One of my players is hellbent on massacring a tribe of "bandits" that killed his parents. long story short, after about a year of adventuring, the campaign has brought the players close to Dren's (Character name) home. They were attacked while on a train by these bandits and Dren wishes to peruse and destroy them all. The bandits are residing at a nearby oasis and due to their culture and the culture of the other nomadic "tribes" oasis are considered sacred places, where no blood can be spilt. As such, the tribe members would not (Unless perhaps in danger of total anhelation) engage in combat with the players if attacked at the Oasis due to fear or respect for one of their Gods. Speaking of their Gods, in my world the Gods are quite active, sending paladins on quests and starting cults to fulfil missions in an attempt to gain power. (Longer story we don't have time for, I'm thinking the campaign might end with a Divine war).
It makes sense that the Goddess of Life and Fertility that the Tribes worship holds these oases in sacred regard, much as most deities would hold temples devoted to them as their sacred places. I do not think she would take kindly to combat occurring in her sacred places, especially as a Goddess of Life.
TLDR: My question is, how does a Goddess of Life (In a world where Gods are known to be active) respond to blood being spilt in a place that is sacred to her, or held as sacred to her followers. What punishment, if any would she give to the aggressors.
A situation almost exactly like this occurs when Viserys Targaryen draws his sword and threatens Daenerys with it. He thinks Khal Drogo and his Dothraki will be unable to intervene, because they’re in their sacred city where blood cannot be spilt. Instead, Drogo has Viserys restrained, then pours a pot of molten gold over his head, killing him without spilling a drop of blood.
Something like this could definitely work for retribution without bringing in a god.
she would directly prevent this action granting the tribes members resistance to all damage.She would attempt to discourage this act dealing 1d8 radiant damage at the start of each turn to the Agressive party never enough to kill them but to seriously discourage them from continuing.
TLDR: My question is, how does a Goddess of Life (In a world where Gods are known to be active) respond to blood being spilt in a place that is sacred to her, or held as sacred to her followers. What punishment, if any would she give to the aggressors.
Depends on details of the powers of the gods. An obvious option is striking the transgressors infertile, though that may not slow down PCs very much.
The most "motherly" thing I can think of is, "If you don't share your toys, then no one gets to play with them."
i.e. If enough blood is spilled by the oasis, then the oasis disappears. (Either turning into a mirage, or drying up.)
Alternatively, the Life Domain is known for resurrection and healing magics. The spilled blood could be transformed into guardians of the oasis.
i.e. For every 1 creature killed, 2+ terrain appropriate beasts are created, which are hostile to the aggressors. The more blood that is spilled in a short period of time, the more powerful the manifested creatures could be. "Life" doesn't need to include Humanoids.
In this scenario, the "Guardians of the Oasis" killing aggressors is like a doctor excising cancerous cells.
The area would be under the effects of the Hallow spell at all times and it could not be dispelled. I doubt very much that the party will care.
Once the bandits are all dead, it very much depends on things you haven't told us.
Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Why were the parents killed?
For a goddess of Life and Fertility, killing someone's parents would be a serious crime indeed. The bad guys deserve to die.
The bandits are most likely bad people, as such, if they killed Dren's parents, they deserve to die. A goddess of Life and Fertility is usually kindly in nature and would approve. If it wasn't them, she should make that very clear. Perhaps vivid dreams, signs of where the true bad folks are, or hiding the oasis so the party can't find it. In the unlikely event that the bandits are somehow good people, the bandits should offer an apology and some remuneration as well. If the players kill them at that point, for whatever reason, then the goddess has every right to be angry.
The most obvious punishment would be for her to make them atone for what they have done by denying them any healing from herself or her agents. Atoning would require a long and difficult quest. If they want healing, they will need to worship a different deity. The other obvious punishment would be to deny them having children ever again. Again, they would need to do a quest to atone. Time for a new deity.
Since the characters are unlikely to care about progeny, the only thing the goddess could do is refuse them all magic, and send agents to hunt them down and kill them and all their living relatives. I can't believe a good goddess would do such a thing.
My advice would be that you as a DM do nothing. Let the players decide how to roleplay their characters and do as they see fit. You get dead bandits, the players are happy and that's all that really matters.
