DIVINE MAGIC
The power of the gods is the ultimate force to reckon with, so it comes as no surprise that mortals hope to wield even a fraction of it.
The system presented here takes an extremely roleplay-centric view of divine magic. There are no specific spells, no preset effects, no formalized domains (for spells), and no bonus spells for high attributes (although these abilities do contribute to effective miracle working). Instead, players of divine miracle workers call upon their characters’ deity or deities of choice directly, asking for the miracle they need or want at the moment they need it – and the Game Master, roleplaying the Power in question, dictates the exact result based upon the character’s accumulated reserve of divine Grace, their success at Invocation (and subsequent Humility), the Hubris they have incurred, and the scope of the miracle sought.
DOCTRINES OF SERVICE
Not just anybody may bear the power, authority, and responsibility of the gods. Becoming, and being, a divine servant requires a PC to prove his or her worthiness to their chosen Power through dedication, self-sacrifice, and discipline. Divine servants are men and women who have chosen to put their faith and their god first, above all else. They must consider all decisions and all actions in their lives in the light of that faith, and many of those actions have direct consequences on their power and their standing with their god.
This may be explicitly codified in a cleric’s formal vows of ordination or a champion’s oath of service, or implicit in the rigorous principles embraced by a solitary monk. For game purposes, all such vows, oaths, or binding ideals are defined by the PC’s Doctrine, the specifics of what the divine servant must do to earn the favor of the Power he or she serves – and what he or she must not do to avoid provoking that Power’s wrath!
A Doctrine consists of two parts: Duties, the activities favored and required by the divine servant’s faith, and Prohibitions, the activities forbidden by the faith.
When creating a PC that follows the path of the Divine Servant, the DM and player should write up both Duties and Prohibitions in as much detail as possible, to provide guidelines for the character’s faith and powers. Duties and Prohibitions between them are what define a religion’s or servant’s morals, ethics, and principles, and which may in turn embody the intentions and goals of the church leadership and, ultimately, the god in question. Writeups for Gods will include baselines for each, but the player and DM should expand on those with setting / sect / region appropriate additions.
Typical Duties include:
Conducting religious services regularly, for their congregation and for themselves. Clerical and druidic types, if living within a community of the faithful, must typically hold such services at least weekly, while champions usually lead such services only among their own kind if at all; but all divine servants usually spend at least fifteen minutes to an hour each day on their own daily meditations.
Advancing the cause of the deity and the religion. This includes everything from preaching your faith in an effort to gain converts, to defending churches (or other sacred spaces, like druidic groves or deep virgin forest) threatened by invasion, misrule or corruption, to convincing local rulers or communities to build new churches. While not all faiths consider other paths false or evil, they do all contend their own way is best – a devout divine servant has a duty not just to his god and his fellow believers, but to every sentient being, to bring them enlightenment (as he and his faith see it).
Carrying out the commandments of the religion, or of the deity itself. This can range from protecting the innocent from danger to sacrificing them by torture, depending on the faith. For wilderness types, this typically includes protecting the wilderness from the undue exploitation of mankind or other races. (What constitutes “undue exploitation” can, of course, be a remarkably subjective thing – and of such disagreements and dilemmas is interesting roleplaying made.)
Typical Prohibitions include:
Explicitly, openly denying one’s service or relationship to the deity and religion. All divine servants are expected to stand up for their faith, no matter the consequences – although some religions do allow a distinction between openly denying one’s faith and simply not calling attention to it or to one’s status. Some evil religions require the divine servant to conceal his or her status from all but fellow faithful, in which case the Prohibition is typically against revealing oneself without urgent need.
Disobeying the orders of superiors in the religion. As all the divine servants in a church are nominally sworn totally to the service of their deity, that chain of command typically flows in an unbroken line from head of the faith to the newest novitiate. (This presumes such orders are in keeping with the religion’s purpose and nature – sometimes defying an unjust order from a corrupt superior is what is needed to gain true Grace.)
