One of the main deities of my setting died last session. The problem is that (apart from the implications this has for the setting as a whole) one of my players is a Paladin of that deity and was indirectly responsible for the dead of his patron god.
I'm going to need some suggestions on how the fuck I should handle this. I don't want to be the "lol you fall" guy, especially since the Paladin technically didn't do anything wrong nor broke any vows, but considering that the source of his power is dead it still seems appropriate.
Isaac Wright
Without knowing specifics, does the god have other servants? A demigod son or something? Depending on the scope of your campaign and if such a thing is possible, you could either groom the Paladin to replace the God eventually, or shift the Paladin onto the route of following the teachings of said God, and have his legacy live on that way, empowering the Paladin because he's doing the right thing by the will of his God.
Nathan Morris
Guessing D&D? i dont play D&D but that might be one of those times the system matters.
My system free suggestion. Paladin worships Diety of ??? and somehow lead to the death of Diety ???.
If he accidentally lead to the death of his god then he has to go about fixing things, first off state that he can feel his power waning as the gods influence slowly leaves this world, meaning that he is going to be slightly weaker OR if you dont wanna do that just let him know that in X days his powers will be all gone. Then either in the scriptures of his religion or the dying spirit of this god, another clergy member, or a spirit of another diety, a prophetic dream works, one of those things tells him that he has to set about the events to fix the damage caused, then give him a hook that allows him to do so. So he could travel to the top of the sacred mountain where this god was given power, go there and resurrect the god. Bring the disciple that was in line to be the new diety in 2000 years there to become the new diety, even though hes young and inexperienced he will make a fine diety. Become the new diety himself.
And as a reward for doing such an act while being beset by weakness and tragedy, will be a power boost, a unique boon from this god that only he has, because he kept the world order and saved this god.
IF however he intended this or whatever, the enemy of that god offers him its power instead and thanks him for being a good little god killer and initiates him into the new order, old gods power lost, new gods power gained. if you want to have him go on a quest first to obtain this power that is also cool, maybe the visions tell him to go to this mountain only to find out it was the other god beckoning him.
Hope this helped.
Robert Hughes
Let him keep all of his class abilities with the exception of daily spells. He's been invested with a portion of divine power (his class abilities), and unlike a paladin who has fallen, he hasn't been actively stripped of that. that said, he can't pray to a dead god for spells. what is important is what comes next. he can continue to serve the ideal of what his god represented, which might end with his own ascension to fill that role per or he might be courted by the clergy of other gods, or if he's sufficiently powerful, by agents of the gods themselves.
Josiah Martinez
>Without knowing specifics, does the god have other servants? A demigod son or something? Being one of the main deities he has two major orders devoted to him and an arbitrary number of smaller cults, but no children or obvious successors.
>Depending on the scope of your campaign and if such a thing is possible, you could either groom the Paladin to replace the God eventually That's pretty far outside the scope of the campaign. Ascension to godhood isn't something that just happens in this setting, and even if I would make it work the player would have to retire his character once it happens since a divine PC would be ridiculous.
>shift the Paladin onto the route of following the teachings of said God, and have his legacy live on that way, empowering the Paladin because he's doing the right thing by the will of his God. While I like that idea, it's well-established in this setting that divine power comes directly from the Gods. It's not just zeal or faith that grants power, but an explicit covenant with your patron deity. You serve as their agent in the mortal world and in return they grant you power.
I've toyed with the idea that the bond between God and mortal doesn't go away after death, allowing the player to essentially siphon power from his God's corpse, but that seems a bit macabre.
Cameron Davis
>Guessing D&D? i dont play D&D but that might be one of those times the system matters. Yeah we're currently on D&D 5e, though the setting is fairly system-agnostic since we've previously used it with other systems as well.
>If he accidentally lead to the death of his god then he has to go about fixing things That goes without saying. In fact the campaign is now pretty much about finding out who killed this God and dispensing some indiscriminate justice on them. Assuming the players take the bait, which I'm sure they will. I don't really like taking powers away though. I've never really liked the "fallen Paladin" concept, at least on a mechanical level.
Resurrecting the God is a no-go. Resurrection is one of the things that happen in D&D but which the setting doesn't allow, even for Gods. Having the player or someone else ascend to take the God's place is an option, though I'd like to explore some other possibilities if I can think of a fitting one.
>IF however he intended this or whatever Also the death was definitely not intended. The short story is that the Paladin was one of his God's favorites and as such could draw upon quite a lot of power. There's an ongoing plot about various shadowy cults being at war with the main pantheon, and when the Paladin's home temple was being attacked he called on the help of his God to save everyone. Being the God's favorite and calling for help in one of the most holy places meant the God couldn't refuse his call and had no choice but to personally intervene. The temple was saved, but the God was left vulnerable by manifesting on the mortal plane which later lead to being killed. So while the Paladin was definitely responsible for the God's death, it wasn't his intention to do so as he only wanted to save people.
I basically saw a sweet plot hook and threw it at the players without fully thinking it through.
Camden Davis
>I've toyed with the idea that the bond between God and mortal doesn't go away after death, allowing the player to essentially siphon power from his God's corpse, but that seems a bit macabre.
I get it if this is to macabre for what you/your player is going for, but holy shit I like this. Have you thought anything about what's happening to the rest of his order?
Jaxson Morgan
If he doesn't feel like rolling a new character, then simply have him find a new god. Paladins are the special ones, not the gods themselves. They NEED paladins, paladins don't need them.
Jose Anderson
>Have you thought anything about what's happening to the rest of his order? A lot of them are already dead and the surviving ones are being hunted down after the fall of their God.
It's kind of like the Jedi being hunted down in Star Wars. Some of them might survive by hiding out or switching sides, but without a central guiding force they'll be easy prey for their enemies.
Jace Foster
>I'm going to need some suggestions on how the fuck I should handle this Let him rescure his dead god from the Underworld and bring him back to the world of the living
