PDA

View Full Version : [3.5] Your favorite deity? (Pantheans KEEP OUT!)



goken04
2009-07-13, 07:45 PM
I'm making a dungeon as a lair for a magical creature the PCs have to track down. My initial thought is that this dungeon was designed to protect the magic item of [Insert Deity Here]. I don't intend to make retrieving this magic item a viable option for the PCs, but it's good to know it's there (as I attempt to maintain consistency).

My question is, what deity and what magic item should I use as a focus? The campaign world is filled with the ruins of literally DOZENS of ancient civilization, so it can be from any pantheon you imagine! It need not even be something the PCs should be expected to be familiar with.

It doesn't need to be consistent with the monster at all; it simply found the dungeon (or the first level of it, more likely) and makes use of it. I intend to fill the dungeon with lots of magical, resetting traps (as the central point of the episode will be chasing down the critter), constructs, and hopefully undead.

Who's your favorite deity? Why should I use him/her in the dungeon? What would be a good, thematic item for the deity?

Right now I'm leaning towards Nike, because the previously ruling pantheon (it's now a monotheistic world) was the Greek and the monster they're chasing is a fast little guy. But I am far from decided! Help me out!

(If you're interested, this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118175)is the monster I will be using.)

Coidzor
2009-07-13, 07:49 PM
I like Vecna. Vecna has several items associated with him and is the god of secrets, so artifacts found in ancient, forgotten ruins would be fitting. The hand, eye, and head of Vecna for instance. Also, the Sword of Kas which wants to kill him.

HamsterOfTheGod
2009-07-13, 07:52 PM
Nike's shoes! Just do it!

Draxonicar
2009-07-13, 07:56 PM
Cas? maybe?

God of vengeance and spite

Berserk Monk
2009-07-13, 07:57 PM
Thor. Gotta go with Thor.

But if I want to play a viscous, brutal character, gotta go Ares.

But, St. Cutbert will always have a place in my heart.

Eldariel
2009-07-13, 08:11 PM
Corellon Larethian. 'cause I have a thing for Elves. Although Mystra would be up there too.

Harperfan7
2009-07-13, 08:15 PM
Trithereon. Why wasn't he in the PHB?!?

Why should there be a dungeon with a relic of Trithereon?

-He is the god of freedom in a world where many more powerful deities espouse LE and have many more servants of higher power. So, some item of freedom is hidden in a vault somewhere where it is better defended than in some wandering clerics possession. OR it could hold some powerful summoning item (see below).

-Another aspect of Trithereon is summoning, so stock the dungeon with summon monster traps (maybe with augment summoning applied).

- Maybe the dungeon can only be entered through a portal, and is actually deep within a mountain in Arvandor, so it is heavily chaotic and good aligned. If you do this, make some of the summoning spell traps summon eladrin.

The Dark Fiddler
2009-07-13, 08:17 PM
Obad-Hai.

If it's ruins, there'd bound to be some sort of nature creeping back in (fungus even). The item could be something like a magical plant.

Or if you want to be silly, the meatball of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Rhawin
2009-07-13, 08:18 PM
Wee Jas! Gotta love a Death goddess. Plus, Ruby Knights are awesome.

goken04
2009-07-13, 08:22 PM
-Another aspect of Trithereon is summoning, so stock the dungeon with summon monster traps (maybe with augment summoning applied).

Liking this. Plus I just came up with a teleporting trap.

woodenbandman
2009-07-13, 08:40 PM
Thor. Gotta go with Thor.

+1.

Also Grumbar.

Overlord Nicy
2009-07-13, 08:42 PM
Olidammara doesn't get enough temples.

herrhauptmann
2009-07-13, 08:47 PM
Ghaunadar(sp?) Forgotten realms god of oozes.

Throw the ooze template onto a few monsters, and you've suddenly made a nightmarish dungeon.

goken04
2009-07-13, 08:47 PM
Grumbar.

Who is this? What pantheon?

Berserk Monk
2009-07-13, 08:48 PM
Corellon Larethian. 'cause I have a thing for Elves. Although Mystra would be up there too.

Yeah, Corellon Larethian is a hot goddess.

arguskos
2009-07-13, 08:53 PM
Who is this? What pantheon?
Grumbar, god of elemental earth, brother to Akadi (goddess of air), Ishtasha (god of water), and Kossuth (god of fire). Found in Faerun.

