Suggestions for a party with a 10-year-old Ghandi

[RavenSinger]

I am starting up a campaign in a week or so with four players. Three of the players are essentially brand-new roleplayers. The fourth is quite experienced in DnD, but has not played since the advent of 3.0. We have done a couple of short dungeon crawls so that everyone is somewhat familiar with the rules of combat, and understands how roleplaying works.

Now, we as a group have decided that we want to start a new epic story arc with new characters for everyone. "Great," I say. "Go get some character ideas, and we'll talk about it." So all the new-to-roleplaying players come up with some good, fairly standard-type ideas. A curious sorceress, a dark hero with a mysterious past, a tomb-raiding rogue, etc., etc. . . so far so good.

So the player who has played AD&D a lot, and knows the virtues and sins of min/maxing reads BoED and the Avatar Handbook (Green Ronin), and comes up with the idea of being an avatar for one of the gods in my campaign world. The following is the write up I give to the god in the guide to my world:

THERION – THE CHILD GOD, BRINGER OF JOY
Greater Deity
Pronunciation: THEHR-ee-awn
Symbol: A young boy
Sacred Animal: Dog
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Childhood, goodness, family, joy, non-violence, diplomacy
Worshipers: Children, families, teachers, diplomats
Cleric Alignments: LG, NG, CG
Domains: Community*, Nobility*, Good, Healing, Light, Liberation*, Protection
Favored Weapon: Sling

Therion is invariably pictured as a boy of about 11 years with wild curly brown hair, on the verge of puberty. The beloved first born child of Ged and Sekonet, he has his mother’s smile, and his father’s bearing. He is always in simple clothes with no armor or shield for protection. His sling is always with him, either in his hand or at his belt. He stands up straight and tall, clear eyes focused ahead. It is often said about him, “How can one so small and young, be so unafraid?”

Dogma: Therion teaches his followers to find joy everywhere, even in the smallest of things. For the Child God, violence is only an option in the face of true evil. Otherwise, there must be another path. Therion’s followers should be of service to themselves and to their community.

Clergy and Temples: You can usually pick out a cleric of Therion because often children surround them. As their patron, they wear no armor and carry no shield. Only a sling and their faith are at their side. Because of Therion’s teachings regarding non-violence, his clerics will only attack beings that radiate evil (as in a detect evil spell). Otherwise, they can run or protect themselves, but they may not attack in any way.

The temples of Therion are numerous, and can be found just about anywhere in Casciorna. They invariably run orphanages, which are (sadly) usually brimming with children. The temples themselves are built with materials that can take great use, though they may not be the most luxurious.

Okay, so the player wants to play a 10-year-old orphan child that is an Avatar of Therion with the Exalted Feats: Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, Vow of Non-Violence and Vow of Peace. Pretty cool concept I think, and very much in keeping with my concepts for the campaign world. But now that I am starting to formulate plots for the game, I am concerned how much his choices are going to railroad the rest of the party. I mean, will the guy who is playing the rogue be able to to the rogue-ish things he wants without having the spokes-kid of a god looking over his shoulder? And what about the Vow of Non-Violence when it says: "Your purity is so great that any ally of yours who slays a helpless or defenseless foe within 120 feet of you feels great remorse. Your ally takes a -1 penalty on her attack roles for one hour per your character level." etc., etc. How does that impact what the other players can do?

Don't get me wrong, I like the avatar-player's creativity and willingness to do things outside the norm. However, I have three other newbie roleplayers. I don't want the avatar guy to dominate the group too much simply by the fact that he has made very strong character creation choices.

Any suggestions as to plot elements, ways to run the sessions, and any other sage advice would be greatly appreciated.

--Brian

 

[gfunk]

You may wish to skim through JollyDoc's Shackled City in the Story Hour forum. I am playing a Sorcerer/Apostle of Peace with Vow of Peace.

So far it has been a very enriching role-playing experience. It took some getting used to, but if your whole party is good then having a pacifist in your midst is not such a big deal.

Just keep in mind that you can deal non-lethal damage and buff your party members to boot.

 

[RavenSinger]

Cool! Thanks for the tip GFunk. I'll go check it out now.

--Brian

P.S. Man, are you FAST!

 

[Derulbaskul]

I must admit, if one of my players were to finally come up with such a cool concept like that I would find any way possible to make it happen.

Question: as the DM, how does having an avowed pacifist affect your plans for the campaign?

 

[Arravis]

Completely unrelated to your question... but I've always loathed the whole "Golden Child" thing some players (and authors) like to do. I never understood the attraction.

 

[jgbrowning]

Doesn't "Therion" mean beast? Kinda ironic....

joe b.

 

[talinthas]

for what its worth, you misplaced the h in gandhi =)

 

[frankthedm]

Okay, so the player wants to play a 10-year-old orphan child that is an Avatar of Therion with the Exalted Feats: Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, Vow of Non-Violence and Vow of Peace. Pretty cool concept I think, and very much in keeping with my concepts for the campaign world. But now that I am starting to formulate plots for the game, I am concerned how much his choices are going to railroad the rest of the party. I mean, will the guy who is playing the rogue be able to to the rogue-ish things he wants without having the spokes-kid of a god looking over his shoulder? And what about the Vow of Non-Violence when it says: "Your purity is so great that any ally of yours who slays a helpless or defenseless foe within 120 feet of you feels great remorse. Your ally takes a -1 penalty on her attack roles for one hour per your character level." etc., etc. How does that impact what the other players can do?
--Brian

Make sure you don't have any players who game to vent steam [break stuff and kill things] - they are going to be TICKED if the Dm takes the killing out, forone pc who fits the 'story'. And They might take that PC out to change things. It could work in some groups, but it will kill others. To you it sounds cool, but be ready for the first and last time that penalty gets applied whether its from the other characters banishing ther character from thier party, or just killing the punk.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Doesn't "Therion" mean beast? Kinda ironic....

Yes, in ancient Greek. Judging by the context (the "child god"), I'm betting that the creator of the campaign was loosely influenced by Aleister Crowley, who called himself the Magus Therion ("Great Beast") and the prophet of the Aeon of Horus, the Crowned and Conquering "Child".

But that's just a shot in the dark...

 

[RavenSinger]

Thanks for all the responses. I will respond to each. . .

gfunk: Can you tell me where your Pacifist character gets introduced. I started reading at the beginning and you were playing Pez the Fallen Archon.

Derulbaskul: I have the same attitude as you. I like the idea, I am just worried for the other players.

Arravis: I think the main attraction is the RP possibilities. The player is an experienced roleplayer (though not in this version of DnD). He was curious to see how it would play out. The other side of the character's coin is that he was abused as an orphan, has a lot of anger, and understands wanting to destroy things. But has made a vow to not lift a finger against any living thing directly. It has appeal to me and the player, and for our game that is what matters.

Talinthas: Whoops--my bhad.

Frank: It is exactly the situation you describe that I hope to avoid. And I haven't taken killing out. I have taken out killing innocent and/or helpless victims within a given amount of space from the "golden child." And I haven't really done that either, the characters just need to know that they will suffer a penalty if they do such an action. I try to let my players do anything they like, but they must suffer the consequences of their actions. Case in point, if they decide to kill the 'golden boy', fine. But they will have to answer to a full Host of Celestials, and perhaps even an arch-angel. Gods don't like it when you kill their messengers.

JG and Tyler: Therion is just a name that was in the memory bank. I am somewhat familiar with tarot, so the Crowley reference is probably where I originally got it. But there was no intention of commenting on the nature of the god with the name--sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

--Brian