Thanks for the shout out AJ! I've been kicking around the idea of writing a cleric domain around Malar for a while now... might have to make that happen...
To borrow a quote from Terry Pratchett's *Small Gods* about agnostics in a fantasy realm: "We get that in here some nights, when someone's had a few. Cosmic speculation about whether gods really exist. Next thing, there's a bolt of lightning through the roof with a note wrapped round it saying 'Yes, we do' and a pair of sandals with smoke coming out. That sort of thing, it takes all the interest out of metaphysical speculation."
This is a really amazing video. I know you work hard and put plenty of effort into all of your videos, but this video in particular really shows the level of dedication and attention to detail you're willing to donate to the community in order to educate the curious about the finer details of the wonderful world of Toril. Please never stop doing what you're doing. We are all better for your contributions. :)
A PC I had once started off as just a bard raised by a church, who despite being a monk wasn't exactly what you'd call devout. When I had to come up with a god for said church, I must have spent a week trying to find one that my happy go lucky wannabe-standup-comedian could casually worship that would fit well for the setting of the campaign. Long story short, once you talked about Kelemvor I knew who Brother Geoff was gonna be a follower of. More than that, by the time the video got that far I'd already decided I was gonna multi into cleric. Well done. You literally converted someone.
I hope we get Clerics II ("I'm not even supposed to be on this plane of existence today.") and eventually Clerics III, but take the time for the adventures of AJ (and Bob who hath taken a vow of Silence).
Excellent video - one piece of CC, keeping the name of the god on the screen as you discuss them as I was listening while working and sometimes lost track of who we were on. Very valuable video for the game!
Im playing an shapeshifter favorite soul of cyric who has made a cult spreading that Lathander is actualy Cyric and has traped the real Lathander who is actualy Cyric
You have the 3 'A's. Always Awesome A.J. Great video. It's very inspiring how enriching could be for a DM to keep gods and faiths present in the game. I would like to see more about other pahteons. Such Greyhawk deities, and non-human pantheons. I can't wait to see more. CHeers!
45 minute long MrRhexx video AND a nearly 90 minute long AJ video in the same week? What D&D god do we have to thank for these repeated blessings? Damn, I'm EXCITED to get deeply nerdy.
Praying over someone who wants someone to pray with them is how you do it in real life. Happens pretty often in Christian churches. Yet the power of prayer is miraculous. When two or more are gathered in prayer it's a testament of faith. With all the crazy things going on a lot of people need salvation. I just pray that our the US doesn't erupt into civil war.
My highest level players is a 15 pali/3 cleric to Lathander. Once I work in a quest arc for his ascension to "Morning Lord" or "High Morning Lord" he may explode in real life. Thank you Professor. This entire video is such a valuable source of information. Cant even begin to express enough gratitude to you for the amount of work and preparation that went into this endeavor. You the real OG.
Dammit, I absolutely love this channel and every ounce of care and work you put into it. Thank you for being a nice cozy happy place to sit back and listen. Whether you know it or not, your content adds so much fun back into people’s lives, including my own. Thank you so much!
this is it. the single greatest most detailed and researched video you've ever made. I'm afraid it's all downhill from here... (JUST KIDDING MAN AWESOME VIDEO KEEP GOING NOW I HAVE A SHIT TON MORE IDEAS FOR RELIGIONS IN MY CAMPAIGN TO ADD TO THE WORLDBUILDING TYVM GODSPEED!!!)
I have been waiting for this video since you showed the picture of the script I have always loved clerics and holy magic. I'm ready for an hour and a half of character inspiration 😁
The Red Knight faith sounds like a perfect suggestion for a deity for players who enjoy war gaming and strategy games themselves! This video was great!
As a DM who allows both the artificer class of Eberron and the blood hunter class by Matt Mercer in his Forgotten Realms games, the fact that clerics of Gond and Malar are called artificers and blood hunters (respectively) has given me some very interesting thoughts on how to integrate the aforementioned classes into the Realms. I will probably have the church of Gond be a good place for a player's artificer to have received their class training from, and I like the idea that the monster-hunting blood hunters have their roots in the evil blood rituals of Malar's faithful. Especially Order of the Lycan blood hunters, who seem right at home among Malar's faithful.
That's a possibility. Yet I'm not a D&D player yet, but I think Wizards of the Coast can expand upon their lore. Yet that entails looking over older lore that they have in order to make informed decisions, even if that means not listening to the Twitter cesspool.
Good shoutout on Sparhawk as an example.. in actual D&D stuff i like Cadderley, the cleric who's openly agnostic to begin with & that being the actual thing that attacts the god's attention is pretty great - I also like the granny weatherwax approach, paraphrased "i know the gods exist, i just don't hold with encouraging them!"
What a fantastic journey through the clerics and priests in the Forgotten Realms. Thank you so much AJ. Really gets the creative juices flowing even if the campaign isn't set in FR. The archetypes of each of the churches is easily given a name change and a change of vestments and bam! Ready to bring life to a homebrew world. :3
Light cleric at Lvl 1: I want to bring my gods light of peace to the darkest places of the world. Lvl 10+: BURN IN HOLY FIRE!!! YOUR FLESH WILL SMOLDER AND CHAR!!! AAAAAGGGGHHHHAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!