As for my favorite god(s), I have several choices for you. Consider, if you will:
-Grumbar, as above. As the god of earth, he has innumerable reasons to have a hidden object far below the surface.

-Asmodeus. Though not a god, as the prime archdevil, he could well have commanded a sect to hide a powerful artifact of the faith.

-On a similar vein, Baphomet. Once more, not a god, but instead the demon prince of minotaurs and other things. He is fond of mazes and traps, and loves dungeons for his worshippers (almost always minotaurs) to lurk in.

Ganurath
2009-07-13, 08:54 PM
That's because his temples are in the basements of taverns.

Go with Hextor, and make the relic one of his Sacred Relics in Complete Divine. Heck, use one of the Sacred Relics regardless of what deity you pick. Bahamut's Platinum Helm, Boccob's Tome of Ancient Lore, Corellon's Bow of the Wintermoon, Ehlonna's Raptor's Arrow, Erythnul's Executioner's Hood, Fharlanghn's Rapier of Unerring Direction, Garl's Gem of Glitterdepth, Gruumsh's Spear of Retribution, Heironeous's Sword of Virture Beyond Reproach, Hextor's Chain of Obeisance, Kord's Belt of the Champion, Kurtulmak's Enveloping Pit, Lolth's Robe of Ebonsilk, Moradin's Axe of Ancestral Virtue, Nerull's Censer of the Last Breath, Obad-Hai's Armor of the Fallen Leaves, Olidammara's Rapier of Desperate Measures, Pelor's Shard of the Sun, St. Cuthbert's Cudgel That Never Forgets, Tiamat's Chromatic Rod, Vecna's Tome of the Stilled Tongue, Wee Jas's Scrolls of Uncertain Provenance, and Yondalla's Map of Unseen Land are all fine candidates.

The Blackbird
2009-07-13, 08:55 PM
Yeah, Corellon Larethian is a hot goddess.

...I thought Corellon was a dude.

Pelor FTW

arguskos
2009-07-13, 08:59 PM
...I thought Corellon was a dude.

Pelor FTW
Corellon is a male.

I could see Pelor, the Burning Hatred as a good god for this as well. :smallamused:

Coidzor
2009-07-13, 09:01 PM
...I thought Corellon was a dude.

Pelor FTW

:smallwink: Therein lies the joke.

Come to think of it, does anyone have a link to the whole Evil Pelor thing?

I lost the bookmark and can't find it. :smallfrown:

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2009-07-13, 09:01 PM
My fav deity is Wee Jas. Death AND love? Yes please!

Edit: Death, and love, and MAGIC TOO, oh my!

Seatbelt
2009-07-13, 09:01 PM
I'm fond of Kelemvor. He doesn't make for good dungeons though...

arguskos
2009-07-13, 09:13 PM
:smallwink: Therein lies the joke.

Come to think of it, does anyone have a link to the whole Evil Pelor thing?

I lost the bookmark and can't find it. :smallfrown:
Ask and ye shall receive. (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=846926)

Berserk Monk
2009-07-13, 09:14 PM
Corellon is a male.

I could see Pelor, the Burning Hatred as a good god for this as well. :smallamused:

Oh, I get it. You guys are trying to pull a joke over on old BM. "Corellon Larethian's a dude." Yeah, good one.

HamsterOfTheGod
2009-07-13, 09:35 PM
Corellon is a male.

Your godesses' portrait says differently.
http://drowcampaign.roleplaynexus.com/images/corellon_eilistraee.jpg
ME-OW! Your goddess is seriously hot. She's hawt with a capital "HAW (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?cat=14)."

Blackjackg
2009-07-13, 09:43 PM
I'm going to go with Fharlanghn.

Of course, all the official magic items for him are lame, so I suggest homebrewing a Portable Road. You keep it in a pouch, pull it out and unroll it to create a clear path through wilderness for [X] miles. 10' wide of clear terrain, good for running and charging on. It goes around medium sized obstacles (like trees and boulders) and stops dead at large ones (like mountains, oceans and Great Walls). Maybe even a permanent, low DC Sanctuary effect to keep those pesky wild animals and low-level bandits off.

