Atonement ideas

[Hairy Minotaur]

Hello brilliant minds,

In the game I DM, a CG cleric of a deity (CG also) who's domains are Strength and Earth, watched as most of the rest of the party beat down and killed a copper dragon to loot it's hoard.

The deity will be stripping this cleric of his divine abilities and only grant access to 0-level spells. I'm trying to come up with a suitable atonement for allowing a creature that so closely embodies everything his deity stands for, perish while his priest did nothing to stop it.

Any ideas?
Thanks HM

 

[The Lost Muse]

Making a journey to the underworld, contacting the spirit of the bronze dragon, and returning the treasure so that the spirit of the dragon may rest in peace?

Or perhaps the treasure is cursed ALA Pirates of the Carribean, and the cleric must recover all of it, while still maintaining a proper code of honor, before being able to atone.

 

[Ferret]

What if the deity wants the clerics to convince the party that what they did was wrong, that seems to feel more like what and atonment from a deity would be, rather then a quest. Of course this way there is no side quest but does encourage roleplay.

 

[LostSoul]

Ask the player what he thinks is a reasonable punishment. If he thinks everything is kosher, have him pay for an atonement spell and be done with it. (Tell him, though, that it's a great opportunity for him to plan out the direction of the next session for himself!)

He's already been punished - he didn't get to play while the rest of the group was laying the beat down on the copper dragon, did he?

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

He's already been punished - he didn't get to play while the rest of the group was laying the beat down on the copper dragon, did he?

He healed two of the party members so that they could help out with killing the dragon (although they never got the chance as it was dead before those two got there). He then took a share of the treasure, so his deity was viewing as guilty through inaction.

 

[LostSoul]

Let's leave the diety out of it for a moment.

The player decided to heal some other PCs so that they could go and fight. He could see his role in the group as the guy who keeps other PCs on their feet. Having nothing to do with his role in the game world.

He could have seen it as a betrayal of the other players if he didn't heal them.

Now he takes the loot. If he doesn't take a share of it, his character is going to be reduced in power in comparison with the other PCs at the table. Now he's forced to choose between playing a less effective character and having his character gimped (losing all his divine abilities).

Not much of a choice when you look at it like that.


I think it depends on the type of game your player wants to play. If he's all about the diety's wishes and playing a character beholden to them, then he'll want to atone. On the other hand, if he's all about killing things and taking their stuff, he might see it as if his guy is getting gimped (without recourse), and he didn't do anything wrong.

That's why I think you should ask your player what he wants to do.

 

[ThirdWizard]

There is a problem when a good character is in a group that does evil things.

There's a metagame issue at work. The PCs are not on the same page. Why is this cleric of a good god working with others who knowingly kill good things just for their stuff? This is a serious conflict of interest.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

In the game I DM, a CG cleric of a deity (CG also) who's domains are Strength and Earth, watched as most of the rest of the party beat down and killed a copper dragon to loot it's hoard.

The deity will be stripping this cleric of his divine abilities and only grant access to 0-level spells. I'm trying to come up with a suitable atonement for allowing a creature that so closely embodies everything his deity stands for, perish while his priest did nothing to stop it.

Some Questions:

1. Why did the party attack the Dragon? Did they just come across it, or did they actively track it down to its lair to kill it. If it was just part of a series of random encounters, I'd take it easy on him as he might have had little time to consider his actions. If they tracked it down he'd had had time to consider what was going on before the phrase "Roll for Initiative"

2. Does his CHARACTER KNOW what a Copper Dragon is? Does he know its alignment? Does he know about it's subtype (they have earth don't they)? Did his deity let him know the Dragon was an embodiement of his religion? Don't kick the guy for playing his character and not KNOWING the Monster Manual details of a Copper Dragon. Unless his religion has dogma about Copper Dragons, how the heck could he have known his God had a soft spot for him? If it DOES, did you tell him, or at least give him a Know (religion) roll to find out.

3. We are talking CG here. A chaotic action every once & a while ain't going to kill him. Or, as a God of Strength, the Dragon should have been strong enough to survive (though that's more of a CN/CE sort of idea).

All in all, I'm not sure what he did was so against his faith. Sounds like a kill something & take its stuff standard Adventurer Operating Procedure to me.

Unless he had some way of knowing Copper Dragons were so Important, I'd let it slide.

 

[diaglo]

a goodly act would be to use his share of the treasure to feed and clothe a community... perhaps the community the dragon cared for...
and become their protector and convince the party to do likewise...

a hook for further adventures.

yet still (the chaotic side) needs to have free will. so give the PC a choice. do this or do some other deed on the dragon's behalf.

perhaps the god knows that this dragon was one day meant to be a mount for a paladin or king or whatever...

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Some Questions:

1. Why did the party attack the Dragon? Did they just come across it, or did they actively track it down to its lair to kill it. If it was just part of a series of random encounters, I'd take it easy on him as he might have had little time to consider his actions. If they tracked it down he'd had had time to consider what was going on before the phrase "Roll for Initiative"

2. Does his CHARACTER KNOW what a Copper Dragon is? Does he know its alignment? Does he know about it's subtype (they have earth don't they)? Did his deity let him know the Dragon was an embodiement of his religion? Don't kick the guy for playing his character and not KNOWING the Monster Manual details of a Copper Dragon. Unless his religion has dogma about Copper Dragons, how the heck could he have known his God had a soft spot for him? If it DOES, did you tell him, or at least give him a Know (religion) roll to find out.

3. We are talking CG here. A chaotic action every once & a while ain't going to kill him. Or, as a God of Strength, the Dragon should have been strong enough to survive (though that's more of a CN/CE sort of idea).

All in all, I'm not sure what he did was so against his faith. Sounds like a kill something & take its stuff standard Adventurer Operating Procedure to me.

Unless he had some way of knowing Copper Dragons were so Important, I'd let it slide.

1) The party was fighting a lich and were losing, the dragon showed up as the fighting was occuring near it's lair. The dragon arrived and killed the lich, as thanks, the party (well half of it) turned on the dragon killing it and now seek the bulk of it's hoard.

2) Even if he were to claim ignorance about dragons, I think everyone would know "enemy of my enemy" and at least would have not immediately turned on the creature that saved their butts. The dragon missed a fort save and was compelled to sleep, the party essentially killed it while it laid helplessly. To me this just seems anti-good all around. Which is OK for the 2 CN party members who cast the spell and delivered the killing blows.

3) Chaotic? Sure but good? Hardly. Even if it was a (insert appropriately evil creature) that killed the lich and never touched the party (even though the dragon could've breathed and killed everyone in the room at once) would you thank it by killing it?