So my dnd group is planning a few oneshots of all single class parties.( yes we are aware the balance will be bad but games will be tailored for each party)
And the discussion of the paladin's session came up (with a scenario of hunting down myrkul cultists). And 2 of my players have asked if they could worship 2 of the chaos gods from warhammer fantasy. (Khorne for oath of slaughter, and Nurgle for oath of pestilence) I'm having trouble creating a justifiable reason for them to A) worship these gods(rule of cool says yes). B) lore adjacent(as long as it is vallid enough and can be somewhat defended with facts from any respective/approriate/relevant lore) reason for them to be hunting down myrkul cultists.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. The group as a whole is open to the use of those gods just trying to iron out some details to make it make some sense.
Assuming you are playing in the FR, just find a similar god and use them. Theres certainly precedent for FR gods existing in other pantheons and other worlds. Maybe they use a different name in the different worlds, and this character, for some reason, knows the hod by that name. Really, the god will have little game mechanics impact on the character, so I’d let them flavor it however they like.
And I’d put the why on the player. Make them explain why they call the god something different, and why they’re motivated to do this.
I’d also add, by RAW, there is no requirement that paladins have any affiliation with a god. If that’s the way you play in your world, that would certainly take precedence, but the rules don’t care if there’s a god involved at all.
While I do appreciate the advice(and I will research some equivalent gods to substitute for) it technically didn't answer my questions.
Let me rephrase, other than the standard rule of killing myrkul cultists on sight. What would be a convincing reason for a follower of khorne or nurgle to hunt a myrkul cult down.
And for the record my group has rule zeroed that all paladins and clerics must follow a God or pantheon for rp purposes(we really get into character and enjoy a good theological debate). The only exception is oathbreakers.
While I do appreciate the advice(and I will research some equivalent gods to substitute for) it technically didn't answer my questions.
Let me rephrase, other than the standard rule of killing myrkul cultists on sight. What would be a convincing reason for a follower of khorne or nurgle to hunt a myrkul cult down.
That’s what I meant by let the player figure it out. If they want to import a new god into the setting, cool. But that doesn’t mean it has to be on you to make it work. Make/allow them to do the world building of how that fits into the existing world.
And I’d also say it’s less important why a follower of a certain god might do something, and more about why their character might. Sure, maybe they’re following orders from the church. Easy-peasy. But maybe they aren’t. Maybe their church is neutral on the issue, and the higher-ups have their own thoughts about this character’s personal crusade. Or maybe they are in conflict with their church’s stance. Let those things be part of the backstory — with your approval, of course.
Firstly, as it is a one-shot I don't know that deep backstory and motivation is of the utmost importance. I know it is good for people to have a backstory that they can use for RP purposes, but for a one-shot I just don't feel the lore needs to be that deep. They want to follow some chaos gods from a different setting? Ok, why not. It's a one-shot. If they really love the character and want to use them in another campaign or something, then you can flesh out the details, but for the limited amount of time you'll have, I'm just not sure that it really matters.
As for "why would a follower of such-and-such god do this?" that is for them as the player to decide. You set the scenario and they get to come up with why their character is on-board with the story. When I do my long campaigns I do craft things in such a way that the characters would have a probable desire to engage with the story, but that's really up to the player to make sure their character is engaged and has whatever motivation. ESPECIALLY in a one-shot, when for the most part there's not enough time to give everyone separate motivation to be part of the quest, it is up to the player to say "yeah, my character is here to do the thing."
But if you want an answer to your broad question: I don't know anything about khorne or nurgle, but some basic reasons followers of these gods would want to hunt down members of a cult of myrkul: the cultists are working to give myrkul enough power to destroy their gods (khorne and nurgle). The cultists sacrificed other followers of khorne and nurgle in their rituals. The cultists stole powerful artifacts of khorne and nurgle to use in their activities. Their gods (khorne and nurgle) came to them in a dream and said to prevenet some kind of catastrophe or to further their plans, the cultists must be prevented from doing x,y,z by killing them. Pretty standard stuff for a one-shot, I think.
