Tag Archives: clerics

Dueling Clerics: Fighting for the Honor of Your Faith

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I’m returning to an old idea posted here last year: that all Clerics are lawful. They might, if you use the good/evil axis, be good, evil or neutral, but they must be lawful.

The gods all seek to expand their power and their ethos. Even if a god were to style himself ‘chaotic’ it would be nothing more than a schtick (possibly a very successful one). True chaos would defy any imposition of patterns, beliefs and frankly, intelligible thought.

If you buy into that, and I’m not saying you should but it works for me, then I could easily envision a campaign world where clerics might end up in more real, deadly duels than knights or mages.

Priests (in the old editions sense of the word) are believers, yes. They know and perform the rites and administrative duties of cults and churches. They preach and they tend to their flocks. Clerics, on the other hand are true believers of another kind. They are so crazy devout that they can perform miracles big and small. They hunt down the evils in the world, from heretics to the undead. If priests and evangelists are the slow and steadier engine of growth of their church, the clerics are the lights that burn bright and briefly and usually end up being sainted after death.
If you buy this, then clerics should hardly be able to stand the sight of clerics of another god or even a different branch or denomination. Their lawful nature and their devotion brook no disagreement and in most cases no tolerance whatsoever (not like those simpering priests and monks, abbots, nuns and priestesses).
Clerics should be getting into fights all the time in areas where they come into contact. For this reason, I think it could be interesting if your campaign world had a certain protocol, which would be honored in the way a samurai duel would be and not in the way it was in the old west. These are fiercely lawful characters, even the evil ones.

The Clerical Duel
Challenge: The dropping a small holy symbol, rosary or other token of the faith in front of another cleric (not on the ground, on a tavern table or something). Or it might even be sent via messenger. It’s a calling out and to ignore it is for one’s god to lose prestige. It would better for a god to have a martyr than a cowardly cleric.
Preparation: When a meeting place and time is arranged, the clerics of course will make vigils, penance, say prayers or perform deeds.
Declaring Names and Sermons: When the parties have arrived, they must give their names, their home church, monastery or status. This is so everyone who witnesses knows who died and who won. Each cleric might give a small sermon, perhaps disparaging the other’s faith. Invective is used, souls are damned. It should be full of bluster and ego.
Combat: Weapons and clerical spells may be used. I prefer to have all arcane magic be chaotic, so any magic items that are not holy in origin are blasphemous to all gods and would never be used. These duels can be to the death, or, if a cleric really wants to stick it to his enemy, to the humiliation and utter defeat. Scarring should be involved. Some clerics will demand conversion (which almost never happens) in exchange for life. Other clerics might let the defeated live as a testament to whose god is real and whose is false, fake or weak.

Aftermath:
The winner is likely to gain adherents, even if he does not want them or personally minister to them. In a small village, a chapel or shrine to the victor’s god will be built overnight and 1d20 faithful will convert. If the cleric leaves or does not tend to them, one of the locals will become clergy (even without qualifications). If the victor is still present, his blessing will be sought by this new congregation.

The loser might go into seclusion, if he survives, and pray for strength, forgiveness, etc. Of course the cleric will not fault his the god–it was clearly his own unworthiness or the presence of filthy pagans in the area. A rematch might be demanded later on, but in general a defeated cleric is disgraced for a time and is expected to make himself scarce for awhile.
Word of victory or defeat should spread quickly. One’s reputation and ability to find followers should be effected by the outcome of the duel.

If you are using Adventurer, Conquerer, King, this might be a great rite of passage for a cleric who has reached name level.

As DM, you could impose level limits, or incorporate some way of making sure that 2nd level clerics are not put into the position of having to duel 14th level clerics. Or not. Maybe the cleric who stays discreet is the one who survives to name level…

Any thoughts, ideas or additions are welcome in the comments below.
(I will be finishing up bring it soon. This all just came to me quickly and I had to get it posted).

 

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Ten Temples

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John on  said:

If we’re allowed to make more than one request, I find myself in need of a bunch of weird-ass temples for the city I’m building. Ten of them, say. But only if you run out of suggestions; I wouldn’t want to be prioritised over someone who hasn’t made a request yet.

Temple of the Swarm

Billions of insects, centipedes, spiders and other crawling creatures carpet a large pit in the center of this temple. Supplicants make a donation and are given one of the insects, which they may take home, set free or even burn to make a wish. Worshippers may also sacrifice themselves to the swarm in order to purify bad deeds, end personal suffering or show devotion.

