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| Fire Giant by Dave Trampier |
Candle Color: White
Welcome to my 22nd post for Dungeon Mastering by Candlelight. Today is Titan Tuesday, which is dedicated to "the big guys" in a campaign, namely the gods, demons, named dragons and supreme villains of your campaign setting. The number 22 seemed like a lucky number, a sort of small milestone on this journey and I thought I'd start a tradition of dedicating each lucky double number of this blog to the awesome artwork of Dave Trampier. Dave Trampier was one of perhaps three favorite artists whose work I admired when I first began this gaming journey thirty or so years ago. You will see something dedicated to him on the 33rd blog post, 44th blog post, 55th blog post and so on.
When I began work on the mythos for my homebrew campaign I wanted there to be parallels between my campaign mythology and the feel of the earliest D&D mythologies published in that fabled of fabulous books of lore, the Deities and Demigods book. In that book each of the gods of several pantheons were presented with descriptions, statistics, hit points, armor class and what special powers each one could hurl in battle. The idea seemed to be that the gods were beings closely bound to the same mortal plane where the players adventured and that they could be sought out, encountered and perhaps even battled and defeated.
This element seemed one of several central themes at the heart of early D&D campaigns. In my home campaign every god, demon or great power is directly tied to the material plane. Frequently they dwell in isolated regions, often in shrines or strongholds in secret or perhaps known only to the highest ranking and most trusted of their priests. The gods and great powers tend to avoid one another for the same reason that they are cautious in their dealings with powerful mortals, namely because it is possible for them to be confronted, battled, defeated and even slain.
Now not all of the gods are strictly humanoid or even of an intelligence other than completely alien to the mind of a mortal. Many of the great powers that stalk the dark corners of my world are worshiped out of fear more than for any other reason and yet their priests are granted at least a minimal number of divine spells due to their great age and place in the cosmology of my world. A few may indeed not even be aware that they have worshipers at all.
The majority of the populace in my campaign is polytheistic. The world contains a good number of powerful "gods" and one governs this sea while another governs a particular city. Most of the population makes offerings and observances so the gods leave them alone. Sure there are a few sects who rabidly follow a strict and narrow tradition, the wild eye'd fanatics of my world. Crazy fanatics make for interesting characters in any good sword and sorcery setting in my opinion, so why not?
With all that rambling aside I should at least post a write up for one of the great powers from my home campaign to share with you. You are more than welcome to pull this being in part or in full into your home game.
Sheerako
Greater Goddess
Armor Class: -3
Movement: Infinite
Hit Points: 200
No. Attacks: 2 (Gaze)
Damage Attacks: 2d12 x 2 or gaze causing save versus charm as the spell.
Alignment: Law
Worshiper's Alignment: Any
Symbol: The Cranberry
Other: Divine as 12th level Cleric, Arcane as a 12th level Wizard. Melee as an 8th level Fighter.
Sheerako is one of four divine sisters called the Norns. The Sea of Harlots is said to be their domain. Sheerako is the goddess of the South Wind and of Love. Sheerako and her younger sister Silkie are believed to be the most kind hearted of the Norns while the other two sisters are wrathful and unpredictable. Sailors and merchants who ply the waters of the Sea of Harlots often ask for blessings of their ships in her name.
Priests of Sheerako are granted a miracle at level three and at level five.
Potent Charm: Level Three
A priest or priestess of Sheerako can cast a potent charm on a target once per day. Targets receive a saving throw as standard. A successful save indicates that the target is aware that the priest is meddling with their minds magically and they may respond appropriately. Failure indicates that the target falls in love with whomever the priest names. This functions as the magic-user charm spell but can be directed by the priest towards anyone or anything, including animals or objects. The priest cannot use this spell to cause a target to fall in love with themselves or any other priest of the goddess Sheerako.
Awaken: Level Five
At fifth level the priest of Sheerako can kiss a subject once in a week and awaken them from any mind control or mind influencing magical effect, curse or enchantment. Only a curse or enchantment cast by another greater god can resist this ability. This miracle will effect an exorcism on any humanoid currently under the possession of a demon, ghost, spirit or other supernatural being.
Well there you have it. I hope you enjoyed today's entry. Hope that you will return to visit again soon!
Happy Gaming!!
Ed Kann
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