Cults are some of the most common enemies of Dungeons & Dragons characters. With their malicious goals and connections to powerful deities, cultists can make for engaging stories and challenging adventures for your group.

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Designing and incorporating a cult into your game can be a difficult task. They need to have elaborate goals and intents, an important deity or patron behind them, a complicated structure, and deep religious connections to the world's lore and history. With some inspiration and tips on how to design an intimidating cult, you can plan a memorable adventure for your players.

7 The Deity

Dungeons And Dragons: Vecna With The Book Of Vile Darkness
Vecna by Julie Dillon

Cultists usually serve certain deities and work towards their ends. These deities can grant them certain powers, and promise them greater rewards when they reach their goals. Knowing the deity behind a cult can shape many aspects of the cult's behaviors and operations.

There are many popular deities in D&D lore for you to form your cult around. Evil deities such as Tiamat or Vecna can be the center of menacing cults, as well as powerful demons or devils. However, don't shy away from creating a deity for your cult. You can take inspiration from existing resources and create a cult that suits your world.

6 Ultimate Goals

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Artwork via Wizards of the Coast

The main difference between cults and other evil organizations, such as thieves' or assassins' guilds, is that they are not formed to accumulate wealth. They usually have much more sinister goals in mind, and they do their evil deeds in pursuit of them.

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These goals are usually the desires of the deity that the cult follows. Releasing an evil deity from their banishment, giving them power and influence over the material realm, or even reviving a dead god, can all be the ultimate goal of a cult. In the pursuit of reaching these aims, they might also have lesser tasks, such as creating an army, defeating an opposing faction, or taking over a city.

5 Allies And Enemies

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Artwork via Wizards of the Coast

Cultists are extremists in their intent and behaviors, thus creating many enemies, or few loyal allies along the way. These relationships can heavily affect the politics and societal structures of your world, and they need an appropriate amount of detailed design.

Depending on the cult's deity and religious practices, other good-aligned faiths, paladin orders, or many organizations and factions can be the mortal enemies of your cult. On the other hand, corrupt politicians, or evil creatures such as demons and devils, can have similar goals and help the cult in their operations.

4 Main Base

D&D Storm Lord's Wrath Destroyed Town Art
Storm Lord’s Wrath Art Via Wizards Of The Coast

Unlike organizations such as a thieves' guild, cults are not necessarily local to a single town or city. Their larger goals require them to have influence over a larger area, and their enemies might eventually drive them out of major cities.

For these reasons, cults can operate better if they have multiple bases in important locations such as towns and cities, historical ruins and sites, and locations that have strong connections to other realms or dimensions. Of course, if the cult's purpose is focused on a certain location, and they excel at hiding their traces, they can achieve their results from a single base too.

3 Visibility In The Public Eye

Dungeons and Dragons - official art of Rogues
Rogue Art by Wizards of the Coast

Depending on a cult's operations and the deity's reputation and influence, they might handle their image in the public eye differently. While some might operate in the shadows, others can openly preach their faith and recruit people into their ranks.

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In the case of the more devious deities, the cult might even have a false representation of who they're following. The cult can appear as a regular religious faith, hide in plain sight, and manipulate members of their faith to help them achieve their sinister plans.

2 How They Recruit

Dungeons And Dragons Human Orc Drow Elf Half-Elf Dwarf Halfling Cleric Fighter Caster Group Party
Forgotten Realms: Characters by Aaron H.

Both in the real world and in fantasy, cults have devious methods of indoctrinating unaware individuals and bringing them under their own influence. While some members might truly believe in the cult's cause, they won't shy away from recruiting people on the basis of false promises and misleading information.

This can lead to some interesting social interactions when the party faces a group of cultists. Not every cult member is an evil individual, and some members — especially those who haven't been serving the cult for a long time — are victims themselves.

1 They Won't Go Down Easy

The Rize Of Tiamat Cover Art with all 5 heads of Tiamat  wrecking havoc on the world in front of them with one preparing to breathe fire
Rise of Tiamat by Michael Komarck

What most D&D cults have in common is that it is almost impossible to eradicate them for good. Even if every cult member is defeated, they can find a way to recruit others and start over again, as long as the deity behind the cult is still present

This can affect the history or the lore of your world, or even an ongoing adventure. Your party might defeat a cult early in the game, only to find themselves facing them again, revived, and stronger than before. A well-designed cult can be the main villain of a memorable long-term campaign.

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