However, I am not all that familiar with the World of Greyhawk, aside from a short-lived experience in Living Greyhawk (the Veluna region). What are the basic tenets of Cuthbertian belief? How would a typical cleric of St. C. react to the lawlessness and general weirdness going on in Cauldron?
I've been doing this D&D thing for 20+ years, so I'm no newbie. But I am looking for some inspiration to make my PC more well versed in 'his' religion.
Thanks!
(Please try to avoid any spoilers for the Adventure Path campaign.)
Well, first, I'd encourage you to pick up a copy of the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. It's a good thing to have if you're going to be playing in Greyhawk, and if you had one, you could read the description of St. Cuthbert in the section on the gods.
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That said, since Cuthbert is Lawful Neutral (in 3rd ed., anyway), I'd say that his clerics would generally react negatively to lawlessness and general weirdness. Probably try to bash everybody back into shape . . .
OK, wait a minute. I just found this on the Living Greyhawk site:
St. Cuthbert
(m)
Intermediate Deity of Common Sense, Wisdom, Zeal, Honesty, Truth, Discipline
LG (LN)
Destruction, Good, Law, Protection, Strength, Community, Domination, Exorcism, Inquisition, Mysticism, Summoning
Did I miss something? I know Cuthbert used to be described as LG, but I thought that was changed. Was it changed back for Living Greyhawk?
The first thing your cleric should do is kneel and thank St. Cuthbert for providing him with such a tremendous (nay, nigh-impossible!) task to prove his faith.
Within the bounds of his alignment and intelligence, your cleric should be attempting at every turn to enforce some sense of law and order on this town. He should be dispelling (or, at least, marking 'Danger' around) areas of unpredictable magic: urging street mimes to 'try to remember the words, there's a good lad': and laying the Corrective Bludgeon of Virtue on the various cutthroats, cutpurses and second-hand horse merchants that dot the town.
The other characters will regularly be frustrated by your character: try to make sure that your antics are at least amusing to the other PLAYERS. Be aware that your activities will inevitably attract trouble from high-level NPCs: you should be ready to cut and run, or negotiate, or issue an extra-large helping of Redemption through Suffering... as appropriate.
I've been playing it pretty low-key for now, but I like the idea of having my character attempt to enforce The Law. Why should the DM get to have all the fun setting up plot hooks?
My Cuthbertian will hire criers to proclaim that a new era of order and justice is coming, and that certain NPC villains are wanted for various crimes. Y'know, the usual stuff: robbery, murder, extortion, trying to take over the world....Incidentally, I decided to make my character Lawful Neutral, rather than Lawful Good. It's refreshing: he can be inflexible without being a goody two-shoes. I am also rather fond of the idea, which I saw somewhere, that occassionally clerics of St. Cuthbert will dispense 'frontier justice.' Lots of possibilities for cudgeling, there.
My favorite source for flavor and information regarding Cuthbertine clerics and paladins is Ward's 1988 Greyhawk Adventures sourcebook. Second, I like the T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil for Cuthbert stuff. I suggest the appendix and NPC figures in the latter for some inspiration.
Have fun.