Cultists¶
Cults are hidden beneath a public face: respectable temple, a charity, a salon, a mercantile house. The cult's strength is concealment. Members are dispersed through a settlement while the lair lies below.
A cult has a Faction Proficiency Bonus of +2.
Theme: Demonic¶
A cult that worships a demon lord: sacrificial, frenzied, prone to summoning chaos. The lair sits beneath a respectable chapel or charity house. The cover building is above, sacrificial cellar below. Incense and burning candle wax on the upper floors; faint smell of sulfur below; distant chanting carrying through the floors.
| Faction CR | Creatures | Features | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 Cultist Coterie, 1 Cover Front, 1 Informant, 1 Adept Cell, 1 Quasit Master | Trait: Personality, Origin, Goal, Trouble, Lair Defenses, Lair Actions, Hoard | Cover Building, Hidden Entrance, Sanctum, Adept Cell, Summoning Chamber |
| 2 | 2 Cultist Coteries, 1 Cover Front, 2 Informants, 1 Adept Cell, 1 Enforcer Pair, 1 Dretch Mob | Trait: Personality, Origin, Goal, Trouble, Lair Defenses, Lair Actions, Hoard | Cover Building, Hidden Entrance, Sanctum, Adept Cell, Summoning Chamber, Initiation Chamber, Blood Altar, Records Library |
| 4 | 4 Cultist Coteries, 1 Cover Front, 4 Informants, 2 Adept Cells, 2 Enforcer Pairs, 2 Berserker Teams, 1 Shadow Demon, 1 Cult Master | Trait: Personality, Origin, Goal, Trouble, Lair Defenses, Lair Actions, Hoard | Cover Building, Hidden Entrance, Sanctum, Adept Cell, Summoning Chamber, Initiation Chamber, Blood Altar, Records Library, Cult Master's Quarters, Vault, Sacrifice Pit, Sanctified Hall |
Theme: Necromantic¶
A cult that worships death and undeath. The Cult Master aspires to lichdom. The lair sits beneath a mortuary, a graveyard's shed, or a private mausoleum — the cold beneath the settlement. Faint smell of decay and embalming fluid on the upper floors; dust and older bones below; the silence of a held breath.
| Faction CR | Creatures | Features | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 Cultist Coterie, 1 Cover Front, 1 Informant, 1 Adept Cell, 1 Skeleton Guard | Trait: Personality, Origin, Goal, Trouble, Lair Defenses, Lair Actions, Hoard | Cover Building, Hidden Entrance, Sanctum, Adept Cell, Crypt Chamber |
| 2 | 2 Cultist Coteries, 1 Cover Front, 2 Informants, 1 Adept Cell, 1 Enforcer Pair, 1 Zombie Mob | Trait: Personality, Origin, Goal, Trouble, Lair Defenses, Lair Actions, Hoard | Cover Building, Hidden Entrance, Sanctum, Adept Cell, Crypt Chamber, Initiation Chamber, Embalming Room, Records Library |
| 4 | 4 Cultist Coteries, 1 Cover Front, 4 Informants, 2 Adept Cells, 2 Enforcer Pairs, 2 Ghoul Packs, 1 Wight, 1 Cult Master | Trait: Personality, Origin, Goal, Trouble, Lair Defenses, Lair Actions, Hoard | Cover Building, Hidden Entrance, Sanctum, Adept Cell, Crypt Chamber, Initiation Chamber, Embalming Room, Records Library, Cult Master's Quarters, Vault, Ossuary, Sanctified Hall |
Details¶
Creatures¶
Cultist Coterie — a working cell of the cult. 1 Cult Fanatic plus 5 Cultists.
Adept Cell — junior spellcasters and ritual assistants. 4 Cult Adepts.
Enforcer Pair — the cult's muscle. 2 Cult Thugs. Used to extract tribute, silence defectors, or hold a chamber in the lair.
Cover Front — the cult's public face. 1 Cult Fanatic posing as a legitimate priest, healer, scholar, or merchant, running a cover business (a chapel, a charity, a mercantile house). Placed in the settlement. At Faction CR 1 and CR 2, this Cult Fanatic is effectively the cult's leader.
Informant — a Commoner who has eyes and ears in a specific slice of the settlement (nobles, street gossip, commerce, mercenaries). Placed in the settlement.
