The second of the Derro Twins, banished from the Morndinsamman for their crimes, is Diinkarazan, the Mad God. Betrayed by his brother and imprisoned by Ilsensine, he has been driven mad by the hallucinations inflicted by the mind flayer god. However, he gains lucidity periodically, but not for long enough to effect his freedom.
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Diinkarazan (PDF Version)
(The Mad God, the Betrayed, the Scapegoat)
Demipower of the Abyss, CE
Portfolio:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Vengeance, madness
Aliases:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â None
Domain Name:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The 586th layer/Prison of the Mad God
Superior:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â None
Allies:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â None
Foes:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Diirinka, Ilsensine, the Morndinsamman, everyone else
Symbol:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â None (Ring of seven gems)
Wor. Align.:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â N, CN, LE, NE, CE
Imprisoned on a hidden layer of the Abyss, Diinkarazan (deen-KAHR-ah-zahn) is an insane and nearly forgotten exile from the Morndinsamman. Twin of Diirinka, the Mad God once complemented his brother as the dwarven god of magical skill, but since his betrayal, he has become a twisted power of insanity and vengeance.
Believed to be the youngest of the first generation of Moradin’s children, Diinkarazan and his brother Diirinka are nearly forgotten in dwarven myth. The remaining fragments of legendary lore are obscure but seem to reveal a pair of deities with traits outside the dwarven norm today. Each was focused on magic in ways no other dwarven deity was, with Diirinka being the knowledgeable and ambitious one, and Diinkarazan being the one most skilled in its use despite his lesser knowledge of the topic. Together they complimented each other and worked at increasing their power with the intent of crafting a race of dwarves of their own, just as Dumathoin had mountain dwarves and Thard Harr had jungle dwarves. Some fragmentary myths have been interpreted in such a way that casts Diinkarazan as a more reluctant partner in these exploits than is commonly believed, and that he began questioning his brother’s methods, but for some reason couldn’t turn away from him. Whether this is true or not is unlikely to be discovered unless the Mad God’s current mental state can be settled and cured.
Much of the known mythology of Diinkarazan comes from the illithids, and only a surprisingly small amount can be found in derro mythology. Mind flayer legends describe the discovery of a vast trove of Ilsensine’s magical knowledge and treasures by the twins, but in order to escape, Diirinka betrayed his brother and stabbed him in the back. Unable to escape, Diinkarazan was left to face the wrath of the Great Brain alone, and Ilsensine’s punishments were so terrible they drove the derro deity insane. Derro mythology makes only a brief mention of Diinkarazan; in their stories he heroically stayed behind so Diirinka could escape. However, it is clear that the derro themselves do not take this at face value, for Diinkarazan is used sometimes as a boogeyman, with parents telling children to behave and listen to the savants or the Mad God will come and punish them. He is a shadow, fearful figure in derro folklore despite the what the cult of Diirinka says about the Scapegoat’s role in derro creation. This may represent an intrinsic link between the derro people and the Mad God, although if such exists it is clearly weaker than the link to Diirinka.
As a result of his capture by Ilsensine, Diinkarazan remains imprisoned on a hidden plane of the Abyss, sitting on a stone throne and surrounded by a swirling vortex of gas and rock. Here he suffers from illusionary torments of his greatest fears, including Ilsensine itself, terrible monsters, drowning in a lake of lava, and the like. Despite its hidden nature, it can be visited by a persistent planewalker; however, only a greater power can free the Mad God, and it is unknown if even such a power could cure his madness. He rants and raves through his imprisonment, cursing the Great Brain of the illithids, his brother and betrayer Diirinka, and Moradin for not saving him, but it is said great and powerful magical secrets he learned before his imprisonment also sometimes tumble from his lips. However, the same stories say that those wishing to gain this knowledge risk insanity themselves by listening to his ravings.
The complex nature of Ilsensine’s curse is that once every fifty years, give or take a decade, the Mad God experiences a single day of lucidity. On this day, he dispatches his lone avatar to a world on the Prime Material Plane; he can do so as a legacy of his former stature before the Great Brain of the illithids imprisoned him. On these trips, he nominally searches for a way to free himself or extend his power, but his hatred and desire for revenge always overwhelms his sensibilities, and he inevitably seeks out ways to gain vengeance against Diirinka, Ilsensine, and the Morndinsamman. While madness always begins to take hold in his avatars on the day after their arrival on the Prime Material Plane, some have been able to function semi-lucidly for months or even a year or more. In this time, the Mad God has occasionally been able to establish small cults or create magical artifacts that maintain a connection to his imprisoned divine form. In time, however, his avatars always succumb to greater and greater forms of insanity, eventually descending into a frenzy of slaughter until the avatar is destroyed.
