(Disclaimer: This is my first thread/post, so I apologise in advance for any mistakes)
Hello everyone! I am relativley new to D&D (I started playing a few months ago), and I have a problem. I (and my group) all play our P.C's as Christian. Now, the "Channel Divinity" powers require you to worship a certain god, so we don't use them. However, this weakens our party's palidin and cleric. So what would you suggest to balance it?
Thanks!
Here's a really fun idea I once had for a pro-Christian D&D campaign, to be run as a Sunday school class:
Channel Divinity powers all fall under the same deity, but require the invocation of a prayer - a specificly relevant scriptural passage - to activate. If you go this route, I would seriously recommend renaming all the Channel Divinities to more appropriate titles. Let's look at PHB1 for inspiration:
Divine Fortune - "For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
Turn Undead - "And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
Divine Mettle - "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Divine Strength - "For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory."
Armor of Divinity - "He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler."
Swift Rescue - "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow."
Swift Grace - "Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in himthere is no S)">cause for stumbling."
Divine Harmony - "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
Faithful Poise - "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."
Divine Favor - "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Tide of Reprieve - "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
David's Resolve - "You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness."
Divine Radiance - "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
Just Reversal - "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers."
(Disclaimer: This is my first thread/post, so I apologise in advance for any mistakes)
Hello everyone! I am relativley new to D&D (I started playing a few months ago), and I have a problem. I (and my group) all play our P.C's as Christian. Now, the "Channel Divinity" powers require you to worship a certain god, so we don't use them. However, this weakens our party's palidin and cleric. So what would you suggest to balance it?
Thanks!
Here's a really fun idea I once had for a pro-Christian D&D campaign, to be run as a Sunday school class:
Channel Divinity powers all fall under the same deity, but require the invocation of a prayer - a specificly relevant scriptural passage - to activate. If you go this route, I would seriously recommend renaming all the Channel Divinities to more appropriate titles. Let's look at PHB1 for inspiration:
Divine Fortune - "For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
Turn Undead - "And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
Divine Mettle - "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Divine Strength - "For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory."
Armor of Divinity - "He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler."
Swift Rescue - "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow."
Swift Grace - "Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in himthere is no S)">cause for stumbling."
Divine Harmony - "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
Faithful Poise - "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."
Divine Favor - "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Tide of Reprieve - "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
David's Resolve - "You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness."
Divine Radiance - "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
Just Reversal - "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers."
This actually reminds me of the old Microprose PC game Darklands which is set in 15th century Medieval Germany. (and which games like skyrim borrowed from) While God (capital G) isn't outright given a preference, characters can get the blessings of Saints which, mechanically, improve character stats and provide the equivalent of spells, through prayers.
I agree with the reskinning concept, the spells and descriptions are just flavor text If you want to do the research there are definitely ways to convert the core pantheon that comes with the 4th edition book into appropriate saints. In fact if you look around there are probably some source books out ther.
I think the only place it breaks down is when you start dealing with other races and their pantheons, but again, if you wanted to rewrite or explain it you could just say that the equivalent of a demon or a god to the orcs is just an extradimensional Power, like the Fairie tend to have.
(Disclaimer: This is my first thread/post, so I apologise in advance for any mistakes)
Hello everyone! I am relativley new to D&D (I started playing a few months ago), and I have a problem. I (and my group) all play our P.C's as Christian. Now, the "Channel Divinity" powers require you to worship a certain god, so we don't use them. However, this weakens our party's palidin and cleric. So what would you suggest to balance it?
Thanks!
The Ansu Scale: How Humans regard difference
The Ansu Scale is a measure of how fairytale figues became to be. People who were distinctly different from the prefered normality of Human were shown contempt and hatred for their differences. The Very tall were seen as something to fear and the small something to despise and mistreat - its why we talk about 'Dwarf Throwing'. At a certain point the beleivability of difference enters the realm of the fantastical - tall become too tall to be human so they are Giants, Ogres, Trolls. Small becomes too small to be Human - and we Get Elves, Dwarves, Fairies.
This scale varies with the preference of individuals and communities - in one community the average might be 5' tall so Dwarves and elves are tolerated to a better degree and the really tall feared as Giants - but in places where the average is taller than usual the smallest become abnormals and the Tallest become above normal.
So when you put elves in communities as respected members of humanity you are violating a human cultural taboo - to not conduct third-person relationships with those who fall outside the acceptable. If elves are acceptable in a community then it is because they have something in common with the people who welcome them into the community.
ANSU is a Protoindoeuropean Root meaning 'demon' but its subroots are An meaning Ancestor and Su meaning Swine. The Language focus has been on the Ancestor component of the word. Jotunns (Giants of the Norse have -unns, a variation on Ansu), Likewise Huns (-uns being a variation of Ansu). You are effectivly describing someone as being like the ancestors (Physically powerful/Large Barbarians).
How Humans would regard the Gnolls and Werewolves
The Word 'Ghoul' comes from protoindoeuropean roots Ghe- (Demonstrative of) and Ul (To Howl) so the 'Ghoul' of primitive peoples would be anything that looks like a Dog/Wolf and walks upright. would qualify as a Ghoul. That would be so far outside the Circle of 'What is Acceptable' that it wouldnt matter that Gnolls are Waging a War with Werewolves. From the human Point of View they are both the same thing.