EDIT: Removed shameless self-congratulation.

deuxhero
2009-07-13, 09:45 PM
The King of All Cosmos. Make the item a Katamari.

Faulty
2009-07-13, 09:45 PM
I like Vecna. Vecna has several items associated with him and is the god of secrets, so artifacts found in ancient, forgotten ruins would be fitting. The hand, eye, and head of Vecna for instance. Also, the Sword of Kas which wants to kill him.

I concur. Vecna is a very interesting deity.

ex cathedra
2009-07-13, 09:55 PM
Cyric, of course. He's just fun!

Of course, the amount of cruelness that should be associated with a Cyric-flavored dungeon might be off-putting for your players.

Berserk Monk
2009-07-13, 09:57 PM
You know who else I like: Gruumsh. He's like Ares (viscous, spear-wielding god) and Balor (one eyed god) combined.

Gnorman
2009-07-13, 10:25 PM
Bane Bane Bane Bane Bane.

No particular reason. I just like Bane. He's domineering, power-mad, and a right royal jerk.

Plenty of cults, temples, undead crypts, etc., to his name as well. Or how about a hidden military barracks? Full of undead soldiers? Or a greedy sodden aristocratic vampire with a love of gold that rivals any dragon?

Lawful Evil is always so much more fun than Neutral or Chaotic, too.

Only problem is he doesn't fit in your setting all that much.

But a Bane-LIKE deity would be perfect. Hextor is a good one. Perhaps Cronos? Or a particularly vengeful Hades? Heck, even Poseidon is arguably Lawful Evil.

Callista
2009-07-13, 10:29 PM
Vecna. There's something ultra-creepy about him that you can't just find in any old evil lich-god.

JonestheSpy
2009-07-13, 11:01 PM
Trithereon. Why wasn't he in the PHB?!?


Hey beat me to it. When I saw the title of this thrread, I was totally thinking - Trithereon totally ruled - I bet no one's going to mention him. Best god of chaotic good there is - meaning exmplifying the alignment, not just happening to be CG, like Kord or Corellon Laretheon.

Speaking of that gender ambigous deity, he CL was first created and described in the first edition Deities and Demigods, s/he was specifically described as an androgynous being of no specific gender - it was never elaborated as to whether CL was hermaphrodite, switched back and forth, or was just flat-out sexless. As the elves were formed out of CL's blood spilled in battle, the term "parent" or "creator" instead of mother or father was used to describe CL's relationship to the elves.

Any resemblences to a certain gender-unspecific elf with the initial V is of course coincidental...

Fiery Justice
2009-07-13, 11:32 PM
Among non-fictional deities, besides of course my own, I'm fond of Apollo and Tyr. Mostly Tyr, whose portfolio and personal history are awesome, but Apollo wins points for being the Not Douche of the greek deities.

My favorite Dungeons and Dragons deity to have clerics for is Ilmater, because I like writing up a church organization to such a focused and beneficent clergy. Which I don't think you'll find very useful. But, for sheer character, Bane, Torm, and Cyric are my favorites. Bane and Torm would be great, because they're historically resurrected deities (which is why I'm fond of them. I like the kind of parallelism that they produce).

Starscream
2009-07-13, 11:32 PM
Olidammara. Nothing like the Laughing Rogue for a temple full of really interesting traps. Include the contents of a few of those Grimtooth books, some Ethereal Filchers who rob the PCs blind, mazes, illusions, and treasure chests that hit you with pies when you open them (acid spitting beetles optional).

Imagine if Acererak was a Three Stooges and Marx Brothers fan and you'll get what I'm talking about :smallbiggrin:

hewhosaysfish
2009-07-14, 09:44 AM
TWee Jas's Scrolls of Uncertain Provenance

What a a surreal name for an artifact. I just imagine Wee Jas rooting through some boxes in her attic looking for an old spellbook or something when she finds the Scrolls ang going: :smallconfused: "I don't remember buying these Scrolls?"


OT:
Make it a relic of Nerull. If you can be suitably ominous with your description, then hopefully the PCs will be too afraid to use it, too afraid to leave it behind unguarded and to afraid to try to destroy it.
Whaterver option they choose, hilarity ensues.

