D&DG Worshippers 7: Egyptians

Art: Inonibird@tumblr

Egyptian Worshippers

The first of three biggies this week: The Egyptian pantheon, which will be followed by Finnish and then Greek. Between them they probably cover about two thirds of non-homespun pantheons in use by AD&D DMs, with Norse covering most of the remainder.

The table has some interesting aspects. If you meet an Egyptian paladin there is a surprising number of possible patron deities s/he may be following, but a ranger on the other hand is always a follower of Osiris. Thieves are all devoted to Bes. There's also a wide range of options for illusionists, although dominated by Set and Thoth, which is a very Conanesque rivalry.

The lack of clerics for certain deities is a little surprising too - Horus in particular. This is something we've seen before in other pantheons using this method, but in the case of Horus we can at least imagine that the paladins of Horus serve that purpose and perhaps the DM could make a slightly expanded paladin variant which has more extensive clerical spell casting abilities. Alternatively, multi-classing could be allowed even for humans providing one class is cleric for a deity not listed.

Encounter	Cleric	Druid	Fighter	Ranger	Paladin	Magic-user	Illusionist	Thief	Assassin	Monk	Bard
Ra	1-10		1-11			1-8
Anhur			12-24			9-11	1-6		1-40	1-100
Anubis	11-21				1-21	12-20
Apshai			25-34
Bast	22-29		35-41			21-26	7-18
Bes			42-47			27-32	19-29	1-100			1-35
Geb			48-59			33-38
Horus					22-53	39-45
Isis	30-39	1-43	60-65			46-53	30-45
Nephthys	40-47		66-71			54-60
Osiris	48-58	44-72		1-100							36-100
Ptah	59-68		72-80			61-71
Seker	69-75	73-100			54-79	72-76	46-54
Set	76-83		81-91				55-77		41-100
Shu	84-91				80-100	77-82
Tefnut	92-100		92-97			83-88
Thoth			98-100			89-100	78-100

D&DG Worshippers 6: Cultists

Cthulhu Mythos Worshippers

This is a tricky one. Deities and Demigods treats the various beings of the Mythos as monsters. Very few of them have specific class levels, which means that the method of using those levels to assign a probability that someone of that class worships a specific deity is a little questionable. However, the classes which are not represented are: Rangers, Paladins, Thieves, Monks, and Bards. Of these the only two that seem problematic are Monk and Thief; no one was expecting a Paladin to worship any of thise lot anyway!

Thieves can be rationalised, I think, in that they simply do not see anything very positive for themselves in the long-term goals of Cthulhu and Co. The end of all things is not very appealing to the person who loves shiney stuff.

Monks are harder. I personally absolutely can see Evil monk cultists but AD&D's decicision that monks must be Lawful rules out this most Chaotic of pantheons. One way around this might be Nyarlathotep masquerading as the head of some LE order who are unaware of the true nature of their "Master". Anyway, here's the table:

Encounter	Cleric	Druid	Fighter	Magic-user	Illusionist	Assassin
Cthulhu			1-13	1-20
Azathoth			14-27
Cthuga	1-55	1-71	28-40	21-50	1-38
Hastur			41-53	51-72	39-68
Ithaqua	56-78		54-63		69-83
Nyarlathotep	79-100	72-100	64-73	73-85	84-100	1-100
Shub-Niggurath			74-87
Yog-Sothoth			88-100	86-100

I thought I'd also throw in the pivoted table for Nyarlathotep showing the chance that a worshiper of that being is any given class, since he is the being most likely to be incountered in a non-combat situation:

Class	d%
Cleric	1-15
Druid	16-30
Fighter	31-49
Magic-user	50-65
Illusionist	66-81
Assassin	82-100

Levels Distribution

Simulating, but simulating what?

I’ve mentioned before that D&D has a problem in deciding what it is simulating, but that happens at the table too. Many DMs have a simulationist streak but it is sometimes hard to decide whether we’re simulating some sort of extrapolated reality based on the world as experienced personally by the PCs, or something more literary.

One topic where this plays out is in the realm of classed NPCs. When making broad-brush strokes about a campaign, for example, the numbers of high-level NPCs in the countries around the starting location, it’s handy to have a quick way of generating those numbers. But what method to use?

Basic Assumptions: Demographics

Two basic assumptions carry through both methods: firstly that classed characters are 1% of the human population. Secondly, that the age demographics are something like the Coale-Demeny West table at level 4. This basically means that half the population is old enough to have or have started training in a class, and that 60 is a reasonable expectation for characters.

A. Simulating PCs

One approach I have used is a complete simulation based on entrance requirements for the classes, age demographics, and an assumed rate of experience point accumulation.

Without going into too much detail, what you find with this approach is that there are relatively few 1st level characters, especially thieves, because it takes so little experience to pass through the low levels, resulting in a sort of bulge at mid-levels. Exactly where depends on how much xp per month you figure in, how many active months in a year you assume etc.

For fighters this gives an output something like this for 1000 fighters:

Level	#Fighters
1	33
2	42
3	59
4	107
5	205
6	209
7	273
8	70
9	2

The shape of the bulge varies depending on how exactly you see the rate of xp gain working over time, but you get the idea. Mid- to high-levels dominate over the lower levels.

B. Simulating Fiction & The Implied Reality

The above doesn’t fit most people’s expectations of the world which are taken from fiction and/or the Monster Manual’s listings for “Men”. The implied world is one where low-level characters are outnumbered by 0-level normal people, and low level characters greatly outnumber name-level characters.

As a simple example, an encounter with 200 bandits will consist of 200 0-level bandits, 6 second-level fighters, 10 third-level fighters, 7 fourth-level fighters, 5 fifth-level fighters, 4 sixth-level fighters, one seventh-level fighter, and a tenth-level fighter. The MM seldom places first-level characters, although Berserkers do have them at a ratio of 1:10 compared to 0-level types.

Another area where the game departs from the “simulated PCs” method is in the incidence of the individual classes. Rather than depending on the odds of qualifying for each class, and some factor for how desirable the classes are, we can just use the numbers from DMG p35 (which assumes that the distribution of prospective henchmen in a town or city is the same as the general distribution of classes everywhere).

For the purposes of quickly determining what’s happening in a specific country, or in a town, we quickly boil the assumptions down to this:

Class	Divisor
Cleric	1200
Druid	6000
Fighter	561
Paladin	4545
Ranger	4545
Magic-user	1200
Illusionist	6000
Thief	1600
Assassin	8000
Monk	200000

So, a location with a population of 300,000 will have on average 535 fighters, 2 monks (I’m rounding up at .5), and 38 assassins (300000 divided by 561, 200000, and 8000 respectively). Here’s the full table:

Class	Divisor	#
Cleric	1200	250
Druid	6000	50
Fighter	561	535
Paladin	4545	66
Ranger	4545	66
Magic-user	1200	250
Illusionist	6000	50
Thief	1600	188
Assassin	8000	38
Monk	200000	2

But what levels are these guys?

Last week's post was really just a bit of Javascript which tries to generate higher levels based on how hard they are to reach as an absolute number.

What the method boils down to is that the ratio of 1st level clerics to 2nd level clerics is the ratio 1500:3000 (the maximum number of xp in first and second level), so basically 2:1. This is a fairly complicated calculation so I’ve done tables up to high levels below.

Aside: An obvious alternative is to take the ratio of the mid-points of the various levels rather than the maximum values. This leads to a normal ratio of 1:3 at lower levels, and since this is compounded the numbers appearing of even 4th level and upward are insignificant. So, if this method gives too many mid-level characters, you could try adjusting that.

How it works is to set a maximum possible level, then assume that all the NPCs are distributed across those levels in inverse proportion to the amount of xp needed to reach each level. The tables are normalised so the values add up to one.

Here’s the tables.

