Ok, so I’ve been hammering away at my homebrew ttrpg-wargame and I decided to give clerics the ability to conjure troops. Different alignments get different things. So far, I’ve given clay golems to the good alignment, flesh golems to the evil alignment, and awakening plants to the chaotic alignment. I am unsure what to give to the lawful alignment.
To clarify the vibe I am going for, here’s a a paraphrased version of each one’s fluff text:
- “This clay golem you have given life to is a person. It is, by its nature, inclined towards kindness, helpfulness, and generosity.”
- “The flesh golem you have constructed is a person with a different alignment from yours. They respect you as their creator, but may rebel if you do not discipline them, or if they feel disrespected, or if they disagree with you strongly enough.”
- “You grant sapience and mobility to a number of plants of your choice. They may or may not appreciate this.”
Vibe-wise, whatever I give to the lawful alignment should be obedient, predictable, and honest. My first thought is to give the lawful alignment stone golems, as in animating statues. However, i think it needs to parallel the mass troop creation i have granted the chaotic alignment. I have a number of ideas, but everything I’ve come up with either doesnt seem to follow the Lawful vibe in at least one way (Animating armor seems very scary and somewhat evil) or doesnt seem sufficiently exceptional or awesome (You have a class feature that lets you rally a peasant mob? Watch me do that with a Persuasion roll.)
I am also very averse to giving them the ability to call down angels, as I think creatures that powerful or abstract should never be easy to call upon unless the DM wants them to be easy to call upon.
For a last bit of context, lawful-aligned clerics are basically paladins. So, a better version of the question would be how you think paladins would conjure or fabricate troops if they had a class ability to do so?
Animating armor seems very scary and somewhat evil
IMO that fits paladins’ zeal. Those who oppose them should fear the wrath of their righteousness, right? Taking a look at other piece of culture: “Smite Evil” does not leave a lot of gray area on both words.
That’s actually a good point. I forgot that armor is a work of art, sort of like a statue that you wear.
Ice/crystal golems. Crystal structures are very regular/organized and I would argue quite lawful.
My first thought is brass, as in a machine made of brass gears. Because a machine has nothing in its mind but the instructions it was created with. But that might be too sci-fi, depending on what vibe you’re going for.
My second thought is statues, either marble or copper? The monuments of the nation’s heroes. It might not have the massive numbers that chaos does, but law need not match chaos when it can contrast it.
I like the statue/monument idea.
You could give them the spirits of the righteous dead, the fallen soldiers and heroes of the realm that continue to fullfill their duty even in death.
Summoning undead is usually an evil act in most fantasy, but you can easily write it to suit this purpose.
Like a Lord of the Rings “fulfill your oath” sort of deal?
I was thinking of a scene from a Discworld book but that’s also a good example.
@SamuraiBeandog @ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling
Ooh this is a cool idea. And I wouldn’t worry about the evilness of the act since Lawful Evil is a Lawful alignment
I agree. In fact, already took the idea. Of course, more things is more gooder. I did a quick survey of my feats and realized the amount of features available to the lawful alignment is rather anemic.
It’s not a big deal but if you’re using my idea it would be nice to reply to my comment :]
Sorry. I just got excited and ran off with it.
All good.
I feel like if chaotic gets plants then they should summon animals.
Chaotic cleric is basically a druid, so honestly i should also give them animal troops. They already have an at-will speak with animals.
Mechanical would be the obvious choice. Hard to think of something more aligned to specific ‘codes’ (laws) than a robot, possibly clockwork.
Less obvious would be rectilinear quarried stone for its unyielding straight lines. Think the bot from Interstellar made of enchanted marble/obsidian.
You could also go for more of a literal interpretation in that they are formed of written laws on basically any material, written on paper for fast, vulnerable units, inscribed into stone for slow, resilient units, carved into the skin of corpses for a necromantic unit, etc.
Or take it in a more fluid direction by having them be akin to an air elemental, spoken into existence by legal decree.
