Anti-Clerics

So, yeah...after very little deliberation, I've decided to re-write DL2: Dragons of Flame for use in my home campaign. As has been detailed ad nauseum (here and elsewhere) the thing has problems, most due to DragonLance in general (duh) some for stuff I just find a little nonsensical; for example, there are not one but TWO chambers containing a huge, ancient red dragon, but no easy means of egress/ingress for either (no treasure hoard in their lairs either).  

[*sigh*]

However, I rather like the Big Bad Leader, "Verminaard" (well, except for his name). I'll admit I'm a fan of "dragon highlords" as a concept anyway, but an evil 8th level patriarch battle commander is right in my wheelhouse. 

[remember I'm also a fan of Jagreen Lern]

But the "battle commander" is the important bit. Waaaaaay back when I was a kid, before I even knew there was such a thing as "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" I don't remember ever having a cleric in our games...not until I got my hands on the Mentzer/Cook Expert set. Remember that my understanding of "D&D" as a concept was mostly informed by playground gossip/play (which featured fighters, magic-users, and assassins), the Dungeon! board game (elves, heroes, superheroes, and wizards), and the occasional comic strip advertisement (which, to that point, had yet to feature "Serena the Cleric" or whatever her name was). 

[films like The Hobbit, Clash of the Titans, and various Sinbad films also played a role in my understanding of "fantasy," of course]

But the cleric class? Um...huh? Doesn't really seem like Friar Tuck does it? Certainly didn't seem like my parish priest...my encounters with "the undead" at a young age were mainly limited to the occasional Dracula re-make on television...my parents did NOT expose me to a lot of horror stuff.

And so, since I didn't have a good grasp on the concept...well, it didn't see action in my games either. 

However, this changed when I got the Expert set. All Moldvay wrote as a description was:

Clerics are humans who have dedicated themselves to the service of a god or goddess. They are trained in fighting and casting spells. As a cleric advances in level, he or she is granted the use of more and more spells. However, clerics do not receive any spells until they reach 2nd level (and have proven their devotion to their god or goddess).

Yeah, why would I want to play THAT instead of an elf?

The Expert text, on the other hand, gets things fired up:

At the first 3 levels of experience, the power of a cleric is extremely limited. As characters advance to higher levels...[they obtain more spells of greater power, having proven their faith to their god or goddess. Because of this, it is very important for clerics to be faithful to the beliefs of their religion and alignment. Should a cleric behave in a manner that is not pleasing to his or her deity, the deity may become angered and punish the offender. This punishment could take many forms...[examples]. The DM may decide what punishment might be in such a case. To regain the favor of the deity, a cleric might find it wise to donate money and magic items to the religion, build a church or temple, gain large numbers of converts, or defeat some great foe of the religion...

All that is heady, world-building stuff. This isn't just some dude with a list of healing spells and a weapon restriction...dude's got responsibilities to a god (or goddess). Failure indicates consequences! Compliances yields great rewards (like fanatically loyal FREE troops, and half-price strongholds!)! DMs are given major leeway to punish and persecute such characters, sending them on quests, whatever-whatever.

The first new character rolled up using the Expert rules (for my buddy Matt) was a cleric. I made sure of that. And because I was 10 years old and had no patience for waiting for someone to reach "name level," he was created as a 9th level character with a troop of devoted fanatics and a small stronghold. His first adventure: he and his men were ordered by his god to enter the desert and confront a blue dragon in its lair. Now, forty years later, I can't remember how the mission turned out (I suspect there was a lot of death by electricity), but I'm sure it was glorious. I know this: for the rest of the time my original group hung together (about five years, mostly AD&D), Matt nearly always played a cleric of some sort.

Fast forward to today.

