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

[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.