SlaadLord
2012-11-24, 01:41 AM
Do you find that you/your players have tired of hunting down and killing the servants of evil gods, demon lords, and (if you run that sort of game) celestial beings?
Are you tired of using the same cleric over and over, with slightly altered domains?
Looking for a more "grounded" element to your game, meaning everything is happening on the material plane, no gods/powerful outsiders involved?
If the answer to any of these is yes, look no further for a solution.
Consider: most people, even in a high-magic D&D world, where clerics are granted actual, tangible power by gods whose existence is a fact, will have trouble believing in something they will never see, hear, or feel. Furthermore, the way to this power from the gods is hard, and not everyone has the talent or hears the calling. However, there is something that their senses can confirm, whose power they cannot refute, that they can learn from and serve directly regardless of their individual talents.
For the DM, a monster cult is any group of NPCs who take inspiration and leadership from a monster of some kind. For instance, a tribe of lizardfolk who attacks human villages or caravans and brings their treasure to the green dragon they venerate is a monster cult. The small town who sacrifices random wanderers to the kraken in their bay is a monster cult. The servants of a single hezrou who dominate the slum district in a city are a monster cult.
In short, the building blocks of a monster cult are:
1. A reasonably intelligent monster as a leader, the subject of veneration (henceforth, to be referred to as the idol). Replaces the god/demon lord/archdevil/etc. of a typical cult.
2. A collection of followers, who are usually individually weaker than the idol.
3. The point of the cult is (usually) to amass material goods/power for the idol. (Ex. the lizardfolk-dragon cult previously mentioned)
4. The cult as a whole has little or no larger religious implication; that is, the idol is the only object of worship. There are no greater beings involved.
The attraction of a monster cult is a simple thing to a DM. They can be built at any level, using servants of any sort (although most consist of humanoid servants), and can feature NPCs of any class. Want your kraken cult to consist primarily of rogue/fighters (pirates)? Fine. Want the dragon cult to feature sorcerers and half-dragons as its leaders? Fine.
The strongest point of a monster cult is its class flexibility. While most cults of a god, demon lord, archdevil or what have you are "led" by a cleric, a monster cult is often led by whoever the monster in question happened to favor at the time or whichever individual has proven the strongest servant. Even more perplexingly, it is possible for the monster cult to have no leader, under the monster itself (that is, lacking a "high priest"- think if every member of this sect of Vecna worshipers or that cult of Erythnul was the cult's leader). All members might be directly accountable only to the monster around whom the "worship" is based.
Obviously, stronger monsters make better cult leaders. Krakens, Rakshasa, Demons/Devils, and Dragons all make good leaders of a monster cult, because they're both physically and magically powerful or resilient. A rakshasa, for instance, is extraordinarily difficult to kill (unless you happen to have a few blessed arrows lying around), is much smarter and more skilled than the average human being, has a selection of magical abilities suited both to manipulation and demonstrating power, and has the desire to subjugate and rule that most monster cults are formed as a result of.
The final point I'm out to make here is that monster cults can vastly simplify your worldbuilding. You can have your core pantheon, sure, but who wants to create (or, realistically, use) the wide range of demon lords, archdevils, or minor gods available? The use of monster cults provides a grounding element, as well; if you slay the idol of a monster cult, it's gone. Not so with that cult of Demogorgon- there's another one out there somewhere. It's a concrete and final victory on the part of your PCs, unless you mean the idol itself to be a recurring villain, and that in and of itself can be a campaign waiting to happen.
Anyways, enough of my chatter. Anyone have any tales of things like this that, in retrospect, might fit in the description of a "monster cult"?
Are you tired of using the same cleric over and over, with slightly altered domains?
Looking for a more "grounded" element to your game, meaning everything is happening on the material plane, no gods/powerful outsiders involved?
If the answer to any of these is yes, look no further for a solution.
Consider: most people, even in a high-magic D&D world, where clerics are granted actual, tangible power by gods whose existence is a fact, will have trouble believing in something they will never see, hear, or feel. Furthermore, the way to this power from the gods is hard, and not everyone has the talent or hears the calling. However, there is something that their senses can confirm, whose power they cannot refute, that they can learn from and serve directly regardless of their individual talents.
For the DM, a monster cult is any group of NPCs who take inspiration and leadership from a monster of some kind. For instance, a tribe of lizardfolk who attacks human villages or caravans and brings their treasure to the green dragon they venerate is a monster cult. The small town who sacrifices random wanderers to the kraken in their bay is a monster cult. The servants of a single hezrou who dominate the slum district in a city are a monster cult.
In short, the building blocks of a monster cult are:
1. A reasonably intelligent monster as a leader, the subject of veneration (henceforth, to be referred to as the idol). Replaces the god/demon lord/archdevil/etc. of a typical cult.
2. A collection of followers, who are usually individually weaker than the idol.
3. The point of the cult is (usually) to amass material goods/power for the idol. (Ex. the lizardfolk-dragon cult previously mentioned)
4. The cult as a whole has little or no larger religious implication; that is, the idol is the only object of worship. There are no greater beings involved.
The attraction of a monster cult is a simple thing to a DM. They can be built at any level, using servants of any sort (although most consist of humanoid servants), and can feature NPCs of any class. Want your kraken cult to consist primarily of rogue/fighters (pirates)? Fine. Want the dragon cult to feature sorcerers and half-dragons as its leaders? Fine.
The strongest point of a monster cult is its class flexibility. While most cults of a god, demon lord, archdevil or what have you are "led" by a cleric, a monster cult is often led by whoever the monster in question happened to favor at the time or whichever individual has proven the strongest servant. Even more perplexingly, it is possible for the monster cult to have no leader, under the monster itself (that is, lacking a "high priest"- think if every member of this sect of Vecna worshipers or that cult of Erythnul was the cult's leader). All members might be directly accountable only to the monster around whom the "worship" is based.
Obviously, stronger monsters make better cult leaders. Krakens, Rakshasa, Demons/Devils, and Dragons all make good leaders of a monster cult, because they're both physically and magically powerful or resilient. A rakshasa, for instance, is extraordinarily difficult to kill (unless you happen to have a few blessed arrows lying around), is much smarter and more skilled than the average human being, has a selection of magical abilities suited both to manipulation and demonstrating power, and has the desire to subjugate and rule that most monster cults are formed as a result of.
The final point I'm out to make here is that monster cults can vastly simplify your worldbuilding. You can have your core pantheon, sure, but who wants to create (or, realistically, use) the wide range of demon lords, archdevils, or minor gods available? The use of monster cults provides a grounding element, as well; if you slay the idol of a monster cult, it's gone. Not so with that cult of Demogorgon- there's another one out there somewhere. It's a concrete and final victory on the part of your PCs, unless you mean the idol itself to be a recurring villain, and that in and of itself can be a campaign waiting to happen.
Anyways, enough of my chatter. Anyone have any tales of things like this that, in retrospect, might fit in the description of a "monster cult"?