Fleshing Out DCC Clerics using Lesser Key to the Celestial Legion by Donn Stroud

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I started a Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign and we now have a Cleric. I surfed through the DCC book for information on what an Appendix N Deity might be like, and..

All I got was a chart of names, weapons, and Unholy Creatures by Alignment.  This was the only actual complaint that I've ever had with DCC. It just didn't give us much on gods. Patrons are another story.

So, I picked up this gem and started reading.


It's a supplement for DCC by Donn Stroud that provides an opportunity to flesh out religions in DCC. Using the book and some of my own tweaking (barely any), here's what I came up with regarding the worship of Pelagia, the Sea Goddess. The tenets, weapons, and Unholy Creatures are mine, but the rest was randomly generated using the supplement.

Pelagia, Goddess of the Sea. AKA The Scorning Tempest, The Brine.

Core Tenets:

  1. The weak willed need not our aid.

  2. The storm is to be weathered. Do not falter.

  3. Revel, weep, and sing. Life is short and brutal.

Unholy Creatures: the chaste, the mutinous, the oppressive, the undead, the monstrous.

Holy weapons: Knives, Swords, Spears, Harpoons, Nets, Javelins, Tridents, Cannons, Flails.

Holy Symbol: Clamshell with Flail & Lightning, Painted On the Cleric

Sacred Accessories: Bells

Worship Practice: Screaming, Throat Singing, Singing With Conch Shells, Dancing, Ritualistic Scarring

Preferred Sacrifice: Snakes

Sacred Text: Burned on Bark

Event: Veneration of sacred tree (Cedar) by crafting rafts.

Holy site: At water's edge.

Time: Spring for 3 days on the 5th Sunset

This is what I gave our Cleric's player. But there's a lot more than that which I kept for myself.

First off, there's the Herald. This is basically a messenger for Pelagia who acts out her will. An angel, more or less.

Mouth of Pelagia

It appears as 6ft tall impossibly thin rings of slime. Its eyes shine with radiant dolm light. It has 7 rhinoceros horns and 7 tentacles. When it appears, it pulls itself from the body of Cleric. Viscera drips off the hands of any mortal who has killed another mortal and is in the eyesight of the Herald. Its shadow is wrong shape and size. It smells of flowers.

Init+1, Attack +1 melee (1d4+1), 13 AC, 7 HD, MV 60', Act 2d20, Darkness p258, Charm Person p131, Immunity to Lightning, Saves +1

I also was able to generate a Saint whose shrine and relic can be found.

Relic: Saint Kanhar's Vertebrae, +1 to Save vs Will spells, looks unspoiled 1x per year, looks like fur otherwise.

Reliquary: Movable shrine

Posture: Standing, Hand over breast, painted seafoam green, protected by 3 Wizards, offerings are bowls of spices.

The book has tons more in it, including rules for Clerics prosleryzing, accruing followers, building shrines and churches, handling a flock, performing exorcisms, being forced on holy missions, etc etc.

It's a fantastic accessory for DCC. I highly recommend it. The art is great, the layout is very prudent, and the tables give a wide range of possibilities.

It's currently on sale for $5.99 on DTRPG.

DTRPG Link

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