Hey guys,

Running my first real campaign in a couple of weeks (Storm Lords Wraith).

One of my player/friends has just told me he wants to play a Tempest Cleric (he doesn't know the Campaign yet).

Do I ask him to rechoose? Is this a blessing in disguise for me as DM? Is he going to be hindered by the content?

If I wasn't to intervene with his choice, would it be a dumb idea to give any Talos supporters a degree of Thunder/Lightning resitance?

I mean, he'd be using thunder dmg against supporters of a God of Thunder? 

He's only just told me, so I don't know whether to use the God of Talos within his backstory?

Any help greatly appreciated!

I wouldn’t change anything. Sometimes you just make an interesting choice by luck. And I certainly wouldn’t penalize anyone. It’s not like he metagamed and chose this. Just go with it and have fun. Maybe he’ll have to make some interesting role play choices. 

I wouldn't give anything any special resistance and depending on the players playstyle if the campaign will be heavy at the end with mobs that are resistant to thunder - id let him find a ring or something that allows him to change damage types to any of the elemental damages - having a player have their class skills be totally ineffective is a recipe for an unhappy player. 

Definitely let him know what campaign you intend to run, and that you're expecting the party to run into a lot of thunder & lightning resistance. But still leave the choice up to him. Clerics have plenty of radiant damage they can fall back on, so he definitely has ways he could work around it if he's still intent on going with tempest domain.

I don't know Storm Lord's Wrath in any detail, so I'm not sure how often the resistances will be an issue. I'd be hesitant to give him ways around the resistances, unless it's coming up in every other fight.

Thank for the replies above guys, its my first time seeking help as a DM and I really appreciate each response.

Starting the campaign in a couple of weeks. I'm having an informal chat with my players tonight, followed by a Session Zero next. I'll be telling them the campaign either tonight or next week.

I like the idea of sharing this 'issue' with the player, and allowing them the opportunity to figure out the resolution themselves, through roleplay or mechanics. I think I was taking on too much of the responsibility! 

Though I hear the words of caution, I may still give the Talos followers a little thunder resistance to start with. I feel frustrating the player a little might push him to finding his own solution from the start. Letting him know there's a problem he has to solve. There are a fair amount of Talos Cultists in the campaign, but they are not the only combatants, so again I foresee his pleasure when he can hit something without resistance!

I think my main concern is still the background element. If he does choose to follow Talos (or a different Storm based God), and the object of the campaign is the defeat the Talos followers, I don't want the other characters to fall out/turn against him. I know some players/DMs like this depth of character, but I prefer a bit more harmony in my groups (all working towards the common goal). Maybe I can build in a point where he can choose to change his God, almost in opposition of what these Cultists are doing?

Just because he worships Talos doesn’t mean he agrees with the actions of every worshipper of Talos. Maybe the cult is a religious splinter group. Or maybe the PC is. And now the PC needs to fight the cult to prove his version of the faith is the correct interpretation and favored by Talos.

I’d say if you’re going to give cultists resistance because they worship a god, then the PC should get the same resistance if they worship the same god. And that really can open a can of worms about different clerics and why don’t they get resistance to their god’s stuff. 

Both fair points Xalthu.

Just run the campaign as is. Don't penalize or criticize the player for their choices. Your job is to help everybody have a good time not target a player for choices they made during creation.

Clerics are not high dps characters unless they are exceptionally min maxed. Putting a player in a situation you know ahead of time will be frustrating does not strike me as fair. I would share what the campaign is and give him the opportunity to switch to a light cleric - or if he really wants the tempest I would allow something reasonable like his damage to be cold or force - but hey to each their own. 

I will tell you as a player and dm - if a dm let me play a class that was going to be ineffective given the campaign (Since I didn't know what the campaign was when I picked it) I would feel like it was a gotcha moment and possibly leave the campaign. 

Thanks all. I have spoken to the player, he now knows the rough outline of the campaign and the implications his character choice may have, but wants to stick to his choice as a Tempest Cleric, and I dig him choosing a class he wants to play despite any frustrations it might bring upon him. 

I'm still a little undecided whether to give the Talos Cultists any Thunder resistance. By the book they don't have any (which I personally think is a missed opportunity!) there aren't actually all that many cultists compared to other opponents, so I will judge it on how the players are doing  and throw in resistence if they are breezing through encounters. (We're ony talking about specific resistance from 1 out of 6 characters, other opponents in the campaign will have different resistences different players! And hey, the tempest cleric has other attack options/ combat opponents that aren't resistent - its his choice if he wants to keep banging his head on the same door). They are a party of 6, we're all good friends (in and out of game), no one is going to walk away frustrated.

Appreciate all the help, and experience of the DM community.

Looking forward to getting some experience under my belt.

Quote from Son_of_Aefio >>

 

I'm still a little undecided whether to give the Talos Cultists any Thunder resistance. By the book they don't have any (which I personally think is a missed opportunity!) there aren't actually all that many cultists compared to other opponents, so I will judge it on how the players are doing  and throw in resistence if they are breezing through encounters.

 So if they were a Forge Cleric would you give them fire resistance?

Do you mean in the example of there being a Forge Cleric in the group, and the goal of the campaign was to defeat the cultists of the same God as the Forge Cleric worships? I guess I would question it?

But as mentioned, I am green to Dming. Maybe I should just read the campaign text verbatim, and ignore any character influence.

I'm leaning towards Xalthu's advice, maybe the Cleric will see the Cultists as a splinter group that he doesn't approve of, and it enrages him, maybe he secretly does approve and he pulls his punches? Either way, giving the player the freedom of playing it out in his role play, and rewarding him by adapting as a DM. 

I'm playing this with them, not against them.

Quote from Son_of_Aefio >>

 

I'm playing this with them, not against them.

 Giving the enemy resistance to a PCs main attack type IS playing against them.