They don't call the inside of the body(and pants usually) the place "where the sun doesn't shine" for nothing. Light needs to be brought there too. Some people are willing to take a torch enema, others... less so.
Glad you finally got it completed and uploaded. Clerics and paladins are my favorite class to play also. Thanks for all the hard work on this one my man.
I just started playing DND with a new group after 15 years of not playing. I am playing a Kenku dark priest addicted to gambling named " Knocks on wood" and I LOVE IT. thank you so much for these amazing videos! much love
I know some don't like long videos, but I do. The most interesting part of this was the mention of a lawful society working with the faith of evil gods (especially given the state of things here in America) - interesting to think about.
Long one, sorry in advance. 7:35 My Gnome Druid, Lief Clifthistle Bramble Bushen Little-Spriggan Rivertide Templecrest - who I've been playing for years, your vid on gnomes a huge inspiration - actually had this in his backstory (a vision of a cataclysmic event), eventually leading him to befriend a Godess, and through a wacky chain of events based on her quests and her father's, made a wish that ended up mitigating the damage of the event so much, it cleared his visions and became a favored of said Godess. TL:DR - Your vids gave me the inspiration to make my most fun character whose choices had huge ramifications on the world, SOLELY due to the one sentence, "I have been experiencing visions of a cataclysmic event." Thanks AJ, you're a God among Sages, you Dire Halfling, you.
I personally love auril, I love her misunderstood nature of loving beauty, loving through necessary pain that leads people away, that makes people hate her. And all she wants is for everyone to live on a winter wonderland she sees as perfect. She even gives proportionally more blessings and power to humans, marking every child born in midwinter and protecting zealously those that willingly submit
I don't always play the gods and canon as you describe them, as my players' universe is a bit different (and honestly a bit more gentle than most), but your videos really are so useful to flesh out their world: they're really treasures. Thanks for going to the effort of making them.
Love the whole channel, but keep coming back to this vid especially. I think I've spent more time watching/rewatching this one video than I have watching most other channels I like and subscribe to. I absolutely love the lore, and this is such a good example of making it accessible while keeping depth and engaging presentation. Fantastic work! Thank you for all your content. It's always entertaining and has greatly improved my experience playing D&D. :)
I'm very glad you have released a video specifically on faith. I've been a big fan of yours for a long time and - if you remember - I'm playing a Leshay Paladin of the Raven Queen who was "popped" into my DM's world with its destruction. He identifies with both Humans and Elves and follows the Raven Queen almost fanatically (he apparently has his original soul trapped in his body while Eroquen, the main character I'm playing, controls everything). One of the party members was recently resurrected after being disintegrated but when he rearrived he registered as undead. I'm curious as to what the Raven Queen Faith says about this....
@@AJPickett Not entirely sure yet. His character got disintegrated by - you guessed it - the Disintegrate spell. Then he pulls a Vax on us and just approaches the camp butt-naked and when I used Divine sense, he registered as undead. Strange right? Dost thou have any insight on how this could be? He just pings as undead but doesnt have any typical undead characteristics.
I checked your channel 4 days ago looking for some in-depth specific things about Gods and especially Ilmater, but I did not find what I was looking for. But the heard my prayer! Fuck yes! You are a God!
A point I bring up to my players about evil churches in otherwise normal cities is that the easiest way to bring doom upon yourself is to mess with the faithful of an evil God and invoke their wrath. Additionally, attempting to eliminate these orders can do more harm than good. When a faith, evil or otherwise, is persecuted, they go into hiding only to rise up when you least expect them. If the faith is tolerated openly, they are much easier to keep an eye on. Finally, the easiest way to garner sympathy for a cause is to appear the victim and to paint the aggressor in a negative light. If the church of Lathandar is burning worshippers of Malaar at the stake, it's much easier to sway the minds of the masses. "Look what these so-called holy men are doing to us! Are these people TRULY good?"
I love the video! Also, I grew up with those kinds of books too ... choose your own adventure, lone wolf, dungeons & dragons game novels, fighting fantasy, etc.
Ive made a priest werewolf and this helps a lot. I had a good conversation on ur discord so I became a patron. We talked about Malar and Kanchelsis working together more Kanchelsis controls Malar and his lycans
Awwww YEAH! My girl The Red Knight is in the house!! My favorite character concept is a Scourge Aasimar that manifested his heritage after surviving a battle in which his uncle and mentor died, with the Red Knights symbol on his hand. A normally jovial, kinda dumb but observant giant that likes to enjoy life and help whenever possible. But when the traitors, the cruel and tha Lower Planes denizens harm the helpless, he lets his rage and strategic mind overtake him and crush the deviants in the name of the Lady of Strategy.
One of my favorite characters to play is the cleric who is unsure, It might be a priest who never really believed, who never truly understood, then he finds himself personally connected to his deity, for a purpose which seems unknowable to him. The man now moves through life gifted with powers unimaginable yet he is still riddled with doubt for he does not know why his god choose him.. why would his all powerful god choose a man who was so unsure, surely there must be better candidates out there, he saw them with his own eyes! proud, devout, smart, charismatic, yet here this drunken lout comes, reviving the dead with mere words from his lips, even he can't believe the miracles he is performing. Every night, he huddles around the fire looking up in the sky, waiting for a sign from his God, what kind of perils will he face in the future, what miracles will he be witness to next, what is his purpose? why him? He takes a last swig from his ale-riddled waterskin, smothers the flame with dirt, and retreats to the comfort of his makeshift cot, unaware of that bright failing star calling out his name.
