Avenger

[wlmartin]

I wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions on my Avenger RP build.

Basically the Avenger is a follower of Corellon and as a result will follow strict Covenants of Vengance against any Orc or Drow he can find.

The Avenger was inducted into a secret division of the Corellon Church called the Order of the Silent Sword.

To be invited as a recruit of the Order you must have shown the following 3 things :

1 : An unflinching commitment to Corellon. All things in life come second to the needs of your God.
2 : The ability to shoulder the great burden to carry darkness in your heart. Unlike other followers of Corellon, you won't just be protecting the world from evil you will be activly looking to murder all Orc and Drow you find and it takes a certain type of person to be able to shoulder that much darkness.
3 : Being able to handle yourself in combat

Once you are invited into the Order and spend your time learning how to become an Avenger, you are released into the world where you will hunt down any Drow or Orcs you find.

This will often mean Avengers of the Order sell themselves out as Mercenaries or join Adventure Parties where there are ample Drow or Orcs to slaughter. There is greater strength in numbers and a greater ability to further the cause.

As a member of the Order you are forced to take a Vow of Poverty meaning that any monies you earn in your travels is donated back to the Church.

If you should find any Treasure or Magical Artifacts, these will also be donated to the church however if there are any that the Church feels you would gain benefit from and will aid you in your cause then you are permitted to loan such items for the time you need them.

Tenants of the faith include the following

Covenant of Protection

: Protect those who follow Corellon
: Protect all Elves
: Protect those that practice magic

Covenant of Vengance

: Kill any Orc or Drow
: Destroy any organization supporting Orcs or Drow

Tenants

: Aid others wherever possible
: Spread the word of Corellon to those who have yet to embrace him as their saviour
: Never retreat from battle
: Never defile the dead

.... please let me know what you think.

Also, I have a pretty big whole in my plan to Roleplay this guy and it is the following.

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Corellon is big on not defiling the dead... I get that and wont be encouraging the party to be cracking open coffins and such but what about the dead at my hand.

My idea for this guy is that I need to build a tenant of his faith as follows

: Those who are of Corellons grace or of elven blood must be given adequate death rites

Firstly I thought that it isnt part of the faith to offer death rites to those that don't follow the faith since the rites of that fallen persons religion may be different than Corellon and Corellon only cares about Elves and followers of his faith so getting involved in other dead bodies would not be part of his faith. (and would just be boring to play since he would be trying to offer death rites after each encounter!)

Secondly, my thoughts are that most times I won't want to fight elves or those that follow Corellon, looking instead to make peace with them but on the occasion I may need to fight them or they were already dead before we got there, I need something in his character that aids me in doing so.

Then I thought that my Avenger would offer a prayer, lasting perhaps 10-15 minutes over any dead Elven or Corellon followers bodies... however this is the point I got stuck. (THE BODY!!!)

Should I set them alight on a pyre?
Should I bury them (which is not always easy in a dungeon environment)?
Should I just leave them there after making the prayer?
... or ??

I know that you can sometimes Roleplay too much but I do feel that my Avenger is going to be very spiritual in most things he does and needs something in his character that has something to do whenever a follower of his religion or an elf dies or has recently died... otherwise he is just an Assasin type character with funky powers occasionaly offering a prayer before off'ing loads of bad guys.

Anyone got any suggestions on how to play this aspect?

 

[Gargoyle]

A quick funeral pyre seems adequate. If they are followers of Corellon, maybe casting a Gentle Repose ritual (from a scroll if you don't have the Ritual Casting feat).

One thing I would caution against is a "I kill all of {insert race here}" with no tolerance. D&D worlds are full of variety and it's far more fun to say "I show no mercy to enemies of Corellon" and leave it that. I think it's more fun that way, not because it's more politically correct, but because it gives you (and other players) more options. You can choose to be friends with the new player character who wants to play a good drow ranger , or you can choose to mark the good human king for death because of an unfair tax on elven imports. Or you can still kill all drow and orcs without mercy (even the new guy's poor ranger). It's just better not to be so specific and absolute. You don't want your roleplaying to be hamstringed by narrow vows.

