Godswar Deserters
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:56 am
One of the interesting details of DragonMech is the forced distance of the gods thanks to the war with the lunar deities. (I've come to calling this the Godswar). In their struggle to survive, the deities of Highpoint have come to drafting dead souls into their army, making resurrection magic less reliable on Highpoint. But what of these impressed souls? Surely a good deal of them don't want to fight and try to escape. Some might succeed. So what happens? I'd like to explore that idea here.
Ghosts may have be rising in prevalence on Highpoint - a reflection of an increased number of souls not going quietly into their afterlife. But the converse may appear to be true. Although ghosts are more common, haunting are becoming less common. Those lost souls are good fodder for the army - it's best not to draw attention to your hiding place. For a more humorous campaign, play a ghostbuster cleric (or paladin). Round up the ghosts and press them into service for your deity. I'd count that as one of those major services for a deity that gives you a bonus to gaining your spells. That might actually be an interesting prestige class to work on. Strange how necromancers and clerics alike would belong to this class. In fact, necromancers probably had to teach clerics the basic magic of trapping souls. Contemplate the moral ambiguity of a "good" cleric that trades in souls for power.
Perhaps the deserters find a very different escape - seeking shelter within mortals. That sounds oddly like the kalashtar of Eberron - spirits seeking from persecution by binding themselves tightly to living mortals. Now there's a good way to work in a kalashtar character into DragonMech.
But surely the gods won't take this in silence. They will hunt down the deserters. This seems like the perfect way to use devourers. Undead beings that steal your very soul and store it within. That sounds like a bounty hunter of souls to me. I really love that idea. In fact, I rarely use devourers in any other context. This is just too awesome.
Ghosts may have be rising in prevalence on Highpoint - a reflection of an increased number of souls not going quietly into their afterlife. But the converse may appear to be true. Although ghosts are more common, haunting are becoming less common. Those lost souls are good fodder for the army - it's best not to draw attention to your hiding place. For a more humorous campaign, play a ghostbuster cleric (or paladin). Round up the ghosts and press them into service for your deity. I'd count that as one of those major services for a deity that gives you a bonus to gaining your spells. That might actually be an interesting prestige class to work on. Strange how necromancers and clerics alike would belong to this class. In fact, necromancers probably had to teach clerics the basic magic of trapping souls. Contemplate the moral ambiguity of a "good" cleric that trades in souls for power.
Perhaps the deserters find a very different escape - seeking shelter within mortals. That sounds oddly like the kalashtar of Eberron - spirits seeking from persecution by binding themselves tightly to living mortals. Now there's a good way to work in a kalashtar character into DragonMech.
But surely the gods won't take this in silence. They will hunt down the deserters. This seems like the perfect way to use devourers. Undead beings that steal your very soul and store it within. That sounds like a bounty hunter of souls to me. I really love that idea. In fact, I rarely use devourers in any other context. This is just too awesome.