Cleric of an Unnamed God
Rowan J. Mercer
The Short Version
Rowan wasn't born evil. He was born poor, small, clever, and very good at getting into places where he wasn't supposed to be.
As a kobold growing up around the criminal underworld, Rowan learned early that there were two kinds of people in the world: people who had enough, and people who didn't.
He became a thief and smuggler. At first it was food. Then valuables. Then things that were considerably less defensible.
Eventually he became part of a small criminal crew — their infiltrator, courier, lockpicker, and occasional medic. His intelligence and his ability to disappear into tight spaces made him exceptionally useful.
Then came the job that changed everything. Something went wrong. People died. Rowan survived.
And for the first time in his life, he looked at what he'd become and decided:
"I don't want to be this person anymore."
That's when he found Abadar.
His Life of Repentance
Rowan didn't become a cleric immediately. He first went to an Abadaran temple looking for something much simpler: a chance to make things right.
The priest who took him in didn't trust him. Rowan didn't blame him.
He was given the jobs nobody wanted — cleaning the temple, carrying supplies, repairing broken things, helping merchants organize inventories, escorting caravans, delivering food to poor families.
It was actually perfect for Rowan. He discovered he was really good at fixing things. His high Intelligence and his gift for Crafting fit beautifully here.
Eventually he began studying religion. Then medicine. Then prayer.
And one morning, when a wounded traveler was brought into the temple, Rowan put his hands over the man's wounds and prayed. The wounds closed.
The priests realized that Rowan had been chosen. He became a cleric.
For perhaps the first time in his life, Rowan believed he had finally found his place.
Then Came the Farmer
Rowan was traveling through the countryside when he encountered a farmer named Edrin Vale — attacked by something in the wilderness, bleeding badly, barely conscious.
Rowan immediately went to work. He knew medicine. He knew exactly what to do.
He prayed to Abadar. Nothing happened. He prayed again.
Nothing.
He tried his divine healing. Nothing. And Edrin died.
That broke something inside Rowan — not because he thought Abadar owed him a miracle, but because Rowan had finally found something he believed in, and when he desperately needed that faith to mean something, there was silence.
Rowan stopped praying. He stopped calling himself a cleric. He left the temple.
The Strange New God
Rowan doesn't actually know who his new deity is. He simply started receiving divine power from something else.
At first it was little things — a candle that refused to go out, a warmth in his hands when someone was injured, a dream of standing beneath a vast night sky while someone whispered:
"You asked for another chance."
Then his divine magic returned. But it wasn't Abadar's magic. And Rowan knows that. He just doesn't know whose it is.
The entity has no name.
Only a symbol
A small golden door surrounded by stars. Sometimes the door is open. Sometimes it is closed. Sometimes there is a hand reaching through it.
Rowan calls it the Stranger Beyond the Door. He isn't sure that's actually a name. He is also absolutely terrified that one day he'll find out.
At a Glance
Ancestry
Kobold
Heritage
Dragonscaled Kobold
Background
Criminal
Class
Cleric
Former Deity
Abadar
Current Patron
Unknown
Weapon
Dagger
Notable
Darkvision
Vitals
Melee: Dagger — 1d4 P, agile, finesse, thrown 10 ft, versatile S.
Notable Skills
From session 2026-08-29-1645
Spent the ball mingling and chatting, having received an invitation more or less at random. Established as a cleric who has been chasing an outbreak of unexplained injuries, diseases and ailments — and who, around the same time, lost contact with his god and took up an offer of power from a patron he has never identified and calls 'the man behind the door'. He has simply been using the power and helping the sick, on the grounds that other clerics are expensive and proper ones should be free.
When the ghouls came he followed the others in, cast Shield, and worked Divine Lance down the halls. He collected three ghoul heads as trophies over the course of the night, and kept asking whether he could put Shield on anyone else.
He explored the main hallway and stairs during the fighting and fell into the Abyss with the rest of the party.
Who Knows Him
The priest who originally gave Rowan a second chance. An older human with a severe face, immaculate robes, and an absolutely terrifying ability to stare at Rowan until he confesses things he hadn't even done.
He genuinely cared. He taught Rowan that redemption wasn't about saying you're sorry — it was about doing better tomorrow. When Rowan abandoned Abadar, Aldren wasn't angry. He was disappointed. That's worse.
Aldren doesn't believe Abadar abandoned Rowan — he believes Rowan misunderstood what happened. But he doesn't know the truth either, and he may eventually start wondering if something else has chosen him.
Rowan's old partner from before his redemption. She still calls him "Mercer" and doesn't care that he's a cleric now — in her mind he's still the little kobold who once crawled through a chimney to steal a ledger while she distracted the guards.
Fast-talking, sarcastic, extremely difficult to intimidate, secretly sentimental. She misses him, and she knows things about Rowan nobody else does — including the worst thing he ever did. Could become a recurring ally or a source of trouble. Sometimes she'll genuinely need his help.
Ran the smuggling operation Rowan belonged to. Not a cartoon villain — he actually respected Rowan, considered him one of the smartest members of the crew. When Rowan left, he took it as a betrayal.
He doesn't particularly care that Rowan found religion. He cares that Rowan knows where the bodies are buried — and Rowan knows a lot. Garrick occasionally sends messages. Not threats. Offers. He knows exactly which buttons to push.
The man Rowan failed to save. He shouldn't simply disappear from the story — perhaps Rowan dreams about him, or sees him standing in a crowd, or his family remembers the kobold cleric who tried.
Open Thread
Edrin wasn't supposed to die. Someone may have deliberately caused the attack — maybe Edrin had discovered something, or was carrying an object, or the attack was actually meant for Rowan.
Perhaps the mysterious deity's symbol was found among Edrin's belongings. That would turn Rowan's personal tragedy into a campaign mystery.
An acolyte who studied alongside Rowan. Unlike Father Aldren, she doesn't think Rowan betrayed Abadar — she thinks he's simply lost, and she still secretly prays for him. She's one of the few people who knows how much he genuinely tried to change.
If Rowan is ever seriously hurt, she's the one who might show up at his bedside. Not to lecture him. Just to say: