(art by luffie on DeviantArt)

The divine grant their power to mortals in various ways. Some are blessed as a reward for dutiful worship and upholding of ideals. Some are blessed from birth by multiple gods to serve as oracles, and so on.

Some, however, are specifically chosen by a god to fulfill a specific divine mission, either because they saw the strands of the thread of fate and determined that they were the best person for the job, or because the mortal in question has some greater connection to divinity, such as being the child or grandchild of the deity in question due to some mortal dalliance.

I don’t personally like that explanation for today’s subject (more on that later), but the result in any case are the divine scion, beings blessed by a god to do their will and uphold their goals and values.

Unlike oracles who might carry a god’s blessing whether they like it or not, the fact that these inheritors must worship the god in question does mean they are most likely willing participants in the exchange, and they gain several benefits from it in their endeavors, so let’s take a look!

In order to get into this prestige class, the individual must have an iron will, mastery of their deity’s favored weapon, the ability to cast divine magic, and the same moral compass as the deity. With the skill requirements, it’s possible for any such divine caster to get in as soon as sixth level.

As one might expect, their spellcasting training continues, with no losses, so that’s nice.

As part of their divine mandate, these scions must choose a single alignment component not matching their patron deity, which they oppose vehemently, their spells becoming more potent against foes sharing that philosophy.

They also gain a single domain from their deity, which represents the special way they act at the deity’s champion. They gain a minor amount of healing when casting spells from that domain. Additionally, each domain grants a bonus on a particular area, as well as a spell-like ability. I’m not going to list them all, but you can expect to see things like flight from the air domain, speaking to plants with the plant domain, summoning reptilian allies with scalykind, and so on.

In time, their spell potency increase to not just more easily break through resistances, but also deal more harm to foes of their opposing alignment as well.

They also gain a constant defensive ward that only attacks charged with their antithetical philosophy can pierce.

In turn, however, they can leave said opposing foes reeling from their spells, hindering them greatly.

Finally, the most potent scions improve most of their other abilities overall and even bolster their wisdom or charisma to better enact their deity’s will.

No matter what deity your character worships, this prestige class is very useful for a spellcasting-heavy build, be it a powerful back line cleric or oracle, or a paladin or warpriest that does just as much magic as fighting. I do wish there was a bit more clarification with the specialized domain though. Does it grant domain powers? Can those without bonus domain slots prepare or cast domain spells from the domain? Either way, a fun prestige class and thematic if the campaign leads towards your divine caster becoming a direct beneficiary of their deity.

Which brings me to the issue I mentioned earlier. The divine scion is a fine prestige class by all accounts, but I dislike the idea of it being tied to mortals with godly parentage, not because such demigods can’t manifest such a heritage with divine powers, but because we ended up with a much better way to reflect such an origin in the form of the Mythic rules. Sure, not every mythic character is a godchild, but the variety of different mythic paths means that you can get a lot more different concepts of demigod inheritors than “cleric but even better at casting”.

That being said, no matter the origin of their divine power, it’s very clear that these scions have a much more personal relationship with their deity than most on average, so roleplaying how that looks and feels can be interesting.

Though some call him mad regardless, Tobik of Underhollow has begun hearing a very real voice, and with it, strange divine powers. The voice calls for a grand destiny which Tobik will be a part of, but he must devote himself and become a mighty divine warrior, and become a savior of svirfneblin-kind.

Golbross Trueson is a divine scion of the patriarch of his pantheon, and claims to act with his will. His most recent command to his followers it to join him on an expedition to slay a mighty ice linnorm that haunts the region. While this is a noble task due to the dragon’s viciousness and tendency to target merchants, it’s chances of success leave something to be desired. Even if Golbross does succeed, it will be at the cost of many lives.

Scandinavian Folk-Lore: Illustrations of the Traditional Beliefs of the Northern Peoples by William A. Craigie (1896)

-Live in waste-places [wastelands? Like places where people don't or can't live] -May wrap themselves around churches and not budge -Start out life small, indistinguishable from normal snakes -One had brindled scales -Grow very quickly by drinking milk. Will spare the person who gave them milk as a youngling when they're an adult -Eat cattle and horses and people -Dig up corpses from churchyards to eat -In addition to their usual fare, they may eat all sorts of plant material: young shoots, grass, wooden crosses, etc. [this one instance was done by a lindorm wrapped around a church, so perhaps it couldn't/wouldn't go out to hunt?] -Do not like tobacco -Strong enough to strike a stone with its tail and leave a furrow -Burrow underneath the ground, sometimes under churches [semi-fossorial, like most snakes] -Not immune to heavy ordnance or a mad, three-year old bull -Blood is poisonous and liable to kill their slayer if it's spilled heavily

Folktales of Norway by Reidar Thoralf Christiansen (1964)

📜 Creature spreadsheet made for the Shoal Linnorm.

'A primeval monster of the sea with a hatred so deep it bestows a curse for those heroes that slay them.'

