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D&D Ideas — Heaven

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is heaven, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of heaven for the Perfection Seekers in Bestiary of Benevolent Monsters all paths to perfection lead to Protarch, a cosmic heaven of existence representing the ultimate law and the goodness derived of achieving supreme excellence. You can never have too many monsters for you Fifth Edition game! Bestiary of Benevolent Monsters fills an underserved niche within the game. We set out to construct new and interesting monsters of a good persuasion. Maybe you need to adjust the attitude of some overly aggressive adventurers. You could be running a campaign with evil characters. Or you’d like to set up an epic misunderstanding between the heroes and entities that are champions of good. Find out more about it here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.

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Delving Dave’s Dungeon

Heaven is a tough topic when it comes to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons but let’s see what I can come up with. I’m thinking of a heaven inspired plot.

Nectar of the Gods

Something has found its way from one of the heavens to the mortal world

Hints there is something wrong:

• The characters arrive in a village and everyone seems too nice and/or happy
• The villagers are all trying to get everyone to try a particular food or drink
• No one wants to work. Everyone has become a layabout.

Somewhere near or in the village is the source of the nectar. The villagers won’t willingly give it up. They have become addicted to it. This nectar was never meant to be consumed by mortals. In the hands of a mortal it is treated as a cursed magic item. For the purpose of this adventure idea an antidote can be concocted by gathering ingredients and combining them with the nectar of the gods.

What the characters need to do:

• Cut off the supply
• Break the villagers free of the nectar’s influence
• Not succumb to the curse themselves

Obstacles for the characters to overcome:

• Overcoming the villagers without harming them.
• Locating the source.
• Gathering the ingredients.
• Figuring out who or how the source came to be on the mortal plane.

In the aftermath will the villagers thank or curse the characters for freeing them? Did the characters just undermine the will of an immortal being? Is this happening in other places?

Nectar of the Gods

Potion, uncommon

The Nectar of the Gods acts like a potion of vitality but when consumed by a mortal creature it is a cursed magic item. Any attempt to divine what this magical draught does reveals it to be a potion of vitality. Each day after the first time you consume the Nectar of the Gods that you don’t consume another within 24 hours of the last you must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or gain a level of exhaustion. Only a greater restoration or wish spell can remove this effect. While a remove curse spell won’t remove the curse it suppresses it for 24 hours.

(A potion of vitality removes any exhaustion you are suffering and cures any disease or poison affecting you. For the next 24 hours, you regain the maximum number of hit points for any Hit Die you spend. The potion’s crimson liquid regularly pulses with dull light, calling to mind a heartbeat.)

From Ted’s Head

The heavens are beautiful and full of majesty and positive energy. As Dungeon Masters it can be difficult to run games with combat and conflict on the positive Upper Planes of existence. But there is no reason why beings and powers cannot spill out onto other planes including the Material Plane. If you are interesting in ideas and inspiration for 5E D&D games involving the heavens here we go.

What if we duplicate those times the gods fled? Imagine playing a game where clerics do not exist and the gods who used to respond — sometimes literally — grow silent and fail to appear. What if instead of all gods only one god disappeared. Is it related to a prophecy or something else? What if the god of death is not around and people cannot die? Those agonizing moments before death wind up becoming eternal torture for those kept on the threshold. All conflict becomes needless as death will not claim souls and bodies can be left to heal over time or just remain in constant pain. You also have greater celestials who can get into all sorts of trouble and need the characters to solve their issues since they are forbidden from getting involved.

As players it is insanely easy to make a character inspired and motivated by heaven or the heavens. Divinely inspired classes are literally built into the system. While paladins in 5E D&D are now linked to an oath and not a particular deity as they were in earlier editions many players still have paladins follow a god befitting their Sacred Oath. Beyond this in many campaign worlds there is a god for anything and everything. If you find a concept fitting your character why not follow the god focused on the concept? An artificer might certainly follow the god of creation, invention or tinkering. A rogue can put their faith in the god of thieving, revenge, treasure or stealth. See? All pretty easy.

If you are playing a martial character you could be a divine servant tasked with defending a person, place or object. Make your quest level appropriate and fitting with the party and campaign. Want to play an explorer type character? Perhaps they have had premonitions about finding a lost ancient temple to the goodly gods. It can always be fun to have your own personal side quest related to the divine and the heavens.

From the nerditor’s desk

Nerdarchist Ted and I spent a good chunk of time during the live chat discussing the

Optional Rule: Overwhelming Joy related to Elysium described in the 5E D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide. One of the Outer Planes, the Blessed Fields along with several others are considered divine, spiritual or godly planes best known as the homes of deities. Mount Celestia, Bytopia, Arborea, Ysgard and The Beastlands all share common ground as good aligned planes collectively called the Upper Planes.

I like to consider the Upper Planes as heavenly places where goodly spirits go when their mortal bodies perish and they all incorporate similar rules affecting those who visit them. While I’m not religious in my real life I’ve always thought it was really neat to imagine how individuals in the D&D multiverse transition on to these places and essentially exist forever onward. There is no faith involved here — these planes exist in the context of the game and even mortals can visit and return (albeit sometimes with a bit of trouble).

Any of the optional rules associated with the Upper Planes can make for intriguing scenarios whether they’re presented as extensions of these planes or simply as interesting effects to layer into a dungeon, lair or special location. There’s not much in the way of danger involved, at least not the kind 5E D&D adventurers are used to, but they can certainly facilitate some wonderful roleplaying. My favorite of these optional rules comes from The Beastlands, a plane where nature unbound creates a vibrant heaven.

“Whenever a visitor slays a beast native to the plane, the slayer must succeed on a DC 10 Charisma saving throw or become transformed (as the polymorph spell) into the type of beast that was slain. In this form, the creature retains its intelligence and ability to speak. At the end of each long rest, the polymorphed creature can repeat the saving throw. On a successful saving throw, the creature returns to its true form. After three failed saving throws, the transformation can be undone only by a remove curse spell or similar magic.”

Imagine this conundrum for a low level party in a wilderness setting where beasts would be abundant and not at all out of place. It might not be very long before the whole party transforms into intelligent speaking animals! A lesson in nature conservation notwithstanding the party’s got quite a problem on their paws. Or the players may all feel like this is the coolest thing that ever happened and surprise! Your 5E D&D campaign now follows the adventures of this unusual menagerie.

The most challenging thing about incorporating heaven into a campaign when it means planar travel is discovering where conflict lies in such places. I’ll be the first to say when it comes to 5E D&D the satisfaction of overcoming villains and whatnot lies in thrilling combat but in places like heaven I don’t feel like violence would be present at all. Or as we decided during the chat it would be instigated by the characters themselves and perhaps humorously received by the denizens of heaven.

My point is in much the same way we approached our own Bestiary of Benevolent Monsters coming up with conflicts and creating tension involving good creatures like those found in heaven or right on the Material Plane can really result in some rewarding games. And not for nothing encounters with good monsters reflects back on the players and their characters in ways not often touched on in games. Bringing weapons and magic to bear against decidedly evil entities is one thing but resolving conflicts in heaven like context is quite another and might just create the most memorable experience of an adventurer’s career.

*Featured image — The golden chimera soars on high and looks down at the people below to watch their daily lives. These virtuous creatures are ready to help when the needs are dire, but they do not interfere in day to day affairs. Some golden chimera have adopted, either knowingly or not, a town or small city, discouraging evil creatures from the area. [Art by Justin Lewis]

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