I have some pretty solid opinions on the cleric class, basic assumptions on what it is, how it works/functions, and the justifications for various systems. These "solid opinions" have definitely changed/evolved over time, and I would happily enumerate their current standings if I thought anyone would really care terribly (I don't). However, I previously mentioned that one of my Lenten activities involved curating the PHB spell lists, and since the clerical list was the FIRST one I culled (and because it somewhat applies to Verminaard), I thought I'd detail a little of that particular bit.

In brief: I'm not using alignment these days. Lots of reasons for that. Nor am I using Deities & Demigods in my game, except for its rules on ability scores outside the normal range (and I'm thinking of cutting those as well). What then are clerics, and how do they function? Are they just a different type of spell-caster (i.e. another magic-user with a different list of spells and a different set of weapon/armor restrictions)?

No.

They are still clerics...priestly types, in other words. But there is no pantheon of deities/alignments to choose from. There are acknowledged "lords of light:" life-giving, creator gods (or God, depending on the particulars of one's religion). Clerics have access to a standard list of spells based on healing and protection and generally all the (non-reversed) usual spells available in the PHB. They don't get to animate dead or cause wounds or slay living creatures...none of those powers are granted by the lords of light. They are tasked with spreading light, fighting darkness, making a better world for all. 

Pretty simple, pretty straight-forward, pretty easy. It's more-or-less "acting in aid of The Good" which doesn't necessarily mean killing orcs and building civilization...in fact, sometimes it means saving orcs and destroying civilizations. But well-fed, harmonious communities growing in wisdom and acting with simple kindness to each other is...generally...the desired end result.

Then there are the anti-clerics.

Some folks just don't want to get along with others. They'd rather subjugate and destroy, dominate and command others and aggrandize themselves. Rather than follow the lords of light, they pray to diabolic or demonic powers, who can grant them many of the same powers. Many, but not all. 

Anti-clerics in my campaign world are clerics with a different spell list. They still have some of the lower level healing spells, but for the most part they use ONLY the reversed spells found in the PHB. The dark gods aren't big on creating light and life; anti-clerics cannot raise the dead for example (although they can animate corpses in a gross parody of life). In simple terms, anti-clerics are bad apples who, for whatever reason, have decided they'd rather have the power to inflict fear and death on others, though losing their soul in the process.

The whip is not an
edged weapon.

This then is Verminaard (or rather Hanse Werner...that's his name in my game world). Being an 8th level patriarch he has his own band of loyal followers (who will take the place of various draconian and hobgoblin denizens of Pax Tharkas). Seeking to carve out his own small kingdom, harboring ambitions of grand conquest, he works to rebuild an ancient elven fortress, from which he can launch attacks (especially raids for slaves and supplies) on the local communities. Control and conquest is his aim.

An adventure for 1st level characters.

High Level Work

September 1st, and the kids are off to school (at least till noon) for their first day of the school year. It does feel like summer's over...and I'm not terribly sad about it. Autumn has always been my favorite time of year.

I wonder if I'll still feel like that when they're grown and gone. 

*sigh* Melancholy thoughts.

Got through the soccer weekend...our matches went 6-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 and we came home with the trophy. My kid was a beast. I'd rather watch my own children play soccer then watch the Seahawks; funny how that it is. The drive back wasn't nearly as bad (three-and-a-half hours as opposed to five). 

Spent several morning hours Monday and Tuesday writing my adventure for Prince's contest. Got the thing done by the afternoon (no small feat considering everything else on my plate, including preparations for the start of school). Ended up being about ten pages (plus maps). I am, of course, less than happy with how it turned out, but that was going to be a given...no proofreading, no chance to edit, no chance to play test. Plus, me being me, I'm usually less than thrilled with my published work. Usually.

However, I'm not the judge of the matter. Prince's plan is to take the best eight to so submissions and compile them in a single book which will be sold (I believe) for charity. He received double that number...including my own humble work...which gives me a 50-50 chance of making the cut. 50% of being my first, published AD&D adventure. 

First days indeed. Never did complete that module for my B/X Companion.

