Faction Friday: The Arms of Trask

RPG faction

Frostgrave Barbarians by DevBurmak

Inspired by the recently released Xanathar's Guide to Everything, today's faction is inspired by the barbarian Path of the Zealot.

The towns along the Scarred Coast are buzzing with rumors of great deeds being done in the name of a new god. Travelers speak of what initially appears to be a rag-tag team of half a dozen muscled men and women. But when faced with monsters, they say a prayer in unison to a god named Trask and proceed to tear through their enemies in righteous fury.

They call themselves the Arms of Trask, and travel light, keeping only clothing, weapons, and money. Arcane runes glow on the blades of each weapon, and they send a large portion of their money to a person named Trimelda in a nearby city.

Upon questioning, the Arms of Trask willingly (though with simple words) explain that they are the last survivors of a barbarian tribe attacked simultaneously by forces of orcs and hobgoblins. As their friends and family died around them, they called out to any god who would listen. Suddenly, they were filled with divine fury, hacked their way through their foes, and managed to make their escape.

That night, they received a shared vision from a minor god of storms and travel, Trask, who claimed their lives for his worship. The Arms are indeed sending their money to Trimelda, who will re-build an abandoned warehouse in her city as a temple and consecrate it to Trask as his first major place of worship.

As a friendly faction, Trask simply wants more worshippers, and seized the epic opportunity of turning these barbarians to his cause. Their effectiveness quickly earns them too many job offers, and they'll gladly offer one or two to the PCs, sending an Arm along with them in exchange for a cut of the spoils. The Arm will fight ferociously, but not to the death, when adventuring with the PCs.

As a foe faction, Trask is a vicious god whose worshippers were run out of the Scarred Coast after a succession of brutal cult leaders. These barbarians week to re-establish Trask's worship, and are powerful enough they can't simply be told to leave.

Establish the threat with villagers nervously telling the PCs about the background of Trask's worship. You can mention the Arms building small shrines to Trask and throwing their weight around as they get more powerful.

The Arms are particularly effective enemies if made significantly more powerful than the PCs -- say, 7 levels higher -- so the PCs need to level up to attack them directly.

Art by Dev Burmak for the Fogotten Pacts supplement of the Frostgrave.

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