Actions against the alignment of the deity or the religion. Most religions don’t require their servants to be of precisely the same alignment as their primary deity or canon, but they do require that their servants not commit actions in egregious violation of that alignment – a cleric of a lawful evil god might himself be lawful neutral, but he is still not permitted to perform truly good acts (e.g. helping an innocent free of charge) – his faith prohibits it, even if it wouldn’t trouble his own conscience. Likewise, a chaotic good priest of a lawful good religion might rapidly find himself in trouble for breaking the rules of his church, even if done for benevolent motives.
Behavior that damages the divine servant’s own spiritual purity or worthiness. Almost all faiths require their believers to abstain from certain behaviors, typically vices of one kind or another (lying, lust, drunkenness, gluttony, greed, etc.). Some vices may be permitted in moderation or in specific circumstances, while others may be outright forbidden; the DM should work out exactly what each specific faith frowns on and why. For example, the clerics of a god of healing and health would abstain from vices such as drugs, alcohol in excess, or gluttony, because these things damage the body’s health for the sake of transitory pleasure. Likewise, many gods of Good prohibit or discourage lustful behavior that does not include compassion for others or concern for their welfare (an essentially selfish, and therefore Evil, attitude).
Interestingly, evil gods do not always prohibit nominally virtuous behavior the same way. Many evil religions rely on deception, hypocrisy and betrayal to accomplish their aims; evil divine servants must therefore be able to affect “good” behavior, so as to fit in with the society they are working to corrupt. An evil cleric may be permitted to offer good and wise counsel, if by doing so he can win a position in court where he can corrupt kings and nobles or set them at odds. What evil Powers tend to frown on are genuine expressions of compassion or trust, or any good behavior done solely for the sake of the behavior itself rather than an ulterior Evil motive; this, to most evil gods, is an unforgiveable weakness.
GRACE & HUBRIS
These two scores track the current standing of the divine servant with his or her deity, and must be maintained carefully throughout gameplay. In order to fuel their holy powers, divine servants must draw upon their Grace, a quality that denotes the favor and blessing they currently bear from their god. Every time a PC performs a notable Duty, the DM should award him or her from 1 to 5 points of Grace; the more significant and meaningful the action, the more points of Grace the PC receives. It is often a good idea to write down examples of just what degree of action is necessary to earn varying levels of Grace. In the sample Doctrine outlined earlier, for example, a PC might earn Grace as follows:
1 point – Performing daily devotions or weekly services, tossing coppers to a beggar, or counseling a friend (fellow PC) in despair.
2 points – Rendering significant assistance (more than a casual gift of funds or an easy service) to a stranger in need, opening a new place of worship, or standing up for the faith at some personal cost or inconvenience.
3 points – Making a significant advance to the faith’s goals (converting a key political leader, opening up the first temple in a new land), standing up for the faith at risk to one’s life or great personal sacrifice.
4 points – Putting oneself in great danger for the sake of the faith, helping to end a war, defeating a major enemy of the faith.
5 points – Saving a village of innocents from an escaped demon, preaching so convincingly to a king that you convince him to outlaw slavery, or using the hoard of a slain dragon to feed a city’s hungry.
Performing acts that break Prohibitions, or failing to show thanks and reverence during or after the invocation of a miracle, will earn the PC Hubris – the arrogance and pride that comes from daring to wield the power of the Gods without showing the proper humility and respect, or paying the price of service.
Like Grace, Hubris is measured in points and begins at 0, but high Hubris is a decidedly negative thing – the more Hubris a PC accumulates, the harder he will find it to invoke miracles, and the more he will suffer his god’s displeasure. Hubris that climbs too high may earn the divine servant a Rebuke from his god, and ultimately condemn him to Execration, becoming accursed in the sight of gods and men.
Whenever the PC breaks a Prohibition of his Doctrine, the DM must assign 1 to 5 points of Hubris; as with Grace, the more blasphemous the act the more Hubris is gained. A priest of the Doctrine of Ascension, for example, might earn Hubris as follows:
1 point – Kicking a sleeping beggar off the steps of his church, defying a minor order of a superior in an indirect or passive way, accepting miracles from another Power, or deliberately drinking to excess.
2 points – Stealing funds from the church collection tithes, killing accidentally in an unnecessary fight, or denying one’s faith to save one’s life.
3 points – Visiting a concubine on a regular basis (per visit), stealing from the poor or the needy, or denying one’s faith for reasons of personal greed or convenience.
4 points – Actively working against church interests, willfully taking an innocent life, covertly denouncing the faith, or openly disdaining a high church authority.
5 points – Conducting human sacrifices on the church altar after midnight, or openly denouncing the faith in public.
For evil deities and churches, the counterpart of Grace is Malefice, the power invested in the divine servant by the black Power he or she serves, which is earned by performing Duties in keeping with the Power’s dark desires. The counterpart of Hubris is Weakness, received for those moments of doubt, fear, hesitation or soft-heartedness which cause an evil divine servant to break the Prohibitions of his faith and commit actions of goodness or compassion.
There is no limit to the amount of Grace or Hubris a PC might earn in one instance, but the maximum amount (before feats and adjustments) of Grace for a character to retain is equal to twice their level. Newly created first-level divine servant PCs begin play with maximum Grace; Clerics can use this Grace to invoke Miracles immediately. If you have not walked down the Divine Path, you are not able to invoke Miracles or claim the benefits of benedictions, however many Paths offer a later entry into Invoking Miracles.
MANAGING GRACE AT THE TABLE
The purpose of a freeform spellcasting system such as this is to emphasize roleplaying. In this case, that roleplaying is casting an eye on the relationship between a Divine Servant and their God. That said, it can be aggravating or even downright boring as a player to have to wait for another character to constantly describe their morning prayers or listen to their endless pious rants.
To strike a balance between conducive RP and character growth, it is suggested that the DM assumes a character does their normal morning rites and prayers adequately - the character is normally having private conversations (even if one-sided) with their deity. Unless there is a reason a character cannot take the time to commune during their normal time (or the player is deliberate about it for some reason), it should be assumed the character is meeting bare minimums for faith and is earning 1 Grace per day.
Other instances of Grace should be measured and awarded in a split between how a character spends their downtime activities and genuine RP events, as follows:
Downtime Activities
Downtime spent furthering religious goals should be more generalized. “I administer a service at the church.” is a great example of a quick explanation of a downtime service spent furthering religious goals. The player is not actually roleplaying the sermon. These are quick statements of intent, followed by a quick response to the DM (ie., “Great, gain an additional Grace point for the day.”). Alternatively, it may serve as a catalyst for the DM to move to an RP event.
RP Events
RP Events are, generally, either organic RP encounters or encounters that were downtime activities that have escalated to an RP opportunity. Note that your character may not always have to engage the opportunity, which may be desirable if the chance of Hubris is high or perhaps your Grace is at capacity. Using the downtime example above, maybe there is a naysayer in the crowd your character is preaching to. How do you handle it? Instead of a passive remark about it playing out, we instead zoom into the event where your character has a chance to persuade the naysayer to your religion or outright strike them down. Depending on how you handle the situation, it should have the potential to award more Grace for success (and, conversely, Hubris should you fail).
BENEDICTIONS & MIRACLES
The powers earned by devout service to the gods are of two types: Benedictions, which represent ongoing or permanent abilities such as the ability to detect evil or divine immunity to disease, and Miracles, which are active, unique invocations of the power of the character’s deity to accomplish a desired end. Miracles of evil gods are often known as Banes, and the Benedictions of a dark faith are usually called Sacrileges.
BENEDICTIONS
A Benediction costs no Grace and requires no roll to use, but the PC must maintain a certain minimum level of Grace to receive the benefits; some Benedictions may also have other prerequisites like a minimum experience level, or qualifying quest or task. If the PC’s Grace falls below the minimum necessary to earn the Benediction, that Benediction ceases to operate and is unavailable to the player until the character’s Grace rises once more to the appropriate level. (This is one reason champions tend to invoke Miracles less often than clerics, as they need to keep their Grace in reserve to sustain their Benedictions.)
