The Trefaldwyn Chronicle - Dark Ages Pathfinder OOC

[doghead]

I'm not saying you're wrong, Doghead, ...

Cos I never am?

Its a good point about being able to shape perceptions of others. But Druids can offer real and valuable support to a society. The answer is probably that a range of interaction between the faiths is possible, and variations exist between regions. I think this question will come down to how the DM wants to play it.

Speaking of interaction, I wanted to re-pose a earlier question to everyone.

I was thinking a young man, trained as a warrior and hunter and maybe with some social skills as well. Proud? Probably. Head-strong? More than likely, he is young. Ambitious and vaguely suspicious of 'foreign influences' in court? Or maybe a dreamer who frets at the constraints of family responsibility and longs to travel; to see the glory that is Constantinople, experience the mystery of the elf lands and smell the spice drenched lands of Arabia.

Ambitious and maybe somewhat suspicious or a dreamer, curious about the wider world and those in it?

The choice probably won't affect the mechanics of the character much, but will affect his interaction with others. The former will likely be a bit more prickly, but easier to manipulate. The latter will be more likely to seek friendship with the others in the group. The latter is a much more likeable character, but the former does provide for another dimension to the inter-party interactions. The playing out of the building of trust can be an interesting narrative.

Would like to get people's thoughts.

thotd

 

[Dr Simon]

I did have a thought at one point that monotheist priests in the setting would have better spellcasting powers than pagan priests, kind of keeping with the likes of The Golden Legend and other source materials, where worshippers of the old religions are shown to be worshipping false idols, demons and other things whose power is small compared to the One True God. But I forgot what it was! Something involving spells used for detecting and protecting against extraplanar entities, I think.

Leaving that aside, I suspect the main difference between druidism and Christianity in a setting where both can use magic**, is mainly one of numbers. The druids are a small sect, Christians spread from Persia to Ireland and are backed by the Roman Emperor. In the real world, where priests don't cast spells, that's one reason, the other is in the difference in the message of the religion, Christianity presenting some (at the time) new ideas concerning faith - that it could be seperate from national identity, that anybody could have a personal connection to God without needing a priestly caste to intercede, and that violence wasn't always the solution to disputes (and that worship didn't require the killing and burning of living things probably helps).

**Semantically, in game terms that's what they are doing but I would imagine a Christian cleric assumes that he is asking God for help, not actually casting spells himself - that would be witchcraft and sorcery!

 

[Shayuri]

Well, it's not like all or even most pagan faiths involved human sacrifice, necessarily. Christianity definitely spread for awhile on its own merits, but once Rome converted it was spread as much at the point of a sword as by the gentle counsel of missionaries.

That and there weren't a lot of regional faiths that were really aggressive about converting the way Christianity was.

Not to get diverted into a discussion of real world religious politics though...my sense in this game is that in larger, more organized areas near cities and castles and so on, most folk are reliably Christian and go to church and so on. They rely on miracles of faith from priests.

In the backwoods, the little communities that are far from the center of things, there's more muddle. That's where you get people clinging to the old ways, and the 'wise woman' or old hermit living just outside of the village might well be a druid. The nearest priest is days away, and that druid can supply healing and make crops grow, and that's good enough for them.

But the political power of the druids is still virtually nil, because the people loyal to them are so thinly spread, are uniformly devoid of political power themselves (save only the power of the mob), and they have quite a bit of leverage over the druids in that they could always run and get the priests (and their soldiers) if the druids get too pushy.

I would like for that to be the case, unless the GM has other plans, because it gives my character a goal to work towards. Starting out as the underdog is a good situation to create dramatic tension. I see druidism as being at a crossroads of sorts. You have the conservative faction that has essentially been the survival of the faith all this time...successfully keeping the order hidden yet functional even under the eye of the Legion. Then you have a newer faction that advocates that the time for staying hidden is over, and that the druids need to spread their faith and influence, or stagnate and inevitably die out.

My character would of course be of the latter faction.

 

[Dr Simon]

Yes, I think that way of things sounds good to me, it would gibe well Kaodi's "witch-woman" character idea as well. At the time of the campaign, there are different flavours of church any way. The Irish missionaries who brought Christianity to Wales are more bookish and not really into conversion at the point of the sword. But on the far side of the British Isles, Augustine is bringing the orthodox vision to the Anglo-Saxons, which is actually at doctrinal odds with the Celtic version of the church (although mostly over points such as the calculation of Easter, etc.). Most ire is reserved not for non-Christians, but for variant forms deemed heretical by the Council of Nicea, notably the Arian faith of most of the Gothic tribes, which holds that there is nothing remotely divine about Jesus. Well, them and the fire-worshipping Persians. And the Jews. And then there's this new monotheism taking hold amongst the Arabs....

 

[Shayuri]

Ah! Okay then, that still works, I think. The local 'branch' of Christianity is not exactly hostile towards the old pagan beliefs...at least not in the sense of physical persecution...but there is still that spiritual struggle. And there'll be the extremists on either side, of course; the ones obsessed with hunting down 'witches,' and the ones who think spreading druidism must entail burning down churches...but that is not the norm, and it may even be that levelheaded sorts can cooperate if there are threats that affect both.

Sound about right?

 

[Dr Simon]

Sounds like a plan to me! Inter-faith tension could always be part of the tension with doghead's first character concept.

 

[Shayuri]

Oof...inspiration struck.

I now have two concepts. The good news is that either would work, both of them use some of the stuff we worked out so nothing's wasted, and both fill pretty important roles in the group.

Druid, who is a versatile combatant and a divine healer.

Bard, who is a 'face' character (which we seem to lack presently) and a roguish ranged combatant as well. Bard uses the Archaeologist variant, but it is basically just a thiefier bard than usual, who lacks bardsong.

I have the mechanics for them both just about done, and I'll post 'em both. Backstories are being written up. Neither is very complicated.

I am not sure which we need more. Healing is huge, but dealing with people sounds pretty important to the game too.

 

[Walking Dad]

Well, the bard also got healing spells on the list and has access to Use Magic Devise, so if the DM decides we need more healing, he can easily place the needed items. The druid lacks remove blindness, greater restoration and the likes and the bard can at least fake them with items and UMD.

 

[Shayuri]

Arr, well, in fairness, I'm not sure we should be basing our needs on high level stuff like Greater Restoration.

Druids get better spells earlier than bards...and this particular bard wouldn't be giving party-wide bonuses via bard song. But she would be pretty formidable herself, I think...

Well, I'll choose one way or another today. Don't want to delay things any more than I have.

 

[Walking Dad]

I just wanted to say that the bard isn't such a poor healerclass itself. Choose what you want to play (Istill hope for the bard ).