Chapter Three
The Campaign This chapter addresses the many topics related to running a campaign involving angels and the Great War between Heaven and Hell. Chapters Two, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Anger of Angels contain a lot of rules material. This chapter gives suggestions and advice for incorporating that material into a campaign and running angel player characters, nonplayer characters, benefactors, nemeses, and leaders.
campaign involving angels usually falls into one of four loose categories. These categories, like creature alignments, are best used as guides for the campaign rather than as restrictions. It is possible for a campaign to have elements from more than one of these campaigns or even all of them.
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Types of Campaigns These categories serve as shorthand descriptions of campaign archetypes that make it easier to explain how you can use the material in this book. The four categories are the angelic campaign, mentors campaign, standard campaign, and adversaries campaign. Anger of Angels assumes you will use this book to run an angelic campaign or a mentors campaign, though the book can add much to a standard or adversaries campaign as well. Angelic Campaign: In this campaign, one or more of the player characters is an angel, and in many cases all characters are angels. The characters spend a lot of time on the Material Plane dealing with mortals, but they also likely spend as much time in Heaven dealing with other angels, angelic superiors, and even deities. A mixed party of mortals and angels might split into two groups from time to time, with the mortals handling problems on the Material Plane while the angels rally support in Heaven. Typical adversaries in this campaign are nonangelic outsiders, particularly demons and devils, but possibly including creatures such as efreet. Typical adventures involve eliminating fiendish rivals, protecting important mortals, advancing the cause of good, and celestial politics. An angelic campaign can easily use all of the material in this book. Mentors Campaign: In this campaign, angels are supernatural advisors to the PCs, making frequent contact with them. Angels take the place of the stereotypical cloaked figure in the corner, lord with bandit trouble, or wizard in need of an exotic ingredient. Most adventures start with information from the angel. The PCs may have multiple angels directing them or only one, and their guidance may be clear or vague. Some campaigns might result in the intentional death of the PCs, elevating them to the status of martyrs for later adventurers to admire. Player characters probably spend most of their time on the Material Plane, but they might be taken to Heaven for a special blessing or sent to Hell on a special quest. Typical adversaries in a mentors campaign are enemies of good, or if the mentor is a bound angel, enemies of a faith. Typical adventures involve eliminating evil beings, destroying corrupt members of good faiths, finding lost religious artifacts, or working for a great good cause, such as the liberation of an oppressed people.
A mentors campaign can easily use most of the material in this book, though some parts of it require special dispensation for mortal PCs to use. For example, some of the feats and prestige classes in this book are normally only usable by angels, but mortals who undergo a special quest or a ritual of purification might be allowed to choose them or be granted them through a magic item or temporarily as a boon. Some PCs might aspire to gain the celestial or half-celestial template (see “Becoming Angelic” on page 49) as a means of transcending mortal form in service to Heaven, which also unlocks the door to these angels-only abilities. Standard Campaign: A standard campaign is a typical fantasy campaign in which angels are no more prevalent than any other kind of outsider. Many PCs may not encounter angels at all, though the spells and magic items presented in this book may find their way into mortal hands. If angels do appear, it is usually through the use of planar ally, summon monster, and similar spells. A standard campaign can easily use the spells and magic items from this book, as well as the feats that are not restricted to angels only. The monsters of Chapter Ten: Creatures have a place in a standard campaign, and even the new types of angels presented in Chapter Two: Angels are useful—especially once they have turned into evil creatures with the fallen angel template (see Chapter Ten: Creatures). Prestige classes and feats that require a character to be an angel probably remain out of the hands of the characters, though they can still be available for NPC angels that the PCs encounter. (It’s cool to summon a hound archon with summon monster V, but it’s even cooler to summon a hound archon Ftr4/angel of destruction† 3 with a more powerful spell.) Adversaries Campaign: An adversaries campaign has a more evil bent. The PCs are villains (whether mortal or fiend) and angels are their enemies. The PCs spend as much time in Hell as those in an angelic campaign spend in Heaven, and they have much more interaction with fiends and evil deities than in other sorts of campaigns. Typical adversaries in this campaign are good mortals, angels, and other good beings or members of rival evil organizations or religions. Typical adventures involve destroying foundations of good, locating profane artifacts, corrupting fallible mortals (particularly if all PCs are fiends), expanding the grasp of evil, and infernal politics. The PCs might work for one particular fiend or serve different evil masters, each trying to get the group to perform tasks in his own best interests. Fiendish PCs might have their eyes on promotions, acquiring titles or territory in Hell, or eventually ousting a demonic prince or archdevil and assuming the vacant throne.