The exact Benedictions available to a particular character, and their prerequisites, vary by path and faith. DMs who wish to give clerics Benedictions of their own should define the Benedictions in keeping with the specifics of each faith. Priests of fire gods may receive a Benediction of resistance or immunity to fire, while priests of a god of truth or chivalry may receive Benedictions of infallible truth-sense, or the ability to compel others to obey any oaths they have sworn. Special domain powers can provide examples.
MIRACLES
While Benedictions usually have fairly well-defined and specific effects, Miracles are open to player and DM definition. Any divine servant can theoretically request anything from his or her god. However, the scope of the desired miracle, the ceremony used to propitiate the Powers, the Grace spent on the miracle and the Hubris inhibiting it, and the nature of the miracle in relation to the nature of the god, all affect the likelihood of the miracle coming to pass.
To determine the difficulty and requirements of the miracle, the DM must set its Scope, based on the player’s request/description. Scope is ranked in ten levels:
Subtle: These miracles are so quiet and low-key, or so widely accepted as “standard practice”, that they are often not noticed as miracles at all or considered anything special.
Examples: A wordless hunch, a brief lucky break, restoring a few hit points, or detecting poison in your mug of wine all qualify as Subtle.
Need a reference? The effects of most 0-or 1st-tier traditional divine spells are roughly equivalent to Subtle Miracles.
Suggested Use: Minimum Effects Across the Board. Low damage, low impact. Think of this tier more as a “tool” for a creative answer, rather than the answer itself.
Minor: Minor Miracles demonstrate a Divine Servant’s foray into the Miraculous. Most acolytes are capable of performing spells of this tier.
Examples: Symbolic guidance for near-future decisions, restoring hit points equivalent to a minor wound, curing a minor disease, calming a wild animal so that it will not eat you.
Need a reference? The effects of most 2nd-tier traditional spells are roughly equivalent to Minor Miracles.
Suggested Use: Small scale, localized effects. Usually a range of Touch, with low impact or extremely low duration effects.
Moderate: Moderate Miracles serve as the foundation for divine strength. Veteran Divine Servants can call upon this power.
Examples: These miracles grant protection or restore significant well-being. They might shield a person from harmful elements, heal multiple minor wounds, purge moderate diseases, or grant clear insight into immediate dangers. They could also bless crops or ward off common curses.
Need a reference? The effects of most 3rd-tier traditional spells are roughly equivalent to Moderate Miracles.
Suggested Use: Effects that can improve a general, non-specific situation. Can have improved range or cure a more severe ailment.
Greater: Greater Miracles are the pinnacle for most divine casters that dedicate themselves to a temple.
Examples: A single greater miracle could heal a person on the brink of death, purify a large body of water, calm violent storms, curing blindness or deafness, or alter the course of events in the near future. The caster may also summon a temporary divine guardian or repel demonic forces.
Need a reference? The effects of most 4th-tier traditional divine spells are roughly equivalent to Greater Miracles.
Suggested Use: Effects that can improve a specific situation. Can have multiple single target variables, or lesser effects targeting a group.
Major: Major Miracles are are of sufficient power to make unbelievers sit up and take serious notice.
Examples: Clear visions of the future, healing enough hit points for significant damage, walking on water, curing a major disease, allowing a crowd to understand you as if they all had comprehend languages, or creating a spring of water in the middle of a desert are all Major Miracles.
Need a reference? The effects of most 5th-tier traditional divine spells are roughly equivalent to Major Miracles.
Suggested Use: Effects that can improve most situations, regardless of circumstances. Can have strong single target variables, extended range, or moderate group effects.
Heroic: These Miracles are life-changing experiences for anyone who witnesses them (and often for those who perform them!).
Examples: Reviving the recently dead to the brink of life, curing all a subject’s hit point damage, calling down a pillar of fire from heaven, banishing a demon or outsider, making prophecies of great import for the future, and surviving a blast furnace or dragon’s breath without harm are all examples of Heroic Miracles.
Need a reference? The effects of most 6th-tier traditional divine spells are roughly equivalent to Heroic Miracles.
Suggested Use: Effects that can potentially sway the outcome of battles. High damage single target effects, or moderate multi-target effects, or lesser battlefield level effects (such as restoring light wounds or removing battlefield fatigue).
Powerful: With this magic, the divine reaches further into the world.
Examples: Healing groups on a battlefield, regrowing a limb, averting plagues, or rewriting fates are possible. A powerful spell could call down powerful divine wrath upon an enemy, grant the caster incredible power for a time, or reshape the weather over vast lands for months. Celestial creatures might serve as guardians or warriors.
Need a reference? The effects of most 7th-tier traditional divine spells are roughly equivalent to Powerful Miracles.
Suggested Use: Effects that can dramatically improve a battle or reach beyond the grasp of mortal power. High utility or damaging single target effects, moderate battlefield effects, healing effects that menders and users of mundane magic could not normally accomplish.
Supreme: Supreme magic bridges the mortal and divine planes.
Examples: Entire cities can be protected from cataclysm, a person brought back from recent death with more health or conditions removed, and armies can be blessed for victory. Time and fate may be altered on a grand scale, while the caster could summon avatars of their deity for counsel or direct intervention.
Need a reference? The effects of most 8th-tier traditional divine spells are roughly equivalent to Supreme Miracles.
Suggested Use: Effects that can dramatically shift the outcome of a war or bring a servant of your deity forth to assist you. Many strong, singular effects, or a variable effect that goes well beyond the normal parameters of “standard” magic.
Epic: At this level, divine magic warps the fabric of existence.
Examples: Epic spells can bring about miracles: resurrecting the long dead, transforming landscapes, or ending plagues. A single spell might protect entire nations, alter the course of history, or bring forth divine armies to fight for a righteous cause.
Need a reference? The effects of most 9th-tier traditional divine spells are roughly equivalent to Epic Miracles.
Suggested Use: Effects that have a semblance of permanence, or require a very high degree of resistance to overcome. Think widespread ramifications, or one step below world shattering power.
Mythic: This is the stuff of legend, fantasy, and mythology – the raising of the long-dead, striking down a nation with plague or famine, feeding thousands from five fish and two loaves, casting down city walls in an earthquake, stopping the sun in the sky, the parting of the Red Sea. Miracles of this sort will terrify as many people as they inspire to awe, and typically require tremendous amounts of Grace.
Examples: Mythic spells are rare, world-altering events. With this power, the gods themselves could intervene directly. Entire civilizations could be shielded, obliterated, or transformed. Reality itself might be rewritten for a time.
Need a reference? The effects of most 10th-tier traditional divine spells are roughly equivalent to Mythic Miracles.
Suggested Use: Reality changing effects of the highest potency. Be prepared to receive divine attention if requesting magic of this tier.
The Scope and Tier of the Miracle determines the Difficulty Class for the Miracle’s Invocation Roll and the Base Cost to attempt invoking it, as set out below:
| Scope | Tier | DC | Base Cost | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subtle | 1 | 1 | 1 | Minor, often unnoticed effects. |
| Minor | 2 | 2 | 4 | Small-scale, localized effects. |
| Moderate | 3 | 3 | 7 | Effects that can significantly impact a situation. |
| Strong | 4 | 4 | 10 | Powerful effects that can change the course of a battle or event. |
| Major | 5 | 5 | 14 | Highly effective, often with additional benefits or drawbacks. |
| Heroic | 6 | 6 | 18 | Even more potent than Tier 5 miracles, with enhanced effects or abilities. |
| Powerful | 7 | 7 | 23 | Miracles that draw upon the divine power of the caster's deity. |
| Supreme | 8 | 8 | 28 | Miracles that transcend the mortal realm, often with legendary or godlike effects. |
| Epic | 9 | 9 | 34 | Miracles that manipulate the fundamental forces of the universe. |
| Mythic | 10 | 10 | 40 | Miracles that invoke the power of the heavens, often with divine or angelic qualities. |
A Miracle too opposed to the nature of the god may be of a higher Scope in practice than the miracle itself would imply; even a Minor act of healing might be a Major Miracle for a god of war.
