Channel Divinity: Kord
Kordium? Really? They couldn't have just gone with oh, say, Kordite?
Anyway, this Channel Divinity focuses on Kord, the god of strength, storms, and fighting. Most of the article is about how Kord is venerated by dwarves, his early interactions with Moradin, and a bit about potential relations with the Raven Queen. Like most gods, Kord didn't get an article in Dragon's dead-tree incarnation, so any new information is helpful for planting adventure seeds, in particular his dead mother (a goddess of winter) and the aforementioned relationship with the Raven Queen.
Page 2 has several crunchy goodies in the form of a divine boon, magic weapon property, and consumable magic item.
Kord's Relentlessness: This divine boon is really nice, giving you a bonus on death saves and a damage bonus after you use second wind. This would be exceedingly handy for dwarves, or anyone that takes that feat that lets you second wind as a minor. Also, once per encounter you can burn a healing surge to stand up for free, and once per day you can heal yourself after making a saving throw.
Kordium Weapon: Despite the silly name, the daily property lets you lump on extra damage based on the weapon's enhancement bonus, and you can change it to thunder and fire, which means that it'll have a better chance at bypassing resistances or exploit some rare vulnerability. While not terribly awesome, the crit die is scaled up, too.
Stormglass Shard: These could be really handy for a character that emphasizes lighting and/or thunder-based powers, but are kind of spendy with a starting price of 1,800 gp a pop: if you hit a target, you can push them or knock them prone if you can't push them. Higher level variants increase the distance, but each one has a level cap (the level 6 version can only be used with level 5 or lower powers). These are the kind of things that I would seed an encounter with, without adding it to the party's treasure tab.
Finally, page 3 introduces the Kord Clan for dwarves that no longer have a clan. Members are said to do shameful/rebellious things, such as shaving their beards, while at the same time vying for glory that can win them accolades from "normal" dwarf society. Seems kind of contradictory: you lose your clan, make it a point to do things to further ostracize yourself from society, and then get accepted back in if you do a good enough job? If nothing else, it provides an acceptable excuse to be a dwarf adventurer without responsibilities.
In closing, though I don't play a lot of divine characters, this article is still useful to me, as divine elements can be pretty frequent in most D&D campaigns. Obviously, it's very useful to players that worship Kord, or play dwarves.
Anyway, this Channel Divinity focuses on Kord, the god of strength, storms, and fighting. Most of the article is about how Kord is venerated by dwarves, his early interactions with Moradin, and a bit about potential relations with the Raven Queen. Like most gods, Kord didn't get an article in Dragon's dead-tree incarnation, so any new information is helpful for planting adventure seeds, in particular his dead mother (a goddess of winter) and the aforementioned relationship with the Raven Queen.
Page 2 has several crunchy goodies in the form of a divine boon, magic weapon property, and consumable magic item.
Kord's Relentlessness: This divine boon is really nice, giving you a bonus on death saves and a damage bonus after you use second wind. This would be exceedingly handy for dwarves, or anyone that takes that feat that lets you second wind as a minor. Also, once per encounter you can burn a healing surge to stand up for free, and once per day you can heal yourself after making a saving throw.
Kordium Weapon: Despite the silly name, the daily property lets you lump on extra damage based on the weapon's enhancement bonus, and you can change it to thunder and fire, which means that it'll have a better chance at bypassing resistances or exploit some rare vulnerability. While not terribly awesome, the crit die is scaled up, too.
Stormglass Shard: These could be really handy for a character that emphasizes lighting and/or thunder-based powers, but are kind of spendy with a starting price of 1,800 gp a pop: if you hit a target, you can push them or knock them prone if you can't push them. Higher level variants increase the distance, but each one has a level cap (the level 6 version can only be used with level 5 or lower powers). These are the kind of things that I would seed an encounter with, without adding it to the party's treasure tab.
Finally, page 3 introduces the Kord Clan for dwarves that no longer have a clan. Members are said to do shameful/rebellious things, such as shaving their beards, while at the same time vying for glory that can win them accolades from "normal" dwarf society. Seems kind of contradictory: you lose your clan, make it a point to do things to further ostracize yourself from society, and then get accepted back in if you do a good enough job? If nothing else, it provides an acceptable excuse to be a dwarf adventurer without responsibilities.
In closing, though I don't play a lot of divine characters, this article is still useful to me, as divine elements can be pretty frequent in most D&D campaigns. Obviously, it's very useful to players that worship Kord, or play dwarves.
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