 

[wlmartin]

A quick funeral pyre seems adequate. If they are followers of Corellon, maybe casting a Gentle Repose ritual (from a scroll if you don't have the Ritual Casting feat).

One thing I would caution against is a "I kill all of {insert race here}" with no tolerance. D&D worlds are full of variety and it's far more fun to say "I show no mercy to enemies of Corellon" and leave it that. I think it's more fun that way, not because it's more politically correct, but because it gives you (and other players) more options. You can choose to be friends with the new player character who wants to play a good drow ranger , or you can choose to mark the good human king for death because of an unfair tax on elven imports. Or you can still kill all drow and orcs without mercy (even the new guy's poor ranger). It's just better not to be so specific and absolute. You don't want your roleplaying to be hamstringed by narrow vows.

I would say that the role of an Avenger is quite strict... you are the instrument of your god and seek vengance against all their enemies.

The core enemies here are followers of Grummush or Lloth, not just Drow or Orcs.

I would however say that there would be a reprieve from my Avengers wrath for any Drow or Orc I come across if they denounce the evil gods with which I am war with... if they do this then they are neutral in my Avengers eyes and would be spared.

I do agree that "kill all drow and orcs" is a bit rough and should instead be "kill all followers of Grummush and Lloth" is a little bit more political rather than racial.

Your idea for Gentle Repose seems adequate although I dont like the idea of just leaving the body lying around... sure they arent smelly any more and no longer decay... I suppose I could perform the ritual, make a note of the location on a map and when I am done with the adventure simply call on the local temple to go fetch the bodies.

The quickest method I thought of, although it seemed a bit "uber-powerful" was to have a ritual where the body is immediately transported (after some prayer) to the nearest Corellon Temple by some kind of Divine Teleportation.... does this seem feasible or is it a little over powered?

Also another method I thought of was a ritual where the body is bathed in radiant light which consumes the entire body and the energy is kept in a small crystal. Then when the adventure is over the crystal is given to the local temple where the body is brought back from the crystal and then buried as normal

What do you think to either of these 2 ideas?

 

[Dice4Hire]

A quick funeral pyre seems adequate. If they are followers of Corellon, maybe casting a Gentle Repose ritual (from a scroll if you don't have the Ritual Casting feat).

One thing I would caution against is a "I kill all of {insert race here}" with no tolerance. D&D worlds are full of variety and it's far more fun to say "I show no mercy to enemies of Corellon" and leave it that. I think it's more fun that way, not because it's more politically correct, but because it gives you (and other players) more options. You can choose to be friends with the new player character who wants to play a good drow ranger , or you can choose to mark the good human king for death because of an unfair tax on elven imports. Or you can still kill all drow and orcs without mercy (even the new guy's poor ranger). It's just better not to be so specific and absolute. You don't want your roleplaying to be hamstringed by narrow vows.

You also do not want to hamstring the party's choices either, in their character choice, or in how they deal with NPCs.

One of he things that has traditionally made paladins so unpopular in parties, their constant damper on the rest of the party.

And as one who has suffered from that due ot a fellow player, simply saying 'Roleplay around it' is not adequate.

 

[Dice4Hire]

The quickest method I thought of, although it seemed a bit "uber-powerful" was to have a ritual where the body is immediately transported (after some prayer) to the nearest Corellon Temple by some kind of Divine Teleportation.... does this seem feasible or is it a little over powered?

Also another method I thought of was a ritual where the body is bathed in radiant light which consumes the entire body and the energy is kept in a small crystal. Then when the adventure is over the crystal is given to the local temple where the body is brought back from the crystal and then buried as normal

What do you think to either of these 2 ideas?

Both of those are pretty much off-camera rituals, so I would not make them too hard, as a DM, but they would still cost resources and time.

And with both being a closed loop in 4E, I'm not sure how the other players will like this.

But hopefully this will not be happening in every fight, but again, it is up to the DM.

Overall, I would have a long talk with my DM about how restrictive this character with his ideas and burial practices will be in the game. I would not want to blindside the DM in play.

 

[marelion]

I like the idea of creating new rituals to deal with the dead. The idea about transfering the essence of the dead body into a special crystal should be an appropriate manner of dealing with the pious needs of your character without upsetting your group too much. Often simply burning the dead will give away the location of the party while leaving the bodies of the fallen unburried would be a violation of your code of conduct.

Putting the dead to an eternal rest in a holy crystal sounds like a nice way of addressing this potential conflict. If I were your DM I would let you use your crystal as part of the Gentle Repose-ritual under the limitation that you need a special crystal as a focus.

Maybe you could ask your DM if he could turn this into an early quest for your party("Locate and investigate the mysterious caverns of Uldred and return the Lynbagari crystal to a powerful cleric of Corellon who will restore the crystal`s power") or come up with another suitable idea as to how such a wonderous item came into the poossesion of your Character. Obtaining an item like this should require more effort on the player`s side than "I go down the street to the next wizard and buy one for 360 GP")

And if you`re worried about disrupting your sessions with your character`s strict code of conduct I`d advise you to counsel with your DM and check with him what the other players will bring to the game table. And double-check with him/her how deep your group is planning to go in character. But if the other players give half as much thought on their characters`morals and beliefs you should be fine. At least, as long as they are not planning to be an Eye of Gruumsh or whathaveyou

If the rest of your group prefers to turn DnD into hack-and-slay, however you should better create a character who allows for more `moral flexibility` since then the rest of the group would likely feel bored after a very short time. You`re obviously into the method-acting/storytelling thing, just like me, so take this as a piece of advice not to go overboard with your character. No need to repeat the same mistakes I have made when I showed up with my first cleric

 

[The Monster]

By and large, this is pretty good stuff, giving a basis for character expression and roleplay.

The crystal is a good idea, you can use that as-is. As additional flavor, the specially prepared gem is a dull stone until used, at which time it transforms, sparkling as a real gem in its own light - a thing of Beauty. Using the gem would only take a few minutes; at some point, a longer ritual in some place of beauty (or such as can be found under circumstances) will release the soul. Ideally, this second ritual is in a temple, but any place which has some beauty or good magic will do. (Basically, this prevents the gems from accumulating, eliminates the need for teleportation, and allows the process to be completed on the adventuring trail; it becomes a roleplaying thing with little or no impact to any game mechanics.)

You could invoke Corellon's domain of WIlderness, and simply leave the body to natural processes after doing the appropriate prayer/ritual (I have heard that some folks (in real life) would place dead bodies in trees or elevated platforms,so they would be taken by birds and animals without being trampled (or interfering with the living)).

Teleporting the body to a temple has the issue of what happens to the dead guy's stuff: does he arrive as a naked, unidentified (and damaged)dead body, or does he take stuff with him...in which case, can it be used to send messages or items to a safe temple? (Your group may not think this way, but many will, just pointing out possibliities.)

As already pointed out, swearing a death-vow against all members of a race is a bit dodgy in 4e, where drow and (at least half-)orcs can easily be heroic adventurers. I'd make the vow against followers of Gruumsh and Lolth, of whatever race. It's fair to have the character make the assumption that all orcs and half-orcs are Gruumshians and all drow are Lolthites, making for some interesting roleplay if/when he finds one that isn't.

I'd definitely consult with the GM and the gorup as a whole when creating a character with solemn death-vows and the like. While most of this falls well within the basic class flavor-text of Avengers in general - so the others already know what to expect - but getting heads-up as to the particulars of strongly motivated PCs is always good for encouraging interactive RPing. And if any of them are thinking of playing drow or half-orcs, you and they can prepare for the tension/clash and work toward a satisfactory resolution for everyone.