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Friday, March 10, 2023

Lost Galmagia: Clerical Acts of Faith 1

Clerics are also able to perform miraculous feats outside of the ken of pure erudition. There are no rituals to be followed, just the direct appeal from the cleric to their god. Acts of faith are not predictable or automatic the way “spells” are. They may fail, and that failure may shake the cleric’s faith, making it harder to perform the next. Or their success may strengthen that faith, making the cleric more likely to succeed on the next.

The mechanic is simple: Clerics start a delve with Faith Pool of 1d10 at levels 1-4, 2d10 at levels 5-8 and 3d10 at 9+. Their number of faith dice is modified by their Divine Favor attribute modifier, but the Cleric will always roll at least 1 die.

When attempting an Act of Faith, the cleric rolls their Faith Pool with a target number based on the difficulty of the act attempted. As long as at least 1 die in the pool equals or exceeds that number, the act succeeds. If ALL the dice rolled equal or exceed that number, the act succeeds, and the cleric adds another die to the Faith Pool (you do not roll for automatic effects, those count all dice in pool as successes). If no dice rolled equal/exceed that number, the act fails, and the cleric loses one die from their pool. If that leaves no dice in the pool, the cleric cannot perform acts of faith until they have reached a Place of Safety and spent time in prayer and recovery.

Act of faith level

Target

Act of Faith Level

Target

3 lower than character

Automatic

1 level higher than character

8

1-2 levels lower than character

3

2 levels higher than character

10

At character level

5

 

 

First Level of Devotion: Exorcism

Clerics gain access to this devotion at first level. The cleric can use faith to drive away the Unnatural: the undead and summoned or created entities (q.v. protection from evil). If the roll is successful, each die that succeeded “turns” (drives off) 4 levels of foes (at least one foe is turned, regardless of its level). If the exorcism is automatic monsters are not turned: they are destroyed, turned to dust, for summoned foes, sent back to whence they came.

Soul echoes, poltergeists, and other weak incorporeal undead are level 0 monsters. Skeletons are level 1; zombies and ghosts are level 2, ghouls (carrion eaters who enjoy making you carrion with their paralyzing touch) are level 3; wights (ghosts possessing corpses that drain life with a touch) are level 4. There are more powerful undead past that…

Second Level of Devotion: Courage

Clerics gain access to this devotion at second level. The cleric can use faith to bolster their courage (or the courage of their allies), or to undermine the courage of the opposition. Unlike Exorcism’s calculation based on the opposition, Courage’s difficulty depends on what the cleric is attempting. All the effects last for one turn (at  least is one combat….)

2nd level effect: Remove Fear

This effects one target for each successful die. An NPC will succeed on their next morale check; or any PC or NPC gains a +3 on saves vs. magically generated fear; or any PC or NPC under magically generated fear is released from it.

3rd level effect: Aid

The cleric may add HP to anyone who has suffered damage but has not yet succumbed to their wounds (i.e. fallen to 0 HP). Each level of success adds 3x Target’s level HP to the target. These temporary HP last 1 turn, but any damage taken during that round come from the temporary HP first.

4th level effect: Bless

This must be used before melee starts and within a 20x20 foot area. Within that space all of the cleric’s allies have a +1 on all morale rolls, a +1 to hit and a +1 on damage. If the targets are in a melee that lasts longer than 10 minutes (a larger scale battle), the blessing lasts 1 turn per success die, but it always ends once the primary melee ends.

5th level effect: Cause Fear

One target is stricken with fear, or at the very least a deep doubt as to the viability or righteousness of their cause. If the cleric’s level + number of successes is equal to or less than the target level, the target must make a morale check. If that total is more than the clerics level, the target must save vs. spells or flee in blind panic.

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