DCC RPG: Help me with a new Patron!

[Summer-Knight925]

I am creating a bit of a saga for my players, starting them at 0-level and taking them to roughly 8th (possibly 9th, depends on how I feel as I get towards the end with the story if they should be 9th or not)

There are two main forces in this saga.

The Cult of Melanie, a evil chaos goddess of Darkness, Despair, Treachery, and monsters of the night.

She is not a player Patron, but an NPC Patron (she could in theory be used a player patron, however, the saga involves stopping her). While she is a goddess, she is not powerful enough to have clerics.

The other one, this meant for players, is Iris.

In the saga, the story goes that before the time of mortals, the immortal gods and goddess warred with each other, the forces of law against the hordes of chaos.

Melanie murdered Iris's beloved, and thus, Iris, a goddess of light, purity, remembrance, and the messenger between the mortals and the gods. She is more or less exactly as she is from Greek mythology, with one exception.

She too is not powerful enough to have clerics, but can be a patron for wizards, and thus, the normal for patronship is needed.
the spells, the unique spellburn, the corruption, so on and so forth.

Also, if anyone is interested in the saga itself (a bit of a cliche 'stop the cult' with all the twists DCC wants to have) you can shoot me a PM.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1) what kind of help do you need?

2) the relationship between a PC with Melanie as a Patron would not be unlike that between Elric & Arioch. I wouldn't bar it- lots of dramatic potential.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

1) what kind of help do you need?

2) the relationship between a PC with Melanie as a Patron would not be unlike that between Elric & Arioch. I wouldn't bar it- lots of dramatic potential.

1. help with the spells, patron taint, and the spellburn effects. Iris is a deity of light and radiance, not to mention rainbows, which made me think of Prismatic spells, but I feel the need to make them more than just blast spells, after all, Iris is not a combatant but rather a messenger.

2. The main reason of why it is a no-no is because the players are stopping Melanie's return, how could you draw power from a being and attempt to stop it from having said power? Why would it even grant you power?

It's like playing Demonweb Pits and being a worshiper of Lolth, it doesn't make sense trying to stop the person you worship, or in this case, grants you power.

 

[sabrinathecat]

Well, as Taming of the Shrew pointed out, the wife owed her husband TRUE obedience. Thus, she could defy him and work against his stated interests if it was actually in favor of hit true interests. Thus, the patronized could be acting in the patron's true interests by working against the patron's immediate goals.

(at the risk of being political), Imagine you are the democratically elected leader of a country, and elections were coming up soon. Your country is fractious, and without an outside threat, would break apart. What better way to ensure not only your re-election, but also that the country pull together, than to provoke a war with your neighbors? Maybe even 2 or three neighbors, then drag your allies into helping you? After all, you were only trying to defend yourself, right?

So, maybe the patronized would stop one of the two godlings from destroying the other, because the patronized would realize that without the other patron/godling, the patronized's own godling would be in even bigger trouble? Maybe the hatred between the two is a driving obsession, and without the object of that obsession, the godling would be without focus, drive, or ambition, and have no one to focus her rage/hate on, except the followers who are always pesting her for favors?

 

[Summer-Knight925]

Iris, after seeing her beloved assassinated before her, draws an arrow from her bow. The missile flies forward with the brilliant light of Iris, striking Melanie with a dash of light. The being of utter darkness was thrust from her feet and skyward towards the sky.

Legend says she took refuge on the dark side of the moon, but the arrow is still in her, glowing.

It is the arrow casting light off the wound of Melanie that creates the stars in the night sky.

But so too does legend say that if she, or any immortal, was to drink from The Chalice of Life, her wound would heal, her power would return, and the land would be thrust into an age of darkness and despair.


The saga is about finding the chalice and stopping the Cult of Melanie from bringing it to their goddess.

So, having her as a patron would give you more power by getting the chalice to her.


It totally goes against the story.


HOWEVER

there is nothing that says it couldn't be used by others during a different campaign or adventuring group, is it just with this story line, it makes no sense and/or would cause a lot of problems.


Plus the Cult of Melanie is a sort of "super-secret order", so knowing how to ask her for patronage would mean the player was a member, and you get the point.

But nothing says it couldn't be used by others, in fact, if you were playing a magic-wielding assassin character, it would make total sense, as Melanie's spells essentially make the caster into a bit of a shadow dancer (from 3.x), but of course, DCC'd up.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Much as sabrinathecat suggested, Elric continually worked against Arioch. Arioch still granted him power because, as a deity of chaos and evil, Arioch's goals were often met by the sheer bloodshed Elric brought to any party. However, Arioch believed in his hubris that Elric's goals would ultimately fail, that his own long game would result in victory. He was wrong.

(so was Elric...)

But back to Iris.

With radiance, there is light, heat. There are focused effects- "lasers", pulses- there area lows & auras. An effect might be instantaneous or enduring...or even oscillating.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

Oscillating Orb.


creates a spinning orb of light, the caster can target a certain amount of foes each turn the orb persists. Roll randomly for the type of beam that strikes the target.

Eh?

Thus the different numbers for the spell check would determine how many rays it an fire, how much damage they do, and how long the orb lasts for.

Pretty much the disco ball of death.

Level 2 spell perhaps?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I like it...

Looking across editions of D&D, I'd look at the old Chromatic Orb spell and the 4Ed Crown of Stars Warlock Daily power for guidance on how to refine it. (Actually, the old-school chromatic spells and the 4Ed Radiant powers could be a gold mine for you.)

Taking inspiration from the Aurora Borealis, a devotee of Iris might be able to call down a scintillating sheet of multicolored lights that offer illumination and limited protection (warding?) from certain creatures. It would have to be a closed loop of any shape, with its overall length determined by level. Outside only.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Slow Burn

When you manifest this aura, you shed light equivalent to a torch, and this radiant power does your Charisma bonus + Caster Level in manage to all evil creatures within 1 + Cha bonus squares radius, and half that damage to a radius of Cha bonus squares beyond that.

This aura lasts for 1 round + Caster level.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Double post