Ruins of Adventure
Gond
- Name: Gond
- Allegiance: Gods of Civilization
- Portfolio: Artifice, Craft, Construction, Smithwork, Firearms, Creativity, Innovation, Invention, Patron of Lantan
- Titles: Holy Maker of All Things, Lord of All Smiths, The Soul Forger, Inspiration Divine, Wonderbringer, The Meddler, He of the Loud Noises
- Symbols: A Cog or gear; A smoking hammer; A glowing anvil; Smokepower
- Worshipper Alignments: Any
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Core Doctrine: It is not the intention of the tool; it is what you do with it.
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Edicts:
- Never cease to innovate.
- Make new things…that work.
- Fault lies with the wielder, never the tool.
- Results matter; thoughts and intentions do not.
- Keep records of all your ideas and experiments, and share them.
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Anathema:
- Allowing one’s gear to fall into disrepair.
- Allow a device to be destroyed, if you cannot remake it yourself.
- Stifling new invention or creative endeavors.
- Allowing a non-believer to discover the secrets of making Smoke Powder.
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Edicts:
- Allied Faiths: Oghma, Tempus, Tyr
- Enemy Faiths: Armok, Duvan’Ku, Shar
- Pesudonyms: Moradin (among Dwarves), Nebelun (among Gnomes), Zionil (in the Shining South)
Base Requirements
- Races: Any
- Classes: Cleric
- Ability Requirements: Reason 12
- Alignments: Any
- Starting Cash: By class
Proficiencies
- Weapon Slots: By class
- Allowed Weapons: Any Weapons
- Allowed Armor: Any Armor or Shields
- Bonus Weapon Proficiencies: none
- Required Weapon Proficiencies: none
- Non-weapon Slots: By class
- Available Groups: Spiritual, Detection, and Craft
- Bonus Proficiencies: Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Engineering, Detect Secret Doors, Religion
- Required Proficiencies: none
- Recommended Proficiencies: Literacy, Any Craft Proficiencies
- Forbidden Proficiencies: none
Priest Spheres:
- Major: All, Combat, Creation, Divination, Earth, Fire, Law, Wards
- Minor: Charm, Thought
Overview: Gond is the god of inventions and artificers. The church of Gond consists mostly of wandering Clerics who travel from settlement to settlement, finding work as artisans and engineers. Settling in one area is only encouraged in centers of innovation that warrant constant observation, such as Zhentil Keep, Waterdeep, Lantan, or Baldur’s Gate. As they travel, clerics take samples of any inventions they discovered and assisted innovators they encounter, filing regular reports to their superiors. Clerics of Gond excel in repairing broken things, improving existing designs, and inventing new items and constructs.
Description: Clerics of Gond are hardly what one would expect a priest to look like. Most of these clerics wear leather aprons and clothes of dark colors, making it easier to hide the inevitable grease stains, tears, and scorch marks. Many also have numerous quills, rulers, and hastily scribbled notes on bits of paper or parchment sticking out of their many pockets. If not for Gond’s holy symbol of a cog wheel showing prominently on their persons, very few people in the Realms would have any idea that these unkempt people were priests.
Role-Playing: Most people look at a device and wonder how to operate it. Clerics of Gond look at the same device and wonder what it can do, how well-built it is, and how can it be improved beyond its initial design. These clerics love spending their time drawing up designs, taking apart existing devices, and tinkering with anything constructed artificially. When clerics of Gond enter a village or place they have never been before, they cheerfully start right in on repair work that they believe needs doing.
Many clerics of Gond enjoy discussions with secular builders from outside of Gond’s temples. One of their great joys is in exchanging ideas and comparing notes. They are so absorbed in doing this that they often times forget to preach Gond’s faith to unbelievers. Gond, however, doesn’t mind, since the deity sees all acts of building and construction as worship for him.
Unfortunately, clerics of Gond are also easily distracted from life-or-death matters by the simple presence of a unique device, gadget, or construct. Rather than cast a spell to wreck an invader’s catapult, the cleric would rather stare at it, taking it apart and putting it together in his mind, mulling over possible improvements, and admiring its craftsmanship.
Special Abilities:
- Clerics of Gond take half the time as normal to repair or build anything, including weapons and armor. This even applies to Tinker Devices for multi-class Cleric/Tinkers.
- Clerics of Gond gain a +2 bonus when using any Craft Proficiencies.
- Clerics of Gond are taught the secrets of Smoke Powder. This is a closely guarded secret of the church, and thus not associated with common alchemical proficiency.
Creating Smokepowder requires 1 hour of work and the expenditure of one of the priest’s prepared spells — producing 1 charge of Smokepowder per level of the spell lost. Creating Smokepower does not require a lab or base materials, as it is formed directly from the ether by Gond’s power. - In the hands of a Cleric of Gond, a charge of Smokepowder can serve as a replacement for Holy Water for any purpose, including as a spell component. If a Cleric of Gond tosses a pinch of Smokepowder tossed at an adjacent undead creature, the undead will take damage as if struck by Holy Water (no attack roll is necessary if the undead creature is within five feet of the cleric).
Special Disadvantages:
- Clerics of Gond cannot turn undead.
- They are so constantly distracted by devices around them that they suffer a +2 penalty to their initiative rolls.
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