AuldDragon's AD&D Blog

Like Stalker, Meriadar is an outlier amongst the goblinoid deities. However, unlike that spiteful power, Meriadar has a race to call his own: the oft-enslaved mongrelmen. Through patience, tolerance, and understanding, he hopes to bring all the goblinoid races out from the shadow of evil. Enjoy!

Meriadar (PDF Version)
(The Patient One, the Tolerant One, the Meditative One, the Master of Craftsmen)
Intermediate Power of Arcadia, LN

Portfolio:  Patience, meditation, tolerance, arts, crafts, acceptance, survival
Aliases:  None
Domain Name:  Buxenus/the Hand of Peace
Superior:  None
Allies:  Eldath, Psilofyr, Syranita
Foes:  Bane (dead), Cyric, Great Mother, Hextor, Ilsensine, Iyachtu Xvim, P’kk, Stalker, the drow pantheon (except Eilistraee), the goblinkin pantheons (except Gaknulak)
Symbol:  Decorated bowl
Wor. Align.:  LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN

Amongst all the goblinoid deities, the only one who is not evilly aligned is the patron of the oft-enslaved mongrelmen, Meriadar (MERRY-ah-dar) the Patient One. He is long-suffering and patient towards those who are violent and aggressive, willing to suffer and endure pain to achieve his goals. The Tolerant One believes that all individuals should be judged on their own actions and accepted for who they are, and not shunned for the actions of their race; as such, he is often worshipped by goblinkin who have turned their backs on the viciousness and evil of their own races. Finally, as one who loves beauty and wishes to see it created, he is a patron of craftsmen, and encourages the creation and discovery of beautiful objects.

Meriadar is associated with all the goblinkin pantheons, but not really a full member of any of them. He represents an oppositional force to them all, peaceful where they are warlike, and accepting where they are oppressive. While he opposes the pantheons of the orcish, goblin, and kobold gods, he does share a desire for structured, ordered, and rule-bound living; as such he holds a deep antipathy for the bugbear gods and especially prizes that race as followers. While the bugbear deities and most of the other goblinkin deities actively oppose the workings of the Patient One, the only power who hunts Meriadar and his followers in order to slay them or disrupt their activities is Stalker. The Cold Death is filled with a deep hatred towards all life and everything productive, thus putting him directly at odds with the goals of the Tolerant One. For his part, Meriadar’s respect and tolerance for life leads him to thwart the Hateful Shadow’s attempts at consuming goblinkin souls, even evil ones. Through these actions, he shows the goblin races the value of life and respect for both living and dead.

While Meriadar shares philosophical alliances with many deities of humans and demihumans, he has had to spurn overt assistance from virtually all of them; working with the traditional enemies of those he wishes to bring into his fold would alienate them. His peaceful nature has endeared him to the pacifistic nature deity Eldath, and her followers have been known to surreptitiously aid mongrelmen when they can. The Patient One also has a strong alliance with the god of myconids, Psilofyr, as both deities are peaceful and philosophical in nature; they often have lengthy discussions and debates about many esoteric topics. He is also on good terms with the aarakocra goddess Syranita, and through her keeps track of the activities of a great many deities of good and neutrality. Finally, while not actually allied with the kobold deity Gaknulak, neither power is particularly aggressive towards the other, partly due to the respect each holds for the others’ skills at creation.

Meriadar is extremely active in the lives of his followers. He sends avatars to teach and guide his followers, and enjoys discussing philosophy with them. He will also send an avatar to defend mongrelmen communities that are in danger of being wiped out by their foes, starting with passive force and deterrents before resorting to violence. He does not interfere with slavers, as he sees oppression as part of a spiritual journey to higher understanding, as well as being a gateway to spreading his values to the oppressors.

Meriadar’s Avatar (Cleric 35, Bard 20)
While Meriadar typically appears as a calm, intelligent mongrelman, he can take the form of a tall member of any goblinoid race as necessary. He always wears plain brown robes and radiates an aura of eternal patience and understanding no matter his form. He uses spells from all priest spheres and wizard schools, but never uses reversed forms.

