PHBR3 - The Complete Priest's Handbook

The
Comnlete

Handbook

by Aaron Allston

Table of Contents:

.ro iction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 RTReshutlereiSc.ttia.o.tne.s.R.oe.nl.i.gth.io.en.P..r.i..e..s.t..............11189 Finances of .1W. .o.rk.i.n.-g.F.o.r... . . . 38
Gods. and the World 4-10 Non-Priests
on . . . .. ................. .. .. ........45.
Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 the Faith . .
tion
.ristics of the Gods. . . . .5 Celibacy .................19 SPFaCaimst.hpFlDeorePcsreiigsensai,nhSdbhoPedhesitlo..s..o..p..h..i.e..s..:....333898
Humanoids. Animals. MHCCClhoiaotnagtPsthiacotiiamnitnlygiItnst..ea...mti...os...n...............................................................22222.00011.
SPraimespthleooPdrsi.e.s.th. .o.d.s. ...... .. .. ..4.. 0. .-49.05.
AAAngnircmiecsautlolstrus.re.. .............1. ... ......................... ...444.213
.. .. .. .. ........................88 Mutilation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
on BACCriootrmmsth.mp..eC.ut.ihn.tiii.ltod.yn.re....n.....................t+...........:.........1.1:''A...4446575

Spheres of Influence . . . . . . . . .21
Granted Powers . . . . . . . . . . . .23
History Creation Sheet10 High Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23.

Medium Powers . . . . . . . . . . . .24 crafts i ........... . . . . . ...48
Low Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Culture . . . . . . . .50
.a.a.nn.d.d.PR.u.e.rqp.u.oi.sr.ee.sm...e..n..t.s....of the Other Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . ..2278 (Bringing00
DDaawrknne.s.s..N. d.g.h.t .........:.. . . . . . .51
. .11 Followersand Believers . . . . .

11

. . . . . . . . . . . . 13 How Many and How Strong (Phi l ..~..~..~.. ..p...h....y...).............................1 .5. 5
Druid
Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Are They? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
How HMavuec?h. .C.o.n.t.ro. l. .D. o. e.s. .t.h30e Elemental Forces.(Force) . . :.56
riesthood . . . . . .17 Priest

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 What If They Die Or Gain Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 EFavtiel .(PDheisltoisnoyph.y.)............... .. ...I ..5.587
Separation From the Faith . . .18 Experience? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

RWIosleShacoftuItmfhT?eh.F.ea.Pit.rh.ie..s..t-..C.. h.. a..r..a..c..te..r.. ..3321 FFFoierrrettiu.ln.it.ey.....L....u..c..k.....................................1...65.6.190

RelationsWith Other Faiths . .32

RelationsWith the GHJHGuouuesoaantildrticdin(neigP.agh.nRi..selh.o.v.is.ep.on..p.g..h.e..y....)............:....................................6666.2234

Aristocracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Relations With the People. . . .33

RelationsWith Foreign Faiths 34 Life-Death-RebirthCycle

Rites and the€Mendar . . . . . . .35
Hierarchy of the Faith. . . . . . . .35

Experience Levels and the L(Figohrcte.)........................................ 66
Lightning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
PC Priests and the Hierarchy .37

. . . . . .Literature, Poetry . . . .68 Multi-Classand Dual-Clas 'lbning Down the Cleric . . . . .122
PCMPKWWSSMOTVSRTSNRWwRPMSLMMRMPMMMOrroiuiitktreieuiohaeumeeeraacseorutlamoiiiuaeeaaayavcvdsgnntusstleeeogsratsdslsiuecbrsct,edceiedeasrtanen-nisti.phnesoeWrilrihiccCotlmnepgd..aeesn.Keeoa.....w.dn,imnsh.gdltls.eet..r...i.o...Depse.ai,inog,i.tie.f....r.oa...dt..ttPhshpR,P.gPrea......iys.nts.W.......ko,re.r.n...h.r...irnCi.s..........v..oK.n.i....c.eeP.ea.c...........e.......ph..ers.ir.s.k...r.....i.............thnai.t.s.t......e..e.............rC.e.gCs.........as.r.........c.......s..l....t..y.icl....yh...a............n....a...tC....s.i..................e..s..p..sO.....l...........s........r..ea...se...........................nss....s..........................es..............e................................s......................................9............................................6.........................-......1.......................988888898887767889779779897997770.180783692146909.057564632285233319....RCPRMAP..DDTMTTTACACATTTLSMFTFAFCCCNMrriohbo.iit.eeauhhhihhhhhlhoooaedegtlaeeeaalabedyoearsnfeeelfeeeeenanmrssvsnem.rdSiaveset-senatttnfnefifda.HMSPiPEPCPtttnnyeanysmc.iiieAPteirgtnonrro..aaldrohrnnodidtamaryrmoeimanoone9dudgtgr..ueilinrastfenlpifryeilgrtsionn..evroee..osrorastoagR0nisotseiiarnfeiavefno.o..oC.t.htnCascgolcPioinsdftnatafty.o.n.....oneigoernhothlKeaedtttt...tp..a....inedCrnouhP.ihuerntNerelh.....-.....ziesCrrooi.enaerNPtmFee.......Go.....ot..effsiu.sirlerrvFFo.........s.a.....neaeoeABos.s.ii............aa.....asyldaBecntt.iod.ii.............lh.....ihetritt.irnirute................o.....hhftnah.gysul....................o...figt.nulh.......T.................d...K.slo............................y.o...........1i....................ptd............1...................se.........................0.......s.....,,,,,,,.,,,.,,,,,.,,,,,....-,..1L1111111111111111111111111111111l1Uo111111111111111111110111211111112Y7435705677742964611885020888903822
. .Equipment and Combat. 123-127

Priestly Items . .. . . . . . . . ,123
TheCanon . . . . . . .... . . ... .123
. . . . . . . ...
Holy Symbol. ,123
Holy Water . . . . . . . .. . .. .
.. . . . ,123
.Priestly Vestments . . . . ,123
. . .. .. . . . ,124
New Weapons . . . . . ,124
.
New Weapons List

New Weapons Descriptions. ,124

.Unarmed Combat. . . . . . . . ,124
.Attacking Without Killing. .124

Knowing Punching, Wrestling,

. . . .Martial Arts. . . . . . . . . . .125
.Martial Arts Results . . . . . .125
.Specializingin Punching . ,125
.Specializingin Wrestling . ,126

Specializingin Martial Arts .127

.More Than One Style . . . . .127
.Continuing Specialization .127

Bibliography. . . . . , 128

Kits and Character Creation. . .96 Prayer. . .. . . . .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. . . ,120 Credits
The Priest Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 . . .. . ,120
Amazon Priestess . . . . . . . . . .97 Purification. . .. . ,120 Project Design: Aaron Allston
BarharianBerserker Priest. . .99 Sacrifice . . . .. . . . . . . . . ,120
. Editing: Karen S . Boomgarden
.Fighting-Monk . . . . . . . . . ,100 Priests and Punishment.
. .Nobleman Priest. . . . . . . ,101 Minor Offenses . . . . . . . . . ..120 Black and White Art p

Outlaw Priest . . . . . . . . . . . ,103 .Inappropriate Weapon and ThomasB a a
Color Art by: Erik Olson, any
Armor Use . . . . . . . . . . . . ,120
Pacifist Priest . ... ... ... ... .. ... .. .. .. Betrayal of Goals . . . . . . . . ,121 Elmore and David Dorman
. .. .lo4 Divine Retributions . . . . . . ,121 Typography: Gaye OKeefe
Peasant Priest. . . . . . . . . Society's Punishments. . . . ,121 SDecial Contributions bv:
Prophet Priest. . . . . . .lo5
. When Priests Renounce Mark Bennett
Savage Priest . .lo6 . . . . .Their Faith. . . . . . . . ,122 Plavtesters: Lurav Richmond, Mark
Richmond
.lo7
Scholar Priest. . . . . . . . . . . ,108 1990TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
..When Gods Bestow Spells .I22
Recording Kits on the Character Printed in the U.S.A.
Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Priestly Followers. . . . . . 122
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tributed to the toy and hobby trade by
regional distributors. Distributed in the
United Kingdom by TSR Ltd.

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Any reproduction or other unauthorized
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written consent of TSR, Inc.

ADVANCED DUNGEONS 81 DRAGON:
AD&D, PRODUCTS OF YOUR
IMAGlNATIONand the TSR log<
trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

Since the creation of the cial abilities and duties beyond nal AD&D@game instead of the
ADVANCED DUNGEONS & those of ordinary priests. new edition: This supplement
DRAGONSO game system, the mentions a lot of page numbers
cleric has been one of the most We’ll talk about role-playing the from the Player’s Handbook and
popular character classes. He has priest character. Certainly, priest the DMG. The page numbers cited
been a happy bridge between war- characters don’t have to have the are for the newest edition, not the
riors and mages: Capableof armor- same sort of identical personality original: they won’t be correct for
ing up and wielding heavy (the kindly father-confessor with those of you using the old books.
weapons, capable of casting useful the bloody mace in his hand)
magics, he was a very versatile ad- which many players imagine them
venturer and the favorite choice of all to have.
countless players.
We’ll describe whole campaigns
With the release of the AD&D@ devoted to priests: How to run
2nd Edition game, none of that has them, how to give them a purpose,
changed. The cleric is the same how to determine what goals and
magic-hurling, mace-wielding he- interests are most appropriate.
ro that he always was. And in The
Complete Priest’s Handbook, And we’ll talk about the sort of
we’re going to see to it that he’s equipment that priests use in their
even more than that. devotions and adventures, includ-
ing weapons,armor, holy symbols,
In this supplement, we’re going priestly vestments, and other
to elaborate on what the priest (in- items.
cluding the cleric) is to the cam-
paign, to the setting’s civilization, The Complete Priest’s Hand-
and to the adventuring party. book is equally useful if you’re a
Dungeon Master or a player. It will
We’ll be providing guidelines for add depth to the campaign world
the DM to work up the cleric’s and the range of NPCs for Dungeon
faith: The god or philosophy he Masters,and add detail to the abili-
serves, the rules and mores he fol- ties, backgrounds, and responsi-
lows, the duties he practices, the
restrictions he suffers, the powers ..*bilities of player-character priests.
he possesses, and the relations he
and the others of his faith have In the text, for reasons of sim-
with the followers of other faiths. plicity, we normally use masculine
nouns and pronouns inclusively.
We’ll show you how to work up When we say “god:’ “priest:’ or
priests devoted to specific mythoi. “man,”we’renormally also imply-
The druid, from the AD&D@2nd ing “goddess,” “priestess,” and
Edition Player’s Handbook, is one “woman.”
example: this supplement de-
scribes many, many more, and In order to be able to use this
provides rules for the DM to create supplement, you must use the
new priesthoods of his own design. Weapon and Nonweapon Profi-
cienciesrules from the AD&D” 2nd
We’ll talk about priestly orders. Edition game. If you’re not yet fa-
Some priesthoods have soldierly miliar with them, you ought to
orders, scholarly orders, mission- read them before continuing in
ary orders, oracular orders, and this rulebook.
many other types. If your priest
character belongs to a faith with A special note for those of you
several orders, he may choose one who are using this Complete
of them, which will give him spe- Priest’s Handbook with your origi-

This chapter is for DMs who god who is now dominant in the disk, a sphere, a bowl, or an un-
want to design the mythic history campaign world. The myths are
of their campaign world(s).It‘s not packed with tales of gods who cre- ending surface continuing in all di-
ated their worlds, became oppres- rections to infinity.
. .prohibited for the campaign’s sive, and were then cast down by
other gods, even their own chil- The sun and moon could be
players to read this. but not all dren, who now rule in their place.
of them will find it useful. Players glowing chariots, or bright gods
may wish to skip on to the third Nor does the creation have to continually flying across the sky
chapter, “Sample Priesthoods.” have been a deliberate event. It (perhapsas a service to the world,
might have been an accident; the perhaps because they’re being
*** god could have been dreaming and
his dreams became reality. chased). They could be worlds
One of the first things the DM unto themselves, and the player-
can do to add color and detail to his The creator could be a tremen- characters might someday have
campaign world is to work up that dous monster, one which began the opportunity to visit and walk
worlds mythic histov. Such a his- the process of creating the world,
tory will help establish, in his but was overthrown before it fin- the bright surface of the sun in
mind and those of his players, the search of adventure. They could
relationships between the gods, .ished making the world to its own be the great, glowing eyes of the
and between gods and men. It will most powerful deity.They could be
help set the tone of the campaign satisfaction. . and onewhich, leg-
and the attitude of the player- gigantic, fiercely-burning lamps
characters’ culture. It will give the ends say, will return some day to created by the craftsman-god,
players some idea of what their finish the job. lamps which circle the world on
characters expect from their gods
and their future. And once it’s It could be a simple creature,one some giant mechanism. (Perhaps,
done, the DM can then elaborate not necessarily deserving of wor-
on it and decide how each individ- ship, which shapes the world sim- instead of circling the world, they
ual god relates to other gods and to ply by acting as the animal it is.As just shut off each day when the
the sentient races of the world. one example, if the original state of time is due: the sun just turns off,
the universe were a giant block of and the moons just turn on.) They
In this chapter, we’ll discuss salt, this creature could be a giant
some of the common themes that cow which licks it into the shape of could even be suns and moons as
run through myths: the DM can the world.
use these topics asa frameworkfor we understand them, though
his own mythic history. In some mythologies, the great
being that shapes the world stays some of the charm of fantasy lies
Creation around after that task is done: he precisely in making such things
or she might be the principal deity
The first place to start is the cre- of the world. More often,that great differentfromour cold,modem ex-
ation of the universe and the being perishes, or is cast down by planations of them.
world. descendants, or settles for a lesser
role once creation is accom- The planets and stars could be
In most creation stories, there plished. holes in the dome of the sky, sug-
was usually some disinteresting, gesting that there is a great bright-
stable condition in effect at the Basic Astronomy ness beyond. They could be
dawn of time. I t might have been a decorations placed in the sky by
formless void, or darkness, or un- What is the shape of the world the gods. They could be worlds
ending ice and snow. and the universe oncethey are cre- unto themselves. They could be
ated? What are suns, moons, plan- glowing creatures forced to trace
Then, we have the first great be- ets and stars? paths through the sky every night.
ing, the one who brings about crea- They could be the suns of distant
tion of the world. Note that this The entire universe could be a worlds.
great being doesn’t have to be the single huge world, with a dome
overhead which holds the stars And, of course, the DM can
and confines the sun(s) and choose for all these astronomic
moon(s). The world could be a bodies to be one thing, but for the
prevailing belief of the people to be
different,an incorrect belief; noth-
ing says that the world’s deities
want the humans and demihu-
mans to know the truth.

Effects o f Terrain on Creation These gods could be children of ination will allow him. He doesn’t
the first great being. They could be
In the real world, the terrain of that being’s creations instead. have to work up an extensive set of
the human culture to which a my- They could be representations of legends about every god: even in
thology belonged often had a natural forces brought to aware- the real world, many gods of vari-
strong effect on the myths. Norse ness and life by the catalyst of Cre- ous mythologies were scarcely
mythology started with a huge ation. They could emerge from more than a name and an attrib-
abyss filled with ice, for instance. some less wholesome process (for ute. As his campaign continues,
example, they could be created by the DM can flesh out the descrip-
If one race’s religion is dominant the decay of the body of the first tions of these gods to his heart‘s
in the campaign world, the DM great being, or could merely spring content.
should decide whether or not their forth whole from its corpse: One
creation-storyhas a setting like the god from the bones, one from the Some of the traits which charac-
land where that race originated. brain, one from the heart, etc.). terize the gods, and can be defined
by the DM for each god or pan-
In a fantasy world, this situation Each god should have some spe- theon, include:
could come about from one of two cial attribute, an area where he or
reasons: she is dominant. Some can have Immortality: Are the gods im-
several attributes. Such attributes mortal? In most pantheons, the
The gods, having emerged from include Thought, Strength, War, gods are certainly ageless: that is,
a particular type of terrain, would Love, Craftsmanship, Earth, Sea, they do not grow old. But in some,
find similar terrain in the mortal Sky, Sailing, Farming, Hunting, they are not just ageless, they also
world to be their favorite land for and many, many others. Any ac- cannot be killed; regardless of how
creating new races, exploring, and tivity that is important to humans severely they might be wounded,
interacting with humans; or (or demihumans) can be an attrib- with time they will always fully re-
ute for a god. cover from injury. In others, the
The sentient races might have gods can be killed by sufficient
erroneously re-interpreted the Not all these gods need to have force. For example, in the Greek
story of the world’s creation as a been “first-generation,”or born to1 myths, the gods are undying,
reflection of the terrain in which created by that first great being. while in the Norse myths the gods
they live, and the legend is simply Obviously, some should be. But face eventual certain death at the
wrong. they, too, can create or become battle of Ragnarok.
parents to other gods.
Propagation Indestructibility: As a further
In some mythoi, the god of a par- level of what was just described,
Once creation of the world and ticularly important attribute will some gods which are immortal are
universe are established, the DM have children who bear lesser also described as indestructible.
can move on to the propagation of forms of that attribute. For in- No force on heaven or Earth can
the gods. In other words, once the stance, the god of Love might have hurt them (exceptby hurting their
setting is in place, the cast of gods children who represent Passion, feelings, by betraying them). This
gets larger and larger. Marriage, Infatuation, and Unre- is sometimes the trait of the great-
quited Love. The god of Sleep est god of a pantheon, and is usu-
Naturally, the DM can always do might have children who repre- ally the trait of the only god of a
this the other way around. Per- sent Dreams and Nightmares. The monotheistic religion (one which
haps all the gods were in place be- god of Intellect might have chil- believes in only one god).
fore they decided to create the dren who represent Memory, Po-
world. There’s nothing wrong with etry, Song, and Riddles or Puzzles. Influence on the World How
this choice: it‘s simply backward much influence does the god have
from the way the best-known Characteristics of the on the mortal world, the world of
Earth mythologies operated. animals, the world of plants? With
Gods some gods, there is very little of
Regardless,unless the DM is cre- such influence. A god whose at-
ating a monotheistic faith (one The DM can create as many gods tribute is the unchanging stars, for
dedicated to only one deity), he for his pantheon as his imag- instance, might exert a little influ-
must now begin creating the other ence on the sailors who navigate
gods of the faith.

