Is there an order of immortal scribes somewhere in AD&D setting?

[Entessa]

AD&D setting

I have a demigod character meeting a scribe in a certain plane, where he is thanks to his divine heritage. I have made the scribe say that he was brought there by the demigod presence and that he is one of the many that has to write about the events that unfold in the planes.

1) Are there scribes that are immortal and are born simply to keep detailing the events that transpire until the end of times. Such thing would be pretty interesting and I guess that I could also link them to the universe itself. "We exist because the universe exist".

2) What would be a good reason I could give the players to not kill the scribe?

Thanks for the help

[tomandtish]

AD&D setting

I have a demigod character meeting a scribe in a certain plane, where he is thanks to his divine heritage. I have made the scribe say that he was brought there by the demigod presence and that he is one of the many that has to write about the events that unfold in the planes.

1) Are there scribes that are immortal and are born simply to keep detailing the events that transpire until the end of times. Such thing would be pretty interesting and I guess that I could also link them to the universe itself. "We exist because the universe exist".

2) What would be a good reason I could give the players to not kill the scribe?

Thanks for the help

In the Dragonlance setting there is Astinus, who is the master historian of the world. he documents everything as it happens. and is immortal. Some think he is the god Gilean (god of knowledge) but that has never been established.

[Kardwill]

AD&D setting

I have a demigod character meeting a scribe in a certain plane, where he is thanks to his divine heritage. I have made the scribe say that he was brought there by the demigod presence and that he is one of the many that has to write about the events that unfold in the planes.

1) Are there scribes that are immortal and are born simply to keep detailing the events that transpire until the end of times. Such thing would be pretty interesting and I guess that I could also link them to the universe itself. "We exist because the universe exist".

2) What would be a good reason I could give the players to not kill the scribe?

Thanks for the help

There's not really a "AD&D setting". There are several published settings, and many GMs who run their games in their own settingss, or even without bothering about the setting apart from what they come up with during the adventures.
But nothing prevents you from implementing this idea in your game if it sounds cool and generates interesting roleplay/gameplay. :)

As for 2), Does the player have any reason to kill the scribe? But if it's a concern, I can imagine a few solutions.
- If they're here purely as cosmos-appointed witnesses, there is nothing to gain by killing a Scribe, and it will deplease some powerful entities (the local god of history/knowledge might consider those people taboo/sacred, for example)
- The scribe could be a useful source of information. Killing a Scribe means that they don't get the info, or worse, their enemies get help from another Scribe.
- If these guys are supposed to go to dangerous places talking with dangerous people, and yet be immortal, I imagine they're quite durable. For example, they could be easy to kill, but it doesn't "stick". They simply come back, either as the same individual, or with a new face. Thus, killing them is completely futile.

I think the third solution will be better if the player has murderhobo tendencies : They get to do what they want, and you get to keep the Scribe anyway ^^

[Silly Name]

Regardin question 2, I'd ask "is there any good reasons the players should kill the Scribe?" If this guy is only there as a chronicler and historian, there is no reason to kill him - and if the players suspect the Scribe of being a spy or something, can't they just tell him "no, we do not want you to follow us and record our actions"?

Onto question 1, in the Greyhawk setting there is the god Delleb (https://ghwiki.greyparticle.com/index.php/Delleb), whose priests would be reasonably interested in documenting important historical events - but there is no canonical immortal scribe in Greyhawk, as far as I know.

[LibraryOgre]

I know Palladium Fantasy's setting has Sages, who are immortal.

[Entessa]

In the Dragonlance setting there is Astinus, who is the master historian of the world. he documents everything as it happens. and is immortal. Some think he is the god Gilean (god of knowledge) but that has never been established.
Thanks, nice to know.


