Introduction
The most important tool in storytelling is conflict. Through a tense narrative where different agents are pitted against each other for a myriad of possible reasons, a great emotional movement can emerge.
Taking sides is what comes naturally to humans, and is one of our basest insticts. By tapping into that psychological mindscape and triggering those feelings of righteousness, justice or punishment in a narrative enviroment that can offer complexity, we can hook our audience as storytellers and DMs and make them invest in the story that is unfolding before them. By presenting a conflict that flows naturally, and allowing the players to take either side of the conflict, or even to create their own, we can provide a much more visceral roleplaying experience that can unfold in unpredicable ways, compared to much more static and one-dimensional conflicts that feels scripted and obvious, drawing the players out of the reality of the fictional world.
This guide aims to provide players and DMs with the tools they need to explore such themes in their campaign and add a whole new dimension of nail-biting tension and emotion to their roleplaying sessions.
The first chapter, called Taking Sides presents a number of different factions, groups or circumstances in which conflict can grow wildly, and can serve as inspiration for both DMs and players. It is made with a modular design in mind, allowing anybody to take what they want, rearrange it as they see fit, and combine it as they desire. You can either select two or three of these factions and pit them against each other, using the plot seeds given to construct your conflict and its possible ways of development, or you can approach this chapter more like a resource rather than a tool, allowing yourself to create your own factions out of the templates given.
The second chapter is made up of the Strife Domain, a cleric subclass that can allow a player to tie in their character concept with the story's themes in a solid and mechanical way, accompanied by new spells specifically designed with the present themes in mind.
While the third chapter presents the Striving Order: a religious group that can be motivated by any number of reasons or goals. Three such possible plot hooks are given, but the gist of the matter lies in the incredibly dynamic and wide ranging statblocks offered for you to realize them in combat. Together with the short description of the Order's nature and possible function in a story, you can use the Striving Order to flesh out any kind of zealous group or organization.
Contents
| Page | Chapter |
|---|---|
| 3 | Taking Sides |
| 10 | Cleric Subclass: Strife Domain |
| 12 | The Striving Order |
| 17 | Credits |
Taking Sides
This chapter details 6 different factions thats you can use in your own games to flesh out your world and provide a dynamic environment for your players to interact with. These factions are designed in a modular way. You can use any or all of them, changing them as you see fit and according to advice. They can be used either as quest givers, a patron group for your party, enemies, or setpieces for the environment.
Your players can either get embroiled in their political tension, taking whichever side they think is more "right", potentially changing their mind midway through as the situation develops. Alternatively, your players could observe their presence and gain hints about important plots in your campaign. Seeing that an organization is investigating rumours about some deep-buried artifact underground can foreshadow the quest that might eventually come up later about that artifact, or it might motivate them to search for it on their own, effectively choosing to become a competitive faction on their own, entering the political game as a cohesive unit.
Each of these factions is built on a clear theme and flavor. You'll see factions that resemble secret governmental agencies, cults, freedom fighters, thieves' guilds, or wizardly circles. However, that flavor is merely the salad's dressing. The substance lies in the psychological profile detailed throughout the faction's descriptions, letting you know not just what a faction is, but why it is that. You can then use that information to dissect and manipulate the faction's concept in any way you want, now that you understand its whole existence completely.
However, for a why to exist, there always needs to be context. A criminal acts in a way that he or she does in response to their environment. As such, for the factions to have true existential reasons, and substance behind a facade, they have all been placed in a specific yet simple setting. All of these factions exist in a world that has just exited a rule by the Illithid, after an arduous struggle. They are characterized by that anxiety-inducing sense of freedom after a time of order, in a world where each person must now pick up what is left of their lives and make something out of the void that has been left behind.
Each faction attempts to explore a specific theme under its scope, which is nevertheless universal and completely human. It can be applied to any circumstance that can be made relevant, in any setting or time period. To illustrate this fact, each faction ends with a 'This Faction in Your World' segment, which will help you understand the Core Idea of the faction and translate it into anything you want.
Each faction is detailed in the following format: A broad and general description (sometimes with flavor text) is followed by that faction's Manifesto, its practical Goals, its Methods and Flaws in its search to attain its goals, and its Means, which briefly describe the assets in its possession, and by extension its scale and influence.
Factions
| Faction | Description |
|---|---|
| The Mauve Order | The Mauve Order is a group of Illithid sympathizers who miss the safety of subservience and seek to bring the alien rule back. Their Core Idea is that of an individual not wanting to take responsibility for their life. |
| The Protectorate | The Protectorate is a secret agency that seeks to prepare humanity against a retaliation by the Illithid at any cost. Their Core Idea is the need to exercise power in inordinate and excessive ways in order to make up for feelings of powerlessness. |
| The Psion Syndicate | The Psion Syndicate seeks to unlock the secrets of the Illithid in order to use them for their own gain. Their Core Idea is that you must be willing to do anything in order to become something. |
| The Humanistic Society | The Humanistic Society is a community based on the idea that humans are superior to other life forms, and that is why they will always prevail even against insurmountable and alien forces. They seek to eradicate anything alien and unnatural such as the Illithid. Their Core Idea is that after a culture's sense of worth has been demolished, it finds shelter in toxic ideology and hyperbole in order to prop itself up again. |
| The Xotics | The Xotics are a group of foreigners that don't belong, and aren't native to this world. Brought here by Illithid astral ships, they are now free but stranded on a foreign world. Their Core Idea is that without a concrete sense of identity, you cannot find home no matter how close or far away you might believe it to be. |
| The Otherworld Institute | This group of talented individuals and aspirational spellcasters seeks to discover what lies beyond their world, now that the existence of other worlds and races has been revealed. Their Core Idea is the concept of Untethering. The search for transcendental knowledge and freedom can be both unbelievably empowering but also disconnecting. |
The Mauve Order
The Mauve Order is made up of individuals that have been deeply affected by the past rule of the Illithid. The memories of their alien rule are still fresh for all of humanity, but humans that were deeply and totally under their psychic control for a long while have had a difficult time of adjusting.