by stars, but could have very little merely enforced by the greatest of than by showing up in person. All
effect on anyone or anything else. the gods. Often, these inhibitions
On the other hand, godsrelating to dictate how much aid or hindrance these inhibitions affected the way
powerful human emotions or pre- the gods can offer to mortals, Aphrodite and the other Olympi-
occupations (such as love, war, whether or not they can help their ans related to their favorite
creativity, and so forth) might ex- favorite men and beasts directly or “player-characters.”
ert a great deal of influence on the indirectly, etc.
world, especially if it is said that Humans, Humanoid!
every application of his attribute Example Animals, Plants
requires the gods help or permis-
sion. For instance, ifit requires the As an example of how a familiar At some point in the history of
aid or permission of the god/ the gods, they probably created all
goddess of childbirth for every hu- god matches these characteristics, living things. (It’s possible for the
let’s look at the Greek goddess flora and fauna of the world to
man birth to take place, then that Aphrodite. have been created by some other
deity is exerting a profound effect factor. For example, they might
on the world. She was immortal, as were most have just been there when the
great ice-cap melted. But it’s a
Interest in the World Addition- or all of the Greek gods. She cer- more common element of the story
ally, some gods are very interested tainly was not indestructible, and that the gods created them.)
in what goes on in the mortal was in fact once wounded in battle
world, while others are entirely This creation process might
by the Argive hero Diomedes. have involved an accident; for in-
disinterested. Naturally, those She had a very profound influ- stance, the greatest god sneezed,
who are interested are more prone and blew fully-formed living
to meddle in mortal affairs than ence on the world, for it was she things all over the world.
whoput allvarietiesof the emotion
those who aren’t.In fact, gods who of love in the breasts of man and More commonly,it‘sa deliberate
beast. Even the other gods, with process, and the gods or one par-
are disinterested in the world the exception of Hestia, Athena, ticular god methodically created
and Artemis, were regularly af- all the living things known to man.
might punish characters who are fected by her power.
bold enough to call upon them. When working up this aspect of
Her interest in the world was
Intentions Toward the World limited to a couple of areas: Mak- the story for his own campaign
Finally, there’s the question of ing sure that all humankind re- world, the DM can use this to help
what the god’s intentions are to- spected her (which generally define the way the gods look upon
meant that all humans knew love specific forms of life. Was Man cre-
ward the world. . . especially to- at one time or another, and thus ated so the gods would have some-
did not deny her);and making sure thing entertaining to watch? %
ward the sentient races of the her special favorites, such as her fulfilla higher destiny? So that his
world. Some gods are content just mortal son Aeneas, survived and brightest and best might one day
to pursue their attributes and prospered.Other than that, sheap- add to the ranks of the lesser gods.
make sure they are properly wor- peared to have no special inten- or accompany the godson one last,
shipped and recognized. Others tions toward the world. great battle? This kind of decision
helps define man’s view of the
may have more far-reachingplans. Aphrodite had a couple of inhibi- gods and their requirements of
This is especially true of evil gods, tions restricting her: First, she and mankind.
who wish to bring about the de- all the Olympianswere subject to a
struction of races, other gods, or higher destiny, which not even It can also be used to define man-
the entire world: it is also true of Zeus could thwart. Second, physi- kind’sopinionson certain matters.
ambitious gods, who wish to cast If, for instance, animals in general
down the ruling gods, take their cally, she and most other gods were created to serve Man, then
Man might have little regard for
place, and reshape the world to could be hurt or even defeated in them, except as pets and beasts of
their own liking. battle by the mightiest Greek he-
roes. Third, the god-king Zeus ob-
Inhibitions: Some gods and viously preferred for gods to help
pantheons had limitations placed their favorites indirectly rather
upon them. These might have

been limitations placed by some
greater power of the universe, or

1 burden. However, if each god cre- dominated, elves are female- lacked until then: this so offended
ated one or more animals to serve dominated, and humans are more Zeus that he afflicted mankind
as totems for the god, then Man or less equal? Any such arrange- with all sorts of ills.
might have a lot more respect for ment is possible.
certain animals. This sort of thing could be a
If the story of creation says that Note, however, that when one characteristic of your campaign
one sex of the sentient races was sex is oppressed, players are less world’s story; or, mankind might
created subordinate to the others, likely to want to play members of never have had a closer relation-
then there will be a crushing social that sex. Few players want their ship with its got
pressure to keep that sex ”in its escapism to involve this sort of
place.” If the story of creation does prejudice directed at them. ately or not, visit a challenge on
no such thing, then any such atti- the humans.
tudes will be have been created by 111 wlllG u c v I I G ~ ,ltumans or sen-
mortals and may vary from place tient races in general start out with One of the commonest chal-
to place. Additionally, with the an exalted relationship with their lenges involves the afterlife. In
added complication of several sen- deities and then fall out of the dei- many faiths, the better one lives
tient races around (humans,elves, ties’ favor. In Greek myth, for ex- one’s life, the better the afterlife to
dwarves, etc.), the DM can make ample, the humans were which he progresses. The usual
this decision several times and well-beloved of the gods until the sorts of afterlives tend to fall into
choose a different approach each god Prometheus gave them the se- one of the followingcategories; in
time. Perhaps, on his world, cret of using fire. which they had some faiths, a character might face
dwarves are strongly male-

I

the possibility of reaching more The Future gods will “startover” and reshape
than one of these choices, depend- the world, populating it with the
ing on his actions in life. Some, but not all, faiths make survivors from the last world and
predictions for the future. Some- the best spirits in the halls of the
Oblivion No afterlife at all, this times they’re grim, such as the
is when the human’s spirit per- Norse belief in Ragnarok. the de- .afterlife, that‘s all very interest-
ishes and becomes nothingness. struction of the gods and man.
They could also be happy and ing. .but its effectson the current
’lbrture An afterlife where tor-
cheerful. . . though this isn’t usu- campaign are minimal. On the
ture. either permanent or tempo- other hand, if this reshaping is
rary (until the spirit repents, ally the case in a world involving supposed to take place in only ten
recants, or otherwise improves) is great heroes. years, or one, it becomes very in-
the order of the day. teresting to the PCs. They’ll work
The DM, when decidingwhether very hard to make sure that
Boredom: An afterlife where or not to “predict the future” for they’re either among the survivors
there’s nothing to do, nothing to his world, should try to figure out from this world, or among t h e
see, nothing to entertain. what this choice will do to the atti- brighter spirits of the afterlife, so
tudes of his intelligent races. they can experience the new
Rebirth: An afterlife which in- world.
volves rebirth in the physical A future which is bleak and
world and the living of a new mor- gloomy will sometimes make the Of cowse, the DM doesn’t have
tal life. campaign bleak and gloomy. The to specify future events for his
characters can hope for success campaign. It‘s often better if he
Pleasure: An afterlife where the and glory in the short-term, but doesn’t,because it makes for more
certain death awaits them, and uncertainty in the minds of the
things man most loves in life are they can’t count on the world be- PCS.
visited upon him in abundance. ing there “when they get back.”
This sort of approach does make The Pantheon
Ascension An afterlife where for the greatest of heroism,
the best of the best are granted though It‘sthe greatest hero who Once the DM has created the in-
great powers, making them her- strives on knowing that ultimately dividual gods, he ought to relate
alds and messengers of the he must fail, yet fights for his goals
anyway. them to one another - that is, es-
gods. . .or even gods themselves.
A future which is happy and tablish how they feel about one an-
In such faiths, humans usually bright will sometimes make the other. This can affect how their
have a good idea of what it takes to campaign a little more‘ goofy and mortal followers, especially priest-
get into these specific afterlives. ?b irresponsible. Characters, believ- hoods, feel about one another and
get into the “good” ones may re- ing that whatever their mistake, work together.
quire strict adherence to a certain they’ll be preserved or rewarded,
life-style, or may require that the may behave in a foolish manner. These relationships don’t have
human somehowimpress the gods Acts of bravery are often nothing to be very detailed. It‘squite s a l -
with his deeds or personality, or 3f the sort: they’rejust short-term cient to say that one god loves an-
may merely require that the gods sacrifices in anticipation of a long- other, hates another, likesanother,
term reward. This isnot to say that dislikes, respects, holds in con-
like the character. . .which is not tempt, whatever. Then, simply ap-
. .such a campaign can’t be reward- ply that sentiment to the
something the character can nec- priesthoods of the gods.
essarily bring about deliberately. Lng. it‘sjust harder for it to be se-
And when that sentiment is ap-
Other challenges are possible: rious. plied to mortals, it can turn out to
be greater or less than the emotion
Humankind as a whole might be A future which is neither actually felt by the gods in ques-
loomed nor excessively happy tion.
challenged to achieve a certain will tend to have less of an effecton
level of civilization by a certain the player-characters. For in- For instance, let us say that two
time, to achieve a certain level of ~tancei,f holy writings say that a gods dislike one another. Their re-
artistic or philosophic ability, to housand years in the future, the spective priests may dislike one
defeat a certain spirit of evil, to
evolve to a certain enlightened
state, etc.

another with similar intensity. On together? Having determined tk, ever, have to decide for himself
the other hand, they might not dis- the DM can next determine whj what effects these forces or philos-
like oneanotheratall. They might, two gods hate each other, why’c ophies have had on the human
in fact, recognize that their gods Did one steal from the other, or em- and humanoid histories of his
have certain foibles (human-like barrass him? That‘s an event. world, and take these factors into
failings of personality), and might account for every part of those his-
look upon those foibles with Have the gods ever warred on tories.
amusement and affection but one another? If so, that was cer-
without following them them- tainly an event. Mythic History Creation
selves. Sheet
The DM can create as few or as
However, these priesthoods in- many events as he wishes; the The DM can photocopyand fillin
stead might loathe one another. more there are, the richer his cam- the following sheet to give him a
They could hate one another with paign setting will be for it. starting-place for the creation of
an intensity which far surpasses his world’s mythic history. The
that of the gods in question. They Forces and Philosophies sheet follows the order of subjects
could, in fact, start wars on the from this chapter.
earth because of their hatred for The mystical history of the
one another. world is somewhat different if it is tt.
driven by a force or a philosophy
So, for many gods, the DM may In this chapter, we discussed
wish to decide how the gods feel As we’ll discuss in more detail creation of the history of the cam-
about one another, and then may next chapter, a force is a mystical paign’s gods. In the next chapter,
choose a slightly different view of power which strongly affects the we’ll talk about individual faiths,
how their priests react to one an- how they’re put together, and
other. world.. . but which probably is what effect they have on priest-
characters.
Events not a sentient being like gods are.
I t has drives, it has a goal, but it
Once all the principal characters probably does not have a mind.
(i.e.,gods)are in place, the DM can
create the events of the faith. On the other hand, a philosophy
is a compelling idea or set of ideas
The creation of the world was which can capture the
one such event; it described “char- imagination and influence the
acters” (gods) acting or interact- actions of communities or whole
ing, and something happening. civilizations. It might exert
The fall from grace of the sentient enough popular appeal that it can
races was another: How did that support magical powers for priest-
happen? But these shouldn’t be philosophers. But it is still not pre-
the only events known to the be- cisely a god, for it has no
lievers. What else has happened? independent mind.

Do the gods mate with mortals to If your campaign world is driven
produce heroic characters who go by a force or philosophy, its mysti-
on adventures? If so, then the con- cal history is goingto be somewhat
ception of these heroes and their different. It will mostly be a history
adventures in life are all events of of men or other sentient races and
the faith. (Note: If this process is their relationships with the force
still going on, some of the cam- or philosophy: How they came to
paign’s player-characters could be recognize it or create it, how they
the mortal children of the world’s came to believe in it, how they in-
gods.) troduced it to others, and so forth.

How do specific gods get along In short, the DM won’t have to
create an entire separate history as
he would have to do for distinct
pantheons of gods. He will, how-

Mythic History Creation Sheet

Creation: How was the universe created7 Fall From Grace Did sentient races fall from grace7

If SO, how7

What is the shape of the world and universe7 What are suns,
moons, planets and stars?

The Challenge: What is the afterlife believed to be like?

Characteristics of the Gods: Are the gods immortal? The Future: Are they any legends about the futrtre of the
Are the gods indestructible7
world7

How much direct influence do they have' The Pantheon: Who are the main gods and what are thei
How much interest do they have in the world? attributes?

God Attribute God Attribute

What are their intentions toward the world? Events: What are the main legends known to the player-
Does anything inhibit them7 characters7

Humans, Humanoids, Animals, Plants: How were they all
created?

This chapter is forDMs who want into a full-sizedpantheon for your tracts magical energy and faith to
to design detailed faiths and cults game world. In the next chapter, it, much as a Force does. Philoso-
for their campaign worlds. It‘s not you’ll find many examples of this phies are usually created by man
prohibited for the campaign’s play- priesthood creation process. or other sentient races, spread
throughout cultures. and gain
ers to read this. . . but not all of God, Force, o r Philosophy such widespread acceptance and
belief that they do become much
them will find it useful. Players may For each faith you establish in like Forces. When no one believes
wish to skip on to the next chapter, your campaign world, you have to in a Philosophy any longer, it can
‘‘SamplePriesthoods:’ decide what it is that’s being wor- generate no magical power and
shipped and venerated: A God, a support no priests, so the priests’
I *** Force, or a Philosophy. duty is to embody its attributes
and to teach the philosophyso that
As the Player’s Handbook points A God is a powerful being, usu- it will never die. Sample philoso-
out (page 34, fmt column), “In the ally of human or greater intelli- phies include Oneness With Na-
simplest version of the AD&D@ gence, usually desiring to impose ture, Peace, the Divinity of
game, clerics serve religions that its will or characteristics upon the Mankind,the Sanctity of Life, Nihi-
can be generallydescribed as ‘good world. A god is often devoted to a lism, and so on.
or ‘evil.’ Nothing more needs to be single attribute or set of attributes
said about it; the game will play per- (e.g., warfare, love, agriculture, In the AD&D@ game, the God,
fectly well at this point:’ marriage, etc.) and so most of his Force, and Philosophy are identical
interactions with the world will in the way they are treated by the
That’s true enough. But DMs deal with the god’s promotion of game mechanics. AU three provide
who work to make their campaign that attribute among humankind. spells and powers to their priests.
settings into interesting, detailed Gods do not have to be anthropo- AU three demand personal require-
backgrounds for the campaign, morphic (i.e., manlike in form or ments and services of their priests
won’t be satisfied with that simple personality characteristics), and and of their non-priest followers.
approach. A big part of the color of so one faith’s god is often another And all three, to a lesser or greater
any fiction setting, including cam- faith’s monster. However, most of degree, shape the world, both
paign settings, is the relationship the gods worshipped by player- through their own powers and
of the supernatural world to the characters are likely to be anthro- through their agents, the priests.
pomorphic and not monstrous.
“real” world. . . and gods, with Ethos and Requirements
A Force is some sort of natural of the Faith
priests as ambassadors to the hu- (orunnatural)process which influ-
man world, form a big part of that ences the world. I t isn’t necessar- Each faith requires certain codes
supernatural element. ily intelligent, but it is magically of behavior, beliefs, and even abili-
ties of its followers and of its
So, eventually, most DMs will powerful. . . and humans who ac- priests. When creating a faith, you
want to work up at least the basic have to decide what those require-
details of who the gods are in his cept the dictates and goals of this ments are and how they’re to be
campaign world, how they relate force can become its priests and implemented in your campaign.
to one another, and what their use spells based on that magical
goals are (especiallythose pertain- power. Some Forces which can be Goals and Purposes
ing to the mortal world). This, in so worshipped include Entropy,
turn, will let them enhance the Nature, the Life-Death-RebirthCy- First,what are the goals and pur-
role of cleric,druid and other priest cle, and Magic. Druids tend to be poses of the god (orforce or philos-
player-characters in the cam- priests of the Force of Nature, in- ophy),and therefore of the faith?
stead of specific Gods of Nature.
paign. . . and that’s what this (There are exceptions to that gen- Often, that’s self-evident, be-
eralization, of course.) cause it’s usually tied to the attrib-
chapter is all about. ute of the god, or the explanation
In this chapter, you’ll learn how A Philosophy is an idea, or set of
ideas, which (in these magical
to create specific faiths (related to worlds) is so compelling that it at-
specific gods, natural forces, and
philosophies); how to create the
priests of these specific mythoi;
and how to relate the godstogether

Designing Faiths

of the force or philosophy. In addition, a god isn’t defined insist that their priests be of identi-
For example, if the faith’sgod is just by his attribute. In the cam- cal alignment to the god. The align-
paign history, he also has a per- ment may not be so dissimilar that
a God of Love, then the goals and sonal history, likes and dislikes, the priest cannot serve the god, but
purposes of the faith will probably relationships with other gods, and it does not have to be identical.
include: ambitions, all of which can provide
more goals for the faith. If the faith does not promote any
Promotion of Love, which sort of harm to living beings, or
might include the helping along of As one example,Zeus,the king of promotes benefits to living beings,
lovers, opposition to those who in- then it probably excludes Evil
terfere in the development of ro- the gods of Greek mythology, had alignments among the priesthood.
mantic relationships, punishment many attributes and associations. If the faith allowsforharm to living
of those who defy the god and He was the king of the gods, a sky-
refuse to love, etc. This could also god, a god whose emblem and beings but does not promote wan-
include “social services” to the weapon was the lightning bolt, a
community, through the god’s god of Wisdom (he had swallowed ton cruelty, then it can include
temples: Counselingto young lov- and absorbed the wisdom-goddess Good, Neutral, and Evil priests. If
ers, for instance. Metis, mother of Athena), a god of the faith does promote cruelty,
oracles (though he was eventually then it probably excludes Good
Promotion of the God,which in- supplantedby Apollo in tbis role, he
cludes the building of temples or had a major oracle at the city of Do- alignments among its priests.
churches, carrying the word of the dona), a protector of fugitives, a If the faith demands ordered
god to those who have not heard it, lover of many goddesses and
and keeping the stones of the god women.. . In short, he had many thinking, strict obedience to laws,
characteristics and attributes, and and unquestioning acceptance of
ever-presentin the ears of the popu- in an A D O game campaign his policy, then it leans toward Lawful
lation. priesthood would embody and pro- behavior. (Now, every faith re-
mote most or all of them. quires rituals and devotions of its
Opposition of Enemies, which priests, but this isn’t the same
means subtle or direct opposition Alignment thing, and doesn’t require any
to enemy gods and their followers: alignment choice.) If the faith de-
obviously,a god of Love is likely to A faithwill often demand that its mands more free-willed and spon-
be opposed to a god of Hatred, Mis- priests belong to a specific align- taneous behavior, defiance of
anthropy, Misogyny, etc. ment or a limited range of align- social conventions or restrictions,
ments. The DM determines this, and so forth, then it leans toward
Those are some basic goals, but usually basing the choice on the Chaotic behavior. If it promotes
you obviously aren’t limited to attributes and character of the neither approach strongly, then it
goals which are that direct and god. force or philosophy in ques- can probably include Lawful, Neu-
simple. tion. tral, and Chaotic choices.

For instance, a god may repre- But don’t be too restrictive in Here are some sample choices:
sent only a small part of his attrib- this regard. Even if, personally,
ute. A God of War does not have to you’re opposed to War, the God of God of Love This type of faith
be just a god of all types and ele- War and his followersdon’t have to
ments of warfare. He could be the be ChaoticiEvil. usually promotes no harm to liv-
God of the Chaos of War, the God of ing beings, and promotes the bene-
Intelligent Warfare, the God of Na- Alignment Guidelines for the fits of love: it often promotes
Priesthood free-willed and spontaneous be-
val Warfare (in which he might
share traits with a god of Oceans), Here are some general guide- havior, but not strongly. There-
the God of the Sword (in which lines to go by: fore. its uriests will urobablv be
case he might share traits with a
god of Metalworking),and soforth. The first, and most important,
If you choose, you can always note is this: The gods usually do not
make a god’s personal attribute
more specialized, and can choose
more specializedgoals for the faith
based on that choice.