How Humans regarded Elves
The Word Elf comes from protoindoeuropean roots 'Albho' meaning 'White' and 'Wight' so The Pale Elves are seen by primitives as 'Wights': Spirits moving in the Woods. So it would take some real cultural understanding and family-level mixing to bring about the acceptable violation of the boundary between them and us.
Increasing Human Height differences
When Rolling for a Human roll: 12d6 inches and add 2 feet so the range is 3 feet to 8 feet. So now Halflings can be unrecognizable from really short humans...
The Citadel Megadungeon: http://yellowdingosappendix.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/the-citadel-mega-dungeon-now-with-room.html
(Disclaimer: This is my first thread/post, so I apologise in advance for any mistakes)
Hello everyone! I am relativley new to D&D (I started playing a few months ago), and I have a problem. I (and my group) all play our P.C's as Christian. Now, the "Channel Divinity" powers require you to worship a certain god, so we don't use them. However, this weakens our party's palidin and cleric. So what would you suggest to balance it?
Thanks!
The Ansu Scale: How Humans regard difference
The Ansu Scale is a measure of how fairytale figues became to be. People who were distinctly different from the prefered normality of Human were shown contempt and hatred for their differences. The Very tall were seen as something to fear and the small something to despise and mistreat - its why we talk about 'Dwarf Throwing'. At a certain point the beleivability of difference enters the realm of the fantastical - tall become too tall to be human so they are Giants, Ogres, Trolls. Small becomes too small to be Human - and we Get Elves, Dwarves, Fairies.
This scale varies with the preference of individuals and communities - in one community the average might be 5' tall so Dwarves and elves are tolerated to a better degree and the really tall feared as Giants - but in places where the average is taller than usual the smallest become abnormals and the Tallest become above normal.
So when you put elves in communities as respected members of humanity you are violating a human cultural taboo - to not conduct third-person relationships with those who fall outside the acceptable. If elves are acceptable in a community then it is because they have something in common with the people who welcome them into the community.
ANSU is a Protoindoeuropean Root meaning 'demon' but its subroots are An meaning Ancestor and Su meaning Swine. The Language focus has been on the Ancestor component of the word. Jotunns (Giants of the Norse have -unns, a variation on Ansu), Likewise Huns (-uns being a variation of Ansu). You are effectivly describing someone as being like the ancestors (Physically powerful/Large Barbarians).
How Humans would regard the Gnolls and Werewolves
The Word 'Ghoul' comes from protoindoeuropean roots Ghe- (Demonstrative of) and Ul (To Howl) so the 'Ghoul' of primitive peoples would be anything that looks like a Dog/Wolf and walks upright. would qualify as a Ghoul. That would be so far outside the Circle of 'What is Acceptable' that it wouldnt matter that Gnolls are Waging a War with Werewolves. From the human Point of View they are both the same thing.
How Humans regarded Elves
The Word Elf comes from protoindoeuropean roots 'Albho' meaning 'White' and 'Wight' so The Pale Elves are seen by primitives as 'Wights': Spirits moving in the Woods. So it would take some real cultural understanding and family-level mixing to bring about the acceptable violation of the boundary between them and us.
Increasing Human Height differences
When Rolling for a Human roll: 12d6 inches and add 2 feet so the range is 3 feet to 8 feet. So now Halflings can be unrecognizable from really short humans...
Not sure what yellow dingo's response had to do with it.
If you and your players are interested in playing as Christians and the Channel Divinity requires channeling a god, for role-playing reasons, you could simply say that, in the context of the game, it is God that they are petitioning. I don't know exactly all the details of channel divinity game mechanics as I don't use that edition when I play.
Another method would be to avoid the situation altogether by your group calling the power something else and letting them keep the mechanics. They can role-play it how they want.
A rogue with a bowl of slop can be a controller.
WIZARD PC: Can I substitute Celestial Roc Guano for my fireball spells? DM: Awesome. Yes.
(Disclaimer: This is my first thread/post, so I apologise in advance for any mistakes)
Hello everyone! I am relativley new to D&D (I started playing a few months ago), and I have a problem. I (and my group) all play our P.C's as Christian. Now, the "Channel Divinity" powers require you to worship a certain god, so we don't use them. However, this weakens our party's palidin and cleric. So what would you suggest to balance it?
Thanks!
Here's a really fun idea I once had for a pro-Christian D&D campaign, to be run as a Sunday school class:
Channel Divinity powers all fall under the same deity, but require the invocation of a prayer - a specificly relevant scriptural passage - to activate. If you go this route, I would seriously recommend renaming all the Channel Divinities to more appropriate titles. Let's look at PHB1 for inspiration:
Divine Fortune - "For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
Turn Undead - "And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
Divine Mettle - "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Divine Strength - "For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory."
Armor of Divinity - "He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler."
Swift Rescue - "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow."
Swift Grace - "Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in himthere is no S)">cause for stumbling."
Divine Harmony - "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
Faithful Poise - "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."
Divine Favor - "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Tide of Reprieve - "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
David's Resolve - "You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness."
Divine Radiance - "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
Just Reversal - "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers."
Like that. Does that sound like a way to go?
Yeah, that's a cool idea. Thanks!
i like
A rogue with a bowl of slop can be a controller.
WIZARD PC: Can I substitute Celestial Roc Guano for my fireball spells? DM: Awesome. Yes.