Not having learned how to exist as individuals, their sudden untethering from their psychic overlords have left them helpless and lost in the turbulence that followed their departure from power.
Humans may have fought hard to depose the alien usurpers, but the aftermath of that struggle didn't provide stability or a better future for humanity. Instead, crime has risen to an all time high, and the market for technology of the Illithid is thriving in unprecedented rates. Dozens of different wannabe warlords seek artifacts of power to support them in their endeavor to grab some measure of control for themselves, each of them knowing less than the previous one about how to actually use those foreign psionics.
The Mauve Order, seeing the chaos that has erupted, and how humans are unfit to govern themselves, believe that their only hope for a better future, a more ordered one, are their past overlords. Their past lives of being cogs in a psionic machine, in an environment that fully detailed not only their lives, but also their thoughts and feelings, certainly seems safer (and frankly a relief) than having to navigate both their internal and external absolute chaos.
Manifesto. Humans are immature and unfit to govern themselves. That prerogative should be given to a higher being that can provide the best for us.
Goals:
- Delve deep in the depths of the earth to determine if any Illithid survived the humans' rebellion.
- Determine if the rumours of Illithid prisoners, that are being interrogated, tortured and experimented upon is true. If so, free them, and we will be rewarded for the salvation we bring them.
- Somehow find an Illithid tadpole and use it to infect our leader. He will turn into a mind-flayer before long and we will be so much closer to our goal.
- Scavenge for Illithid technology on the black market and the streets. Some of it may lead us to the key for our problems. Perhaps we might even be able to put together a transceiver out of different parts in order to communicate with the Illithid homeworld.
- It is rumoured that the Illithid were in the middle of building a trans-astral gateway between our world and their homeworld, or other worlds of their empire. Find a way to unearth it, or to finish its construction.
Methods and Flaws. The Mauve Order is secretive but highly coordinated, thanks to their previous existence as a hive mind. However, they lack in the ability to respond to unexpected circumstances or work alone - away from the group and its safety. Its members are weak and insecure, making them prone to manipulation or extortion. Good luck giving them better terms than the promises of the Mauve Order, however.
They are great in hiding their tracks and concealing their secrets, as well as uncovering the secrets of others without being detected. Masters of mind control, both literal and metaphorical, they have a way of screwing with the perceptions of others that allows them to play others like marionnets. The Mauve Order is very interested in recruitment, and finding more individuals that need their hive, but the Order rarely feels that desire as a need, since they can manipulate others to do their work for them without ever realizing.
Their subservient nature, however, and their need to have an overlord over their head telling them what to do means that their plans are rarely truly ambitious or daring. The few strong personalities among them do provide safety by taking naturally assuming a leading position, but who knows exactly what their goals are, and how exactly they plan to use their army of Illithid-loving followers.
Means. The Order possesses instruments of Illithid origin that they've scavenged, and are capable in their use, as well as individuals that they've brain-washed, mind controlled or hypnotized and can take advantage of.
The Mauve Order in Your World
To determine how to best apply the ideas present in any faction, you should pay attention first to their Manifesto. That is the core of the idea, and all the rest details are merely an incarnation of that idea being realized and put to use.
Each faction will be heavily grounded in a specific narrative circumstance, since I believe that something existing on its own also by definition has no reason to exist — in other words something boring and bland and uninspired. So yes, if you plan to use the Mauve Order as it is, you will have to include a world that has just recently exited from an Illithid domination.
However, if that is out of the question for you, you can take the Mauve Order's Manifesto and dress it up in whatever way suits you best. Instead of Illithids, you could have devils that had taken over the material plane and enslaved the population. Or Giants, Fey, Undead or any other kind of "higher being". The Mauve Order's need to belong again in a societal order that supports them (even if that means it pounds their individuality into dust) can be realized in multiple ways by the beings described above.
Devils? The Order misses the safety and simplicity of the contracts. Back then, they knew what they had — their soul — and what value it had to the world. How to trade it. Now they are left unmoored in a sea of chaos that pays no attention to them.
Giants? The Order misses the straightforwarded nature of the Ordning. Fey? The Order misses the charming magic coming to take away all their worries and fears, turning them into happy servants who did their masters' bidding with a true smile on their face. Undead? The numbing sensation that came with the lich's rule is far superior to this constant worry. At least then, our hopes, dreams and fears, were siphoned off into power. Now we are left along with them, and have no way to escape them.
The Core Idea of the Mauve Order is that of an individual not wanting to take responsibility for their life, and the crimes they will commit in the name of that need.
Illithid Solutions
If you'd like to still use the Illithids as a plot point, but you can't have the PCs' native world conquered by them, then you could incorporate the Mauve Order as outsiders to the Material Realm. Perhaps they are Githyanki that seek to reinstate the past rule of the mind flayers, and have arrived in the Material Plane to search for allies in their cause, and corrupt humans with promises of power. Perhaps they have also heard of mind flayers living in the underdark of that world, long lost fragments of the fallen empire which were never quite squashed out.