Level	Bard	Cleric	Druid	Monk
1	4.706451e-01	5.045307e-01	4.587672e-01	5.254946e-01
2	2.353225e-01	2.522653e-01	2.293836e-01	2.489185e-01
3	1.176613e-01	1.261327e-01	1.223379e-01	1.182363e-01
4	5.883064e-02	5.821508e-02	7.340276e-02	5.254946e-02
5	3.765161e-02	2.751985e-02	4.587672e-02	2.489185e-02
6	2.353225e-02	1.375993e-02	2.621527e-02	1.206493e-02
7	1.568817e-02	6.879964e-03	1.529224e-02	5.911814e-03
8	1.107400e-02	3.363538e-03	1.019483e-02	3.378179e-03
9	8.557183e-03	1.681769e-03	7.340276e-03	2.364725e-03
10	6.275268e-03	1.121179e-03	4.587672e-03	1.689090e-03
11	4.706451e-03	8.408845e-04	3.058448e-03	1.244592e-03
12	2.353225e-03	6.727076e-04	1.223379e-03	9.458902e-04
13	1.568817e-03	5.605896e-04	6.116896e-04	6.756359e-04
14	1.176613e-03	4.805054e-04	2.621527e-04	5.254946e-04
15	9.412902e-04	4.204422e-04	2.293836e-04	4.299501e-04
16	7.844085e-04	3.737264e-04	2.038965e-04	3.638039e-04
17	6.723501e-04	3.363538e-04	1.835069e-04	3.152967e-04
18	5.883064e-04	3.057762e-04	1.668244e-04
19	5.229390e-04	2.802948e-04	1.529224e-04
20	4.706451e-04	2.587337e-04	1.411591e-04
21	4.278592e-04	2.400907e-04	1.310764e-04
22	3.137634e-04	2.240847e-04	1.223379e-04
23	2.353225e-04	2.100794e-04	1.146918e-04

Level	Fighter	Paladin	Ranger
1	5.029507e-01	5.064549e-01	4.894399e-01
2	2.514753e-01	2.532274e-01	2.447199e-01
3	1.257377e-01	1.160626e-01	1.223600e-01
4	5.588341e-02	5.803129e-02	5.438221e-02
5	2.874004e-02	3.095002e-02	3.058999e-02
6	1.437002e-02	1.466054e-02	2.039333e-02
7	8.047211e-03	7.958577e-03	1.359555e-02
8	4.023606e-03	3.979288e-03	9.063702e-03
9	2.011803e-03	1.989644e-03	4.894399e-03
10	1.341202e-03	1.326429e-03	3.262933e-03
11	1.005901e-03	9.948221e-04	1.748000e-03
12	8.047211e-04	7.958577e-04	1.193756e-03
13	6.706009e-04	6.632147e-04	9.063702e-04
14	5.748008e-04	5.684698e-04	7.305073e-04
15	5.029507e-04	4.974110e-04	6.117999e-04
16	4.470673e-04	4.421432e-04	5.262795e-04
17	4.023606e-04	3.979288e-04	4.617357e-04
18	3.657823e-04	3.617535e-04	4.112940e-04
19	3.353005e-04	3.316074e-04	3.707878e-04
20	3.095081e-04	3.060991e-04	3.375448e-04

Level	Magic-user	Illusionist
1	4.897863e-01	4.883469e-01
2	2.448932e-01	2.441735e-01
3	1.224466e-01	1.220867e-01
4	5.442070e-02	6.104337e-02
5	3.061165e-02	3.139373e-02
6	2.040776e-02	1.831301e-02
7	1.360518e-02	1.156611e-02
8	9.070117e-03	7.577797e-03
9	4.897863e-03	4.994457e-03
10	3.265242e-03	2.497229e-03
11	1.632621e-03	1.664819e-03
12	1.088414e-03	1.248614e-03
13	8.163106e-04	9.988915e-04
14	6.530485e-04	8.324095e-04
15	5.442070e-04	7.134939e-04
16	4.664632e-04	6.243072e-04
17	4.081553e-04	5.549397e-04
18	3.628047e-04	4.994457e-04
19	3.265242e-04	4.540416e-04
20	2.968402e-04	4.162048e-04

Lv	Thief	Assassin
1	4.947792e-01	4.984702e-01
2	2.473896e-01	2.492351e-01
3	1.236948e-01	1.246175e-01
4	6.184740e-02	6.230877e-02
5	3.092370e-02	2.990821e-02
6	1.455233e-02	1.495411e-02
7	8.835343e-03	7.477053e-03
8	5.622491e-03	3.738526e-03
9	3.865463e-03	2.492351e-03
10	2.811246e-03	1.759306e-03
11	1.405623e-03	1.300357e-03
12	9.370819e-04	9.969403e-04
13	7.028114e-04	7.477053e-04
14	5.622491e-04	4.984702e-04
15	4.685409e-04	3.742724e-04
16	4.016065e-04
17	3.514057e-04
18	3.123606e-04
19	2.811246e-04
20	2.555678e-04

One way to use these tables is just to find the number of clerics, say, in a town using table 1, then you can multiply that number by the value given for 1st level clerics on the table below to find how many Acolytes there are; then multiply the total number of clerics again by the value given for second level clerics to find the number of Adepts, and so on.

For example, Say you have a large town with 12,000 inhabitants. Table 1 tells you that there will be 12,000 divided by 1200 = 10 clerics in the town. Multiplying by 10 all the way down the cleric table gives this:

Level	# Clerics
1	5.041905
2	2.520952
3	1.260476
4	0.581758
5	0.275013
6	0.137506
7	0.068753
8	0.033613
9	0.016806
10	0.011204
11	0.008403
12	0.006723
13	0.005602
14	0.004802
15	0.004202
16	0.003735
17	0.003361
18	0.003056
19	0.002801
20	0.002586
21	0.002401
22	0.002241
23	0.002101

What I normally do is actually feed the values into a poisson-distribution random number generator so that I get a spread of values who’s mean is the number given, which is what last week's program does (I've added the source code at the end here).

This final result is much more like a literary setting where the central characters (the PCs) are much less likely to encounter high level NPCs than low level ones. However, there is an issue with high levels.

Once the xp totals reach name level (for most classes) the amount of xp needed increases at a constant rate. This means that the ratio from, say, 12th level to 13th level, to 14th is gradually falling rather than increasing. The practical result is that the representation of very high level characters in the population reaches a plateau and 22nd level clerics are not really any rarer than 21st level ones, as you can see in the above table.

You might want to tinker with this for your campaign.

I've stuck the code up onto GitHub but I would warn you that I'm not a Javascript programmer and this is the first real program I've written in the language so the code is not great (I've done lots of glue-code in it of course, AJAX and stuff, but that's mostly calling other programs and just updating displays rather than being a complete application). The program was originally in Perl but I wanted to post it on the blog so I converted it. Consequently, the JS is currently the more up-to-date version but if I make further change it's more likely to be to the Perl version since that version's output is suitable for reading into Emacs' org-mode where I can further format and manipulate it.

Anyway, with the code on your local machine you can fiddle with assumptions such as half the population being too young to be classed, or perhaps add features such as generating ages for the npcs. Or whatever!

D&DG Worshippers 5: Chinese

Shang-Ti, crusher of tortoises

Chinese Worshippers

So we arrive at a mythos I knew nothing about when I got GD&H, but thanks to that and the later D&DG I have developed... well, no real knowledge of the gods involved since then.

I probably picked up more from watching Monkey - that the Eastern pantheon (as it was known in GD&H) is basically a bureaucracy mirroring that of the Imperial Chinese court in the days before the Mongols arrived to teach the emperor a few unpleasant lessons. I have at least read the Penguin Classics translation of The Journey West (which is truly terrible) and Cowboy Bebop sent me off on a bit of a dig into Feng-Shui (nuts but fun) and that's about the extent of it.

The introduction to the mythos lists a few magical items, including a reference to the I-Ching as a tool for controlling matter and motion, and what I think is supposed to be Monkey's staff (all 7t 16cwt 88lbs of it). It also introduces the idea that the head of a church might be simply "gifted" with the powers of a high priest, presumably in the case that the emperor is more of a military man than a holy one.

The method I'm using here to generate the tables based on the deity's own class abilities throws up something new as well: gods without either clerical or druidical worshippers. In all cases except one - Huan-Ti, god of war - the gods in question are in fact demi-gods and we can perhaps handwave this, especially if we assume "demigod" to have the literal Greek sense of having one mortal parent.

In the case of Huan-Ti, I guess we just have to assume that the god of war is not interested in spell-casting and simply does not take on clerics in the normal sense. It seems that the deity is based on the mythological emperor of the same name who supposedly became an immortal after death. If so, it is strange that he is said to wear red +3 platemail as Huan-Ti is the "Yellow Emperor" and strongly associated with the colour (according to Google).

One very notable omission is Monkey himself - Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, Great Sage Equal to All Heaven.

Encounter	Cleric	Druid	Fighter	Ranger	Paladin	Magic-user	Illusionist	Thief	Assassin	Monk	Bard
Shang-ti	1-9				1-100	1-13	1-17				1-30
Chang Kung Ming				1-17					1-18	1-11
Chih-Chiang Fyu-Ya			1-21							12-28	31-50
Chih Sung-Tzu	10-22		22-36			14-26
Chung Kuel	23-36	1-21		18-36		27-36	18-30		19-45	29-44	51-70
Fei Lien				37-46				1-17		45-52
Feng Po				47-56				18-34		53-61
Huan-Ti				57-75					46-73	62-80
Kuan Yin	37-53	22-42				37-49					71-100
Lei Kung		43-58	37-52			50-58	31-42
Lu Yueh	54-66		53-69			59-70	43-59	35-66
No Cha		59-73	70-83				60-73	67-100
Shan Hai Ching	67-73		84-100			71-77	74-82
Tou Mu	74-86			76-90		78-81	83-87
Wen Chun				91-100		82-90	88-100
Yen-Wang-Yeh	87-100	74-100				91-100			74-100	81-100

D&DG Worshippers 4: Central Americans

Xochipilli (Lombard Museum)

Central American Worshippers

For the first time we come to a pantheon in D&DG in which every PHB class is represented amongst the gods. The idea of a paladin of Quetzalcoatl in authentic Aztec dress and arms certainly appeals, but it does bring up yet another problem with the book's coverage of "pagan" religion - aspects, or the lack thereof.

Quetzalcoatl is listed as lawful neutral, so why would any paladin hold him in high regard, let alone Camaxtli, the neutral god of fire. And as for Chalchiuhtkicue - she's chaotic, for Set's sake!

Many polytheistic deities represent or control an aspect of the world which has the potential for a wide range of effects on the human world. Loki and fire is the classic example, but Chalchiuhtkicue's element of water is another. Even more abstract ideas can have variable levels of desirability depending on how they are applied: law, passion, invention, love etc. can all be positive or negative depending on the degree or the type. Because of this, deities often has aspects which represented these facets of their sphere of control and different forms for each aspect.

In the UK I think we generally associate this with the Hindu pantheon, if we associate it with anything, but it manifests all over the place. If you go to Nashville, Tennessee and look at the statue of Athena you will see a giant snake beside her on the dais. That snake is none other than Athena's father, the great god Zeus from whom we get the words "Deus" and "Deity" itself, in his chthonic (underworld) form*.

*Edit: I may be misremembering this (see comments) but Zeus Ktesios was a widely worshipped form of Zeus as a snake protecting a family or household, which is what I thought he was representing on the Parthenon.

Encounter	Cleric	Druid	Fighter	Ranger	Paladin	Magic-user	Illusionist	Thief	Assassin	Monk	Bard
Quetzalcoatl	1-13	1-17			1-29	1-10	1-17	1-63			1-29
Camaxtli	14-23				30-46	11-19
Camazotz	24-30		1-20			20-30	18-34		1-17
Chalchiuhtkicue	31-40				47-64	31-40					30-51
Huhueteotl	41-48	18-30	21-40			41-47	35-47		18-33	1-31
Huitzilopochtli	49-54	31-47		1-57		48-52	48-53		34-50	32-63
Itzamna	55-65				65-83	53-59
Mictlantecuhtli	66-72	48-66		58-100		60-68	54-69		51-67
Tezcatlipoca	73-77		41-80			69-76			68-83		52-60
Tlaloc	78-87		81-100			77-86
Tlazolteotl	88-94	67-84				87-94	70-90		84-100		61-82
Xochipilli	95-100	85-100			84-100	95-100	91-100	64-100		64-100	83-100

So, if we say that a paladin follows or venerates a deity who is not lawful good we need to ask - is there an aspect of this god which fits. In the case of Quetzalcoatl it's a pretty small step from a god of "law giving" to an aspect which uses the law to help the weak. Water, likewise, can be harnessed for such socially positive things as irrigation, turning water-wheels, or even fishing. Xochipilli is a bit more of a challenge as the god of gambling (in D&DG; in real life that was his brother Macuilxóchitl, apparently).

Well, gambling is generally part of a game and games have rules (even "I bet that snail crosses the path faster than that snail" generally includes rules like "you can't pick your snail up and just throw it across the path"), so that's lawful. The Good part is a bit trickier but perhaps we can imagine a paladin of a god which encourages us to enjoy life and be more flexible in the face of changing fortunes. An up-beat paladin would be quite a change, wouldn't?

Anyhow, aspects were a common part of polytheistic religions (and, if you scrape the surface, you can find traces in most monotheistic ones), and are glossed over in D&DG. RuneQuest generally didn't do a great job here, although some of Stafford's writing did include them. But mostly they are an uncharacteristic weakness in RQ's religiousity. Petal Throne, especially with Bob Alberti's wonderful Mitlanyal guide to the gods of Tekumel, did do it a bit better.

D&DG Worshippers 3: Celts

Celtic Worshippers

This week we have the Celtic pantheon from D&DG and, like the Babylonian one, there is a distinct lack of thieves in the results (and paladins, but you  have to get used to that). There are a couple of assassins and of course lots of options for bards, both of which could subsume thievery functions.

Encounter	Cleric	Druid	Fighter	Ranger	Magic-user	Illusionist	Thief	Assassin	Monk	Bard
Arawn	1-16	1-9		1-30	1-15					1-9
Brigit		10-18	1-8		16-42					10-19
Dagda	17-27	19-27	9-20		43-54	1-24				20-31
Diancecht	28-47	28-36	21-30		55-63					32-37
Dunatis	48-58		31-42							38-48
Goibhnie		37-45	43-54							49-57
Lugh		46-65	55-67							58-68
Manannan Mac Lir	59-78		68-78
Math		66-68	79-81		64-86	25-40
Morrigan		69-75		31-65				1-56		69-74
Nuada		76-81		66-100				57-100		75-80
Ogham	79-89	82-91	82-91		87-100	41-69				81-91
Silvanus	90-100	92-100	92-100			70-100				92-100

However, the solution I used with the Babylonians of going with a general alignment table doesn't work as most of the deities are neutral and for "worshippers' alignment" they generally have something of the style "all beings interested in <deity's sphere of control>". So Brigit is worshipped by "Beings worshipping fire and poetry", for example. Once could almost say that the Celtic deities are rather catholic in their acceptance :)

Anyway, there's no easy conversion to alignment for quickly generating NPCs.

As an alternative, I thought I'd look at the probabilities from Zac's original method and here is what we get:

Encounter	Cleric
Dagda	1-40
Arawn	41-45
Brigit	46-50
Diancecht	51-55
Dunatis	56-60
Goibhnie	61-65
Lugh	66-71
Manannan Mac Lir	72-77
Math	78
Morrigan	79-84
Nuada	85-90
Ogham	91-95
Silvanus	96-100

Just liked the image, TBH

Although I was initially enthusiastic about the system Zac presented - who would turn down the chance to get something useful from Deities and Demigods, after all? - his approach did not in fact give much nuance. The head of the pantheon gets a base 40% of results and all the rest are weighted according to their hit points. Hit points are taken as a proxy for the amount of worship the deity enjoys which, ignoring the issue of it being a dubious theological concept, seems reasonable for game purposes.

