You are killed by... A Gerbil!

[Psychotic Jim]

Looks like you have a pretty good setting going. How about the small god inhabit a magical item (maybe a sword?) that they find when dealing with their first or second adventure. The person who would become the BBEG might initially have wanted to use the item/weapon to defeat the church, which he sees as evil (whether it really isl or not). After the heroes subdue his loose gang of brigands (1st level warrior and adepts) at his hideout, the church inquisition shows up and wants everyone who is not a member of the church who knows about all of this disposed of. A three-way fight between the brigands, the inquisitors, and the PCs erupts, and somehow in the chaos the small god in the sword is split into an evil and a not-so-evil fragments. The evil fragment goes into the brigand lord, and the not-so-evil fragment stays in the sword. The brigand lord is thought dead, thought to have burned to death.
Then there is a typical huge explosion, burying the compound. The heroes discover that the sword is sentient, and the small god is about dead. It takes on the nature the party believes it is. If they believe it is evil, it becomes evil. If good, it becomes good.
The characters now have some problems. First, they must escape the buried complex which may hold Unspeakable Entities from Beyond that were unleashed by the magical catastrophe. There is also some evil/corruptionj within the church, and the PCs must try to restore the faith in their god; on the other hand they also have to deal with this spirit of belief in the sword that is a potential rival to their own god(s). Then there is the BBEG lurking around the corner pitting the church against the PCs as an act of vengeance.

 

[Xarlen]

The characters now have some problems. First, they must escape the buried complex which may hold Unspeakable Entities from Beyond that were unleashed by the magical catastrophe. There is also some evil/corruptionj within the church, and the PCs must try to restore the faith in their god; on the other hand they also have to deal with this spirit of belief in the sword that is a potential rival to their own god(s). Then there is the BBEG lurking around the corner pitting the church against the PCs as an act of vengeance.

That is some damn fine adventure-suggesting. The Brigard in question will likely use a trademark Morning star, which the PCs will identify him (people whom they likely think is corrupted by finding the weapon). The magical sword is a concept, though I don't know about this situation; I'd like the Paladin to search out the lore on this thinger, most likely (Ergo the adventure idea I posted earlier about sleeping knight).

But that doesn't mean I can't do it with some OTHER pc and their stuff.

I don't know how I'd do a small god of the weapon, hmm...

But that's an *Interesting* situation, I'll say. I may not use it exactly, but I certainly plan on tempting with that situation... One of the PCs *has* to cause the BAD MOJO that does this to the Brigard Lord. Thus why he would stalk them. I could use this idea with other aspects though; slavery, smuggling, other naferious deeds...

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Perhaps the god in whatever magical item has amnesia, and the PCs must find whatever quest items or research to "refresh his memory". If the players screw up, the small god "misremembers" himself and takes on a "strange" incarnation. Also, there is nothing keeping you from having more than one "small god". Perhaps there is a seemingly benevolent and helpful but really evil spirit who tries to get the PCs to "remold" the small god into something that they think will be helpful. But it turns out that the evil spirit just wants the PCs to shape the small god into a vassal for belief for it to take over.

As for opponents, maybe using mostly human(oid) foes with low character levels but are named, famous, and have important social positions. The foes are difficult to get to and attack, requiring lots of research and careful timing. That might help keep the boredom some players might experience from fighting "lowly creatures".

And maybe you can invent/find some monsters that do damage other than the typical hp/level-loss/ability drain typical to many D&D monstes. In 2E, there was a unique CE fiendish blackbird creature that drained alignment, making a victim of its attacks more evil with every hit. Or monsters with great defensive abilities but are not very heavy-hitters. Or maybe ones with illusionary abilities. These sorts of weird powers can throw players for a loop and make them suffer but will not necessarily grind their characters through a meat-grinder.

As for the brigand lord, maybe the heroes are duped into using whatever Bad Mojo item to save themselves, the brigands, and some handy nearby innocent bystanders from the wrath of the Inquisition. The brigand lord is somehow killed by this process.

Just as a suggestion also, I don't think you should make ALL of the church evil or faithless, just part of it. It would be really cool from a player perspective if the heroes were given a chance to reform the church like the main protagonist did in Small Gods.

 

[Xarlen]

Well, I'm nto sure how much I'm going to take from Small Gods. I just really like the concept. Or graft over some concepts from Princess Mononoke.

If I get a chance, I will use a Fear critter. Basicly a Boogeyman, if I can get a chance to; he'll come after the thief (a 12 year old character). This depends on what Causes him to do it (Boogeymen come after doing something 'wrong', like talking to strangers or something). This one is a Jack the Ripper meets Joker type guy. Bwhaha.

Another idea is to have the Paladin and Cleric's church and the Monk's whatever looking for the same Dingus, and thus the PCs can scrabble over the thing before they get there.

 

[Voneth]

Our GM loves low levels so much that he uses DMG varient xp system to keep us from growing and then he won't even tell us which varient to make sure we don't how fast we can grow.

So far, he's had us on a boat which was lured by a elf looking woman who was bobing in the water. She was an ambush as some fish-looking men climbed onboard.

He took us to a swamp to face trogodytes, lizardmen, and some other low level lizard things out of the Creature Catalouge. I am sure human bandits are around the corner since we are back in civiliaztion again.

 

[Xarlen]

Our GM loves low levels so much that he uses DMG varient xp system to keep us from growing and then he won't even tell us which varient to make sure we don't how fast we can grow.

That's mean. I'd never do that.

However, if I was your DM, I'd have had the fish people attack the bottom of the boat.

 

[Voneth]

Oh don't worry, he did that too.

We weren't in a swamp to sight see, we had landed there as the ship sank.

 

[Xarlen]

I once had a group of PCs in highschool in a boat in the middle of a lake. A half-fiend green dragon attacked the bottom of the boat (under the cover of Darkness). Unfrontuately he got stunned by the Psion, and then the Spellfire wielder unleashed all of the magic on a touch attack. Killed him.

That campaign didn't last long. Doing 120 damage at level 6 is wrong.

 

[Wippit Guud]

Yes, yes, we've all played Baldur's Gate.

Not quite Baldur's Gate... it's similar, it was inspired by it... but not the same.

 

[Grundle]

Yes, and a PC who is trained to wield a greatsword in full plate armor is not a wandering padestrian.

Full plate at 1st level?! A bit generous (1500gp) don't you think?