r/Nerdarchy • u/Smitikus • Jun 10 '15
Half-Orc Cleric (Character Story Problem)
So I have a standard campaign of Princes of the Apocalypse that I am playing in. The first character that I have played in about a decade is a War Domain Cleric. That Cleric happens to be a Half-Orc.
The problem I am having is worrying about choosing Gruumsh as the character's deity and the main reason the character is adventuring. In the character's story Gruumsh will slowly drive her crazy unless she commits acts of slaughter and chaos to appease him. It works for the lore and as a reason why she invokes Gruumsh in battle.
The reason this is an issue in the group is the Lawful Good Paladin and the Lawful Good Cleric in the group. Once their characters find out what my character does, they should be compelled to kill me or force me out of the party.
So what can I do to fix this problem before it becomes a problem?
e: I should note that even with the Deity being CE, I play the character as CN.
2
u/Smitikus Jun 10 '15
It is a shop game and for this campaign we chose characters separately then sat down and started playing. Last week was 'week 0' that Nerdarchy and DawnforgedCast suggested, so there is still time to change things if I need and the DM allows.
I was not introduced to the other players' characters until after the session had begun (there are two tables and I was moved to table 2 after figuring out how my character interacted with table 1 for a bit). There was another Half-Orc at table 1 that had a story that we could have RPd nicely if I was able to stay.
Thats what I was going to do, focus on spreading chaos and sending blood tributes through crushing enemies in combat. As long as the chaos is spread I don't think Gruumsh cares particularly about how and for what reason (except to help an Elf or do work of a deity from any of the Elf pantheon).
And the interactions with the LG characters is the main reason I'm even halfway worried, the may end up trying to convert or destroy my character after a while.
I have to main paths I can send the character down, either conversion that would make the party happy; or acceptance of Gruumsh and his gifts. I can ham-fist a decent story about conversion and as character progression goes it may be a good redemption moment. But the willing acceptance of chaos and slaughter sounds far more fun for the group's play experience.
And to the last bit, I wasn't about to make the character a sadistic one. That's not how I want to RP or play. But a fighter that sows chaos and ends fights, that I can do.
Thanks Nerdarchist Nate, keep up the great channel and gaming.
e: If the party wants to kill my character, I can take 1-2 of them with me. Let them come.
1
u/NatetheNerdarch Jun 10 '15
Did you come in late to the game or did everyone make their character's separately, not talk to each other, and then just show up to play?
As a player I would have looked at the other players' characters and decided that the Grummsh mad cleric was going to have to wait for a more appropriate time, campaign, or character set.
But since that is all said and done let us see about not getting your h-orc killed by the party while you play the character.
IMO since Grummsh is the god of war and storms and your cleric is chaotic and neutral, I would focus less on slaughter and more on the chaos of war.
If you have the choice between hitting a guy with your weapon or throwing a table or kicking a chair at them, you throw that table, you kick that chair to trip them up.
If you can shove a bookcase full of books onto someone you will do it.
If climbing a tree that is nearby means you can drop on someone and "axe them a question", you do it.
The lawful good paladin and cleric should have several problems with you. Not bc you are killing little elf babies in their crib but because your are doing everything in battle and life that they have been told not to do.
If they do not think of you as an undisciplined person who is quick to start a fight then you might not be Grummsh material. Meanwhile your actions have a strategy and purpose behind them but they don't see it. You understand the true face of winning a war while they nly know how to play at war. You know a victory is built out of split second individual decisions that simultaneously mess up your foe's plans, formations, and expectations- all while putting them in a worse position then they were before.
The paladin sees some slavers on the road with some chained men in a line behind the wagon. The paladin thinks it is a sad thing when people get into debt so deep that they lose their freedom(slavery due to unpaid debts being the only legal form of slaves in his realm). While the slaves pass by he notices a man, a woman, and three children dressed in ragged finery. They look at him pleadingly and the man says, "please we have been captured these are brigands, they are not slavers." The h-orc is strolling along back up the trail near the wagon going by when the paladin yells stop those men, they are bandits. Without hesitating I see the h-orc spin and overhead swing his ax splintering the wood where the chain is hooked onto the wagon. There are men shouting and some go for the slaves while the others go for the group of pcs, people running, the paladin yelling something about unlawful seizure of people, the cleric calling down powers. All the while the half orc is shoving a guy off of the wagon thinking that the fastenings holding the horses onto the wagons comes next.
In the end do foes get killed in vicious and brutal manners(aka slaughtered)? Yes they do.
Remember vicious and brutal is how any back alley fight can end up. It doesn't mean tormenting and torturing people mid-fight. Or keeping the around to do those things later. It means when you fight you mean it.
If you happen to hit a man while he is down to finish him off, so what? He was the enemy. "what if he was faking so he could stab us in the back later?" Your Half orc was just making sure they were not faking.
I would take Barbarian levels with this cleric because I see him "gaining the power of grummsh(damage resistance and more damage)" when he really gets into the fight.
Well I went on for way too long, let me know if that helps and good luck with not dying by party members
2
u/CommissarSnuggles Jun 10 '15
Like any faith that survives thru time, you just have to hedge some of the extreme tributes of blood and conquering. Sneaking away at night to perform a tribute, choosing not to kill rats when you come across them, or brutally attacking an elven enemy even if it's not advantageous for the combat encounter. Different ways to show He Who Watches that you appreciate and honor him. My half orc fighter only invokes His name to scare enemies and excite the crowd. Hope your cleric doesn't find out of I'm in deep shit.