Temple of Boros

Worshippers are dropped into random points in this large, multi-storied maze. Those who make it out must have been blessed by the gods. Others are likely dead at the hands of monsters, traps and other men and women who have found a way to live there.

Temple of Dedication (Cult of Owrox)

Families who make deals with the cult of Owrox sometimes offer lifetime servitude of children or grandchildren in exchange for the release of souls the god has captured. In order to ensure a contract is honored, these young slaves are sent here to commune with the captive souls of their ancestors. There are over a hundred small alcoves throughout the temple where crystal balls can be ‘attuned’ to a specific soul. For most, merely speaking with the departed is enough to scare them into being faithful. Some of the kinder imprisoned souls manage to establish warm relations with their living kin. Others browbeat their descendants. In all cases, the servant must touch the crystal ball and ‘feel’ the helplessness and doom the captured spirit feels. This is the existence the contract breaker faces if the terms are not fulfilled. This is why Owrox has few defectors.

Temple of Batrubis

This temple is home to a 50 foot giant, who sits on a throne. Because he has magical talents that can be performed at will, and because he’s, well, a fifty foot giant who says he’s a god, he is worshipped as a living deity. Believers take great pride in the fact that their god, unlike others, can be seen and worshipped in person.

Temple of the Golden Bliss

A thousand monastics have found paradise here. They sit surrounding a golden ball of light and experience life in a perfect place. Their bodily functions slow to almost nothing, so that they may sit for days at a time. In their minds, this prayer/meditation takes them to a place of perfection. Corpses of those who die in this state are carried out by acolytes who hope to take their place someday. Unknown to the cult: The ball of light is an elemental from a positive energy plane. It has mass ESP and can cast flawless telepathic illusions. It feeds on the misdirected spiritual energy in its presence.

The Temple of Graves

The graves in this temple are smashed icons, idols and other religious artifacts. The acolytes here accept these for any reason whatsoever. Some are brought by those who have lost faith. Others are captured in foreign lands and are brought here by returning travelers and soldiers who want to dispose of the objects but fear supernatural reprisals. Some of the smashed artifacts are still quite valuable and possibly quite cursed. While presented to outsiders as a service, this temple is run by mages, who, being chaotic, seek to reduce the influence of gods in the world.

The Sunken Temple

The Sea God does not send major storms or red tides to the Island of Siros so long as his temple is packed with worshippers. When an earthquake sent part of the island into the sea a thousand years past, the temple was submerged. The local priesthood realized the only way to end a decade of storms that followed was to fill the temple with worshippers. Lots were drawn and the chosen drowned. Using a number of submerged air tents and caves, divers were able to chain these chosen to the pews. As these bodies decay, they must be replaced. When the supply of criminals and unwary travelers runs out, lots are chosen. Tritons and Merfolk sometimes interfere with this temple. What right have land creatures to even imagine a sea god?

Secret Temple of Yuchen-Domma

The fake temple is upstairs. It is dedicated to an obscure, harmless and minor goddess from some foreign land. The real temple is hidden below and is dedicated to Yuchen-Domma, goddess of the dirge. Members of her inner circle have quarters here.

In a cavernous inner chamber, followers and captives of her cult are wander about listlessly, singing a section of her dirge of hopelessness. This dirge functions as a protection from chaos and protection from good spell for all followers in the temple. It also delivers -5% HP per round (five percent of maximum HP, rounding up) to anyone in the chamber or areas immediately around it who is not also singing the dirge and has not plugged their ears (which only halves the effect). Anyone hearing it for more than a round will be able to join without knowing the words or the melody (no one knows the meaning). Clerics and paladins who join in will offend their patron deities greatly and must undergo a quest immediately after leaving the temple or face the wrath of their god. Mages and chaotic characters who join in will lose the ability to speak in 1-3 days (The DM should determine an appropriate cure). Elves vaguely recognize the tune but cannot remember where they might have heard it before.

Vantu’s Prison

The priests of the Confidence of Alaf have for aeons held poor Vantu prisoner. The pitiable god was captured by Alaf, companion to a great hero in epic days past. Alaf is not a god, but he, and through the ages his confidants, tortured Vantu until he granted divine powers and spells to the order.

Vantu appears as a frail, incoherent man shackled to a wall (or on rack or other torture device) in an obscure torture chamber in the basement of the temple. The temple above resembles a museum more than a temple. Tapestries, paintings and performances recount the Epic of Eidivir, inflating the role of Alaf, of course.

Cathedral of Crom’s Slumber (Eastern)

Here the Great Dreamer of the Eastern Order of the Holy Rest slumbers, stirring only every few days to eat and drink. In her sleep, she communes with the previous great sleepers who have passed to the underworld. She acts as the conduit for communication between the church and the underworld, relaying blessings, spells and status reports on events that might disturb Crom and wake him (and cause all nations and people to battle until hardly a man walks under the sun).

It is essential that no one make noise here. The floors and walls are covered with rugs and tapestries. The priests take vows of whispering and refrain from even casting silence spells   except in emergencies. If adventurers find their way in and make noise, wear boots, etc., the priests will do everything in their power to silence them first, then kill them if necessary (They are lawful neutral).

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Freelance Clerics

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I already mentioned before that I think in LotFP, all clerics should be lawful.

I am also thinking that there is an interesting way to turn the patron deity/cleric relationship on its head. Suppose the gods were these patterns, these memes or urges that seek to impose a specific vision of law on the universe. All of those gods would be in a pitched war against chaos and arcane magic.

But suppose further that, at least in some cultures, a cleric is not the priest of a particular god or even a pantheon of gods. Suppose the cleric enters a trance state nightly and communes with the various gods she has in her spiritual rolodex. She can get healing spells from a healing god, protection spells from a god of protection and maybe sticks to snakes from a snake god. And when she is introduced to a new, more powerful god, she gets a higher level spell or a new spell.

In this relationship, there is no loyalty. I’m the cleric, I can channel your energy onto this plane, giving you a fleeting moment of existence and a slightly better toehold on this plane. If you have a problem with how I am using it, I can easily find another god.

This isn’t to say there isn’t some loyalty or even complete belief and loyalty in the gods. Paladins could be the true believers in this scenario (although I’ve never liked them).  Up to you to play with it.

On my map, which is just a doodle at this point, there’s a country where magic use and lycanthropy are more common than anywhere else. I think here, the clerics freelance in this manner.

And if I am reinventing the wheel and there’s been patron-less clerics since 3e, please let me know in the comments below.

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Clerics are Lawful Part 2

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Yesterday I decided that it makes all the sense in the world to make all clerics’ alignment lawful, provided you are playing in an old school sword and sorcery campaign where Law and Chaos are the important axis of conflict. I think this makes even more sense if you are playing LotFP Weird Fantasy, where all magic users and elves are aligned with chaos.

Mages and elves tap into chaos to get power and further their own ends, but clerics are ‘given’ power and must stay within certain boundaries in order to get that power. The gods are order manifest in various forms. They might be considered agents of a common source, inhabitants of a Plane of Law or anthropomorphic templates of competing laws. Even a god of luck or a god that seems fickle or destructive is lawful.

Law is mind. Chaos is mindless.

Kosh

"Yes"

Where does that leave druids? Good question! They are on the side of nature, which is neutral because it is made up of the two and is caught up in the struggle. A druid gets her power from hugging trees and cutting holly branches.

In the setting I am creating, the world is in a time period where the power has tilted away from chaos and is moving back toward the middle. The gods will be getting their power back and renewing ancient feuds, requiring artifacts found in old ruins and secret places. Great orders of knights and clerics will begin rooting out the agents of chaos, dispelling their miracles. Sorcerers and madmen will look for portals through which to summon chaos, the stuff of power. Druids will hope to protect the world and maintain the balance. The elves will fight for survival, questing for long lost elven magic, which was far superior to the human spells they’ve had to learn. Halflings will try to take control of the land from tall men and dwarves will hide below, hoping to avoid the whole damn showdown.

But that’s all big picture malarky. Adventurers? They’re hoping there’s some coin in it.

Everyone is excused from the rest of the post, but if you are interested in using some of the gods I’ve posted before, I listed them below as I checked for a chaotic god.

Adu and Adu-Nunna: Struggling to take over or free the world of suffering. Lawful (evil/good)

Owrox: Soul ransomer, devil. Lawful (evil)

No-God: Doesn’t exist, but the only follower believes in order without gods, so lawful (neutral).

The Six Gods of Slorrs: Ok, rolling randomly to see which deity you serve today might seem chaotic. But they each have their own rule and punishment for wayward clerics so they are each lawful (varies). Wow, I reread this one and pity any PC cleric who picks the Six!