Kaiyanwang
2009-07-14, 10:09 AM
Among the real world deiteis of Deities and Demigods, for sure Surtr. The "Asgardian Deities" among his Ranger Favored Enemies is priceless. And he will, one day, burn the world. Prepare the sausages!

Among the D&D deities, I really prefer powerful outsiders like Queen Morwel, Asmodeus, Demogorgon and Zapkiel (and among those, Asmodeus because I'm a fan of Baatezu).

Said this, Eilistraee for his outer and inner beauty, and for being so extraordinary even for a deity.

ZeroNumerous
2009-07-14, 10:11 AM
Zygag. For reasons which should be immediately obvious.

Funkyodor
2009-07-14, 10:32 AM
As a DM, I've liked using Set, Loki, or Pholtus.

Set for the evil, Loki for the unpredictible, and Pholtus for lawful zealotry.

Tiki Snakes
2009-07-14, 10:47 AM
Okay, so, I'm going to throw my hat in.

Make it a temple to the Monkey God. As in, squish together the concepts of Hanuman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman) and The Monkey King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_god).

It wouldn't always have been an underground temple, but was forced beneath the ground by another god, in revenge over one of Sun Wukong's tricks. Being a temple dedicated to a brash, trickster figure gives you incredible scope for tricks, traps and toys. Anything from kobold-level maliciousness to disgusting, inconvenient or downright embarrassing.

The temple should have a generally eastern feel, but you could really go wild with it in any number of ways. Either taking a more chinese, indian, or even cambodian, (See Angkor Thom (http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&lr=&um=1&q=angkor+thom&ie=UTF-8&ei=wqZcSoiHFuOMjAfNutXgDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1), Angkor Wat (http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&lr=&um=1&sa=1&q=angkor+wat&btnG=Search+images&aq=f&oq=), etc.) I'm imagining, given the Monkey King's ego, that you'd be seeing a lot of him in there. Huge golden statues of the monkey king, broken and overgrown with unnatural subterranian growths (perhaps not unlike the tree roots all over angkor thom?), friezes depicting his greatness, his cleverness and his unparralelled magnificence and beauty. With integrated traps, of course.

As for the Relic, you have plenty of options. Perhaps the Iron Rod which can grow or shrink to any size (Ruyi Jingu Bang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruyi_Jingu_Bang)) Though of course any number of other such gadgets could work. Wikipedia mentions cloud walking boots, or you could go for the item used to summon Monkey's cloud as in the tv series.

Again, given the Monkey Kings colossal ego, it could even be something less than...Artifact-worthy. A jar of his toe-nail clippings, a pot that he relieved himself into, or a crude painting of his magnificence, (in the Monkey King's own hand) could well have been deemed worthy of enshrining in an enormous, oppulent temple.



Plus, the I'd say the sense of infuriating mischeif would mesh well with the creature you intend to use. :)

Random832
2009-07-14, 10:48 AM
Among the real world deiteis of Deities and Demigods, for sure Surtr. The "Asgardian Deities" among his Ranger Favored Enemies is priceless.

That's just smart build optimization - there isn't likely to be anything else around that he'll need the bonus against.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2009-07-14, 01:24 PM
Zarus (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20041203a) has been my favorite since I first read his entry.

Ganurath
2009-07-14, 01:36 PM
Zarus (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20041203a) has been my favorite since I first read his entry.Oh! The artifact should be evidence that Zarus and Pelor are in fact one and the same!

erikun
2009-07-14, 02:09 PM
Well, when running a generic cleric character, I usually choose the generic good-aligned deity (Pelor, Morninglord), or occasionally the generic lawful deity (St. Cuthbert, Helm) if I want to play a more Judge Dread role. However, there are a few powers that I've had fun with.

Eilistraee (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Eilistraee) is probably one of my favorite good deities. Temples can include various trappings, from tapestries to songbooks to moon blossom gardens. Not to mention the secret passageways that would no doubt exist, given the number of enemies to the clergy. Most temples probably just are hidden passageways into the shrine proper, with the outside being something indistinguishable from a well-kept patch of land. After all, the best way to hide is in plain sight.

The Elder Elemental Eye, or Tharizdun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tharizdun) for short, is fun on the evil end. He has his followers so confused, they're worshipping the elemental planes to give him power! I'm a fan of both elemental stuff and unknown revelations, and 3E here has that in spades.