There's not really a "AD&D setting". There are several published settings, and many GMs who run their games in their own settingss, or even without bothering about the setting apart from what they come up with during the adventures.
But nothing prevents you from implementing this idea in your game if it sounds cool and generates interesting roleplay/gameplay. :)

As for 2), Does the player have any reason to kill the scribe? But if it's a concern, I can imagine a few solutions.
- If they're here purely as cosmos-appointed witnesses, there is nothing to gain by killing a Scribe, and it will deplease some powerful entities (the local god of history/knowledge might consider those people taboo/sacred, for example)
- The scribe could be a useful source of information. Killing a Scribe means that they don't get the info, or worse, their enemies get help from another Scribe.
- If these guys are supposed to go to dangerous places talking with dangerous people, and yet be immortal, I imagine they're quite durable. For example, they could be easy to kill, but it doesn't "stick". They simply come back, either as the same individual, or with a new face. Thus, killing them is completely futile.

I think the third solution will be better if the player has murderhobo tendencies : They get to do what they want, and you get to keep the Scribe anyway ^^

I will probably go for the third solution you proposed. Thanks.


Regardin question 2, I'd ask "is there any good reasons the players should kill the Scribe?" If this guy is only there as a chronicler and historian, there is no reason to kill him - and if the players suspect the Scribe of being a spy or something, can't they just tell him "no, we do not want you to follow us and record our actions"?

Onto question 1, in the Greyhawk setting there is the god Delleb (https://ghwiki.greyparticle.com/index.php/Delleb), whose priests would be reasonably interested in documenting important historical events - but there is no canonical immortal scribe in Greyhawk, as far as I know.

Well, thanks. Let's just say that my player is a Bhaalspawn, and I'm not sure he would be so lenient on not killing.


I know Palladium Fantasy's setting has Sages, who are immortal.
Thanks.

[Beelzebub1111]

AD&D setting

I have a demigod character meeting a scribe in a certain plane, where he is thanks to his divine heritage. I have made the scribe say that he was brought there by the demigod presence and that he is one of the many that has to write about the events that unfold in the planes.

1) Are there scribes that are immortal and are born simply to keep detailing the events that transpire until the end of times. Such thing would be pretty interesting and I guess that I could also link them to the universe itself. "We exist because the universe exist".

2) What would be a good reason I could give the players to not kill the scribe?

Thanks for the help

Greyhawk's setting has Lysandred the Mad. Although he's more of a collector of stuff, adventurer fan, and riddle enjoyer. He created a demiplane that is conterminous with Oerth so he can watch the place without interacting with it, but sometimes he just takes stuff to put in his crypt and charms it to make riddles for adventurers that come by looking for an answer or a way to get somewhere else since you can basically perfectly teleport to anywhere on Oerth from his demiplane if you know how. He'll show adventurers that entertain him by travelling through his crypt.

He's also a lich so "killing" him is temporary. If your players want to go out of their way to give him his final death for some reason the demiplane would probably collapse and dump them randomly across and under Oerth so probably not a great thing to do. He's also pretty cordial and will give the players what they want as a prize for reaching him and send them on their way wherever they want to go so it's no big deal.

If the players decide "We want ALL your stuff! Die lich!" he can send them somewhere unpleasant fairly simply. Maybe each a different unpleasant place on a different corner of the globe if they were particularly rude.

[Psyren]

Forgotten Realms (which I assume is where you are since you mention being a Bhaalspawn) has a couple of deities that would have been around even in AD&D times and fit the "scribe" label. The most relevant one for a Bhaalspawn is probably Jergal, Scribe of the Dead, who was actually the original source of Bhaal's power back when he was the god of all aspects of death before he abdicated to simply be a seneschal.

Another scribe deity is Deneir, god of the written word, who catalogues literally everything (or as close to everything as he can) and serves the god of knowledge Oghma.

Your character/party could meet a herald or avatar of either of these deities for whatever scrivenly goodness you want to impart on them, and be totally unable to kill them.

[Bohandas]

In the 3e epic level handbook there was a group called the Order of the Book that was devoted to copying down a copy of every spell to ever exist