Cult Master — the cult's leader at Faction CR 4. Warlock-flavored spellcaster with a patron pact. Carries a ritual dagger and a holy symbol of the patron. Present in the lair. See Hoard for magic items the Cult Master may carry.
Quasit Master (Demonic) — 1 Cult Fanatic and 1 Quasit. The fanatic keeps the quasit bound with a leash of soul-thread.
Dretch Mob (Demonic) — 12 Dretches. Poorly controlled; will turn on the cult if the summoner falls.
Berserker Team (Demonic) — 2 Berserkers who have taken the cult's frenzy oath. They fight without regard for their own lives.
Shadow Demon (Demonic) — 1 Shadow Demon bound as the Cult Master's personal servitor. Present at Faction CR 4 only.
Skeleton Guard (Necromantic) — 12 Skeletons standing motionless in niches or corridors until the wards are broken.
Zombie Mob (Necromantic) — 12 Zombies raised from the mortuary's stock. Slow, relentless, unpleasant.
Ghoul Pack (Necromantic) — 3 Ghouls who feed on the cult's failures and offerings. Kept behind sealed doors.
Wight (Necromantic) — 1 Wight standing guard over the deepest chamber. Present at Faction CR 4 only.
Features¶
Personality. Roll d6 or choose.
| 1. Fanatical (would die before revealing the lair). | 2. Patient (has waited years for the right moment). | 3. Corrupt (leadership skims tribute, breaks its own rules). |
| 4. Paranoid (informants on informants and regular purges). | 5. Ascendant (recently gained ground; arrogant and expanding). | 6. Fracturing (a schism brews between the Cult Master and a rising subordinate). |
Origin. Roll d6 or choose.
Demonic:
| 1. A summoner's mistake bound the demon to this place; the cult grew around the tether. | 2. A wronged noble sought power for revenge and never stopped paying. | 3. A century-old bloodline of hereditary cultists. |
| 4. A wandering acolyte carried the doctrine here from a distant fallen place. | 5. A pact was signed by the Cover Front's founder; the cult exists to pay the debt. | 6. The demon lord chose this settlement for his own reasons. |
Necromantic:
| 1. A plague buried many; the founder learned to speak with the buried. | 2. A grief-stricken noble sought their dead child and found something else. | 3. An old order of embalmers slowly forgot which side of death they served. |
| 4. An exiled scholar of a distant necromantic academy. | 5. A pact with a lich in a distant tomb; the cult is his outpost. | 6. The mortuary above has always been theirs. Always. |
Goal. Roll d6 or choose.
Demonic:
| 1. Open a permanent gate to the demon lord's plane. | 2. Sacrifice a specific named person from the settlement. | 3. Corrupt a specific institution (a temple, a court, a guild) from within. |
| 4. Recover a scattered set of ritual components. | 5. Grow the cult's reach into a second settlement. | 6. Bring the demon lord's champion through into flesh. |
Necromantic:
| 1. Elevate the Cult Master to lichdom. | 2. Raise a specific dead person (a lost heir, a martyred saint, a spouse). | 3. Fill the ossuary. The ritual requires a set number of skulls, and they are counting. |
| 4. Recover a lost phylactery from a distant tomb. | 5. Corrupt a graveyard's consecration so its dead can be raised. | 6. Raise a named ancient dead who is not quite gone. |
Trouble. Roll d6 or choose.
| 1. A recent tribute went missing; the Cult Master blames a specific subordinate. | 2. A member of the Cover Front is about to defect and go to the authorities. | 3. A rival cult has begun probing the same settlement. |
| 4. An honest investigator is close to naming the Cover Front. | 5. A ritual last month partly succeeded; something is loose that the cult did not fully bind. | 6. The Cover Front's real business is failing, and cover is thinning. |
Lair Defenses. Pick 1 at Faction CR 1, 2 at CR 2, 3 at CR 4. Place into Locations that may host one.
| Defense | Detect | Avoid | Effect | Themes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hidden Passage | DC 18 Investigation | - | A concealed door or tunnel leading from the lair to safety (sewer, neighboring roof, side street). | all |
| Summoning Glyph | DC 14 CHA save | - | Releases a Dretch on the triggerer. | Demonic |
| Sacrificial Brazier | - | - | A brazier of sacrificial fire kept lit near an altar. During a ritual, adjacent cultists have advantage on attack rolls. | Demonic |
| Necrotic Glyph | DC 14 CON save | DC 14 CON | 2d6 necrotic; max HP reduced by the damage until the target's next long rest. | Necromantic |
| Corpse Cache | DC 16 Investigation | - | Bodies kept for raising; a Cult Master can use an action to raise 2d4 zombies from it. | Necromantic |
Lair Actions. On initiative count 20 (losing ties), the lair itself takes an action. The same lair action does not repeat two rounds in a row.