The Protectorate
In a world devastated by a foreign incursion that enslaved all, the outcome of freedom isn't as much a relief as a warning that it may all be taken away again sometime.
The Protectorate has been formed, however, to ensure that this does not happen again. Fueled by anger at an inhumane enemy different from them in all accounts, and fear that the triumph over this enemy is only a temporary falacy those naive enough can briefly enjoy, the Protectorate is bent on ensuring human self-government.
Seeing secret plots everywhere, and threats that don't entirely exist, the Protectorate uses its underground secret bases to conduct its investigations, interrogations, experiments and a variety of other projects.
Manifesto. Vigilance and a firm hand are key in protecting yourself. When death can come from the shadows at any point, you must do everything in your power to spot it and root it out first. When you are dealing with an enemy that can outsmart you in any way, you must look in every corner.
Goals:
- Find about any Illithid conspiracies and terminate them immediately.
- Remove all Illithid technology off the streets. Stalk the black market and see where that technology goes. Make sure it doesn't land in the wrong hands. And even better, put those wrong hands in handcuffs.
- Sooner or later the Illithid are coming back. We must be ready to face them. We must learn about their weaknesses, and how to combat their strengths. When they come back, they will find us ready.
- Find ways of more efficiently interrogating our prisoners. They have a trove of knowledge that we have still not managed to access.
- It is rumoured that some Illithid have survived and eluded detection by escaping underground. Delve deep and discover any threats to our safety.
- It is rumoured that the Illithid were in the middle of building a trans-astral gateway between our world and their homeworld, or other worlds of their empire. Find a way to unearth it, destroy it or use it to our advantage. It's time we went hunting on their turf.
Methods and Flaws. The Protectorate is highly methodical and expertly trained in espionage, investigation and sabotage. Their agents are entirely dedicated to their job, rarely having families or any semblance of a personal life besides their work. Their heirarchical order can either benefit them immensely, or harm them, as if corruption were to enter into the system, it would have a nasty effect.
Moreover, the Protectorate is cold, narrow minded, and driven by fear. This means that they are prone to using more violence than necessary, albeit in an elegant way that doesn't draw attention, but they still make too many enemies, and their fear makes it impossible to communicate and reason with them. They live in an entirely different world.
Means. Expertly equipped, the Protectorate has access to underground secret bases, research equipment, espionage agents and spying equipment.
The Protectorate in Your World
The Protectorate can be a response to any calamity that posed an existential threat in the past. Whether that threat is gone or not, fear has taken root in the hearts of the people who used to have power. Now, they must exercise as much of it as they can, as much as they have left, in order to make sure that this doesn't happen again. It is paramount that this doesn't happen again.
The antagonistic force that the protectorate is scared of can be anything that provokes the sense of the Other. Any group that is seen as inhumane, less than human, different or unknowable. It is even better if that force is something impersonal, that can't be seen, and causes paranoia even at the mere thought of it.
The Core Idea behind the protectorate is the need to exercise power in inordinate and excessive ways in order to make up not only for how powerless you feel, but for how powerless you really are.
The Psion Syndicate
The Psion Syndicate realizes that the world has been transformed. It is not and will never be the same again. Looking back towards the past isn't going to fix anything, and neither is looking to the future, powerless and fearful about what to do. To survive, one must anchor themselves to the present and make the best of situations. The power to take care of ourselves is lying right here around us in fragments ever since the Illithid rule was abolished. Those that are cunning and ambitious enough to pick up the pieces will make a new world using their technology and power. We plan to be the ones to do that.
Manifesto. Those that take advantage of their situation and manipulate things in their favor, at any cost, are the ones who thrive and create the new world order.
Goals:
- Find and secure artifacts of the Illithid empire, from the smallest trinket to the most important relic.
- Figure out how their technology works and manage to use it in your favor. Reverse engineer their psionic magic, and even manage to develop such powers with your own mind.
- Reveal any conspiracies by other Syndicate members to get ahead from the rest and grab the power for themselves.
- Gain a better understanding of psionics, both in how to use it and how to protect yourself from it. It is the weapon and tool of the future.
- It is rumoured that the Illithid were in the middle of building a trans-astral gateway between our world and other worlds of their empire. Find a way to unearth it and control the site. It is too valuable of a token.
Methods and Flaws. Incredibly cunning, the Psion Syndicate can hatch schemes that span months, with few people ever knowing their true extent. Skilled at improvisation and making ends meet by responding dynamically to any situation that arises, the Psion Syndicate draws its power not only from its ever expanding resources, but also by having their hands on the pulse of the city and seeing the opportunities and threats that arise before anyone else.
This early knowledge, however, is power that breeds greed. The Psion Syndicate has a mentality of constant backstabbing, as everyone is looking over their shoulder for the supposed ally that will see an opportunity worthy enough to finally take the front, even if that means stepping over the bodies of others. This tension creates a careful balance of tension between inner factions of the syndicate, who have seen that there is the most to be gained in cooperation, but who know that no matter what, everyone is in it for themselves, and it's only a matter of time before supposed alliances break.
Means. The Syndicate has an ever growing amount of assets at its disposal, as its enterprising spirit keeps expanding. They have the connection in the city to make nearly anything happen, for the right price of course. Their attempts to master the psionic powers means that they are likely the most advanced in that domain compared to other factions.
