How to grant an NPC the ability to grant divine spells to clerics?

[RoboEmperor]

I'm designing a campaign. As a rule, I always make RAW Legal NPCs that also adheres to Lore RAW. I want this to be in forgotten realms to force divine spellcasters to choose a deity.

I want to make a NPC that can grant divine spells to its clerics.

Now the first method I thought of is the ice assassin god + proxy thing to grant the NPC divine rank 1. The problem with this though is that I am 100% sure that the original god will without a doubt smite whoever tries this tactic, and it is debatable whether deities can be ice assassined, since I can't find stats for them.

Fiendish Codex I however, piqued my interest. It says that the abyss grants spells to clerics, and demon lords are merely foci. So does this mean a simulacrum of a demon lord is sufficient to grant an NPC the ability to grant his worshippers divine spells with no risk of retribution? I mean, there is no impersonation involved, no fraud, and the simulacrum is no different than a spell foci, and the NPC is evil in this case.

Also there's always wish... Don't want to go down this route really because it's not really RAW supported. Sure I can make wish give an NPC the ability to grant divine spells as a SU ability, but at the same time I can make a feat with that exact ability, which is why I don't want to do DM fiat stuff.

What are some other ways to grant divine spells?

edit:About this NPC. He is evil, wants fanatical worshippers, and wants to enslave people by turning them into clerics who depend on him to cast spells. Part of the plot I am planning would have the PCs "save" these clerics by teaching them how to switch deities.

[Bronk]

I think the easiest way would be for your NPC to secretly be the front for an evil something (deity, demon, whatever) that really grants the spells.

Otherwise, you might have to set up something similar to the setup in Eberron, where non-deities (some of which aren't even all that powerful) grant spells all the time...

[Conradine]

There is a class in a monster compendium , called in italian "Abissi e Inferi" ( I tried to found the original title but I couldn't ), avaiable only for outsiders, that is called "Immondo Blasfemo" ( blasphemous fiend, or something similar ).
It's able to give cultists the ability to cast clerical spells up to level 6, but they still indirectly draw power from the fiend's deity.


So, unless your character become a deity there's no way, in the Forgotten Realms setting, to directly grant spells to other clerics.

Yet, there's a similar option: you can found your own heresy of an existing religion and claim to be the only intermediary of your deity. But that can bring divine vengeance upon you, I guess.

[Inevitability]

There is a class in a monster compendium , called in italian "Abissi e Inferi" ( I tried to found the original title but I couldn't ), avaiable only for outsiders, that is called "Immondo Blasfemo" ( blasphemous fiend, or something similar ).
It's able to give cultists the ability to cast clerical spells up to level 6, but they still indirectly draw power from the fiend's deity.

You're thinking of the Fiend of Blasphemy from the Fiend Folio I believe.

Another option is to have the clerics worship the ideal of that person. Clerics can always get spells if they worship an ideal: no matter how divine said person is. I believe it's how the Lord of Blades can have clerics despite being a CR 12 warforged with a suboptimal build.

[Conradine]

That is possible in the Great Wheel cosmology ( mabye in Eberron? I never played settings outside classical D&D and Forgotten Realms ).

[Eldan]

There's a cleric spell, Imbue with Spell Ability, that you could use to fake low level clerics. IT grants first and second level spells.

[Honest Tiefling]

I think the easiest way would be for your NPC to secretly be the front for an evil something (deity, demon, whatever) that really grants the spells.

I'm going to double down on this, since both Shar and Tiamat do this. (Other evil gods probably do, I just can't remember the case.) Tiamat actually grants people worshiping a sphere of annihilation and grants spell casting through that.

[ATHATH]

He could Necropolitan-ize his soon-to-be "Clerics" and Spellstitch them. He could then Rebuke them (possibly abusing Paragnostic Apostle to get level-relevant "Clerics") to maintain control over them.

[Gildedragon]

Iirc radiant idols have the su ability to grant domain spells to their cultists. There are ways to steal or mimic the ability