Baal, the Ravager
  1. Notes

Baal, the Ravager

Gods

🔥 Baal, the Ravager

Greater God of Chaos, Plague, and Broken Oaths
Alignment: Chaotic
Symbol: A flaming crown above a chained skull
Domains: Chaos, Trickery, Plague, Destruction

📜 Lore & Origin

Baal was once known as Rider of the Clouds—a revered god of storms, harvest rains, and thundering justice. In the forgotten age of bronze cities and temple-kings, his name summoned rains to the fields and drove thunderheads across the deserts. He was worshipped in great ziggurats and honored by the faithful who offered the first of their grain.

But Baal’s worship was undone. His priests slaughtered, his temples desecrated, his name repurposed by enemies as a curse. Forgotten and broken, Baal did not fade—he burned.

Rising from the ashes of denial, Baal became the God of the Reversal: a destroyer of those who cast him down. Where once he called rain, now he calls plague. Where once he blessed armies, now he grants their undoing. Baal offers dark pacts and impossible vengeance to the desperate, the discarded, and the damned.

He is invoked by those with nothing left to lose.

🖼️ Depiction

Baal appears as a breathtakingly handsome and furious warrior-king, his presence regal yet wrathful. He wears war-scarred bronze armor that gleams like stormlight on a dark sea, chased with runes of thunder and conquest. A burning crown hovers just above his brow—its fire not consuming but radiant, casting his chiseled face in a glow that inspires awe and dread. His long hair whips like banners in a wind only he can command, and his eyes blaze with lightning, ever seething at the betrayal that toppled his ancient kingdom.

Baal is not hidden or masked—his face is shown and remembered, beautiful and filled with divine rage. When he walks, the earth trembles faintly; when he speaks, it is with the cadence of judgment. In dreams, he appears not as a beast, but as a wronged monarch offering power, vengeance, or liberation from forgotten oaths.

🛕 Worship & Doctrine

Temples: Ruins, storm-lashed heights, plague pits, desecrated churches. His cults flourish in shattered places.
Clergy Titles: Bearers of the Broken Crown, Scourge-Walkers, Thundermarked
Holy Days:

  • The Reversal (late summer): A day of upheaval, often marked by violent storms or civil unrest.

  • Ash Oath Day: Each cleric burns something precious and takes a vow of destruction.

Sacred Animals: Carrion birds, black bulls, locusts
Holy Colors: Charcoal black, stormsilver, blood-bronze

⚖️ Tenets of the Faithful

Followers of Baal believe:

  • Nothing sacred stays unbroken. Only ruin is true.

  • A kingdom that forgets you deserves no heir.

  • Plague and famine are the answer to ungrateful prayers.

  • If the gods will not raise you up, become a god of wrath.

  • Destroy what denies you—build from ash, or not at all.

🔮 Dark Blessings: Arcane Spell Access

Clerics of Baal may prepare the following arcane spells as divine gifts. They represent his role as ravager, oathbreaker, and bringer of ruin.

Spell LevelSpell NameSourceDivine Interpretation
2ndMirror ImageArcaneIllusion of many—one false voice for every curse
3rdInsect PlagueDivineLocust-born vengeance—the hunger of his wrath
4thBestow CurseArcaneMarked by Baal’s hate—fortune turns to filth
5thCloudkillArcaneThe breath of betrayal—choking death in unseen air

These spells must be prepared at night or in the presence of something ruined—burned fields, desecrated altars, or storm-drowned crypts.

✨ Holy Garb of the Ravager’s Mark

“Wear your ruin proudly. Let them see what they broke—and what you became.”

1. Crowned Mantle (20 gp)

  • Torn crimson cloak, singed at the edges, stitched with flame motifs.

  • Required for 1st-level spells.

2. Chained Mask (75 gp)

  • Iron mask bearing the chained skull symbol of Baal, worn across face or brow.

  • Required for 2nd-level spells or higher.

  • Optional Effect: Adds +1 to Intimidation checks or morale checks when leading cultists.

3. Ashen Vestments (300 gp)

  • Black and bronze robes with pauldrons shaped like thunderclouds. When worn during storms, faint lightning flickers across the cloth.

  • Required for 3rd-level spells and higher.

  • Optional Effect: May ignore up to 1 point of damage from fire or lightning once per long rest.


Marks of Servitude

  • 1st: A faint scorch-mark appears on one palm, resembling a crown.

  • 2nd: Eyes glow briefly when angered, like lightning behind clouds.

  • 3rd: Voice develops a faint echo of thunder when raised.

  • 4th: Hair becomes blackened at the tips, as if charred.

  • 5th: A halo of flickering embers surrounds the head in moments of wrath or spellcasting.