Ulutiu (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Ulutiu) is another nice one. He's virtually unknown, almost a lost deity, which means most people won't recognize him on sight. Even if they do figure out his temple, that's not a guarantee they'll learn everything about him. After all, simply knowing that he's an ice deity doesn't mean you know that he's a giant deity, that he's in exile, or his relationship to anyone else.

Neutral death deities, such as Kelemvor/Raven Queen, are great for Death Paladins. (or Death Knight Paladins, if you like that route)

Coidzor
2009-07-14, 02:56 PM
Olidammara. Nothing like the Laughing Rogue for a temple full of really interesting traps. Include the contents of a few of those Grimtooth books, some Ethereal Filchers who rob the PCs blind, mazes, illusions, and treasure chests that hit you with pies when you open them (acid spitting beetles optional).

Imagine if Acererak was a Three Stooges and Marx Brothers fan and you'll get what I'm talking about :smallbiggrin:

Grimtooth books?:smallconfused:

I like pies with optional acid-spitting beetles bit.

Doc Roc
2009-07-14, 02:59 PM
Faerun:
Red Knight, Mystra, Malar
Grey Hawk:
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Jas (Lawful Good aspect), vecna
Further abroad:
Aoskar ;)

arguskos
2009-07-14, 03:04 PM
Faerun:
Red Knight, Mystra, Malar
Grey Hawk:
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Jas (Lawful Good aspect), vecna
Further abroad:
Aoskar ;)
Heh, Aoskar, heh. :smallamused:

By your rubric:

Faerun: Mystra, the elemental gods, Uluitu, Talos, Cyric, Bane
Greyhawk: Uh... pass.
Planes: Aoskar, the archomentals
Less known: Kyuss

Dixieboy
2009-07-14, 03:10 PM
Cyric, of course. He's just fun!

Of course, the amount of cruelness that should be associated with a Cyric-flavored dungeon might be off-putting for your players.
That, and cyric is the kind of god that would make a huge dungeon, have his followers protect it with their life and have it riddled with traps.

Just so he can see what kind of people wander in and find his magical sword of "You touch it, you die"
Or a particularity shiny copper piece.

Kyrthain
2009-07-14, 04:09 PM
I vote kossuth.

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

goken04
2009-07-14, 04:25 PM
I'm going to shy away from anything elemental-related as the last dungeon they were in was earth-themed and an upcoming one will be one of the other elements. This isn't a "get to the end dungeon". They just have to find the creature on the first level.

Right now I like the idea of Baphomet or the Monkey King. I was leaning hardcore towards Baphomet, but the Monkey King was a great idea!

P.S. I have fallen in love with Zarus and am quite likely to use him later in the campaign!

Delaney Gale
2009-07-14, 04:29 PM
Olidammara doesn't get enough temples.

Agreed.

My epic-level arcane trickster got her start when she ran away from home to join the circus. The circus happened to be cover for a traveling Temple of Olidamarra.

Agrippa
2009-07-14, 04:38 PM
Your godesses' portrait says differently.
http://drowcampaign.roleplaynexus.com/images/corellon_eilistraee.jpg
ME-OW! Your goddess is seriously hot. She's hawt with a capital "HAW (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?cat=14)."

He sort of looks like David Bowie.

mostlyharmful
2009-07-14, 04:42 PM
Gond's forgoten prototype workshop... no end of random fun.

I also quite like the Mulhorandi/Eygptian set/thoth/isis magic breakdown, have a combined temple to all three with lots of competeing interests

or else Blibdoolpoolp, just as an excuse to say the name lots.

Grock_Amon
2009-07-14, 06:56 PM
Gruumsh, so under used.

My vote is for him. C'mon he is an EC god hell bent on having his followers ravish the lands for themselves. during the orc raids, they have got to have found something of value. could have stashed it in a dungeon to safe guard for use in the future.

