Saturday 2 January 2016

Daenthar, the Mountain Lord, greater God of Earth and Industry

Daenthar, the Mountain Lord, greater God of Earth and Industry


Lord of the mountains, god of the forge and flame. The hearth burns bright in Daenthars hall beneath, the oldest mountain of the earth. Loud does his hammer strike as it hits the anvil and sparks fly from it cast off into the cold wind. Resolute does the craggy mountain peak stand amid time and tempest; Daenthar works his face blackened by soot, his beard singed by flame.

Duty, honour, temperance, discipline. The souls of his followers are forged in the crucible of his great furnace and like raw ore he melts from them the precious metals of the earth. Malleable, unformed, he sees the great beauty that lies within them and with an arm as strong as a mountain wind and as delicate as a flowers breath crafts glory from what began as black bedrock.


Alignment:

Lawful

Holly symbol:

A small stylized hammer. 

Title:

1. Sootsweeper
2. Hammersmith
3. Thane
4. Lord of the Hall
5. Ringlord

Creed:

Be the fire that forges their hearts.
Be the anvil that bears their blows.
Be the hammer that shapes their souls.

Restricted Weapons:

Clerics of Daenthar must wield a warhammer. All other weapons they wield at one dice lower.

Favoured Spells:

First Level: resist cold or heat, holy sanctuary.
Second Level: divine symbol.
Third Level: spiritual weapon.
Fourth Level: cause earthquake.
Fifth Level: Righteous fire.

Unholy Creatures:

Giants, chaotic extraplaner creatures (demons, devils, etc.), Un-dead, hostile humanoid creatures who dwell under the earth (goblins, troglodytes, etc.), chaotic dragons.

Communing with Danethor

Clerics of Danethor commune with him through visions seen in the depths of a forge or fire and will often meditate while staring into where the coals smoulder. He can also communicate his pleasure or displeasure through bodily sensations. The cleric may feel like they are metal being worked on in his forge; such as a feeling of heat or warmth, a feeling of being struck or immense pressure, or a feeling of being suddenly cooled.

Clergy and Worship:

He is worshiped largely in the Northland, especially in small in mountainous communities. He values the homestead and as many of the common folk pray to him for good health and protection from things which may stalk the woods at night as do craftsman and smiths who seek his blessing upon their work.

The hammer is his holy symbol and his priests wear sturdy leather work clothes. Finery is not forbidden but his clerics tend to value the well crafted over the ostentatious.

His places of worship are called Halls of Daenthar and are halls constructed from mountain bedrock (no matter how far away the mountains may be). They are open to the public and partially serve as community centers where public feasts of thanksgiving are often held. A ceremonial forge is always kept lit and present in the hall and worshipers can toss gold coins into it to melt while they pray to Daenthar's statue situated above it.

The Clerics of Daenthar occasionally hold public rituals, generally to bless the construction of a new building or conduct marriages. However much of their work involves serving the community and perfecting their craft.

They help build homes, mend metal tools, and create items like nails and plowshares that they give away to those in need. In times of peril they forge swords and stand shoulder to shoulder with their brethren ready to defend the homes of all.

 Each Cleric is a skilled smith, in fact it’s one of the requirements to advance among the clergy. In their down time many clerics of Daenthar can be found at the Temples forges perfecting their craft and creating items of beauty. These items of beauty are known as relics of Daenthar. They are often kept inside the temple to serve as inspiration for visiting smiths and as items of Daenthars glory to be marvelled upon by the common folk.

The great temples of Daenthar even hold relics of magical nature whose legend are widely known and pilgrims travel from across the land to gaze upon them. They are such storied things as the Crown of Kings, and the Fellmountain Hammer, or most famous of all, the last ring of the Seven Rings of Power.

Healing Description:

Healing feels like a warmth running through the person's body with intense pressure; blood pooling from the wounds turns to glowing molten metal and flows out of the wound filling the space and cooling to newly formed flesh.


Deity Disapproval

Roll
Disapproval
1
Be unable to create any fire, magical or otherwise, for one day. Daenthar has stilled your forge.
2
Melt 5 gp for every point of disapproval in a fire within 120 min or suffer a -1 penalty to spell checks that last 24 hours.
3
The cleric must spend 1d8 hours shovelling ore at the nearest temple of Daenthar at the next available moment. Because they will be so exhausted they will not regain any hp that night when sleeping.
4
The cleric must give a sermon about the reward of hard work in a public area within 24 hours or the disapproval rating will carry over into the next day upon failure to do so.
5
The cleric must pray while staring into an open forge or on top a lonely mountain. The cleric incurs a -1 penalty to spell rolls until they do.
6
Mend the weapons, armour, or tools of another for free before the next sunrise or incur a -1 penalty to spell rolls. This generally involves making a DC 5-15 skill check depending on the condition of the item. If failed the item is damaged beyond repair and the cleric must pay for a replacement.
7
Donate all non-magical weapons you acquire on your next adventure to the nearest Hall of Daenthar to give to the peasantry. The cleric suffers a -1 penalty to spell checks for each weapon they fail to collect or blatantly leave behind.
8
Guide someone to resolve a personal flaw through greater discipline and develop a greater sense of integrity by the next sunrise. Failure to do so results in a -2 spell penalty for 24 hours.
9
Donate one day's work helping constructing or repairing a public work such as digging a well, repairing the roof of the town hall, forging new hinges for the town gate, etc. Lose access to one randomly determined spell until completed.
10
Protect the next helpless person you come across regardless of race, gender, or any other discrimination, except giants who are Daenthars sworn enemy. If you encounter a giant before a helpless person you must kill it on sight.
11
Test of the Hammer: if next attack roll against an enemy is less than 12 the cleric is found lacking and their hammer shatters due to Daenthars disapproval.
12
Test of the Anvils Strength: upon receiving the next blow from an enemy the cleric must make a DC 12 Stamina check. If failed the cleric takes double damage.
13
Test of the Forging Fire: at the next available moment the cleric must heat up their holy symbol in a fire while meditating. Grabbing it from the fire they must make a DC 12 personality check, if failed they have been found wanting and the hot holy symbol burns them for 1d8 damage and they take 1 point of strength and stamina ability point damage damage.
14
Suffer from immense fatigue as Daenthar, unhappy with the form you are taking, hammers upon your soul. This incurs -1d4 Stamina and lasts one day for every point of disapproval.
15
The cleric is unable to turn holy creatures until they defeat a giant in single combat.
16
The cleric must melt down one tenth of all their gold and create a golden item of beauty for a Hall of Daenthar. The cleric looses their ability to lay on hands until they do.
17
Forge a ring of power of a spell result equal to at least 10 + cleric level and donate it to a Hall. Failure to comply within 1d4 months incurs the wrath of Daenthar as described below.
18
Suffer the wrath of Daenthar: all the gold the cleric touches or come into possession of turns to copper. This cannot be circumvented by wearing gloves and lasts a number of weeks equal to the number of 1d4s rolled for this chart.
19
The cleric must find a lost relic that was forged by a Cleric of Daenthar and has been stolen or been lost. The cleric is unable to cast one randomly determined spell each day until they do so.
20
Construct a new hall for Daenthar, it must be built with stone that is from the bedrock of a mountain no matter how distant mountains may be. The cleric is unable to seek divine aid until he does so.