The Syndicate in Your World
The Syndicate can occupy the space of a thieves' guild in a world with a bounty of unused resources. By taking risks fueled by power-hungry instincts, the Syndicate can function as the faction that pulls strings, hatches plots, and controls the crime world as well as the political or business world. Greedy NPCs that seek to enhance themselves in dubious ways and to make sure that they will be the early bird that gets the worm are absolutely fitting for the Syndicate.
The Core Idea behind the Syndicate is that you are all alone. You must fend for yourself and protect your achievements if you wish to mean something in the world. Those achievements are the only way the Syndicate is able to extract meaning from their lives, and as such they are willing to do anything to reach and protect them.
The Humanistic Society
We have been trodden upon and subjected to countless horrors, but in the end we prevailed. It was through our belief in ourselves and our worth as human beings, in contrast to those despicable monsters, that we gained the resolve to fight back. Against impossible odds, we prevailed. And that is just proof of humans' capabilities to accomplish anything and prevail over all, even the toughest and unnatural oppressors. The gods believed in us, granting us their hand and allowing us to vanquish those evil monsters and all that is unholy about them.
The Humanistic Society believes that humans reign supreme above all else, their nature being worthy of the gods' support and assistance. They despise everything they deem unnatural and believe that the Illithids and all scattered fragments of their past rule should be exterminated, not used or examined.
Their relations with the other races are tenuous and complicated, as humans were unaware of the existence of elves or orcs before the advent of the Illithid, who brought them as slaves aboard their ships from other worlds. As such, their existence is heavily linked to the Illithid, and most impressions formed of them happened when they were mind controlled by the Illithid, doing their bidding.
Manifesto. Our home is our own, and will not be taken from us. We will maintain it as it is, untainted by foreign inhuman beings and foreign worlds.
Goals:
- Locate and exterminate any remnant of the Illithids' rule, whether that is survivors, technology, items or sympathizers.
- Prevent the cultural integration of the foreign species into the inner circles of our society.
- Pay tribute and thanks to the gods that supported the human emancipation by sharing their blessings and expanding their influence.
- Discredit the view that humans should explore the new world that has been revealed to us. Our home is here. We will have nothing to do with those inhuman creatures that lie beyond.
Methods and Flaws. The Humanistic Society's strength lies in being the majority, and offering a narrative that is very appealing to anyone that has suffered during the occupation and now lies directionless amidst the rubble of the war. Thanks to their numbers and ubiquitous rhetoric, it is difficult for someone growing up in their midst to see their philosophy as anything but default. The Humanistic Society grows its power by paying attention to the communal bonds they form in society and paying attention to the individual and its plight, as well as its need to feel valued, having a meaningful existence. They also have the divine support and striving passion to make themselves look all-powerful and able to accomplish anything they put their mind to.
Their ingroup and outgroup rhetoric, however, is very restrictive not only to those they deem to belong to the outgroup, of whom they make enemies, but also to those individuals that could belong among their numbers but who embrace a more curious of empathetic outlook towards the situation. Moreover, the xenophobic character of the Society, and their need to have nothing to do with matters that don't belong in the human realm distance the curious minds that want to explore the new dimensions offered to them.
Means. The Humanistic Society does not have much in the way of secret technology or specialized equipment. In contrast, they make up for it with their numbers, their wide presence in the city, and holy powers or divine given relics.
The Humanistic Society in Your World
The Society can be any large-reaching organization in your world, having become large enough to hold some of the powers of governance in their hands, whether that is in a legitimate or illegitimate way. They are conservative and scared of all they can't control, so they focus on controlling what they can: people. They ensnare them in their philosophy, making them either its perpetrators or its victims, and in response they offer safety and acceptance to those they decide to include in the ingroup, as well as confirmation that their lives actually do mean something. They paint a picture of their enemy as something less and unworthy, as something that shouldn't be able to cause all the harm it does. They then use all that manpower and resources at their disposal to make headway against that enemy and appear as saviors, a bastion of good.
The Core Idea of the society is that Home is important. It is a place of safety, and it must be rigidly delineated and then protected at all costs against anything that doesn't fit its description. Humanity's ego was absolutely demolished by the Illithid's dominion, and now it props itself up on toxic ideology that is empowering.
The Xotics
After the fall of the Illithid empire, the elves and the orcs that had been dragged to this world as slaves woke up not only free but also completely lost and disoriented. They were in a foreign world in which they didn't belong, and the natives treated them not only as foreigners, but also as a reminder of the irrevocable change that the Illithid conquest had brought to this world. The humans collectively called them Exotics at first, but with the name's overall use and the distaste it brought to human tongues, the initial I was eroded away, leaving them named as Xotics. Stranded on this world, with no way of escape in sight, either to the astral plane or to their homeworlds, the Xotics must collaborate for a shot at coexisting with the humans while claiming their own rights and land.
Manifesto. We did not choose to be here, but we have a right to belong. And if not with you, then with each other, in land where we can feel safe and call our home, since yours cannot be.
Goals:
- Find and claim land that you can call your own. In these turbulent times, the world is fragmented, and everyone is vying for power. If you don't claim something for yourself, you will be left without shelter, hanging on others for safety and home without the ability to govern yourself.
- Find and repair an Illithid astral ship that can take you home, or if need be, build one from the ground up.
- The Illithid held secret technologies aboard their ships, that the humans are unaware of and don't know how to use. If they land in the wrong hands, it could be catastrophic. Ensure that doesn't happen.
- Break down the barriers between ourselves and the humans, building bridges from which acceptance can grow.
- It is rumoured that the Illithid were in the middle of building a trans-astral gateway between our world and other worlds of their empire. Find a way to unearth it and use it to exact counterstrikes any Illithid that remain.