The problem is that most pantheons don't have that much of a range, with 2:1 between top and bottom being rare.

Part of the problem is that D&DG doesn't contain that much information on each pantheon. The Greek pantheon has 19 deities listed out of hundreds - the Norse one is a similarly small selection. Another part is that the cap of 400hp isn't that much higher than the top levels for PCs and dipping much below 200hp makes a deity vulnerable to a high-level party which could possibly muster more hp between them. So the design is constrained and consequently there's not really room for obscure deities with small cults.

But, still, the idea of getting some value out of D&DG is very appealing. It is, after all, nearly a dead loss. The research is patchy, for a start, and it has basically no grasp or representation of religion at all. Compared to Cults of Prax for RuneQuest it's something of a joke in roleplaying terms.

Even today, most people who play D&D have relatively little grasp of polytheism (apologies to Hindu and Japanese readers) and D&DG doesn't really illuminate the subject much. It certainly doesn't get into the differences between types of polytheism.

"The DM must also make sure that the cleric is aware of his or her place in the community and the church hierarchy." (D&DG p9).

The church what, now?

Greek worship seems to have had no such thing. Each city seems to have had a particular favourite deity, and almost everyone agreed that Zeus was usually in charge of everyone, but there was no "church" in which to have a place. Individual clerics would "work" - usually part-time, often voluntarily - at a temple or shrine and the more important the temple the more important the post was, politically. But the priests worshipping the same deity in a temple three miles up the road had no need to obey or even much care about any statements made by the high priest of a city even as regards the proper worship of the god in question. And since every city was fiercely independent, there was even less power for the would-be church leader once s/he got to the neighbouring city limits.

The Sumerian experience seems to have been very similar, and even in Egypt there was real power vested in the priests near to the throne, but that power was not especially doctrinal in form and had no reach up- or down-stream unless the current pharaoh put his or (occasionally) her weight behind it.

With the Celts, and many others, the picture is very similar but with "tribe" swapped in for "city". Indeed, this tribal favouritism for one god is probably the seed from which city cults grew.

Old Time Religion

With no church to issue edicts, personal worship was very much an individual's choice. Relatively little writing has survived which expresses the feelings of normal people, or even members of the elite classes. But what does survive is often reminiscent, I find, of the sort of stuff one might find on a Reddit forum devoted to a boy-band. Passionate, but often rather arbitrary. Outside of special occasions like childbirth or illness, people generally worshipped the deities that they just liked.

Things do often change, however, as states become more intrusive (read: more militaristic) and we start to see State Religions.

To my eye, D&DG was written with Empire of the Petal Throne in mind. The strict hierarchies, nation-wide temples, and relatively small numbers of adventuring clerics who are semi-detached from the main clerical body fits with EPT's half-way house between the Christian Churches which clearly underpinned the original game, and the reality of most polytheistic "religions". Individuals, especially clerics, are expected to follow a specific deity through most of their lives - in EPT this is generally a Clan thing, or sometimes an occupational requirement.

What's odd about the D&D version of this is that it throws out the main functions of the Church: the determination of what is appropriate behaviour for the deity and punishments for transgressing the rules (unwritten or otherwise). In the Church's place the deity itself makes these calls, and tells the clerics either via dreams, messengers, or literally to their face.

In AD&D there are no doctrinal disagreements - a cleric who is transgressive has no spells and if they're high enough level to cast 6th or 7th level spells they will be told by GOD that they are wrong!

So we have this weird mix of an assumed Church within the cleric must "be aware of their place", and at the same time no temporal authority for any officials in that Church especially if they are not spellcasters.

D&DG tells us that 'Cleric "adventurers"...rarely have any important place in their religion's hierarchy'. This only makes sense if all the important clerics are spellcasters, otherwise we get scenarios like this:

Pope (0-level political genius): It is wrong to eat fish on the first Tuesday of the month.

Fred Bangashagga (cleric, 5th level): Actually, an angel told me that's not true. It came up when I was asking for create food and water.

Pope: Arse.

Now, it's possible to invent reasons for deities to subvert some of these observations, but the deity in question would need to be really into secrets and concealment (and of course there are always mystery cults in any pantheon) but even that is a level of sophistication which one will not find in D&DG.

So, really, all D&DG is, is a list of gods divided into cultures and with a bunch of very variable quality notes attached. The reference chart is at once very handy and at the same time complete baloney in terms of accurate historical observations.

But. It is lovely. 

It has that great Erol Ottis cover, lots of good illustrations inside, and lots of numbers which gamers usually like to see. I'm talking nostalgia here: the desire to see something the way you saw it when you were younger. And when I was younger I thought D&DG would be really great and really useful.

Which brings us back to the current series of posts as an attempt to at least get a bunch of tables that answer some useful question about the game world. Specifically, the question "this bloke the players have just walked up to in the street - what deity does he worship?"

It's not much but it's about the most a 57 year-old can get out of a book that his 15 year-old-self really loved.

The Temples of the City State of The Invincible Overlord

Introduction

This is the first post in an experiment to see if I can convert the temples of the City State of the Invincible Overlord into the religious outline from the previous post. The version of CSIO is the second edition from 1980 so there’s a few difficulties. The first one is that this edition was part-way between LBB D&D and AD&D. So the range of deities in the city includes some from GD&H as well as ones which were included in D&DG. Indeed, the gods of the city state are an interesting mix of major and minor, multi-planar, and local with a range of characteristics which makes it an interesting challenge to fit into any single framework.

Another point is that the alignment system in the 2nd edition seems to be a 5-point system with LG, CG, LE, CE, and N only. There are hints in the text that the authors wanted this or that NPC to be, say, LN - in particular, the overlord himself - and that applies to the gods as well. I’m going to try to represent the full AD&D 9-point system in this series of posts but I’m sticking to my stance of eschewing Concordant Opposition, although I will revisit it in the future.

So let’s get started:

The Temple of the Gargoyle

This temple is an example of a Holy of Holies. Indeed, an extreme example as the god physically dwells here and nowhere else.

The Gargoyle, Arghrasmak, is a demi-god of some sort from the Elemental Plane of Earth and is only worshipped in the city and the nearby area.

All the normal clerical spells can be obtained here up to 5th level, the highest that Arghrasmak is able to grant.

Symbol is a grey sphere held in a black claw. Clerical mace heads are normally in this form.

Goals

As a chaotic, the Gargoyle dislikes the rule of law and has become a sponsor of thieves in the city. As an evil chaotic, he encourages the more aggravated cruel sorts of theft in order to increase suffering.

As an elemental his interests are in things from the ground - gold, silver, jewels, and loves to accumulate these for no more reason than he likes them.

Beyond these things, Arghrasmak has little interest in the mundane world and spends most of his time sleeping and plotting the eventual overthrow of those who forced him from his border kingdom in the Inner World, as he calls the Plane of Earth. Anything which increases his standing amongst the denizens of that place will gain favour.

He is dangerous to attempt to deal with and his word, although rarely given, is seldom honoured. He really only wants the treasures of the underworld. Worship is nice but the clergy’s main function is really as a bodyguard.

Sacrifices and Dedications

For (any number of) third to fifth level spells, the god must be awoken by three sacrifices of metal (100gp worth), magic (any item, even a scroll of a single spell), and blood (1HD animal sacrifice). The deity will then wake, spend the requisite time in mental communion with the cleric, and return to its sleep.

Magical items usable by clerics are retained as dedications, everything else goes into the pit within which Arghrasmak sleeps. His stony skin soon destroys many of the magical items, but he retains a few useful ones in case of emergencies.

Lay Members

The temple’s congregation is mostly thieves and the temple itself is responsible for the thieves’ quarter’s existence as it offers sanctuary to its laity. Normal members (casual, 0-level thieves and beggars) pay 5sp per festival, and are expected to attend at least one per year (making up for missed events by paying the shortfall).

Classed thieves are expected to pay 100gp value per level per year and for this they get the protection sanctuary and +5% to their ability to hide in shadows.

All members in good standing will (must) receive the services of an appointed litigation trickster from the guild thereof if arrested for theft-related crimes. If the member is found not-guilty of their alleged crime, the fee is half the amount they were accused of; if found guilty the fee is only a quarter of the claimed amount. Note that the issue of whether the member actually stole anything at all is not relevant here.

The Overlord has compromised with Arghrasmak on sanctuary, avoiding a direct confrontation with a being of unknown but substantial power. Arghrasmak has abandoned human sacrifice, and the Overlord recognises the boundary of the temple as beyond his reach. The entrances, of course, can be guarded as he sees fit, so long as he does not actually barricade them.

Priests and Clerics

As well as access to the spells below, the high-priest and those of priestly level are granted +4 on all saves against petrifaction (including flesh to stone) once per season.

Festivals

The first full moon after each solstice and equinox divides the Gargoyle’s year into four seasons. Missing four of these festivals in a row without good reason (DM’s decision) will result in loss of clerical status.

Special spells

Due to Arghrasmak’s nature, he can not personally grant spells without being physically present - and he has never left his pit/nest in the last 450 years - so remote shrines to him are only able to grant first and second level spells. These shrines tend to be underground caves, grottos, or platforms in high, rugged mountains where some one or other of his followers has settled down to play the role of local priest.

These require 100gp value per level. Animal sacrifice is valued at 50gp per hit die.

• Stoneskin; Level 2; V, M; 1seg.

  Otherwise as 4th level magic user spell.

• Forget; Level 1; V, M; 1seg

  Otherwise as 2nd level MU spell.

These spells are also available at the main temple in CSIO. Additionally, Arghrasmak has one each special forth and fifth level spell which can be obtained at the main temple:

Protection from Petrifaction (Alteration)

level: 4	Components: V,S,M
Range: Touch	Casting Time: 4seg
Duration: 1 turn	Saving Throw: -
Area of Effect: Creature touched

Explanation/Description: Grants immunity for ten minutes only against any magic which would turn the recipient into stone.

Stoneform (Alteration)

level: 5	Components: V, S, M
Range: Personal	Casting Time: 5seg
Duration: 1rnd per level	Saving Throw: -
Area of Effect: Caster

Explanation/Description: When this spell is cast, the cleric takes on the stony form of a gargoyle. While in this form he or she can only be struck by magical weapons and can attack either with a weapon as normal, or by using their hands (single attack routine doing 1d4/1d4 plus any strength modifiVitrificationNitrificationto normal heat or cold and against magical attacks of these forms takes half damage or none, depending on a saving throw.

Armour class is reduced to 5 or remains as it was before, whichever is best.

The form is not winged unless the target is, in which case it can fly at a rate of 12“ so long as the caster is unencumbered, 6” if carrying heavy gear, and nothing if very heavily loaded or worse. Manoeuvre class is E.

In this form, only spell casting that does not require somatic components and which can be performed with nothing more than the holy symbol as its material component may be performed.

Magic & religion together!
What could go wrong?

Fiddling With Vancian

• 1. Magic and Religion
  • 1.1. Background
    • 1.1.1. Ye Wizards
    • 1.1.2. Ye Clerics
  • 1.2. A Modest Proposal
  • 1.3. Colouring in the Cleric
  • 1.4. The Effects of (Un)Holy Space
    • 1.4.1. Physical
    • 1.4.2. Metaphysical
    • 1.4.3. Very Metaphysical
    • 1.4.4. Temporal Spaces
  • 1.5. Rough Ideas
    • 1.5.1. Levels of Holiness
    • 1.5.2. Mobile Altars, Fetishes, and Shamen
    • 1.5.3. Guardians
    • 1.5.4. Hierarchy
  • 1.6. Notes
    • 1.6.1. Logic be damned
    • 1.6.2. Jesus!
    • 1.6.3. Transgressions
    • 1.6.4. Our World and the World of Myth
    • 1.6.5. What is a cleric?

1 Magic and Religion

1.1 Background

This never happens

1.1.1 Ye Wizards

D&D is, essentially, Vancian magic and level-based classes. I know WotC think otherwise but they only have the name because they paid for it and that doesn’t give them any rights to decide what it is, just what gets marketed under the name.

Anyway, without both of these things, you’re just playing a fantasy role-playing game. It might be a very good one, but it’s not Dungeons and Dragons.

Generally this isn’t a problem as the level-based system is pretty good at simulating how heroic or action fiction of all sorts works in terms of abilities and resistance to death - there’s normal people who die in droves against something that a small group of heroes defeat.

Vancian casting is a little less universal, although not so much in the practical sense of actually casting the spells so much as the preparing them.

Obviously, Vance’s work has examples of the process of basically jamming the energy of a spell into one’s head and releasing it later, losing in the process all that stored energy and so requiring the whole ritual to be repeated before the spell can be cast.

Vance’s ideas evolved, possibly riffing off Saberhagen, but the core idea had a little bit of an impact outside of his works, notably on Terry Pratchett although that was almost certainly by way of D&D.

The system allowed for the sort of tactical decision making and resource-management which is a hallmark of early exploration games.

But there was a problem which was created by that very exploration-heavy assumed motivation - a magic-user who went exploring more than a day’s journey from home was basically stuck with having to drag their precious spell-books with them and risk their total destruction, at which point they’re in real difficulties.

Now, dragging spell-books around on an adventure is definitely not something that occurs in source material of any kind that I can think of, including all the stuff in Appendix N. It’s a major issue for AD&D magic-users and a huge disadvantage beside their fellow spellcasters, the clerics and druids.

"All right! I'll take a leaflet!"

1.1.2 Ye Clerics

Now, clerics in D&D are not priests. They’re actually holy warriors who are given miraculous powers by their “deity”. I say “deity” because this is somewhere the deep roots of D&D in mediaeval wargaming rise to just below the surface. Far from being the modern, or ancient, fantasy vision of a world full of gods and spirits, the core books of both OD&D and AD&D are very much a Christian view. Clerics are followers of Christ without the game saying so. In OD&D, the cleric’s “holy symbol” was specifically a cross. AD&D moved away from that slightly but the broad vision of the class is the Christian vampire hunter.

The practical effect of this is that God is literally everywhere - and feels like he’s everywhere - and that is one thing that makes playing a non-Christian cleric unsatisfactory.

Clerics use the same “theory of spells” as magic-users - the energy of the spell is implanted in the character’s mind and is released when needed. The difference is that instead of spell-books, the cleric’s deity gifts the energy requested, either indirectly or directly and in person.

The rules apply no restrictions on where this gifting takes place. They specify that the cleric gains them by “supplication” but, in keeping with the assumption of an omni-present god, the 15 minutes-per-level of praying or whatever form this supplication takes can be done anywhere and at any time.

This is clearly a major advantage to the adventuring cleric as compared to the adventuring magic-user struggling to find ever more secure (and un-heroic) ways of transporting their most valuable possessions across open wilderness or even into deep oceans or planes of living fire. That would perhaps be acceptable as just something that magic-users have to live with in return for their much wider range of spells and, indeed, two entire extra levels of spells. I’m not sure where that argument leaves illusionists, though. But there is a knock-on effect of this al-fresco worship which is more subtle but also much more deadly to the role-playing experience.

Because there is no requirements about place of worship, the cleric character need never enter such a place. A “high priest” can happily reach that position without the player ever having had to deal with their religious organisation, enter a temple or perform any overt act of religious ritual. The cleric trains under another cleric and, similarly, there’s no need for that training to take place in anywhere more religious than an Inn.

Similarly, there are no real rules about ritual cleansing or purification, since there is nowhere the cleric has to worry about entering while “polluted”.

All in all, this aspect of the cleric’s spell-gaining mechanic is one of the main reasons that AD&D and OD&D have a fairly notorious lack of colour. There’s pretty well no depth to the relation between a cleric and their deity, with the possible exception that many players dream of one day taking on their god, or some god at least, in combat.

For many DMs it can be hard to find experienced players even interested in playing a cleric as there’s little difference between them, and their spell mechanics means that they all cast the same sorts of spells. Once you’ve played one cleric, you’ve played them all. The odd magic-user here and there will fail to “know” fireball or even magic missile and regardless of that their spell lists will be dominated by what spells they have found while exploring. Clerics are heal-bots not just because the cure spells are fantastically useful, but because there’s no cleric anywhere who can’t cast them.

I’m going to skip over the various attempts to make a cleric’s choice of deity useful in AD&D as they were all pretty feeble. Instead I am going to discuss a cure for both this ill and the question of magic-users’ books.

1.2 A Modest Proposal

The solution to both problems is, I think, this small change to Vancian casting:

• Instead of being lost completely, a spell’s energy is drained until the caster has time to rest and meditate on it again, using the same time as is currently needed to learn the spells from the normal source (book or god).
• However, only the spells currently assigned to the “spell slots” can be recovered this way, changing the memorised spell list is impossible.

For example, Jim the magician has a rest for 6 hours and gets his spell books out. He then spends another 2 hours memorising burning hands, magic missile x2, sleep; mirror image, invisibility; dispel magic, and lightning bolt. He then heads off on an adventure with some mates, leaving his spell books at home. During the next day or two he uses both magic missile spells and the invisibility.

Jim settles down in a nice warm cave and has 4 hours kip. On awakinging, he can spend 45 minutes bringing the components of the thaumaturgical circuits back together in his mind and he’s ready to go with a full complement of his initial spell list.

Only if he found another magic-user’s spell book would he have the chance to swap out one of his memorised spells for something new (or if he returned to his base of operations).

This obviously allows magic-users to work “in the field” at the cost of what flexibility they had. What about clerics?

Well, the same change applies to clerics. Instead of being able to change their spell-lists anywhere they like, they can now only change the memorised list by spending the normal 15 minutes per spell level on hallowed ground. Put simply, they need to visit a shrine, temple, glade, grotto, or other sacred ground in order to commune properly with their deity.

A cleric of Neptune can still pray for spells while 1000 miles inland and 10,000 feet up a mountain in a desert, she’s probably going to have to make her own holy site up there first. Otherwise, she has whatever Neptune granted her at the quay-side shrine in Pompeii as she set off for the high Atlas Mountains.

"So, see the bears game last night?"
"Yeah. Those kids never stood a chance
against the bears."

1.3 Colouring in the Cleric

The change proposed above is minor for magic-users and illusionists. It gives them less flexibility in spell-casting if they take the option of leaving the spell books behind. For clerics and druids, the change is much more profound.

By requiring some specific and sanctified area in which to commune with the power which grants them their spells, this change gives clerics, PC and NPC a motivation to protect such areas, to expand them, and to bring things (living or otherwise) to them for sacrifice or dedication to their god. Plot hooks! Hurrah!

1.4 The Effects of (Un)Holy Space

1.4.1 Physical

Let’s look at the holy space idea in a bit more detail. Firstly, it has to be a physical thing. It may be as little as an altar in a defined space; some deities will not demand one or the other but the baseline is that the holy space will have at least one of these two.

Druids will have groves, some of them will be created or sanctified by the druids, but some will be the “natural” homes of dryads or similar beings. A bank by a river inhabited by a naiad, or a mountain where sylphs dwell might also do. But even druids may have altars too.

Some sort of ritual, perhaps using the ceremony spells in UA, must be carried out to gift it to the deity, and this may have various restrictions on it, such as time of year, or specific sacrifices peculiar to the thing being worshipped.

Instruction sheet from
IKEA's "Stonehenge"

1.4.2 Metaphysical

The holy space belongs to the deity; it is literally its house (one of many). The things brought there and dedicated to it belong to the deity and removing them is the same as stealing from the deity.

The same applies to spirits and souls. Regardless of alignment, the soul of a human sacrificed at a demonic altar is going to the Abyss. An Orc sacrificed at a heavenly altar is going to heaven.

The assumption is that objects have some sort of spirit and sacrificing an item by breaking it and leaving the pieces in the space for some period in some way sends a copy of the item “to the gods” as a token of esteem.

This aspect of ownership places a burden on the priesthood that is proportional to the size of the space. A simple altar overlooking a sea cliff is easy to maintain; there would be no need for a full time priest at all. But a complex like the acropolis in Athens would need guards and the guards would need monitoring, and the number of shrines, altars, and temples implies more or less full time staffing of some sort.

Notice that this is mostly about keeping the gods’ property safe. The role of the cleric is very much about serving the deity, less so the laity and even less so non-believers (or non-worshippers).

1. Wipe Your Feet
   

   Coming into the deity’s house may mean abiding by various rules. For the Greeks, as an example, entering holy ground after killing someone was forbidden, similarly people who have had sex were “polluted”. These things could be fixed in many cases by simple washing (basins were provided outside all but the smallest shrines), but other acts would require more strenuous efforts. There’s no particular reason why intent or knowledge should be involved in these rules. A person who reverses their chariot over a small boy without noticing might find themselves judged as unfit in the same way as a soldier who has just returned from the battlefield.

   Obviously, a cleric who is unclean will not be given new spells until they have done something about it.

   This gives scope for active and intelligent use of both atonement and geas spells (as well as plain old having a bath now and then).

2. Tidy Up In Here
   

   Related to this idea it also becomes necessary to look after the god’s house while s/he is off doing godly things. The area needs to be representational of the deity’s desires and goals as formed by their alignment, sphere of interest, and personality. This might mean polished marble, heaps of rotting corpses, the arms and armour of defeated foes, or garlands of flowers and a spring of fresh water.

   This, in turn, provides a means of attacking the deity’s interests (and the status of their local clergy) which may need to be defended against. Holy/unholy water is one simple way of attacking an area, but various rituals might be possible too. Once an area is desecrated in this way, it becomes unavailable for spell renewal until cleared up. More plot hooks!

pbfcomics.com

1.4.3 Very Metaphysical

As a generic motivation, looking after the deity’s house will only get you so far. More specific motivations for the different deities will need to be, well, specified. Alignment is a reasonable start.

Broadly, Good deities want to protect the world from Evil deities who want to eat it. Evil deities share an enjoyment of causing suffering and loss. Morally neutral ones don’t want that, and Good ones want there to be active elimination of it.

Within those categories the gods’ personalities and areas of interest should inform what they expect to see in their material dwelling spaces and also what actions they are expecting their clergy to carry out on their behalf in return for their blessings (i.e., their hit points, saving throws, and above all their spells).

On the ethical side of things, Lawful deities will be looking to increase the degree to which societies are organised and stable, while Chaos wants to free the individual, or just go mental.

1. Metagaming Metaphysics
   

   From various clues in the books, we can posit some metaphysical rules. We know, for example, that demons and devils can not enter the PMP at will but that devas and so forth can. There’s even rules about how long a demon or devil can stay if they do get invited or summoned.

   I suggest this: The Deities of Law and Good (top-left quadrant of the alignment graph) agreed that there should be restrictions placed to protect the PMP. Basically, the PMP is off-limits unless the rules are broken, in which case the powers of Law or Good can intervene to restore them and then return to their home plane as soon as possible.

   Lawful Evil (the devils) agreed to go along for the sake of stymieing Chaos; Chaotic Good for the sake of thwarting Evil. CN, CE, and NE go along with them (most of the time) because the Solars are the biggest boys on the block; they have no real choice. However, they did manage to at least get the various clauses in that do allow them to be called to the PMP.

   The main loophole is the sacred area which allows them to communicate directly to their clergy without breaking any access rules, since the space is by definition their property and not, in a sense, actually the Material Plane. Through this, they can maintain a clergy and have that clergy pursue their agendas by proxy (which has the additional advantage of not being personally dangerous; no arch-duke of hell wants to wake up to find Thor knocking on the door).

   So, although most deities have no great interest in 0-level worshippers (who they regard as nice pets/food, depending on alignment), they do take an active interest in classed characters because of their ability to Get Things Done™.

   Everyone knows this is a technicality but it actually suits all sides in one way or another.

1.4.4 Temporal Spaces

There’s no reason that holy spaces should be 24/7. They may only operate at certain times: when the moon is full, the spring tide is at its peak, or the stars are right and so forth.

In any case, there should be a specific necessity for clerics to make sacrifices at a holy site at least once per year. This can be handwaved as part of their monthly upkeep costs, at least in terms of what is sacrificed, but the DM should require actual physical attendance at a site. Failure will result in the blocking of any new spells until atonement has taken place.

Some deities may require more frequent attendance, but annual is a recommended minimum.

The same goes for non-clerical worshippers, but there’s no direct game mechanical effect.

1.5 Rough Ideas

1.5.1 Levels of Holiness

What’s D&D without levels?

There’s a natural instinct to think of a hierarchy of holy sites. Perhaps:

• Personal or household Shrine
• Public shrine
• Village church
• Parish church
• Cathedral
• The Vatican

Or,

• Personal or household shrine
• Public or shared family shrine
• Village temple
• City temple
• Cult centre temple

That sort of thing. At the same time there’s a couple of “natural” ways of applying the idea of levels to AD&D clerical assumptions:

• Shrine (cleric can gain 1st or 2nd level spells)
• Temple (cleric can gain 3rd to 5th level spells from intermediary spirit)
• Cult centre (cleric can gain any spell from deity)

Or, holy spaces might come in 7 levels, with each designating a corresponding spell level.

I quite like the idea of this second version as it means that lesser gods and demi-gods automatically have less impressive cult centres.

However, both of these divisions leave something to be desired when we look at the very low end and, in particular, at religions that worshipped gods and goddesses with aspects as well as hero-cults. I’d like these to be sources of small numbers of, or even single, spells specific to the aspect.

I don’t want to go “full Greek”, as it were and have cleric PCs have to do a tour of the land to stock up on the general spells from PHB. But I quite like the idea that if a party is going to go to sea, then a trip to a specific temple of Poseidon might grant the cleric a particular spell like ’calm sea’ or ’charm sea-monster’ etc. I’d also quite like to move many of the UA spells into this sort of frame-work so that players can simply play with PHB and discover new spells by asking around or exploring.

It also makes pantheons more relevant as a character has access to multiple allied deities for specific things without getting bogged down in questions of who is their “actual” patron god.

Without getting too setting-specific, here’s my idea for classifying holy precincts by “level”:

1. Simple - spells of any level but limited to 1, 2, 3, or 4 spell levels (see below).

   Requires attendance from a lay-priest.

2. Minor site - 1st and 2nd level spells

   Requires attendance by a cleric or druid of 1st level

3. Important site - 3rd, 4th, and 5th level spells

   Requires a cleric of 5th level or druid of 3rd level

4. Great site - 6th level spells

   Requires cleric/druid of 9th level

5. Holy of Holies - 7th level spells

   Requires a cleric of 16th level or druid of 14th level.

If a priest, shaman, or cleric of the appropriate type is not available to perform the main holy day rituals of a year then the site is automatically downgraded one level, with an additional level loss per each subsequent festival day which is missed. Once a site reaches level zero it has been abandoned but up to that point it can be restored simply by performing the next major ritual in the god’s calendar.

1. Simple site restrictions
   

   A simple site will have a number of spell levels available is based on the deity - 1 for cults based on spirits (ancestors, minor demons, ki-rin etc.), 2 for demi-gods, 3 for lesser gods, and 4 for greater gods.

   So a small barn shrine dedicated to a local grass spirit will offer only one 1st level spell (bless cow or some such). A small altar in the woods dedicated to Enlil will offer some mixture of spells adding up to 4: perhaps 4 first level spells, or a single 4th level spell, two 2nd level spells or whatever.

   These spells can be a mixture of general PHB spells or unique spells specific to the locale. The greater the object of worship the more likely it is that there will be general spells available.

2. Unique spells
   

   Sacrifice must me made to the value of 100gp times the level of specific spells prayed for at a site. Unique spells might be available at any site, but simple sites will always have at least one and it will related in some way to the nature of that site.

   In addition to the on-the-spot sacrifice, the character is required to return and sacrifice 10% of whatever is gained through the use of the unique spell granted. This applies to the entire party and covers anything returned to safety on an adventure where the spell is actually cast.

3. Lay priests
   

   Lay priests are 0-level NPCs who are pious enough to be allowed to perform rituals at a site. If their wisdom is high enough then they will be able to pray for and use the spells available at their site using their wisdom bonus alone.

   Since these are NPCs, their base wisdom is limited to 15, but age may increase that. So, for example, a lay priest with 14 wisdom can cast two 1st level spells; one with a wisdom of 17 can additionally cast two 2nd level spells and a 3rd level spell.

   There is no requirement that a lay priest be able to cast any spells at all, but their wisdom must be at least 9 in order to properly perform the required rites.

4. Holy of Holies
   

   The top level of sacred space is the Holy of Holies. Each deity will only have one of these on any continent or similar sized area. There will be some representation of the deity there which forms the focus for the god. These will not necessarily be anthropomorphic or representative of the appearance of the god at all, although they will usually be emblematic in some way.

1.5.2 Mobile Altars, Fetishes, and Shamen

Mobile sites are available in several forms such as the famous Temple of the Wooden Sword, or a shaman’s fetish stick or similar items.

Such basic equipment acts as a simple site but with the additional restriction that the generic spells available (i.e., the PHB ones) are as listed for tribal casters in DMG.

Ha! I don't see any guardian spirit here!

1.5.3 Guardians

Aside from the material creatures which protect a site, it is possible for guardian spirits to be assigned to one.

Such guardians will be picked from an appropriate plane and could be modrons, oliphants, devils, demons, or any creature which can be encountered on the astral plane (for druids the guardian must be able to traverse the ethereal plane instead) of a compatible alignment.

A guardian’s challenge rating is limited to the square of the site it is attached to. If the site degrades, the guardian will remain until the site is completely abandoned.

Guardians will be empowered to engage in combat, possibly from the astral or ethereal planes and possibly psionically, any trespasser who touches any of the god’s belongings without permission or good reason. The guardian will use whatever faculties it has to determine this, and potentially can be fooled.

The deity itself will act as guard for its holy of holies.

1. Making Friends
   

   Whatever ritual is used to summon a guardian, the creature must serve willingly and so the summoning (which may have similar restrictions and requirements as originally dedicating the site did) must end with a successful reaction roll from the guardian towards the summoner.

   The reaction roll is modified by charisma and the target score is based on the guardian’s alignment:

   Alignment	Target
   LG	35
   NG	50
   CG	55
   CN	60
   CE	70
   NE	65
   LE	45
   LN	40
   N	80

   These are based on the loyalty mods with the exception of the modifier for neutral (i.e., elemental) guardians which assumes, based partly on contact other plane, that they prefer not to get involved with, or are just not interested in, events on the material plane. If you don’t view it that way, or you have neutral deities involved, then 50 would seem the logical score. I would say that for druids in particular, woodland and fey creatures would be a common type of guardian.

   These are minimums; further modifiers should be applied upwards if the character is not in good standing. Penalties should be applied if the holy precincts to be guarded are not worthy of the guardian - too small for a powerful one, in disrepair, or in an inappropriate place.

The Planes of Existence (PHB)

1.5.4 Hierarchy

There is no hierarchy of temples or sites by default. An individual religion may have such but since all the higher level clerics are in communication with the deity or its servants directly, there is no need for councils or synods or similar to decide what is or is not canon law nor any reason why a priest from one site should be able to order a priest from another around, other than personal respect or strength. There may be organisational issues which need oversight, of course, but even that is not a given.

1.6 Notes

1.6.1 Logic be damned

Logically, clerics under this system should really not get any spell recovery at all unless at a sanctuary but from a game perspective that’s just too harsh and we’d be back at the point where magic-users on campaign are crippled except it would be cleric PCs getting the crappy end of the stick.

