I uh. Need D&D/Pathfinder related help. Oops.

[Amara]

So, I have a bunch of half finished ideas, and unfortunately the people I'd normally go to bounce them off of... The list is actually really long. These are literally just the two most likely to come up first.
...are in the Pathfinder game these ideas are for. Oops. I don't have ANYONE else outside of my game I can natter at and get ideas from. Oops.
My only word of caution: my rule has always been, if you use it, so will I. If I use it, so can you. So please be wary of suggesting things from certain books.

Setting is home brew, though it takes more inspiration from Forgotten Realms than any other setting. However, deities from any D&D or Pathfinder setting are pretty much A OK. 3.5 deities are actually preferred over Pathfinder as I'm not that fond of Pathfinder's setting.

1) So I have this Curst divine caster. Yup. I know they get a HUGE wisdom hit. So, I know of feats to make Pathfinder's channeling/ etc work on WISDOM... is there anything I can do to make a charisma based cleric? I really, really don't want to make him an oracle, though that WOULD help with casting stat... :C If it's from the teeniest splat book I will still happily look at it, for both 3.5 AND Pathfinder.
Additionally he's a former worshiper of Shar, and became Curst when the weave unraveling in the area caused a chaotic whiplash of energy and fallout. I'm debating how to handle his abandoning of Shar and pursuing a different deity as part of his attempts to lift his curse and finally pass on. (He views what happened to him as Shar betraying him.) I don't exactly see him swinging straight for Mystra or Sel├╗ne. :b Alignment is....neutral crazy, at this point.
A feat or archetype that could help me out would be great.

2) I have a necromancer I'm working on, but she's an ancient character and I'm trying to retool her for an NPC. She has a semi-full story arch of her own that I can easily pull the PCs in to once they're just a few levels higher! So, I have a bit of time to get her ready.
I'm divided on whether to make her an arcane or divine necro. And what class? I haven't the foggiest!
In her older incarnation she worshiped Evening Glory.
Her story originally had her seeking the remains of her slain lover, obsessively chasing down every clue she could to try and bring him back. I'm not sure how much of that I'm going to keep, but the dead fiance will likely remain. (And finding non-evil death gods is...hard. Well, hard if you're not a halfling or elf. She's human.) She's meant to be neutral aligned, herself, though she veers more toward good than evil and is fairly honor-bound. If she makes a promise, she will not break it.
Having a hard time deciding between a divine or arcane path here. On one hand, the necromancy specialist stuff for wizards would be fun to play with, and I could use the patchwork familiar from Libris Mortis. On the other hand, divine fits in better with the whole quest to find the remains of her fiance and bring him back...

[Zathyr]

1) I know you said you don't want to, but it sounds like the perfect backstory for an oracle with the Spellscar mystery. Nothing comes to mind for an actual charisma-based cleric. You could just bite down on the wisdom penalty and compensate as best you can. Magic items and such. Focus on spells where saves don't matter like buffs and it could still be effective. Or go with a different divine casting class. If not oracle ... shugenja? Yeah most factor wisdom into their casting one way or another.. Hmm. (Anti)paladin?

2) Arcane or divine - why not both? A mystic theurge can make a fine necromancer, or a True Necromancer if you're using Libris Mortis.

[Amara]

1) Normally I'd be fine with just eating a WIS penalty but it's...-6. That's not really doable. It's not an issue of saves, and more so one of not even being able to cast high enough level spells for it to matter. :b I may have to go the oracle route with him, haha, with the spells I'm wanting him to have. Spellscar IS a pretty fun mystery, and it does fit. I'd actually forgotten about it. I was just hoping for a prepared caster. Of course, that'd give me an excuse to pelt the party with more random and strange inexplicable events to freak them out. Hmmm

2) Possibly. So far I'm admittedly leaning toward dread necro for ease, but I don't really feel it fits her. (She's leaning in a minion master direction, which I suppose would spin her in the arcane direction anyway.) Going the necro route, and allowing older spells from 3.5 in to the campaign allows for arcane healing at the cost of caster's HP (and as I recall those spells don't count as neg or pos energy, and will heal both living and undead), whiiiiich seems flavorful and fitting for a necro. Hmm.
Still, if I stick with Evening Glory for her, cleric works fine.

...are there neutral / NOT evil aligned un/death gods I'm forgetting?

[Zathyr]

There's the LN Greyhawk goddess Wee Jas. There could be others, and if it's your game and if there's really that many pantheons all vying for elbow room, you could always make up a few more to add to the mix. Been a long while since I've played in Forgotten Realms, and sorry but I was always more on the Lathander side of the fence there.

[Amara]

Haha, it's more we've already invoked all of the ridiculousness and inevitability that comes with allowing for alternate realities to cross, at this point.

I'd actually (somehow) forgotten about Wee Jas. I don't feel she's a great fit, though. The one god that comes closer to what I'm looking for than Evening Glory (that I've found) is a halfling deity, and for a human character that'd be rather nonsensical. :V



Welp, I've spent most of today making a table of random spell effects, levels 1-4. I think my favorite part of this chart is the potential for a chaos magic mine to just...summon a swarm of monkeys which attack everything, then vanish, leaving the party confused as hell and scratching their heads.
What is wrong with me.

[BiggestBlackest]

From a quick read of the PH, it looks like D&De5's Warlocks are basically Charisma-based clerics of anything that isn't technically a god. Might be worth exploring.

[Amara]

5e?

I'd rather not stray outside of 3.5/Pathfinder for content. Anything else needs more tweaking than I'm comfortable with doing for a single NPC.

[Just Karen]

There's Kelemvor, I think, but as I recall they think undeath is an abomination. If she's nonhuman or a worshipper of the "other" human pantheons (mulhorandi etc) there might be someone else.

Re: the Curst - I'd house-rule it as a lower penalty, with stacking penalties as time passes (reverse the old age modifications). The penalty (IMO) is from being driven slightly mad by the change, getting more and more insane... a recent Curst might not have the same penalties as a century-old one.

Alternatively, make it a -3 Int and -3 Wis. Or give him a magic item that gives undead a Wis bonus.

Edit: or call him a Curst but give home Heucuva stats.

[Guus]

Why don't you just make up a false deity, who is actually a Lich and follows in the larger plot? Ultimate freedom and a lot of mystery for the players!

[NightyKnight]

2. Are you opening it up to home brewed deities?