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Divine Magic

Theology and divine powers are what makes pious entities capable of tapping into supernatural powers from transcendent sources. A priest is a term used for a being who acts as a conduit of divine magic, which manifests as miraculous effects. Harnessing that power does not rely on study or training but rather the devotion and intuitive impression of a deity’s desires.

In game terms, for a player character to be a priest, the first thing is to decide what deity is to be worshiped. The specific name is relative for the campaign world being used; however, all power-granting deities has spheres of control over specific provinces. A god may have dominion over more than one of these provinces; however, a particular sect or faction will be dedicated to a particular aspect of the deity associated with one province selected above. Thus, the Greek god Poseidon has power over both Sea/Water and Calamity; however, a cleric of his would only worship and be granted power from one of those provinces.

Province			Province
Calamity			Knowledge
Community			Life
Death			Nature
Deception			Sea/Water
Earth			Sky/Light
Fire/Sun			War
Special Symbols
Lacerta			Selquerine
Shire Matriarchs			Skabronrhirs
Voluperi			Unique Deity

Once the province is determined, then the skill of Divine Accord is required to gain access to the incantations of divine magic of that province. All incantations marked with tags of provinces. It is only available to a priest if the province devoted to is tagged in the incantation.

After obtaining divine accord, a list of potential incantations becomes available. To learn more about an individual priest’s list of incantations able to be cast, see Incantations. Once the list has been created, the priest can manifest the incantations, which will have varying degrees of function and require different amounts of power consumed to create the effect. This is measured by one's Faith. A priest is able to cast an incantation if it's point cost is equal or lower than one's Faith. When a spell is cast, that cost is subtracted from the priest's current Spirit score. If the current score is below the desired incantation (despite one's Faith score), it can't be used. In other words, if a character has 4 Faith and 10 Spirit, then only incantations valued at 4 points or lower become available to be used. Casting a one-point spell, however, would reduce the Spirit score to 9 after its use. While more details will be given later, a few points may be recovered after a short rest, and even more will be restored after a long rest.

Pantheons

Elvish deities from the Selquerine, save the Demon Queen (if she can be counted as such), will not grant the following incantations: Assemble Armor, Astral Blood, Blood Lust, Crown of the Grave, Death Throes, Desecrated Glow, Extract Poison, Smear or Suggestive Fear. However, any elf or fey being who establishes a divine accord with one of these gods will be allowed to cast the following, regardless of the deities' province: Delay Disease, Faerie Fire, Fellowship, Growth of Plants, Silent Step and Summon Animals. Non-elven, non-fey worshippers of the Selquerine due happen, but those impure races do not receive these extra incantations. Of course, the appropriate Spirit and Faith requirements must still be met. All such incantations are designated by the symbol. For more specifics about the Selquerine pantheon, see the Pantheon section.

All deities for the Terrac (Dwarven, Gnomes) races have a province; however, none grant incantations for that province that cost greater than 6 Spirit points. Instead all natural terracs, and other races accepted by the deity, who become priests of the Skabronrhirs pantheon can be granted invocations that are marked with the symbol regardless of province. These special invocations include Animate Dirt, Battle Cry, Battle Fate, Combined Effort, Commune with Earth, Detect Harmful Gas, Detect Magic, Detect Metals and Minerals, Detect Runes, Divine Lock, Gateway, Gravel Footsteps, Intimidating Presence, Land Lair, Meld With Rock, Reeking, Renew Deposit, Spike Stones, Stepping Stones, Stone Talk, Terrac Mettle. Further, each god in the Skabronrhirs pantheon will grant skills or abilities. For more details about the Skabronrhirs, see the Pantheon section.

The nhoblits have a small pantheon of deities. These gods grant by province; however, like the Skabronrhirs, none grant incantations for that province that cost greater than 8 Spirit points. However, those who worship the Celestrashire and become priests will gain access to additional invocations, marked with the symbol. Access to these extra divine powers will possible regardless of the province of the granting deity. Such invocations include Aplomb, Backbiter, Blessing of Luck and Resolve, Bountiful Chance, Breath of Life, Detect Magic, Divine Deterrence, Escape Ward, Fearsome Duplicate, Nhoblit Vengeance, Intuition, Opportunity, Tricker's Blessing. For more details about the Celestrashire, see the Pantheon section.

Lizardfolk worship a small set of deities. One notable one is Ssess'nik, originally a demon lord, but because of the directed attention through fear and worship, especially due to the khaasta sub-race, this entity has ascended to the status of an evil god. The collection of beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and worship of the lizardfolk is known as Lacerta. For shamans and priests in the Lacerta beliefs, have special requirements for building the invocation list, which is the Lacerta deities require one-third of the granted powers to comes from their invocations. For more details about Lacerta, see the Pantheon section.

The jzaka have a religion specific to their origin, known as Feluperi. Their culture is an interesting one where the priests work together for the betterment of their society, but the different perspectives of the churches place them at odds at times. The details of this belief can also be found in the Pantheon section.

Divine Manifestation

A ritual of words as a prayer, calling upon the power of one’s deity to intercede is the basis of how a divine spell is cast. There are some incantations which will require the priest to use his or her holy symbol. Occasionally, other materials are required. When this is necessary, it will be listed in the description of the power. Otherwise, one should assume that only verbal factors are responsible for manifesting these divine effects. However, there is a method called “silent prayers.” By this method, the incantation can be brought to fruition by adding an extra point of Spirit to the cost, but also requires a successful Muse save against a base of 10 plus the normal amount of Spirit cost; e.g. favor would have a DC of 12 and cost 3 Spirit points, whether succeeding or failing. When performing a silent prayer, this is basically the same as a mental only element for casting, assuming the specific incantation does not have other requirements listed. Finally, the only incantations that can be used with the silent prayers method are the same list of powers designated by the divine preservation symbol.

Spiru-Dynamics

There is a divine law is known as spiru-dynamics. What this means is the output of power from divine magic can never be greater than the input used to manifest the effect. This really only has one applicable scenario, and that is the healing of Spirit. While incantations can heal and restore Body points and even Mind point to produce numbers greater than the cost of the incantation, this is only due to the inequality of types of energies transfered. For example, the treat body incantation costs 2 Spirit but could potentially produce 4 Body points in return. This also true for treat mind. Remember, an introductory axiom costs only one Mind point and axioms max out at six, but the lowest incantation has an expense of two Spirit points; further, the greatest of incantations can cost up to twelve points. All of this indicates that spiritually divine magic as a unit carries more energy than the other attributes.

Again, while all of these healing and restoration spells are useful, the law of spiru-dynamics limits the amount of healing to Spirit that can be produce to the equivalent of the cost put into the incantation. Using again treat body as an example, the incantation heals Spirit on a d4; however, as a two-point cost, the maximum restoration to anyone's Spirit is two points. Granted, the d4 is a statistical measure and the roll indicates that on a raw 2, 3, or 4 the amount healed is the maximum two points, but this divine law prevents no more than two points to be healed for this incantation. To clarify, this is not just the spells in the examples, but also restore spirit and any other incantations that heal Spirit points.

Concentration

With divine powers have some spells which require concentration. While concentration is required no reactions can be performed. Further no new axioms, cantrips or incantations can be cast. However, partaking in conversations and observing the surroundings are perfectly legitimate; even further, other actions, such as drinking a potion are valid as well. Combat attacks, whether melee or at range, can be performed but at disadvantage. Nonetheless, movement rate is half during concentration. Of course, a specific detail in an incantation could override this general rule.

Concentration may be broken by inflicting damage against Body, Mind or Spirit. However, the priest is permitted a save against a DC:14 plus the number of points of damage to maintain concentration. If struck with Body damage, a Resilience save is used. If Mind damage, then Judgment; and if Spirit, then Muse. Should the priest’s concentration be broken, it will usually end the incantation. Thus, if the concentration is required to maintain or complete an effect, then breaking the caster’s concentration would free the victims.

Divine Powers Involving Combat Attacks

Several incantations require a touch or melee attack to the opponent as part of the magical effect. In general the action will be to touch or attack the foe, followed by using the incantation as a reaction. For touch-based attacks, where only gripping contact is needed to transfer the effect, the reaction is usually based on the successful touch result. Thus, if the attempt to touch fails, the incantation will not be attempted. However, when attacking with a melee weapon, the reaction is most-often triggered by the lunging or attempt of the attack, meaning that the results of the attack are unsure when the Spirit points are expended to cast the incantation. See Touch-based Effects for more details.

Holy Ground

With the commissioning skill, “holy ground” is consecrated and created. However, what does this really mean?

First, this creates the same effect as if the area were inside a protection from evil circle, like that of fiend practicum; however, the protection extends to other creatures, including undead and fey. Any priests of an opposing deity will also have difficulty entering the ground without an invitation, requiring to make a spirit preservation save against DC:10.

Secondly, any turn undead or holy turning originating from within the “holy ground” gains a +4 bonus for those attuned to the temple; however, those not of the faith attempting to turn undead in an “unholy” place will have 2 points of smite reduced from the turning. Further, opposing clerics become subject to holy turning (normal saves) as if celestials/fiends when on “holy ground.”

Moreover, any dead body interred in a sacred site cannot be turned into an undead creature. Finally, all creatures of worship, not just priests, gain +4 to all preservation saves that may be needed inside the church.

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