1esigning Faiths-

lovers, then the faith could well in- The prime characteristic of romantic sorts who arrange all
clude Evil and Neutral priests, priests is Wisdom. R’ J be a priest of their marriages and don’t conduct
thus giving its priesthood the full any sort whatsoever, the character affairs of the heart, they’ll be ex-
range of alignment choices. must have at least a wisdom of 9. cluded from priesthood in the faith
Some priesthoods will require that of the love-god.
God ofWar: This faith generally the wisdom scorebe higher, though
usually not higher than 13. In the next chapter, we provide
allows for harm to living beings numerous examples of priesthoods
without promoting wanton cru- Generally, if the priest‘s Wisdom of specific mythoi. With each,
elty; and warfare runs the gamut there’s a recommendation for al-
from carefully-reasoned strategy is 16or better, he gets a + 10%bo- lowed races. These recommenda-
to wild, bloodthirsty battlefield tions are based on the most
chaos. Therefore, the faith proba- nus to his earned experience. common and popular conceptions
Many priesthoods will require a of these races, and the DM is free to
bly places no restriction on the change them for his specific cam-
second prime requisite. For exam- paign.
alignment of its priests. However, ple, priests of a god of War may
a specific god can be devoted to have to have a certain Strength Players beware: When the Com-
one aspect of war. For example, a score, while priests of a god of plete Priest’s Handbook says one
god who promotes the bloody de- Magic might have to have a certain thing about allowed races, and the
struction of all enemies, including Intelligence score. Usually, this
sacrifice of prisoners and inno- second prime requisite must have DM says another, the DM is always
cents, will probably have an Evil a score of at least 12;up to 15 is not
priesthood. A god who is the god of an excessive requirement. right.
military planning will probably
have a Lawful, or Lawful and Neu- In such cases, the DM may de- Experience and Spell
tral, priesthood. cide that the character, ifhe has ei- Progression
ther the Wisdom score or the other
Alignments of the Prime Requisite at a score of 16, It would be possible to come up
Worshippers gets a +5% bonus to earned expe- with an Experience Levels Chart
rience, but if he has both, he gets a and Spell Progression Chart for
Most faiths define various acts every priesthood of specific
and types of behavior as evil and + 10%bonus. mythoi,but it would also be crazy;
demand that their followers not there’s no reason to have the extra
perform those acts. Some few In the next chapter, you’ll find complicationin your campaign.
make those same definitions and numerous examples of such
demand that their followers do priesthoods and recommended All new priesthoods introduced
perform them. Almost no faiths minimum ability scores for them.
demand that their followers be- in the next chapter use the Cleric
long specifically to Lawful or Cha- Races Allowed
otic alignments. experience progression and the
The DM may wish to limit cer- basic Priest spellprogression, both
Therefore, most faiths require of tain priesthoods to certain races. from page 33 of the Player’s Hand-
their (non-priest)worshippers that book.If your DM, when creating a
they be anything but Evil. A very This is almost always a choice new priesthood, decides that it is
few faiths require instead that based on the history of his own observably less powerful than the
their worshippers be any sort of campaign world. There is no Cleric or the priesthoods written
Evil (LawfuyEvil, NeutrallEvil, or game-related reason why most here, he can choose to use the
ChaoticlEvil). races can’t have priests for any Druid experience progression,
god, force or philosophy;but there which allows for faster acquisition
Most priesthoods demand some are often campaign-related rea- of experience levels.
sort of minimum ability scores of sons why a certain race can’t be-
their priests. long to a certain priesthood. Gender Requirements

For example, if the halflings of a In the worldsof the A D O game,
specific campaign world are paci- most priesthoods should allow both
fists, they’ll be excluded from priests and priestesses. However, in
priesthood in the faith of the war-
god. If dwarves are pragmatic, un-

f a n b y worlds and the real world, are, and will often be able to use swords and maces.
some faiths have required that all those duties to tie the priest char- Often, priests are posted to spe-
their priesthood be ofjust one sex. If acter in to specific adventures and
there is such a restriction on a given role-playing situations. cific noble leaders in order to be
priesthood, the DM will make note their personal advisors. Naturally,
of it and tell the players. Following are some sample this is only done when those noble
ideas for priestly duties. The DM leaders desire it, are willing to al-
Nonweapon and Weapon can use as few or as many of these low it. or (because of the priest-
Proficiencies as he wants when designinga new hood’s political strength) cannot
priesthood; he can also invent new afford to refuse it. This is a way to
Various priesthoods will require ones to suit his campaign. establish some sort of bond be-
priests to know certain skills (non- tween new player-characters: The
weapon proficiencies)and be able Devotions priest player-character could be
to wield certain weapons (weapon assigned as advisor to the noble
proficiencies). For example, a These are ordinary prayers and player-character.
priest of the god of Agriculture rituals which the priest conducts
must know the Agriculture profi- on a regular basis. They might in- Marriage
ciency, while a priest of the god of clude the saying of prayers at spe-
Fire must know Fire-Building. cific times of the day, upon In many human cultures, only
observationof specific incidents or the priest can perform marriages,
Every priesthood should require natural phenomena, and so forth. so the DM may wish for this to be a
one nonweapon proficiency of its duty of priests in his campaign.
priests and priestesses: it’s a sign The DM can decide what these
of their devotion. It‘s permissible, are and when they’re undertaken, The DM will need to decide for
but not recommended, for them to but the campaign shouldn’t de- his campaign whether or not mar-
require more than one. vote a lot of time to them: it‘s riages require the ministrations of
annoying and disconcerting to in- priests, and might make a differ-
A priesthood may require one or terrupt the adventure every so of- ent choice for each sentient races.
more weapon proficiencies of its ten so that the priests can pull out If humans require priests for mar-
priests and priestesses, but we their holy symbols, kneel to the riage. do dwarves? (Perhaps they
don’t recommend this for most sun,and lead the faithful in prayer. use advocates and notaries in-
priesthoods. Many faiths allow Just knowing that they do this sort stead.) Do elves? (Perhaps their
their priests so few weapon of thing on a regular basis is marriages are officiatedby bards,
choices anyway that it’s pointless enough for most players. who write songs commemorating
to require they be taken. An excep- the event as a sort of “marriage
tion is when a god is noted for Guidance certificate.”) Do halflings? (Per-
wielding a specific weapon; for in- haps they prefer ceremonies pre-
stance, it‘s quite reasonable to re- In most civilizations, priests are sided over by sheriffs or judges.)
quire Weapon Proficiency in supposed to act as counselors to
War-Hammerfor priests of the god everyonein need of advice. (Thisis Also, the DM can always decide
Thor, whose principal weapon and one reason that Wisdom is a prime that priests of certain faiths cannot
symbol was the hammer. requisite.) perform marriages.What,for exam-
ple, does the god of weapnmaking
Duties of the Priest Therefore, the priest character have to do with marriage? On the
should not be surprised when he other hand, it‘s equally appropriate
Now, we get to a topic which finds NPCs seeking him out and for priests of any god to be able to
adds a lot of color to the priesthood consulting him on troubling moral perform marriages. This is espe-
and the campaign world. and ethical problems. These are cially true if, in the campaign, mar-
good role-playing opportunities: riage constitutes permission or
All priesthoods have certain du- they are often leads to specific ad- recognition from “higher forces,”
ties to perform, duties to the god ventures: and, with especially and any god, including those with
and duties to the community or knotty problems, they can be diffi- attributes unrelated to marriage,
civilization. The DM needs to de- cult puzzles for the players to may bless a marriage.
cide what each priesthood’sduties solve, all without using their

Missions How They D o I t they are then pretending L I Ith~ eir
answers come from a higher
The duties of priesthood often Omen-Reading always requires source, they are obviously being
involve going on missions impor- some sort of ritual, usually a pub- dishonest; only a corrupt branch
tant to the welfare of the god or the lic one. of a priesthood will do this. How-
priesthood in general. ever, it’s possible for such a
The priests may sacrifice ani- method to be very accurate, espe-
One of the most common mis- mals and examine their entrails cially if it concerns itself mostly
sions involves going somewhere for clues to the future. They may with questions of warfare and hu-
and trying to convert the local pop- read tea-leaves. They may inhale man nature.
ulation to worship of the priest‘s dangerous fumes and prophesy
god. Usually, this involves reli- while under their influence. They They’re W i n g the Audience
gious education and what amount may listen to whispering in the What I t Wants to Hear: The
to social services: sometimes,it in- trees, babbling of brooks, or the
volves conquering that culture singing of birds and interpret that priests are acting primarily as
and ruthlessly suppressing all noise. They may enter meditative cheerleaders and tellingthe people
signs of its old religion. states and wait for inspiration precisely what they want to hear:
from the gods. Each cult could do That they’ll win the war, they’re
Other, more exciting missions it a different way, and the DM can always right, they’ve done no
can involve recovery of artifacts, choose the method which he feels wrong, love conquers all. Again,
transportation of persons or goods will add the most appropriate color priests acting in this manner are
(such as temple money) through to the cult in question. being dishonest to their flocks, but
dangerous territory, interpretation it will often be difficultto convince
of phenomena in distant places, What They’re D o h 8 the flocks of that.
and holy war with the followersof
another god. Then, the DM has to figure out They’re Working for Gain:
what it is the priests are actually Some very corrupt sects or
It‘s important for the DM to re- doing when prophesying. Here are
member that the god himself isn’t some choices: branches of sects manipulate their
the only one who sends priests out answers to gain in power or
on missions. For most missions, it’s They’re Receiving the Word of money. This usually takes one of
the upper ranks of the priesthood Their God: The priests are actu- two methods.
who do the assigning, and priests ally receiving some inspiration
are supposed to follow the orders of from their deity. Naturally, such In the first, the priests supply an-
their superiors. So it’s possible for omens are usually clouded in im- swers which favor their purposes.
any priesthood to have a “bad egg,” precise terminology and symbol- If representatives of one city ask,
a priest who issues orderswhich are ism, so that it’s easy for the
contradictory to the tenets of the recipient of an omen to misinter- “Whenwe attack OUT enemies, will
faith or designed to promote only pret the results. we prevail?” the priests then de-
his personal power. This should, cide whom they want to win that
however, be a very rare campaign They’re Following Ritual Inter- war. If they want the attackers to
event,unlessthe campaignrevolves pretation: The priests have a set of win, they answer “Yes.” Then, the
around uncovering and purging a techniques of interpretation which attackers will be encouraged by
corrupt element of the sect. they follow rigidly. These tech- the reply, and the defenders dis-
niques may or may not have any couraged, which weighs the war in
Omen-Reading basis in campaign reality: they the attackers’ favor. If they want
might have been granted by the
In some campaigns, priests will god, or created through ignorance. the defenders to win, they answer
be charged with the duty of read- “No:’ with precisely the opposite
ing omens for the future. They’re Analyzing Based On effect; the discouraged attackers
Their Knowledge: The priests might not even launch the attack.
If a campaign’s priests have that aren’t actually prophesying at all,
duty,the DM has to decide how they but supplying answers based on In the second, the priests accept
do it, what it is they’re actually do- their understanding of the situa- bribes in order to put their god‘s
ing, and who they’redoing it for. tion and of the ways of the world. If stamp of approval on the activities

of certain men. For instance, a king

might secretly pay the priests a lav-
ish amount,then publicly approach

the oracle and ask, “Shall I not exe- fate will turnand the prophecieswill or monsters. The priest needs to be
cute the traitor so-and-sonow with- vigilant against more subtle intru-
out benefit of trial?” or “Should I become unreliable, which will disil- sions, including:
marry so-and-so against her lusion the populace.
wishes?” or any other such ques- The Agent Provocateur:This is
tion. The answer he receives, of If they’re working for gain, they someone who falsely joins the
course,will be the onehe paid to get, could be very successfulfor quite a priesthood, spends a long lime be-
and because the god has “made his while. Eventually, though, the coming a trusted member or even a
wishes known,” the citizens will scandal will break, and the popula- leader of it, and then persuades
probably not dispute the choice.
tion will learn the truth. . . which members of the faith to perform
In both these approaches, the actions which will get the faith into
god may eventually notice that could be very bad for those greedy trouble. For example,in timeswhen
one branch of his priesthood is cor- prophets. the priesthood is in conflictwith an-
rupt, and set about correcting mat- other faith, the Agent Provocateur
ters, either through his own Who It’s For might encourage outright war with
intervention or by alerting other that faith. When a conflict with the
branches of the priesthood. On the Finally, the DM has to decide local rulers could be sorted out by
other hand, a particularly disinter- who is able to receive these proph-
ested god might never notice. ecies. Here are some typical calm diplomacy,the Agent Provoca-
choices: teur will instead recommend or is-
But Are They Right? sue ultimatums and demands.And,
Anyone Anyone who asks a naturdy, the Agent will keep his
As part of deciding what they’re question will receive some sort of
doing, the DM has to decide how reply. true masters apprised of the priest-
often they’re right. hood‘s secretmovements and activ-
Anyone With the Means:Some ities at all times.
The priests will often be right if temples require a sacrifice of ani-
they’re receiving the word of their mals or wealth in order for the sup- Corruption in Specific Orders:
god: this word may be misinter- plicant to receive a prophecy. [This
preted, but it‘s always correct. isn’t necessarily a sign of corrup- Sometimes priests go bad and use
tion; it’s often just a means of en-
They could have any sort of ac- suring the temple’s upkeep and the priesthood for their own gain. In
curacy the DM decides if they’re the faiths continuing secular, or
following some pattern of ritual in- worldly, power.) addition to methods mentioned
terpretation: perhaps the ritual is above, they may also secretly defy
effective, perhaps it is not. Nobles Only: In this arrange- requirements of their priesthood,
ment, only members of noble steal temple funds, use their duties
If they’reanalyzing the situation houses can ask questions of the of guidance to influence others to
based on their current knowledge, oracle. profit these priests, etc. No such cor-
then their accuracy depends
mostly in their interpretive abili- The DM can also make more pe- ruption goes unnoticed forever, but
ties; a priesthood might have culiar choices for specific oracles.
enough knowledge of the world An oracle might only be for slaves, the unwillingness of people to be-
and human nature to be able to for adventurers, for people who lieve that they’ve put their faith in
supply consistently-correct an- have at least once travelled to a crooks and thieves can ensure that
swers to supplicants. specific holy site, for people of spe-
cific alignments, for members of this corruption can go on for a long,
If they’re telling the audience one race, etc. long time.
what it wants to hear, they could be
very accurate for a time,especiallyif Vigilance Libels At times, members of ri-
they’re prophesying for a warlike val priesthoods will persuade their
statewhichison the rise and mostly Finally, priests have to be vigi- followers that other priesthoods
asking about upcoming victories. lant against powers or elements perform acts which are profane
Eventually, however, the tides of which threaten their faith or their and evil. In a culture where reli-
followers. gious prejudice is a strong factor,
this is often easy to do. For in-
These powers and elements stance, it might prove simple to
don’t usually take the direct ap- convince one’s flock that the
proach, such as attacks by armies priests of a more despised faith are
kidnapping young women (only
women of the libeller’s faith, of

16

L Designing Faith!

course) to serve as unwilling tem- the priesthood wields in the cam- place anyway; the king can choose
ple concubines, then killing them. paign setting; a minor priesthood another priesthood for the honor,
It‘s especially easy to do when the may not enjoy any of these bene- or he can be crowned without the
libeller secretly arranges for the fits, while a dominant one could priesthood’ssanction.
kidnapping and murder of several have all of them.
young women in his own faith. If it‘s the latter, then the priest-
When this sort of thing goeson, it‘s Church Trial hood can deny someone the right
vital that the priests of the accused to take the throne by refusing to
faith prove the truth. They can’t In some cultures, the secular crown him. This is avery powerful
do it just by giving local authori- (non-priestly) authorities cannot right, and through it the priest-
hes a tour of their temple to show put priests on trial for any sort of hood can exert considerable influ-
there are no unwilling concubines crime. That doesn’t mean a priest ence on the nation.
can perform a crime and laugh at
here - and even if they do, a par- the law, however: Most priestly That‘s not to say that, by refus-
orders police themselves, and will ing to crown a certain candidate,
ticularly clever enemy will have try (orpunish without trial) trans- the priesthood can stage a blood-
concealed the body of one of the gressions. less coup and choose the king.
kidnapped girls there for the au-
thorities to find! It requires c a p Priestly orders don’t ordinarily Let‘s assume a priesthood does
ture of the killers and flaunt this power in order to defy such a thing and refuses the chief
demonstration that they were secular authorities. When priests candidate for the throne, then
commit crimes, priesthoods usu- spreads the word they will support
serving someone else. . . all of ally punish them. Exceptions oc- a certain other candidate.
cur when the priest was acting at
which is a good basis for a priest- the priesthood’s behest, particu- The refused candidate may de-
oriented adventure. larly when the god requires cide to mount a war against the
actions which are against the law priesthood. The new candidate, if
Obviously, it’s the duty of faith- of the land. In these cases, the crowned,may find that none of the
ful priests to combat all these situ- priest sometimes goes unpun- other nobles in the nation support
ations these when they’re noticed. ished; sometimes he receives a his kingship. All of this can result
However,it‘sa characteristic of the “slap on the wrist” punishment to in a bloody civil war which could
greatest priest-heroes to notice quiet the secular authorities. tear the nation apart and wreck
these trends wellahead of the time the priesthood’spower.
that they become critical, and to The DM, not the player, gets to
deal with them early in their devel- decide whether priests have the Therefore, when the priesthood
opment, before they can result in right to church trial. decides to exercise this power, it
serious harm to the priesthood. does tend to make compromises,
Coronatioi to negotiate secretly with the par-
For the DM, this is a good way to ties involved, to plan things care-
give the PC priest an opportunity The most powerful priesthoodin
for rapid advancement in his a given land will probably have the so that trouble is
priesthood: If he’s the first to no- right to crown kings when they as- urn. Only the mos
tice such a trend and is able to cend the throne. The DM has to de- of priesthoods would try to take for
spearhead the movement to cor- cide whether this is merely an itself the full right to choose the
rect it, he will be well-regardedby honor bestowed on the priesthood,
his peers. This is also a good way or whether it is a right which the king. . . and such priesthoods are
to establish that an NPC priest is a priesthood can use to influencethe
hero of his faith, if he, in the past, throne. likely to lead their nation into war
has thwarted such situations. or chaos.
If it‘s the former, then the chief
Rights of the Priesthood priest is accorded the right to offi- Other Confirmations
ciate at the coronation ceremony.
At the DM’s discretion, priest- However,if the priest refused to of- It could be that confirmations
hoods can have special rights and ficiate, the crowning will take other than coronation are the spe-
powers, too. These rights usually cial province of one priesthood.
depend on the amount of influence For example, in one nation, any
priest might perform marriages for
commoners, but only the priests of

17

Designing F

a specific god might perform mar- distributed or spent by superior other worships but be mainly de-
riages for nobles. priests. voted to one specific god.

This would give that priesthood Separation from the Faith In a theocracy, the nation may
great power, because by collectively be ruled by a board of priests from
deciding or refusing to marry cer- Some priesthoods can exert con- the state religion, but it’s more
taincouples,thispriesthood has the siderable influence on their fol- common for it to be ruled by a sin-
power to influence which families lowers by being able to separate gle king who isalso a priest and the
unite and which do not. them from the faith. If, for in- head of his priesthood. Such an ar-
stance, all followersare promised a rangement may he benevolent,
Again, abuse of this right could certain role in the afterlife, and with a wise cleric ruling the land:
lead to harm, but careful applica- separation from the faith would or it may be particularly nasty,
tion of it would allow the priest- deny them that role (andreplace it with a power-mad priest or the
hood to affect the growth and with something far more frighten- priest of an evil god in charge.
development of the nation. ing or ghastly),then the followers
of the faith are likely to obey the Many “lost worlds” (i.e., nations
Tithes priesthood. hidden away from the rest of the
world, secluded in a lost valley or
Some priesthoods, the most Naturally,most priesthoods visit cavern or other distant place) are
powerful ones in a culture, are able this punishment only on those fol- theocracies ruled by evil priests:
to demand tithes of their followers. lowers who most flagrantly defy adventurer-heroes stumbling into
A tithe is an amount of money, of- the requirements of the faith. Just such cultures often find them-
ten represented as a fraction of the as naturally, the occasional cor- selves having to stir up revolution
money-earner’s regular wage, rupt priest would threaten fol- and cast down these rulers so that
which the follower is required to lowers with this punishment justice can return to these lands.
pay to the priesthood. Theoreti- unless they are blindly, absolutely
cally, it is used for upkeep of obedient to him. The State Religion
churches and temples, purchase of
supplies and equipment for the However, this punishment For any culture, the DM will
priests, etc. Some priesthoods also doesn’t work so well in a culture have to decide if there is a State Re-
use these moneys for influence which worships many gods and ligion. The State Religion is the of-
with the government; a very few which has a separate, independent ficial faith of the nation, as
corrupt priests dip into it for per- priesthood for each god. If you sanctioned by the government.
sonal gain. threaten a follower of the war-god
with separation, he might be just Its priesthood will have the fol-
In an AD&D@’game campaign, as happy to switch over to worship lowing rights: Right to church
of the sea-god.This is a balancing trial, right to coronation (though
only the religion of a monotheistic factor which helps keep down not necessarily the right to deny
state, or the state religion, will be abuse of this right in many cul- coronation to the chief candidate),
able legally to demand tithes of its tures. However, monotheistic cul- right to demand tithes. If the cul-
followers. Such tithes will usually tures (those which worship only ture is monotheistic, the State Re-
run from 5% to 15% of the charac- one god)don’t have this balancing ligion will also have the right to
ter’s income, with 10%being most factor: they have to rely on the separate offenders from the faith.
common. honesty of the priesthood. The DM can assign other rights to
the State Religion as he sees fit.
Priesthoods of other faiths will Rule
ask their followers to tithe a like State Religionsare not limited to
amount. Naturally, not all their fol- Some cultures are theocracies, big nations. Any independent city
lowers will tithe and so such reli- which means they are ruled by or city-state could have its own
gions bring in less tithed income their priestly classes. Naturally, in state religion. Thus, cities mere
than those who can demand it. such a culture, one priesthood will miles apart might have different
be dominant; the culture may wor- state religions. This could cause
Player-character priests don’t ship only one god, or may tolerate trouble if both are monotheistic, or
get to see that money: it is re- both belong to enemy priesthoods:
corded by church accountants,
stored in church treasures, and

esignin:

on the other hand, the priesthoods tion from the faith! merely wants to play a fighting
could be neutral or friendly to one Sacrifice means that the god re- machine who is efficient in both
another, causing no such trouble. combat and magic.
quires this behavior to test the
However, a nation does not have mettle of his followers. Those who Celibacy
to have a state religion. In fact, the can’t make the sacrifice are obvi-
most powerful faith in a nation will ously not cut out to be his priests. Though in modern times the
not necessarily be a state religion;it terms Celibacy and Chastity have
will just exert considerable influ- At his discretion, the DM can become confused, here we’re only
ence. make any of these requirementsap- using the older meaning of the
ply to the worshippers of the god in word Celibacy: The state of being
Restrictions on the Priest addition to the priesthood. Espe- unmarried. Priests who are re-
cially appropriate are restrictions in- quired to be celibate must remain
Priesthoods are also restricted, volving Contamination (seebelow). unmarried. A DM must decide in-
usually by decree of the god him- dividually for each celibate priest-
self. Below are examples of many Armor hood if its priests must also remain
typical sorts of restrictions: Note chaste (seebelow).
that most priesthoods will only Priests may be limited in the
have a few of these restrictions, types of armor they wear. Some A priesthood could require celi-
and each faith may employ differ- sample limitations: bacy as a sacrifice to the god, be-
ent ones. cause it was philosophically
May not wear non-metal armor opposed to the state of marriage, or
Gods make these requirementsof May not wear metal armor for many other reasons. The fight-
their priesthoods for four principal May not wear magical armor ing priesthood of a war-god might
reasons: Commemoration, Func- May not wear any armor require its priests to stay celibate
tion, Philosophy, and Sacrifice. May not use shields so that they won’tbe distracted by
May not use certain types of thoughts of home and family while
Commemorationmeans that the shields engaged in warfare.
action is a reminder of some im- May only wear armor made by
portant event from the history of priests of the same faith Chastity
the faith. For example, the cross
and rrucifix are symbols of the Any of these restrictions could Chastity involves not engaging
Crucifixion. be made for any of the four reasons in sexual relations. A priest could
given above. If metal armor dis- he celibate but not chaste: one
Function means that if the re- rupts clerical magic, then it could could even be chaste but not celi-
quirement is not met, the priest not he worn by priests. If the reli- bate, though that would be pretty
cannot forsome reason function as gion’s philosophy forbids harm to strange.
a priest. For instance, if, in a spe- animals, then leather armor may
cific campaign world, clerical be forbidden. And so on. Priesthoods require chastity as a
magic will not work if the caster sacrifice to the god, or when its
has consumed alcohol, then the Armor restrictions don’tjust re- priests are supposed in some way
priesthood will have a require- flect the gods attributes or prohi- to be spouses of the god (eitherin a
ment that its priests not drink. bitions; they help define the symbolic or genuine sense).
combat roles of priests in the cam-
Philosophymeans that the choice paign. A priest who can wear full In some faiths, chastity is re-
is bound up with other elements of metal armor is more likely to be a quired of its priests except for dur-
the faith. If certain creatures are combat force in the campaign than ing specific events or times of the
held to be unholy, unclean, or other- one who can’t.
wise taboo, for instance, there will year. For instance, priests of an ag-
be many secondary requirements You can be more sure that a
derived from that thought. A priest player who picks a priest-type ricultural deity might be required
wouldn’t be able to wear armor which is limited to less efficient ar- to remain chaste except during the
made from its hide or eat its meat. mor is a player who wants to role- planting season, when chastity is
’Ib be buried in orwith itsskinmight play a priest, rather than one who revoked in order to magically “en-
even result in involuntary separa- courage” the fertility of the fields.

