Beating the evil (Emberdark)

[Lesser spren]

Hi, I'm running the cosmere RPG and I wanted a Nephilim that was somhow lured to shadesmar as the BBEG I was wondering if any of you had ideas on how my players could defeat it or at least lure it away?

[Chaos he/him]

I moved this to the Brandon Games area and put (Emberdark) into the title to indicate Emberdark spoilers. Cheers.

[Jult]

3 hours ago, Lesser spren said:

Hi, I'm running the cosmere RPG and I wanted a Nephilim that was somhow lured to shadesmar as the BBEG I was wondering if any of you had ideas on how my players could defeat it or at least lure it away?

Hey! This sounds fun. A few questions (spoiler tagging the whole list since some of them are Emberdark spoilers):

Spoiler

1. When in the Stormlight timeline will your campaign take place?
2. Are you imagining a more generic Nephilim or one that has taken on aspects of a local Rosharan myth/legend (like the pseudo-Dakwara did near Drominad)? If the latter, which one?
3. At a general level, what is your party capable of? Are they powerful worldhoppers with some kind of Shadesmar-worthy spaceship? Or are they like 4 dudes in a boat who have sworn an ideal or two?

[Lesser spren]

Spoiler

1. haven't decided yet I plan on talking about talking about it with the players. Definitely before WAT. I'm thinking somewhere in the timeskip between OB and ROW.

2. I was thinking of having it a generic Nephilim but perhaps it could transform over the course of the campaign as more spren perceive it. I'll look into rosharan myths. if you have any Ideas I'm all ears.

3. at this point in the cosmere I don't think spaceships exist yet. by the time they face the Nephilim I want them to be at least tier three. I also plan on giving them an elantrian world hopping patron if that helps.

1 hour ago, Jult said:

Hey! This sounds fun. A few questions (spoiler tagging the whole list since some of them are Emberdark spoilers):

  Hide contents

1. When in the Stormlight timeline will your campaign take place?
2. Are you imagining a more generic Nephilim or one that has taken on aspects of a local Rosharan myth/legend (like the pseudo-Dakwara did near Drominad)? If the latter, which one?
3. At a general level, what is your party capable of? Are they powerful worldhoppers with some kind of Shadesmar-worthy spaceship? Or are they like 4 dudes in a boat who have sworn an ideal or two?

 

Edited August 27, 2025 by Lesser spren

[Jult]

Spoiler

1 hour ago, Lesser spren said:

haven't decided yet I plan on talking about talking about it with the players. Definitely before WAT. I'm thinking somewhere in the timeskip between OB and ROW.

Okay cool. No perpetual Everstorm to deal with then. Plus, Rayse is still alive at that time. Which could be relevant since the Nephilim are kind of his fault.

1 hour ago, Lesser spren said:

I was thinking of having it a generic Nephilim but perhaps it could transform over the course of the campaign as more spren perceive it. I'll look into rosharan myths. if you have any Ideas I'm all ears.

It definitely fits that one would be attracted to the Rosharan system since they are attracted to large amounts of Investiture. Between the 3 Shards there, the leftover Investiture from Adonalsium, and the literal Investiture magnet that is Braize, it's basically a buffet for them.

You could have it transform into one of the false descriptions of the "Voidbringers" that Vorinism has been teaching for a few hundred years. The ones with glowing red eyes that stand dozens of feet tall with bodies of fire and stone who were created by the Cosmere itself as the antithesis of the Almighty. Which, re-reading that description, were probably just based on the Thunderclasts. 

Personally, I think Vun Makak could also be a very fun pick. We know enough about him to know that your players could enrage him by worshipping his brother.

Or you could use one of the less defined myths like the Gloomdancer and write your own story around it.

2 hours ago, Lesser spren said:

at this point in the cosmere I don't think spaceships exist yet. by the time they face the Nephilim I want them to be at least tier three. I also plan on giving them an elantrian world hopping patron if that helps.

Considering that Nephilim are a major threat to even dragons, I doubt the party would be able to simply fight it. They'd probably either need to pull off something clever like Dusk where they trap it in the rules of whatever story its imitating or they could lure it somewhere else. Or some combination of the two.

It's mentioned in IoTE that some arcanists have had success "overfeeding" Nephilim by pumping them full of Investiture. Raboniel mentions that Braize's sub-astral is surrounded by Investiture storms that are uncrossable. Maybe those could overfeed it? Or you could lure it to some portion of Roshar's sub-astral at the moment the Highstorm and Everstorm intersect. Maybe the combined Investiture from both storms would be too much for it?