What does the Goddess of Life think about those who killed your PC's parents? What does she think of murderers fleeing to her hallowed grounds for protection? What do the other tribes, who apparently revere the Goddess of Life, think of these murderers? Is murder just fine as long as it's not at an oasis?
They shouldn't just get unilateral protection here IMO. NPC actions should have consequences just like PC actions should. If these guys are killing people and attacking trains, maybe they shouldn't actually fall under the protection of the Goddess of Life.
Surely there would be some sort of self-defense clause in there, as long as they're not the first to spill blood, then they can fight back. Otherwise these clans are all sitting ducks for outsiders.
Or, the PCs go in and massacre this tribe, and in the process anger all the other tribes, who will set aside their normal infighting and come together to destroy this invader who has defiled their sacred space. Even if the party leaves the area, there will be a constant stream of people sent to bring them to justice. The god doesn't need to step in -- what's the point of having followers if you have to do everything yourself. She already gives the clerics all those spell slots; they need to put them to use.
What does the Goddess of Life think about those who killed your PC's parents? What does she think of murderers fleeing to her hallowed grounds for protection? What do the other tribes, who apparently revere the Goddess of Life, think of these murderers? Is murder just fine as long as it's not at an oasis?
It's plausible enough to have a policy of "no violence here, take it outside", though there's often an associated means of encouraging taking it outside.
Depends if you would like the goddess to provide protection or retribution.
Protection options:
All damage inflicted in the oasis rebounds onto the attacker
If attacking with a weapon the weapon breaks. If it is magical, it is destroyed. If attacking with a spell, the spell is *taken* from the casters mind. They need to relearn it to be able to cast it again.
Attacking sends the aggressor onto the etheral plane indefinitely
A Solar, or similarly more-powerful-than-the-players entity appears and intervenes and beats the attacker to unconsciousness
A Solar, or similarly more-powerful-than-the-players entity appears and teleports the aggressors deep into the desert
Retribution options;
Attackers are cursed and turned into undead. The player gets his revenge and then becomes a NPC villian
Attackers are cursed and healing potions and spells now cause wounds on the character
Attackers are 'marked' and receive no hospitality or assistance from any place that follow the gods. Anyone who shelters them or aids them in any way is punished by the gods
Attacker is cursed to be forever thirsty - lose 2 points of CON permanently
Whatever you do, just make sure that the player knows exactly what will happen - narrative and game mechanics - before they do anything. This way it is not you doing it to the player, but the player doing it to themselves if they want to go down this path.
Punishment :- Dren can't seem to find any shade at any of these oases, a slight wind always seems to shift the palms just as he get comfortable... it's is uncomfortably hot as if he were sitting atop a barren dune... the waters of the oases taste saline to him making him retch...
Penance is possible :- The Goddess of Life is forgiving and has a favour it ask to regain hers... ( any adventure hook that fits a quest for the Goddess of Life basically)
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
To make htis really interesting, perhaps have the bandit seeking penance, and is running an orphanage or something. Make it a moral conundrum for the player.
For the oasis, I love the idea of spilt blood awakening guardians. That would be really cool.
I would also consider a Curse to be an adequate punishment. The goddess being one of life, then perhaps the cursed person finds that they are afflicted with life - green shoots grow painfully from their skin, whenever they make a long rest they begin to take root, they are always thirsty, food does nothing but sunlight can sustain them. If they do not appease the goddess or have the curse removed, then they will one day find themselves rooted to the spot, and a tree will begin to grow from them.
How about this? The Goddess Of Life and Fertility is actually Evil.
She is a goddess of Death. She is called the "Goddess of Life and Fertility" because those are things she takes away, and everyone *fears* her so much they try and call her nice names to appease her. Sacrifices are made to her in hopes she will turn her attention to others. Dren's parents were killed as sacrifices, and the "bandits" were doing a holy duty. Blood is not to be spilled at the holy sites of the goddess because she *loves* it, and nobody wants to get her going.
Dren was not taught about this. His parents were killed before they had a chance to teach him. It could be something kept secret, and only passed on during a holy rite for the passage to adulthood.
So he's hot on the trail of the "bandits" and he's going to follow them to her her holy oasis and kill them. She's going to love that. He will earn her favor for it. The "bandits" will do everything they can to avoid it, and will only fight back if there is no other option. Doing so could destroy many tribes.
Once the "bandits" are dead, Dren will be granted the favor of the Goddess of Life and Fertility. Perhaps he will be offered the chance to become her representative. He will travel the lands, his *own* life protected, his *own* family safe and secure when he has one, (the goddess will see to that) their crops and animals will flourish. So long as he keeps killing. If the party helps him, they get to be "bandits" too.
One of my players is hellbent on massacring a tribe of "bandits" that killed his parents. long story short, after about a year of adventuring, the campaign has brought the players close to Dren's (Character name) home. They were attacked while on a train by these bandits and Dren wishes to peruse and destroy them all. The bandits are residing at a nearby oasis and due to their culture and the culture of the other nomadic "tribes" oasis are considered sacred places, where no blood can be spilt. As such, the tribe members would not (Unless perhaps in danger of total anhelation) engage in combat with the players if attacked at the Oasis due to fear or respect for one of their Gods. Speaking of their Gods, in my world the Gods are quite active, sending paladins on quests and starting cults to fulfil missions in an attempt to gain power. (Longer story we don't have time for, I'm thinking the campaign might end with a Divine war).
It makes sense that the Goddess of Life and Fertility that the Tribes worship holds these oases in sacred regard, much as most deities would hold temples devoted to them as their sacred places. I do not think she would take kindly to combat occurring in her sacred places, especially as a Goddess of Life.
TLDR:
My question is, how does a Goddess of Life (In a world where Gods are known to be active) respond to blood being spilt in a place that is sacred to her, or held as sacred to her followers.
What punishment, if any would she give to the aggressors.
Spoilers for Game of Thrones season/book 1:
A situation almost exactly like this occurs when Viserys Targaryen draws his sword and threatens Daenerys with it. He thinks Khal Drogo and his Dothraki will be unable to intervene, because they’re in their sacred city where blood cannot be spilt. Instead, Drogo has Viserys restrained, then pours a pot of molten gold over his head, killing him without spilling a drop of blood.
Something like this could definitely work for retribution without bringing in a god.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
she would directly prevent this action granting the tribes members resistance to all damage.She would attempt to discourage this act dealing 1d8 radiant damage at the start of each turn to the Agressive party never enough to kill them but to seriously discourage them from continuing.
Depends on details of the powers of the gods. An obvious option is striking the transgressors infertile, though that may not slow down PCs very much.
The most "motherly" thing I can think of is, "If you don't share your toys, then no one gets to play with them."
i.e. If enough blood is spilled by the oasis, then the oasis disappears. (Either turning into a mirage, or drying up.)
Alternatively, the Life Domain is known for resurrection and healing magics. The spilled blood could be transformed into guardians of the oasis.
i.e. For every 1 creature killed, 2+ terrain appropriate beasts are created, which are hostile to the aggressors. The more blood that is spilled in a short period of time, the more powerful the manifested creatures could be. "Life" doesn't need to include Humanoids.
In this scenario, the "Guardians of the Oasis" killing aggressors is like a doctor excising cancerous cells.
The area would be under the effects of the Hallow spell at all times and it could not be dispelled. I doubt very much that the party will care.
Once the bandits are all dead, it very much depends on things you haven't told us.
Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Why were the parents killed?
For a goddess of Life and Fertility, killing someone's parents would be a serious crime indeed. The bad guys deserve to die.
The bandits are most likely bad people, as such, if they killed Dren's parents, they deserve to die. A goddess of Life and Fertility is usually kindly in nature and would approve. If it wasn't them, she should make that very clear. Perhaps vivid dreams, signs of where the true bad folks are, or hiding the oasis so the party can't find it. In the unlikely event that the bandits are somehow good people, the bandits should offer an apology and some remuneration as well. If the players kill them at that point, for whatever reason, then the goddess has every right to be angry.
The most obvious punishment would be for her to make them atone for what they have done by denying them any healing from herself or her agents. Atoning would require a long and difficult quest. If they want healing, they will need to worship a different deity. The other obvious punishment would be to deny them having children ever again. Again, they would need to do a quest to atone. Time for a new deity.
Since the characters are unlikely to care about progeny, the only thing the goddess could do is refuse them all magic, and send agents to hunt them down and kill them and all their living relatives. I can't believe a good goddess would do such a thing.
My advice would be that you as a DM do nothing. Let the players decide how to roleplay their characters and do as they see fit. You get dead bandits, the players are happy and that's all that really matters.
<Insert clever signature here>
What does the Goddess of Life think about those who killed your PC's parents? What does she think of murderers fleeing to her hallowed grounds for protection? What do the other tribes, who apparently revere the Goddess of Life, think of these murderers? Is murder just fine as long as it's not at an oasis?
They shouldn't just get unilateral protection here IMO. NPC actions should have consequences just like PC actions should. If these guys are killing people and attacking trains, maybe they shouldn't actually fall under the protection of the Goddess of Life.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Surely there would be some sort of self-defense clause in there, as long as they're not the first to spill blood, then they can fight back. Otherwise these clans are all sitting ducks for outsiders.
Or, the PCs go in and massacre this tribe, and in the process anger all the other tribes, who will set aside their normal infighting and come together to destroy this invader who has defiled their sacred space. Even if the party leaves the area, there will be a constant stream of people sent to bring them to justice. The god doesn't need to step in -- what's the point of having followers if you have to do everything yourself. She already gives the clerics all those spell slots; they need to put them to use.
It's plausible enough to have a policy of "no violence here, take it outside", though there's often an associated means of encouraging taking it outside.
Depends if you would like the goddess to provide protection or retribution.
Protection options:
Retribution options;
Whatever you do, just make sure that the player knows exactly what will happen - narrative and game mechanics - before they do anything. This way it is not you doing it to the player, but the player doing it to themselves if they want to go down this path.
Punishment :- Dren can't seem to find any shade at any of these oases, a slight wind always seems to shift the palms just as he get comfortable... it's is uncomfortably hot as if he were sitting atop a barren dune... the waters of the oases taste saline to him making him retch...
Penance is possible :- The Goddess of Life is forgiving and has a favour it ask to regain hers... ( any adventure hook that fits a quest for the Goddess of Life basically)
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
To make htis really interesting, perhaps have the bandit seeking penance, and is running an orphanage or something. Make it a moral conundrum for the player.
For the oasis, I love the idea of spilt blood awakening guardians. That would be really cool.
I would also consider a Curse to be an adequate punishment. The goddess being one of life, then perhaps the cursed person finds that they are afflicted with life - green shoots grow painfully from their skin, whenever they make a long rest they begin to take root, they are always thirsty, food does nothing but sunlight can sustain them. If they do not appease the goddess or have the curse removed, then they will one day find themselves rooted to the spot, and a tree will begin to grow from them.
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How about this? The Goddess Of Life and Fertility is actually Evil.
She is a goddess of Death. She is called the "Goddess of Life and Fertility" because those are things she takes away, and everyone *fears* her so much they try and call her nice names to appease her. Sacrifices are made to her in hopes she will turn her attention to others. Dren's parents were killed as sacrifices, and the "bandits" were doing a holy duty. Blood is not to be spilled at the holy sites of the goddess because she *loves* it, and nobody wants to get her going.
Dren was not taught about this. His parents were killed before they had a chance to teach him. It could be something kept secret, and only passed on during a holy rite for the passage to adulthood.
So he's hot on the trail of the "bandits" and he's going to follow them to her her holy oasis and kill them. She's going to love that. He will earn her favor for it. The "bandits" will do everything they can to avoid it, and will only fight back if there is no other option. Doing so could destroy many tribes.
Once the "bandits" are dead, Dren will be granted the favor of the Goddess of Life and Fertility. Perhaps he will be offered the chance to become her representative. He will travel the lands, his *own* life protected, his *own* family safe and secure when he has one, (the goddess will see to that) their crops and animals will flourish. So long as he keeps killing. If the party helps him, they get to be "bandits" too.
<Insert clever signature here>