Don't want to sound like this is a bad thing because it isn't. But I have fallen asleep to this particular video I don't know how many times. Think I am creating my own demi god of dreams on our plane the amount of times I have slept to this
Eldath, if I remember correctly I remember seeing info online on how the Ondonti, a peaceful subrace of orcs, were worshippers of her. It would be great to see the Ondonti get added as an orc subrace. Not a D&D player yet, but bringing the Ondonti back would help flesh out orc culture and possibly create a new pantheon for their race. In other words, they would be akin to the drow equivalent of orcs. A culture based on nature and fighting to maintain peace.
My first couple D&D characters were clerics (of Tempus and Kelemvor in Forgotten Realms, and of Water in Dark Sun) in 2nd ed AD&D. If Paladin had been then what it is now, I would have been a Paladin back then.
I watch a lot of D&D lore stuff on UA-cam, but I never heard of you or your channel until today. You have earned a new subscriber. I loved the video, and am looking forward to looking into your back log.
I know I am many years late for this, but many thanks for this video. Was rushing to put together a players' handout for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, and this has been incredibly useful.
I want to thank you so much for the David Eddings callous! The Belgaraid/Mallorean and the Eleniad/Tamuli were some of my favorite books of the late 90s, when my best friend introduced me to them. I don't think I'd day he and his wife were minor authors, but they certainly feel more like books I read, and really liked, but never expected any other people to bring up, anecdotally, so that was great! And yeah, I'd definitely use the Pandian Knights as a good analog to paladins, especially those who aren't so painfully Lawful Good that they feel obligated to infringe on other people's fun, and character expression, which was why I had to van player Paladins, back when I ran 3e. Of course, the rest of the video has been fun, too, since some of the gods are so much more than just a color, a weapon, and a Domain granted. Thank you for taking the time.
I've been watching too much SCP foundation stuff... I heard "Church of the Broken God" and thought "What the hell are the Mekhanites doing in the Realms?!?"
Its taken me a couple weeks to process the info in this vid. (Partly from personal life events I wont get into. I havent had the time like I normally do to sit down and research and study like I normally would.) That had to be a tremendous amount of effort and work, AJ. Well done, sir. Well done. :D
29:29 Glad you added in the part about clerics of nature Deities. I've always wondered how they really differ from Druids in their outlook and place in nature. Worshipers of both Obad-Hai and Ehlonna sorta act as the helping hands, or guidelines of Druid culture. Although I'm sure many overlap and cross class, I see the clerics of nature gods as a more structured society of nature worship, with Druids being it's caretakers who maintain it.
I have watched this video atleast 4 whole times and a few bits here and there, thank you so much for making it, I have gotten so much inspiration from it and learned a lot of new things! Hugs
Great googly moogly! That was just beautiful! I do hope you do some more of these. Perhaps a series on all the various cults and worshipers faiths of the fiends, old ones and demons, as well as other gods from the other settings and such? Thanks you for this. This has provided me with quite a lot for my upcoming campaigns.
This was exactly what I needed and I didn't realize it was so recently uploaded. Amazing. If the name of the god was on screen during the discussion of them that would have been helpful to keep it in my mind while watching. For future reference.
I actually played a character that, without being a cleric or even a wisdom caster, had a sufficient level of faith in his chosen deity that the party paladin actually got a mite jealous of him while going through a crisis of faith. I based the character on how, rather than seeing his deity as this overbearing figure that protected and ordered his followers around, saw him as just another person doing important work, and believed that through prayer and good deeds he could help him out with that whole "keeping the world from ending" thing.
Kevin Smith should make a fantasy movie titled Clerics. It would be a day in the life of a hapless yet devoted cleric named Dante who was called to duty on his day off. He's aided by his foul mouthed friend Randal, a mage who spends way too much time reading pulp novels rather than attending his shop, two thieves named Jay and Robert the Mute and a veritable rogue's gallery of freaks, mutants and misfits.
OME, can I say thank-you for making mention of the Elenium/Tamuli series? My first serious novel reading were sci-fi I "borrowed" off my eldest brother, when I was 11, but my first truly self-owned novel was "The Diamond Throne", which I came across in one of those cardboard shelving units for new releases, in a news agency that had a respectable little book section. I read David Eddings right through my teens, up until the start of my 20s. I will say his last seris had a climax I felt was a weird negation of the whole series' events via time travel, and I realise "The Redemption of Althalus" also had it, but that was a Franchise Original Sin in it's first appearance (it's a trope, where early episode get away with a fault, but that fault gets worse in sequels, until one cannot stand it). But in the long right, I feel like Eddings was an ideal fantasy writer for a teenager (especially one from a religious upbringing) to be reading.
AJ: so grab yourself a beverage cos we're about to get deeply nerdy... Me, already pouring my third rum: Thats what im here for, you fuckin legend you!