The Invocation Roll for a Miracle uses your Religion Dice Pool, which must equal or exceed the DC of the desired Miracle’s Scope. The DC of the miracle is equal to the Scope DC +/- Modifiers + current Hubris. At the player’s option, additional Grace points above the Base Cost may be spent; every Grace point spent adds +1 to the lowest Invocation Roll. This Grace must be spent before rolling, and is spent regardless of whether the Invocation succeeds or not.
If the Invocation Roll of a particular Miracle fails, the divine servant is free to try again, but does not recover any Grace and AP are spent on the failed attempt. It is possible for low-level divine servants to weary their deity’s patience with constant importunings for power beyond what they have earned….
The Base Cost of a Miracle is the minimum number of Grace points that must be expended for the Miracle to take place. If desired, the player may also pay this cost by taking Hubris points instead of expending Grace points, in any amount up to the Miracle’s tier – a cleric invoking a Major Miracle could pay for it by spending 14 Grace, by spending 13 Grace and taking 1 Hubris, by spending 11 Grace and taking 3 Hubris, or by taking 5 Hubris and spending the remaining 9 Grace. Hubris cannot, however, be taken to improve the Invocation Roll’s chance of success – only true Grace will do that. Any Hubris taken to pay for a Miracle does not affect that Miracle’s Invocation Roll – it’s the next Miracle that will be a problem. Remember, Hubris does not simply go away on its own.
Ceremony is the time the character must spend in prayer, meditation and ritual in order to bring the Miracle about; the character must be able to move freely, speak in a murmur at minimum, touch or see the subject of the Miracle, and have his divine focus to execute the ritual effectively. It is possible to invoke a Miracle instantly with a wordless cry to one’s god, an action called Spontaneous Invocation. This takes only a single AP in combat regardless of Scope and does not provoke an attack of opportunity, but the invoker must pay 1.5x the Base Cost in either Grace or Hubris. Casting times of Miracles should vary upon the request, but as a general guideline miracles that are only effective in combat should be 2 AP, while ones that are more ritualistic in nature (such as raising the dead) should take days or even weeks in Ceremony to execute. A DM is free to adjudicate based on circumstance, the demeanor of the deity, and the intended effect’s resolution of combat.
Sometimes a DM may decide that a player is being overly zealous with their Miracle working, perhaps because they are invoking too many miracles contrary to their deity (for example, healing too many wounded while serving a god of death), or some other circumstance is in play. The DM may require a Humility Check. Following the success of a Miracle, the divine servant makes a Humility Roll to avoid gaining Hubris from the giddy triumph of directing godly might. The Humility Roll has the same DC as the Miracle, but does not benefit from effects that improve invocation. If this roll succeeds, the character gains no Hubris; if the roll fails, the character gains 1 point of Hubris for every point by which the roll failed, up to the Tier of the Miracle in Hubris. (This roll is not necessary if the Invocation Roll failed, nor is it necessary if the character paid for the Miracle by taking Hubris points directly.) For evil divine servants, this roll is called the Conviction Roll, to demonstrate the strength of their will and their determination to wield the gods’ dark powers.
COMBINING FAITH
Clerics of the same faith may pool and spend their grace together to create effects that otherwise would be outside their individual reach. While the extent of combining faith is up to the DM, as a general guideline the ceremony for such a ritual should increase in time and either the result should improve or the liklihood of hubris should decrease.
SACRED SPELLS
Most deities do not want to leave their followers defenseless when bereft of Grace or Benedictions, magically speaking, and grant a more persistent form of their divine essence that does not require calling upon such ultimate power. This magic, called Sacred Spells (or, sometimes, Profane Spells) is access to dedicated spells that have specific parameters (like an arcane spell) with a few caveats:
A Sacred Spell does not require Grace to cast.
A Sacred Spell has a defined number of uses per day.
A Sacred Spell is generally much more contextual than a Miracle, sometimes even exclusively thematic to a deity.
Sacred Spell uses replenish at the same time Grace is gained during their normal resting timeframe.