Burning a Fallen Angel- and having no clue what I'm doing

Hello all!

I’ve been running a campaign for my friends the past few weeks. The situation is: an angel has fallen to earth near the mega volcano Antaa Potkut. The impact, as well as his presence, threatens to make the dormant volcano active again. He is also driving out the spirits of that domain into the surrounding civilizations.

My players are getting close to a meeting with this Angel. Based on their beliefs, both a dual of wits and fight are probably going to happen… So I thought about burning him up before our session Friday.

I do not own a copy of the old Monster Burner, so I’m trying to brute force this not having burned a monster before. Any and all critiques would be welcomed. My process is really just… all over the place… I have no idea of the ‘right’ way to do this.

For stats, well, he’s a divine being (Angels are pretty much the strongest thing a summoner in my setting can call upon, as there aren’t really minor or major deities). So… I was going to give him either high grey shade or low white shade stats for the most part. I’m hesitant about using white shade abilities, though. So here’s my starting point:

Will G6 Perception G4 Power G4 Forte G4 Agility G6 Speed G6

Health: G6
Steel: G5
Ref: G6
Faith: G4
MW: G10

Short list of Skills so far
Suasion G8
Smiting Fists (Brawling but open ended? or just Brawling) G6
Ugly Truth G5
Command G5
Aura Reading G3
Astrology G3
Angel-Wise G3
Demon-Wise G3

Here were some of the Traits that stood out to me while reading through Bwgr and the Codex:

C-O Traits
Booming Voice (Bwgr316)

Die Traits
Brass Skin (C513)
Celestial Sight (C514) side question: what does it mean for a trait to ‘count as observation’?
Dead to Pain (C516)
Force of Nature (C518)
Luminescent (C522)
Mesmerizing Gaze (C523)
Most Holy (C524)
Named (C524)
Unfeeling (C532)
Faithful (B325)
Aura of Holiness (B313)

Character Traits
Esoteric
Dutiful
Has a freaking Halo
Stripped of their Wings
Inscrutable
Intense Hatred
Laconic
Lord’s Favorite (yep, that one)
Righteous
Scapegoat
Obsessed

I’m hoping with all this that all I’ll need to do is trim down. Maybe I don’t have enough skills, or the right ones.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

I think you actually totally nailed it, that’s basically in line with what is presented for Big Angels in the MoBu iirc, my only additions to the skill list would be some ranged smiting options and a handful of wises specific to your setting.

They should probably also either not have Faith (they don’t need it) or have at least G6 Faith (they should be more capable than preists at commanding holy power). You could also give the angels of your setting their own emotional attribute for performing miracles or just rule it by DM fiat.

It’s totally reasonable to have no deities in your setting, but it’s worth considering if you want to cap things at grey shade or if the best angels are mechanically equivalent to deities. BW works completely fine in high fantasy without white shade stuff, but just be aware that it puts your most powerful creatures technically in striking fange for your heroes. I like that personally, but it’s worth discussing with your players (especially the summoner)

And counting as Observation means you can roll Perception instead of Observation without Ob penalty

You make a good point about Grey shades being in range. I double checked and it’s pretty possible for them to kill this, but I still think they’re either going to need some magic artifact, ritual, or an Aristeia to comfortably do so.

I’ll think about the white shades though. Which abilities would you white shade in this case? I was thinking Will and Forte, just for the white ptgs.

If this is the biggest shit, everything. If you want them to be able to interface with it, none of it. The gulf between grey and white is bigger than the gulf between black and grey

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Rereading your post, I realized I missed a couple things. In the codex there are traits for higher beings that grant extra compromise in DoW (force of nature and i am god iirc), it should probably have one of those.

And if there’s going to be a fight, prepare for them to wipe or have another way out. Unless they have a grey weapon, their options are to disable it temporarily or to run away. Give them some warning about how hardcore higher shade beings are

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I believe Force of Nature is that, but I could swap it out for ‘I am God’ to garuntee major compromises.

As for the players, they all seem to understand how hopeless it’d be to fight the thing, but one player in particular is itching for it. It’s a death wish, so I’m trying not to do white shade damage is pretty much my thought process. Although, having the first fight in the campaign result in a mortal wound and a will to live for the elven prince would be quite dramatic. I’ll be sure to reiterate to them what all these stats mean.

I appreciate the help. Kinda glad I wasn’t too far off in my burn, although burning something with this high of a ceiling… shrug

Next I may try to burn some other kind of monster that’s a better introductory fight. Maybe a will-o-wisp or use a giant spider from the appendix. Something for them to encounter as they are trying to find the artifact or ritual needed to banish that angel.

People with bad numbers are always good options for simple fights, as you can control exactly how good they are without having to consider how complex traits work for them.

I would also 100% recommend the Complications optional rule. With that you can have a really strong moment of “Okay roll positioning. Script your actions. The angel scripts 2 strikes in the first action, you instantly die. How are you saved from certain death, and what does it cost you?” Suicidal beliefs can be very fun that way

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Hey, if Echthelion could take Gothmog, why shouldn’t your Elven prince be able to take this Angel, eh?

I mean, that’d be a pretty sick scene for him to pull off. I’m down. I doubt he’ll get many afterwards who’ll want to fight with him, though. lol

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