D&D 5E How would you do Relics in dungeons and dragons?

[Shades of Eternity]

The Middle Ages for Kids - Holy Relics - Middle Ages for Kids

I'm been doing a lot of stewing on this as of late for my own project.

Best I can tell, the closest we have in the game are actually the hand and eye of Vecna.

How would you determine whom is elligable for becoming a relic?

What would determine the game mechanic of being a relic?

Can a relic become corrupted/purified?

How do you create a pilgrimage to a relic?

Which famous dungeon and dragon characters would you consider to be relic material if they die?

 

[Stormonu]

There’s also the Teeth of Dalver-Nal (sp.), who was cleric as I recalled. Anyway, relics and artifacts stretch back to 1E - there’s quite a list in 1E, and entire 2E book devoted to the subject (The Book of Artifacts).

As for the rest, it all depends. It becomes a relic when the DM says so. Mechanically, personally I’d have relic requirements having been a significant part of a character’s career, including at least being involved with one supernatural activity.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

K I think I got a simple mechanism.

When you die roll 1d20 and add your level.
if you roll 15 or higher, you have the option for your mortal remains to become a relic.

Accepting this means your character is permanently dead and cannot be resurrected.

additional modifiers that give an advantage
1. if you die particularly horrific.
2. if you die in the name of your god.
3. if the fate of the world was at stake when you died.

since relics are generally good necromancy, I'd use that as a basis for powers.

just to stay within the dnd mechanical guideline I'm thinking:

1-5: Least Relic: gives a level 1-3 spell 1/day.
6-10: Lesser Relic: gives a level 4-6 spell 1/day.
11-14: Greater Relic: gives a level 7-9 spell 1/day.
15-20+: Greatest Relic: build as an artifact.

How's that?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I would use the artefact rules or a variation thereof.

 

[Shiroiken]

The difference between a relic and artifact in the history of D&D has always been largely irrelevant, so the artifact rules should suffice perfectly.

 

[Celebrim]

Relics are in D&D terms just artifacts that happen to be associated with powerful persons of the past and to have acquired their power through use rather than necessarily acts of creation.

Most of your questions have to do with story and world building. If you want interesting relics you have to have interesting NPCs inhabiting the past of your world that did interesting things and became either famous or infamous. These persons achieved some demigod like level of power and as a result, their mortal remains or their cherished items are imbued with, blessed with, or cursed with magical power. So the answer to most of your questions are simply, "Create a story about your world."

As such, I don't think that we really need any sort of mechanics about what becomes a relic and how relics are generated unless you are actually running a campaign where the players go well above the normal maximum level of your campaign world and are transitioning to being demigods. I don't know that D&D is really well suited for that, and it's not a game every campaign will ever need, and if it goes that way then figuring out how many relics a player is eligible to have spontaneously created and so forth will be the least of your rules problems.

Technically, the main thing in D&D That defines something as a relic or artifact is that it if something is deemed an artifact or relic it is no longer eligible to be destroyed by ordinary means. Think the 'One Ring' in LotR that can only be destroyed if it is thrown into the fires where it was made. There are a lot of other things that conventionally artifacts and relics can do, like for example they can often bypass certain divine resistances and immunities and many of them are scry proof and cannot be detected by divination magic in the normal manner and very often they have both positive and negative qualities when in mortal hands, but the main thing is that they can't be destroyed. Individual relics need not be very powerful, but they should have this quality of being more or less invulnerable to damage.

As for corrupting a relic, that should be at least as hard as destroying one. More usually, any attempt to corrupt a relic is going to result in the thing that is attempting the corruption being corrupted (or purified, as the case may be). Extraordinary means would be required. You put an artifact on a typical alter to corrupt it, and you are probably going to need to rededicate and reconsecrate that alter. These things are typically dangerous even to touch if you aren't aligned with the spirit of the relic.

Thinking about pilgrimages and religious festivals is good deep world building, but seldom are you going to need to work out the details of a pilgrimage because rarely are the player characters going to be the pious individuals undertaking a pilgrimage out of sincere religious conviction. I think it's enough to introduce the idea by having pilgrims show up on the roads and streets of your campaign world, with some sort of ceremonial garment that signifies that they are pilgrims of a particular sort and the variety of people that are providing services to pilgrims as guides (physical or spiritual), guards, and even things like sellers of souvenirs or street food. Pilgrimages are a sort of tourism and I think it's important to realize that the PC's are usually mercenaries and the pilgrims are adventurers in the literal sense of that word as opposed to the sense created by D&D.

 

[Stormonu]

K I think I got a simple mechanism.

When you die roll 1d20 and add your level.
if you roll 15 or higher, you have the option for your mortal remains to become a relic.

Accepting this means your character is permanently dead and cannot be resurrected.

It should be noted Vecna is still around, and as you stated, his hand and eye are artifacts/relics.

I don’t think I’d do a roll. Artifacts/Relics are spontaneously created or crafted, but not by chance. It should be a story-wise choice that makes sense for player & DM. If you want to have player input into the creation, I’d personally use a level minimum (at least 9th), a significant story event and expend a non-trivial resource - such as an inspiration point or a 6th+ spell slot (though the later would make it difficult to impossible for the non-spellcasters and not something I’d prefer).