You had said you wanted to add undead to the mix. it would make since that Gruumsh would kill his followers and force them into a shamblance of half life forever to protect something from another god, or even for Gruumsh himself.

as for traps and such, i have always liked simple and deadly, which i think goes with Gruumsh more. but for summons and what not. doesnt quite work, maybe the orcs that made the dungeon enslaved other creatures to help protect the item stashed there. yet again not out of Gruumsh's reach, albeit takes a bit more thinkin' than the ol' guy's used too.

hrm, heck, why dont you have the treasure be the first spear handed from gruumsh to his followers? its his standered weapon, or maybe his missing eye is stored there. would explain the amount of forced protection, cuz we all know his motto "what is not nailed down is mine, what i can pry loose is not nailed down" :smallbiggrin:

well, thats my two cents

chiasaur11
2009-07-14, 07:24 PM
Gruumsh, so under used.

My vote is for him. C'mon he is an EC god hell bent on having his followers ravish the lands for themselves. during the orc raids, they have got to have found something of value. could have stashed it in a dungeon to safe guard for use in the future.


An EC god?

Like Will Elder and William Gaines?

Grock_Amon
2009-07-14, 07:56 PM
Not quite, though interesting.

just the case of the usual dyslexic propblems, you know, chaoitc evil, evil chaotic; they're just one big happy family:smalltongue:

The White Knight
2009-07-14, 08:55 PM
Sune's been growing on me lately. Mmmm, hedonism...

tiercel
2009-07-14, 09:42 PM
Just a thought -- if you are leading your PCs to a dungeon, one which is protecting a whiz-bang artifact, and your players *know this*, you can't expect them to not make a play for it. (Even if they don't know, you can reasonably expect them to want to explore the dungeon "since we're here anyway" -- either once they have secured their quarry, even if it means just coming back after they've done whatever they are supposed to do with their target.)

If you are going to throw them off the track, one way to do it is to have a "false end" to the dungeon -- something that looks like a big deal, with megatraps and all, and an item that *seems* to be worth the trouble (permanent SuperSized nystul's magic aura, or an item that is actually pretty sweet but comes with a big drawback/cost/curse), and no immediate obvious way to continue to later levels without knowing you should be looking for something else.

And, just a thought, if you are gonna have lots of resetting magic traps, Boccob seems like an obvious Faerunian choice. The item could be pretty much anything, and could be something incredibly specifc and arcane that maybe the PCs wouldn't necessarily want to take (no real adventuring value, and not likely to find a ready buyer).

ErrantX
2009-07-14, 09:42 PM
I gotta say that of the core deities, Wee Jas definitely is my favorite. The Ruby Witch? Goddess of Death and Magic? She's got Ruby Knight Vindicators!

Outside of core? Tie between the Blood of Vol (just too cool) and the Silver Flame, both of Eberron fame.

-X

goken04
2009-07-14, 10:28 PM
Just a thought -- if you are leading your PCs to a dungeon, one which is protecting a whiz-bang artifact, and your players *know this*, you can't expect them to not make a play for it. (Even if they don't know, you can reasonably expect them to want to explore the dungeon "since we're here anyway" -- either once they have secured their quarry, even if it means just coming back after they've done whatever they are supposed to do with their target.)

If you are going to throw them off the track, one way to do it is to have a "false end" to the dungeon -- something that looks like a big deal, with megatraps and all, and an item that *seems* to be worth the trouble (permanent SuperSized nystul's magic aura, or an item that is actually pretty sweet but comes with a big drawback/cost/curse), and no immediate obvious way to continue to later levels without knowing you should be looking for something else.

My players know nothing about the dungeon (I love it! They didn't ask!) They're only level 3, so keeping them from going where they shouldn't won't be that hard. Additionally, my players understand that the world isn't universally CR-appropriate for them. They know when to cut and run.

The thing about my setting is that the Kingdom the PCs live in has an extremely hostile ecology. Due to acid rains and freak lightning storms, traveling outside of cities (where they are no longer protected by the town's magic) is extraordinarily dangerous, particularly at this level. Their patron teleported them to the ruin's entrance and has given them means to summon him when they've captured the creature. They're welcomed to try to come back, but the party fully understands that traveling serious distances in the wild is suicide (particularly during the rainy season, which it is now) at this level. By the time they're equipped/prepared to come back, the item might be appropriate.

As a matter of fact, I was already intending to give the dungeon a false ending on this floor! Inspired by Acerarak, I intend a dummy version of the artifact for the PCs that dissipates when they leave the dungeon. Mean? Yes. But worth the looks on their faces both when they discover the +3 Flaming Vorpal Longsword of Wounding as well as when it disappears!

