Cleric concept advice

[Tvtyrant]

I have been working on the idea of a Cleric that has slowly gone crazy and so fallen from Lawful Good to Lawful Neutral and then eventually to Lawful Evil. His name is Locke (bad pun I know).

The craziness is attached to the idea of submission to Pelor as God, and the more your will and actions are sublimated to his the holier and thus more Lawful and Good you are. He slowly extrapolates a theory that submission is better then freedom because then those most devoted to wisdom and intelligence (casters) can tell less able creatures how to live their lives well. This is eventually developed into a theory that submission is always better than freedom, and enslaving all of existence is not just justified but holy.

My question is how do I create a build for Locke that won't be torn apart when I turn Lawful Evil and become too far from Pelor to retain my powers? Ur-priest would imply I become anti-religious, which could match the character idea but I am not sure I want to put it on a Cleric without casting chassis.

[NNescio]

I have been working on the idea of a Cleric that has slowly gone crazy and so fallen from Lawful Good to Lawful Neutral and then eventually to Lawful Evil. His name is Locke (bad pun I know).

The craziness is attached to the idea of submission to Pelor as God, and the more your will and actions are sublimated to his the holier and thus more Lawful and Good you are. He slowly extrapolates a theory that submission is better then freedom because then those most devoted to wisdom and intelligence (casters) can tell less able creatures how to live their lives well. This is eventually developed into a theory that submission is always better than freedom, and enslaving all of existence is not just justified but holy.

My question is how do I create a build for Locke that won't be torn apart when I turn Lawful Evil and become too far from Pelor to retain my powers? Ur-priest would imply I become anti-religious, which could match the character idea but I am not sure I want to put it on a Cleric without casting chassis.

PHB II retraining rules?

Or alternatively, have an evil deity grant him spells without him knowing.

[Tvtyrant]

PHB II retraining rules?

Or alternatively, have an evil deity grant him spells without him knowing.

That would work; are there any evil sun gods that you know of?

[erikun]

Assuming he is human, Zarus (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20041203a) seems like an almost perfect fit. It would be believable for him to switch worship somewhere along the way, making his Pelor symbol more human-like and thinking that the Book of Zarus is referencing just another aspect of Pelor (or that Zarus was a prophet exposing the true motives of Pelor).

The biggest problem would be domains - Zarus doesn't have the Sun domain, or really any domains that are shared with Pelor. Retraining rules might help, although I'd think that switching deities (even unknowingly) would change your domains as well. It would kind of have to.

[Tvtyrant]

His symbol is rather sun-like, so I could see if I could get the domain added. Zarus does seem like a perfect fit, thank you!

[Gullintanni]

That would work; are there any evil sun gods that you know of?

Pelor is already evil. I thought that was a well-established fact. :smallsmile:

[Tvtyrant]

Pelor is already evil. I thought that was a well-established fact. :smallsmile:

Only if you can convince your DM of that :P And isn't he technically chaotic evil in that argument?

[Cyrion]

In past editions, one of the ways that this sort of thing was dealt with was level loss. Maybe you could work something involving a negative level or two with your DM. Off the top of my head-

Pelor gives you grief as you shift from LG to LN, but no specific penalties. Once you change your alignment to LE you acquire a negative level and wander the world as an apostate for 1000 xp or so, either limited in the level of spells you can cast or begging spells from a variety of sources (talk about potential plot hooks there!! :smalltongue:) until you are finally adopted by your new, permanent deity. Once you have your new deity you get your regular complement of spells, and a quest of some sort to prove your faith removes the negative level.

[erikun]

Pelor gives you grief as you shift from LG to LN, but no specific penalties. Once you change your alignment to LE you acquire a negative level and wander the world as an apostate for 1000 xp or so,
Pelor is NG, so you'd start facing penalities and begging for spells once you hit LN.

[Analytica]

Obligatory reference: http://team-ornithology.blogspot.com/2010/10/pelor-burning-hate.html

In this case, I think you should actually go with that full out...

There are feats in Power of Faerun (Heretic of the Faith, IIRC) that allow you to twist your religion like that without losing powers, too.

[Gullintanni]

Only if you can convince your DM of that :P And isn't he technically chaotic evil in that argument?

He's so much more interesting as an evil savant though! How can you not love him as the Patron saint of Sun Burns...

He's Neutral Evil with Lawful tendencies in the argument IIRC.