Hello everyone. I'm starting a campaign and would like some input to help me come up with interesting divine challenge for lvl 1 characters, as a way to usher them into the world of true Heroes. First I'll give you a bit of necessary background into what I built...
The campaign is based on the core world description of Nerath as the last big empire to dominate the land and decided that it had a religion based on the worship of Erathis, Pelor and Bane as the institutional gods of the Empire. Other deities were less important and usually local. In this setting, each of the three gods represented an attribute of the Emperor:
Erathis - The Law Giver
Bane - The Conqueror
Pelor - The Purveyor of sustenance
In this way, the Emperor justified his rule by linking his persona to the Imperial Triad.
After the Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions in much the same way Rome did (I'm having Nerath to be very similar to Rome), this worship waned, except in a few places that struggled to keep the flame burning, so to speak.
This is due in great part to a secret group of Ioun clerics that gathered during the last days of Nerath and took upon themselves to protect the knowledge, both magical and mundane, as well as the traditions of the empire. I modeled this on the real monks that existed during the middle age.
Part of these monks built hidden abbeys and vaults, to preserve books and magical items of the past. Another part chose to wander the land and spread seeds of ancient teachings in villages, in the hope that one day those would flourish and start a Renaissance.
This is how I explained the fact that the characters have skills that are unavailable to the regular peasant. Even the most basic fighter exploits are more elaborate than the regular NPC guards' and this is due to them being
"trained in the old ways". Ben Kenobi is an influence here.
Ok, so given that background, the characters are sent by their elders (one of whom is secretly a cleric of Ioun) to the nearby ruins of a small temple of the Imperial Triad. There they are to perform a three-day ritual honoring the gods.
Usually this is a simple three-day camping trip where they go to the temple, burn some sacred herbs, offer a tribute to the gods and then pretend to have received some revelation in the smoke of the burning brazier. It helps the village young adults to bond and keeps the society strong, but not much more than that.
Evidently, since the characters have a special destiny and have been trained from infancy to be Heroes by the cleric of Ioun, the ritual will bear very different results to them.
On each day they are to be given a trial by one of the gods. This trial will serve as an introduction to the game mechanics of skill challenges and possibly combat, but in story terms, it is designed as a test of their "imperial virtues". They must show respect for the laws of old, the will to sacrifice in order to conquer fear and compassion.
These tests will also determine their first magic items, presents of the gods that will scale in time depending of the results of the tests.
For Erathis I decided to have them go to another village and settle a blood feud that is threatening its continuing existence. This will be solved as a skill challenge, with a great deal of roleplay (I hope).
For Bane and Pelor, though, I am out of ideas of anything that could be turned into practical game situations as well as interesting moral dilemmas and roleplay opportunities...
I thought of having the trials last quite some time for them, since I need them to get back to their home town and bond with some NPCs.
Oh, there will be one last, surprise trial, proposed by Ioun. This will put them o the move and start the campaign, after their village is attacked by mysterious villains.
The campaign is based on the core world description of Nerath as the last big empire to dominate the land and decided that it had a religion based on the worship of Erathis, Pelor and Bane as the institutional gods of the Empire. Other deities were less important and usually local. In this setting, each of the three gods represented an attribute of the Emperor:
Erathis - The Law Giver
Bane - The Conqueror
Pelor - The Purveyor of sustenance
In this way, the Emperor justified his rule by linking his persona to the Imperial Triad.
After the Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions in much the same way Rome did (I'm having Nerath to be very similar to Rome), this worship waned, except in a few places that struggled to keep the flame burning, so to speak.
This is due in great part to a secret group of Ioun clerics that gathered during the last days of Nerath and took upon themselves to protect the knowledge, both magical and mundane, as well as the traditions of the empire. I modeled this on the real monks that existed during the middle age.
Part of these monks built hidden abbeys and vaults, to preserve books and magical items of the past. Another part chose to wander the land and spread seeds of ancient teachings in villages, in the hope that one day those would flourish and start a Renaissance.
This is how I explained the fact that the characters have skills that are unavailable to the regular peasant. Even the most basic fighter exploits are more elaborate than the regular NPC guards' and this is due to them being
"trained in the old ways". Ben Kenobi is an influence here.
Ok, so given that background, the characters are sent by their elders (one of whom is secretly a cleric of Ioun) to the nearby ruins of a small temple of the Imperial Triad. There they are to perform a three-day ritual honoring the gods.
Usually this is a simple three-day camping trip where they go to the temple, burn some sacred herbs, offer a tribute to the gods and then pretend to have received some revelation in the smoke of the burning brazier. It helps the village young adults to bond and keeps the society strong, but not much more than that.
Evidently, since the characters have a special destiny and have been trained from infancy to be Heroes by the cleric of Ioun, the ritual will bear very different results to them.
On each day they are to be given a trial by one of the gods. This trial will serve as an introduction to the game mechanics of skill challenges and possibly combat, but in story terms, it is designed as a test of their "imperial virtues". They must show respect for the laws of old, the will to sacrifice in order to conquer fear and compassion.
These tests will also determine their first magic items, presents of the gods that will scale in time depending of the results of the tests.
For Erathis I decided to have them go to another village and settle a blood feud that is threatening its continuing existence. This will be solved as a skill challenge, with a great deal of roleplay (I hope).
For Bane and Pelor, though, I am out of ideas of anything that could be turned into practical game situations as well as interesting moral dilemmas and roleplay opportunities...
I thought of having the trials last quite some time for them, since I need them to get back to their home town and bond with some NPCs.
Oh, there will be one last, surprise trial, proposed by Ioun. This will put them o the move and start the campaign, after their village is attacked by mysterious villains.