I mean, Chaos gods don’t typically come across as too picky about the details when it comes to who their followers kill in any case. Especially Mr. “Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!”
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So my dnd group is planning a few oneshots of all single class parties.( yes we are aware the balance will be bad but games will be tailored for each party)
And the discussion of the paladin's session came up (with a scenario of hunting down myrkul cultists). And 2 of my players have asked if they could worship 2 of the chaos gods from warhammer fantasy. (Khorne for oath of slaughter, and Nurgle for oath of pestilence) I'm having trouble creating a justifiable reason for them to A) worship these gods(rule of cool says yes). B) lore adjacent(as long as it is vallid enough and can be somewhat defended with facts from any respective/approriate/relevant lore) reason for them to be hunting down myrkul cultists.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. The group as a whole is open to the use of those gods just trying to iron out some details to make it make some sense.
As the DM, tell them that and the answer is "NO they can't"
Assuming you are playing in the FR, just find a similar god and use them. Theres certainly precedent for FR gods existing in other pantheons and other worlds. Maybe they use a different name in the different worlds, and this character, for some reason, knows the hod by that name. Really, the god will have little game mechanics impact on the character, so I’d let them flavor it however they like.
And I’d put the why on the player. Make them explain why they call the god something different, and why they’re motivated to do this.
I’d also add, by RAW, there is no requirement that paladins have any affiliation with a god. If that’s the way you play in your world, that would certainly take precedence, but the rules don’t care if there’s a god involved at all.
While I do appreciate the advice(and I will research some equivalent gods to substitute for) it technically didn't answer my questions.
Let me rephrase, other than the standard rule of killing myrkul cultists on sight. What would be a convincing reason for a follower of khorne or nurgle to hunt a myrkul cult down.
And for the record my group has rule zeroed that all paladins and clerics must follow a God or pantheon for rp purposes(we really get into character and enjoy a good theological debate). The only exception is oathbreakers.
That’s what I meant by let the player figure it out. If they want to import a new god into the setting, cool. But that doesn’t mean it has to be on you to make it work. Make/allow them to do the world building of how that fits into the existing world.
And I’d also say it’s less important why a follower of a certain god might do something, and more about why their character might. Sure, maybe they’re following orders from the church. Easy-peasy. But maybe they aren’t. Maybe their church is neutral on the issue, and the higher-ups have their own thoughts about this character’s personal crusade. Or maybe they are in conflict with their church’s stance. Let those things be part of the backstory — with your approval, of course.
Firstly, as it is a one-shot I don't know that deep backstory and motivation is of the utmost importance. I know it is good for people to have a backstory that they can use for RP purposes, but for a one-shot I just don't feel the lore needs to be that deep. They want to follow some chaos gods from a different setting? Ok, why not. It's a one-shot. If they really love the character and want to use them in another campaign or something, then you can flesh out the details, but for the limited amount of time you'll have, I'm just not sure that it really matters.
As for "why would a follower of such-and-such god do this?" that is for them as the player to decide. You set the scenario and they get to come up with why their character is on-board with the story. When I do my long campaigns I do craft things in such a way that the characters would have a probable desire to engage with the story, but that's really up to the player to make sure their character is engaged and has whatever motivation. ESPECIALLY in a one-shot, when for the most part there's not enough time to give everyone separate motivation to be part of the quest, it is up to the player to say "yeah, my character is here to do the thing."
But if you want an answer to your broad question: I don't know anything about khorne or nurgle, but some basic reasons followers of these gods would want to hunt down members of a cult of myrkul: the cultists are working to give myrkul enough power to destroy their gods (khorne and nurgle). The cultists sacrificed other followers of khorne and nurgle in their rituals. The cultists stole powerful artifacts of khorne and nurgle to use in their activities. Their gods (khorne and nurgle) came to them in a dream and said to prevenet some kind of catastrophe or to further their plans, the cultists must be prevented from doing x,y,z by killing them. Pretty standard stuff for a one-shot, I think.
I mean, Chaos gods don’t typically come across as too picky about the details when it comes to who their followers kill in any case. Especially Mr. “Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!”