Evil cleric posing as neutral or even a good cleric

[Sir ThornCrest]

Introducing a Vampire lord Cleric/ Aristocrat, about 18th total ECL. The party is an undead hunter group of 14th level, 5 members. I want him to be politically affluent yet powerful enough to really “jack” with the players. I intend on having him be in the senate of a large community. How would you have this guy infiltrate a good or neutral church? How does (in your opinion) a evil sob like this get into league with good clerics? How does he become a trusted member of society. That is how would you have him dodge the churchs radar? Maybe even attend mass like a good politician should? The locals should be eager to defend him, even to the extent of having good aligned heroes attack the pc’s in his defense.(His dominate at will should have a heavy influence).

My intent is to have the party be forced to fight non evil innocents, that truly believe the vamp lord is a outstanding member of society.

Thorncrest

 

[Crothian]

high...really high bluff skill and a magical item to disguise alignment if detected

 

[painandgreed]

In my homebrew there is a feat that allows the main evil god's clerics to masquerade as the main good god's clerics against detection and all, but in my homebrew those two gods are twins so it makes a sort of twisted sence. Still, a feat, magic item, or spell that makes his alignment appear as good and otherwise protects him from religious objects. He could have a shapeshifting (doppleganger?) ally that takes his place some of the time so he can venture into churches and sunlight. He might not ever be in direct contact but do everything through servants, the magically controlled, or the simply oblivious.

 

[Arkhandus]

The 2nd-level cleric/paladin spell Undetectable Alignment will disguise his evil aura. Don't know how to disguise him against Detect Undead spells, however. I suppose look for some magic item that can disguise such auras...

 

[Eremite]

Introducing a Vampire lord Cleric/ Aristocrat, about 18th total ECL.

ECL = HD + LA so an ECL of 18 would translate to about 8 character levels (LA for a vampire lord, IIRC, is 10). I'll assume that you mean that the vampire lord will have about 18 character levels.

I want him to be politically affluent yet powerful enough to really “jack” with the players.

You can't be politically affluent (affluent = wealthy). I'll assume you mean politically powerful and wealthy as well. I'm not sure what you mean by "'jack' with the players"; perhaps you could explain this?

I intend on having him be in the senate of a large community. How would you infiltrate this guy?

Um, you can't inflitrate a guy; you can infiltrate an organisation amongst other things. I'll assume you mean how did the vampire lord manage to infiltrate the community.

How does (in your opinion) a evil sob like this get into league with good clerics? How does he become a trusted member of society. That is how woiuld you have him dodge the good churchs radar? Maybe even attend mass like a good politician should? The locals should be eager to defend him, even to the extent of having good aligned heroes attack the pc’s in his defense.(His dominate at will should have a heavy influence).

Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to assume that the vampire lord was originally a respected member of the community and a cleric within the good church (BTW, it would be helpful if you would post some brief details on the two good and evil religions involved).

The vampire lord was originally LN within a LG church. That means he had a natural tendency to a philosophy that could be briefly described as the ends justifying the means. In due course he took this philosophy too far and became LE. In addition to this, a minion of an evil deity offered a great temptation: eternal life (however in the fine print was the curse of vampirism). Perhaps the same deity also protects the vampire lord from detection magic?

Now, the vampire lord has become a noted crusader and inquisitor for the good church seeking to quash evil wherever it may be found. Chaotic evil, that is; the vampire lord is but a pawn in a battle between rival factions of evil.

Anyway, just some rough ideas but if you provide some more information on the churches of your campaign world and maybe some general plot points I think I might be able to provide you with something more suited to your game.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

thaf·flu·ent ( P ) Pronunciation Key (fl-nt, -fl-)
adj.
Generously supplied with money, property, or possessions; prosperous or rich. See Synonyms at rich.
Plentiful; abundant.
Flowing freely; copious.
anks for the grammar lesson....

This term politically affluent is commonly used in conversations, speeches seen on TV or heard on the radio...."basically meaning you’re well endowed with political knowledge"

Thorncrest

ECL = HD + LA so an ECL of 18 would translate to about 8 character levels (LA for a vampire lord, IIRC, is 10). I'll assume that you mean that the vampire lord will have about 18 character levels.



You can't be politically affluent (affluent = wealthy). I'll assume you mean politically powerful and wealthy as well. I'm not sure what you mean by "'jack' with the players"; perhaps you could explain this?



Um, you can't inflitrate a guy; you can infiltrate an organisation amongst other things. I'll assume you mean how did the vampire lord manage to infiltrate the community.



Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to assume that the vampire lord was originally a respected member of the community and a cleric within the good church (BTW, it would be helpful if you would post some brief details on the two good and evil religions involved).

The vampire lord was originally LN within a LG church. That means he had a natural tendency to a philosophy that could be briefly described as the ends justifying the means. In due course he took this philosophy too far and became LE. In addition to this, a minion of an evil deity offered a great temptation: eternal life (however in the fine print was the curse of vampirism). Perhaps the same deity also protects the vampire lord from detection magic?

Now, the vampire lord has become a noted crusader and inquisitor for the good church seeking to quash evil wherever it may be found. Chaotic evil, that is; the vampire lord is but a pawn in a battle between rival factions of evil.

Anyway, just some rough ideas but if you provide some more information on the churches of your campaign world and maybe some general plot points I think I might be able to provide you with something more suited to your game.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

I'm not sure what you mean by "'jack' with the players"; perhaps you could explain this?


I’m sorry I wasn’t being literal enough, like you didn’t truly get my meaning of Jack?...c'mon I thought everybody knew Jack? I meant for this Vamp lord to be powerful enough to hold his own against the party, to supercede party expectations, to "mess up" any plans they come up with.

Um, you can't inflitrate a guy; you can infiltrate an organisation amongst other things. I'll assume you mean how did the vampire lord manage to infiltrate the community.

Again you understood my intent and still you posted this to be a.....what a critic? c'mon bud!

Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to assume that the vampire lord was originally a respected member of the community and a cleric within the good church (BTW, it would be helpful if you would post some brief details on the two good and evil religions involved).

This is a good idea. thanks

thorncrest

The vampire lord was originally LN within a LG church. That means he had a natural tendency to a philosophy that could be briefly described as the ends justifying the means. In due course he took this philosophy too far and became LE. In addition to this, a minion of an evil deity offered a great temptation: eternal life (however in the fine print was the curse of vampirism). Perhaps the same deity also protects the vampire lord from detection magic?

Now, the vampire lord has become a noted crusader and inquisitor for the good church seeking to quash evil wherever it may be found. Chaotic evil, that is; the vampire lord is but a pawn in a battle between rival factions of evil.

Anyway, just some rough ideas but if you provide some more information on the churches of your campaign world and maybe some general plot points I think I might be able to provide you with something more suited to your game.[/QUOTE]

 

[Voadam]

Do you have a standard cosmology?

In Ravenloft nobody can detect good or evil and the gods have no direct contact with the world. Every cleric gets powers but nobody even knows if the gods are real. In ravenloft it is easy to have evil clerics or infiltrator false clerics in a good church.

In normal D&D this is much harder due to divinations and levels of divine omniscience and interaction and restrictions on clerical patrons.

However if you have Out for Blood from Bastion press they have an order of evil dragon knights who work for a good church killing the church's enemies ruthlessly and not really controlled or in contact with the church. Now none of them can be clerics of the good god, but they can exist in a D&D cosmology without too much extra effort.

If your lord is a respected lay member of the church instead of a cleric he can still actually be a follower on the face of things (if not in his true heart) and do all the church things and have the church as an unknowing ally. If he is a cleric he needs another patron which makes things tough for him to infiltrate the church as a cleric.

 

[John Morrow]

How does (in your opinion) a evil sob like this get into league with good clerics? How does he become a trusted member of society.

Item 1: Ring of Mind Shielding
Item 2: Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location

Have him pretend to be "Benevolent Neutral". That is, he's not a saint but he gives generously to the church and good causes, at least on the surface.

If you want to do something a little different and more confusing, try giving him a saintly sidekick or "spouse" that accompanies him everywhere with a Misdirection spell always cast between them so that the evil SOB detects as a saint. Why would the saint help them? Either the saint is naive and misled, blind with love, is being mind controlled but they provide the cover.

The ring of Mind Shielding is the safest, since there is no save. A particularly good roll for either the Amulet, Nondetection, or Misdirection In fact, make him a Bard and he can cast his own Undetectable Alignment and Misdirection as well as Glibness to back him up with an incredibly high Bluff. None of this would withstand a concerted inquisition to determine the truth (involving stripping him down, using Detect Magic and Detect Thoughts, etc.) but a combination of those magic items and the Misdirection spell could create a very misleading impression of the person.

 

[RandomPrecision]

Would it work in your campaign for all of the clerics and good-natured people to actually be evil?