1.6.2 Jesus!

Personally, as is probably apparent from the length of this post, I’m very excited about this, really rather simple, idea. It does have a minor issue in that it is actually a poor fit with pure monotheism of the modern sort where the single deity is literally the only one. Older forms of monotheism, as found in the Old Testament for example, allowed for the existence of multiple gods but simply insisted that a particular tribe exclude all but one from their worship. That sort of monotheism is a lot less omnipresent than the later versions which started to gain ground around 400 B.C.

So if, in fact, you really do want to run a mediaeval setting, much of this idea will have to be modified, possibly to use saints instead of other deities or aspects of the single one.

1.6.3 Transgressions

One area where this system is easier on players than the book system is that clerics who transgress will still potentially have access to spells - perhaps very powerful spells - which they can continue to use. I would suggest a two-pronged attack on this possible abuse.

Firstly, if the cleric changes alignment or begins worshipping a different deity, the shock of this re-alignment of their self- and world-views simply clears their minds of all previous spells.

If this does not apply then some form of divine retribution will be forthcoming. Just as servants of a deity grant the higher level spells, so they can be sent to destroy those that abuse the power given. Deities will not personally intervene in this way. Faithful clerics may be sent in the first instance, and if a rebellious cleric is recalcitrant for any length of time then they may be anathematised so that clerics and servants of the deity will sense immediately that they are under (edict).

Entering a sacred precinct while in such a state will possibly incur the immediate attack of any guardian spirit.

1.6.4 Our World and the World of Myth

One problem with adding rules for religion (or any aspect of a fantasy world, really) is that one has to decide what it is that one is trying to simulate. Does one simulate how religion was actually performed in real life or instead simulate what people believed was going on?

This carries through into almost everything about holy spaces. People believed that the gods liked sacrifices. Yet, with the exception of killing things, it was obvious that sacrifices didn’t really do anything except lie on the altar getting rusty/rotten/tarnished/stolen.

Primitive people had to rationalise some other form of sacrifice and common examples were breaking items, burying them, or throwing them somewhere inaccessible so that the owner would never be able to use them again, making them a sacrifice in the sense of losing something. The pretence being that the owner’s loss was somehow the gods’ gain.

But in a game, what happens? Does the gold given to the temple actually vanish? If so, what the hell are the gods doing with gold coins, torcs, and jewellery?

Items are an easier fit with the idea that the sacred space is in some sense the god’s house and so can be regarded as decoration. A cthonic deity might well be happy to have things buried in the ground.

I think a playable solution is to distinguish between sacrifices and dedications.

A sacrifice is materially consumed by the deity. That means that it is transported from the site of sacrifice to wherever the deity’s home is in the inner or outer planes, where that being can decide what to do with it. What is an acceptable sacrifice depends on the deity.

A dedication is something which is given to the god but which remains in its material home where it was placed, and is available for use by those sent on specific missions from that site.

Both of these conceptions are supported by the ceremony spells in UA. They are analogous to the keeping or selling of magic items. A sacrifice is more immediately rewarding; a dedication is a long-term investment.

Historically, and indeed currently, most temples and churches have been happy to accept cash for the simple reason that the priesthood could use it (similarly with food offerings, although Akhenaten was a notable exception, insisting that food be left to rot rather than eaten).

Again, in a fantasy world the question is what to do about cash sacrifices - do they vanish or remain. I’m inclined to go with the latter for the majority of gods.

Cash can be used to expand the holy areas and maybe pay for guards and so forth. For some deities a reasonable use might be to hire mercenaries or spread corruption and gambling. So long as the earthly representatives remember that, once sacrificed, the money is their god’s and not their own then they should be okay.

1. Stop Waffling
   

   All of the above is a way of saying that sacrifices and dedications should affect the “standing” of a cleric (or any worshipper, in fact) in some way that I can not quite define.

   Characters not in good standing will not be able to renew spells until they have atoned, and if they go a long way beyond the pale, such as borrowing dedicated arms and not returning with them when they are needed for someone or something else, they may become anathamatised as mentioned above.

2. The Free Market in Worship
   

   An important word in the study of religions, particularly polytheistic ones, is “reciprocity”. This the idea that humans do something for their deity in return for the deity doing something in return.

   
   Heart-attack capital of the world

   The problem is that no deity ever actually does anything in return since they don’t exist. That means that there is nothing which fixes any sort of ratio between what is sacrificed or dedicated to the god and what the worshipper gets in return. The Aztecs got nothing more for their conveyor-belt approach to human sacrifice than the English Christians of 1316’s harvest festivals did to prevent the Great Famine

   From a game point of view, there’s nothing to hang off this back-and-forth as it simply didn’t actually exist.

   However, in a fantasy game we have living gods taking an interest in the world “below”. What each wants from that interaction should be defined, as mentioned above, by their alignment, sphere of interest, and personality. Essentially, I’m saying that each deity (and each aspect of each deity) should have it’s own requirements for being in good standing there and that the “exchange rate” will vary, possibly wildly.

   For example, a simple site devoted to a CE god of disease may offer cure disease in return for a human sacrifice while a NG god of healing might do the same thing in return for donating funds towards building a hospice within a holy site. Or in return for dedicating the head of a mummy or other disease-spreading monster.

   There’s no way to draw up a generic system for this sort of thing. In particular, I reject Gygax’s suggestion in Dragon #97 of a universal system of power-brokerage. I think that’s just the temptation to systematise every detail that many of us are vulnerable to.

3. The Negative Effect of Gods
   

   In the real world, religion develops and changes according to the needs of the worshippers. This isn’t unexpected since it was they who invented the deities, chose the sacrifices, and set the rules. Socially, this allows the religious leaders to adapt instead of condemning new ideas (an option they don’t always take).

   As M.A.R. Barker noted in his own fantasy world of Tekumel (Empire of the Petal Throne), if the gods are actually real then this flexibility goes away. Or, at least, the option resides with the deity rather than its followers. Priests and clerics are the enforcers of their gods’ views of how the world should work and if that god says that electricity is an abomination, then it is their job to hunt down anyone working on generating it and stop them. Potentially at least, progress itself becomes blasphemous.

   While this may grant the DM an in-built excuse for why their world, or some region or other therein, has never developed beyond the point at which the DM wants it to had reached, it may also give players something to fight against. Perhaps another set of plot hooks, or just a pain in the neck for the DM, depending on how they handle this.

1.6.5 What is a cleric?

In this vision of the religious character, an AD&D or D&D cleric is an active agent. To make an analogy with a temporal baron, the normal “priest” takes the place of a steward to the god while the cleric is the champion sent out int the world to take care of some business or to win some prize.

This model is a much happier and clearer fit, especially if we eliminate the whole concept of Concordant Opposition that was introduced in D&DG. Doing so leaves all clerics as having a non-neutral alignment and that means they all have a diametrically opposed alignment. Even more plot hooks!

Now, any adventure for a cleric has a purpose of some sort - at the very least to bring back great prizes or wonders to give to their god, and beyond that the chance to root out the actions of the opposing alignment(s).

The cleric is no longer a strange anomaly, a priest with no church, but an active agent in the world much more in keeping with the class description in PHB but with no mysterious questions about why they never have any religious duties. Adventuring is their religious duty. Not necessarily proselytising but certainly carrying on work which pleases their god. And back at base there’s a whole body of priests looking after the god and with whom the cleric has a reason to interact.

There are several other types of holy agent in the game, however:

1. Paladins
   

   Paladins must likewise visit holy sites in order to change their clerical spells and to dedicate or sacrifice their tithe.

2. Bards and Rangers
   

   Similarly, bards and rangers must spend time with druids in order to adjust their druidical spell lists.

3. The Demi-humans
   

   Just as human deities are interested in things on the material plane, so other races’ deities may have other spheres more relevant to them. Thus, perhaps, we have an explanation for the lack of dwarven, gnomish, and elven PC clerics - these races worship gods with no specific interest in the realms in which most adventurers travel. Thus they are unavailable for normal play.

Right, stop that! This post is far too long.
Now go away!