Author Topic: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC  (Read 11201 times)

Offline pwnieride

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 8
  • Gender: Female
Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« on: January 07, 2009, 10:36:08 PM »
Seriously, I have such ideas for this concept. My original idea was a Priestess of Bhaal (because I got excited when I came up with the idea and made a portrait... yes, I am a dork), but it could be either.

Bhaal is dead of course, but dead gods can have dead power through certain artifacts and such. The idea would be that one of her ancestors was a priest/priestess of Bhaal, the head of one of his temples even, and handed down a powerful relic that contains some of Bhaal's power. This could simply be a ring or an amulet that can't be removed from the character, and it would allow the priest their divine power.

I think this would be a really intriguing idea to explore. I imagine her odd, not quite to the point of insanity, although people would hesitate to call her "mentally healthy" (much like Minsc!). Since she essentially WORSHIPS BHAAL, she would of course be absolutely taken with the PC (and later, Imoen). It would be a really cool, unique relationship, probably with a romance option. In both cases, the PC would understandably have a HUGE effect on her... and depending on how they treat her, maybe she could even either a) become more normal, less fanatical, or even renounce Bhaal, or b) become a complete tool for the PC.

If anyone is interested in hearing more, let me know. :)

Offline SixOfSpades

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 821
  • Gender: Male
    • Volothamp's Comeuppance
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2009, 03:33:26 AM »
Except that for an actual Priestess of Bhaal, her first order of business would be to help secure Bhaal's return--by killing CHARNAME. Go ahead and explain it away with her "mental instability" if you want, but the fact remains that if she serves a Bhaalspawn, she is violating Bhaal's direct orders, ergo she is NOT a Priestess of Bhaal. What you might do is explore the generation gap issue: Her parent(s) worshipped Bhaal, but now they're dead and so is he, and she chooses to worship one of his kids instead, because he's hip to the modern lingo, not like that old Bhaal fuddy-duddy who was the ultimate deadbeat dad. Of course, as soon as she formally declares that she's no longer going to obey Bhaal's plan for her, her non-removable Bhaal artifact should immediately reject her, and she can't use it anymore. Whether or not CHARNAME (or Imoen/Sarevok) would be able to use it, that's a bit more likely.

As for her being a Cleric: Priests of dead deities flat-out have NO casting abilities, unless (as you stated) their spells are granted through some artifact, or they find a substitute god to pray to. Your Priestess of Bhaal would have to fudge some devotion to someone like Cyric or Kelemvor, or become a very sorry excuse for a Fighter. That's why you might get more mileage out of making her a paladin or ranger who worships Bhaal (or one of his backstairs upstarts), instead of a Cleric, as a Paladin with no spells could actually still hold her own until CHARNAME gains enough control over the essence to start granting spells to her. Not to mention that non-Good rangers/paladins is a kickass idea, with hitherto virtually unexplored roleplaying potential.

Offline pwnieride

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 8
  • Gender: Female
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2009, 07:43:55 AM »
Thank you so much for your feedback! I'm slightly embarassed to admit that I'm a little rusty on my Forgotten Realms, as I've mostly recently been reading Dragonlance and playing Planescape things. The details obviously need a little ironing out, but it's encouraging that someone else sees something in this idea!

My reaction would be to make her a paladin. Maybe I could give her a slightly lowish INT and then the PC can try to convince her that since he/she is a Bhaalspawn and Bhaal is technically dead, what CHARNAME wants is the same as what BHAAL wants. And then of course, as soon as she agrees to help the PC, her artifact stops working, she loses her casting abilities, etc. It wouldn't be a snap to convince her to help the PC, but maybe a) we could give her a backstory including one/both of her parents being killed by using a relic incorrectly or something along those lines, which is construed by the family as "disobeying Bhaal's wishes", b) we could have the party do a quest for/with her to 'prove' themselves and gain her trust, AFTER which she loses her abilities, and c) I imagine she'd be fairly flustered at the sight of her first Bhaalspawn. Or even all of the above. :)

A ranger is a pretty sweet idea as well, but I think a paladin fits this concept better. I'd really like to make her fairly religious-oriented without, as you mentioned, making her a complete weakling. I think being a paladin would put more at stake for her when she loses her powers, and would provide a lot more roleplaying potential.

Offline berelinde

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 1188
  • Gender: Female
    • Gavin, cleric of Lathander, for Tutu
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2009, 01:11:29 AM »
Erk. My brain just seriously misfired. Did you just say that you wanted the priest/priestess of Bhaal, the dead god of murder, to be a paladin? Blackguard, perhaps, but AFAIK, paladins have to be lawful good, and murder has certain connotations to it that are rather inconsistent with that alignment. But I'd still like to hear why it might be a good fit.

Offline pwnieride

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 8
  • Gender: Female
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2009, 11:32:27 AM »
Heh, fair enough. "Paladin" is pretty misleading... I was thinking a knight of sorts, much like Mazzy is a knight of Arvoreen without being a paladin per se.