As a cleric player more than anything else, I disagree with the idea of the Forgotten Realms being especially good for exploring religion. The gods of Faerun were literally reduced to the status of mortals for a while, and the mere existence of The Wall and the Fugue Plain and Ao and all that really creates a bad look for the gods being anything more than powerful and meddlesome outsiders of tremendous magical power. Nothing about them gives me a sense of them actually being divine; IMO even Greyhawk does it better, but there's never been a setting that I actually felt was doing it right. So I made one.
This 100%. All the Gods of the Forgotten Realms setting are petty tyrants clinging on to power by coercing mortals into worshipping them. The only real exception being Illmater, who fought a couple of crusades trying to take down the Wall of the Faithless, and possibly Kelemvor. He wanted to tear down the wall, but the other gods forced him to put it back in place because too many people were choosing not to worship them without the threat of horrendous torture. (Gee, I wonder why.)
I love this. It makes the world feel so much more real and lived in. I get the sense that these are real people with real lives. Previously I had never considered that clerics would be anything other than adventurers, so it's interesting that you describe how clerics fit into society and have jobs. More than that though, I really liked your description of how worshippers of the various gods make their worship a part of their lives. With this in mind, now I gotta figure out how my reluctant cleric of Hastur fits into the homebrew world I'm playing in...
0:02:08 Can I just say, I love/find hilarious that a militant order of warlocks were basically your introduction to "Paladins". I love it. And yes, Eddings basically wrote Novelized D&D :P
So a cleric serving The Red Knight, Tymora, and a god of story (not sure which would be best for that) would be ideal for introducing a version of D&D into the world of Faerun, giving commoners a way to experience adventurer life.
Wrong impression. The exact opposite is true. I have such a respect for the Elven lore that I want to get to a point where I have the grounding I need to do their history and culture in the game the justice it deserves. Yes, they did terrible things, but also great things.
@@AJPickett Wow, thanks for the reply. In that case, I am quite looking forward to what you have to say about the fair folk's place in the worlds of D&D. They are my favorite race and hope you do them justice when it happens.
Thanks for the shout out AJ! I've been kicking around the idea of writing a cleric domain around Malar for a while now... might have to make that happen...
The Beast Priest sounds awesome!
@@Im-Not-a-Dog It rhymes, so now it has to be a subclass.
To borrow a quote from Terry Pratchett's *Small Gods* about agnostics in a fantasy realm:
"We get that in here some nights, when someone's had a few. Cosmic speculation about whether gods really exist. Next thing, there's a bolt of lightning through the roof with a note wrapped round it saying 'Yes, we do' and a pair of sandals with smoke coming out. That sort of thing, it takes all the interest out of metaphysical speculation."
Here for the launch of Baulder's Gate 3 to fill myself in on making a Cleric!
The fact that there is both a Lliira and a Leira is maddening.
LEER-Rah and LAIR-Rah... or really, have them sound exactly the same, because mixing them up in the campaign can be HILARIOUS.
Worship them both and it is up to both of them to figure out to whom of them you are praying
Garagos and Gargauth disagree
Arwen and Eowyn, Sauron and Saruman (for many audiences): you telling us!
Just don't mix up Shar and Sharess.
It's my sleepover and I get to pick the movie
This is a really amazing video. I know you work hard and put plenty of effort into all of your videos, but this video in particular really shows the level of dedication and attention to detail you're willing to donate to the community in order to educate the curious about the finer details of the wonderful world of Toril.
Please never stop doing what you're doing. We are all better for your contributions. :)
Thank you. I will never stop!
A PC I had once started off as just a bard raised by a church, who despite being a monk wasn't exactly what you'd call devout. When I had to come up with a god for said church, I must have spent a week trying to find one that my happy go lucky wannabe-standup-comedian could casually worship that would fit well for the setting of the campaign. Long story short, once you talked about Kelemvor I knew who Brother Geoff was gonna be a follower of. More than that, by the time the video got that far I'd already decided I was gonna multi into cleric. Well done. You literally converted someone.
*bows* Clerics are awesome, you're welcome
I fell asleep twice but my notes and dreams drip with ideas
All about clerics the movie
Still better than most hollywood bullshit
The story of Jay and righteous Bob
I hope we get Clerics II ("I'm not even supposed to be on this plane of existence today.") and eventually Clerics III, but take the time for the adventures of AJ (and Bob who hath taken a vow of Silence).
Best video yet in an extensive catalogue of excellent content!
Dont hv time to play baulders gate 3 so getting my fill listening to these as i fall asleep. Thank you!
Enjoy!
Excellent video - one piece of CC, keeping the name of the god on the screen as you discuss them as I was listening while working and sometimes lost track of who we were on. Very valuable video for the game!
Thanks, that is great feedback!
That or have chapters with the name of the diety that is being discussed would help as well.
When a creator makes a video such as this quality and length I watch the otherwise skipable ads.
"My God could kill your God."
"Oh yeah? Who do you worship?"
"Helm."
"... fair enough. Sorry for troubling you."
I played a Cleric of Cyric once. He only spoke spoke the truth and spread harmony wherever he went, cursed be Cyric's name.