AC −1; MV 12; HP 151; THAC0 −2; #AT 1
Dmg 1d10 + 10 (quarterstaff +3, +7 Str)
MR 40%; SZ L (8 feet tall)
Str 19, Dex 18, Con 17, Int 19, Wis 21, Cha 21
Spells P: 14/14/13/12/11/10/9, W: 4/4/4/4/4/3
Saves PPDM 2; RSW 6; PP 5; BW 8; Sp 7

Special Att/Def: Meriadar dislikes combat, preferring to use a demonstration of his power to prevent violence and bloodletting. Once per day he can issue a power word, stun and a power word, blind, and he can cast Otiluke’s resilient sphere, Otiluke’s telekinetic sphere, and forcecage twice per day each. He prefers to use hold, charm, and sleep type-type spells to damage-dealing spells.

The Patient One carries a unique wand of size alteration that can shrink hostile creatures down to 10% of their normal size, eliminating their offensive capability. He prevents allies from taking harmful acts against those affected by his wand. If combat is unavoidable, he wields the Tolerant’s Staff, a quarterstaff +3 that affects any goblinoid struck with a symbol of persuasion, with a normal save vs. spell to negate.

Other Manifestations
Meriadar’s manifestations tend to assist his followers with avoiding or surviving violence and foes. Most commonly, he wraps his followers in a light brown haze, hiding their features, helping to camouflage them (+10% bonus to their natural ability to do so after spending a turn to hide themselves; has no game effects if time is not spent to camouflage), and granting them the equivalent of a sanctuary spell for one hour. In times when his followers suffer tremendous pain inflicted by creatures that do so out of pure pleasure, he may instill tremendous stamina and pain resistance in them. While under this blessing, his followers gain a +4 bonus to any saving throws and constitution checks, and suffer one point less per damage die. Finally, if a free community of mongrelmen or a temple dedicated to him is at risk of discovery by a military force that is slaughtering all life they come across, the Patient One may use whatever illusions are necessary to hide the entrance or site.

Meriadar is served by many normal non-predatory animals, as well as aasimar, aasimon, alaghi, buseni, einheriar, fal, flumphs, formians, hounds of law, hsiao, incarnates of temperance, lammasu, maruts, rogue modrons, shedu, steel dragons, translator mediators, and t’uen-rin. The omens sent by the Patient One are frequent, and typically take the form of speaking in tongues and automatic speech during philosophical debates or automatic drawing and sculpting and sudden artistic inspiration. If more direct messages are needed, he may cause bubbling soup to release steamy symbols and imagery. He sometimes uses strange scents to indicate imminent danger; typically the smells are somewhat unpleasant and unusual for the area. The Tolerant One indicates his favor through the discovery of places of natural beauty such as grottos filled with clear crystals of any sort, still pools, or small waterfalls, isolated flowers in thin shafts of light, as well as ancient objects of fine art in good condition. He expresses his disfavor through the discovery of damaged objects of art, cracked or flawed crystals, and trampled flowers; however, all such signs have the potential to be restored or turned into a new item of beauty if his followers are insightful enough.

The Church
Clergy:                      Clerics, specialty priests, monks, shamans, bards
Clergy’s Align.:      LG, LN, N
Turn Undead:           C: Yes, SP: Yes, at priest level −4, Mon: No, Sha: No, B: No
Cmnd. Undead:         C: No, SP: No, Mon: No, Sha: No, B: No