I actually looked into it more and I think that making a Deathstalker kit for her would be nifty. I found a site or two detailing the D&D 3e prestige class, and that could easily be transferred over into Baldur's Gate. It mentioned that some deathstalkers are out to kill the rest of the Bhaalspawn, and some are more concerned with bringing back Bhaal through one of his spawn. I'd have to replay through ToB with an eye towards this, as I believe that Melissan (sp?) was a deathstalker of the first sort. That would be an interesting sight, too- seeing her react to Melissan!

Anyway, the class itself seems like a fighter/rogue mix with an emphasis on poison and a few evil cleric spells, which I think would be perfect. That way she DOES lose some abilities, which is fun for the roleplay potential, and yet she's still a solid character to keep around.


Offline SixOfSpades

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 821
  • Gender: Male
    • Volothamp's Comeuppance
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #5 on: January 09, 2009, 11:52:42 AM »
True, the generic term for a warrior-priest of a certain deity is "Crusader," with the Lawful Good members of that class being known as Paladins. But hardly anyone knows what a Crusader is in Baldur's Gate terms, so I just used capitalization to half-assedly distinguish between paladins & Paladins.

I'm inclined to shy away from the Deathstalker name, 3E prestige class notwithstanding, because if Melissan's dialogue is any indication, Deathstalker was a rank you attained, not a profession you set out to follow. It's the leader of a church, roughly analagous to a Bishop--there's no such thing as a Level 1 Deathstalker.

[ADD] The names for the respective Crusader (aka Champions of the Divine) alignments:
LG - Paladin
NG - Sentinel
CG - Avenger
LN - Enforcer
TN - Incarnate
CN - Anarch
LE - Despot
NE - Corruptor
CE - Anti-Paladin or Blackguard

Bhaal was LE, and almost all Crusaders are at least as Lawful as the gods they follow. Worshippers of any god are rarely more than 1 "step" away from their god's alignment.[/ADD]
« Last Edit: January 09, 2009, 12:00:58 PM by SixOfSpades »

Offline pwnieride

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 8
  • Gender: Female
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2009, 05:30:02 PM »
That's true- whatever the reality of "deathstalker status", Melissan is a misleading example. Probably shouldn't use that title. :\

I guess I'll throw a few examples out... she'd definitely be either Lawful Evil or possibly Neutral Evil, so Despot or Corrupter. Knight could work, but again, might be misleading for a follower of the God of Murder (though at least better than paladin). Warrior-priest is the title Anomen carries... this one sounds misleading again on one hand, but on the other hand, it DOES convey the deep religious convictions that would be a big part of her character.

What do you all think? Definitely taking suggestions... :\

Offline SixOfSpades

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 821
  • Gender: Male
    • Volothamp's Comeuppance
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2009, 08:27:07 PM »
I'd say, make her a LE Stalker. The combination of fighting ability, stealth, Backstabs, and eventual priest spells is already a near-perfect match for your description of the canon Deathstalker, and it should be easy enough to gery out her Cast Spell button during that long stretch of time between her rejection of Bhaal and CHARNAME being able to grant spells (probably when he kills Irenicus & gets his soul back). She won't lose the ability to Stealth/Backstab during that time, and her Poison abilities might be nonmagical as well. But be sure to make her stats inferior to Valygar's, to keep her balanced. Her having Neutral-aligned Druid spells, instead of Evil-aligned Cleric spells, will be something of an issue, but remedying that might require giving her a new, custom kit. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem, but in my work I've found that Backstabbing is somewhat hardcoded: You can change a kit's Backstab multiplier, but not whether or not a certain kit can Backstab at all. I may be incorrect on this, but I'm pretty sure that if you want a Ranger who can Backstab, they must use the Stalker kit.

Hopeful note: The Druid/Cleric spell issue might be avoidable if Divine Remix is installed, but in that event you should probably make your Priestess non-recruitable until she's at least Level 12, to avoid her gaining access to a new spell level and thus getting spells she shouldn't have.

Offline Daulmakan

  • Comfortably numb
  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 328
  • Gender: Male
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2009, 03:44:26 PM »
Deathstalker is the title bestowed to any specialty priest of Bhaal, regardless of level, according to the Faiths & Avatars rulebook.

Offline SixOfSpades

  • Planewalker
  • *****
  • Posts: 821
  • Gender: Male
    • Volothamp's Comeuppance
Re: Priest/Priestess of Bhaal NPC
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2009, 04:39:20 PM »
Really? Well then, hush my mouth.  ;)

 

With Quick-Reply you can write a post when viewing a topic without loading a new page. You can still use bulletin board code and smileys as you would in a normal post.

Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.

Name: Email:
Verification:
Type the letters shown in the picture
Listen to the letters / Request another image
Type the letters shown in the picture:
What color is grass?:
What is the seventh word in this sentence?:
What is five minus two (use the full word)?: