domenica 5 marzo 2023

Monotheism in Worldcenter (Updated)

 In this build, Catherine uses my own homebrewed rules for monotheistic Christianity (even if the Tour de Farce trilogy is not set in Worldcenter). I slightly updated and fleshed out the rules for her. Here they are for quick consultation. By the way, the domains Cat chose are Community, Glory, Good, Law, and Protection. She obtained Magic as a mortal herald domain even if it isn’t one of her chosen domains because… well, because she needs to learn believing in magic.

This post already appeared for patrons only on my Patreon page. If you wish to see stuff in advance and have access to other rewards, please consider donating!


Monotheism in Worldcenter

Humans born in Worldcenter are largely monotheistic (though other faiths are not openly persecuted). The church’s structure closely resembles that of medieval Catholic church- there is one God only, but several saints that can be considered Empyreal Lords and originated different Orders of friars, nuns or priests with their own alignment, domains, edicts and rules. God himself (many believers like to consider him male, though some branches of theology disagree) is considered LG, but also NG and CG for the purposes of prerequisites and followers’ alignment, as he embodies all aspects of goodness. A saint and their order can have any good or neutral alignment (so evil priests are possible, but they will be fought if discovered by good and neutral church members). Each saint also grants their own Celestial Obedience to members of their order, but only God grants Deific Obedience. Other deities are variously considered as fiends, saints, or other aspects of God.

The different nuances of this are symbolized by the three chivalric orders that serve the throne: the Knights of the Lily (LG paladins), the Knights of Ivy (warpriests, CG) and the Knights of the Red Rose (cavaliers, mostly NG). The Knights of the Red Rose are secular cavaliers, but rumors have that there is a fourth secret order of NG inquisitors acting in shadows, the Knights of the Star. Characters of different classes can belong to saintly orders, but Evangelists, Exalteds, and Sentinels receive their powers from God rather than their patron saint. Some orders can grant druidic powers, but full-fledged, organized  druids are mostly worshipers of pagan deities. Oracles and shamans are seen with some suspicion as they tend to act outside the normal church hierarchy, but they can also be highly revered by people as mouthpieces of the Lord against the establishment, should it become corrupt.

God grants all domains except Evil, and all subdomains except Blood, Cannibalism, Corruption, Daemon, Demodand, Demon, Devil, Fear, Greed, Hatred, Kyton, Lust, Murder, Plague, Sakhil, Slavery, Torture, Tyranny, and Undead (these are mostly granted by the Devil). Each character worshiping God chooses five domains and the relative subdomains among those granted by God, and these are considered the domains God grants to that character for the purpose of any class features, spells, effects, or prerequisites. Some domains can be slightly modified to expunge spells and powers that are too “evil”. God grants all inquisitions except Crime, Possession, Sin and Torture. The only mysteries/spirits he doesn’t grant are Dark Tapestry and Godclaw (though the equivalent of Hellknights could think to receive their powers from him). God has not a favored weapon (any one simple weapon with which a worshiper takes Weapon Focus is considered as a deity’s favored weapon for all spells, effects, and prerequisites), and priests do not follow special spell rules.

Deific Obedience

Offer to cast a beneficial spell for another creature without any benefit for you or your party coming from this, and ask the benefited creature not to tell anybody about your action. If you aren’t able to do that, meditate upon a sacred text of the faith, reciting the prescribed prayers among lectures. The lectures change for every day or the year. Always try to relate the teachings offered to your daily life and find some means to improve yourself. Gain a +4 sacred bonus on Diplomacy and Knowledge (religion) checks.

Evangelist

1: Peace Bearer (Sp) sanctuary 3/day, calm emotions 2/day, or remove blindness/deafness 1/day

2: Confessor Ally (Sp) Once per day as a standard action, you can summon a balisse angel to aid you. You gain telepathy with the angel to a range of 100 feet. The angel follows your commands perfectly for 1 minute for every Hit Die you possess before vanishing back to its celestial home. The angel doesn’t follow commands that would cause it to violate its alignment by committing evil acts, and it could even attack you if the command is particularly egregious.

3: Life Font (Su) You gain the Extra Revelation feat, choosing a revelation from either your chosen mystery or the Life mystery. If you don’t have the revelation class feature, you instead gain a +4 sacred or profane bonus on saving throws against necromancy spells and death effects.

Exalted

1: Merciful Disciple (Sp) cure light wounds 3/day, lesser restoration 2/day, or remove disease 1/day

2. As a Lamb Among Wolves (Ex) Gain an armor bonus equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum +1) whenever you wear no armor. If you already possess the nature’s whispers revelation, add your Charisma bonus also to your Reflex saving throws (instead of your Dexterity bonus) instead. If you already possess the prophetic armor or sidestep secret revelations, add your Charisma bonus also to your CMD (in place of your Dexterity bonus) instead.

3: Faithful Servant (Su) Select two class features among the following: channel energy, domain, hexes, oracle curse, revelations, spirit, or wandering spirit/bonded spirit. You add your exalted level to your class level in the class granting the chosen class features for the purpose of determining their effects. You don’t gain any new abilities thanks to this boon. If you don’t possess any of these abilities, or if you already use them at your character level, you instead gain Believer’s Boon as a bonus feat, and may use it to gain either the 1st-level or higher-level power of any one domain as a cleric of your character level once per day or one minute per day, whichever applies best.

Sentinel

1: Glorious Defender (Sp) celestial healing 3/day, blessing of courage and life 2/day, or wrathful mantle 1/day

2: Severe Guard (Ex) You gain Shared Judgment as a bonus feat. If you don’t have the judgment class feature, you instead gain it as an inquisitor of your character level, and may choose any 4 judgments from the inquisitor’s list to use.

3: Battlefield Absolution (Sp) judgement undone 1/day.

Dedicated Hierophant Path Ability: Hand of Mercy: At 3rd tier, you can select any mercy available to a 6th-level paladin to apply to your channel energy ability. At 6th tier, you can select any mercy available to a 9th-level paladin, and at 9th tier, you can select any mercy available to a 12th-level paladin. Bonus Path Ability: Mythic mercy (guardian).

Godling Path Ability

This should more appropriately be called “saint path ability” in this case.


Imbued Healing (Su) At 6th tier, when you cast a spell of the healing subschool, you can expend one use of mythic power to add the effect of one spell from your domain, mystery, or spirit magic spell list to the initial spell effect, as long as you may normally cast a spell of that level.


New Hierophant 1st Tier Path Ability

Coupled Graces (Su): Whenever you spend a standard action, move action, or swift action to activate a domain power, revelation, warpriest blessing, shaman spirit power, or shaman hex, you can also activate an ability that uses mythic power as a free action. The mythic ability you activate must require the same action type as the other ability you activated or faster (a swift action is faster than a move action, and a move action is faster than a standard action).

Nessun commento:

Posta un commento