Diinkarazan’s Avatar (Wild Mage 24, Thief 20)
Diinkarazan’s unsettling facial features make his insanity apparent. He has staring, glowing red eyes with black pupils that never seem to blink, and his mouth is typically twisted into a rictus grin or angry scowl. His long, unkempt hair flows out behind him as if caught in gusting winds, and it constantly changes color, texture, and appearance randomly. He wears tatted and bloodstained robes of brown and grey, which always has a large tear in the back, surrounded by dried blood. He draws his spells primarily from the schools of abjuration, invocation/evocation, and wild magic, and only uses other spells when infusing an item with his power.
AC 0; MV 12, Fl 36 (A); HP 104; THAC0 11; #AT 1
Dmg 1d2 (fists)
MR 10%; SZ M (5 feet tall)
Str 13, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 18, Wis 3 (insane), Cha 1 (all races)
Spells W: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/6/5*
Saves PPDM 8; RSW 3; PP 5; BW 7; Sp 4
* Numbers assume one extra wild magic spell per spell level.
Special Att/Def: Diinkarazan carries no weapons, favoring subterfuge and magic when in his lucid state. As his mind deteriorates, he becomes much more erratic in combat, flinging random spells or pummeling foes with his fists in an unskilled manner. The Mad God may randomly pick up weapons lying about from defeated foes, but always suffers a non-proficient penalty when using them (−3 to attack rolls). When casting spells, his magic has the normal level variation and chance to cause a wild surge, but in addition to this, his base spellcasting level varies randomly from round to round on a 3d8 roll. This does not affect the spell levels that he can cast, however. For example, he may choose to cast a fireball, with a randomly determined base level of 7, and a level variation of −1, for a final effective level of 6.
Wind swirls and gusts about him constantly, and Diinkarazan may employ these winds to create one of the six following effects each round in addition to attacking or casting magic: feather fall, gust of wind, stinking cloud, whispering wind, wind wall, or a wind blast that deals 5d6 damage to a single target (a save vs. spell is allowed for half damage, modified by a Dexterity defense adjustment). Which power can be used in any given round is determined by a roll of 1d6; Diinkarazan cannot choose which power is available in any given round.
In addition to his magic resistance, the Mad God has a 25% chance to reflect spells cast at him back on their source. Resistance is checked first; if that fails, then reflection is checked. Diinkarazan is immune to nonmagical weapons as well as mind-affecting magic and psionics. Any creature contacting his mind with ESP or similar spells or psionics is instantly driven insane with no save allowed.
Other Manifestations
Due to his imprisonment, Diinkarazan is limited in the ways he can manifest his power on the Prime Material Plane. In connection to objects of great significance to his ancient cult, he can sometimes manifest a shadowy, almost transparent apparition in order to impart very basic information, such as signals of approval or disapproval to mortal followers. Fragments of his power have also been left on the Prime by his avatar; such leavings are almost always inadvertent and random. The Mad God is as likely to accidentally empower a small cave he slept in for a night or a sword he used for days as he is to empower a boulder he admired for a few moments or an eating utensil he used for one quick meal. Such items tend to emanate a nearly undetectable aura that leads those who spend time in their presence down a path of insanity, but those knowingly or unknowingly risk the danger may learn to draw out powers from these objects. Known powers that such items have exhibited are confusion, descent into madness, enervation, fear, insanity (as the symbol, but usually only one target), phantasmal killer, ray of enfeeblement, and extremely rarely, a storm of vengeance. Any insane creature able to unlock these powers will come to see the item as a sending by a great and unknown power. While they may make up a name drawn from their shattered psyche, this belief helps fuel Diinkarazan’s existence.
The Mad God is served primarily by insane sentient magical objects and revenants, but it is believed he can work through albino wyrms, blazing bones, brass minotaurs, ekimmu, free-willed berserk golems, incarnates of anger, and wingless wonders as well. Due to his imprisonment and mental state, he is not known to manifest his favor or displeasure in any way, although his insane followers often see his signs in a wide variety of innocuous occurrences and discoveries.
The Church
Clergy:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Specialty priests
Clergy’s Align.:     LE, NE, CE
Turn Undead:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â SP: No
Cmnd. Undead:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â SP: No
All savants (specialty priests) of Diinkarazan receive religion (derro) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.
Diinkarazan’s faith is never found openly among derro. His followers maintain either secret cults or exist as exiles from the larger derro communities. Should the savants of Diirinka hear a credible rumor a cult of the Mad God, they will do anything to excise the following from the community short of indiscriminate slaughter; they teach their communities that there is no greater threat than a cult of Diinkarazan in their midst.
