Help me give a god gift to the party!

[Elvencloud]

Our cleric of the Norse pantheon (no particular god, she has the Travel and War domains) fell in battle last week, and the gods (and a few Valkyries) stepped in and rose her from the ground. Originally, I was giving a gift from "Odin" allowing her to- +1 to hit, +1 damage on undead, and could crit an undead.
I'm cleaning up the power, and who it was from. Who in the Norse Pantheon would give something like that? And what would the suggested drawback be? (I have to balance it somehow).

[Luckmann]

Norse mythology doesn't actually really deal with the idea of the risen dead that much, nor have a special aversion towards it.

Lacking in others, I would suggest Tyr.

[NNescio]

Our cleric of the Norse pantheon (no particular god, she has the Travel and War domains) fell in battle last week, and the gods (and a few Valkyries) stepped in and rose her from the ground. Originally, I was giving a gift from "Odin" allowing her to- +1 to hit, +1 damage on undead, and could crit an undead.
I'm cleaning up the power, and who it was from. Who in the Norse Pantheon would give something like that? And what would the suggested drawback be? (I have to balance it somehow).

Hel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel_%28location%29), Goddess of the Dead (or the Underworld, to be pedantic, and it's unusual for her to visit somebody who died in battle).

Odin's would probably be something along the lines of knowledge and/or wisdom. Or something war-related.

Edit:
Norse mythology doesn't actually really deal with the idea of the risen dead that much, nor have a special aversion towards it.

Lacking in others, I would suggest Tyr.

Well, there's the Draugr, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draugr) who were pretty much proto-wights whom Tolkien cribbed off for his books...

[Mauther]

The goddess Hel handles the dead and the undead. While she is too spiteful to raise someone from the dead, she is selfish enough to grant bonuses against the undead since she doesn't like anyone getting out of her clutches.

You could also use either Dellingr (god of dawn) or Dagr (god of day) since the sun is considered anethma to undead. Don't quote me on those spellings though. And I think both are relatively minor gods in the Norse Pantheon, the Dieties and Demigod's sourcebook may have assigned Sun to someone else with a higher profile.

[Luckmann]

Hel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel_%28location%29), Goddess of the Dead (or the Underworld, to be pedantic, and it's unusual for her to visit somebody who died in battle). I wouldn't take Hel. That's like having Hades of the Greek Pantheon grant undead-slaying powers. Or Myrkul from the Faerûnian Pantheon, for that matter.

"Hel's own" even joins with Loki on the battlefield, to fight against the Gods.


Well, there's the Draugr... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draugr)Well, I'll be damned. Learn something new every day. Still, though, in relation to the pantheon.. rather shallow on the whole undead thing, not counting the armies of Hel at Ragnarok. Even then, there's no mention of smiting those damn undead, as far as I know.

[NNescio]

I wouldn't take Hel. That's like having Hades of the Greek Pantheon grant undead-slaying powers. Or Myrkul from the Faerûnian Pantheon, for that matter.

I was thinking of Wee Jas when I suggested Hel. They... share some similarities, including the vanity part.

Mauther provided a better explanation though.

[Elvencloud]

I wouldn't take Hel. That's like having Hades of the Greek Pantheon grant undead-slaying powers. Or Myrkul from the Faerûnian Pantheon, for that matter.

"Hel's own" even joins with Loki on the battlefield, to fight against the Gods.

Well, I'll be damned. Learn something new every day. Still, though, in relation to the pantheon.. rather shallow on the whole undead thing, not counting the armies of Hel at Ragnarok. Even then, there's no mention of smiting those damn undead, as far as I know.

They are currently in Hel's domain anyways, and Hel is sending a force to deal with them. Hel is definitely the enemy. :)
Edit: What about Odur?

[NNescio]

They are currently in Hel's domain anyways, and Hel is sending a force to deal with them. Hel is definitely the enemy. :)
Edit: What about Odur?

Odur is associated with the Sun, yes. He's a demigod though, and is somewhat less than well known.

I suppose Odin would still work. He's a psychopomp, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp) and you can fluff the gift as being something like a +2 bonus to Knowledge (Religion) and Sense Motive, with a -2 penalty to Spot.

For added awesomeness, make the cleric lose an eye (no penalties beyond the -2 Spot) and give her a badass eyepatch.

Edit: Freyja (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja) also has some connection with the dead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%B3lkvangr).

[Godskook]

A greater truedeath crystal is 10kgp, gives +1d6 damage vs. undead, ghosttouch, and allows both crits and precision damage against undead.

A bane(undead) weapon gives +2 attack and +2d6+2 damage against undead for a +1 equivalent.

And given that crits are exceptionally rare, I'd say just ignore giving it a drawback, since you're barely giving her 2-5kgp worth of magic in that item.

(And all that's without mentioning the fact that type-specific gear is probably only about 5-10% as useful as general gear of the same quality, with the typical exception being ammunition, due to the price-drop).

[subject42]

If you're going to grant a gift from Odin, my I suggest Knowledge as a bonus feat, then murky-eyed as a flaw to balance it out?

[Bob the DM]

I don't know exactly what the DnD version of the Norse pantheon is, but Odin is the only necromancer of the norse pantheon, so he's the best choice in my mind. He has the valkaries and there's very little undead stuff in Norse mythology aside from the mumified head that odin talks to. If you don't want to use odin you could go with Balder, but Odin really is the best choice.