Saturday, February 23, 2019

Pantheist Cleric Domain

My first rules foray into 5e; I'm going to be running a campaign at the library in March, and wanted to dip my toe in. Since Pantheist Clerics are a thing I've been writing about for 20 years or so, this seemed a good place to start, and aligned with a conversation folks were having on the Playground.

Pantheist Domain

Some priests do not choose a particular deity to worship, and instead embrace the full pantheon of their people. Unlike more specialized priests, these clerics can perform ceremonies for the entire pantheon; they may pray to Kelemvor at a funeral, invoke Lathander upon a birth, bless soldiers in the name of Tempus, and open a harvest festival in the name of Chauntea (or Waukeen, or Llirra, or all three).

Being a Pantheist cleric can be a difficult balancing act, especially for an adventurer. Depending upon their alignment and personality, a pantheist cleric will undoubtedly have certain deities whose philosophies they favor, and others whom they are less sympathetic to. However, pantheist clerics serve an important role in the worship of many deities; while it may be somewhat illegal to worship deities such as Mask, Chemosh, or Iuz, a pantheist cleric can invoke them as needed, often serving as a link between worshipers and their deity in out of the way places, or serving an isolated community's varied religious needs.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Southern Cross Battloids [d6 Star Wars, Robotech]

Another piece of my "Tirolian Space" setting, which is found under the Robotech tag. There's more I could do with this, but I kinda ran out of steam.

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After the Aeolian-Zentraedi war, Robotechnology began to flourish on Aeolis III. Much of its surface had been damaged by a Zentraedi orbital bombardment late in the war, so the reconstruction relied heavily on technology contained in the repurposed battle fortress. During the war, a series of non-transformable battloids, termed "Destroids", were produced for military purposes. Early examples of Aeolian Robotechnology, and designed as combat units against the 10 meter tall Zentraedi, these early destroids were massive, slow, and heavily armored.

Post-war, the technology was refined, and a new series of non-transformable battloids was produced. Smaller, taking advantages in advances in design and a mission not centered on fighting 10 meter tall humanoids, they were also built without the expense of basic space maneuverability units. The older destroids were designed to be operated on the hulls of capital ships, serving as supplemental anti-fighter weapons. As such, they had basic zero-gravity maneuvering thrusters, allowing them to return to their ship should other safeguards fail. The civil defense-oriented Southern Cross battloids largely disposed of these, decreasing cost. Renegade Zentraedi, a problem on post-war Aeolis III, would be engaged with other units (including the VHT-1 and remaining VF-1s)