 

[Tonguez]

Thinking about pilgrimages and religious festivals is good deep world building, but seldom are you going to need to work out the details of a pilgrimage because rarely are the player characters going to be the pious individuals undertaking a pilgrimage out of sincere religious conviction. I think it's enough to introduce the idea by having pilgrims show up on the roads and streets of your campaign world, with some sort of ceremonial garment that signifies that they are pilgrims of a particular sort and the variety of people that are providing services to pilgrims as guides (physical or spiritual), guards, and even things like sellers of souvenirs or street food. Pilgrimages are a sort of tourism and I think it's important to realize that the PC's are usually mercenaries and the pilgrims are adventurers in the literal sense of that word as opposed to the sense created by D&D.

I did a campaign wherein the PCs were part of the Church and sent on various quest to protect pilgrims or recover relics, so there are ways to build pilgrimage sites in as a core node in your game.

You’ve also got the Conan the Barbarian movie plot of Conan infiltrating pilgrims travelling to the Temple of Set in order to asssinate its high priest.

But yeah overall I agree that for DnD purposes Relic = Artifact with a mythic backstory

 

[jmartkdr2]

The Middle Ages for Kids - Holy Relics - Middle Ages for Kids

I'm been doing a lot of stewing on this as of late for my own project.

Best I can tell, the closest we have in the game are actually the hand and eye of Vecna.

How would you determine whom is elligable for becoming a relic?

Based on the context given, I'd probably call relics divine objects. So in-universe that means the gods decide who to relic-ify. Obviously that means as dm "whoever I want."

But in practice, anyone who's famous for doing stuff for the god in question is probably a candidate. Most gods would benefit from having relics in general so if people start carrying the bits of the corpse around the god would want to make it count. Then it would just be a question of what it actually costs the god (a plot-appropriate amount) to determine how common or powerful these things are. The more loyal and/or famous the deceased, the more powerful the relic.

Assuming the god doesn't hate it when people carry corpse-bits around.

What would determine the game mechanic of being a relic?

It's a magic item. Probably creates an aura with a minor-ish effect like a permanent crusader's mantle. If it needs to be targeted, than it needs to be attuned by a follower of the god in question (possibly a member of the correct order.) Other might just be general wonderous items.

Can a relic become corrupted/purified?

Yes, but you're directly interfering with a god's magic, so... good luck.

How do you create a pilgrimage to a relic?

Pilgrimages just sort of happen - it would be harder to prevent them. Just get the word out about where the relic is housed and sell souvenirs. It's good for innkeepers and road tolls and the church in question.

Which famous dungeon and dragon characters would you consider to be relic material if they die?

Elminster? Definitely Strum. Most if not all 20-th level paladins and clerics.

 

[Celebrim]

I did a campaign wherein the PCs were part of the Church and sent on various quest to protect pilgrims or recover relics, so there are wars to build pilgrimage sites in as a core node in your game.

You’ve also got the Conan the Barbarian movie plot of Conan infiltrating pilgrims travelling to the Temple of Set in order to assassinate its high priest.

I think obviously you can build an adventure around a pilgrimage but in terms of the number of times that a pilgrimage is going to come up as the central element of a campaign is usually pretty small.

Behind my comments in this thread, I worry though about the ratio of game time to prep time. Thinking about pilgrimages and holy sites will generate game depth, but if you don't immediately plan to do anything with that it might not be time well spent. I think there is value in a GM doing a fantasy campaign having some idea of how pilgrimages work historically and in the context of their setting, but I'm not sure there is a lot of value in going into depths on that unless it is really relevant to the campaign.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Fr. Dave of Blood of Prokopius posted on his block 3-4 tables about holy days, festivals, relics, and the stories behind them. I think this was in the second year of his blog.

This doesn't give you odds as to people's remains becoming relics. Rather, a couple of idea generators as to how they came about, festivals surrounding them, and the themes as to what powers they may have. He's a priest, so the tables have a strong Christian worldview to them. Still quite valuable I've found.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I would probably make Relic a separate descriptor from the rarity types, for a start. While some relics are Epic like the vestiges of divergence or the Hand of Vecna, the finger bone of Saint Vigeous the Umbragenesis just lets you see in the dark.

 

[Quickleaf]

The Middle Ages for Kids - Holy Relics - Middle Ages for Kids

I'm been doing a lot of stewing on this as of late for my own project.

Best I can tell, the closest we have in the game are actually the hand and eye of Vecna.

How would you determine whom is elligable for becoming a relic?

What would determine the game mechanic of being a relic?

Can a relic become corrupted/purified?

How do you create a pilgrimage to a relic?

Which famous dungeon and dragon characters would you consider to be relic material if they die?

I did this hard with the god Osiris in my old Planescape campaign. Basically, I took Egyptian conceptions of the multi-part soul at face value, so there was the heart, the shadow, the spiritual double/echo, the name of Osiris, and so on. They were imbued into objects which, if interacted with in a specific way unique to each part, would imbue the person interacting with that part of Osiris. For example, the khet (physical body) of Osiris manifested as a wise (and wise-cracking) mimir (floating skull construct) which got the "heebie-jeebies" around anything having to do with the god Set and could bestow kinesthetic memories of Osiris into the PC imbued with the khet.