Nerull Summoning

[Vorput]

Hello all.

A campaign I'm running involves a cult of Nerull which has started to form in the land I've created. Individual cells with a loose hierarchy, and cloaked in secrecy, have been springing up.

Anyway, I plan on these clerics and servants of Nerull becoming a central antagonist to the party.

These clerics will rely heavily on Planar ally spells to carry out many of their deeds. Either those which they cannot be seen committing themselves, or those they just need a little extra firepower for.

My question is: What are some good planar summons for clerics (and a few wizards) who serve Nerull? The obvious answer would seem to be demons/devils... but I'm not sure that fits Nerull as I have him portrayed in my world.

I've been thinking about it, and arrived at the idea of maybe some undead of some kind? My problem with that is undead seem to be limited in power compared to demons. For example, demons/devils usually can summon other ones, and they tend to have cool spell-like abilities, often the ability to fly, stuff like that. Undead seem... I dunno, too straightforward of a summon for some of the more subtle plots of this cult.

I figure I should be able to get some good ideas on these forums. Thanks in advance!

 

[Tewligan]

Fiendish undead or undead fiends.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I agree that undead, while appropriate, would be expected. Tewligan's suggestion of undead fiends could be easily accomplished, if you're into templates, and would be pretty dreadful.

What about using creatures related rot and decay? Fungi, molds, worms, that sort of thing.

 

[BronzeGolem]

Hello all.

A campaign I'm running involves a cult of Nerull which has started to form in the land I've created. Individual cells with a loose hierarchy, and cloaked in secrecy, have been springing up.

Anyway, I plan on these clerics and servants of Nerull becoming a central antagonist to the party.

These clerics will rely heavily on Planar ally spells to carry out many of their deeds. Either those which they cannot be seen committing themselves, or those they just need a little extra firepower for.

My question is: What are some good planar summons for clerics (and a few wizards) who serve Nerull? The obvious answer would seem to be demons/devils... but I'm not sure that fits Nerull as I have him portrayed in my world.

I've been thinking about it, and arrived at the idea of maybe some undead of some kind? My problem with that is undead seem to be limited in power compared to demons. For example, demons/devils usually can summon other ones, and they tend to have cool spell-like abilities, often the ability to fly, stuff like that. Undead seem... I dunno, too straightforward of a summon for some of the more subtle plots of this cult.

I figure I should be able to get some good ideas on these forums. Thanks in advance!

Personally, I'm not a big fan of undead fiends myself.

However, what would work is if clerics of Nerull summoned Demodands (from Fiend Folio). I think this also has support from previous editions in terms of Nerull's Clerics/Nerull himself having associations with them. Their associations with Nerull are also indirect at best, so it might take your players some time to figure that out.

 

[Kunimatyu]

Aspect of Nerull is almost a must-use. It's a CR 9ish outsider that's like a mini-Nerull(duh). You'll find it in the Miniatures Handbook, and the miniature itself(which includes stats) was released earlier this year in the Deathknell expansion. This probably isn't something that the cultists would just summon for random tasks, but it would certainly make for an interesting showdown, or recurring villain -- aspects are only an embodied fraction of a deity's power, but they see themselves as the deity in the full, which can create some interesting situations.

But, you could probably do worse than a few yugoloths or demodands. Alternatively, find the demons/devils you like, switch out some of their spell-like abilities for more "nerull-themed" ones -- death knell, ray of enfeeblement, etc etc. -- and change their appearance on the players. With different SLAs and difference appearances, most players will think they are novel creations in their own right.

Also, spell-stitched undead are your friends. Spell-stitched is a template you can find in MMII or Complete Arcane, and it's basically a way to graft spell-like abilities onto an undead. Also, last I checked, Devourers are extraplanar undead. A bit on the powerful side, but excellent choices for Nerull cultists to summon.

 

[Vorput]

Aspect of Nerull is almost a must-use. It's a CR 9ish outsider that's like a mini-Nerull(duh). You'll find it in the Miniatures Handbook, and the miniature itself(which includes stats) was released earlier this year in the Deathknell expansion. This probably isn't something that the cultists would just summon for random tasks, but it would certainly make for an interesting showdown, or recurring villain -- aspects are only an embodied fraction of a deity's power, but they see themselves as the deity in the full, which can create some interesting situations.

But, you could probably do worse than a few yugoloths or demodands. Alternatively, find the demons/devils you like, switch out some of their spell-like abilities for more "nerull-themed" ones -- death knell, ray of enfeeblement, etc etc. -- and change their appearance on the players. With different SLAs and difference appearances, most players will think they are novel creations in their own right.

Also, spell-stitched undead are your friends. Spell-stitched is a template you can find in MMII or Complete Arcane, and it's basically a way to graft spell-like abilities onto an undead. Also, last I checked, Devourers are extraplanar undead. A bit on the powerful side, but excellent choices for Nerull cultists to summon.

Ooo, good ideas! Thanks. I also like the undead fiends... especially if they're modded slightly.