Clothing Priests might also be required to pecific animals or
conceal certain parts of their bodies of animals)
Priests are often required to by clothing. Beyond restrictionsim- Blood
wear distinctive costumes pro- posed by societyfor modesty's sake, Gems or Jewels (specifictypes]
claiming their status. They may priests might have to conceal other Iron
only have to do so during the per- parts not considered immodest by Plants (speciflc plants or whole
formance of their official func- the general population. classes of plants)
tions, or might have to wear their
priestly vestments during all Contaminatlon Water (from specific bodies of
waking hours.
Many faiths regard certain items water)
Such items don't have to be full or substances as unholy, unclean,
costumes. A priest might be only or taboo. Its priests are not permit- Hit Points
required to wear the specific holy ted to handle such things. If they
symbol of his faith; otherwise, he come in contact with them acci- Clericsand Druids receive 8-sided
could wear what he wished. dentally, they must undergo holy dice for hit point progression (see
rituals of purifications to cleanse Player's Handbook, page 33).The
_ _In some faiths, priests cannot themselves of the taint.
cleric does a lot of fighting, and the
wear certain twes of clothing. His- Some sample items or sub-
toridly some priest-kingsoflearth- stances include: druid has a very demanding exist-
goddess were forbidden to wear ence, living as he does in the wilder-
clothes with knots in them: if they ness: both need to have
comparatively high hit point totals.
re textile garments, they had to
e ragged, unknotted hems. The DM can, if he wishes, make
any priesthood of a specific my-

20

thos take six-sided dice for hit might also be further restricted by force the special attributes and
points (like rogues) or even four- their faiths. character of the worshipped god:
sided dice (likewizards).But this is limiting priests of the god of Death
only appropriate for priestly or- For example, priests of a specific to sickle-likeweapons certainly es-
ders which are not very demand- faith might be required to use only tablishes flavor for them.
ing physically. magical items made by priests of
their order,or might be required to Second, weapons restrictions,
Most priesthoods should have use no magical items whatsoever. like armor restrictions, help define
eight-sided dice for hit points. If a the combat roles of priests in the
DM decides that a priesthood will Mutilation campaign. If a priest is limited to
have less robust dice, then he daggers and creampuffs, he’s not
must compensate the priesthood Occasionally,a priesthood will de- going to be the campaign’scombat
with enhanced access to spells and mand a sacrifice of mutilation of its monster, so magic and his priestly
(especially) numerous Granted priesthood. This is most common duties will be much more impor-
Powers (discussed below). among evil priesthoods, but could tant to the character.
theoretically occur with any priest-
A priesthood should onlyreceive hood, regardless of alignment. Many examples of this are given
sixsided dice if it has medium to in the next chapter, “Sample
poor combat abilities, and belongs For example, devotees of a blind Priesthoods.”
to a deity with very few physical god of prophecy might be forced to
demands. blind themselves. (However, it As you’ll recall (from the DMG,
would be more appropriate for pages 33, 34),priest spells are di-
For example, a god of dawn has them merely to have a Clothingre-
no intrinsic orientation toward striction that required them to vided into categories called
combat, and “dawn” does not im- wear blindfolds when performing spheres ofinfluence.Each spellbe-
ply any specific physical demands. official duties.) longs to one of 16 categories.
Those categories include:
A priesthood should onlyreceive When this sort of thing doestake
four-sided dice if it has poor com- place, the priesthood is often com- All, Animal, Astral, Charm,
bat abilities, and belongs to a deity pensated for its loss: The god often Combat, Creation, Divination,Ele-
whose attribute implies softliving. grants them an extra power (asde- mental, Guardian, Healing, Necro-
scribed below, under “Powers of mantic, Plant, Protection.
For example, a god of peace or the Priest”).A priesthood required Summoning, Sun, and Weather.
love could have priests with little to be blind, for example, might
or no combat abilities and with have an extra power of analysis, Priests can’t cast spells from all
four-sided dice. However, it‘s im- identification or prophecy. spheres of influence. Any specific
portant to note that this does not priesthood can have major access
Weapons to one or several spheres, and thus
have to be the case. . .I t is only the eventually learn to cast spells of
Many priesthoods require their any level from that sphere, and
case when the DM insists upon it. priests to use only a certain cate- can have minor access to one or
Priestsof the god of peace could be gory of weapons. Some only re- several other spheres, and learn to
strict them from using a certain cast spells from only 1st through
.pacifists, but still be good at com- narrow category of weapons. Some 3rd level in that sphere.
require their priests to use noweap-
bat. . which they may only em- ons at all. Commonly, a god identi- When designing a new priest-
fied with a certain type of weapon hood, the DM decides which
ploy in self-defense. A god of love will require his priests to use that spheres of influence the priest-
noted for weapons use, as Eros weapon and a certain number of hood has.
was noted for his archery, could similar or related weapons.
have priests who specialized in All priesthoods should have ma-
that weapon, and would not have The DM should assign the priest- jor access to the All sphere. Be-
to be stuck with a measly ld4 for hood a weapons restriction based yond that, the DM should choose a
hit points. on two choices. number of spheres, and the access
to each, based on the attributes of
Magical Items First, weapons restrictions rein-

Priests are already limited to us-
ing magical items usable by all
classes or by priests only. But they

the god being served, and on how not allowed to use metal armors greater number of weapons
combat-efficient the priest is al- but hasaccess to a good range of
ready. weapons,we consider that it has which do no more than l d 6 + 1
medium combat abilities. It
If a priesthood currently has ac- should have a more average ac- damage, we say that it has a
cess to good armor and a wide cess to magic, including: poor range of available weap-
range of weapons, the DM should ons.
limit the range of spells available Major Access ?b: The “All”
to them. If, however, the priests do Sphere, and four other Spheres. If a priesthood doesn’t allow
not have access to mighty engines the priest accessto the full num-
of war, the DM may want them to M i n o r Access ?b: Four ber of spheres appropriate to
have a greater ability with magic, Spheres. that type of priesthood, then the
reflected by access to more DM should supplement the
spheres, and major access to a The Priesthood Has Poor priesthood with extra Granted
greater proportion of them. Combat Abilities Powers. For instance, if a priest-
hood has Good Combat Abilities
Priests should have Major access If the priesthmd is not allowed but is designed with major ac-
to just about any sphere that has to use metal armors (oreven any cess to the All sphere and only
any bearing on the primary attrib- armors)and has access to a poor one other sphere, and minor ac-
ute of their god, and at least Minor range of weapons, we say that it cess to two spheres, then the
access to spheres which have a has poor combat abilities. It priesthood isreceivingless abili-
lesser relationship to their god. should have an enhanced access ties than it should; it should be
(For instance, priests of a God of to magic, including: given some minor Granted
War who is noted for his protec- Power to compensate.
tiveness might have minor, or Major Access lb: The “All”
even major, access to the Guardian Sphere, and six other Spheres. Now, this valiant dfort to keep
and Protection spheres.) ombat abilities and magical abili-
Minor Access lb:Six Spheres. es balanced is substantially
Here are some rules of thumb to iwarted by the original Cleric
go by when assigning Spheres of Some Dennitions lasshimself. The Clerichas major
Influence to specific priesthoods: ccessto 12Spheres,minor access
“A good range of weapons” is ) one, and the ability to wear
The Priesthood Has Good not a very precise definition, but ietal armors. In short, he is more
it’s harder to be more precise; owerful thanjust about anymore
Combat Abilities what is and is not considered a :strictive priesthood.
good range varies with each in- If the players in a campaign are
If a priesthood is allowed to dividual DM. In general, if the kely not to take priests of specific
use metal armors and a good priesthood is allowed access to iythoi simply because the original
range of weapons, we consider five or more different types of leric class is more powerful, the
that it has good combat abili- weapons (abow isn’t that differ- M may wish to revise the Cleric in
ties. Therefore, it should have ent from a crossbow for our pur- is campaign. For more on this, see
less effective magic, including: poses, but a mace is different Ibning Down the Cleric” in the
from a spear), or if the priest- ole-Playingchapter.
Major Access lb: The “All” hood is limited to a few efficient
Sphere, and two other Spheres. and high-damage (Id8 and bet- ;ranted Powers
ter) weapons (such as swords),
M i n o r Access ?b: Two we say that it has a good range Many types of priests also have
Spheres. of availableweapons. xcial Granted Powers. The basic
leric, for instance, can turn un-
The Priesthood Has Medium “A poor range of weapons” is ead. The Druid starts out with bo-
just as imprecise. In general, if uses to specific saving throws
Combat Abilities the priesthood is allowed access
to four or fewer different types of
If a priesthood is allowed to weapons, or has access to a
use metal armors but restricted

and speaks an additional specific Here are some examples of High throw are not stopped or affected
language, and gains other granted Powers appropriate to various by this immunity.)
powers as he gains in levels. types of priests:
Others might have automatic
The DM should add at least one Charm/Fascinatlon success against all Enchantment/
Granted Power to the abilities of a
priest of a specific mythos: this This power works just like the Charm spells. This is equally pow-
gives the priest more individual third-level Wizard spell erful: it means that the priest will
flavor and character. The DM suggestion, except that the priest be completely unaffected by most
could add several, if this specific does not have to use material com-
priest-class is weak compared to ponents to the spell. spells of this sort,as well as other
other priests. powers such as the vampire's hyp-
The DM may define this Power
Additionally, as with the Druid, as working one oftwoways. Either notic gaze.
the DM can arrange things so that it can be used in combat (inwhich Immunities may be taken
the priest acquires new Granted case it can be used against only
Powers a t certain experience one target at a time), or it cannot against any one wizardly School
levels, instead of receiving all of be used in combat (inwhich it can of Magic, against any one priestly
them at first level. be used against a number of tar- Sphere of Influence, or against all
gets equal in HD to two times the
Granted Powers come in three Priest's experience level). Poisons,as a High Power. There
levels: High Powers, Medium
Powers, and Low Powers. In either case, the Priest can use are other, lesser, immunities, dis-
the ability three times per day. If
As with all the priest's special the target makes his saving throw, cussed below.
abilities, Granted Powers should he may choose to reject the sug- Immunities can work against a
be chosen for the priest based on gestion, but will not recognize that
the attributes of the worshipped priestly magic was being used character, though. Immunity to all
god. It's not inappropriate to give a against him. priestly Necromantic spells
water-breathing ability to the
priest of an ocean-god,but is quite This power is most appropriate means that the character does not
inappropriate for the priest of a to priests of the gods of love, mis- benefit as much from Healing
god of the desert winds. chief and trickery, music, and spells.He automatically makes his
peace, but can be given to any saving throw against them,
Some Granted Powers may be priesthood which has an influen- whether he wishes to or not, and so
used any time the priest wishes tial position in the society. gets only half the healing value of
and when circumstances allow. the spell.
For example, normal clerics can Immunities
The Immunity must be appro-
try to 'Iiun Undead as many times This power gives the priest an priate to the attributes of the god
in a day as they wish (but it can automatically-successful saving being served. The priest of a god of
only work when they're facing un- throw against certain types of healing might have an Immunity
damage, attacks, or broad classes to all poisons, while the priest of
dead, naturally). Other Granted of spells. the god of love might have an Im-
Powers may only be used a certain munity to EnchantmenffCharm
number of times per day. When the Examples of appropriate catego- spells.
DM first adds a Granted Power to ries for immunity:
the listing of a priest's abilities, he The most important thing to re-
must define how often and under Certain types of priests might member about Immunity is that it
what conditions the Granted have automatically successful isn't complete protection. It
Power may work. saves against all Evocation merely gives the character a n
spells. This is a very powerfulabil- automatically-successful Saving
High Powers ity: it means the priest will auto- Throw. In most cases, this means
matically take half damage from that he will still take half damage
High Powers are those which are most damaging spells. (Those from the attack or spell.
of great use in situations which spells which don't allow a saving
arise frequently in the campaign. There is no limit on the number
of times per day a character can
use this ability: whenever he is
struck with the appropriate at-
tack, his Immunity helps protect
him.

Designing Faiths

ard’s fourth-level fear spell, Medium Powers A narrow category of spells (for
though the cleric does not have to example, all Fire spells of the Evo-
use material components. Medium Powers are those which cation school):
are of some usefulness in situa-
A priest with this power can use tions which arise frequently in the A narrow category of special
it twice per day. campaign, or are of great use in sit- powers (all Paralysis, including
uations which only arise occasion- Hold spellsand ghoulish paralysis;
This power is most appropriate ally. Here are some examples of or all Energy Drains: or all dragon-
to priests of gods with dark or fear- Medium Powers: breath powers);or
some aspects: Death, for example.
Defiance of Restriction or Obstacle A narrow category of poisons (all
Shapechanging snake venoms, for example).
With this power, the priest can
This power is very similar to the simply ignore some aspect of the Again, each type of Immunity is
druid’s shapechanging Granted physical world which normally appropriate to a different type of
Power, not to the ninth-level wiz- slows, impedes, or prevents pas- priest. Priests of the god of Fire
ard spell: read the description of sage. could be immune to Fire spells.
that power in the Player’s Hand- Priests of the god of Earth, whose
book. For example: symbol is often the snake, could be
The priest of a nature god might immune to all snake venoms.
The power can be used three be able to ignore heavy under-
times per day; it is the DM’s deci- brush: He can travel through the And, again, Immunity isn’t com-
sion whether the priest can change thickest undergrowth as fast as he plete protection: it just gives the
into three different types of ani- could normally walk, while other character an automatically-
mal, each once per day, or only humans are slowed or even successful Saving Throw.
into one specific type of animal stopped completely.
three times per day. The priest of the god of winter or Incite Berserker Rage
the north wind might not find ice
This power, though it would slippery; he could move at a nor- This power allows a priest to in-
seem to be most appropriate to mal rate across the slipperiest fro- spire a fighter (anyone belonging
priests of gods of nature, is actu- zen rivers or glaciers with no to the warrior class) to a state like
ally appropriate for any priest- chance of falling. berserker rage. The warrior must
The priest of a god of wind might be willing to have this war-
hood. . . if the god in question has be able to walk into the fiercest blessing bestowed upon him.
headwind without being slowed.
an animal symbol or totem. For in- The priest of the god of mischief It takes one round for a priest to
stance, if the god of the sky has as might be able to climb walls and incite a single warrior to berserker
his symbol the eagle, it’sappropri- hillsides at his normal walking- rage; the rage last six turns. A
ate for his priests to have this speed, and without the need to priest can use this power on any
power and turn into an eagle three make a roll for success. number of warriors per day, one at
+%es per day. There is no limit to the number a time. A warrior may only be in-
of times per day a priest can use cited to berserker rage once per
d d n g Undead this ability. day;even ifa differentpriest tries it
on him, it cannot incite a warrior
This is identical to the cleric’s Immunities to a second rage in the same day.
ability. It is most appropriate to
priests of the gods of birth, dawn, You read about Immunities The rage isn’tidenticalto the abil-
fertility, fire, good, guardianship, above, under “High Powers.” The ities of the true berserker (seethe de-
healing, light, love, magic, and the Medium Powers immunities are scription for the berserker in The
sun. not so strong. A single immunity Complete Fighter’s Handbook).
will give a priest an automatically- However, it does give the warrior a
There is no limit to the number successful saving throw against:
of times per day a priest can use +2 to hit and damage for the dura-
this ability.
tion of the rage. While enraged, the
warrior cannot flee from a fight: he
cannot leave the field of baffle until
no enemies face him. Once he does

leave the field of battle, he can slots limited to certain categories trance is prematurely broken and
choose whether or not he will of languages, weapon proficien- the priest gets no vision.
emergefrom the rage or sustain it; a cies, and nonweapon proficiencies
warrior would sustain it if he felt pertinent to their faith. Second, visions may just come
that another fight was likely to take to the priest, at the DM’s discre-
place soon. When he emerges from Example: The priest of a specific tion. When the priest is hit with
the rage, the warrior takes no extra war-god might, at third level, start such a vision, for a single combat
damage or ill effects. receiving one extra weapon profi- round he no longer perceives the
ciency slot every experience level real world he sees, hears and ex-
This power is most appropriate up to 12th. periences nothing but his vision.
to priests of the god of war.
Laying On ofHands The priest receives no vision of
Language and Communicatlon the future if the DM doesn’t have
This power is identicalto the pal- one for him to see. Therefore, the
The priest with this power gains adin’s ability; the priest can, once priest who deliberatelysinks into a
one extra language per experience per day, heal himself or another for receptive trance gets absolutely no
level he gains. This power is often 2 hit points per experience level. vision if the D M doesn’t want him
granted only after a certain experi- to see one. Therefore,this power is
ence level is attained: for example, This constitutes a little extra
with the druid, this power is healing ability. It‘s most appropri- only partly an ability which gives
granted at 3rd level. ate to priests of the god of healing. the priest an advantage of future
It’s also appropriate to priests who sight: it‘s primarily a tool for the
If nonweapon proficiency rules don’t have access to necromantic DM to give the priest clues about
are used, then the priest gains one spells, but who should have a little the future, clues which guide the
extra nonweapon proficiency slot hit of healing ability anyway. adventure without giving the
each level, and must use that slot priest an overwhelmingadvantage
to acquire a language. A reversed version of the power, in the campaign.
where the priest lays on his hands
The types of languages learned and inflicts 2 points of damage per The visions which the priest re-
with this power should be re- experience level, or 1point of dam- ceives should be short and easy to
stricted by the DM. Priests of the age per level if the victim makes a misinterpret. They may be highly
gods of nature are limited to learn- saving throw, is appropriate for symbolic; if he sees a rat fighting a
ing the languages of woodland priests of the god of disease. A serpent to the death, the animals
creatures, while priests of the gods priest cannot have a healing Lay- may represent mighty armies
of the earth are limited to learning ing On of Hands that is also revers- which bear those creatures on
the languages of serpents, d r a g ible to a harmful Laying On of their flags, or may represent two
ons, and other cthonian reptiles: Hands; it must be defined as either characters with traits similar to
priests of the gods of the sky are healing or harmful. those animals.
limited to the languages of birds
and other aerial creatures, while Prophecy Also, the DM must decide
priests of the gods of the seas are whether,in his campaign, prophetic
limited to the languages of sea- With this power, the priest can visions are changeable or un-
dwelling creatures. sometimes see visions of the fu- changeable. If they’re changeable.
ture. A priest with the Prophecy then the priest will sometimes see
The number of languages power can use it two different events which can be prevented.
learned with this power may like- ways. This tells him which way the winds
wise be limited. Six to ten extra of fate are currently blowing, but he
languages learned this way is a First, the priest may sink into a knows that enough effort can
practical limit. meditative trance and try to re- change the future he sees. Ifthey’re
ceive visions of the future. This unchangeable, then nothing he can
If the campaign is using the op- trance lasts ten turns: if the priest do will alter this vision;however,it‘s
tional weapon and nonweapon is interrupted before the ten turns stillpossible that the vision isdecep-
proficiency rules, then priests are done (struck with a weapon, tive and not exactly what he thinks
might, instead of being limited to shouted at by someone within six
languages, receive proficiency feet of him, or knocked over), the it is.(Forinstance,when he sees his
best friend plummeting to his death

from a clifftop, he may actually be campaign, or are of great useful- Ither powers may be used a
seeing his friends twin or dopple- ness in situations which hardly lumber of times per day. Thl
ganger dying in thismanner.) ever arise. Here are some exam- )owers are not automatic; I
ples of Low Powers: xiest must concentrate for a 1
This is a particularly tricky .ound in order to use this powe
power to use within the scope of With this power, the priest can
the campaign. Always remember identify a category of persons, mmunltles
that it's a tool for the DM to give a places, or things. He must be
slight advantage to the character within 10'of the object in order to As a Low Power, Immunity can
and to guide the story, and not a identify it correctly: he does not ict in one of two ways.
weapon for the priest character to have to see it, and the object can be
use against the DM or the story. hidden. In some cases, it could A granted Immunity can give
The priest character can't sink even be buried. he priest a n automatically-
into a trance, receive no vision, 3uccessful saving throw against
and then immediately sink into If the DM designs it as part of the me specific type of poison or
another one and expect to receive ability, the priest can also analyze nagic spell. For example, a priest
a vision then. The endowing of vi- the object and get additional de- :odd automatically save against
sions is strictly at the DMs plea- tails about it. The type of informa-
sure, just as, in the campaign, tion brought about by this analysis :obra venom, or against the fre
visions are granted to characters varies from object to object, as 5all spell.
strictly at the god's pleasure. we'll discuss below.
Alternatively,such an Immunity
This power is most appropriate Here are some examples:
to priests of the god of prophecy. :ould givethe priest a +2 bonusto
However, it's appropriate to priests A priest of the god of healing
of any god. In Greek mythology,for Saving Throws against a narrow
example, there were famous pro- could identify and analyze injury :ategory of spells; a narrow cate-
phetic temples devoted to the gods and illness. He could look at an in- Zory of special powers: or a narrow
Zeus (a god of the sky, lightning, jury and see not just where it :ategory of poisons. These are the
oaks, and wisdom),Apollo (agod of hurts, but also if it is infected or same categories the Medium
light, the sun, and music), and poisoned, how long ago it was in- power immunities are broken
Gaea (the ancient earth-goddess). flicted, etc. He could look at a sick iown into; the difference here is
person and determine which dis- that the Low Power immunity
There is no limit on the number ease afflicts him, what stage of ad- mly grants a + 2 bonus to saves
of times per day this power may be vancement the disease is in, and VS. those attacks, instead of pro-
used. A character can try to en- what the sick person's chances of riding a n automatically-
trance himself several times per recovery are. 3uccessfulsaving throw.
day,though this isusually fruitless
and annoying. However, the DM A priest of the god of good could Therefore, a Low Power immu-
can supply a priest-character with nity could give a priest automatic
visions any number of times per detect evil, as per the first-level success against the charm spell: a
day. To keep prophecy from be- Priest spell: analysis would let him different one could give the priest
coming a dominant part of the know whether the evilwere lawful, automatic success against the pa-
campaign, it's best to limit the neutral, or chaotic in orientation. ralysis brought on by the ghoul's
number of visions received, touch: a different one could pro-
through either of the two methods, A priest of the god of goldsmith- vide a +2 bonus to all saving
ing could detectgold, including r e throws vs. all enchantment spells:
which arise occasionally in the another one would provide a +2
fined gold that has been hidden or bonus to all saving throws vs. anv
unmined gold still under the earth. sort of paralysis ability or spell

Some of these powers of identif? As a Low Power, the priest re-
cation and analysis are especially ceives one extra language appro-
useful, such as those which dupli. priate to the priesthood. If the
cate detect good, detect evil, and
detect magic spells. These may
only be used three times per day.

I Other Powers priest spells of the spheres of Astral,
Combat (even if a spell belongs to
campaign uses the nonweapon Just about any spell can be Combat and one other sphere, as
proficiency rules, this power con- adapted to a priest’s Granted shillelagh belongs to Combat and
sists of an extra nonweapon profi- Power. Plant. it cannot be used to make a
ciency slot which must be used to Granted Power), Elemental, Necro-
take one specificextra language. Which Spells Can B e Used mantic, or Summoning.

Soothing Word Priest Granted Powcrs may not Note that priest spells are listed
be derived from every spell on the with wizard-school designations
With this power, the priest can books. Some wizard schools and and with spheres of influence (for
remove the effects of the fear spell priest spheres are not permitted example, Animal Friendship is
or can sway the attitude of a hos- for adaptation to granted powers. shown as an EnchantmentlChm
tile crowd or mob. Normally, when a spell belongs to school and of the Animal sphere).
two schools or spheres, where one When making granted powers
The priest can use this power is permitted and the other is not, from priest spells, ignore the wiz-
three times per day. A singleuse can the spell can still be adapted to a ardly school and pay attention
either: Dispel one application of the granted power: but some excep- only to the sphere of influence.
fear spell on one victim; eliminate tions are noted below.
one warrior’sberserker rage; or mo- Maximum Levels
mentarily calm down a number of Priest Granted Powers may be
characters or monsters (equalto 2x derived from wizard spells of the Granted Powers may not be de-
the priest‘s experience level in hit schools of Abjuration, Alteration, rived from wizard spells of flfth
dice: therefore an 8th level priest Charm, Greater Divination, Invo- levelor higher, or frompriest spells
could momentarily calm 16 HD of cation, Lesser Divination, and Ne- of fourth level or higher.
angry mob, for instance). cromancy. They may also be
derived from priest spells from the Limitations o n Use
This power is primarily useful spheres of All, Animal, Charm,
for getting the attention of an an- Creation, Divination, Guardian, The DM must determine limita-
Healing, Plant, Protection, Sun, tions on the use of the Granted
gry group of people and allowing and Weather. Power. (There’sno call for a priest
to be using his power all the time,
the priest to address them. The Priest Granted Powersmay notbe every day.)
combination of the soothing word, derived from wizard spells of the
the respect that many cultures schools of Conjuration, Sum- If it‘s a power which is very use-
have for their priests, and the moning, or ConjuratiodSummon- ful in a lot of situations (for exam-
speaking abilities of many priests ing: from Enchantment (spells ple, a healing ability),it should be
can often defuse an angry mob. listed as Enchantment/Charm are usable once, twice, or three times
permissible, but those listed as be- per day. The more useful it is, the
As described above, this power longing to Enchantment and any less a priest should be able to use
is most appropriate to priests of other school are not; for instance, it; thus, a healing power would be
the gods of healing, love, music, Leomund’s Secure Shelter, usable usable once per day, while a detec-
peace, and wisdom. by Alteration and Enchantment, is tion ability might be usable three
not allowed); from Illusion or times per day.
If the DM limits this power still IllusionPhantasm; from Evocation
further, it becomes appropriate to (ifaspell can belong to the schoolof The DM can also choose for the
other classes of priest. For in- Evocation, it cannot be taken as a power to take considerable time to
stance, if the soothing word only granted power even ifit can be used use: special powers should take a
works on animals, it becomes ap- by other schools;for instance, Melfs minimum of one round to use;
propriate for priests of the gods of Minute Meteors, usable by evoca- more commonly, they should take
animal protection, the earth, fertil- tion and alteration, cannot be taken a complete turn.
ity, and hunting. If it only works on as a granted power).
dwarves, it is appropriate for
priests of the god of the dwarven Neither may they be derived from
race.

High, Medium, or Low hood and decides that it's just al- vlischief, the followers are like11
most powerful enough, and only ,e primarily Rogues and priests or
Once the DM knows which spell needs a little bonus (a Low Power) he same god. There may be some
the power is derived from and how to make itjust right, he'll be able to
often and easily it may be used, he choose from his list of available INarriors and Wizards among the
can decide whether it is a High, Low Powers and can ignore his
Medium, or Low Power. listings of High and Medium ollowers, men and women who
Powers, which would make that u e particular admirers of this god
High Powers are those which fre- priesthood too powerful. md his attributes as they pertain
quently can dramatically affect o combat and magic.
the course of a combat or other- bllowers and Believers
wise affect an adventure. The ex- If the priest serves the God of Ag-
amples of High Powers listed At a certain level, priests receive iculture, the followers could be
above (charms,major immunities, followers and believers, men and Normal Men and Women who
the ability to inspire fear, shape- women of the same faith who serve h n ' t belong to a specific class.
change, or turn undead) can all the priests. w i t h a few priests of the same god
have dramatic and powerful ef- 3mong them.
fects on an adventure in progress. To receive their followersand be-
lievers, priests must achieve a cer- Now, it could be that the priest
Medium Powers are those which tain experiencelevel (8thor above, player-characteris trying to create
frequently give an advantage to with 9th as the most common a specialized order within the
the priest, or which occasionally level).Soon after (thesame experi- more generalized faith. A priest of
will dramatically affect the course ence level or during the next- the God of Everything might want
of a combat or adventure. The ex- higher level), the priests must to create a militant order. Though
amples of Medium Powers listed assume the duties of a church the broad worship of the god in-
above (defmnce of obstacles, me- leader by building a church or cludes every subject and attribute
dium immunities, inciting ber- temple (whateveris appropriate to possible, this priest is devoted to
serker rages, enhanced language the faith) and ministering over a the god's warrior-aspect. There-
abilities, laying on of hands, and specific geographic area. At that fore, with the permission of the el-
prophecy) all do these things. time, their followers begin show- ders of his faith (and,by inference.
ing up, and arrive over a period of the permission of the DM), all this
Low Powers are those which several weel- priest's followers would be war-
only occasionally give an advan- riors and some priests, probably at
tage to a priest, but which are also 'hat Are . higher than first level, whose mis-
very much in character for the sion is to bring war to the enemy
priest and his god. The examples Followers and Believers are non- and then religious enlightenment
of Low Powers listed above (detec- player characters who are sup- to the conquered.
tion and analysis, minor immuni- posed to help promote the priest's
ties, minor enhancements to This sort of thinking is to be en-
language abilities, soothing word) faith.But what they are in terms of couraged among player-
all meet that definition. characters. A player who's
character classes, levels, and du- thinking of creating a specific reli-
So, when a DM creates a new ties varies from faith to faith. gious order is thinking in charac-
granted power, he must decide ter and within the scope of the
which of these three sets of criteria The DM decides what character campaign rather than just think-
the power meets, and defme the classes the followers belong to ing about how to acquire more
power as High, Medium, or Low. (based on the needs and orienta- spells and magical items.
tions of the player-character priests
In any case, this definition is and the beliefs he promotes). 50Are They,-and.Ho-1 b
only a rule-of-thumb guideline to
how powerful the granted power For example, let us say that the ley Know to
is. It helps the DM when he's as- priest serves the God of Strength. ~
signing powers to priests of s~ The followers are likely to be all
cific mythoi. For instance, if he has Warriors and priests of the same The answers to these questions
created a description of a priest- god. vary from faith to faith. The DM

If the priest serves the God of this:

(1)The followersare local people from 10 to 100 experience levels der could have 24 first-level fight-
who are already worshippers of the worth of followers, with the aver- ers, one second-level fighter, and
priest’s god. When they hear that age being around 30. The DM two second-levelpriests.
there will be a new priest of that should decide how many levels of
god in their area, they arrive and followers show up rather than hav- The priest-leader dedicated to
offer him their services. ing the priest-character roll a die. the common man could have 56
normal men and women, and two
(2) The followers already belong These followers can all be of the first-level priests.
to another church or temple of the same level, or can be of daerenc ex-
same faith. When the PC announces perience levels. Zero-experience The priest-leaderwho is part of a
his intent to build his own temple, characters (i.e., normal men and bureaucratic hierarchy could have
his faith’s superiors send him fol- women) count as %-level charac- five fifth-levelpriests and five first-
lowers and believers to help him. ters. No follower can be of higher level priests.
level than three levels below the
(3)The god subtly inspires peo- priest (thus,an 8th-levelpriest can- The priest-leader of a temple
ple from near and far to journey to not have a follower higher than 5th which is supposed to guide, pro-
the new temple and offer their level). tect, and teach a community could
services to the priest. have one fifth-level priest, one
Here are some examples of ar- second-level priest, three first-
How Many and How Strong rangements of followers that differ- level priests, ten first-level war-
Are They? ent types of priests can have. With riors, two second-level warriors,
each arrangement, we’re presum- and sixteen normal men and
As a general rule of thumb, the ing 30 levels’worth of followers. women.
priest should receive anywhere
The priest-leaderofa militant or- The DM can assign even more
esoteric followers to a priest. The

priest of a woods-god might have punish them by restrictingtheir ac-

nymphs and centaurs among his tivities and movements, applying

followers, in which case the HD of 2orporal punishments (beatings

the monster corresponds to its which may not reduce them below

level (a 2HD monster corresponds three-fourths their starting hit

to a second-levelcharacter, while a points),and assigningthem partic-

2d6 +2HD monster corresponds to ularly nasty tasks and duties. If

a third-level character). their offensesare sufficiently great,

All these followers constitute he can fire then from service in his

priests, warriors, and workers (the church or temple, or even separate

normal men and women) belong- them from the faith (as described

ing to or assigned to the priest‘s earlier in this chapter).

temple or church. Their entire job Customarily,he cannot incarcer- particular faith has these charac-
is serving the temple or church; ate them for any great length of
they are housed, fed, and some- time (i.e., over a week), seriously teristics. . .but most don’t.

times paid by the temple or injure them (perform any punish-

church. They aren’t the “flock’ or ments which reduce them below important Followers

whatever you choose to call the three-fourths their starting hit The DM should create many of

populace of the area the priest is points),kill them (killingthem and these followers as fully-developed
supposed to serve. restoring them to life is still forbid- NPCs, including names, personali-
ties, ability scores, equipment, etc.
How Much Control Does the den), or use harmful magic on
Priest Have? them, including magic which de- When a large group of followers
nies them free choice. are “identical” in class and level
The priest‘s command over these (for example, if you have sixteen
followersvaries from faithto faith. A Spells which are normally for- Normal Men and Women), one or
playercharacter priest cannot as- bidden for purposes of punish- two should be singled out and fully
sume that he has a tyrant‘s powers ment or even “guidance” include developed. When followers are al-
of life and death over this followers create light wounds. magical ready more individual (for in-
and believers. The DM decides what stone, shillelagh, charm person or
sort of command the priest has over mammal, enthrall, flame blade, stance, if you only have two
them based on the nature of the heat metal, produce flame, spirit- second-level priests or one fifth-
campaign’s culture and on the dic- ual hammer, call lightning (except level fighter), such followers
tates of the faith. when used to frighten instead of should be fully developed.
damage), cause blindness or deaf-
In a normal faith, the priest will ness, cause disease, curse, sum- When possible, it’sa good idea to
be able to order his followers to mon insects (exceptwhen used to role-play the arrival of such char-
work and effort like any employer frighten instead of damage), cause acters within the temple, the bet-
(and, in a medieval or fantasy set- serious wounds, poison, produce ter to give the priest PC an idea of
ting, employers have more power fire, cause critical wounds, flame what his followers are l i e .
over their employees than in con- strike, insectplague, quest (except
temporary society). He can advise when the target willingly under- All of this work will make the
them and (if he chooses) put con- takes the quest to atone for his temple and its inhabitants more
siderable pressure on them regard- misdeeds), spike stones, wall of immediate and real to the priest
fire, fire seeds, harm, creeping character (and the other
characters).

1 ing the people they associate with doom, earthquake, fire storm, What If They Die or Gain
or even marry. wither, energy drain, destruction, Experience?
Punishments or symbol.
When followers die, they are re-
Spells like command, entangle,

hen hr is displeased with their cause f e z , hold person, and confu-
ions or performances. he can sion are permissible,because they
last only a short time, or do not

a

first place. A new local will volun- For instance, let us say that a At that point, the priest will re-
teer his service, or the church hier- temple starts with a third-level ceive one experience level of re-
archy will send a replacement, or wizard who acts as the priest‘s ad- placement follower for every two
the god will inspire a new NPC to visor. Through adventuring, this he loses. (Thisdoesn’t even count
wizard rises to sixth level, and experience levels gained by fol-
volunteer his service. then is killed in an adventure. He lowers through adventuring. If a
It‘s all right for followersto gain in will be replaced by a third-level second-levelguard-captainrises to
wizard. sixth level and then is wasted in
experience. A soldier who defends this manner, he’ll be replaced by a
his temple from attackers can be ex- If a guard-captain rises from sec- soldier half his original experience
ond to sixth level in the course of level, i.e. a first-levelfighter.)
pected to gain experience pine a adventuring, and then leaves for
service elsewhere, he’ll be re- If the priest loses another twenty
followerwho accompaniespis priest placed by a second-level fighter. levels through neglect or mali-
This doesn’t mean that the new ciousness, he will receive one ex-
on adventures can, too. fighter is the guard-captain. The perience level of replacement
priest may prefer for some other follower for every five he loses. If
Only followers who have been follower, who is higher than he loses another ten levels through
given individual names and per- second-level,to be the new guard- neglect or maliciousness, he will
sonalities should gain in experi- captain. But the replacement char- receive one experience level of re-
ence. An anonymous first-level acter always arrives at the placement follower for every ten
fighter guard can be expected to experience level the original char- he loses. If he loses any more
remain so; but a named character acter held when he first became a through his misbehavior, they are
could rise through levels and be- follower. not replaced.
come guard-lieutenant, guard-
captain, personal bodyguard to What If The Priest-Character That isn’t the only result of evil
the priest, etc. behavior. The higher-ranking
Is Scum? priests of the faith will launch an
Named followers gain experi- investigation, assigning a priest of
ence a t normal rates based on Inevitably, some campaign level equal to the offending priest
what they do in their adventures. priests, including some player- to his temple to conduct the inves-
The only limits placed on all this character priests, will see their fol- tigation. If it is this priest’s conclu-
personal growth are these: No fol- lowers as a resource to be sion that the priest has behaved
lower can be higher than three ex- exploited and abandoned for the badly, he could fmd himself pun-
perience levels below the level of priest‘s amusement. For example, ished: he could have his temple
the priest: and the levels of all fol- a priest might seduce and cruelly taken away and could even lose ex-
lowers of a specific temple or abandon attractive followers, or perience levels (if his god is of-
church cannot add up to more might send soldierly followersinto fended by his misbehavior and
than 100. certain-death situationsin order to decides to punish him).
enhance his own glory.
If a group of followers becomes Also, the other followersand the
so experienced that it adds up to If the faith is not an evil one, the flock could become disillusioned.
more than 100 levels, the DM can priest is not followingthe dictatesof Surviving followers could leave or
take steps to reduce the number of his faith and will eventually suffer even betray the priest. The local
levels. For instance, a senior for it. The fmt few followers who population could gradually cease
guard-captain may leave the tem- perish or feel compelledto leave will to attend the priest‘s church, and
ple when offered captaincy of a be replaced normally After twenty seek their spiritual fulfillmentelse-
guard-unit in another temple (one experiencelevels’worth of followers where.
closer to his family, one more pres- have left in this manner, however,
tigious, etc.). He’d be replaced by a the other temples of the faith and How long does all this take?
captain of lower level, thus adjust- the local population will “catch on” That’s a role-playing consider-
ing the available experience levels and the priest will find replace- ation. A priest can be corrupt and
downward. ments slowing. hide his behavior from the faith
and from his following for years. If
Whenever a follower dies or
leaves, he is replaced by a follower
who was at the experience level
the original character held when
he first became a follower.

31

he does “waste” followers, but Monotheistic By Demand The chief god has a power or promises
does so at a very slow rate, it could faith’s god acknowledgesthat there rewards that make his worship nec-
be years or decades before the pop- are other gods, but demands that essaq? (Forexample, even in a cul-
ulation catches on. If he’s overt, everyone worship him or her alone ture where many gods are
and flaunts his corruption or and not thoseother gods. Ea culture
wastes his followers a t a more is Monotheistic By Demand, it worshipped, the god who decides
advanced rate, he could find him- means that this one faith is the only how each person’s afterlife is to be
self in trouble mere weeks or one legally permittedwithin the cul- spent could be the dominant god or
months after first attracting his ture. This faith is able to demand a
followers. tithe (discussedearlier in this chap- the king of the gods, who rules the
ter] of its followers.
However, if the faith is an evil god of the afterlife,could instead be
one, such behavior is normal. Monotheistic By Dogma: dominant.] In this type of culture,
Wasted followers will be replaced Whether it is true or not, the faith the dominant faith is able to de-
normally. (They are not, however, claimsthat there isonly one god or mand a tithe of its followers.
likely to be loyal followers, and goddess and that everyone must
may conspire to eliminate and re- worship that onebeing. If a culture Pantheistic, No Chief Faith:
n l n r e the nrieqt ) is Monotheistic By Dogma, only
the one faith is permitted within This culture concedes that there
JIG u i LIIG ramal the culture. Typically, the wor- are several gods with individual
shippers are sufficiently inflexible faiths or cults associated with
The DM must decide what role in their belief that they often par-
an individual faith has within the ticipate in religious wars in order them. Though individual cults
campaign’s culture. This role to extend the domination of their may be stronger or weaker than
breaks down into four parts: own faith or suppress faiths they each other, none is dominant
throughout the culture. Each faith
How the faith relates to other consider dangerous or heretical. can only ask, not demand, a tithe
faiths: This faith is able to demand a tithe of its worshippers. Within the cul-
of its followers. ture, individual communities may
How the faith relates to the aris- have dominant gods: and within
tocracy; Pantheistic, Chief Faith Domi- those individual communities
nant By Charisma This culture only, the chief god’s worship will
How the faith relates to the peo- concedes that there are several correspond to one of the “Panthe-
ple; and gods with individualfaiths or cults
associated with them. One, how- istic, Chief Faith Dominant By
How the faith relates to foreign ever, is the special favorite of the Charisma” or “Pantheistic, Chief
faiths. population, because they consider Faith Dominant By Strength” cat-
that gods attribute, personality,or egories. Some cities will not have
Relations With Other Faiths blessings superior to any other dominant gods, or may have two

Most fantasy cultures tends to god’s. Most citizens of the culture or more dominant gods who have
fall into one of the following cate- worship this chief god and any joint worship here but not else-
gories: other gods they choose. In this where. All the gods worshipped
type of culture, the dominant faith within the culture will be per-
MonotheisticBy Demand typically asks but is unable to de- ceived to belong to the same fam-
Monotheistic By Dogma mand a tithe of its followers. ilv. or Dantheon. of cods.
Pantheistic, Chief Faith Domi-
nant By Charisma Pantheistic, Chief Faith Domi-
Pantheistic, Chief Faith Domi- nant By Strength: This culture
nant By Strength
Pantheistic, No Chief Faith concedesthat there are severalgods
with individual faiths or cults asso-
ciated with them. One, however, is
supreme in power, either because it
has a strong hold on the culture’s
ruling aristocracy or because the

Relations With the to be a soldier and a priest of the Can The F d t h Inflict Serious
PunishmentsOn Non-Believers?
Aristocracy god of peace, for instance.
In such an arrangement, the This is a reflection of the faith’s
Once the DM makes the decision political power in the campaign
about the sort of hold the faith has character lives in his home, works culture. Does the faith have the
on the culture, he can decide what to make his living, and is an every- power to inflict punishment on
sort of relations the faith has on day fellow.On occasion,he puts on those who do not follow the faith’s
the country’s rulers. This was dis- his priestly vestments and attends
cussed earlier in this chapter, un- to his priestly duties (performing torture or exe-
der the heading “Rights of the
Priesthood:’ marriages, arranging and per- If they can, they’re a very power-
formingrituals, givingguidance to ful faith in the culture, and one
Relations With the People those who ask it of him, praying to which can guide the culture into
the god for favors). Most of these periods of religious terror (when-
Then, the DM can determine events take place at the gods tem- ever they try to purge the land of
what sort of relationship the faith ple or church, but most of the heretics, or to conceal elimination
has with the population. All faiths faith’s priests do not live there: of political enemies by pretending
exert some control over the flock, only priests with no other quar- they’re heretics andpurging them)
by helping interpret or define what ters, and followers of the chief or into all-outwarswith cultures of
the flock believes: some faiths ex- priest, would live there. (A priest dflerent faiths.
ert more power, some less. Some could live in his own home while
abuse that power, and some don’t. Givinga faith this right in a cam-
Some faiths rule the people, while his followers lived in the temple!)
others are the people. With this sort of arrangement, paign means that there’s always
priests are very definitelymen and the danger of religiouspersecubon
The DM needs to ask himself women of the people. They are not in the cainpaign.. If it‘s the cam-
these questions: supported by tithes (though tithes paign’smain setting where
probably led to the building of the has this power, the
.= There A Priestly Caste? characters may ‘find themselves
temple), and just about anyone in
That is,is Priest the full-timejob the culture can become a priest. .,
of the priest, making priesthood
something a little distant from or- However, if priests are a distinct hired to oppose. or even to help
dinary humanity; or do most caste in the society, then priest- such qn effort of persecution. If it’s
priests only act as priests part- hood is (in addition to everything a-foreign power, the, herqes may
time; having 0the.r occupations else) a job. It is the priest‘s princi- find themselves helping fugitives
pal occupation.Most priests live in
the temple or in Droverties owned

bv the faith. It mavbe considera-

Just because Priest is a charac- come a priest may have to go Is The F d t h Indigenous To This
through years of education and en- Population?
ter class in the AD&D@ game lightenment before becoming a
doesn’t mean that the campaign priest. (This isn’t all that impor- Did the faith in question spring
culture has a priestly caste. In a tant from a campaign perspective: from this culture. or was it idtro-
duced to this culture by immigra-
specific culture, a character could player-character priests still start tion or war?
he a blacksmith and also priest of out at first level, but with the un-
the god of metalwork, or a soldier derstanding that they’ve gone If it sprang from this culture,
and also priest of the god of the through allthis teaching and M n - that‘s fine.
sun, or a scribe and also priest of ing before the enter the campaign.)
the god of death. The character’s However, if it was introduced
into this culture and supplanted
profession does not have to have an earlier faith, the DM has the op-
portunity to introduce some inter-
any bearing on his priestly role. . .

though it would be inappropriate

esting story elements because of diers of their own land, who are hotel for travellers, with many of
friction between the two faiths. raiding and exploiting the natives, the brothers and sisters of the faith
or may cooperate with them for “running the hotel.’’ This makes
If the new faith conquered and the glory and profit of their own this faith a principal waystation
eliminated the old faith almost temples, depending on whether for rumors, and the church would
completely, then there will be hid- the DM considers this a “good’ or be the fmst place that people would
den, secret sects of the old faith a “bad’faith and cause. turn to for news.

still in existence. .. sects which In such a setting, player- The faith of the god of Wisdom
characters could take on any num- might be the only one which could
plan to re-establish the preemi- ber of tasks.They could be the new supplyjudges and advocatesin tri-
priests, spreading the new faith. als. The faith ofthe god of Strength
nence of their god. They could be enemies of the new might supply all judges and mar-
If the new faith has dominated priests (perhaps they’re priests of shals to athletic events. Perhaps
another faith altogether!) working only priests of the god of metal-
and absorbed the old faith without to defeat the missionary efforts of work can mint coins.
destroying it, you can deal with the new priests. They could be
changes to the culture resulting warriors or foreign defenders of It’s extrawork to introduce these
from that absorption. What if, in the native population, fightingthe small cultural elements into a
the old culture, female priestesses soldiers who steal the native cul-
and their goddesses were dorni- ture’s treasures and take natives campaign setting, but they add a
as slaves. They could be those ex-
nant, while in the new faith male ploitative soldiers. In as compli- depth of detail to a campaign for
gods and their priests are in cated a situation as this one is, the DM who is willing to do that ex-
power? Or, what if the reverse is
true? Or, what if the old faith op- .there are many opportunities for tm .‘T”l.lr
pressed one gender and the new
faith treats them as equals? In any adventure. . and for tough ethical With Foreign Faiths
case, there will be ongoing strug-
questions for the DM to introduce Once decided how the cam-
gles, especially struggles of poli- into the campaign.
tics and traditions, where ~
believersin the old faith tryto keep What Secondary Roles Does The
things traditional and familiar Falth Fill? paign’s chief culture is arranged.
while believers in the new faith try
to impose their own beliefs on the The DM also needs to decide if a the DM can make the same deci-
population. faith fills one or more cultural
niches which are not intrinsically sions about all the other, foreign,
As a variant of that, a campaign religious.
setting, or even an entire cam- cultures in his world.
paign, can be built around a mis- For example, a faith could be the
sionary situation, where priests of principal educator of a society. Then, if he wishes, he can add
one faith have been introduced Each temple would then also serve
as a school, and all priests would still more detail to the religious
.into a setting where a different have nonweapon proficiencies
which allowed them to teach sub- fabric of his campaign setting by
faith reigns. . and have appeared jects or preserve knowledge. A
faith with this privilege will be a defining how different cultures re-
with the intent of converting the powerful one in the culture, be-
local population to their beliefs. cause it influences the thinking of gard one another’s religious prac-
This is especially interesting each new generation.
where missionaries of a more so- tices.
phisticated culture are sent to a A faith might have a secondary
more primitive region. function as a sbelterer of travel- Some cultures avidly welcome
lers. Each temple would have a
The priests of the new, intruding wing or annex which was a sort of the introduction of new religious
faith are sent with the purposes of
educating the “natives,” challeng- elements into their own. Pantheis-
ing and defeating their priests (if
tic cultures, especially those
. .any), and converting the native
which have no dominant faith, are
uooulation to the new belief. The
iests might have to oppose likely to welcome worship of each

foreign god that is encountered.

Some cultures violently oppose

such an introduction. For exam-

ple, aculture might be pantheistic,

worshipping many gods, and yet

.stillbelieve that its pantheon is the

only true pantheon. .and that all

foreign gods and foreign panthe-

ons are lies or demons.

Foreign cultures often worship First, most NPC priests start at ond experience level. During this
some of the same gods as the cam- first level and never rise any time, the low-level priests will be
paign’sprincipal culture,but do so higher than second. The player- getting practical field experience
under different names, with differ- character priest, who gains levels
ent rites, and believing in different throughout a career that is mostly in the execution of their duties, in
stories about those gods. A toler- characterized by adventure is an the way the priesthood works with
ant culture will welcome new in- exception to the usual rule.
terpretations of their gods. An the population, and in the way the
intolerant one will, at best, seek to Second, the PC priest, with his priesthood‘s organization works in
educate the foreign cultureto “cor- (comparatively) meteoric rise the real world.
rect its misunderstandings”; at through levels, may not wish to or
worst, it will insist that the foreign may not be able to enjoy the bene- Most first-level priests are as-
land be conquered and forcibly fits and responsibilities of most signed to priests of third to fifth
“corrected.” priests. Many priest PCs will wish level, but some few (especially
to forego the duties of running a very capable ones)will be assigned
This, then, is another way to add temple and stay on the road, act- to much more powerful priests.
ing as a mobile agent for their
detail and texture to a campaign: faith. This is a viable option for a Level Three-Level Five
priest in a campaign.
By deciding how foreign faiths re- At third level, the priest will be
gard one another, and what effect More on this subject is dis- assigned to a single community (a
that regard has on the cultures in- cussed in the “Role-Playing”chap- village, a small town, a broad tract
volved. These effects range all the ter. of land containing many scattered
way from increased trade and ex- farms, or a single small neighbor-
change of knowledge through war, Experience Levels and hood in a large city).
conquest, and even genocide. Hierarchy
If he asks for one, and the faith’s
I _ _ ana- Below is the usual arrangement leaders (i.e., the DM) agree that he
Most fait..- _-._regu.-. rites of priesthoods in a campaign. First needs one, he will be assigned a
is the organizational structure first-level priest as an assistant.
~ which NPC priests usually follow; This priest isn’t a follower in the
then, we’ll talk about player- same fashion as the followers he
and rituals tied in to the calendar. characters and their place in the receives a t a higher level, and
This is discussed more fully in the structure. might wish to be re-posted else-
“Role-Playing” chapter later in where if his superior is unlikable
this supplement. ?velZero (Normal Men and or difficult. (However, if this as-
domen) signee is still with the priest when
Most - - _ ________ xga- that priest reaches eighth or ninth
~ A “level-zero”priest is someone level, the DM might decide for him
who has just been accepted into a to become one of the priest‘s offi-
nization, with more experienced priestly order and is receiving his cial followers.)If he doesn’task for
priests leading less experienced initial training. Player-characters a subordinate priest, he won’t re-
ones. In some faiths, bribery and do not have to start out at zero- ceive one.
corruption can allow a less experi- level: the only zero-level priests
enced priest to gain power and in- that the PCs will ever encounter The priest is assigned a small
fluence over more experienced will be NPCs undergoing training. building to serve him as a temple
ones, but this is uncommon. or church. (This is not the same as
Level One-Level Two a stronghold.) The priest is sup-
In the AD&Dagame, most faiths posed to finance repairs to the
are organized based on the experi- First-level priests are typically building, food and supplies for
ence levels of their priests. The assigned as aids, clerks, and as- himself and any assistants, and
higher in level a priest is, the sistants to higher-levelpriests, and salaries for any servants he
higher he may be in the faith’s or- keep that assignment through sec- chooses to hire through tithes and
ganization. donations. Half of all tithes and do-
nations are sent on to the superi-
But the DM needs to note a cou-
ple of important facts.

ors, and the rest go to the priest’s Some people will snicker at his followers will mostly be capable
own temple for these purposes. If lack of ambition while others will fighters: if it’sto be an educational
the priest doesn’t receive enough admire his dedication and his care monastery, most of the followers
tithes and donations, the faith will for the common man. will be Normal Men and Women or
probably not help him: his mission first-level priests with appropriate
is to inspire his flock, and inade- Level Eight-LevelNine scholastic talents.
quate tithes and donations are
merely evidence that he needs to At around eighth or ninth level, During this time, the priest’s
work harder at it. again assuming that the priest has progress and efficiency will be
done well in his priestly career so carefully measured by his superi-
Level Six-Level Seven far, he will be allowed to build a ors, who are considering what role
stronghold. The faith will finance
At around sixth level, if the half its cost, and it remains the the priest will play in the higher-
priest has done a goodjob of main- property of the faith when the
taining his church and seeing to priest retires his post. level politics of the faith.
the needs of his flock, he may be
given a more important assign- However, the stronghold is semi- twelfth levels, the priest may find
ment. He could become the chief autonomous: the priest‘ssuperiors himself promoted to prominence
priest of a large town (one with seldom interfere in its operations. over a much larger area; he will be
more than one church: the third- They might interfere, especially administering a bigger chunk of
level priests operating those by sendinganother priest to inves- the religious “map:’ Priests of nu-
churches would report to him), or tigate, ifthey receive rumors of in- merous cities and regions in his vi-
the central church authority over competence, greed, or trouble cinity (at least a fifty-mile radius)
several villages. from the stronghold. Otherwise, will be reporting to him, and of
the priest is free to operate it much course he will still be reporting to
He may keep any subordinate he as he pleases. his superiors. By twelfth level, he
has had previously. He will auto- may be the high priest over an en-
matically be assigned two addi- The priest‘s assigned area may tire nation (assumingthat the faith
tional first-level priests as remain the same. He might con- spans several nations, as many
subordinates. Again, they do not tinue to be chief priest over a large faiths do).
precisely constitute “followers,” town or collection of villages. At
though those specific characters his request and with his superiors’ He does not, however, receive
could become followers when the permission, or solely at his superi- any more followers.
priest reaches the appropriate level. ors’wish, he may instead build his
stronghold in some other place: In I
If the priest’s work does not a frontier where he is supposed to
merit a better posting, he won’t defend the peace, in a wilderness IIIC IIIUYL puw‘iriui VI a faith’s
lose his experience levels or his area where he and his subordi- leaders belong to these experience
subordinate, but he’ll be stuck in nates are supposed to work undis- levels: The high priest of the faith
the little church that he has been turbed by the secular world, etc. and his immediate advisors. If the
operating all this time. When a DM wishes, politics or the god’s
priest reaches sixth or seventh At this same time, the priest will preference alone may decide who
level and is still the priest of a one- receive his followers, as we have the high priest is, and the high
horse town, it‘s often a sign that he discussed earlier this chapter. The priest might then not have to be
is not held in high regard by his su- followers manage the stronghold the highest-levelpriest of the faith.
periors. It may merely be a sign and its dutiesunder the priest‘s ad- The faith’s high priest might be
that there are too many priests in ministration. As discussed earlier, chosen by vote or omen, and could
the priesthood and advancement the levels, classes and goals of be a thirteenth-level priest while
is slow. these followerswill depend on the all his immediate advisors are of
attributes of the faith and on the
Naturally, a higher-level priest specific goals of the priest for his
can ask to be posted to or remain stronghold. If it‘s to be a military
posted to such a small community. post manned by holy warriors, the

Level Sixteen-Level Twenty way from third to seventh levels. When the priest character is first
At eighth or ninth level, when assigned a temple or church, the
These experience levels don’t
have any effect on the priest’s the PC is supposed to be “settling DM decides, entirely arbitrarily,
ranking within his faith. They are down” and building a stronghold, whether the faithful who attend
reflections of additional knowl- he should do so. The DM should that temple contribute enough for
work up a whole series of adven- the priest to lead a mean, average,
.edge that he has learned.. but tures centered around the strong- or comfortable existence.
hold. its construction and defense.
don’tgrant any additional benefits After the stronghold is built and “Mean” indicates that he gets
within the structure of the faith. settled with followers, if the PC barely enough to eat and cannot
priest wants to remain on the road afford repairs or salaries for ser-
PC Priests and the Hierarchy with his allies,he should be able to vants: “Average” means that he
do so. He must leave most of his
Now, just how do player- followers at the church to operate and one subordinate get an ample
character priests relate to this it. and should take no more than diet and can afford one servant;
whole organization? Many cam- two followers with him. Naturally, “Comfortable” means that the
paigns are set “on the road;” the the stronghold was built and orga- temple can house more than just
player-characters spend much of nized with this in mind, and the its one or two priests (itcan, for ex-
their time travelling from place to priest will still have to return to the ample, house one or two horses
place in search of adventure, and stronghold a few times per year in per priest) and can afford two or
it’s hard to keep a church-bound order to sign important papers and more servants per priest.
priest active in such a campaign.
So, here’s how to keep the priest in set new policies. . .but for the rest Then, the DM decides whether
the campaign. or not this economic condition is
of the year he’s doing the temple’s one that will change with the
In a campaign, it‘s often not ap- business on the road. priest’s management. If the local
propriate for first and second population isn’t contributing as
level priests to be assigned as This can remain the situation for much as it could, the new priest
scribes to some small-time village the rest of the priest‘s career in the might be able to inspire them to a
priest. If the DM wants to avoid campaign. Alternately, as the better performance. If the last
this, he can assign the character to priest reaches higher levels, the priest was a very charismatic
a third-level priest (especially a DM may wish to orient the cam- leader, then perhaps the new
physically harmless one, who paign around him and the con- priest will startout with a Comfort-
won’t contribute much combat cerns of his faith;we discuss this in able or Average existence but then
ability to a PC party) who travels. the “Role-Playing”chapter. see it start to slip away.
This third-level priest may be a
friend and travelling companion of Finances of the PC’s Temple Then, from time to time, the DM
one of the PCs, or may be an unu- can confront the priest with situa-
sual priest who prefers to train his We mentioned tithes and dona- tions which can affect his standing.
subordinates by life on the road. tions above, and there’s always a
temptation to provide some sort of Example An unpopular man
When the PC reaches third level lengthy and involved money- seeks sanctuary in the priest’s
and is s u p p e d to be assigned his management scheme for the cam- church;if the priest denies sanctu-
own village, he may instead be paign, so that the DM can keep ary, he’ll be more popular with the
given a special mission which will track of every copper piece that locals, but will not have done his
keep him on the road and with the flowsthrough the temple coffers. priestly duty: if he provides sanc-
other PCs. For instance, if the PC tuary, he’llhave done his duty, hut
party typically encounters new But that doesn’t contribute to
monsters or magic, the faith may the spirit of adventure that AD&Dm will see contributions slip or dry
want the PC priest to stay with them game campaigns are supposed to up altogether.
to beneflt himself (andthe faith as a promote. Sowe’regoing to provide
whole) with these new experiences you with a much simpler system Example A young man of the
and knowledges. The PC priest for keeping up with a temple’s area asks the priest‘s advice on a
could keen this assignment all the tithes and donations. difficultproblem:Should he marry
the girl of his choice, and alienate

