Have any of you ever had a run-in with an angel in DnD? How did it go?
Also, on a broader note, how does one go about implementing an angel or two into a campaign?
>>48215812
Angels are best implemented as trash mobs in the first cave or bandit lair you have in your campaign.
>oh thank god you're here, anon!
>some thuggish solars have been robbing our merchants at the crossroads!
>please stop them! we haven't much, but if you return with their heads we can give you a few coppers
>>48215851
Thanks, Kratos
>random room has an angel inside
>he offers to help us out
>ends up being the worst DMPC ever
>strong enough to end all the battles by himself
>all of his decisions are objectively the most righteous and disagreeing with him was essentially an evil act
It was such a bad experience, I avoid using celestials whenever I can because of the bad taste it put in my mouth.
It was busy but willing to answer some questions, give some life advice, and cast a couple buff spells before continuing on its sacred quest.
>>48215812
>dungeon crawling
>run into a room with a well full of holy water or something
>it contained a broken breastplate, allegedly belonging to an angel that once consorted with demons or something and disappeared
>two rooms later has a hag, a bunch of cultists, and an angel wearing a red mask who seems convinced the PCs are demons
>golly gee what a mystery
>We fuck up the hag and cultist, getting our asses handed to us by the angel
>Cleric tries to talk to the angel and convince her we're human, rolls well, doesn't stop her attacking though
>We're all about to get fucked up
>Remove curse on the angel, DM did not seem to expect this
>It works, angel's mask falls off, she goes full PTSD/amnesia and is basically incapable of doing things
>We take her back to base, where the bard and fighter do everything in their power to troll her as revenge
So we got a boss-monster fallen angel, convinced her to not kill us, thereby getting in a perfect position to ally with us... then the women in our group trolled the shit out of her until she couldn't stand to be in the same room as any of us. The campaign is ongoing, with the DM having a perfect excuse to not have the angel help us in any meaningful way.
>>48215812
Only once in game where they didn't appear as giant freakish bringers of judgement. The one time they were human looking, my character ended up marrying her. Good game, and probably my best gaming group.
>>48216261
Just beat the shit out her until she coughs up sacred magic. If you already have a weakened angel in your base, it's not like you need to barter with her.
>>48216350
>Beat the shit out of a sacred being
Surely this won't have any serious consequences.
>>48216953
>fallen for consorting with demons
no god's going to care anon
>>48215812
There are hints that the BBEG for the campaign is a fallen Seraph. There was a haunted artist guy who spiralled into a near-cataconical depression overnight, so we asked what his deal was, and he showed us his latest painting, depicting a classic six winged angel set against a backdrop of the world burning. So we're thinking that we're pretty fucked in the long term.
>>48217059
You're probably right.
Although, I hope the players weren't hoping to keep a low profile or anything, because killing a fallen angel is the kind of shit that gets you noticed by larger-scope enemies.
Did a mid-level one shot and the DM brought out one of the most powerful angels in MM to kill us.
Because he never likes to give one-shots happy endings.
>>48217268
Woah, no one said "kill". If you do that, it stops dropping goodies.
>>48215812
>Party is trying to get into a mage's college
>They've got an artifact we need to beat the BBEG
>also we need to alert the headmaster to this whole "the world is ending" thing
>honestly that part is secondary but the DM is insistent
>party ques up for various magical aptitude tests
>My turn
>The first test is to blow out a candle on the other side of the room without moving yourself or damaging the candle
>ray of frost. Easy.
>second test
>same thing, but now it's a large circle of candles
>Radius is too large for any of the frost spells I know, plus I know that the judges are seriously looking for style points. Can't be a one trick pony.
>Summon an angel
>Very politely ask her to blow the candles out for me
>Judges dumbfounded
The best part was that my character doesn't even now any spells himself. I got an amulet which allows me to cast spells which I have the appropriate level and stats for, assuming I take an action to attune the amulet to the proper magic school (that shit got nerfed later, which sort of sucks but I'm enjoying the pressure to play more creatively with my normal abilities anyway).
>>48216350
I'd rather not risk her having returned to boss-monster power levels. Also, my character and most of the setting worships angels, so that kinda wasn't a good option to begin with. The main reason we were in the dungeon in the first place was to get an item that might help us find the leader of all angels, whose absence has been causing the whole setting to get rekt by monsters. Beating the shit out of an angel when you're looking for the incorruptible leader of all angels (who also happens to run the main human government) might not necessarily be the best move.