Temples dedicated to Diinkarazan do not exist. Exiled cults that manage some degree of permanence may rarely create shrines, but these are always highly individualistic, and any elements shared across these groups are purely coincidental. Such cults are always on the lookout for locations or items touched by an avatar of the Mad God. Such objects or locations will be considered of utmost importance to the cult, and all members will gladly lay down their lives to acquire or protect them, even against overwhelmingly powerful foes.
Among permanent cults dedicated to Diinkarazan, student savants are known as Searchers for Vengeance. Full savants are known as Masters of Revenge. Each full savant adopts a unique title, often a bizarre non-sequitur in nature. Known titles include Master of the Masterless, Scrivener of Scents, or Revenger of Harmless Insults. No hierarchy exists in permanent cults besides that of student and full savant, although a founder can typically expect to be obeyed by their followers. The savants in these cults do not form ruling councils as in other derro communities, although they still rule simply by effectively being the priests of the Mad God. Only savants exist within derro cults of Diinkarazan, although occasionally cults to the Mad God can be found among other races, primarily dwarves. Such cults usually worship Diinkarazan through a local alias, and such cults typically form due to extreme trauma or disruption within a community; they may contain clerics or shamans, but even this is rare. In any case, no such priests would gain spells above 2nd level due to his imprisonment. Just as with Diirinka’s savants, there is a two-to-one ratio of males (66%) to females (34%) among savants who follow Diinkarazan. Before his imprisonment, exile, and insanity, dwarves of other subraces were called to be clerics and crusaders of the Mad God, although it is unlikely any remain even on worlds unaware of the twins’ exile.
Dogma: Vengeance. Seek it against the savants of Diirinka. Vengeance. Seek it against the illithids of Ilsensine. Vengeance. Seek it against those who have wronged you. Vengeance. Seek it. Vengeance. Always. Vengeance.
Day-to-Day Activities: While savants of Diinkarazan conduct their daily lives much as savants of Diirinka do, these activities are often tinged with madness. It may start out by investigating unorthodox or incongruous theories related to their fields of study, but over decades, it often becomes paranoia or obsession with conspiracies and clearly false theories. Throughout these activities, a growing sense of alienation from the wider derro community also typically takes hold, especially if the savant is an exile. This alienation inevitably leads to desires for vengeance and violence against real or perceived enemies. Interestingly, such feelings only seem to develop against fellow followers of the Mad God when real harm has been done. Their paranoia never seems to extend to other members of their cult.
Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: Followers of the Mad God have no formal religious duties or ceremonies. Praise and veneration of Diinkarazan is not uncommon within his independent cults, but no formal actions accompany such utterances.
Major Centers of Worship: No temple dedicated to Diinkarazan survived his exile and madness, although traces of his ancient worship can sometimes be found in the oldest of dwarven kingdoms. However, vestiges of his power are sometimes hidden deep within the worlds of the Prime Material Plane.
Deep beneath the surface of Oerth lies a great body of water known as the Sunless Sea, and a few islands dot its glassy, dark surface. One of these is a small island with a single large slab of rock standing straight up with the handprint of a male derro pressed into its surface as if it had been mud. An avatar of Diinkarazan once touched this stone long ago, and it still retains a connection to the Mad God. Insanity tends to afflict those who visit the stone, but anyone who spends enough time near it can draw upon powers of derangement to defend the isle. Currently, the island is home to a small group of entirely insane kuo-toa.
On the world of Toril, one of the last vestiges of Diinkarazan’s power is the Throne of the Mad God, the former monarch’s throne of the fallen dwarven kingdom of Korolnor. Using this ruling seat, Diinkarazan can manifest a small fragment of his psyche, and he uses this to direct the trolls and renegade derro living among the ruins of the dwarven kingdom to battle neighboring illithids and the surface dwelling races above. It seems that since the Time of Troubles, the Mad God’s power has been growing, perhaps presaging another period of lucidity.
Affiliated Orders: As Diinkarazan’s following has little organization, it sponsors no orders of any kind. However, dwarves of all subraces are sometimes drawn to worship ancient sentient magic weapons, particularly axes. Many of these Axe Cults are in fact sponsored by actual deities that wish to expand their influence with dwarves, or are just opportunistic power-seekers. Still, many of these cults, those that follow the tenets of honorable battle in particular, are sponsored by Clangeddin Silverbeard in an attempt to bring these heterodox worshipers into the traditional folds of worship. Some of the weapons around which these cults spring are insane and malevolent, and many sages believe that they have been influenced by the Mad God Diinkarazan, who may even be granting spells to the priestly leaders of such cults.