Methods and Flaws. The Xotics are very determined, albeit taken by despair at times, since they have very little to lose and only to gain in these circumstances. There a exists a wild variety among them, even within the same races, therefore there is a lot of internal conflict, disagreement and at times failure at coordination. Their methods are diffent depending to the cultural background of each subgroup, with orcs tending towards territorial behaviors and elves towards hiding and being elusive.
Means. The Xotics are not wealthy or particularly trained or powerful. However, they are able to police their borders effectively, and know all that happens within their territory, no matter how large or impassable it is. They can survive in the wild in a way that trespassers don't, and they know how to fight on their own turf. They pick their battles carefully, making their forces appear particularly brutal or effective in combat.
The Xotics in Your World
The Xotics can be any displaced group in your world that doesn't belong, and doesn't want to belong. They want to be somewhere else, and have been placed in this environment against their will, remaining trapped in it. Their foreign nature makes them outsiders by definition, while their different appearance marks them as such. They are made up of many different subcultures which must find a way to work together with one another. This is symbolic, as their external tension is reflected on the inside as well, proving however that headways can be made in the gulfs that seperate them from the world they've found themselves in, and that they can belong.
The Core Idea behind the Xotics, much like the humanistic society, is Home. Home is a safe place where you belong, and you are surrounded by people who belong with you. However, unlike the Humanistic Society, the Xotics are not only unable to enforce that idea of home and protect their circle, but they are also unable to delineate it in the same way that the Society does. They are confused about what their home should be, and its concept for them is always in flux, a circle that phases in and out and can never pinpointed down. They believe their home is elsewhere, but the problem with that coping mechanism is that even if you go in that some place else, your home will continue to be distant, now some place different.
The Otherworld Institute
The Otherworld Institute believes in exploration and discovery, and widening one's horizons. The way in the new truth was revealed to us was traumatic and unfortunate, but that doesn't mean that humanity should discount that new reality and turn its back to it. Now that it has been unveiled we can only prepare ourselves to go forward into it, and explore what new dimensions await us out there. That outside world has the potential for endless growth, both technological, magic, and cultural.
Manifesto. We must go headfirst towards progress, even if that means leaving behind our comfort zones and changing who we are to better fit with the new reality that has been unveiled to us.
Goals:
- Discover remnants of the Illithid in order to better understand their technology and magic, and use it to prepare for travelling to new worlds. Learn more about their identity and history by scouring through their dead ships.
- Create connections with the Xotics in order to better understand who the Illithid were, who the Xotics are and where they come from.
- It is rumoured that the Illithid were in the middle of building a trans-astral gateway between our world and other worlds of their empire. Find a way to unearth it and access it for travel.
- Convey the importance and joy in acquiring new knowledge to others, especially those that feel asphyxiated by the Humanistic Society's introverted regime, and wish to skip pointless posturing. Build a circle of talented individuals that don't belong in the backwards societies that are forming out of fear and cruelty, who wish to reach new milestones in our culture's evolution.
Methods and Flaws. The Institute is primarily an idealistic group, functioning on aspirations, and as such its primary weapon is its rhetoric and philosophy. It does not target any individual to join its cause, however, but mainly individuals that are talented enough and in a position to further the Institute's goals in material ways. The Institute is a very tightly knit group of very ambitious and aspirational people, some of which rise even to the level of archmages. They do not always agree completely with one another, but always know the position and character of each other as converse often and place importance in hearing each others' complex opinions about the best way to chase their goals.
Since the Institute is primarily founded on symbolist ideals and aspirations, however, that makes it vulnerable to those who can don and doff believes as it suits them in order to spy, steal or manipulate. Their lofty goals and personalities also make them inaccessible to the common folk, whom they largely ignore.
Means. The Institute's resources are its people and their capabilities, as well as their personal resources, however many of them they are willing to lend to the project. However, since each archmage rarely discloses their arcane knowledge freely, the Institute's members remain individuals when it comes to facing threats, rather than a tightly coordinated team, trained to work together.
The Institute in Your World
The Otherworld Institute can be any small-scale group of individuals with incredible talents and large ambitions. These are likely to be individuals that don't find themselves quite part of the everyday life of the common folk, and instead spend their time and talents in intellectual pursuits and searches for obscure knowledge. Disconnected from the plight of the common folk at a time of turbulence, they are absorbed by their own vision to achieve something far greater, and something otherworldly. Indifferent to power plays for wealth or status, they are motivated by ideals and the realization of dreams, potentially making them naive at the eyes of specific outsiders, or coldly callous to they eyes of others.
The Core Idea behind is the Institute is the concept of Untethering. These are individuals that do not like to be tied down, who prize most of all the ability to be free, and to pursue anything they like. They do not place boundaries in what they can achieve, but they feel that unbridled power and potential to do anything only when looking forward to such distant and grand goals. Not when they look down at the earth and see famine or plague, and are met with the need to fix a problem. Living in the clouds, often literally, they seek to achieve things that will change the course of human life forever, and change reality itself. In the light of what they can achieve, trivialities such as tensions between two opposing factions will appear miniscule and trivial.
Strife Domain
The Strife Domain contains all that which flourishes from human disagreement: the ability to discover new points of view, but also to test your own. Only those beliefs that can withstand the test of peaceful disagreement can truly serve the people, instead of enslave them. However, the Strife Domain is also concerned with what happens when that balance is trodden upon, when a group or an individual attempts to impose their will forcefully (or cunningly) over others, restricting the modes of thought of others and placing them under their intellectual control.
