Forgotten Realms: Shar Cleric + Shadow Weave = Sith Lord?

[Sound of Azure]

Hi all!

One of my players got tired of waiting around for me to finish writing my game up and has started one of his own!
Unfortunately, they already started last week with two players. Me and one new player are beginning this weekend.

I got pretty excited earlier today and started to write up a character concept- a cool Dwarven Cleric of Clangeddin Silverbeard. Total Dwarven Lawful Goodness. "Great!" I thought.

Heh.

A little while ago I got a call from one of the two existing players, describing what had happened already, and he described the two existing PCs. A Lawful-neutral human Guild Wizard, and a Neutral Evil rogue-type ("kick-ass" was the desciptor, I believe).

"Oh," said I.

I guess my dwarf wouldn't really fit in. So I decided to create a character more in line with the rest of the party. Only... I haven't really kept up any practice in playing an evil character for an extended period. Sure there were one-shots... and encounters for my own players. But never something like this.

I need some help. I have a lot to learn about FR, so I'm not entirely sure how to proceed.

How does one act like a Cleric of Shar? What kinds of motivations do they have?

Any good tips for spells? I picked the Knowledge and Darkness domains. My character is 6th level, and took the 1st level in the Shadow Adept class.



So...what's my motivation?

Edit: New info (see below)

 

[Gregor]

How does one act like a Cleric of Shar? What kinds of motivations do they have?

Hey there,

Clerics, indeed all followers or Shar, are driven to worship the Dark Lady for a number of reasons: a personal loss, a slight against you, you have secrets to keep, you desire quiet and subtle revenge, etc. Her clergy welcomes those who have suffered losses and slowly twists those feelings of loss and sadness into anger, vengence and revenge. Faiths and Pantheons describes Shar's dogma as "vengeful nihilism." Therefore, your character may be a nihilist, an avenger, an assassin, etc.

It is common practice to engage in human (or other intelligent humanoid) sacrifice in the name of Shar and in accordance with her doctrine, followers must commit an act of cruelty once a tenday (week in FR).

You pray for your spells at night and commit your foul acts at night. You reject the light, primarily moonlight, for it represents the portfolio of Shar's sister and greatest enemy Selune. Her clergy is dedicated to wiping out Selune and her followers.

Hope that helps.

 

[sckeener]

It is common practice to engage in human (or other intelligent humanoid) sacrifice in the name of Shar and in accordance with her doctrine, followers must commit an act of cruelty once a tenday (week in FR).

You just reminded me of the movies Saw 1 and 2. I could see that as Shar sacrifice.

Enlighten people to through loss you might live.

There are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain.

make sure to examine your life and even better point out the failings in others....after all:

The loss which is unknown is no loss at all.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Be a schemer. Trick everyone. Lead them astray. Make them think they are doing a good thing and reveal only after that they just condemned the world to darkness.

Inflict loss upon others, or better yet, make others inflict loss upon themselves.

You'll do the everyday evil, of course - human(oid) sacrifice and the like. Always sacrifice those who will be missed. And remember that shar will let it count if you make someone else slay their loved ones.

Get your hands on spells like dominate or suggestion, or do some good old-fashioned bluff, and diplomacy, with some intimidate thrown in.

Don't run around in dark clothes with Shar's Disk displayed prominently. She's a goddess of secrets, after all. Disguise yourself.

Speaking of secrets: Try to learn as many secrets as you can. Use them against people.


And, in the end, betray all of your party members, and make sure they know it before they die.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Gregor

Wow! This sounds pretty good. thanks for your great summary!

It looks like it'll be a fun project. Vengeful... I can work with that.

sckeener

Those are great quotes. I'm getting a picture of a very careful, methodical character now. Saw? eep. Very cool

Kae'yoss

Nice suggestions. Since we'll be beginning in Waterdeep, and with all those goody-two-shoes adventurers around I wanted to keep a low profile anyway. I don't think Psycho-evil is my thing anyway.

Would it be a bit much to impersonate a Selunite? Maybe something a bit less attention-grabbing would be better.

Enchantments? Great! With those Shadow-weave feats I have, that'll give me a good chance to have them succeed.
It sounds like the kind of character that would need a fair amount of skills. Perhaps some multi-classing is in order. hmmm.

As for betraying the party... yeah. Have to get the maximum value from them first, though.

Cheers, all!

 

[Nightfall]

Bah. Don't sell your soul to Shar. Shar doesn't give a rat's turd about you. Now Orcus on the other hand...he'd like you.

 

[Nyaricus]

Ohh, impersonating a Selunite cleric? How about being an ex-Selunite cleric which now runs with the Shar-crowd, but still participates at the church of Selune...



Of course, you couldn't divulge this double life to your party - that would be foolish. Just act like you are a goody-twoshoes (NG) and what you have complete trust in your parties rogue, etc. Don't be a leader, be a manipulator; use your spells and social skills to your advantage and most of all: never trust anyone.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Nightfall... sure, that's what he wants you to think. lol!

Ny,
Whoa... nice idea. That's just twisted enough to make this really fun!
A nice change. I'm kinda glad for that rogue-player now. hehe.

 

[Nyaricus]

Ny,
Whoa... nice idea. That's just twisted enough to make this really fun!
A nice change. I'm kinda glad for that rogue-player now. hehe.

heh, well it was a good idea and I ran with it Personally, I think that's great, and it will really keep your fellow PC's on their toes...

*devilsmiley*

 

[Sound of Azure]

Keeping the others on their toes.

Now I just have to covertly cast Death Knell and such without the others noticing for a while.

I went with a Cloistered Cleric instead. I figure since this guy's such a manipulator, he'd have more need for skills than combat skills. I was allowed to add Gather Information and Sense Motive as class skills.

Plus, if he really needs to lay the smack down, he can cast Divine Power later on down the track.
With the Darkness, Knowledge, and Trickery domains, he skill set is very well-rounded. I like that I have the Lore ability....good for digging up dirt and esoteric facts out of the air.

I just noticed the 3.5 Update for the Nightcloak (published in Dragon a while back) in the Complete Divine web enhancement. It's a little different, and I'll have to add the Shar-specific stuff back in. Nice!