Demonic:
| Chaos surge | Each enemy creature in the lair makes a DC 14 DEX save or takes 2d4 fire damage as demonic heat lashes out from the walls. |
| Summoning tear | A dormant glyph opens in a Location of the DM's choice. 1 Dretch emerges and takes its turn immediately. |
| Patron's whisper | Each enemy in the lair makes a DC 11 WIS save or must use its reaction to attack its nearest ally as the demon lord's voice reaches them. |
Necromantic:
| Sepulchral chill | Each enemy creature in the lair makes a DC 14 CON save or takes 2d4 cold damage as a wave of grave frost rolls through the passages. |
| Whispering dead | Ghostly whispers and mist rise from the ground; each enemy creature in the lair makes a DC 14 WIS save or cannot use movement or take reactions until the end of their next turn. |
| Grave grasp | Skeletal hands claw up from the floor of one Location. Enemy creatures there make a DC 13 STR save or are restrained until the end of their next turn. |
Hoard. Place at any Location marked "May have a hoard."
| Faction CR | Coins | Gems | Magic Items |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (1x CR 0-4) | 350 gp (tribute skimmed off the Cover Front) | 2 rolls on Cultist Gems | 1 roll on Cultist Magic Items; on a d6 result of 5-6, a second roll |
| 2 (2x CR 0-4) | 600 gp | 5 rolls on Cultist Gems | 2 rolls on Cultist Magic Items; on a d6 result of 5-6, a third roll |
| 4 (4x CR 0-4) | 1,000 gp | 10 rolls on Cultist Gems | 5 rolls on Cultist Magic Items |
Junk (any hoard). Incoherent scriptures, spent censers, a stack of ledgers naming some of the settlement's minor merchants, cracked ritual masks, a signet of a founder long dead, empty vials, a bundle of letters from a defected member. For Necromantic warrens: sorted bones, embalming linens, an inventory of fresh graves. May include a map of the settlement with cover identities pinned to specific streets.
Cultist Magic Items. Roll d20 or pick.
| d20 | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | Potion of Healing |
| 2 | Potion of Poison |
| 3 | Potion of Speak with Dead |
| 4 | Spell scroll of command |
| 5 | Spell scroll of hold person |
| 6 | Spell scroll of animate dead |
| 7 | Spell scroll of summon lesser demons |
| 8 | Spell scroll of dispel magic |
| 9 | Dust of Disappearance |
| 10 | Bead of Force |
| 11 | Alchemy Jug |
| 12 | Wand of the War Mage (+1, 3 charges) |
| 13 | Wand of Magic Missiles (3 charges) |
| 14 | Ring of Mind Shielding |
| 15 | Cloak of Protection |
| 16 | Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location |
| 17 | +1 dagger |
| 18 | +1 studded leather armor |
| 19 | Chime of Opening |
| 20 | Robes of the Patron (+1 to spell save DC while worn) |
Cultist Gems. Roll d10 or pick. All entries fit any hoard as a single roll; scale value by rolling more times. See Gems for how color determines affinity in crafting and spell components.
| d10 | Color (School) | Value | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black (Necromancy) | 10 gp | Obsidian |
| 2 | Black (Necromancy) | 50 gp | Onyx |
| 3 | Black (Necromancy) | 100 gp | Jet |
| 4 | Violet (Illusion) | 50 gp | Amethyst |
| 5 | Violet (Illusion) | 100 gp | Iolite |
| 6 | Red (Evocation) | 50 gp | Carnelian |
| 7 | Red (Evocation) | 100 gp | Garnet |
| 8 | Green (Conjuration) | 50 gp | Chrysoprase |
| 9 | Rose (Enchantment) | 100 gp | Coral |
| 10 | Blue (Abjuration) | 10 gp | Lapis lazuli |
Locations¶
Adept Cell. Small dormitories where new cultists sleep and study. Thin pallets, deranged scripture, oil lamps for late vigils. Loot: occasionally a hidden coin purse under a pallet (2d10 sp). May have: a Lair Defense.