Clerics that follow the Domain of Strife believe that the only way to reinstate balance in those cases is the natural way: to grab the scale and tip it back to its level position. By openly speaking about their beliefs and urging others to do so as well, without shying away from any conflict that might follow, they test the boundaries of what society deems acceptable. Ever-vigilant, they seek to prevent corruption from taking root by roughing up the ground, even if that means causing chaos.
At each indicated cleric level, you add the listed spells to your spells prepared.
| Cleric Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 1st | Celestial Retort*, Compelled Duel |
| 3rd | Branding Smite, Shatter |
| 5th | Bestow Curse, Thunder Step |
| 7th | Freedom of Movement, Tyrant's Wane* |
| 9th | Divine Retribution*, Holy Weapon |
Bonus Proficiencies
When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain proficiency with martial weapons and heavy armor.
Heated Rhetoric
Starting at 1st level, you become proficient in your choice of two of the following skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Persuasion, or Performance.
Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of those skills.
Deflating Mockery
Starting at 1st level, you can use your action to insult the ego of a creature within 60 feet of you. If the creature can hear you, it must make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, roll a number of d8s equal to your proficiency bonus. The creature takes that much psychic damage, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls until the end of its next turn. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and is otherwise unaffected.
You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.
Channel Divinity: Fervent Speech
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to cause boiling passion in others until it overflows.
As a bonus action, you yell out a rallying cry. You can choose yourself and a number of your allies equal to your proficiency bonus. If they can hear you, they have advantage on the next attack roll they make until the end of their next turn, and on a hit, that attack deals an extra 2d8 radiant damage.
Trouble Maker
Starting at 6th level, you presence curbs the influence of your enemies' rhetoric. Creatures of your choice have disadvantage on Intimidation checks made against you or about matters relevant to you. In addition, after you've made an Intimidation check or another creature has attempted to intimidate you, you have advantage on initiative rolls for 10 minutes.
Additionally, if you roll for initiative and you are last in the order, you can reroll your initiative once, choosing the new result.
Divine Strike
At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 radiant damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.
Keep the Fire Going
At 17th level, when you or an ally you can see within 60 feet of you falls to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to attempt to keep them in the fight. You can make a Wisdom check, adding your proficiency bonus to the roll. If the result is higher than the damage they were dealt, the target is reduced to 1 hit point instead. Once you've used this ability and failed, you can't use it again until you complete a long rest.
Celestial Retort
1st-level evocation
- Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take in response to being damaged by a creature within 60 feet of you that you can see
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Instantaneous
- Classes: Cleric, Paladin
You point your finger, and the creature that damaged you is momentarily doused in radiant light. The creature must make a Wisdom saving throw. It takes 2d8 radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st.
Zealous Accusation
3rd-level enchantment
- Casting Time: 1 bonus action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Classes: Cleric, Paladin
You point your finger at a creature that is to bear judgement, and cause the weight of the divine scales to burden its shoulders. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or it can't move or be moved away from you by any means, including teleportation or travel to the ethereal plane, and you can't have disadvantage on attack rolls against it. When it makes an attack or casts a spell targeting one of your allies, you can use your reaction to force it to make the same saving throw. On a failure, it takes 2d8 radiant damage, while on a success it takes half as much damage and the spell ends.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 3rd.
Tyrant's Wane
4th-level enchantment
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Classes: Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard
You target a creature you can see within range with crippling energy, seeking to deflate all of its power. The target must make a Charisma saving throw. This spell ignores the effects of Legendary Resitance. On a failure, the creature can't take reactions for the duration of the spell, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures that have less current hit points that it does, and its movement provokes attacks of opportunity even if an effect such as the disengage action would cause it not to.
Additionally, when the creature attempts to use any Legendary Actions, it must succeed on a Charisma saving throw, or its Legendary Actions for that turn are wasted. The creature expends its Legendary Actions as normal, but the effect is canceled. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the spell on a success.
Divine Retribution
5th-level evocation
- Casting Time: 1 reaction, when you see a creature within range harm another creature with a spell or an attack
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Classes: Cleric
You point your finger at the creature that committed harm, and set it for judgement against the holy forces that fuel you. The creature becomes marked by you, and it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the creature is restrained, while on a success its speed is reduced to half until the spell ends. If the creature failed the saving throw by 5 or more, it is also stunned until the spell ends, while if it failed its saving throw by 10 or more, it is paralyzed for the same duration.
The first time you hit the marked creature with an attack, or target it with a spell that deals radiant damage, your attack or spell deals an extra 5d10 radiant damage, which ignores resistance and immunity, and the spell then ends.
At the end of each of its turns, the creature can repeat the saving throw. On a success, it ends the restrained, stunned or paralyzed conditions on itself, but it remains marked until the spell ends.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d10 for each slot level above 5th.
The Striving Order
While the Domain of Strife can detail the character of a rebellious cleric taking upon themselves the duty of correcting an injustice, so can it potentially portray the character of a religious zealot, blinded by their intense fervor and out of control.
The Striving Order is one such group of individuals, and can be used to flesh out any intense religious organization that isn't above resulting to violence in order to achieve what they believe to be necessary. Instead of relying on cult fanatics, you can use the 5 statblocks that follow to populate a potentially hostile faction that they players may decide to take up arms to stop. These statblocks cover a wide range of CR scores, from 1 all the way to 10, and each creature has its own specific role in combat, whether that is to be a soldier, a support, a brute, or a leader (as detailed in each creature's description).
