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Tag Archives: Religion

Defining Faiths in Fantasy Campaigns

June 5, 2012 9:06 am / 6 Comments / Chris

Intro

I’d like to ask for feedback on a template I’ve made for describing religions for fantasy RPGs. This is not a statblock for gods or their avatars, but a way of fleshing out and differentiating the various faiths in your campaign. If you at least partially fill out this template for all the faiths available at the start of a campaign, your cleric can make an informed choice. If you are more collaborative in your campaign development, leave some fields blank and fill them in as the opportunity arises in play. Or you could allow the cleric PC to collaborate in creating the faith.

A list of suggested domains and purviews is at the bottom of this post. It’s taken from my Random God generator (which I’ll be revising soon).

There are some attributes rated from 1 to 20. These help define the organization itself. Is it well organized? Does it tolerate other faiths? Are there many scriptures? There are some notes below and a sample I filled out follows that.

Please let me know if this is unclear, too much work or how I might streamline the explanations.

 

Faith Template

Here is the template as a word file

faith_template

Domain and Purview Notes

These are taken from my Random God Generator. Domain is more general and purview is more specific. Pathfinder GM should write in the terms Portfolio and Domain, respectively.

Attributes of the faith are measured on a scale of 1-20.

Strictness

How strict is the church? How lenient? How many rules and practices are there? With 20 being an Orthodox Jew and 1 being “Can’t we all get along?”

Jealousy

How well does the church tolerate worship of other gods? How much emphasis is put on conversion? With 20 being total intolerant monotheism, and 1 being “all paths lead to one place.”

Revelations

How much has been “revealed” and how much do they generally consider the god’s work to influence lives? With 20 being many epics, testaments, scriptures, commentaries and sutras and 1 being “Crom sleeps. That is all.”

Organization

How organized is the faith’s hierarchy? With 20 being the Catholic Church and 1 being a bunch of loosely acquainted meditators in the woods.

Popularity

This stat that can be used to determine randomly whether there is a congregation in a given community. As the GM, you should determine on a scale of 1-20 how popular the faith is in the nation or region where the party is currently. This also lets the cleric PC know where his church is in the pecking order. A well-prepared GM will think ahead whether this faith is popular in neighboring areas as well. When coming up with this number, consider whether it is a minority faith, whether it belongs to a minority race or culture and what level of religious tolerance the local leaders display.

To randomly check whether a community has a congregation, add the number of digits in the area’s population to the faith’s popularity for that locale. Apply any gut modifiers you think should apply and then roll a d20. A roll under the target number means there is a congregation. It might in in hiding, of course, but it should be there.

Example: The Cult of Torusk has a popularity of 5 in the Principality of Argylle. A cleric of Torusk wants to find a shrine so he can perform an absolution and perhaps find a friendly face. The party has just entered Old Bosk, a city of 12,500. The GM asks the cleric for the popularity number (5) and adds 5 more for the five digits in the population number. He also decides that Old Bosk used to be far more tolerant than now, and it’s slightly more likely there’s a shrine to Torusk than in the surrounding countryside based on that (+2). So 5+5+2 is 12. The cleric rolls 1d20 and gets a 7. The GM says there’s a shrine, but that it will take some urban exploration to find it.

Example Faith Profiles

I’ve used as an example a few locations in the northern part of a campaign setting. The Church of the Aesir is the dominant and national church of Nordland. But it has not gotten a lot of traction in neighboring countries.

Example 2

Domains and Purviews

List of Domains and Purviews
Roll d100 Domain Purview
1 Household Play
2 Household Fertility/Harvest/Babies
3 Household Health/Disease
4 Household Hunt
5 Household Hearth
6 Household Doors/Household Safety
7 Household Baking
8 Household Wine/Beer
9 Household Sewing/Weaving
10 Household Wealth
11 Household Household Item
12 Household Food (particular)
13 Household Important Commodity
14 Household Male Virility
15 Household Bridges/Gates/Crossing/Crossroads
16 Household Fidelity/Adultery
17 Household Animal Husbandry
18 Household Gossip/Reputation
19 Household Books/Scrolls
20 Household Important Domestic Animal/Insect
21 Human Endeavors Invention
22 Human Endeavors War
23 Human Endeavors Indulgence
24 Human Endeavors Theft/Kidnapping
25 Human Endeavors Travel/Hospitality to Strangers
26 Human Endeavors Sailing
27 Human Endeavors Building
28 Human Endeavors Exploration/Adventure
29 Human Endeavors Cannibalism
30 Human Endeavors Honor/Justice/Vengeance
31 Human Endeavors Trade/Commerce/Unexpected Windfalls
32 Human Endeavors Slavery/Freedom
33 Human Endeavors Learning/Ignorance
34 Human Endeavors Hiding
35 Human Endeavors Art/Poetry
36 Human Endeavors Healing
37 Human Endeavors Protector of Our People
38 Human Endeavors Mining
39 Human Endeavors Sport
40 Human Endeavors Gambling
41 Nature Animal
42 Nature Mountains
43 Nature Night
44 Nature Oceans
45 Nature Season (1d4: Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter)
46 Nature Plants/Woods
47 Nature Predominant Local Climate/Weather Type
48 Nature Fresh Waters
49 Nature Natural Disasters
50 Nature Thunder / Storms /Monsoon Season
51 Nature Death/Destruction
52 Nature Sun
53 Nature Moon
54 Nature Planet/Stars
55 Nature Air
56 Nature Fire
57 Nature Earth
58 Nature Water (all)
59 Nature Natural Beauty
60 Nature Decay (and rebirth)
61 Personal King/Pharoah/Emperor
62 Personal Queen/Empress
63 Personal Consort
64 Personal Parent of (roll again)
65 Personal Child
66 Personal Aescetic/Hermit
67 Personal Bastard
68 Personal Hero
69 Personal Villain
70 Personal Monster
71 Personal Traitorous Advisor
72 Personal Criminal
73 Personal Folk Hero
74 Personal Wise man/Wizard
75 Personal Brother/Sister
76 Personal Twins
77 Personal General
78 Personal Physician
79 Personal Martyr
80 Personal Roll Twice
81 Spirit Wisdom
82 Spirit Compassion
83 Spirit Tricks
84 Spirit Protection from Spirits
85 Spirit Miracles
86 Spirit Afterlife
87 Spirit Pre-life
88 Spirit Karma
89 Spirit Undead
90 Spirit Laughter
91 Spirit Song
92 Spirit Love/Sex
93 Spirit Destiny/Fate
94 Spirit Dreams
95 Spirit Fear/Bravery
96 Spirit Greed/Generosity
97 Spirit Jealousy/Equanimity
98 Spirit Hate/Love (non-romantic)
99 Spirit Abstinance/Indulgence
100 Spirit Bardo (Trial grounds between lifetimes)

