For the Love of God (Build Ideas Wanted)

[Catullus64]

I've had a concept for a character rattling around in my head for a while, and now I've got a game coming up in which to try it out. The game will start at 3rd level and could conceivably run as high as 10-12th level.

The idea is this: a priest who is also the spouse of his/her deity. The extent to which this marriage is ceremonial/literal would, I think, be left ambiguous, at least for the early parts of the game.

From what the DM has told me of the setting, there is a trinity of big, abstract gods, who embody Creation, Stability, and Destruction respectively, and who are worshipped the world over. There are then hundreds of smaller, regional gods who oversee nature and human activity in their respective areas. Most, but not all, of these regional gods are affiliated with one of the trinity. The god to which my PC is married would be one of the small gods, from a region adjacent to the one in which the campaign begins.

I have no single class, subclass, or build in mind for this character; though Cleric seems obviously appropriate, Paladin & Warlock could also work very well with the theme, perhaps even Sorcerer. The only other party member class I know of is a Monk.

On a roleplaying front, I've not decided the sex/gender of the character or the god. I think I'll be doing a male/female pairing, simply because I like the contrast and the symbolism behind it. But which is which I have not yet decided.

Suggestions are welcome, either in the form of roleplaying ideas & questions, or subclasses, spells, feats, etc that would be neat for realizing this concept.

[Corran]

Think what the tenets/dogma of the deity is, and then think the ways in which your character will push to improve it.

Being married to the boss could be seen as an unfair benefit. Act on it and make the most of it. Even if you dont accomplish anything too drastic, let the history of that game world record all the upheaval just one mortal caused (particularly within the church of that deity) and why deities will henceforth secondguess the wisdom of getting too intimate with mortals.

[GooeyChewie]

It might be fun to do an “opposites attract” thing. For example, if the deity is of civilization, you might be an Oath of the Ancients Paladin. Or maybe a Divine Soul Sorcerer whose affinity is the opposite of the deity’s alignment. I think this concept would not work well with Clerics (since they kind of need to align with the deity in question), but could work with anything else.

[Unoriginal]

I've had a concept for a character rattling around in my head for a while, and now I've got a game coming up in which to try it out. The game will start at 3rd level and could conceivably run as high as 10-12th level.

The idea is this: a priest who is also the spouse of his/her deity. The extent to which this marriage is ceremonial/literal would, I think, be left ambiguous, at least for the early parts of the game.

From what the DM has told me of the setting, there is a trinity of big, abstract gods, who embody Creation, Stability, and Destruction respectively, and who are worshipped the world over. There are then hundreds of smaller, regional gods who oversee nature and human activity in their respective areas. Most, but not all, of these regional gods are affiliated with one of the trinity. The god to which my PC is married would be one of the small gods, from a region adjacent to the one in which the campaign begins.

I have no single class, subclass, or build in mind for this character; though Cleric seems obviously appropriate, Paladin & Warlock could also work very well with the theme, perhaps even Sorcerer. The only other party member class I know of is a Monk.

On a roleplaying front, I've not decided the sex/gender of the character or the god. I think I'll be doing a male/female pairing, simply because I like the contrast and the symbolism behind it. But which is which I have not yet decided.

Suggestions are welcome, either in the form of roleplaying ideas & questions, or subclasses, spells, feats, etc that would be neat for realizing this concept.

I think there are a few questions you need to clarify before moving into the build itself:

- Is your PC the only mortal empowered by the deity?

- Is your PC the only mortal married to the deity?

- How powerful is the deity?

- How powerful is the deity compared to other small gods?

[KorvinStarmast]

FWIW, I'd recommend referring to them as a triumvirate but that's a DM suggestion.


(in ancient Rome) a group of three men holding power, in particular (the First Triumvirate) the unofficial coalition of Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus in 60 BC and (the Second Triumvirate) a coalition formed by Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian in 43 BC.
a group of three powerful or notable people or things existing in relation to each other:
"a triumvirate of three former executive vice presidents"
On a world building front, I love the Creation, Stability, Destruction framework with subordinate deities (modeled on kami, perhaps?) with more localized domains. This PoV first registered with me as I read Fritz Lieber's distinction between the gods of Lankhmar and the gods in Lankhmar in the Fafhrd/Grey Mouser stories, and my later reading up on Assyrian cities and their gods ...
I offer a tip of the cap to your DM.

I would recommend a Celestial Warlock (in part due to me being partial to that sub class) and go staright Warlock all the way: devoted servant. You'll only need to handle the Mystic Arcanum choice late in the game (near level 11 or 12).
But that's if you want to lean into the 'consecrated spouse' kind of role, and your aim is to use influence to further the deity's aims and goals.

If leaning hard into "go forth and do great things in service of the deity' I'll suggest a Paladin Warlock combo platter. I'd do 6/5.

But: who else is in the party? I always ask this since I believe that good party composition is the most important part of deciding upon what character to create.

Most, but not all, of these regional gods are affiliated with one of the trinity. The god to which my PC is married would be one of the small gods, from a region adjacent to the one in which the campaign begins. FWIW, my celestial locks have patrons who are Empyreans. Not quite a demigod, but certainly a powerful celestial being.

[Catullus64]

I think there are a few questions you need to clarify before moving into the build itself:

- Is your PC the only mortal empowered by the deity?

- Is your PC the only mortal married to the deity?

- How powerful is the deity?

- How powerful is the deity compared to other small gods?

With the obvious proviso that my DM will determine a lot of this, I had envisioned not being the sole person empowered by the deity, but probably being the sole spouse (sole current spouse, that is; my character will have had a predecessor in the role, and will someday be succeeded). That said, I'm not opposed to the character being one of many wives/husbands.

As to the deity's power level, that's a lot harder to gauge from what I know. The best I can say is that the deity has to at least be powerful enough to grant high-level features. Other than that, I know that the power of these gods to act directly (as opposed to through servants) is broad, but tends to be limited to their local area.

[Unoriginal]

On a world building front, I love the Creation, Stability, Destruction framework with subordinate deities (modeled on kami, perhaps?) with more localized domains.

It reminds me of the Trimurti (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimurti).

[J-H]

This reminds me of some of real-life Egyptian stuff with Ra and the Pharoahs marrying their sister(s). I don't recall the details but I think some of them became gods or ascended on death depending on what dynasty, belief, and century you were in. Can't get into that in any detail due to forum rules, but it might be a good starting point to look up, if you want to pursue a particular aesthetic or style.
Maybe each of the previous spouses is now ascended rather than just "gone"?

That could also just be a big complicated mess to stay away from.

Are you starting with any special buffs from this? You could always do the non-magic route of "I won the regional tournament and was selected for this semi-ceremonial role based on my massive muscles and martial prowess."
Although I guess that gets into then becoming a Paladin or cleric with multiclass.

[Clause]

I think that changeling makes a good race for yourpurposes. They are not restricted by genders and this could be interesting to a immortal god who can easily being bored with male/female concepts.
Another idea us a aasimar, csuse they are angels, or a thiefling to explore the duality of relationship.

About classes, celestial warlock would be perfect, perhaps 2 dip in vengenhance paladin. Its a strong build. 3 times charisma on damage is good

Your convivence with a deity, guves you enought power as he/she protects you. And so, deity decrets you as a balloart of his vengeance.

You not need to be a cleric since deity loves you in a more carnal form, bot the conjunction needs not to be carnal at last. Put the things like a dorama or a shounen/shoujo mangá. Put things abstractly, but paupable real.