"Poisoning the well? Nah, I was just chillin in my new Depression Pit. Sometimes you just gotta curl up in a tiny dark space. Now go away and stop dropping buckets on my head!"

“Chinese Dragon” © Russell Dongjun Lu, accessed at his ArtStation here

[Commissioned by @glarnboudin, based on the What’s New Scooby-Doo episode “Block-Long Hong-Kong Terror” This was the first episode of What’s New Scooby-Doo I had seen; it came out right in that unsweet spot where I thought I was too old for cartoons. I was pleasantly surprised--the writers seemed to care more about the mystery than in any other Scooby-Doo series. There were five suspects, two red herrings, and at one point Daphne and Velma discuss possible motives. Also, all of the members of the Scooby Gang have personalities, which is more than can be said for some Scooby-Doo series.

The commissioner suggested that, since it’s referred to as “the bad luck dragon” in the text of the episode, I connect it to linnorms. So I went ahead and just made it a linnorm, which also fills in a CR gap in the linnorms in the Bestiaries. This did, however, add a level of difficulty to the art, because two-legged Chinese dragons are uncommon on the internet, and ones with the right color palette are even rarer.]

Chasm Linnorm CR 15 CE Dragon This immense dragon has a whiskered face and a great mane. Its scales are red and yellow-gold, and it only has two clawed legs.

Chasm linnorms are subterranean dragons that lash spitefully out at creatures they come across. They are sometimes called “bad luck dragons”, as their bite spreads a curse of misfortune, and they have an unnerving tendency to target the same individual or family for their depredations over the course of years or centuries. Although they are native to deep underground canyons, they are sometimes found in cities, dwelling in their sewers or dungeons and emerging to prey on the populace. Chasm dragons feel especially comfortable in large, well-developed cities, as tall buildings and cramped alleys remind them of their subterranean homes.

Unlike most linnorms, chasm linnorms have manes, whiskers and other hair that causes them to more closely resemble imperial dragons. Rumors abound that they are the result of crossbreeding between linnorms and underground imperial dragons, but the two species hate eat other and fight to the death when their paths cross. Like all linnorms, they are covetous, and will happily destroy entire city blocks to obtain a single bauble.

In combat, chasm linnorms act much like their cousins, using their breath weapons when able to blast multiple foes at once. Their fiery breath blows away smaller creatures, and they are fond of using this to push foes off of ledges or knock them from climbing rock walls. Unlike other linnorms, they are not poisonous, but their cursed bite is vile enough to make foes wish for poison. Anyone fortunate enough to slay a chasm linnorm is struck with its death curse, feeling as if a weight is always on their shoulders pushing them down.

A chasm linnorm is fifty feet long and weighs around 13,000 pounds.

TyrantisTerror Prompt: Lindworm

The description given for the lindworm is a dragon with only forelimbs. But this appears to only be true where heraldry is concerned. The lindworm is of German and Scandinavian origin, and is usually serpentine. Some writings make a clear distinction between the Latin-derived drak and the native linnormr. 

These creatures are otherwise known as trollsnakes in some writings, not because of their relationship to trolls (though, both are connected to the jotnar of old), but for their nature as a mystical being. Troll, as a prefix, is often added to words as a means of communicating their magical connotations. For example, "trollmann" in English is wizard, as is the Swedish "trollkarl". It's no mistake to see that lindworms are often talked about in conjunction with trolls, being among the main forces of malevolent magic in Scandinavia. The Swedish lake serpent Storsjöodjuret was even said to be the product of a troll's cauldron.

But the most intriguing story which highlights their supernatural nature has to be "Driving Out The Snakes", paraphrased here fromFolktales of Norway: 

Looking to mix up your dragon fights? Why not throw in a linnorm, a species of dragon based on Scandinavian lindworms.

An ice linnorm is a CR 17 dragon. Like all linnorms, it has constant freedom of movement and true seeing, as well as a death curse that activates on whoever kills it. In this case it’s a Curse of Frost (Su), inflicting a weakness to ice damage on the target. For offense it has a breath weapon of freezing slime that entangles and chills targets, congealing into ice if they don’t manage to escape one round later.

When looking at linnorms there’s two main things to take into account: 1) they’re older than dragons, and 2) they’re largely forgotten by the world at large. No dragon likes being ignored, and when that dragon is older that those upstart chromatics and metallics who go around like they own the place? Things will get messy.

Linnorms have existed for ages past, living to see the rise and fall of entire eras. The oldest have seen not only the nations of men and elves but what came before, empires built by beings from the stars and collapsed by their own disobedient servants. Such linnorms are all too happy to tell adventurers of the shapeless things lurking in those ancient ruins, hoping to lay claim to the few structures older than themselves once their current occupants are slain.

In a land of extreme temperature changes, it can be difficult to lay claim to a particular region. Ice linnorms rule the freezing nights and polar caps, but with the planet constantly rolling on multiple axes, they must frequently hibernate and cede their territories to the heat-craving salamanders, only to reclaim them in bloody attacks when the temperature falls once more.