Blood Altar (Demonic). A stone altar darkened by years of offerings. Gutters carved into the rim drain to a basin below; hooks suspended above for the offering. Loot: ceremonial daggers (10 gp each); a chalice of blackened silver (25 gp). May have: a Lair Defense.
Cover Building. The public face of the cult: a chapel, a charity, a mercantile office. Placed at ground level; the Hidden Entrance leads down from here. Loot: whatever the cover business would hold.
Crypt Chamber (Necromantic). A low vaulted chamber lined with niches, each holding a bone, a skull, or a partially preserved corpse. Loot: funeral goods (small coins on the eyes, a signet or two). May have: a Lair Defense.
Embalming Room (Necromantic). A working chamber where the cult prepares its dead. Stone table, jars of preservative, hooks and pulleys for moving bodies. The smell of camphor and old blood. Loot: embalming kit (25 gp); several bottles of preservative; a book of anatomical sketches.
Hidden Entrance. The concealed way into the cult lair. A trapdoor under a rug, a bookcase that swings, a sewer grate reached through the cover building's cellar. Members enter by sign or password. May have: a Lair Defense.
Cult Master's Quarters. The Cult Master's private chamber. A heavy desk with letters and dispatches, a comfortable bed, the patron's symbol mounted behind the desk. Loot: correspondence naming several settlement figures who owe the cult. May have: a Lair Defense; a hoard.
Initiation Chamber. A small ritual room where new converts undergo binding rites. An altar smaller than the Sanctum's; a stone basin for the blood oath. Loot: ritual regalia (nominal). May have: a Lair Defense.
Ossuary (Necromantic). A chamber of bones stacked floor to ceiling, sorted by type and size. Skulls along one wall; long bones along another.
Records Library. The cult's archive: member rolls, tribute records, ritual texts. Shelves of bound ledgers; scrolls in pigeonholes. Loot: the archive itself (blackmail material against settlement figures). May have: a Lair Defense.
Sacrifice Pit (Demonic). A deep pit at the heart of the lair where victims meet their end. Walls scored from desperate climbing; floor stained dark; an iron grate above through which the Cult Master watches. May have: a Lair Defense.
Sanctified Hall. The apex ritual space, reserved for the cult's greatest rites. A wide binding circle inscribed in the floor; ritual implements suspended from hooks. Loot: ceremonial regalia and vestments (100 gp). May have: a Lair Defense; a hoard.
Sanctum. The inner worship hall where members gather for regular service. A raised altar at the back; mismatched seats in concentric rings. May have: a Lair Defense.
Summoning Chamber (Demonic). Walled in diagrams and circles meant to bind what comes through them. Ash and chalk on the floor; blood spatter on the walls. Loot: ritual components (specific spell components worth 25-100 gp). May have: a Lair Defense.
Vault. A locked treasury chamber holding the cult's most valued possessions, ritual components, and texts. Heavy chests, racks of ceremonial items. May have: a Lair Defense; a hoard.
Mapping¶
Once the cult is composed, draw the map with dice.
Need: one d6 per Location in the composition, plus paper. Make note of where the Cover Front and Informant are in the settlement.
- Take a d6 for each lair Location. Drop all dice onto a page. Each die represents where a Location is and how deep it is. Assign the highest die to the Cover Building (ground level).
-
Read each remaining die, and assign a Location to it:
- 5-6 (upper): ground level. Hidden Entrance connects up to Cover Building.
- 3-4 (middle): basement. Sanctum, Adept Cell, Initiation Chamber, Records Library.
- 1-2 (lower): sub-basement. Cult Master's Quarters, Vault, Sanctified Hall, theme-specific deep chambers (Sacrifice Pit, Ossuary).
Mark each Location and its floor on the map. 3. Connect the Locations. Stairs, corridors, and concealed doors. The Cover Building connects to the Hidden Entrance and nowhere else at ground level. Deeper Locations reach the surface only through shallower ones. 4. Place Creatures. Roughly half the lair Locations hold a creature at any given time. Sanctum and Cult Master's Quarters almost always do; the rest are patrolling, in ritual, or asleep. 5. Place Lair Defenses. Assign each pick from the Lair Defenses table to a Location marked May have a Lair Defense in the Details. 6. Place the Hoard. Assign the hoard to the Vault or the Cult Master's Quarters.