his father, or acquiesce to his fa- mory to redecorate makes for even thieves hired as consultants
ther’s arranged marriage, and wed brighter and less-defensible tem- and specialists.
the wealthy girl he doesnot love? If ples: taking from the repair fund to
the priest answersone or the other, improve the kitchen makes for bet- .Cs, Forces and
it has no effecton his standing in ter meals and buildings which start hilosophies
the community. But if he can sug- to fall apart, etc.);
gest and implement a plan which Some players will eventually ask
will allow the youth to many his (2)Finance the changesfrom his themselves,“If the godsare sentient
love, keep his father’s affection, adventuring treasures (which but forcesand philosophies are not,
and not alienate the family of the means that the priest will find it then if I become priest of a force or
hard to save up a “retirement philo6ophy, I don’t have some god
spumed girl. the priest’s standing f u n d of any consequence);or dictating what I can and can’t do. I
will be improved, and so will the can do anything I want to:’
(3)Zip into the monieswhich are
economics of his temple. supposed to be sent on to the The DM needs to step on thissort
higher ranks of the faith (which of foolishness when it crops up.
Later Assignments will work fora time, perhaps a very Though forces and philosophies
long time, but will eventually re- are not sentient beings, they can
As the priest is given larger and still enforce their ethos and tenets
more important postings and as- sult in a temple investigation. . . on their priests.
signments, the DM should assign
which is very bad for the faith as a For example, if a pnest of the
him to temples which are always whole, as it causes disillusionment Philosophy of Good does evil
among the populace when the true things, the natural power of the
compromises for him. The DM de- philosophy will abandon him (de-
cides how many men and women Ni nying him all his priestly until he
these temples have on their staffs, repents, makes amends, and again
what the standard of living is for the By presenting temple economics follows the restrictions of the
temple-dwellers (usually modest, aschoicesof lifestyle ethics, rather priesth *’
though not uncomfortable, etc.). than numbers on a column-sheet,
L And these temples simply do not re- the DM encourages role-playing .lie I‘riestho
ceive enough from tithes and dona- within his campaign and doesn’t
tions normally to live up to all his have to devote a lot of time to keep- next chapter contains more
expectations,much less to build up than sixty individual priest classes.
a large treasury of available coins. ing track of silver pieces. Each has been built accordingtothe
guidelinesdiscussedin this chapter,
Example: If the priest dreams of Non-Priests Working For the and can be introduced as written or
having a body of soldiers decked Faith with modifications into most DMs’
out in full plate and riding trained Campa‘””
warhorses, what he has is a squad- One last note about levels of
ron of foot soldiers in chain. priests within the faith: There are Faith ” d g n
many non-priest characters who
Example: If the priest wants to belong to the administrative orga- On page 39 is I Design
live aluxurious existence, with ex- nization of any faith in a campaign
pensive furnishings and many ser- world. Sheet, a worksheet which will help
vants and a hedonistic lifestyle,
Most are Normal Men and the DM design his own faiths. You
what he gets is dull stone walls, Women who work in individual
temples, as servants, messengers, can use any of the Sample Priest-
used furnishings, and one scmffy grooms, and sometimes as teach-
servant (or none). ers, scribes, and consultants. hoods from the next chapter as a

In all situations like this, the Many are warriors hired to pro- template, or create a faith from the
priest must either: tect temples in dangerous areas, to
act as bodyguards for travelling ground up.
(1) Re-structure the temple’s priests, and to train priests in the
budget, which results in shortages finer points of combat. The Faith Design Sheet is ar-
elsewhere in the temple’sexistence
Some are mages, bards, and ranged to follow,more or less in or-
(takingfrom the kitchen to pay the
der, the subjects of this chapter.
armory results in poorer food and
worse cooking; taking from the ar-

l Faith Design Sheet

dame of Worshipped Being: Goal and Purpose of the Faith:

Is it (check one): a God __ a Force
~
~ a Philosophy

Requirements of the Priesthood: Spheres of Influences (major) All,
Granted Powers:
Alignment Choice(s)

Minimum Ability Scores:

For +5% exp: For +lo% exp:

Races allowed: Gender:

Nonweapon and Weapon ProficienciesRequired:

Duties: Followers (How Many):
When
Their Class and Level:

Relations: Other Faiths, Aristocracy,
People, Foreign Faiths:

Hierarchy of the Faith:

Restrictions: Requirements ofthe Followers:
Alignment Choice($:

Races Allowed:
Restrictions

Here, we’re providing examples imple Faith Writeup describes which player-character
of what we described in such detail races may belong to this priest-
in the previous chapter. We start out with a quick expla- hood.
nation of the gods attribute. The
In the pages that follow, you’ll first paragraphs talk about what Nonweapon and Weapon Profi-
find more than sixty priesthoods. the god’s goals may be, what his ciencies: This paragraph de-
Each of these priesthoods consti- priest’s goals will be. scribes which nonweapon and
tutes a complete character class of weapon proficiencies a priest must
the “priest of a specific mythos” Next, we discuss what kinds of have, and which additional non-
type. The druid presented in the variations there may be to his at- weapon proficiencies are recom-
Player’s Handbook is one type of a tribute. (Example:A god of the arts mended for him. The proficiencies
priest of a specific mythos, and is may be devoted to only one spe- required of the priest must be
written up there in greater detail taken from the normal proficiency
than the priesthoods presented cific kind of art - painting, for in-
here. But each of these priesthoods slots he starts play with: he does
can be fine-tuned by your DM and stance). not receive extra slots with which
adapted more fully to the cam- Sometimes these variations on to take these proficiencies. Also
paign world. listed here are the “Nonweapon
the god’s attribute might change Proficiency Group Crossovers” for
Each of these priesthoods fol- your opinion of what the god’sna- this specfic priest-class (see Table
lows the normal Priest rules (Play- ture and alignment are. (Exam- 38,Player’s Handbook page 55 for
er’s Handbook, page 33) for ple: A god of death might be a more on the Proficiency Group
experience level progression and frightening Grim Reaper sort of de- Crossovers).
spell progression. Most follow the ity, or might be a gentle god of a
normal Priestly eight-sided dice cheerful sort of afterlife.) Duties of the Priest: This talks
progression for hit points: those about the duties typically de-
which don’t will be singled out in We also describe the gender that manded of this sort of priest. Al-
the text. gods of this attribute usually be- most all priests are supposed to
long to. This isn’t a limitation for provide Guidance to the flock: gen-
For each of these priesthoods, your campaign. Any attribute erally, that guidance is related to
yourDM will ultimately have to sup- shown below can be represented the god’s attribute. (In other
ply the campaign-specific details of by a god or goddess, or even by a
what the deity’s name is, what his sexless deity. However, in real- words, members of the flock come
family and relationships are, what world mythologies, various godly to the priest of the god of love for
his history is, etc. However, players attributes are usually represented questions of love, to the priest of
by one sex or the other,and sohere the god of justice on questions of
don’t have to know all these details we describe which one that is. revenge, etc.) All priests except for
the priests of the god of Death can
in order to create priest characters: We also talk about the other perform the marriage ceremony,
just use the priesthood class de- types of priests this priesthood is and this is a duty most don’t mind
scriptionsbelow, and, when options on especially good terms with.
are provided (for skills, require- (Just because a priesthood isn’t performing. Many priesthoods
ments, powers, etc.), the players mentioned here doesn’t mean that have other duties as well.
can ask the DM which options they there is bad feeling between them,
should take. however.) Weapon and Armor Restric-
tions: Here, we talk about which
This section supplements the Alignment: This paragraph de- weapons and armor the priest can
material from the “Weapons Al- scribes the usual alignment of and cannot use. Mentioned in
lowed” chart from the Player’s such a god, and the alignment these paragraphs are some weap-
Handbook, page 34. choices available to his priests. ons which do not appear in the
Player’s Handbook. The belaying
Bel01 .- ---e priest character Minimum Ability Scores: This pin, bo stick, cestus, chain,
~ text explains what minimum abil- daikyu, lasso, main-gauche. net,
ity scores (alwaysWisdom, and of- nunchaku, sai, shuriken, stiletto,
classes. The description of each is ten one other) the priest must and swords such as cutlass, ka-
arranged in this fashion: possess to be a priest in the first ’ na, rapier, sabre, and wakizashi
place.

Races Allowed: This uaramauh

appear in The Complete Fighters curs during the course of his ca- You can assume, unless the text
Handbook. The bill, lasso, maul, reer. Most priesthoods have at lists Evil among the friends of an
net, nunchaku, and scythe appear least one: some have several. Un- attribute, or says that priests of
later in this supplement, in the less the text says otherwise, each this other god can be evil, that the
“Equipment” chapter (note that Granted Power is available to the priests of the other god do
the bill is the same asthe gaffihook priest at first experience level: for the Philosophy of Evil.
from The Complete Fighter’s some, specifically listed, will be-
Handbook: “gaff” and “hook’ are come available at other levels. We haven’t included a para-
its nautical names). Of the armors graph which discusses the rights
mentioned, banded mail, brigan- Followers and Strongholds: the priesthood has in the culture.
dine, bronze plate mail, chain Here, we talk about how many fol- That’s because we don’t know
mail, field plate, full plate, plate lowers the priest receives, what what sort of culture the DM will be
mail, ring mail, scale mail, splint they are, when he receives them, placing the priesthood within. The
mail, and studded leather consti- and when he is allowed to build his D M determineswhat special rights
tute metal armor (not all of them own stronghold. We also describe the priesthood has; special rights,
are all-metal, but all of them have how many and which of his fol- as discussed last chapter, include
metal elements): hide armor, lowers can take with him when ad- Church ’Rial, Coronation, Other
leather armor, and padded armor venturing “ontheroad.” Normally, Confirmations, Tithes, Separation
constitute non-metal armor. most of the followers are supposed from the Faith, Rule, and being the
to stay at the priest’s temple and State Religion.
Other Limitations: Here, we operate it for him: in spite of many
discuss other limitations and re- priest-PCs’ preferences, the priest Also, the guidelines we’re pro-
strictions which are typically can’t just bring along all his fol- viding in this chapter are based on
placed on this type of priest. lowers with him on every adven- the most common views of these
ture. The numbers given here are sorts of gods, priests, and races.
Spheres of Influence This par- for the maximum number of fol- Any campaign may have a differ-
agraph describes the priest’s ac- lowersthe priest can take with him ent view of these topics, and so the
cess to spellsof differentspheres of on adventures: naturally, he can DM may change these limitations
influence. You’ll remember from always take fewer. and requirements to suit his cam-
the previous chapter that priest- paign. Especially prone to re-
hoods which have Good Combat Possible Symbols: This is a set interpretation are: races allowed,
Abilitiestend to get three major ac- of recommendations for the sym- proficiencies required or forbid-
cesses (including All) and two mi- bols that the priesthood uses. Usu- den, rights, weapon and armor re-
nor, that those which have ally, they’re representations of the strictions, other limitations, and
Medium Combat Abilities tend to god’sattribute. They are also used spheres of influence.
get five major accesses (including upon the priesthoods Holy Sym-
All)and four minor, and that those bol. Agriculture
which have Poor Combat Abilities
tend to get seven major accesses Notes: Finally, if there are any Agriculture concerns Man har-
(including All) and six minor. In further items important to the de- vesting Nature. The god has
the examples below, not all priest- scription of this character class, shown man how to plant, grow,
hoods follow those guidelines ex- we place them in this paragraph. reap, and utilize crops: man, in
actly; some have one major access turn, worships the god as thanks
to few and a couple of minor ac- Important Notes for this bounty. The gods of agri-
cesses to many, for instance. But if culture is different from the other
a priesthood comes up notably Most godly attributes (Love, gods of nature and natural forces
short on the number of spheres it War, Agriculture,etc.) don’tspecif- in that he represents the elements
can access, it is given extra ically say that they are enemies of of growing that man utilizes and
Granted Powers. Evil. Thisjust means that these at- can control.
tributes are not of themselves dis-
Powers: This paragraph talks tinctly opposed to Evil: some have The priesthood of this god is
about which Granted Powers the no relationship with Evil whatso- principally interested in making
priest receives, and when this oc- ever (for example, Agriculture). sure that mankind continues to

41

appreciate the agricultural god. Marriage. Observation of annual ful effects of spoiled vegetable or
An angry god of this sort can de- celebrations at the start of winter fruit substances; he will never be
cide that crops fail. either on a lo- and start of spring. Vigilance laid low by normal food poisoning.
cal level or even worldwide, against any threat to the commu- (He’snot immune to deliberate poi-
resulting in mass starvation and nity’s ability to grow its food, in- soning of food, or of food poisoning
(eventually, if the god is not ap- cluding magical blights and
peased) a destruction of civiliza- droughts brought on by evil magi- in meats.) A t 8th Level: The Priest
tion: man would return to a cians or priests, artifacts or enemy
hunter-gatherer culture, living in gods. can cast the heroes’ feast spell
small nomadic tribes and follow- once per day in addition to all
ing herds of beasts, if this were to Weapon and Armor Restric- other spells that he can cast.
tions: Weapons Permitted: Bill,
take place. Followers and Strongholds:
A god of Agriculture doesn’t flails (both), hand-throwing axe, The followers are received at 8th
scythe, sickle. Armor Permitted: level, and consist of one fifth-level
have to be the god of all agricul- All non-magical non-metal armor, priest, one third-level priest, one
all non-magical (non-metal) second-level priest, and ten first-
ture. He could be the god of a spe- shields. Oriental Campaigns: Also level priests, all of the same god,
plus one second-levelwarrior and
cific crop (especiallywheat, barley, nunchaku. All together, these con- eight first-level warriors to act as
corn, vines, olives, and other prin- stitute Poor combat abilities. guards. The priest may take the
cipal crops) or of a specific, lesser following on adventures: Three
attribute of agriculture (sowing, Other Limitations: None. priests and two warriors of his
Spheres of Influence: Major Ac- choice. The priesthood will pay for
reaping, brewing, etc.). half of the cost of stronghold con-
Most agricultural deities are fe- cess to All, Creation, Divination, struction at 8th level. The strong-
Plant, and Summoning (can only hold must act asa central sourceof
male. use wall of thorns, weather sum- information about agricultural
The priests of this god are on moning, and creeping doom from techniques for the farmers of the
this sphere). Minor Access to Ani- area: the priests must not turn
good terms with Druids and the mal, Healing, Protection,Sun, and away farmers who come for ad-
priests of Community, Earth,Fer- Weather. This does not give the vice.
tility, Fire, Life-Death-Rebirth Cy- priest all the spheres indicated for
cle, Nature, Seasons, and a priest with Poor Combat Abili- Possible Symbols: Sickle,
Vegetation. ties, so he’ll also have more than scythe, sheafof wheat.
one Granted Power.
Alignment: The deity is true Notes: The weapons chosen for
neutral. His priests may be true Powers: Analysis, Detection, this priesthood are those which
neutral or neutral good: most are Identification (as described in the have some bearing in agriculture.
neutral good. The flock may be of Designing Faiths chapter) of any
Ancestors
any alignment. sort of domesticated grain or gar-
Minimum Ability Scores: Wis- den plant: the priest can look at a This is a god devoted to man’s
communion with and honoring of
dom 11, Constitution 12. Wisdom field and tell what‘s being grown, his dead ancestors. As such,this is
how far along it is in the harvest a god of civilization and learning,
or Constitution 1 6 means +5%ex- year, what the state of the crop is even of courtesy.
(healthy, diseased, drought prob-
perience; Wisdom and Constitu- lems, etc.), and even what species The priests of this god keep the
is growing it (this can be handy deeds of ancestors and heroes in
tion 1 6 means + 10%experience. when the party is sneaking up on the minds of the population. They
the dwelling of an unknown mon- commune with and honor the
Races Allowed Gnomes, half- ster and there is a garden nearby. dead, and are also devoted to
elves, halflings, humans. for instance).CreateFood & Water:
The Priest can cast this spell once learning from them - not just
Nonweapon and Weapon Profi- per day in addition to all other
ciencies: Nonweapon Proficien- reading their writings, but com-
cies Required: Agriculture. spells that he can cast. Immunity:
Nonweapon Proficiencies Recom- The Priest is immune to the harm-
mended: Local History, Reading/
Writing, Religion. Weapon
Proficiencies Required:None. Non-
weapon Proficiency Group Cross-
overs: Priest, General.

Duties of the Priest: Guidance,

even exploring alternate planes to Nonweapon Proficiencies Recom- them a t a distance of 30’,and
understand the meaning of lifeand mended: ReadinglWriting, Her- through thick stone or the earth
death. aldry, Religion. Weapon can only detect them at 10’ dis-
ProficienciesRequired: None. Non- tance. (Therefore, when he walks
They are also devoted to the pro- weapon Proficiency Group Cross- over a grave, he will only detect its
tection of new generations, whom overs: Priest, General. presence if it is 10’or less down.)
they teach to appreciate the pre- Immunity (asdescribed in the De-
vious generations of this race. Duties of the Priest:Guidance, signing Faiths chapter) to the
Marriage. Education: These charm abilities of undead crea-
This priesthood places a high priests must teach new genera- tures such as the vampire. 7hm
tions the value of veneration ofan- undead (same as the Cleric abil-
value on truth. cestors, and are therefore also ity). A t 8th level: Prophecy (asde-
Priests of the god of ancestors repositories of a lot of historical scribed in the Designing Faiths
knowledge. Missions: ?b investi- chapter): the priest cannot ac-
hate the undead, regarding them gate old mysteries, find out what tively try to prophesy; when re-
really didhappen to famous ances- ceiving prophecies, he is hearing
as a mockery of true and noble tors who disappeared or perished the voices of the dead advising
mysteriously, sort out the truth him.
death. These priests seek to eradi- from old legends of the city’s he-
cate the undead whenever en- roes, etc. Prophecy: Listening to Followers and Strongholds:
countered. the omens whispered by the dead. The followers are received at 8th
level, and consist of five third-level
Lesser gods of this attribute Weapon and Armor Restric- priests and fifteen first-level
would be devoted to subsets of the tions: Weapons Permitted: Club, priests, all of the Same priesthood.
broad field of Ancestors. Such sub- daggeddirk, dart, knife, quarter- The priest may take the following
sets include: Ancestors of a partic- staff. Armor Permitted: None: no on adventures: Five priests, no
ular race, of a particular city, of a shields. Oriental Campaigns: Also more than two of whom may be
particular extended clan; all male bo stick. All together, these consti- chosen from the third-levelpriests.
ancestors, all female ancestors, all tute Poor combat abilities. The priesthood will pay for half of
warrior ancestors, all scholar an- the cost of stronghold construc-
cestors, etc. It would be appropri- Other Limitations: None. tion at 8th level. The stronghold
ate for a civic deity (see Spheres of Influence Major Ac- must also act as a genealogical li-
Community, below) also to be a cess to All, Astral, Creation, Divi- brary for the surrounding com-
god of the city’s ancestors, for in- nation, Guardian, Necromantic, munities, and will constantly be
stance. Protection. Minor Access to visited by scholars looking for in-
Charm, Healing. This does not formation on families and ances-
Ancestor deities are not inclined give the priest all the minor ac- try (orwho come with information
toward either sex. cesses to spheres indicated for a to contribute).
priest with Poor combat abilities,
The priests of this god are on so he’ll also have some Granted Pn-ible Symbols Bee.
good terms with the priests of Powers.
BirthlChildren, Community, Di- Powers: Detection(asdescribed A
vinity of Mankind, Fate/Destiny, in the Designing Faiths chapter)
Race, and Sites. The priests of this of graves and undead. The priest This god is the protector of ani-
god dislike the priests of Disease. can detect graves where remains mals. He could intend to protect
lie, and the presence of undead, animals from all harm, and thus
Alignment: The deity is neutral within 60‘;he can tell the differ- be the enemy of all hunters, rang-
good. His priests may be chaotic ence between the truly dead and ers, and carnivores of all descrip-
good, neutral good, or lawful good. the undead, but has no other ana- tions. Most often he’s primarily
The flock may be of any neutral or lytical ability (i.e., he cannot tell interested in keeping animal spe-
good alignment. that the undead detected is a vam- ciesintact, not allowingthem to be
pire): through wooden or thin hunted to extinction, etc., and
Minimum Ability Scores: Wis- stone walls, he can only detect

dom 12. Wisdom 16means + 10%

experience.
Races Allowed: Dwarves, elves,

gnomes, half-elves, halflings, hu-

I mans.
Nonweapon and Weapon Profi-
ciencies: Nonweapon Proficien-
cies Required: Local History.