[yes, I realize I did that thing for Patrick's adventure writing contest. That was more a challenge of inserting content into a predetermined format than creating an adventure from whole cloth]

For the interested folks: the adventure is a "short" excursion for high level (10th to 14th) characters. Originally conceived as an invasion/sacking adventure, the scale of the contest had me pare down the thing to (more or less) a single dungeon...a return to a location that had already been invaded/sacked, but that had more secrets to reveal. Spurning the usual demon cultist thing, I turned to the OTHER big baddies of the MM...the devils...to give me my adventure theme. I ended up using just about every "lawful evil" monster in the book.

Except beholders. I haven't written (or used) an adventure that included a beholder since I was 12 years old. One of these days, I'll go back to that particular well...

10th to 14th level is an interesting range of player characters. Generally, AD&D characters have hit their "name" level by then, and the experience point needs have leveled out (no pun intended). That is to say, a 10th level fighter needs just as many x.p. as the 14th level fighter to advance. Likewise hit points differences are far more compact between such characters (a +6 difference between a 12th and 14th? That's hardly a single dice roll difference, especially considering CON bonuses). 

Spell use, special abilities (especially turning), and access to powerful magic items DO, on the other hand, represent a significant difference between high level and the low-mid range, and these are the major hurdle for the DM seeking to create significant challenges for high level characters. However, AD&D is as much a resource-driven game at the high levels as it is at the low levels...all of these miraculous powers have their limits, even (and especially) in Advanced D&D.

This is why I found Prince's contest so particularly exciting. Use by the book monsters and magic items. Limit yourself to a single edition. Considering these constraints, and whether or not simple monsters could be made dangerous for high level characters in the space allotted (20-30 "rooms")...especially with my own personal constraint of a Lawful Evil-themed adventure (no vampires! no demons! no red dragons!)...well, now, THAT was a challenge!

[I know Alexis will be gritting his teeth at all this alignment talk. The adventure was written to use AD&D RAW...those were the design parameters. The adventure can still be run without alignment, and very little "fun" lost]

Much of the adventure's design was inspired by (or stolen from) my activities over the summer: Yellowstone, the Lewis & Clark Caverns, Fort Casey, and Orcas Island, as well as various blog posts and news stories I've been reading. The two levels of the temple are clearly modeled on the U.S. National Cathedral. Reflections on lies and hell and musings on how to make devils "interesting." Anthony Huso's essays on high level play. Etc.

[nothing related to Covid, Afghanistan, or politics (thank goodness). I've enough of that]

And despite my being "less-than-happy" with the quality of my writing, I'm fairly happy with the results of the design over all. I'd like to run/test it...and my kids are certainly excited to play it (they wanted to play test it before I emailed the thing to Prince; unfortunately, I was working with a tight deadline). Of course, they don't have high level characters, so I'd have to make some pre-gens for that to happen, and that is a tall order: you're not just talking a few stats and an equipment list, but followers and henchmen and strongholds, etc. Because those things are a part of "high level play," too.

[one might consider such NPCs as "bonus" hit points, attacks, and spells]

But we'll get something done. Probably not this week (still finishing up our Blood Bowl tournament...plus I'm coaching school soccer again). But soon...before the month is out.

Anyway, if the adventure does make Prince's cut, folks will be able to access it once he's done with his compilation. Otherwise, I'll give the thing a couple polishing passes and make it available myself. Just for fun. Just dipping my toe in the adventure-writing arena. See what people think, get some feedback, etc. I mean, why not?

By the way, the module's name is Hell's Own Temple, altered from a longer (and more pretentious) title. It is "modular"...that is, designed to be dropped into any campaign (well, maybe not a landlocked one, as it takes place on an island), so long as the campaign's run with first edition AD&D. The adventure is written using ONLY the PHB, DMG, and MM; no other books are required...and, in fact, I strongly suggest NOT using additional rulebooks when running it (especially not Unearthed Arcana). 

I will, of course, let people know when it's available.

; )