Lapak
2009-07-15, 07:47 AM
Given that you're planning that last curveball, and just out of fondness in general, I'd go with a trickster figure. Probably Coyote. It has the added advantage that the 'associated magical item' can be anything that Coyote would want OR anything he might reasonably have stolen. Actually, if you make it stolen that makes it even more reasonable that the whole thing is actually a fake.

So make the temple a forgotten one of Coyote's, but for the magic item make it something he stole from the Greek pantheon. Hmm. Let's make it appropriate that he'd want it stolen. He'd probably end up hunted at some point, so make it a hunting bow enchanted by (or in honor of) Artemis. So Coyote stole the bow and stashed a copy in this hidden dungeon to trick anyone trying to steal it back.

Curmudgeon
2009-07-15, 08:00 AM
Kossuth, FR god of fire. That leads to all sorts of fiery protections for the sanctum. Plus Kossuth's favored weapon is the spiked chain, so something like a fancy dancing spiked chain would be nifty.

Tiki Snakes
2009-07-15, 08:34 AM
Given that you're planning that last curveball, and just out of fondness in general, I'd go with a trickster figure. Probably Coyote. It has the added advantage that the 'associated magical item' can be anything that Coyote would want OR anything he might reasonably have stolen. Actually, if you make it stolen that makes it even more reasonable that the whole thing is actually a fake.

So make the temple a forgotten one of Coyote's, but for the magic item make it something he stole from the Greek pantheon. Hmm. Let's make it appropriate that he'd want it stolen. He'd probably end up hunted at some point, so make it a hunting bow enchanted by (or in honor of) Artemis. So Coyote stole the bow and stashed a copy in this hidden dungeon to trick anyone trying to steal it back.

Whichever the flavour, trickster gods in general get my vote. ;)

Eldan
2009-07-15, 08:43 AM
Another vote for trickster gods of any kind. Though I must say, I have a thing for witch godesses as well.

Berserk Monk
2009-07-15, 10:50 PM
I once had a barbarian/ranger that worshiped a metal goblet he referred to as "Puc the Cup." We once fought a rust monster. My goblet survived, but if it was eaten, there would have been bad times. RAGE!:smallfurious:

mabriss lethe
2009-07-16, 01:18 AM
I'm going to second Set. I mean. Chaos? Darkness? Death? Trickery? He's a fun one. In one of the last games I played, I played a cleric of set in the same party as a Paladin. That was fun.

Charging into battle:"For the glory of Se..omebody!"

But really, a dungeon that...toys...with the PCs almost like a living thing. It plays games with the ambient lighting at the worst possible times (miss chances are fun things.) Illusions and tricks at every turn and then once they finally get the hang of things.... Unleash the ravenous hordes of the undead on them.

Zen Master
2009-07-16, 06:04 AM
For an old, forgotten temple - especially one from a lost civilisation - you really cannot go with the vanilla godlings of the various DnD settings.

You need to go old school. I'd say Tsathoggua, Shub-Niggurath or Nyarlathotep. And depending on the chosen elder god, the item becomes obvious:

Tsathoggua likes magic and ancient knowledge, an ancient tome of evil magic would be obvious. Naturally, it'd be costly to read or use such an item.

Shub-niggurath, being a nature and/or fertility god-thing, would likely have something that would transform you into something horrible. Then likely also impregnate you and let you give birth to any number of twisted things from beyond the veil.

Nyarlathotep is a traveller, the render of the veils. His item could be a gate. Say, something that promises access to anywhere, anytime, anyplace - if only you can control it. However, you cannot - but once you start tinkering with it, you cannot stop it: You're going *somewhere* whether you want to or not.

JMM
2009-07-16, 10:12 AM
... but Apollo wins points for being the not douche of the Greek deities.

The same Apollo who attempted to rape Daphne and Castalia, slew the Cyclopes simply to make a point with his old man, killed the children of Niobe because their mom had a big mouth, cursed Cassandra when she rejected him, flayed Marsyas for the impertinence of being as good a musician as him ...

Nah. He's pretty much a douche. He's just a powerful douche.