Pallas is her own high priestess, so that sort of bootstrapping go-getter would be lawful (neutral).

The Church of the Aesir and the orthodox Odinites are lawful (varies).

Yuchen-Domma is lawful evil in the extreme. She works to bring the world under the spell of her dirge.

Poor, tortured Vantus grants spells under duress, but the clerics who have him captive are definitely lawful evil.

The Order of the Holy Rest (Crom) are lawful quiet.

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All Clerics are Lawful

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I started compiling a list of house rules and ideas for running a game just as soon as I finish school this spring. The ruleset will be LotFP Weird Fantasy, either boxed set or the upcoming grindhouse edition, but I could put forth this argument for any sword and sorcery, law vs. chaos campaign.

In LotFP, magic users (and elves) draw their magic from the forces of chaos. They are tapping into a power source to make reality not-as-it-should-be. They are using chaos to cheat reality.

I’d go further for my game and all clerics must be lawful (keeping in mind this doesn’t mean ‘good’). Why?

A cleric has aligned himself with a god or religious axiom that in most cases is seeking to grow and copy itself onto reality, making all of reality bend to the will of that god or belief set. Any cleric (or god, if they do actually independently exist in your setting)  would believe that his or her way is the right way, the way it should be. All other ways should be either destroyed, subjugated or exist only according to the terms set forth by a cleric’s god. There are no exceptions and this is no compromise.

This is the sort of will that is needed to become a cleric, with the power to cast spells, heal, etc. Anyone can be a priest, monk or mere believer. To be a cleric, it’s all or nothing on behalf of your religion.

That sounds lawful to me.

Notice I didn’t say all gods have to be lawful. Where would be without the gods of chaos? Perhaps. A god of chaos, it could be argued, can have lawful clerics because the every whim of that god is as good as law to that cleric.

But if we approach alignment not from a personal belief system and look at it as taking a side in a great cosmic struggle between two forces (which is how LotFP approaches it), then probably not. A chaotic god would not have clerics. She might have priests, mages, sorcerers  and shamans in her employ. She might be able to teach new arcane spells to her followers through ritual, she might even grant boons to her servants that function as spells, but she wouldn’t have clerics.

A recent post by James Raggi hints that the grindhouse edition of LotFP will be tweaked to put the cleric and the mage more at odds with one another, which is something I have been moving towards in this blog over the last year. It will take some work to make sure the two classes can work together in a single party.

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Best of the Creeping Doom Part 2

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When I started this little project, it was meant only to entertain me. It seems to have entertained a few others. I certainly didn’t expect any sort of audience and I never would have guessed that my most popular articles would be about clerics and halflings.

Let me tell you about the Old School....

The most popular post by a wide margin has been my review of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role Playing boxed set. There has been constant interest in that review since I wrote it. I take it as a sign of interest in what OSR and especially what James Raggi is doing that people are still getting here via googling his game. Looking back at it now, it’s really not a very good review. It was rushed and I’ll admit there was a desire to be one of the first reviews out there. Looking at the boxed set now, I’m still impressed. The “princess box” will be my ruleset of choice when I next DM.

While the LotFP review is still the most looked-at and most googled post, the biggest one-day post was my piece on hobb -er halflings. I wanted to make the hobbits into the nightmare that some people see immigrants to be. In this case, they do take over wherever they settle and the thought of legions of halflings with spears or pikes amuses me to no end. This was a throwaway piece when I started writing it, but in the campaign world in my head, they might be one of the most important features.

Another popular post was a simple idea: mages will become liches after a certain age or level. This seemed to be popular with the folks who hang out at reddit’s rpg community. I’m far from done with mages.

I rarely play clerics, but I seem to have posted more about clerics and their gods than any other subject and as a topic, they are the most popular. The most popular post in this series concerned a goddess of despair that is empowered by the harm her followers do.

Before I wrap up this meta talk, I want to recommend two sites to you that I am sure I do not need to. If you are reading this, you are surely reading them. If not, you should be. First is Ancient Vaults and Eldritch Secrets. Bat puts out a new item, spell, monster or whatnot every day. Holidays and blizzard days too. Each entry is a quality piece and begins with a short setup with a recurring cast of characters. The man has a work ethic and he’s done this enough to get really good at it. You’re my role model, Bat. Now when are you going to publish?

The other site, Swords and Dorkery also needs no introduction. Mike’s presence here as a recurring commenter gave me the first notions that there was anyone visiting this site more than once and for that I must thank him.  He participates more actively in the blogging community and has gathered some of his best materials into downloadable files.