Priestly Vestments: No formal raiments are worn by savants of Diinkarazan, who favor simple grey robes. Wearing black, grey, and white at the same time is strictly forbidden, however, unless masquerading as a savant of Diirinka. Even then it is avoided, however. No formal symbols are worn denoting service to the Mad God, although extremely old texts say a bracelet with seven gems of the same size, color, and cut is said to have been worn by ancient priests of Diinkarazan as a holy symbol. None are known to do so today.
Adventuring Garb: Savants of Diinkarazan use the same gear and equipment as other derro and savants of Diirinka. They only wear heavy armor if they have exhausted their spells or do not plan to use them; otherwise they are never found wearing heavier armor than studded leather. They always use magical protections and equipment if they can.
Specialty Priests (Savants)
Requirements:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Intelligence 15, Wisdom 10
Prime Req.:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Intelligence, Wisdom
Alignment:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â LE, NE, CE
Weapons:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Any
Armor:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Any up to studded leather, plus shields
Major Spheres:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Special
Minor Spheres:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Special
Magical Items:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Any, see below
Req. Profs:               Sage knowledge (Player’s Option: Spells & Magic)
Bonus Profs:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Reading/writing (Derro)
- Savants of Diinkarazan must be derro.
- Savants of Diinkarazan are not allowed to multiclass. However, a savant of Diirinka may freely become a savant of Diinkarazan without penalty; the reverse is never possible.
- Savants may select nonweapon proficiencies from both the priest and wizard groups with no crossover penalty.
- Savants use the monster THAC0 table, starting at 19 at level one and advancing two points at every odd level (i.e., THAC0 17 at 3rd, etc.). Further, they gain the best saving throw available for their level from the warrior and wizard charts.
- Savants may make use of any magic item they come across without penalty, although not all items prove useful for them. They may cast spells from wizard scrolls and priest scrolls as a member of the given class with the normal chance of failure. They suffer no harm for handling or reading a magical tome that increases levels, but also do not gain any benefit, regardless of the class level that is increased. To make use of weapons or musical instruments of a magical nature, they still must have an appropriate proficiency. They are not immune to the negative effects of cursed items.
- Savants gain spells as granted powers, mixing the normal divinely granted magic of priests with the arcane study of wizards. Further, the talent to become a savant is inherent to an individual; it cannot be taught or bred for. Spells are gained at random, although especially old savants have been known to study a spell long enough to have gained the insights to add it to their list of spells. Once a spell is known to a savant, it can never be exchanged for another. Spells have their normal casting times, as well as verbal and somatic components, but material components are never needed. A savant need only rest to regain usage of their spells every day; no prayer or studying is needed.
- Following the Mad God of the Derro carries with it the risk of insanity for savants. All savants of Diinkarazan have a base 1% chance per year of becoming insane. This increases by an additional 1% chance each year, plus 3% per level the savant has gained (to the maximum of 8). Thus, a 7th-level savant who has been in the service of Diinkarazan for 9 years has 31% chance of developing insanity. Once a check indicates that a savant has developed insanity, roll on Table 24 in Player’s Option: Spells & Magic to determine the type; reroll any results that would prevent a savant from acting (i.e., catatonia, hebephrenia, etc.). Only if the second result indicates the same condition is it developed. Conditions such as paranoia never involve fellow derro followers of the Mad God; instead, they will be focused on derro followers of Diirinka, illithids, or non-derro dwarves.
- The magic savants of Diinkarazan use is touched by the insanity of their god. As such, whenever they cast a spell, they do so as a wild mage of the same level, using both the level variation and wild surge charts in the Tome of Magic. They are not considered wild mages, however.
- All savants have spent enough time studying a single topic to become a minor sage on the matter. They must take the proficiency Sage Knowledge (Int −2) at character creation, choosing any subject as listed in Player’s Option: Spells & Magic or the DMG in table 61, as well as more specific subjects such as the history of certain nations, races, or religions. They may not spend slots as they gain levels on additional fields of study as these may come as granted powers later, but they may spend proficiency slots to gain bonuses to any sage knowledge proficiencies they do have. Finally, whenever gaining this proficiency, the savant has an additional −4 penalty to their proficiency check.
- Until they have gained sufficient power and experience, all savants are considered students. To become a full savant, they must achieve 5th level and be approved by a majority of all current full savants. They continue advancing until 7th level as a student if they have not been granted the status of full savant, although they gain none of the powers of the levels beyond 4th. Upon advancing to the status of full savant, additional powers manifest one per month until all powers are gained. Advancement to full savant is nominally based on skill and diligence in studying and aiding their full savant masters, but is more often based purely on personality and whether enough full savants like the student.