Rings of Power Ritual

Golden Rings are an important part of many of the rituals of Daenthar. While many of the rings used are simply exquisitely crafted gold rings, his clerics have the ability to craft rings of power and receive the spell at level 1. These rings, crafted and imbued with the might of Daenthar, can be incredibly powerful magic items. Clerics of Daenthar that craft the powerful ones are often held in high regard among the clergy and even enter into legend. Only seven rings of the most powerful type have ever been crafted. All of them are lost except for the last one which lies in the holy requilary at the Grand Temple of Daenthar.


Crafting a Ring is not a simple affair. It involves days of intense sleepless work as the cleric slaves away at the forge keeping it hot all the while uttering the droning chants of Danethor. This is aside from the material cost. Rings of Danethor are made only from the finest gold and the more powerful rings require costly ritual components and enough coal to keep the forge burning at an intense heat for many days or weeks. Entirely new and specialized forges may even have to be built for the forging of the more powerful rings. The Seven Rings of Power themselves were forged upon an anvil of black ice from the Witchkings kingdom at the north pole and were heated in a vein of flowing lava.

Daenthar Divine Aid

I generally treat divine aid a bit different from the core rulebook. Considerations about it can be read here. To guide the judge a description of DCs the cleric has to roll against and some examples of manifestations are provided:

DC 10 - Simple effects limited to affecting only the caster and manifest in almost natural ways.

  • The cleric is filled with the strength of Daenthar and can perform some great feat of strength such as immediately winning an apposed strength check, holding a stone door shut against foes of Daenthar while villagers escape, or toppling a crumbling column to bring down an evil temple upon it's worshipers.
  •  The cleric invokes Daenthar when helping a wizard forge a magic sword and the wizard gains a bonus to his roll. However the swords alignment is automatically lawful.
  • Lost and starving in vast caverns underneath the earth the cleric calls upon Daenthar in his hour of need and his holy symbol begins to glow providing light and guides the party out of the caverns.
  • About to die, an enemies blade descending, the cleric calls upon Daenthar to save his life and the enemies blade is sundered upon his armour, breaking into pieces and leaving the enemy weaponless (but still angry and hostile).  

DC 15 - Miraculous effects that aid the cleric and his party and are distinctly supernatural in nature.

  • Fighting a force of creatures unholy to the Daenthar, the weapons of the cleric and the party glow with a molten light granting them all a bonus to attack and when thrown the clerics warhammer returns to his hand.
  • The cleric and the party are able to withstand the heat of a flow of magma as they wade through it to escape an exploding volcano.
  • The weapons of the enemies turn to molten metal and fall from their hands.

DC 20 - Extraordinary effects that directly harm the enemies of the cleric and are blatantly supernatural.

  •  The cleric strikes the ground with his hammer and a chasm opens out of which an elder earth elemental arises to fight on behalf of the cleric.
  • The cleric curses the enemy leader of a band of unholy creatures with the wrath of Daenthar and molten gold pools in his lungs and begins to pour from his mouth.
  • The cleric and the party are able to withstand the heat of a flow of magma as they wade through it to escape an exploding volcano.
  • The last surviving member of the party, all his compatriots fallen, the cleric of Daenthar decides to make a last stand. His skin turns to stone and the weapons of the enemy shatter upon him as he fights. He rolls the bodies of his fellow PCs after the battle is done to see if any yet live.

DC 30 - Direct manifestations of the God; any creature (including the cleric's party) who cares for their wellbeing should immediately run.

  • The sky is filled with a thick smoke and the clouds open up revealing the form of Daenthar in the sky looking down upon all. It begins to rain molten metal, ash, and burning embers as Daenthar shovels the slag from his forge down upon all.
  •  The cleric holds their hand aloft and a Ring of Power appears on it. They turn to liquid metal and grow in size becoming an unearthly avatar of Daenthar.


1 comment:

  1. Thank you for creating this and sharing. I am playing DCC with my kids and was thinking about writing something like this for Daenthar. But there is no way I would have created something of this quality. You really should post this and your other posts on the DCCRPG Google + community.

    ReplyDelete