The Gaming Den

I'm working up a Book-of-Revelation inspired Post Apocalyptic setting that's basically "D&D with a veneer of our world in ruins" and I'm toying with the idea of putting in Genesis from Preacher.

What would be a good way of doing that, without saying "you have to be a casting class and specialize in compulsion spells?"

Pathfinder?!?! How could you!

Prak wrote:I'm working up a Book-of-Revelation inspired Post Apocalyptic setting that's basically "D&D with a veneer of our world in ruins" and I'm toying with the idea of putting in Genesis from Preacher.

What would be a good way of doing that, without saying "you have to be a casting class and specialize in compulsion spells?"

It's been over a decade since I read the series, but all I remember the preacher doing from Genesis was his "word of God" ability, which was pretty much a no-save compulsion effect. Other than that, he was an okay fighter on his own.

Am I missing any other abilities he had? It'd be hard to model as-is from the book, because I seem to remember it pretty much always working, and he could use it before almost everyone, unless they already had the drop on him. I seem to remember the Ace of Killers being the only one who drew down on him before he had a chance to speak. He very explicitly made someone miss his shot when he already had his gun at his shoulder.

If you wanted to expand it from the source a bit, I could see throwing in themes of creation as well, which could give you a host of compulsion, conjuration, and transmutation effects. That's the beginning of an interesting character. Maybe some necromancy/healing, if needed?

yeah, no, I'm just talking about his Word of God ability. I'm watching the series, because getting the comic is a bit expensive and time consuming for a month where I need to cover the rent on my own. Gotta focus myself in other places for the moment. So I don't know if "Genesis" is a series specific term.

That expansion could be really interesting, and justifies a whole class.

I was toying with the idea of a feat similar to Dark Speech/Words of Creation for the Word of God, where the exact effect on a target was dependent on the target's HD, etc.

If you want to do no save compulsion effects, and have them available to the players, I'd suggest giving everyone a no save, no HD limits, absolute power.

You would have a fancy name for these types of powers, there would be a variety of them, and every player gets one, but they can't get the same one. And the ones that the players don't choose go to NPCs. They'd be unique in the world, and pass on to a new host whenever the old one dies.

These powers would be separate from classes and feats. They're just a sort bonus ability and don't cost resources.

That's also a pretty cool way to do it...

edit: I should say that the no-save part of the Word of God isn't super important to me, I basically figure that however a thing works in the source material, when it gets translated into D&D, it needs a save/attack roll/whatever, because that's how things (should) work in D&D.

Prak wrote: I was toying with the idea of a feat similar to Dark Speech/Words of Creation for the Word of God, where the exact effect on a target was dependent on the target's HD, etc.

That would be cool. It was missing from that 3e book of Holy Holies unfortunately.

I'm watching the show too, and it's been a long time since I read the comics, so anything I say is probably based on the show...

There are counters to it, such as: silence, don't understand the language, "no soul"

There should be negatives to using it, such as: unintended consequences, allows tracking the character

And it's more than just compulsion:

He sends Eugene to Hell, so some form of teleportation/planar travel is there too