Barastrondo
First Post
So one of the things that I've enjoyed about D&D in its every incarnation is the opportunity to come across interesting ideas for holy symbols. Maybe they're the runes of hideous gods, maybe they're emblematic of the deity's weapon, maybe they're just a hidden gesture that cultists can use to identify one another. Sometimes they're incredibly evocative, sometimes they lead to silly jokes at the table (like a worshipper of Avandra whipping off his backpack and brandishing it at a vampire).
So I'm curious: What are the really great ones out there? What are the symbols that make your players shudder when they see them? What are the favorite ones you've devised? Is it a literal symbol, or vestments, or what?
A good example of a published holy symbol I can think of is Hextor's, from Greyhawk. In one of the late 2e books, Wayne Reynolds did an illustration of a dwarven priest of Hextor preaching wildly, a sheaf of arrows in his gauntleted hand. I really liked the touch of making his hand part of the holy symbol. It suddenly hit me that there were all kinds of ways you could use the six arrows.
And on the personal side, I'm fond of the symbol for a god of pestilence I devised: one long vertical bone, with two smaller bones lashed as crossbars at the 1/3 and 2/3 mark. The symbol is an ancient plague-pit marker, and it can be used as all kinds of things: a decorative motif around a cemetery dedicated to those who died of disease, three bones laid on the ground as a cult identifier, tiny grotesque amulets to be worn around the neck, lots of variety.
How about you folks? What religious trappings are really evocative? What makes you want to use a priesthood, play a priest, sharpen up your swords and look nervously to the shadows?
So I'm curious: What are the really great ones out there? What are the symbols that make your players shudder when they see them? What are the favorite ones you've devised? Is it a literal symbol, or vestments, or what?
A good example of a published holy symbol I can think of is Hextor's, from Greyhawk. In one of the late 2e books, Wayne Reynolds did an illustration of a dwarven priest of Hextor preaching wildly, a sheaf of arrows in his gauntleted hand. I really liked the touch of making his hand part of the holy symbol. It suddenly hit me that there were all kinds of ways you could use the six arrows.
And on the personal side, I'm fond of the symbol for a god of pestilence I devised: one long vertical bone, with two smaller bones lashed as crossbars at the 1/3 and 2/3 mark. The symbol is an ancient plague-pit marker, and it can be used as all kinds of things: a decorative motif around a cemetery dedicated to those who died of disease, three bones laid on the ground as a cult identifier, tiny grotesque amulets to be worn around the neck, lots of variety.
How about you folks? What religious trappings are really evocative? What makes you want to use a priesthood, play a priest, sharpen up your swords and look nervously to the shadows?