I figured (both IC and OOC) that if the angel did anything wrong, it was because the hag was fucking with her head. I knew OOC that it wasn't going to happen, but my character really wanted to get her working with us, ideally helping us clear dungeons and stuff because we'd be fucking invincible on the same team.
I don't know what kind of goodies you expect to happen when you beat the shit out of an angel. System's 5e, and I think she's just a deva with legendary actions and no shape-changing. Only magic she's got is probably healing touch and commune. I guess free 1/day raise dead might be nice, assuming the DM didn't houserule that away, but I figure I'd be more likely to get that if the angel was friendly.
1. Angel sent by Pelor to aid a worshiper ends up destroyed by a lich. Angel essentially served to tell the party not to fuck with the lich.
2. Fallen angel of a dead god living inside the dreams of a person who had the divine spark of the dead deity. Wanted to ressurrect its dead god by transforming the mortal.
3. Angel that basically was a glorified prison warden. When the party beat him, he proclaimed that they were the new owners of the prison, and offered to self-destruct and take the entire prison with him in case the Titans were on the cusp of invading.
>>48215812
>run-in with an angel in DnD?
Sure, all the time
>How did it go?
The various pregnancies went well and the children were born healthy.
I wanna implement a group of low level celestials as the BBEGs of my campaign. They won't be angels though, just the last living members of some long dead master race, or aliens, maybe both.
>>48215812
>Low level characters in a dungeon crawl
You enter the forsaken temple of Eilead, also known as The Forgotten One. No one prays to this god anymore although it was feared in its time. It was a wrathful, strict and quick to anger. The people chose the new gods. The gentler ones. The ones who kept their promise and didn't wish to destroy what they created.
The chamber opens to darkness and you hear the sound of rippling water. You light a lantern and with its burning light you see a pool with an unknown depth. It goes on in the length of a 20 feet wide corridor. At the side lies small boat tied to a post. You hang the lantern to the tip of the boat but you notice something is missing. With some crafty thinking you create a makeshift oar out of a rope, a buckler and a spear. You continue to row down that long, dark corridor.
Perhaps it was the light, but you swore that you saw something in the dark depths of the waters. A face of some kind. You look over the boat and peer into the dark waters. You see a glimpse of a pale face staring at the ceiling. It is a dead body of a woman dressed in a white gown. Her mouth seems to be moving without voice and without air. Through your studies you found the legend of the Sinners River. A place where defiant people were drowned. You carefully read what she tries to say. "Don't look into the light." is what you are able to make out. The body continues to repeat this without stopping.
The corridors seem endless. Branching and mazing into different paths. The bodies seem to increase in number as you travel further into the darkness. However, you see something new. One of the bodies has its face covered by its hands. You take a careful look at your surroundings and notice that there is one leading path that has bodies with covered faces. You choose to follow that path.
>>48222584
The path ends with an old, rusted door. You focus your ears and hear a faint mumbling on the other side. It sounds low and has an air of a commanding tone. It has a distinct but relatively low monotone melody. The door itself is locked and does not have a conventional keyhole. The hole in the door is shaped by Eileads symbol, a flame. You take your replica of the holy symbol out of your pocket and place it in the hole. You turn it sideways and hear the mechanics of the temple shift and slide. The door opens with a loud, mighty groan.
Behind this door you see a well lit chapel. Clean and kept in perfect pristine condition as if the outside world never touched nor dessacrated it. Portrayals of Einead and his actions are shown on the walls and the ceiling. Myths of his sundering of the orcs and the holocaust of sinners. Imagery of healthy crops and devastating drought. Pictures of fat priests and starving kings.
The sounds of mumbling is clearer now. It is in a language you have not learned. At the end of the chapel you see a winged humanoid kneeling in front of a statue. Its skin a pale golden color and it's wings are made from bright white feathers. Its features are aesthetically pefect, its muscles strong and its skin a perfect health. Its prayer stops abruptly and it lifts his head up. It turns around and you see that it has no facial features even though there should be. You feel its glare burning into your soul as it is looking at you with an eyeless stare. It grabs its blade and it erupts in flames. It screams a deafening screech and charges at you, wings flapping and gaining speed!
>>48222584
>Dictating the player's thoughts and decisions for them
Makes me wonder why you even have them at the table. You might as well just drop the pretense of GMing and write a book or a short story at that point.
>>48222720
A great sense of fear overcomes you. You choose to run back to the boat and set off with a mighty push. You do not want to look back, you want to row until your arms fall off from exhaustion. The angel flies over you and swoops down, crashing into the water. It gains flight again as it scrambles for room. The water sizzles as the flaming blade vaporizes it like a hot knife through butter. Bodies of sinners are cut down. The smell of burning flesh fills the corridors. You see every moment that the angel is trying to relearn how to fly as an opportunity to row even faster. The maze favours neither as you both are scrambling to get out.
Following the bodies of sinners you see that last corridor shining light at the end. Light of life and safety. The blade cuts the boat and instantly turns it into burning debris. In panic you splash through the waters, avoiding the dead bodies, trying to keep your sanity as the piercing screech can shatter it at any moment. Your cold, wet hands clasp onto the edge near the door. You climb out and feel your muscles giving up. You stop as you notice the winged figure pointing its flaming weapon at you.
With a swift, elegant move your head flies from your body. Its blood immediately carcerated. You feel how your soul escapes your body but is trapped withing the walls of the temple. The last angel of Einead is free.
>>48222818
Because that's what it is. A story. I could write some puzzles and complications and wait until someone makes a choice before I can make my point on how you could implement an angel OR I could write it down with added atmosphere and possible solutions.
It's written with the Five Room Dungeon method.
I once played a crossdressing trap angel in a Planescape campaign.
They were the servant of a dead phoenix god, and thus they had vibrant, varicolored wings and three phoenix-like tails.
They started the campaign two feet tall and, through character advancement, gained the ability to adjust themselves down to a mere two-thirds of an inch tall.
They fought using their own halo of force and fire as a throwing weapon.
Ask me anything.
>>48223158
Why play a tiny faggot?
>>48223178
I had played a lilliputian angel so that my character could be an iconic "shoulder angel," and so as to tease my GM, who happened to fancy exaggerated size differences.
>>48215812
>DM is running campaign where the gods have essentially landed on the world and started kicking eachother's asses over planet's inhabitants
>war has boiled down to dwarves and humans vs elfs and halflings
>dwarf/human alliance fights for a god that likes angels
>by DM rule, party is all hoomie/dorf
>DM baits us into taking some inconsequential low-level fetch quest
>lol, jk not a fetch quest. Random light streaks across the sky and you see something crash into the ground and kick up a huge cloud of dust
>inspect crater, it's a fucking angel
>gets up, she says she got knocked out of combat and her wing is too fucked to fly
>demands that the party escorted her to the top of some mountain so she can go see some angel healers and shit
>adventure ensues, we have to fight through mostly squads of elf soldiers
>all the while our dyke fighter is trying to get into angel's pants
>end up becoming good friends with angel
>climb mountian
>reach the peak, fucking archangel comes down to talk to us
>says that our angel has to be put down like a dead dog because she's broke and mortals have had too much influence on
her
>our pally and sorcerer begs for her life
>archangel ends up slicing off her wings and taking her halo right there in front of us
>party has gained one ex-angel companion
>>48223330
>put down like a dead dog
rabid* kek
>>48223330
>angel has spent too much time with humans and needs to be put down
wtf? Are angels just birds?
>>48223346
more like holy stormtroopers, DM gave us some shit about angels having to view mortals as just an objective to be protected by order of their god so they can stay focused. I think he just wanted an excuse to fuck with is.
>>48215812
>how does one go about implementing an angel or two into a campaign
Like this.
>>48223490
>not like this
Last time I played Pathfinder our DM was used to running exalted and had no concept of wealth by level as a balancing factor and who was bad at using any sort of sensible tactics. Last two fights where against a squad of GM PCs who were about lvl 10 but armed with millions of golds worth of kit, who we had to run away from because they ambushed us and where wrecking us followed by a Solar Angel, which we face rolled over. We where about lvl 15....
>>48215812
Our dead companion, a Paladin, was summoned in the final confrontation in one campaign to help us battle the forces of evil, having achieved enough in life to become a celestial proper. That sort of counts, right?
Angels, depending on fluff, range from hyper-competent ass kicker to highly capable literal manchild.
I've seen angels implemented in a campaign by rank. So the lowest "rank" of angel, and most common, were simply called Angels. These angels were the most likely to interact with mortals, and usually served as messengers. They were about CR 4, but were also naive, easily confused, and somewhat incompetent hence their role as simple messengers.
Angels were led by Archangels. Archangels were just Angels who had proven they weren't incompetent, and had a bit of wisdom. Above then you had all sorts of roles, I forget their specific duties but the ranks were based on abrahamic Angels.
So you had "lawyer" Angels which observed the teachings of their gods, and made sure no one threatened the laws of the universe (e.g an angel of Ehlonna condemning undead as an abomination of nature.)
Guardian angels who guarded the gods.
Etc.
