-page map detailing 10 unique locations for the PCs to visit. Galilee is a poor, rural region, and besides the richer Roman-sponsored cities of Capernaum and Magdala the majority of settlements are in states of disrepair that can be most accurately described as rural slums. Nazareth is regarded as one of the worst settlements, with its neighbors often joking that nothing good can come out of there. Galilee is one of the likely places PCs can meet Jesus and possibly witness a few of his more notable deeds, such as the verse where he multiples bread and fish or stopping an angry mob from stoning a woman to death via his “he who is without sin” speech.* This isn’t a railroad. PCs have a chance to deal with the mob on their own first, and Jesus does his challenge if the party doesn’t otherwise intervene or manage to quell their wrath. This section also serves as a good means for inquisitive PCs to learn more about him (or rumors of the Messiah) by visiting friends and family. Nazareth, unsurprisingly, is where the most potential character development in learning about Jesus can happen, particularly at the house of his mother. Appropriate role-playing, social skill checks, or even mind-reading magic can cause the family members to open up a bit and reveal more details. For instance, Mary’s virgin birth was not well-regarded initially; rumors around the town spread that she conceived a child out of marriage, and that her husband Joseph believed that she had cheated on him. This scandal caused most of her friends in Nazareth to abandon her. So I cannot say how Biblically accurate this is, but I really like this little detail. Contemporary Christian culture often exalts the Virgin Mary as a paragon of feminine ideals, but if something like a virgin pregnancy were to happen in the times before the miracle of artificial insemination, it sadly makes sense that most people would assume that the woman would be lying about it. Also given that Jesus’ own mother has been viewed in such a way adds a bit more depth to the time when he protected the woman accused of adultery from being stoned to death. Yes I know it’s Jesus, protecting the innocent and abhorring murder is his bread and fish, but it helps paint a more empathetic picture. For some non-Jesus related interesting areas, there are local hot springs which have possible randomly-determined healing properties, the PCs can also beat Jesus to the punch at a few of his miracles in healing several people if they have the right spells, engage a friendly one on one duel with the angel Barachiel in a swamp who can give them a Holy Ground benefit if they win, and visit the Witch of Endor in a cozy-looking cottage. For some reason the duel brings to mind the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf1KaB0XGGg]sword-training duels in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.[/url] I figure that now’s as good a time as any to discuss the Witch of Endor. She’s an immortal mage who was cast out of Israel by King Saul for her powerful divination magic, and ever since has pursued power and knowledge for its own sake. She has a complex relationship with God, hating the idea of living under a moral code that can inhibit her own power. Yet she hates Satan’s minions for the lies they spread which in turn hampers the ability to pursue truth. For this reason she can serve as an enigmatic ally, and her quaint little cottage is capable of teleporting, meaning it can also be found as a random encounter. She can use her powers to aid the PCs, but in exchange she asks them to perform seemingly innocuous errands which will pit them against the archdemons or otherwise get them involved in some other quest in this book. A few examples are laid out in a sample table. In terms of stats the Witch of Endor is a wizardly mage who can cast up to 5th level spells. She has a damaging at-will energy bolt that can inflict various damage types, can force a targeted creature to transform into a form reflecting their physical vices on a failed save, and has Legendary Actions which she can spend to make a free Perception check, teleport, or cast a spell. Overall a pretty cool character to meet. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/b6F2Gsd.png[/img][/center] [i]Meeting Jesus[/i] is likely something most readers here have been waiting for. It’s not really an encounter or event so much as general role-play advice which is surprisingly pretty good. Basically it tells the DM to relax and not overwhelm themselves with worrying about getting an historical figure’s exact mannerisms right. The book explains that many people have an image of Jesus as a formal, uptight preacher, but for the standards of his day his speech was actually rather plain and he used slang and jokes. In other words, Jesus “was a very normal person,” and should overall be role-played as a chill dude who is engaging in comfortable chats with close friends. There will inevitably come times when the PCs, or players channeling their own views through the PCs, attempt to get Jesus’ opinion on some moral issue. Jesus’ overriding concern is love: the correct thing to do is always the most loving thing to do. The purpose of morality is not to determine who to condemn, it is to determine how to best uplift and support one another. This is also the closest the Adventurer’s Guide gets to an explicit stance on LGBT issues: When it comes to combat encounters, the DM is advised to avoid placing Jesus in such scenarios, as the majority of his portrayals in the Bible were less action-packed barring a few circumstances. He has the uncanny ability to get out of harm’s way and defuse tensions, no matter how bloodthirsty his enemies are at the moment. That being said, there are times when Jesus rolled up his sleeves to layeth the smackdown, and there are Bible verses cited for all of these as examples for “when he rolls initiative” such as the infamous public freakout when he drives money-lenders out of a temple which sadly isn’t a scenario that happens in this book. Interestingly one of these “combat verses” (Mark 5:1 to 5:20) has him exorcize Legion from a possessed man. Which means that Jesus has encountered one of the archdemons! So shouldn’t this be used