Im playing an shapeshifter favorite soul of cyric who has made a cult spreading that Lathander is actualy Cyric and has traped the real Lathander who is actualy Cyric
You have the 3 'A's. Always Awesome A.J. Great video. It's very inspiring how enriching could be for a DM to keep gods and faiths present in the game. I would like to see more about other pahteons. Such Greyhawk deities, and non-human pantheons. I can't wait to see more. CHeers!
45 minute long MrRhexx video AND a nearly 90 minute long AJ video in the same week? What D&D god do we have to thank for these repeated blessings? Damn, I'm EXCITED to get deeply nerdy.
Tymora.
It's over 90 mins lol
And we will be talking live together with Ted and Jorphdan in a few hours.
I watched both videos this morning.
Before I even watch this video I would like to thank you for the long hard work it had to take to put this video together.
I luv playing a healer cleric. Since I cannot lay hands and heal people in real life I can do it in D&D.
If you lay on hands in real life, it’s gunna get you arrested for either assault or sexual assault.
@@Im-Not-a-Dog Massage Therapists dude :)
Praying over someone who wants someone to pray with them is how you do it in real life. Happens pretty often in Christian churches.
Yet the power of prayer is miraculous. When two or more are gathered in prayer it's a testament of faith.
With all the crazy things going on a lot of people need salvation. I just pray that our the US doesn't erupt into civil war.
@@zacharygadzinski3147 me to.
I mean every cleric I know also tends towards either suffering from AMYOYO Syndrome, or realize they are the masters of life and death.
My highest level players is a 15 pali/3 cleric to Lathander. Once I work in a quest arc for his ascension to "Morning Lord" or "High Morning Lord" he may explode in real life.
Thank you Professor. This entire video is such a valuable source of information. Cant even begin to express enough gratitude to you for the amount of work and preparation that went into this endeavor. You the real OG.
Seeing those Basic illustrations brought back some memories...like...I'm reminded of how old I am.
_Faiths & Avatars_ , _Powers & Pantheons_ and _Demihuman Deities_ are still the best supplements for _Forgotten Realms_ religions.
Thought i'd come back to rewatch this and I had lost concept of how long I've been watching your videos. Great stuff as always
Dammit, I absolutely love this channel and every ounce of care and work you put into it.
Thank you for being a nice cozy happy place to sit back and listen. Whether you know it or not, your content adds so much fun back into people’s lives, including my own.
Thank you so much!
this is it. the single greatest most detailed and researched video you've ever made. I'm afraid it's all downhill from here... (JUST KIDDING MAN AWESOME VIDEO KEEP GOING NOW I HAVE A SHIT TON MORE IDEAS FOR RELIGIONS IN MY CAMPAIGN TO ADD TO THE WORLDBUILDING TYVM GODSPEED!!!)
I have been waiting for this video since you showed the picture of the script I have always loved clerics and holy magic. I'm ready for an hour and a half of character inspiration 😁
>nearly 2 hours of quality content
Mate deadset you've got the best bloody lore channel on youtube by an order of magnitude. Keep up the awesome work.
Haven't played in decades, but I watch your videos like a maniac. Appreciate your work.
I appreciate that!
You should sell the script of this episode as a booklet titled "Pickett's pocket guide to the faiths"
I'd buy it.
The Red Knight faith sounds like a perfect suggestion for a deity for players who enjoy war gaming and strategy games themselves! This video was great!
I bet the Red Knight plays Mechanicus just to use Knights.
As a DM who allows both the artificer class of Eberron and the blood hunter class by Matt Mercer in his Forgotten Realms games, the fact that clerics of Gond and Malar are called artificers and blood hunters (respectively) has given me some very interesting thoughts on how to integrate the aforementioned classes into the Realms.
I will probably have the church of Gond be a good place for a player's artificer to have received their class training from, and I like the idea that the monster-hunting blood hunters have their roots in the evil blood rituals of Malar's faithful. Especially Order of the Lycan blood hunters, who seem right at home among Malar's faithful.
I thought the exact same thing for Gond. I've two players trying out artificer
That's a possibility. Yet I'm not a D&D player yet, but I think Wizards of the Coast can expand upon their lore. Yet that entails looking over older lore that they have in order to make informed decisions, even if that means not listening to the Twitter cesspool.
Good shoutout on Sparhawk as an example.. in actual D&D stuff i like Cadderley, the cleric who's openly agnostic to begin with & that being the actual thing that attacts the god's attention is pretty great - I also like the granny weatherwax approach, paraphrased "i know the gods exist, i just don't hold with encouraging them!"
The cleric quintet was the first Salvatore series I read, and that got me hooked on his work. Pratchett was and is an absolute legend.
No such thing as an agnostic cleric. Clerics are religous by definition.
You will always have Oghma's blessing my friend.
What a fantastic journey through the clerics and priests in the Forgotten Realms. Thank you so much AJ. Really gets the creative juices flowing even if the campaign isn't set in FR. The archetypes of each of the churches is easily given a name change and a change of vestments and bam! Ready to bring life to a homebrew world. :3
I know its old video but i kinda watch this one like once a month
Same dude.
Light cleric at Lvl 1: I want to bring my gods light of peace to the darkest places of the world.
Lvl 10+: BURN IN HOLY FIRE!!! YOUR FLESH WILL SMOLDER AND CHAR!!! AAAAAGGGGHHHHAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!