 

 

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Posted in: legacy D&D, Organization / Tagged: campaign background, clerics, gods, religion

Clerics Who Weaken the Gods Part 1

May 18, 2011 4:46 pm / 2 Comments / Chris

Tolhoth was originally a tribal god, but became a god of war as his tribe conquered its neighbors and founded a nation. Quite apart from the struggles of his worshippers, he waged war in the realm of the jealous gods, a dimension of unending strife between many gods.

As his earthly following grew, his own victories diminished in glory and reward, eventually leading to a string of stalemates and eventually defeats. He descended to the earth and consulted the Great Oracle of Pellan, whose vision extended throughout all dimensions. She told him that as he was victorious on earth, he would suffer defeat in the sky.

Tolhoth appeared as a fiery giant towering over the tops of mountains, destroying every person and every temple in every city of village where he was venerated. Nothing remained of the nation that had worshipped him, and the neighbors swarmed in to take possession of anything of value that remained.

Speaking his name became taboo, lest it be mistaken for a prayer and invite his wrath.

On occasion someone is born with a connection to Tolhoth. Although they don’t know the name of the great being they are connected to, they can feel his might and they are, for all intents, clerics. They might found their own cult or they might keep what they know to themselves.

In either case, they draw power away from Tolhoth, who no longer bothers to look upon the earth. He is too drawn into his cosmic wars to feel even the slightest sensation. Should he somehow learn of these clerics, he would undoubtedly find some way to destroy them, either in person or by proxy.

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Posted in: content, legacy D&D / Tagged: gods, religion, reverse clerics

Valhalla for Wimps

July 30, 2010 7:31 am / 2 Comments / Chris

Nobles and merchants who have lived to a ripe old age, or who have fallen sick, or who are about to die for any reason that has nothing to do with battle have been known to hire headsmen. These solitary and despised figures attack and kill an old, sick or dying customer of means to ensure that they head to Valhalla and not Folkvangr (Freya’s realm) which in my gaming world is where the souls of non-warrior folk go after death.*

Headsmen typically don’t believe in any of the myths or teachings of the Church, or perhaps they see themselves as damned to live with Hel anyway. The Church has, since the time of Thor, held that killing the sick, helpless or unarmed is a grave sin, which leads to the dark underworld overseen by Hel. (My, what a wonderful divergence from the vikings of old!).

The Church of Aesir has eased off of that position over time and in fact now actually performs this last rite for a hefty donation, sending official Church Headsmen. While shunned for performing such a distasteful profession, these men make a very good living and are known for their discretion and ability to perform their duties with a minimum of pain inflicted and mess made.

Families rely on discretion as none of them would openly admit to hiring a headsman. When a old man’s pyre is lit and he lies there in full battle regalia, the family usually explains that he died in battle with an intruder, assassin or bandit. Everyone then understands exactly what happened and no one says a word.

Those who preach religious reform, who are not afraid to speak up, point to this as part of the degeneracy and hypocrisy of the Church.

Headsmen can typically be found in big cities, especially Nornland’s capital Olafstaad. Wherever nobles and merchants congregate, in other words.

*In the real world, the myth is she takes half the honorably killed warriors to her realm, leaving Odin the rest. Not only should you not confuse this stuff with the real world, but don’t confuse it with real myth, mmkay?

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Posted in: content / Tagged: mashup, Nornland, Norse, religion

All Religion is Local

July 7, 2010 3:19 am / Leave a Comment / Chris
Green Tara

Green Tara

Start a cleric at level 1 and have his (or her) deity be the local village totem/spirit/ancestor. As long as he never leaves the area, praying to Althora, the local waterfall spirit grants him all the spells he needs.

Once he leaves his village, he’s going to need a stronger god with more believers. Spells might come sporadically or at lower strength. Time for proselytizing! He’ll need to figure out why the fishermen and their families in Big-City-on-the-River should pray to her: “The goddess Athora is the protector of all those who fish the rivers.”

As his level increases, his ability to impress and convert would also grow. Eventually, Althora might be the goddess of weathering change. She would be known, if not worshipped, anywhere on continent or in the world, so that the cleric call on her from anywhere. By then, the PC would be the founder of a cult, sect or major religion. The waterfall back home would be a site of pilgramage, where his has established his abby or cathedral. Someday he could be a saint or perhaps a martyr!

This gives the player a chance to make up the trappings and lore of his character’s religion, make visible impact in the campaign and is a terrific opportunity to develop plot hooks.

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Posted in: content / Tagged: clerics, religion, story-arc
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