as an obvious plot hook by the DM? The book doesn’t say; bit of a wasted opportunity. When it comes to stats Jesus doesn’t have a stat block. Instead he has guidelines; while Jesus is God and has the ability to know and do whatever he wants, while in human form he wishes to “have a true human experience and accept things as they come.” Basically in terms of physical stats he’s a Commoner, but when it comes to mental and magical abilities he’s out of this world. When making mental ability checks he either has a significantly high bonus or is assumed to auto-succeed. As for his miracles, a list of spells along with chapters and verses in which he uses them are provided; Jesus has no spellcasting bonus or save DCs, as the DM can decide whether they are successful or not, and his spells don’t require material components. There is one exception: Jesus, and only Jesus, has the True Atonement spell. As sins have often been atoned via sacrifice, Jesus can perform this ritual on behalf of the world by offering his own blood as the material sacrifice. But as God, he is an infinitely perfect being, which means that the spell’s duration, range, and level are also infinite. What this means is that his sacrifice is capable of dispelling all sin everywhere for those who atone. In practical game terms, this means that any spells requiring human sin* as a material component are instantly dispelled, meaning that any surviving archdemon simulacrums are destroyed and reveal the demons for who they truly are. Without this ability, the demons will be unable to return to the material plane should they die. *doesn’t specify for sins of other creatures such as giants, monsters, and nephilim. So what happens if someone tries to divine Jesus’ true nature, such as reading his thoughts, tracking down his location, or similar abilities? Well that caster is Stunned for one hour, no save, and talks nonstop in a stream-of-conscious manner about the nature of life, the universe, and everything for the duration. There are also brief write-ups on Jesus’ Disciples in listing their Quirks, Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws. These include the 12 Apostles, Judas, and three women allies of Jesus: Susanna from the Book of Daniel, Joanna the wife of Chuza, and Saint Veronica. [i]Welcome to Jerusalem[/i] is like Galilee in being an open-ended settlement with a series of various locations, characters, and quest hooks. As the home of the holiest location of Judaism, the Temple Mount, Jerusalem is a city of immense value to the Jewish people and its historical and cultural legacy is intertwined with them. There are other cultural influences present, the most prominent being the Roman Empire. Jerusalem has a heavy Roman military presence, and Pontius Pilate serves as the Proconsul and is rather unhappy in having to deal with the ever-present social strife underlying the occupation. Jerusalem’s previous ruler, King Herod, still lives in his palace, but being stripped of official duties he’s willing to while away the rest of his days in idle amusements. There’s a lot of things the PCs can do here. If they’re at least level 7 they can encounter hooks for the Protectors of the Ark sidequest. Otherwise Pontius Pilate may hire the PCs as an outside neutral party to investigate Jesus of Nazareth. Caipahas, one of the high priests of the Sanhedrin (the supreme council of Jewish religious authorities), is accusing Jesus of planning a violent insurrection and is thus pushing Pilate to do something about him. The marketplaces sell some holy magic items, and there’s a network of subterranean tunnels leading to various locations. These underground areas include the Ruins of Solomon’s Temple which holds the sacred stone of Urim guarded by a pair of Dybbuks (undead shadowy monsters), the headquarters of the Sicarii, and the secret hideout of Legion in the Caverns of Salt and Silver. Legion is hard at work in Judea. In his lair he’s been minting cursed silver pieces designed to make its owners intensely jealous of the Messiah and seek to thwart his plans. There’s a 25% chance such silver ends up in the PC’s inventory every time they engage in a financial transaction in the city. The curse has affected Caiaphas as well as one of Jesus’ own apostles, Judas. [i]Protectors of the Ark[/i] has the PCs visiting a priestess in the Essene Quarter of Jerusalem with an important, secret mission. The Roman occupiers have been looting Judea of prized cultural artifacts, and combined with their tightening grip on Jerusalem it’s only a matter of time until they find the holiest treasure of all: the Ark of the Covenant, which is discretely kept in her house. As the artifact has been prized by people in power throughout history, the PCs must covertly transport it out of the city and carry it all the way to Ma’rib. As part of an ancient oath, the Queen of Sheba will safely transport it further into Africa where it will be held until it can be safely returned to Jerusalem. In spite of whatever best efforts the PCs take, trouble is bound to find them. Random encounters on the way to Ma’rib are replaced with 9 predetermined ones of ascending difficulty, being a mixture of more mundane Roman spies, soldiers, and Spartan mercenaries as well as cultists of the Shadow of the Beast. If the party is truly unlucky, the 9th encounter can place them toe to toe with the archdemon Abaddon himself! An encounter which would ordinarily cause a TPK instead has the party left alive, but when they come to the Ark has been stolen and lost forever. The Ark of the Covenant is a potent artifact. Those who come in close proximity gain a variety of immunities and have their alignment change to good due to becoming aware of God’s presence while they remain in close contact. People have an intuitive understanding that opening the lid would be disrespectful and cannot do this while under the aura’s influence. But if it somehow happens they are smote with a whopping 28d6 radiant damage on a successful Constitution save, and instant death on a failed one. Characters who enter combat in defense of the Ark gain access to a Lair action which casts the Call Lightning spell. [/QUOTE]
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