Goals
Here are listed some potential goals of the Striving Order, meant mostly to spark your imagination and to offer some examples of the kind of narrative the order can serve:
- Streets and Grime. Corruption has spread throughout the city, and the matter has become intolerable. The mayor is completely corrupt, with some even mentioning rumours that something far more wicked than wealth has claimed his moral conscience. The church by now is but a front for oppressive evil-doers who use the despair of the common people as their fuel to reach the top, while crime is sky-rocketing. In this setting, where criminals and commoners have began to look surprisingly alike, the Striving Order has been formed to reset the balance, led by a man who has lost too much from this regime, and is much more preoccupied with razing it to the ground than planning what to build next.
- Otherworldly Visions. A man who is charismatic enough can attract throngs of followers to his side when he has divine portent and guidance to claim for his own. However, the situation becomes totally different when follower and leader alike are united in their spiritual visions and dreams that visit them each night, pointing them all to the same direction. What is fueling these visions, and what is its final goal? Does the order's leader even know?
- Divine Proclamation. A religious schism follows a divine proclamation that contains strong and threatening language from the herald of an otherwise peaceful god. What has motivated this rapid shift, and is the proclamation as legitimate as it seems? The call to arms is taken by some, while refuted by others, and an internal conflict within the ranks of the religious coven brews. What faction will the player characters side with, and why? How will they influence the conflict's development?
Striving Soldier
Medium humanoid, neutral
- Armor Class 16 (chain mail, shield)
- Hit Points 33 (6d8 + 6)
- Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 13 (+1) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 10 (+0)
- Skills Athletics +4, Perception +4
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
- Languages Common, one other language
- Challenge 1 (200 XP)
- Proficiency Bonus +2
Striving. When the soldier makes a saving throw, it gains a bonus to the roll equal to the number of creatures that also have this feature and are within 30 feet of it.
Actions
Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage.
Reactions
Resolute (Recharge 6). When the soldier misses on an attack roll or fails a saving throw, it can use its reaction to reroll the die, adding its striving bonus to the attack roll as well. On a hit, or a successful save, the soldier and every other creature within 30 feet of it recharges this reaction.
Striving Believer
Medium humanoid, neutral
- Armor Class 16 (chain mail, shield)
- Hit Points 44 (8d8 + 8)
- Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14 (+2) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) 11 (+0) 15 (+2) 10 (+0)
- Skills Perception +4, Religion +2
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
- Languages Common, one other language
- Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
- Proficiency Bonus +2
Striving. When the believer makes a saving throw, it gains a bonus to the roll equal to the number of creatures that also have this feature and are within 30 feet of it.
Actions
Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage, plus 4 (1d8) radiant damage.
Striving Aura (Concentration). While the believer is concentrating on its striving aura, any creatures with the striving feature within 30 feet of it have advantage on attack rolls and saving throws.
Reactions
Righeous Strike (Recharge 6). When an ally that the believer can see within 60 feet of it hits a creature with an attack, the believer can use its reaction to cause the attack to deal an extra 9 (2d8) radiant damage. If the ally is within the believer's aura of striving, it gains an equal number of temporary hit points as well.
Synergy
As the numbers of the Striving Order increase in an encounter, their power scales exponentially, due to their synergy. This can allow them to tackle even a high level party in enough numbers. Make sure to scale their numbers carefully, and to use waves of enemies if necessary.
The recharge features of low CR NPCs become unwieldy in great numbers. You can either remove the recharge mechanic (especially if you're using them as minions), or change their feature to 1/day if you plan to have a lot of them.
Striving Zealot
Medium humanoid, neutral
- Armor Class 16 (scale mail)
- Hit Points 65 (10d8 + 20)
- Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 18 (+4) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 14 (+2) 13 (+1)
- Skills Intimidation +7
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
- Languages Common, one other language
- Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
- Proficiency Bonus +3
Striving. When the zealot makes a saving throw, it gains a bonus to the roll equal to the number of creatures that also have this feature and are within 30 feet of it.
Zealous Charge. If the striving zealot moves at least 15 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with its halberd on the same turn, the target takes an extra 5 (1d10) slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
When the striving zealot hits a prone creature with its halberd during its turn, the attack is a critical hit.Zealous Readiness. The striving zealot always acts first in initiative.
Actions
Multiattack. The striving zealot makes two halberd attacks.
Halberd. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions
Pommel. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or it is pushed 5 feet away from the zealot.
Reactions
Stay Down. When a creature attempts to stand up from prone while within the zealot's reach, the zealot can make an attack of opportunity with its halberd. On a hit, the creature remains prone.
Striving Crusader
Medium humanoid, neutral
- Armor Class 18 (plate armor)
- Hit Points 127 (15d8 + 60)
- Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 18 (+4) 13 (+1) 18 (+4) 9 (-1) 16 (+3) 18 (+4)
- Skills Athletics +7, Perception +6
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
- Languages Common, one other language
- Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)
- Proficiency Bonus +3
Striving. When the crusader makes a saving throw, it gains a bonus to the roll equal to the number of creatures that also have this feature and are within 30 feet of it
Wrathful Smite (Once per Turn). When the crusader hits a creature with a melee weapon attack, it can deal 2d6 extra damage to the creature, and cause it to make either a DC 15 Strength or Wisdom saving throw. On a failed Strength save, the creature is pushed 10 feet away from the crusader and knocked prone. On a failed Wisdom save, the creature is frightened of the crusader for 1 minute, or until it uses its action to succeed on the same saving throw.