- When savants gain the use of a new spell, it is selected at random from the following list of standard spells. If a duplicate is rolled, it means the savant has gained an additional casting of the spell per day.
D20 | |
Roll | Spell |
01 | affect normal fires (as the 1st-level wizard spell) |
02 | anti-magic shell (as the 6th-level wizard spell) |
03 | blink (as the 3rd-level wizard spell) |
04 | cloudkill (as the 5th-level wizard spell) |
05 | ESP (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) |
06 | hypnotic pattern (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) |
07 | ice storm (as the 4th-level wizard spell) |
08 | invisibility (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) |
09 | levitate (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) |
10 | light (as the 1st-level wizard spell) |
11 | lightning bolt (as the 3rd-level wizard spell) |
12 | minor creation (as the 4th-level wizard spell) |
13 | paralyzation (as the 3rd-level wizard spell) |
14 | repulsion (as the 6th-level wizard spell) |
15 | shadow magic (as the 5th-level wizard spell) |
16 | spider climb (as the 1st-level wizard spell) |
17 | ventriloquism (as the 1st-level wizard spell) |
18 | wall of fog (as the 1st-level wizard spell) |
19 | wall of force (as the 5th-level wizard spell) |
20 | No Spell |
- Savants can comprehend languages and read magic(as the 1st-level wizard spells) at will.
- At 2nd level, savants have a 50% chance to learn one spell in the above list or gain a +1 bonus to their chosen sage knowledge proficiency check.
- At 3rd level, savants have a 50% chance to learn one spell in the above list or gain a +1 bonus to their chosen sage knowledge proficiency check.
- At 4th level, savants that have not gained a spell yet automatically do so, rolling on the above list and disregarding a roll of 20. Otherwise, they have a 50% chance to learn one spell in the above list or gain a +1 bonus to their chosen sage knowledge proficiency check.
- At 5th level, full savants have a 30% chance to gain four spells from the above list, 20% chance to gain two spells and one additional field of sage knowledge (with the penalty described above), or a 50% chance to gain three spells and a +1 bonus to their chosen sage knowledge proficiency check.
- Starting at 5th level, savants can work together to enchant magical items without the specific need to cast enchant an item, permanency, or similar spells. Enchantment works much as it does for normal wizards, but one of the savants must perform spell research to learn the necessary rituals to conduct the enchantment. For example, if four savants wish to create an item that would normally require a 2nd-level spell, two third-level spells, and a 4th-level spell, each one can perform the research on one of these spells to learn the appropriate ritual. Once the research is concluded, the savants spend one week per spell required to actually enchant the item; in the above scenario, a full month would be necessary to conduct the required rituals. This process exhausts all of the savants’ normal spellcasting for the days needed, save their abilities to comprehend languages and read magic. At the conclusion of this process, percentile dice are rolled to determine if the object was successfully enchanted; there is a base 4% chance per level of full savant and 2% per level of student savant involved, to a maximum of 95%, that the enchantment is successful. For example, if an 8th level savant, a 7th level savant, and two 5th level savants were involved in the creation, the item would have an 80% chance of being successfully enchanted. A minimum of two savants must be involved, with no maximum, but no more than half of those involved can be student savants.
- At 6th level, savants have a 50% chance to learn one spell in the above list or gain a +1 bonus to one of their sage knowledge proficiency checks.
- At 7th level, savants have a 50% chance to learn one spell in the above list or gain a +1 bonus to their chosen sage knowledge proficiency check.
- At 8th level, savants have a 50% chance to learn one spell in the above list, a 35% chance gain a +1 bonus to their chosen sage field proficiency check, or a 15% chance to gain one additional field of sage knowledge (with the penalty described above).
- Savants gain no additional levels beyond eighth, and do not improve in hit dice, saving throws, or THAC0 any further. However, they may conduct spell research to gain additional spells if they do not have a full set of nine spells. This spell research takes three times as long and costs three times as much as normal spell research; only wizard spells of up to 6th level may be researched. Further, they continue to accrue experience, and they gain proficiency slots when they would normally do so for a specialty priest with equivalent experience points. These slots can be used to improve existing proficiencies or take new sage knowledge fields, provided they do not already know three fields of study.
Diinkarazite Spells
Diinkarazan does not grant priest spells to his followers, and so has no special spells available to his priesthood.
So fun! The two derro deities were always fascinating.
Yeah, they were really interesting to work on! :D