Zorquan the High One

April 13, 2015

Zorquan is the deity who embodies what it is to be a dragon, representing those features all dragons share. His primary concern is with the survival of the dragon races as a whole rather than individual dragons. Read the rest of this entry »


Dragons and Their Gods

March 16, 2015

Virtually all dragons revere Io, Chronepsis, and Zorquan. Io’s priesthood is rare, although all dracoforms are his children and he welcomes them all. Similarly, the death of all dracoforms are the realm of Chronepsis, and he may call any of them to his service. Finally, even though all dracoforms may look to Zorquan for guidance and assistance in improving themselves and their skills, Zorquan only accepts true dragons into his service, and his priests will refuse to train unusual dragons (Faerie Dragons, Dracohydras, etc.). Rogue dragons may worship, and become priests of, virtually any deity; for example, a Gold Dragon who becomes hateful of life may turn to Faluzure, or a pyromaniacal Faerie Dragon may turn to Garyx’s faith. Generally, dragons who are only slightly different in alignment (NG rather than CG for example) are just considered odd or strange, while more significantly different (CE rather than CG) are considered true rogues; dragons will react to such rogues in much the same way as they would react to dragons who are normally of that alignment. The following list includes the primary deities dragons would worship, as well as some deities favored by rogues. Those deities bolded are the most common favored deities. Some of the details are likely to change. Read the rest of this entry »


Priestly Dragon Magic

March 9, 2015

As with wizardly magic, many dragons naturally gain access to priestly spells as they age. These spells are not granted by the draconic gods and  require neither prayer nor memorization. As with the wizard magic, such spells are cast with a Casting Time of 1 and only a Vocal component, regardless of the spell’s description. Such spells are gained automatically and haphazardly; as such, they should be rolled for randomly. They should make some sense, however; Warp Wood is of little use to a desert-dwelling dragon, and such results should be rerolled.

Note that spells restricted to specific deities, even dragon priests, should not be gained by normal dragons unless they worship said deities; for example, a red dragon who worships Tiamat would have a chance of gaining spells restricted to Tiamat’s priests (as an aside, dragons need not worship their own gods; a gold dragon may gain the special spells of Torm if he is a devout follower of that deity). Because of this, some draconic magic is substantially more powerful than a humanoid spell of the same level; even should a humanoid become a priest of a draconic god without an established humanoid faith, they should not gain access to the spells that are listed for the deity. It would not be unreasonable to assume a dragon worships a deity who shares an alignment and/or temperament when creating a list upon which to roll. As an option, non-priest dragons who worship a specific deity may gain only spells from the spheres listed for that deity’s specialty priests.

For those dragons who choose to become priests and forgo their normal wizardly magic, as well as those dragons who gain no access to wizardly magic normally (such as radiant dragons), it is advised to introduce a handful of the draconic wizard spells as commonly available priest spells. Those spells are: Calm (Wiz2); Hand (Wiz2); and Sharptooth (Wiz3). All three spells can be found in either the Cult of the Dragon accessory or the Wizard’s Spell Compendium volumes. In addition, another common spell granted by the dragon gods to their priests follows:

Craft Draconic Holy Symbol (Pr 1; Alteration)
Sphere:   All
Range:   Touch
Components:   V, S, M
Duration:   Permanent
Casting Time:   1 hour
Area of Effect:   Special
Saving Throw:   None

This spell creates a draconic holy symbol from raw materials. In order to create the holy symbol, the dragon must have on-hand a volume equal to twice the material necessary for the final holy symbol, although the form does not matter. In order to perform the spell, the caster must hold the materials in its claws while chanting the spell; at the completion of the chant, the material has reformed into the appropriate holy symbol. Most dragon-priests can only create symbols for their own faiths; the exception being those of Io and Zorquan, who can create any holy symbol. Excess material is consumed by the magic of the spell; the spell does not require the use of a holy symbol to create a new one. Holy symbols created in this manner radiate minor magic, but this is a residue of their creation, and have no inherent magical power.


Annam the All-Father

February 2, 2015

Annam is the patriarch of the giants, mortal and divine. He is said to be the creator of worlds, laying the foundation upon which other pantheons have built upon. The eons he has existed and the disunity of his children has caused him to withdraw from the daily activities of his family, abdicating much of his responsibility to Stronmaus and Hiatea. While his power is nearly unrivaled, he spends much of his time watching the events of the multiverse from afar. Read the rest of this entry »


Vaprak the Destroyer

January 8, 2015

Vaprak is the deity of ogres and trolls, and as befits those races, he is a savage and destructive god. With an alternate view of Vaprak from Elminster’s Ecologies, he becomes a much more interesting god than a single-mindedly destructive god, although that is still his predominant personality trait. Read the rest of this entry »


Stronmaus the Storm Lord

December 24, 2014

Stronmaus is the most powerful member of the Ordning outside of Annam, and is the de facto leader of the pantheon. He is the exuberant patron of the storm and good cloud giants, and holds domain over the seas and skies, sunshine, and weather of all sorts. Read the rest of this entry »


Ysshara the Lorekeeper

December 1, 2014

Like Mirklak, Ysshara received a brief mention in the Great Grey Land of Thar booklet of Elminster’s Ecologies. With Mirklak and Vaprak, the three deities form a nice small pantheon for ogres, and I felt I needed to give considerable depth to her, so she didn’t seem like just an ogre version of the orcish Luthic. Ysshara turned into what I think is a very interesting deity, with considerable potential to make ogres into a more well-rounded race in any AD&D campaign. Read the rest of this entry »


Mirklak the Orcslayer

August 15, 2014

I found a brief mention of this deity in The Great Gray Land of Thar booklet of Elminster’s Ecologies. The description of the ogres in that land, as well as the section on their gods, offered great fodder for expanding ogre culture and faith. In particular, the additional deities of the ogres, the ancient kingdom of the ogres, and the depiction of Vaprak as wholly ogrish rather than a mix of ogre and troll gave me the idea that the Thar ogres are actually descended from ancient spelljamming colonists, perhaps from the ogre empire that appears to be in the sphere of the Steel Star. Regarding Mirklak, I made him an amalgam of the various ogre heroes mentioned, and to whom all deified ogre heroes merge with. Read the rest of this entry »


Diancastra, the Wanton Wanderer

July 15, 2014

Diancastra is one of the youngest members of the Ordning, and still has the wanderlust of youth. Born to Annam and a mortal mother, she had the same drive to claim her birthright as Hiatea, and in the process established a colorful heroic career. She values the pleasures in life, be they of the body or the mind. Read the rest of this entry »


Orcish Religion Amongst the Stars

June 30, 2014

My latest Spelljammer article, detailing how the orcish pantheon relates to Spelljammer is now live at the Wildspace blog.