thus allows a reasonable amount (either or both), Readingwriting, them before.) Language/
of hunting and trapping to take Religion, Animal Lore, 'kacking. Communication (as described in
place. Weapon Proficiencies Required: the Designing Faiths chapter):The
None. Nonweapon Proficiency priest can communicate with
The priests of this god also work Group Crossovers:Priest, General, three specific animal species (for
hard to keep excess hunting and Warrior. example, lion, raven, wolf) or one
trapping in check, and to remind category of animals (for example,
the flock that the god will avenge Duties of the Priest: Guidance, all felines, all canines): the DM de-
abuses. Typically, this god is con- Marriage. Vigilance: Protection of
tent to be counted as one of many animal life against unnecessary cides which ones based on the
gods and almost never insists on slaughter, especially by humans gods attributes, but if the god's at-
being the primary deity wor- and other sentient races. Missions: tributes do not dictate specific
shipped by the flock. Acts of war against those who do choices the DM can give the choice
harm to the animal world or to the to the player. Soothing Word (as
A lesser type of animal-god is priest's totem animal. (Normaland described in the Designing Faiths
one who is the protector of a single recreational hunters do not incur chapter, but only usable on "natu-
species or group of species. Such a this sort of attack, but those who ral" monsters or animals). At 5th
deity might be the lion-god, or the hunt or trap in mass quantities Level: Shapechanging (as de-
god of all felines, or the god of ele- and threaten the survival of whole scribed in the Designing Faiths
phants, or the god of porpoisesand species in an area do.) chapter: again, the DM decides
dolphins. In a primitive society, all which shape or shapes are
members of a nomadic tribe might Weapon and Armor Restric- changed into according to the
worship the god of the herd animal tions: Weapons Permitted: Bill, god's attributes, or can give the
the tribe hunts (bison, for exam- cestus, club, daggerldirk, knife, choice to the player).
mace, main-gauche, stiletto,
ple). swords (all), warhammer. Armor Followers and Strongholds:
Animal deities are often male. Permitted: all non-metal armor: no The followers are received at 9th
The priests of this god are on shields. Oriental Campaigns: Also level, and consist of one ffi-level
katana, sai, wakizashi. All to- priest, one third-level priest, and
good terms with Druids and the gether, these constitute Medium twelve first-levelpriests, all of the
priests of Earth, Fertility, Hunting, combat abilities.
Life-Death-Rebirth Cycle, Nature, same order, plus one third-level
OceanslRivers (only if priesthood Other Limitations: None. ranger and seven first-level rang-
has some association with aquatic Spheres of Influence: Major Ac- ers. The priest may take the follow-
animals), and Race (Elven). cess to All, Animal, Charm, Divi- ing on adventures: Three priests
nation, Protection. Minor Access and two rangers of his choice. The
Alignment: The deity is true to Combat, Creation, Healing, priesthood will pay for half of the
neutral. The priests may be neu- Plant. cost of stronghold construction at
tral evil, true neutral, or neutral Powers: Identification (as de-
good: evil priests have their own scribed in the Designing Faiths 9th level. The temple acts asan an-
sect and the other priests don't chapter) of any natural monster or imal hospice, a "hospital" for sick
animal the priest sees. (A "natu-
have to tolerate them. The flock ral" monster or animal is one or injured animals brought in by
may be of any alignment. which exists as a species, within the rangers: many scholars also
an ecological niche, spawns and visit these strongholds in order to
Minimum Ability Scores: Wis- rears its young, and has so existed learn, from the rangers, more
dom 9, Charisma 13.Wisdom or as a species for at least five years. about animals and monsters in
Charisma 16 means +5%experi- Newly-created animal species, de- their natural habitat.
ence: Wisdom and Charisma 16 mons, devils, constructs, and simi-
means + 10%experience. lar monsters do not fall into this Possible Symbols: Any animal:
category; when the priest sees claws.
Races Allowed: Elves, gnomes, them, he will only be able to iden-
half-elves,halflings, humans. tify them if he has encountered Notes The weapons allowed for
this priesthood were chosen for
Nonweapon and Weapon Profi- their similarity to animal attacks.

ciencies: Nonweapon Proficien- That's why there are lots of weap
ons with piercing and slashing at-
cies Required: Animal Handling.
Nonweapon Proficiencies Recom-
mended: Animal lYaining, Riding

tacks, but no ranged weapons or Proficiencies Recommended: saving throw vs. all other Illusion
cleaving attacks. spells for which a saving throw is
ReadinglWriting, Religion. possible (he can’t make a saving
__AI throw against someone else’s in-
Weapon Proficiencies Required: visibility, for instance). Addition-
This god celebrates the arts,par- ally, even when he fails a saving
ticularly the visual arts (such as None. Nonweapon Proficiency throw or a saving throw doesn’t
painting and sculpture). apply, he can still tell when the fol-
Group Crossovers:Priest, General. lowing spells are being used (if he
The priests of this god are de- can see the area affected by the
voted to encouraging the visual Duties of the Priest: Guidance, spell): change self, spook,
arts of every sentient race: and Leomund’s trap, fez, hallucina-
though they seem to be devoted to Marriage. Encouragement of peo- tory terrain, and vacancy. This
a non-violent cause, they have to ability does not allow the priest to
learn so many different types of ple. even those not in the flock, tell which spell is being used. Also,
magic (especially Divination, to this does not make the priest im-
who exhibit artistic abilities. Par- mune to the effects of the spell (for
learn, and Creation, to create), example, he’ll still be scared by
they are very powerful magically, ticipation in semiannual events spook),but he’llknow it was an il-
even in combat situations. lusion.
where artists’ works are displayed
Lesser gods of this attribute Followers and Strongholds:
would be devoted to specificarts:A (in shows. or before the local The followers are received at 8th
God of Sculpture, for example. level, and consist of fivethird-level
rulers, or in displays in the mar- priests and five fust-level priests,
Gods of the arts are equally all of the same order, plus twenty
likely to be of either sex. ketplace). Punishment of those Normal Men and Women with ar-
tistic Nonweapon Proficiencies.
The priests of this god are on who defile or destroy great works The priest may take the following
good terms with the priests of on adventures: Four priests (no
Community, Crafts, Culture, Di- of art. Vigilance: Art often shocks more than two of whom may be
vinity of Mankind, Light, third-level) and four Normal Men
the sensibilities of those who do and Women. The priesthood will
LiteratureIPoetry, Metalwork, pay for half of the cost of strong-
MusiclDance, and Sun. not appreciate certain of its forms, hold construction at 8th level. The
priest must act as a patron of the
Alignment: The deity is good;at 30 these priests must be vigilant arts for the surrounding area, and
the DM’s discretion, he may be must work to make his stronghold
chaotic good, neutral good, or law- igainst censorship. a center for the teaching of those
ful good, but tends to be neutral who show artistic promise.
Weapon and Armor Restric-
good. Regardless of his alignment, Possible Symbols Chisel, pal-
his priests may be of any good tions: Weapons Permitted: Bows let, paint brush.
alignment. The flock may be of
any neutral or good alignment. all). Armor Permitted: None: no Notes: The bow, the only
weapon allowed for these priests,
Minimum Ability Scores: Wis- 3hields. Oriental Campaigns: was chosen because it is a symbol
dom 13, Intelligence 12. Wisdom representing inspiration.
or Intelligence 16 means +5%ex- 41so daikyu. All together, these
perience: Wisdom and Intelligence Birth, Children
:onstitute Poor combat abilities.
16means + 10%experience. This god’s interest is in the safe
Other Limitations: Priests of and successful birthing of chil-
Races Allowed: Dwarves, elves,
gnomes, half-elves, halflings, hu- h e Arts gain only 6-sided hit dice,
mans.
lot 8-sided.
Nonweapon and Weapon Profi-
ciencies: Nonweapon Proficien- Spheres of Influence: Major Ac-
cies Required: Artistic Ability (DM
can choose which art form, or can :ess to All, Astral, Creation, Divi-
let player choose). Nonweapon
iation, Elemental, Plant,

’rotection, Sun. Minor Access to

lealing, Necromantic. This gives

h e priest one extra major access

md four too few minor accesses,

or a priest with Poor Combat Abil-

ties: this is nearly balanced, but

ie’ll also have some Granted

’owers.

Powers: Identification of and

‘inmunityvs. (as described in the

Iesigning Faiths chapter) certain

3pells. Because of the priest’ssupe-

‘iorinsight into creativity and art,

le is Immune (receives an

iutomatically-successful saving

hrow) to all first-level wizard Illu-

,ion spells for which a saving

hrow is possible, and gets a +2

dren and, subsequently, their pro- spirits who snatch away the
tection and nurturing.
breath of babies and kill them When a god’s principal interest
His priests take those interests
to heart, and, because of the god’s (treat as vampires). is in one city [itsgrowth, defense,
protective aspects, tend to learn Weapon and Armor Restric- and prosperity),he’s called a god of
community or, more commonly, a
fairly powerful combat magics. tions: WeaponsPermitted: Lasso, civic deity.
One lesser god of this attribute net. Armor Permitted: None: no

would be the god of Youth, repre- shields. All together, these consti- The priests of the civic deity are
senting children and youths of all
ages from birth to the verge of tute Poor combat abilities. responsible for making sure that
adulthood. the god receives worship from the
Other Limitations: None. city’s inhabitants, and promote all
Gods of birth, children, and Spheres of Influence: Major Ac-
youth tend to be female.
cess to All, Astral, Charm, Crea- sorts of plans and efforts to im-
The priests of this god are on tion, Elemental, Healing, prove the city: Civic improvement
good terms with the priests of An- Protection, Summoning, Sun. Mi- plans, improvement of the city
cestors, Community, Fertility,
nor Access to Animal, Combat, walls and army, etc.
Healing,Love,Marriage,and Race. Divination, Guardian, Necroman-
The priests of this god dislike the tic. This priesthood has two extra One god may be the civic deity of
priests of Death, Disease. several cities, or each city could
major accesses and is only short have its own, lesser god.
Alignment: The deity is neutral one minor access: therefore, it is
good. The priests may be any sort far superior in magical power. The DM may not wish for there
of good alignment. The flock may to be so many gods in his cam-
be of any neutral or good align- Powers: Zhrn undead (same as paign world. If this is the case,
ment.
the Cleric ability): the priests of then a civic deity should also (and
Minimum Ability Scores: Wis- his faith, which is symbolicof life, primarily)be the god of some other
dom 10.Wisdom 16means + 10% ue therefore enemies of and have attribute, and would be a given
iome power over the undead.
experience. city’s civic deity in addition. For
Races Allowed Dwarves, elves, Followers and Strongholds: example, in Greek mythology,
rhe followers are received at 8th Athena was primarily the goddess
gnomes, half-elves, halflings, hu- evel, and consist of one f~lh-level of wisdom, and had secondary at-
Jriest, three third-level priests, tributes as a goddess of war, of
mans. md six first-levelpriests, all of the crafts, and of the city of Athens.
Nonweapon and Weapon Profi- same order, plus one third-Ievel Civic deities are just as com-
mladin and seven first-levelfight- monly male as female.
ciencies: Nonweapon Proficien- :rs to act as guards and soldiers.
cies Required: Healing. The priests of this god are on
Nonweapon Proficiencies Recom- The priest may take the following good terms with the priests of Agri-
mended: Herbalism, Reading/ In adventures: linro priests and culture, Ancestors, Arts, Birth/
Writing, Religion. Weapon wo fighters of his choice, and the Children, Death, Guardianship,
Proficiencies Required: Non- mladin. The priesthood will pay vlarriage, Messengers, Peace,
weapon Proficiency Group Cross- o r half of the cost of stronghold ’rosperity, Race, Rulership/
overs: Priest, General. construction a t 8th level. The Kingship, Sites, lkade, and War.
stronghold must act as a mater-
Duties of the Priest:Guidance, Alignment: A deity whose sole
Marriage. Education: Teaching nity hospital for the local commu- attribute is that he is the protector/
medicine, especially the arts of nity, and may turn away no patron of a single community has
midwifery, to the flock. Vigilance, woman who is close to having her an alignment appropriate to that
in some areas of the world, against child.
the type of monsters who prey on community. Most are true neutral,
babies and children: Dark elves, Possible Symbols:Cradle.
who sometimes steal human chil- their interest is in the survival of
dren and leave changelings (baby Notes: This is a nonviolent or- the community by any means,
der, which is why no damaging whether by law, chaos, good, or
dark elves) in their place to be weapons were included in its evil. Their priests may be of any
raised in their steads: or night. choices.
alignment, but evil priests gather

in one cult, neutral priests in an-

other. and good priests in a third: tions: Weapons Permitted: third-levelfighter and twelve first
Daggerldirk, knife, and any two level fighters to act as guards. Thc
at the DM’s discretion, they don’t from the following list (the DM de- priest may take the following or
have to get along. The flock may be cides based on which weapons are adventures: ?tnropriests and three
of any alignment. The DM can de- most representative of the city in fighters of his choice. The priest
cide that a particular civic deity is question; at least one weapon hood will pay for half of the cost o
neutral good, in which case there should be in the ld8 or greater stronghold construction a t 7tl-
will be no evil priests or flock: or damage range): Battle axe, bows level. The stronghold must be
that he is neutral evil, in which (all), crossbow, flails [both), har-
case there will be no good priests poon, lance, mace, morning star, built within the city, and it musi
or flock. net, polearm, quarterstaff, spear, act as a library specializing in t h c
swordlbastard, swordlcutlass, history of the city and the arts anc
Minimum Ability Scores: Wis- swordllong, swordhapier, sword literature created bv imDortanl
dom 10,Charisma 12. Wisdom or sabre, swordlshort, swordltwo-
Charisma 16 means +5%experi- handed, trident, warhammer. used as the symbol for the commu
ence; Wisdom and Charisma 16 Armor Permitted: All armor and
shields. Oriental Campaigns: Also nity also serves as the symbol foi
means + 10%experience. added to choices list: Bo stick,
daikyu, katana. All together, these this priesthood; if the civic s y I l s p
Races Allowed: Dwarves, elves, constitute Good combat abilities.
is a lion, so is the gods. I
gnomes, half-elves, halflings, hu- Other Limitations: Priests of a
mans. If a community has only civic deity must always wear Competition
one type of sentient race inhabit- clothing indicating their priestly
ing it (or is principally devoted to status when appearing in public. This is the god of competition
especially of athletic competition
one race), then the priests may be Spheres of Influence: Major Ac- This god stressesfairness,imparti
only of that race; if the population cess to All, Creation, Healing. ality, and truth in his followers. He
consists of several types of senti- Minor Access to Combat, Protec- is also a proponent of health, exer
ent races, then the priests of the tion. These choices don’t give the cise, and physical self-im
priest access to very many spells, provement.
community god may be of any so this priesthood will have good
race. Granted Powers. Note that the DM His priests follow t h e same
may wish to substitute some other goals, and support these goals bq
Nonweapon and Weapon Profi- choice for the Major Access to Cre- conducting regular athletic exer
ation and the Minor Access to cises and games, and by acting as
ciencies: Nonweapon Proficien- Combat if the civic deity that he impartial judges for those games.
cies Required: Local History. has created has secondary attrib-
Nonweapon Proficiencies Recom- utes not reflected in this listing. Gods of lesser parts of the Com
mended: Etiquette, Heraldry, An- petition attribute might be gods 01
Powers: Incite Berserker Rage specific events; for example, to bt
cient History, ReadinglWriting, (asper the Designing Faiths chap- the god of Boxing or Wrestling
Religion. Weapon Proficiencies Re- ter). Soothing Word (asper the De- might be a very honorable thing. I1
signing Faiths chapter). m r n would be far less dramatic to bc
quired: None. Nonweapon Profi- Undead (theCommunity is a gath- the god of the Broad Jump or tht
ciency Group Crossovers: Priest, ering of the living, and so priests of god of Synchronized Swimming
General. this sect are no friends to the un- however.
dead).
Duties of the Priest: Guidance, Gods of competition are usuall)
Marriage. Education: The priest Followers and Strongholds: male.
must preserve the history of the The followers are received at 7th
city, teach it to the young of his level, and consist of three third- The priests of this god are or
flock, and never let it be forgotten. level priests and six first-level good terms with the priests of thc
Vigilance: Against any threat to priests, of the same order, and one Divinity of Mankind, Fortune
his city. This is why priests of com- Luck,JusticelRevenge, Peace, anc
munity deities often wander the Strength.
wider world: They are acting as an
intelligence network for the city, Alignment: The deity is lawfu
keeping their ears open for any
hint of threat or danger to the city

from outside.
Weapon and Armor Restric-

good: so must be his priests. The competitions in the campaign cul- Dther spells he can cast.
flock, who tend to turn to the god ture: Bastard, cutlass, khopesb, Followers and Strongholds:
only in times or events of competi- long, rapier, sabre, short, two-
tion, may be of any alignment. handed). Armor Permitted: All T’he followers are received at 8th
non-magical armor and non- level, and consist of one fsth-level
Minimum Ability Scores Wis- magical shields. Oriental Cam- priest, three third-level priests,
paigns:Also daikyu: katana would and sixteen first-level priests, of
dom 12, Intelligence 10. Wisdom automatically be the sword choice. the same order. The priest may
or Intelligence 16 means +5%ex- take the following on adventures:
perience: Wisdom and Intelligence All together, these constituteGood Three priests of his choice. The
combat abilities. priesthood will pay for half of the
16means + 10%experience. cost of stronghold construction at
Other Limitations: A priest of 8th level. The stronghold must in-
Races Allowed Dwarves, elves, the god of competition may use clude athletic fields, and youthful
gnomes, half-elves, halflings, hu- magical items in normal combat athletes from the local communi-
mans. and warfare but he may not use ties must be admitted regularly so
them in competition matches, and that they might use those fields.
Nonweapon and Weapon Profi- he may not use them in challenge
ciencies: Nonweapon Proficien- matches with enemies unless he Possible Symbols: Laurel
cies Required: Endurance. declares their presence to the en- wreath.
Nonweapon Proficiencies Recom- emy in question. If he violates this
mended: Readingwriting, Reli- rule, he offends his god: this is an This god represents the crating
gion, Gaming. Weapon Profic- “inappropriate weapon and armor and creation of all sorts of non-
iencies Required: None. Non- use” from the “Priestsand Punish- metal goods: Wooden art objects,
weapon Proficiency Group Cross- ment” section of the “Role- furniture, textiles, clothing,
overs: Priest, General, Warrior. Playing”chapter, later in thisbook. leather goods, glassware, porce-
lain ware, and so forth. He may
Duties of the Priest: Guidance, Spheres of Influence:Major Ac- also be the god of engineering and
cess to All, Divination, Flemental. stonemasonry.
Marriage. Judgement: Priests of Minor Access to Combat, Healing.
this god are asked to be judges at This gods priests try to support
all athletic events, to help ensure Powers: Analysis, Detection,
fairness in the sport. (A given Identification (as per the Design- and aid young craftsmen, to en-
event won’t necessarily have only ing Faiths chapter) of cheating in courage the exchange of ideas and
priests of this god as judges, but athletic competitionand challenge techniques between dilferent cit-
the later rounds of events, and es- fights. If the competition is set up ies and different guilds, and to im-
pecially the finals, will be judged with rules in advance, the priest of prove the state of sophistication of
only by these priests.) Vigilance: this sect, if he is watching the fight all crafts and related arts.
Against unfairness. Priests of this or competition from within 60’.
god loathe unfairness and dishon- will always be able to detect when Lesser gods of this attribute
esty above all other human traits. the rules are broken, and be able to would be gods of specific crafts-
This isn’t just unfairness in the tell whether it was deliberateor ac- man arts.One might be the God of
sports arena: They also oppose un- cidental: they are also 100%accu- Woodworking: one might be the
just rule. Additionally, when two rate when telling whether God of Leatherworking.
forcesof basically equal honor and someone stepped out of a bound-
righteousness clash, these priests, ary,telling who reached the fintsh Gods of crafts are equally likely
line first, etc. (This power is the to be male or female.
if they choose to become involved, principal reason that these priests
tend to support the weaker side. are always asked to judge events.) The priests of this god are on
the underdog. good terms with the priests of Arts,
Bless: The priest can cast this spell Community, Culture, Divinity of
Weapon and Armor Restric- three times per day in addition to Mankind, Light, LiteraturelPoetry,
tions: Weapons Permitted: Bows all other spells he can cast. A t Metalwork, MusiclDance, Race
(all),crossbow, daggeddirk, hand/ eighth level, he can cast it six (Dwarven),Face (Elven),Sun,and
throwing axe,javelin, knife, lance, ?fade.
spear, sword (DM chooses one .I
sword type from following list:
choice should be the type of sword times per day in additi
. ~ O S cI ommonly used in organized

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