Focus on Saint Cuthbert

I look at one of Greyhawk's most popular deities.
0:00 What's today's video about?
0:31 Saint Cuthbert of the Cudgel
13:08 Thanks
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[@DIEGhostfish]

Sometimes they say he's literally the IRL saint who got sent to Oerth, he must be kinda annoyed people are worshipping *him* and he's not allowed to direct them further up.

[@pentegarn1]

Perfect timing...my brother just rolled up a new Cleric of St Cuthbert last week. I really like the medieval Europe feel those clerics have...which you don't often get form other D&D clerics.

[@DragonsShadow-ttrpg]

Saint Cuthbert's rivalry with Pholtus and Rao is one of the things I love about Greyhawk. The idea that kingdoms, deities etc. can disagree even though they have similar enough alignments to be in a d&d party adds so much depth.

[@ethan1142028]

I've renamed him as 'Sanctus Cuthbert' in my Greyhawk, a title for the ascendant deities (like 30th lvl PCs) that started as mortals and added a few others to the lore. 'Sanctus' is the title for that level of god, and while I love the connections to the real world, I try to sever that as much as possible in my games so they can exist in their own universe and not break the 4th wall. Awesome video, awesome god!

[@voidwizard2067]

One of my favorite Greyhawk dieties. The hatred between him and Iuz made for great adventures as well. Somewhere it hints about some special godly accommodation allowing St. Cuthbert to react to Iuz's activities (whose main plane is earth unlike St. Cuthbert's).

[@TaranTheWanderer]

Much love to your much-loved DMG.

[@Tullowit]

Every time I watch one of your videos, it gets me more excited to start my Castles & Crusades campaign set in Oerth. Since the new (non-OGL) printed version of the Player's Handbook for C&C arrives in December, I am going for a January launch. Thank you so much for filling in the gaps in my Greyhawk knowledge and pointing us to so many great resources.

[@maximus3160]

My C&C campaign takes place in Greyhawk as well. Good stuff!

[@TallDude73]

I dm'ed The City Beyond the Gate module - quirky, but interesting. Very different.

[@russopland]

In T1-4, and the Gold Box he’s a Lesser God; in From the Ashes and the Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, he’s an Intermediate Power. So he has different powers based on where in the Greyhawk timeline your campaign is running.

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

Yeah, they lifted up a bunch of deities from lesser to intermediate. I sort of liked it when there was only one; it made Cyndor unique.

[@hamishshaw4907]

I liked his appearance in the ToEE video game where they gave him a very Sean Connery-ish voice 😁

[@Harryeaster]

"I kick your unholy arshe, Iuz!"

[@BanjoSick]

Love the pulpy weirdness of Greyhawk. Our GM in the 90‘s ran us through Castle Greyhawk, where we ended up in the Wild West meeting Sitting Bull. Great times.

[@Snoil]

St Cuthbert is Charles Martel re-introduced and modified, At least in my world 8>D LOVE the channel!

[@mattkusluski5533]

Great video! A "Focus on Pholtus" video in the future would also be quite interesting

[@scottadkins9902]

A better deity than Pholtus, the latter being the butt of many jokes in the campaign I play in. Could you do a video on Celestian?

[@sebbonxxsebbon6824]

"Pholtus is the best!" from his High Priest Mordin (19th level)

[@Big_Mike001]

'Lives of the Saints'? A book like that actually exists? That is officially something I never knew I always wanted! Off to Amazon!

[@shockerck4465]

I love Saint Cuthbert. I remember his Cudgel was a magical artifact in the DMG

[@zanzatbc]

I love your work. You are extremely knowledgeable and your voice is very relaxing to listen to, and I love your exposition. Thank you so much for all these videos. Your passion for Greyhawk and the game is clearly transmitted even through the screen.

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

Thank you so much!

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of Greyhawk Grognard videos

[@joelkurowski7129]

Love the focus on deities! It's recently come to my attention that the Demihumans of Oerth were originally meant to be worshipers of Gods in the human Pantheon versus the 'Monster Mythology' deities. E.g.: Hextor instead of Gruumsh as the creator of Orcs, Ulaa vs. Moradin as the chief Dwarf god, etc. Could you tell us more about this? Maybe in a video?

[@johnedgar7956]

Loved this video! Thanks Joe, it would be fun to see more videos of your breakdowns of all the Greyhawk deities. I didn't know the story about St. Cuthbert's links to Earth; I thought Gary just borrowed the name. This was a fun one, thank you!

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

There's a Gods, Demigods, and Heroes playlist here on the channel. As I do more, that list will grow.

[@kennetth1389]

I have long felt that Gird from the books by Elizabeth Moon is inspired by Greyhawks St Cuthbert. She uses a system like the BECMI immortals to elevate adventurers. Gird, Paksennarion(if she hasn't she will be) Torre and several others have been elevated in this manner.

[@MrRussell2020]

Right On. Reactions: 1. Maybe a few more segments on the righteous will protect you from the black books in your library. 2. DAW publishing! What a great shirt! I still don't know how they did it all. 3.Great segment overall, most excellent and felt like a spiritual cleansing after all that dark material from previous segments. Great Job.

[@Amesang]

Back in 3e I had considered playing as a cleric of Saint Cuthbert who's goal would be to craft his own version of the Saint's mace - aside from its lack of "artefact status," all of its abilities could be replicated via the _Epic Level Handbook_ (costing quite a pretty copper!), and I planned on calling it _"The Fool's Mace"_ as both a reference to its status as a "false" mace _and_ in reference to Cuthbert himself. *EDIT:* Oh, speaking of _"City Beyond the Gate,"_ a thought *just* occurred to me - tracking down copies of London newspapers from that time period (June 1st, 1985, as I recall) and printing them out (at least the "cover page") to use as handouts. 📰

[@archibael]

My characters hit Hommlet and after a T0 encounter with Cuthbert pilgrims (thanks Grognard) decided they really didn't like those stodgy folk, which made for interesting interactions once they actually got to the village. When they were tried before the town council for a murder Lareth orchestrated and framed them for, Calmert (7th level in my campaign) grew tired of their obvious prevarications during the trial and used the holy power of Cuthbert to detect their lies... after which he had no choice but to add his vote to the acquittal. He knew at some level that someone could have cast undetectable lie, but publicly admitting the powers of his faith might be matched or even defeated by the ones of evil...? Or even admitting it to himself? Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. The pitchfork-wielding masses were frustrated by the verdict, and the town wasn't the most welcoming for the party after that, but Cuthbert is above all a giver of Law, and if there's any humility to be had for His worshippers it is that. Gygax was outstanding at developing and describing dark temples and religious edifices, but T1 is, to my knowledge, the only time he details a chapel of a good deity. The in-depth section in T1 about the chapel was chock full of good stuff and hints about the religion itself, and deserves a re-read. Per Gygax quasi-canon from the Gord books, there is a shrine of St. Cuthbert on the Lake. From the description it's somewhere past Tenser's castle on the Nyr Dyv, so somewhere en route to Urnst.

[@mattinthehat3]

Very interesting and informative video. Thank you for posting this.

[@BW022]

My players rarely went for him as a god, but he does hold a special place among all gods in that he's the only one which players actually had in a game -- other than one Dragonlance module where one was in disguise. I probably ran ToEE through twenty or thirty times and in only one case did the players end up summoning Iuz and St. Cuthbert showed up. This alone puts in unique among all other gods.

[@dantherpghero2885]

I Love ALL Greyhawk Grognard videos! Especially lore videos.

[@roon-sy8fz]

I think the concept is a little hokey but the coverage is goood and its nice to see tension between good guys that doesn't go straight to grimdark the ends justify the means territory.

[@derekburge5294]

Even if everything else is bad, I know Cuthbert got my back! Until I jaywalk or, I'unno, stay out past curfew.

[@dutch6857]

'City Beyond the Gate', I loved the read of that one but never played it. It did strike me as odd that 1980's London had both Dickensian street urchins and Sex Pistols punk rockers at the same time.

[@elliotvernon7971]

I dunno - I was a teenager in London in the 1980s and I can confirm that there were still lots of punks posing on the King's Road in Chelsea and I lots of urchiny kids living in the housing estates of Finsbury Park.

[@dutch6857]

@@elliotvernon7971 I've been wrong before, I hadn't thought of them as estate youths. It just seemed anachronistic that gangs of homeless kids ala Sherlock's Baker St. Irregulars were not rounded up and placed somewhere in the system.

[@kathykoenig6512]

I ran that one back in the day. It was a nice change of pace adventure. Despite the fun plot, the part my players loved the best was the random encounter quick cameo of the 4th Doctor Who. Hmm, maybe it was released in the 1980s but the actual earth decade was the 1970s? I guess I could look up what year(s) Bowie played the Albert Hall.

[@elliotvernon7971]

@@dutch6857lol 😂

[@brekke668]

I like to use the Grewhawk gods in my homebrews. In my one I have a rivalry between St Cuthbert and Heironeous. The church of St Cuthbert are the judges and basic law enforcement.

[@williammeek7218]

I’ve been hearing about you Grognard in several different videos. Wow I have that issue. I always wanted a Dragon Chess set.

[@emjtucson]

Could you do an episode on Greyhawk's lore of death and undeath? How do your race and religion affect what happens when you die? What are the views on undeath?

[@mmelmon]

It's appropriate that a god with a mace would be popular in a place that could be called "The 'Bonk."

[@BorgPrincess]

Lindisfarne, eh? 🤔 Well not in 793, or the infamous raid that kicked off the Viking age would certainly have ended... differently. 🙃 And I can see him later being _regarded_ Lawful Neutral, what with the Stars essentially able to perform as Holy Inquisition _plus mind reading_, but... ... having played a cleric of his from Lvl. 1 to 16 and through 20 years of real life (and 3 editions), he is _definitely_ Lawful Good. Trust me, I've met him. 😊

[@anthonyhargis6855]

St. Cuthbert . . . of Lindisfarne. Who knew that Catholicism existed in Greyhawk? 😈 (Hey, gotta have fun with it)

[@sebbonxxsebbon6824]

I have it from a good source (my 19th level Cleric Mordin) that Pholtus made sure Saint Cuthbert's alignment got changed.

[@solomani5959]

Am I misremembering that the first death knight is also a saint? 8:25 That’s a great adventure as well.

[@blshouse]

Saint Kargoth (King of the Death Knights) Dragon #79. Despite the "Saint" designation, he is Chaotic Evil as befits a proper Death Knight.

[@solomani5959]

@@blshouse Yep, get that. But since he is a saint it means he is a demigod similar to Cuthbert was always my understanding.

[@blshouse]

@@solomani5959 Somewhere along the lines of quasi-deity, hero-deity, and saint. They were ascendant mortals, something akin to lesser demigods. If I remember correctly.

[@davezenz]

Saint Cuthbert was a real guy. Check it out.

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

Ummm... yeah. That's like half the video.

[@davezenz]

7.29

[@CountAdolfo]

Aaaah Cuthbert! I seem to remember that I used to call the Mace the Cudgel of Cuthbert... Did you say Chapeau means hand? It's hat...

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

Pretty sure I said "hat". 🙂

[@CountAdolfo]

@@GreyhawkGrognard it must be the audio. Listened to it four times before I commented

[@danielpasilis4046]

You realize that now you have t do Kargoth...

[@hectorforth2671]

Osprem

[@shadowspawn283]

Where did you get that shirt??

[@GreyhawkGrognard]

I'm honestly not sure. Got it a few years ago online, but can't for the life of me remember where.

[@stevestumpy6873]

🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉

[@AAron-gr3jk]

I have never understood St-Cuthbert. The name is such an injection of Catholicism in an otherwise complete fantasy that it breaks my immersion. How did this name end up in there. I look forward to find out after decades

[@weray7605]

I never liked St Cuthbert as a deity for some odd reason -- in almost all cases when the canon mentions St Cuthbert, I just change it to Trithereon for my game.