All clerics (including multiclassed fighter/clerics, cleric/thieves, and mage/clerics), specialty priests, monks, and shamans of Meriadar receive religion (goblinoid) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Meriadar’s clergy are highly respected within mongrelman society. They are rarely chieftains in autocratic tribes, instead preferring to act as advisors and moral guides. They are willing to serve on councils in tribes that elect leaders, but refuse to serve as council head, again preferring a more advisorial role. They teach their people to be tolerant and respectful of all other intelligent life forms, especially goblinoids, and preach peace, patience, and order. They are also scholars and philosophers, holding frequent debates on a wide variety of subtle spiritual and philosophical topics. In particular, they debate philosophical concepts having an origin in the act of taking in sustenance, and the spiritual equivalents of the most basic earthly need, hunger. They encourage their people to pursue the production of high quality, beautiful arts and crafts both for use within the community, and as a tribute to their deity. Finally, they are often judges for their communities, and adjudicate disputes in a fair manner. It is also their influence that has allowed so many communities of mongrelmen to survive their enslavement at the hands of more powerful races, and it is in those communities that they have drawn in the majority of other races to the following of Meriadar. As the philosophy of the Tolerant One is wholly incompatible with most of the other goblinoid gods, it is rare that they are ever found in the same tribe. Finally, despite their peaceful nature, all priests will fight to defend their communities.

Temples dedicated to the Patient One are few and far between, but not for lack of trying. Mongrelmen are one of the most preyed-upon races in the multiverse, so they have little opportunity to complete temples. Shrines, however, are common; even in enslaved groups. Most slavemasters understand that mongrelmen are far more productive with the hope provided by the clergy of Meriadar. When completed, the Tolerant One’s temples are extraordinarily beautiful places. Most are built underground, but are well lit, and filled with the best works of art by the finest mongrelman artisans. Shrines are similarly decorated, but they tend to include portable rather than permanent pieces. Temples are typically designed around a long central chamber that can be set up with tables and benches for communal feasting. Pews can be set up for other ceremonies and services, and the space is often used for meetings of the tribal council.

Novices in the service of Meriadar are known as Students of Tolerance, and full priests are known as Instructors of Patience. Specialty priests are called tolerants. The hierarchy of the priesthood is structured and highly organized. The chief priest in a community is called the Meriadarch; all others have individual titles based on their responsibilities. However, these titles are not used in everyday conversation; priests are referred to simply as “Brother” or “Sister” by both fellow priests and lay followers. Female goblinoids who flee the latent or overt misogyny of their tribes are often drawn to the egalitarian nature of the Meriadaran priesthood; almost half of the clergy is female (45%). Mongrelmen (85%) make up the vast bulk of the Patient One’s clergy, with much smaller numbers of bugbears (4%), goblins, hobgoblins, and their brethren (3%), kobolds, orcs, and other goblinoids (2%), demihumans and humans (1%), and other races (such as ogres, giants, gnolls, etc.; 5%). Meridar’s clergy contains a majority of specialty priests (36%) and monks (24%), with smaller numbers of clerics (16%), shamans (10%), bards (5%), mage/clerics (4%), fighter/clerics (3%), and cleric/thieves (2%).

Dogma: No creature is incapable of peaceful coexistence with others. Work to bring the goblin races together in peace and tolerance with the other races of the world. Society flourishes through ordered, hierarchical governing and fair legal codes. Every creature has its purpose and place and should be respected. Beautiful creations are a tribute to Master of Craftsmen. Admire outward and inward beauty, and look for the beauty within all things; work to nurture it and reveal it to the world. Peace and tolerance are the way to true happiness. Violence is to be avoided in all but extreme circumstances and self-defense. Words of kindness and understanding are a better weapon than any blade.

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests spend most of their days guiding and teaching members of their community. They also intervene in disputes, and exercise careful thought in consideration to keep everyone calm and arrive at the best outcome. They also try to tamp down any aggressive ideas or wanderlust that appears in youngsters, as the tribe tends to fear that such feelings would lead to notice from enemies. When enslaved by evil humanoids, the priests fulfill much the same activities, but focus much more on patience towards the situation, telling their fellow slaves that a time will come when they will be freed again, and the current struggle is simply a test, with rewards of peace and calm to be had in the afterlife with the Patient One. They also attempt to bring their captors around to the worship of Meriadar, and teach that hatred is not the solution to any of their problems, although the clergy must be careful not to draw their ire.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: Once per month, the entire tribe, as well as any visitors and guests, gathers for a ceremonial communal meal. During this meal, the priests pass around a large highly decorated bowl filled with fruits, breads, vegetables, cold meats, and cheeses, so all share from the same source of food. It is believed that those who share life, symbol in the food, would not share death through violence. Even when enslaved, they continue this ceremony; most slavers allow mongrelmen to do so, as it keeps them productive. This ceremony has no formal name, as mongrelmen feel no need to give it one.