To wrap up the navel gazing…

So far, the blog is still dong what I wanted it to do: get me to sit, stretch my imagination and write RPG material for later use. That some people have found it worth reading and perhaps used something in their games is very gratifying. I hope I can keep my personal goal in mind and not get distracted by the number of readers or page views I get. This next year, I hope to post more often, even when extremely busy as I have been this fall.

I wish everyone a great 2011 and I hope we all get in as much gaming as you want.

Happy New Year!

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The High Karmic Cost of Cure Light Wounds

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Clerics shouldn’t just be healing anyone, or if they do, they should be extracting a pound of flesh, karmically speaking, from those whose beliefs or alignment are significantly different.

Let’s say, for example, that in the campaign, the gods are completely real and they are at odds with one another or with similarly powerful demons or devils. Why would a priest of Zeus heal a prominent follower of Hades without extracting a price? Do the gods send the energy to the cleric at the time of healing? Or do they give it to them to do as they see fit and then decide whether to keep sending those energies during the night’s meditations?

There may be a few gods in your world that believe in healing everyone, or the possibility of redemption at any moment, even the last. But for the most part, I think there are some interesting situations or house rules that could come up when a priest needs to heal or especially resurrect a non-believer, heretic, heathen or enemy.

Here are some options that come to mind:

The simplest, of course, is to not care when it comes to healing within the party. I like this because the last thing you want is the cleric lording it over the others, “Ahamite the Smug does not regrow the sword arms of those who have not donated a million gold talents to him, payable to his loyal servant, Brother Dick.” But when NPC’s are healing, it’s entirely appropriate and a good plot hook to set a price, be it gold, a quest or some specific vow or service. At the least, the patient should vow to never desecrate or blaspheme the god who is providing the help.

Or you could allow the cleric to exact certain demands, pre-approved by the DM, when the first opportunity to heal arises and have that apply throughout the adventure.

Another way to do this would be to keep tally of every ten HP healed by any god’s cleric and translate that into a karmic debt to the god specifically, with whom the patient must bargain at some later date. Ten HP might mean a week of service or contemplation. Fifty points might mean a major favor, such as escorting a monk or protecting a valuable relic. A hundred HP? Consider conversion! Or at the least, the PC should become intimately familiar with the faith and speak openly about how much she admires the wisdom of the Aardvark god.

The further apart the two faiths are, the more likely some sort of conflict or even alignment change will come into play.

When two clerics of different faiths are involved, one as healer and one as patient, it might be up to the players and DM to decide whether the healing would be given, whether it would work and what sort of effect it might have on the relationship between both clerics and their gods.

Whatever you decide, the consequences of breaking an oath or quest or a betrayal of that god should immediately result in the loss of all HP ever healed, limb regrown or perhaps even life given. It might also include some time in the afterlife of that god, atoning.

It can be as complicated and difficult as you decide it to be as long as it is interesting and adds something to the game. Obviously there is a lot of potential to add not-fun to the game. But clearly, if you were talking about a polytheistic fantasy world with gods of various alignments, this sort of thing would naturally come up.

The last way is, of course, to make no definite statement on whether the gods exist, and decide that the spells work because the gods see things we cannot (or it just works because there is no Loki vs. Thor, just two cults taking power from the plane of energy).

I’d love to hear your ideas, by the way.

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Gods: Adu-Nunna the Cruel vs. Adu-Nunna, Father of Mercy

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Most human pantheons have one god that just doesn’t fit in.  Adu-Nunna was the dark one of his pantheon, a god of incredible cruelty who used his followers,  the wealthy and powerful, to take his hatred out on the children of his fellow gods. His Adunic Knights waged terrible warfare, executing non-believers and erasing entire nations, tribes and humanoid races from the planet.

His brothers and sisters would not stand for the cruelty of Adu-Nunna and his followers. In a rare feat of cooperation, they combined their knowledge and power to curse him to  seven lifetimes as a human under the boot of his followers, lifetimes he would remember in every detail for eternity. He was a slave, a beggar, a trusted advisor wrongly accused, an orphan, an enemy’s widow, a prisoner, and an experiment.

Adu-Nunna came out of this a changed god. Weeping as he knelt before his fellow gods, he apologized to them chanting a mantra of repentance for eight times eighty million repetitions. He was offered a new name and new form, but refused. Forswearing the heavens, he took a mortal form, calling himself Adu-Nunna the Father of Mercy. He hopes to peacefully undo the empire of suffering he previously created.

Adu-Nunna’s priests and paladins are not allowed to directly kill anyone human, humanoid or intelligent enough to speak to humans. They may fight to subdue, although in some cases, permanent injury is permitted if it prevents someone from harming others or furthering the cause of Adu-Nunna the No-longer (the name his followers call his previous self). Taking the arm of an executioner, for example.

His Brothers of Mercy and Sisters of Insight (his clerics) cast spells as if they were two levels higher and healing spells always heal maximum. (This is to balance out the no-killing prohibition).  His clerics strictly follow the no-sharp weapons prohibition, although they may use or carry daggers or swords for ceremonial purposes. His paladins may only kill armed Adunic Knights who refuse mercy.

Despite his regained immortality (however your campaign may define it) Adu-Nunna appears as an old man, scarred and crippled. He casts any clerical spell as a 20th level priest. He has established a church and a following of a few thousand. They remain in hiding. His new symbol is a teardrop against a black background. He does not hesitate to perform miracles in order to convert followers of his former self.

Of course, the Adunic Knights and his previous church and followers believe this story is heresy, invented by Gal-vani the Tree of Tricksters. They refer to “the cursed imposter” and “his weaklings.” His priests still receive spells as they did before, which they take as proof that their god is still with them. A few believe the story of his rebirth, but think it is a deception of Adu-Nunna himself to trap the faithless. A select few high priests believe the story and now seek to destroy the new version of their god. They do not speak of it openly and have various theories of who is granting their spells now. . Adu-Nunna himself is not certain why. Perhaps he exists in two forms at once? Perhaps another agent of evil has taken his old name.

This piece is meant to be a starting point. It is one of many posts about gods and religions you can use for your campaign.

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Reverse Clerics 6: Owrox, Abductor of Souls

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Owrox the soulcatcher, the demon owl, is said to fly over the homes of the recently departed, seizing their spirits in his claws before they can reach the afterlife. Any minor ill omen, such as a fire dying suddenly or a hooting owl is taken as a sign that Owrox has snatched the dead and taken them to his corner of the underworld.

If the family hopes to free the spirit, they must contact the cult of Owrox and petition for release. In some cases, a large donation of gold, an annual tribute of food or some other bounty can be paid. An unholy pact is made and the soul is released, and woe to any family who breaks the deal later. But if Owrox’s oracle sees potential in a family member, the price may be a lifetime of service as a priest of Owrox.

Most of his cult are reluctant members, originally bound to him not by piousness but by this pact. Some are second or third generation members who do not remember the ancestor whose soul was the price of their servitude. Many of his cult are loyal and have rationalized their way into believing Owrox has a great plan for good, but few are fanatically loyal to the point of giving their life willingly for him. Most of his cult fear him and pray for him to release their souls to the afterlife when they die.

Owrox is regarded as a or the devil in most places, and he has influenced local traditions. Owls are hunted, particularly barn owls, and doors and windows in mourning households are kept shut for three days (no one in or out). His name is used as a curse, always followed by spitting to the ground (lest he come for you).

Owrox’s clerics are given instructions from the cult. Often, they are told simply to go out and amass treasure. Whether they are lawful or chaotic, evil, good or neutral, they are expected to carry out their orders. Otherwise, Owrox does not seem to care; he is secretive and reveals little nothing to his followers save through his oracles, prophets and signs. He has no holy books or rituals.

Owrox the Owl, Abductor of the Dead

Alignment: Up to You

Totem: Barn Owl

Enemy Totem: The Bat

There are two common reactions to priests of Owrox. Many will avoid or even shun him. Some will discreetly perform small favors or donations in the hopes that Owrox will pass around their house and not over it.

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Crazy Old Cleric 2: Priest of No-God

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There is a small chapel along the main road, the shrine to no gods. It is kept by a cleric, Brother Germaine, head of the Order of No-God, a religious order that consists of one Brother Germaine. He receives about a  dozen pilgrims per year.

The Order of No-God insists that there are no gods, that there never were in the first place, and that all this divine magic is locked inside mankind. Brother Germaine insists that he himself worships no gods, but that his meditations on the nature of man deliver him “divine” magicks.

And indeed, he is a cleric of name level with no apparent patron deity who can cast spells.

He is also as old as the planet, but has forgotten that.

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