Actions
Multiattack. The crusader makes two greatsword attacks.
Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions
Crusader's Decree (Concentration, 1/Day). The crusader gives a daunting speech. Any creature of its choice within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or suffer one of the following effects:
- The creature comes under the effects of the command spell.
- The creature comes under the effects of the blindness spell.
- The creature has disadvantage on attacks against creatures other than the crusader for 1 minute.
These effects last until the crusader's concentration is broken, as if concentrating on a spell.Reactions
Righteous Balance. When an ally within 5 feet of the crusader takes damage, the crusader can use its reaction to reduce the damage by half. It then takes the rest of the damage, which can't be reduced in any way.
If the attacker is within the crusader's reach, the crusader can then make a greatsword attack against it as part of the same reaction. On a hit, the attack deals extra radiant damage equal to the amount the crusader took.Villain Actions
The striving crusader can take 1 villain action in each round, choosing from the options below. Only one villain action can be used per round and only at the end of another creature's turn, or as a reaction to a stated occurence. The crusader can use the following villain actions in any order it wants.
- Wrath's Grip - Villain Action 1. The crusader makes a grapple attack against a creature within its reach. On a success, the creature is restrained as the crusader grabs it by the throat. While grappling a creature in this way, the crusader can use its greatsword normally.
- Determined Presence - Villain Action 2. The crusader lets a wave of fire and light spread outwards from it. The crusader regains 21 (6d6) hit points, and any creatures of its choice within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d6 radiant damage and 3d6 fire damage on a failure, or half as much damage on a success.
- Unyielding Presence - Villain Action 3. When the crusader is reduced to 0 hit points for the first time but not killed outright, it can make a weapon attack against a creature within reach. On a hit, the attack deals an extra 4d8 radiant damage. If the attack reduces the creature to 0 hit points, the crusader is reduced to 1 hit point instead.
Striving Archpriest
Medium humanoid, neutral
- Armor Class 19 (breastplate, shield)
- Hit Points 135 (18d8 + 54)
- Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 20 (+5) 20 (+5)
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
- Languages Common and one other language
- Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
- Proficiency Bonus +4
Spellcasting. The striving archpriest's spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). It can cast the following spells.
1/day each: bestow curse, celestial retort (5th-level), divine retribution, flame strike, freedom of movement, shatter, thunder step, tidal wave
Striving. When the archpriest makes a saving throw, it gains a bonus to the roll equal to the number of creatures that also have this feature and are within 30 feet of it.
Actions
Multiattack. The archpriest makes two attacks with its mace. It can cast a spell in place of one attack if the spell's level is 3rd level or less. Otherwise it can make two seeking bolt attacks.
Mace. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage, plus 18 (4d8) radiant damage.
Seeking Bolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +9 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (4d8) radiant damage, and the bolt splits, heading towards two creatures within 10 feet of the target. An ally gains temporary hit points equal to half of the damage dealt, while an enemy must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take damage equal to half of the damage dealt to the original target.
Bonus Actions
Spiritual Weapon (Recharge 4–6). The archpriest commands one of its allies within 60 feet to make an attack. On a hit, the attack deals an extra 9 (2d8) radiant damage and the creature gains temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt. The weapon is considered magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances.
Move! (Recharge 5–6). The archpriest can cause all allies within 30 feet of it to move up to their movement speed without provoking attacks of opportunity. If they arrive within 5 feet of an enemy, they have advantage on their next attack roll.
Reactions
Striving Flare. When an ally within 60 feet of the archpriest is targeted by an attack, the archpriest can use its reaction to send a brilliant flare against it. The attack is made with disadvantage, and on a miss, the creature takes 9 (2d8) radiant damage. If the attack made against the ally is an attack of opportunity, the archpriest can use this ability without consuming its reaction.
Villain Actions
The striving archpriest can take 1 villain action in each round, choosing from the options below. Only one villain action can be used per round and only at the end of another creature's turn, or as a reaction to a stated occurence. The archpriest can use the following villain actions in any order it wants.
- Striving Advance - Villain Action 1. The archpriest and all of its allies within 60 feet of it move up to their movement speed towards an enemy. If they enter within 5 feet of an enemy, it must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it takes 18 (4d8) radiant damage and it can't take any reactions until the start of its next turn.
- Mass Cure Wounds - Villain Action 2. The archpriest causes all allies within 30 feet of it to regain 18 (4d8) hit points. A creature that reaches its maximum hit points after receiving this healing can make one attack against a creature within range.
- Keep the Fire Going - Villain Action 3. The archpriest lets out a wave of motivating energy. Any allies within 30 feet of it can end any condition they have on themselves. For 1 minute, the archpriest continues to shed these waves of motivating energy, affecting any allied creatures in a 30 foot radius with the effects of the freedom of movement spell. For the duration, any affected creature also deals an extra 1d8 radiant damage with their attacks as well. The archpriest must concentrate on this effect, as if concentrating on a spell.
Credits
Created by Seriabin.
I'm just a guy that loves making D&D content. The process can start from any tidbit of inspiration I come across, and it's never sure where the journey will end! What I appreciate most of all is our community and how we influence one another.
Make sure to tell me whatever you think in the comments, and we can start a conversation! If you'd like to support me, you can do so on my Patreon.
Art Credits
Dominik Mayer, for Wizards of the Coast (pages 1-10, 12, 14-15).
Tat Kat (page 11)
Aldmeri Cleric by Jen Santos, for Gunship Revolution (page 13)
Taram the Cleric by Guilherme Batista (back cover)