There is a related ceremony held amongst a heretical group of mongrelmen that worship the false Hidden God. This ceremony, known as the Feasting, is believed to add new racial stock material to a mongrelman’s offspring. To achieve this, members of the tribe who do not currently contain some portion of a specific type of humanoid gather privately to eat from a dead one. They never murder the creature they wish to eat and add to their makeup; this is solely an opportunistic ceremony that is held when another humanoid dies through natural causes or the actions of other beings. Followers of Meriadar abhor this practice, believing it violates the Tolerant One’s love and respect for life, even though the heretical mongrelmen do not murder the creature they feed upon.

Major Centers of Worship: If there are any long established temples dedicated to Meriadar, they are kept a close secret and not known even in rumor. There are independent communities of mongrelemen within the Forest of Mir and the Raurin Desert on Toril, and they may have hidden temples or holy sites that they use, but if they do, these are unknown.

Affiliated Orders: Numerous monastic orders follow the teachings of the Patient One. They are scattered and hidden in inaccessible places on many worlds, for they are as much targets of slavers marauding warriors as any community of mongrelmen. Often these orders are much more varied in their racial makeup than other temples and communities that venerate Meriadar, simply because they are not explicitly connected to communities of mongrelmen.

Priestly Vestments: Priests of the Patient One wear simple brown robes, much like their patron. While the robes are the finest a community can create, the actual quality matters not at all, for the act of working hard to make them is what is important to Meridar. The holy symbol of the faith is an amulet created by each individual priest when they are inducted into the clergy. Such amulets can be of any design or material, so long as the priest makes it themselves. They can make new ones the same way at any time; ordinarily they are not allowed to use the spell create holy symbol, but may do so in emergency situations.

Adventuring Garb: The priesthood of Meriadar wears the same simple brown robes they do when not performing their ceremonial duties, although they may substitute stronger, rougher cloth if they desire. When traveling or expecting combat, they may choose to wear armor underneath the robes, but only armor types that would generally not be obvious in such a case; typically nothing heavier or bulkier than chain mail is worn.

Specialty Priests (Tolerants)
Requirements:          Intelligence 12, Wisdom 9 or Wisdom 16
Prime Req.:                Intelligence, Wisdom
Alignment:                LN
Weapons:                   Bow (any), mancatcher, mace, net, quarterstaff
Armor:                       Any up to and including chain mail
Major Spheres:         All, charm, divination, guardian, healing, law, numbers, protection, thought, wards
Minor Spheres:         Astral, creation, necromantic, plant, time
Magical Items:         Same as clerics
Req. Profs:                Artistic ability
Bonus Profs:             Etiquette, crowd working

• Tolerants may be of almost any intelligent race, although most tolerants are mongrelmen.
• Tolerants are not allowed to multiclass.
• Tolerants have an effective Charisma score of one point higher when dealing with any goblinoid race (orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, etc.).
• Tolerants have a +4 bonus to their saves versus any cause wound spells (including harm), and suffer one point less per die from any damage they inflict.
• At 3rd level, tolerants can cast friends (as the 1st-level wizard spell) or sanctuary (as the 1st-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 5th level, tolerants can cast calm chaos (as the 2nd-level priest spell) or the friendship or hope versions of emotion control (as the 3rd-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 7th level, tolerants can cast the calm version of emotion (as the 4th-level wizard spell) once per day.
• At 9th level, tolerants can cast a symbol of persuasion (as the 7th-level priest spell) once per week. This rises to twice per week at 15th level.
• At 15th level, tolerants become immune to symbol of pain and any other spells that specifically inflict pain (not just damage).

Meriadaran Spells
In addition to the spell listed below, priests of the Patient One can cast the 1st-level priest spell augment artistry, detailed in Demihuman Deities in the entry for Corellon Larethian, the 3rd-level priest spell blessed crafstmanship, detailed in Demihuman Deities in the entry for Laduguer, and merciful touch, detailed in Demihuman Deities in the entry for Sharindlar.

1st Level
Internal Debate (Pr 1; Enchantment/Charm)
Sphere:                    Thought
Range:                     120 yds.
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 1d6+1 rd./level
Casting Time:          4
Area of Effect:         1 creature
Saving Throw:        Neg.

This spell causes a target to engage in a philosophical debate with themself. The debate can be on any subject, and is usually on something immediately at the front of their mind. While under the effects of this spell, they can do nothing other than move and defend themselves. The spell also artificially creates indecision in the target’s mind over the subject, so as to prolong the debate, which lasts for 1d6 rounds, plus one round per level of the caster. Finally, while affected by this spell, a creature is generally oblivious to the actions of those around him, except when they directly impact him, such as attacks. As such, it is very easy for another creature to move away and have the target be unsure which direction they went after the expiration of the spell.

The nature of the debate generally depends on the intelligence of the target. For those with high intelligence, the debates will often be on deep philosophical subjects such as the nature of existence, while those of low intelligence will often debate more immediate subjects like which type of meat tastes best. This spell can only be cast on creatures capable of communication and an Intelligence of 3 or better. Those with lower Intelligence scores are more resistant to this spell, while those with higher scores are more vulnerable; to get the bonus or penalty to their saving throw, invert the Wisdom Magical Defense Adjustment (so penalties become bonuses and vice versa) for the equivalent Intelligence score and apply it to the saving throw. For example, a creature with an Intelligence score of 6 would have a +1 bonus to their save, while a creature with an Intelligence of 16 would have a −2 penalty.

The material component for this spell is the priest’s holy symbol.

3rd Level
Calm (Pr 3; Enchantment/Charm)
Sphere:                    Charm
Range:                     0
Components:           V, S
Duration:                 1 hr.
Casting Time:          6
Area of Effect:         70-ft. radius
Saving Throw:        Special

Insects, animals, demihumans, humanoids, and monsters of 5 Hit Dice or levels—or less—within the spell’s area of effect lose their will to fight when this spell is cast, even if engaged in combat to the death.

The calm spell affects only those creatures within the area of effect at the instant of casting. The caster can deliberately exclude up to 1 creature per level (presumably, friends or allies) from the spell’s effect. Magic resistance against this spell is lowered by 15%, saving throws vs. spell against it are made at a −2 penalty.

Calmed creatures cannot bring themselves to attack any other living thing, although they defend themselves normally, and their actions are not restricted otherwise. A creature under this spell’s influence that is attacked gains an immediate saving throw with a +3 bonus to shake off the calming effect. Any calmed creature remains so for one hour (6 full turns) or until attacked, even if it leaves the area.

Glyph of Warding: Meriadar’s Suggestion (Pr 3; Abjuration, Evocation, Enchantment/Charm)
Sphere:                    Guardian
Range:                     Touch
Components:           V, S, M
Duration:                 Until discharged
Casting Time:          Special
Area of Effect:         Special
Saving Throw:        Special

A glyph of warding is a powerful inscription magically drawn to prevent unauthorized or hostile creatures from passing, entering, or opening. The glyph of warding: Meriadar’s suggestion is favored by priests of the Patient One. No other priesthoods are known to use it. The conditions, limitations, and material components for casting a glyph of warding: Meriadar’s suggestion are the same as for a normal glyph of warding.

When triggered, Meriadar’s suggestion instills in the minds of all those of evil alignment within 30 feet of the glyph the idea that the protected entrance or enclosure is of no significance. They believe they have already investigated the area and found nothing of interest, and continue on in their travels or searches. Those affected are allowed a saving throw vs. spell with a −2 penalty to avoid the suggestion.

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