They don't call the inside of the body(and pants usually) the place "where the sun doesn't shine" for nothing.
Light needs to be brought there too. Some people are willing to take a torch enema, others... less so.
Glad you finally got it completed and uploaded. Clerics and paladins are my favorite class to play also. Thanks for all the hard work on this one my man.
I just started playing DND with a new group after 15 years of not playing. I am playing a Kenku dark priest addicted to gambling named " Knocks on wood" and I LOVE IT. thank you so much for these amazing videos! much love
That's awesome!
This is one of the best D&D videos I've seen and I've watched thousands
Ggg
Thanks buddy. You're killing it like a wave of necrotic energy.
I'm sorry I didn't come up with this line myself
I know some don't like long videos, but I do. The most interesting part of this was the mention of a lawful society working with the faith of evil gods (especially given the state of things here in America) - interesting to think about.
I love this book! Clerics and other divine based casters are my favorite
This is 100% a video I’ll be rewatching until i have this dedicated to memory. Clergies are the solution to many campaign plots
Long one, sorry in advance. 7:35 My Gnome Druid, Lief Clifthistle Bramble Bushen Little-Spriggan Rivertide Templecrest - who I've been playing for years, your vid on gnomes a huge inspiration - actually had this in his backstory (a vision of a cataclysmic event), eventually leading him to befriend a Godess, and through a wacky chain of events based on her quests and her father's, made a wish that ended up mitigating the damage of the event so much, it cleared his visions and became a favored of said Godess. TL:DR - Your vids gave me the inspiration to make my most fun character whose choices had huge ramifications on the world, SOLELY due to the one sentence, "I have been experiencing visions of a cataclysmic event."
Thanks AJ, you're a God among Sages, you Dire Halfling, you.
Nothing less than fantastic! It took a couple of stops and starts to get through it, but that was SO worth it. Thank you.
Another great lore video! My brother is about to play a cleric in my upcoming homebrew; I'm going to point him to this video!
I personally love auril, I love her misunderstood nature of loving beauty, loving through necessary pain that leads people away, that makes people hate her.
And all she wants is for everyone to live on a winter wonderland she sees as perfect. She even gives proportionally more blessings and power to humans, marking every child born in midwinter and protecting zealously those that willingly submit
Thank you A.J. great video to watch with my morning coffee. Been working on an evil cleric order for my story. Always on time 💜
I don't always play the gods and canon as you describe them, as my players' universe is a bit different (and honestly a bit more gentle than most), but your videos really are so useful to flesh out their world: they're really treasures. Thanks for going to the effort of making them.
Dude that was a super neat look into gods and worship...
I was not expecting that at all and I like it.
Love the whole channel, but keep coming back to this vid especially. I think I've spent more time watching/rewatching this one video than I have watching most other channels I like and subscribe to.
I absolutely love the lore, and this is such a good example of making it accessible while keeping depth and engaging presentation.
Fantastic work! Thank you for all your content. It's always entertaining and has greatly improved my experience playing D&D. :)
My pleasure Mr Copeland
I'm very glad you have released a video specifically on faith. I've been a big fan of yours for a long time and - if you remember - I'm playing a Leshay Paladin of the Raven Queen who was "popped" into my DM's world with its destruction. He identifies with both Humans and Elves and follows the Raven Queen almost fanatically (he apparently has his original soul trapped in his body while Eroquen, the main character I'm playing, controls everything). One of the party members was recently resurrected after being disintegrated but when he rearrived he registered as undead. I'm curious as to what the Raven Queen Faith says about this....
Why does the character register as undead?
@@AJPickett Not entirely sure yet. His character got disintegrated by - you guessed it - the Disintegrate spell. Then he pulls a Vax on us and just approaches the camp butt-naked and when I used Divine sense, he registered as undead. Strange right? Dost thou have any insight on how this could be? He just pings as undead but doesnt have any typical undead characteristics.
I checked your channel 4 days ago looking for some in-depth specific things about Gods and especially Ilmater, but I did not find what I was looking for.
But the heard my prayer! Fuck yes! You are a God!
A point I bring up to my players about evil churches in otherwise normal cities is that the easiest way to bring doom upon yourself is to mess with the faithful of an evil God and invoke their wrath.
Additionally, attempting to eliminate these orders can do more harm than good. When a faith, evil or otherwise, is persecuted, they go into hiding only to rise up when you least expect them. If the faith is tolerated openly, they are much easier to keep an eye on.
Finally, the easiest way to garner sympathy for a cause is to appear the victim and to paint the aggressor in a negative light. If the church of Lathandar is burning worshippers of Malaar at the stake, it's much easier to sway the minds of the masses. "Look what these so-called holy men are doing to us! Are these people TRULY good?"
I burn those that protest in holy fire, we are talking d&d!
Would you consider doing deep dives into individual gods and their faiths? I feel like that could be pretty interesting.
I love the video! Also, I grew up with those kinds of books too ... choose your own adventure, lone wolf, dungeons & dragons game novels, fighting fantasy, etc.
Ive made a priest werewolf and this helps a lot. I had a good conversation on ur discord so I became a patron. We talked about Malar and Kanchelsis working together more Kanchelsis controls Malar and his lycans
Forge Cleric is my favorite. Once you get Spiritual Weapon and Animate Objects going you’re basically a party unto yourself.
My favorite is just throwing flux powder in the eyes of annoying NPCs. The GM never asked how much I had.
Roboute Guilliman
“My Spiritual Weapon is a Big Blue powerhammer”
DM: “A whatnow?”
Ahh yea time to grab some popcorn and watch this vid👍
Awwww YEAH! My girl The Red Knight is in the house!!
My favorite character concept is a Scourge Aasimar that manifested his heritage after surviving a battle in which his uncle and mentor died, with the Red Knights symbol on his hand.
A normally jovial, kinda dumb but observant giant that likes to enjoy life and help whenever possible. But when the traitors, the cruel and tha Lower Planes denizens harm the helpless, he lets his rage and strategic mind overtake him and crush the deviants in the name of the Lady of Strategy.
One of my favorite characters to play is the cleric who is unsure, It might be a priest who never really believed, who never truly understood, then he finds himself personally connected to his deity, for a purpose which seems unknowable to him. The man now moves through life gifted with powers unimaginable yet he is still riddled with doubt for he does not know why his god choose him.. why would his all powerful god choose a man who was so unsure, surely there must be better candidates out there, he saw them with his own eyes! proud, devout, smart, charismatic, yet here this drunken lout comes, reviving the dead with mere words from his lips, even he can't believe the miracles he is performing.
Every night, he huddles around the fire looking up in the sky, waiting for a sign from his God, what kind of perils will he face in the future, what miracles will he be witness to next, what is his purpose? why him? He takes a last swig from his ale-riddled waterskin, smothers the flame with dirt, and retreats to the comfort of his makeshift cot, unaware of that bright failing star calling out his name.
Don't want to sound like this is a bad thing because it isn't. But I have fallen asleep to this particular video I don't know how many times. Think I am creating my own demi god of dreams on our plane the amount of times I have slept to this
I imagine a Cleric of Gond wielding a mace that looks like a big heavy wrench
Thank you for this video. I will definitely be coming back to it!
You are doing awesome work.
Sent this to my group right away.
Helms clerics seem like the dnd version of the Vigilant of Stendarr from Elder Scrolls, as do the Doomguides
This was a surprise to see back into my UA-cam recommendations but a welcome one
Eldath, if I remember correctly I remember seeing info online on how the Ondonti, a peaceful subrace of orcs, were worshippers of her. It would be great to see the Ondonti get added as an orc subrace.
Not a D&D player yet, but bringing the Ondonti back would help flesh out orc culture and possibly create a new pantheon for their race. In other words, they would be akin to the drow equivalent of orcs. A culture based on nature and fighting to maintain peace.
Such a nice channel. Kudos for not filling it with AI slop.
My first couple D&D characters were clerics (of Tempus and Kelemvor in Forgotten Realms, and of Water in Dark Sun) in 2nd ed AD&D. If Paladin had been then what it is now, I would have been a Paladin back then.
I watch a lot of D&D lore stuff on UA-cam, but I never heard of you or your channel until today. You have earned a new subscriber. I loved the video, and am looking forward to looking into your back log.
1:27:15
"Talos, the Stormlord"
>Valkur will remember that
I know I am many years late for this, but many thanks for this video. Was rushing to put together a players' handout for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, and this has been incredibly useful.
I want to thank you so much for the David Eddings callous! The Belgaraid/Mallorean and the Eleniad/Tamuli were some of my favorite books of the late 90s, when my best friend introduced me to them. I don't think I'd day he and his wife were minor authors, but they certainly feel more like books I read, and really liked, but never expected any other people to bring up, anecdotally, so that was great! And yeah, I'd definitely use the Pandian Knights as a good analog to paladins, especially those who aren't so painfully Lawful Good that they feel obligated to infringe on other people's fun, and character expression, which was why I had to van player Paladins, back when I ran 3e.
Of course, the rest of the video has been fun, too, since some of the gods are so much more than just a color, a weapon, and a Domain granted. Thank you for taking the time.
I've been watching too much SCP foundation stuff... I heard "Church of the Broken God" and thought "What the hell are the Mekhanites doing in the Realms?!?"
Its taken me a couple weeks to process the info in this vid. (Partly from personal life events I wont get into. I havent had the time like I normally do to sit down and research and study like I normally would.)
That had to be a tremendous amount of effort and work, AJ. Well done, sir. Well done. :D
You sir are doing the God's work. thank you for this!!
Your magnum opus is complete, eh? Awesome! My first character was a cleric/ranger hybrid. I was more cleric than ranger though.
Excellent guide and resource
29:29 Glad you added in the part about clerics of nature Deities. I've always wondered how they really differ from Druids in their outlook and place in nature. Worshipers of both Obad-Hai and Ehlonna sorta act as the helping hands, or guidelines of Druid culture. Although I'm sure many overlap and cross class, I see the clerics of nature gods as a more structured society of nature worship, with Druids being it's caretakers who maintain it.
What a beast, WELL DONE. Demigorgon video eat your heart out.
I have watched this video atleast 4 whole times and a few bits here and there, thank you so much for making it, I have gotten so much inspiration from it and learned a lot of new things! Hugs
Glad it was helpful!
Great googly moogly! That was just beautiful! I do hope you do some more of these. Perhaps a series on all the various cults and worshipers faiths of the fiends, old ones and demons, as well as other gods from the other settings and such?
Thanks you for this. This has provided me with quite a lot for my upcoming campaigns.
This was exactly what I needed and I didn't realize it was so recently uploaded. Amazing.
If the name of the god was on screen during the discussion of them that would have been helpful to keep it in my mind while watching. For future reference.
This particular one gives such an insight into the everyday life of a citizen of one of these npc lifestyles.
I actually played a character that, without being a cleric or even a wisdom caster, had a sufficient level of faith in his chosen deity that the party paladin actually got a mite jealous of him while going through a crisis of faith. I based the character on how, rather than seeing his deity as this overbearing figure that protected and ordered his followers around, saw him as just another person doing important work, and believed that through prayer and good deeds he could help him out with that whole "keeping the world from ending" thing.
Kevin Smith should make a fantasy movie titled Clerics. It would be a day in the life of a hapless yet devoted cleric named Dante who was called to duty on his day off. He's aided by his foul mouthed friend Randal, a mage who spends way too much time reading pulp novels rather than attending his shop, two thieves named Jay and Robert the Mute and a veritable rogue's gallery of freaks, mutants and misfits.
I mean, yeah, but that's pretty derivative.
@@AJPickett it's just satire. I'm pretty sure he and some of the View Askew guys run D&D campaigns from time to time.
OME, can I say thank-you for making mention of the Elenium/Tamuli series? My first serious novel reading were sci-fi I "borrowed" off my eldest brother, when I was 11, but my first truly self-owned novel was "The Diamond Throne", which I came across in one of those cardboard shelving units for new releases, in a news agency that had a respectable little book section. I read David Eddings right through my teens, up until the start of my 20s. I will say his last seris had a climax I felt was a weird negation of the whole series' events via time travel, and I realise "The Redemption of Althalus" also had it, but that was a Franchise Original Sin in it's first appearance (it's a trope, where early episode get away with a fault, but that fault gets worse in sequels, until one cannot stand it).
But in the long right, I feel like Eddings was an ideal fantasy writer for a teenager (especially one from a religious upbringing) to be reading.
AJ: so grab yourself a beverage cos we're about to get deeply nerdy...
Me, already pouring my third rum: Thats what im here for, you fuckin legend you!
This was a monster, but I enjoyed every minute!. Great work, Professor
Glad you enjoyed it!
As a cleric player more than anything else, I disagree with the idea of the Forgotten Realms being especially good for exploring religion. The gods of Faerun were literally reduced to the status of mortals for a while, and the mere existence of The Wall and the Fugue Plain and Ao and all that really creates a bad look for the gods being anything more than powerful and meddlesome outsiders of tremendous magical power. Nothing about them gives me a sense of them actually being divine; IMO even Greyhawk does it better, but there's never been a setting that I actually felt was doing it right. So I made one.
This 100%. All the Gods of the Forgotten Realms setting are petty tyrants clinging on to power by coercing mortals into worshipping them. The only real exception being Illmater, who fought a couple of crusades trying to take down the Wall of the Faithless, and possibly Kelemvor. He wanted to tear down the wall, but the other gods forced him to put it back in place because too many people were choosing not to worship them without the threat of horrendous torture. (Gee, I wonder why.)
@@epsteindidntkillhimself69 I'mma pretend I didn't read that
I love this. It makes the world feel so much more real and lived in. I get the sense that these are real people with real lives. Previously I had never considered that clerics would be anything other than adventurers, so it's interesting that you describe how clerics fit into society and have jobs. More than that though, I really liked your description of how worshippers of the various gods make their worship a part of their lives.
With this in mind, now I gotta figure out how my reluctant cleric of Hastur fits into the homebrew world I'm playing in...
Cleric of Gond, becomes a weapons dealer
I love Clerics in every single way.
0:02:08 Can I just say, I love/find hilarious that a militant order of warlocks were basically your introduction to "Paladins". I love it. And yes, Eddings basically wrote Novelized D&D :P
Awesome video. I am so grateful for the timestamp list in the description
Great job, AJ :)
i would like an episode on monks specifically they don't get talked about too much
So a cleric serving The Red Knight, Tymora, and a god of story (not sure which would be best for that) would be ideal for introducing a version of D&D into the world of Faerun, giving commoners a way to experience adventurer life.
Oghma seems like a decent fit for the story god.
Can't wait for the Seldarine. Labelas, Rillifane, Shevarash and Naralis are my favorites.
I definitely agree with you. I get the impression AJ doesn't like the elves, their content often seems to register as a low priority for the channel.
Wrong impression. The exact opposite is true. I have such a respect for the Elven lore that I want to get to a point where I have the grounding I need to do their history and culture in the game the justice it deserves. Yes, they did terrible things, but also great things.
@@AJPickett Wow, thanks for the reply. In that case, I am quite looking forward to what you have to say about the fair folk's place in the worlds of D&D. They are my favorite race and hope you do them justice when it happens.
There are 2 things that make me happy, battlefield control/fuckery and stonky hits, both clerics and paladins have this.