Road to Priesthood (House Rule)

[Tywyll]

On 5/20/2019 at 12:48 PM, Crel said:

1) Poo on you, I like RQ3's familiars.  Of course we did some really weird stuff with them, which definitely wasn't in RQ3-base. I may have turned an AD&D miniaturized iron golem into my familiar and dumped way to much POW into it...

2) More seriously, I like the quoted idea. It makes a lot of sense to me to tie fancy new abilities to character advancement. Honestly, maybe you should think about foregoing the sacrifice, and it's just an opportunity to get X ability for Y geas? (It's not a taboo, only dirty primitive shamans have taboos!) Set it up so there's five or six abilities to pick for each deity to start from, something like that. You could even phrase the basic Rune Lord benefits (D10 DI, POW21 resist) in that way--when you've assembled all five powers, you're now that deity's RL. (IDK if that's a good idea--I'm musing.)

Based on @Crel's comment above, I got to thinking. I don't use shaman in my game for various reasons, but I like their abilities and want to use them in game. So I thought they should be folded into Rune Level Characters. Here's my first stab at Rune Priests and God Talkers

This is a dramatic change from the default and provides characters with access to those abilities but in a 'tiered' method. The nice thing is that even thought it can provide a wide variation in what RLs look like, they can simply take the default powers and leave it at that (i.e. no changes are necessary when using pre-stated NPCs...just assume they went for the standard abilities and no additional sacrifice). 

So, rought draft here, be gentle (literally I just wrote this over my lunch break)-

Road to Priesthood

Initiates who are not Rune Lords or Rune Priests of other faiths can gain new abilities as they advance towards Rune Priest status within their chosen cult. A character can ONLY gain abilities on one of these two roads...a character who chooses the Priestly path cannot pick up a few Rune Lord abilities when they Master some skills and vice versa. When a path is completed, if their faith allows, they can attempt to become Rune Lord-Priests but that does not provide extra opportunities at sacrifice.

Unlike Rune Lords, Initiates who want to become Rune Priests do not need to master skills, but before they can gain access to any of these abilities, they must have made certain investments in the Cult. To unlock these abilities, they must have a minimum of 3 rune points, POW 16+ and possess Worship (Cult) at 50%. This unlocks a character’s first ability.

They can teach any other member of their Cult spells (as per 281-this is a one point ability without additional levels), They may choose to sacrifice for additional levels of the following abilities: Magic Attack, Magic Defence, or Spirit Affinity.

When they gain a second cult skill at 50%, they gain the ability to use rune points with their Divine Interventions (as a one point ability) and can sacrifice for additional abilities from the following list:

Second Sight (as Shaman), Hide Soul, Power Within, or Spirit Defense. To gain the ability, the character must attend a week long ceremony starting or ending on a holy day of their god. A character gains these abilities without geas or other cost, however they may choose to sacrifice attributes once for additional levels in any of the above abilities. So, for example, RL masters a skill, worships, gains a free ability, sacrifices 3 POW for 2 extra abilities, takes a geese and then sacrifices 1 Dex for a third. Next time they Master a skill, they will need to sacrifice 2 attribute points for additional abilities (unless they immediately take a geese).

When they gain a third cult skill at 50%, and have at least 4 rune points, they gain Access to Enchantment Spells. They may sacrifice to improve earlier abilities or gain new ones from the following list: Expanded presence, Spell Barrage, or Spell Extension

When they gain their fourth cult skill at 50% and have a POW of 17+ they gain an Allied Spirit (first level grants standard allied spirit, each additional level grants the spirit +1d6 CHA or +1d3 POW). They may sacrifice as above and can pick from Discorporation (a one point ability) or Statistic Expansion.

When they gain their fifth cult skill at 50%, have 5 rune points, and a POW of 18+ they gain the Priest’s easier POW gain ability. They may also sacrifice for Self-Resurrection (rune points can be sacrificed in place of POW) and Soul Expansion.

Once they meet the criteria for their fifth ability they are a full Priest and gain all the social limitations and benefits.

Note: God Talkers follow the same path as a priest. However, they gain no ability at step 4 (though they may sacrifice for Discorporation or Statistic Expansion, but they cannot gain an Allied Spirit.

I modified the Taboo chart to be a bit more generic and a bit more theistic-

Taboos/Geas

D100 Taboo/Geas

1-4    Blessed (no Taboo)

5     Never eat meat you or a RL of your Cult hasn’t personally killed

6–9     Never eat herd animal meat.

10–12 Never eat avian meat.

13     Never eat any meat of any animal sacred to your cult.

14–18 Remain celibate during Sacred Time.

19–23 Remain celibate during a given season (usually corresponding to the rune level’s strongest Rune).

24–26 All celibacy requirements above.

27     Total celibacy always.

28–29 Speak only Truth to everyone.

30     Attack <enemy race> on sight.

31–32 Always/Never show mercy to a surrendering or helpless foe

33–34 Always play <instrument> while spellcasting.

35–36 Always dance while spellcasting.

37–38 Always sing while spellcasting.

39     Only use <Elemental> speech while casting spells.

40–41 Sleep outdoors one day every week.

42–43 Never let an animal sacred to the faith suffer needlessly.

44–45 Never wear leather armor.

46–47 Never wear metal armor.

48     Never wear any armor.

49–50 Never wear anything on the head.

51     Never wear any clothes but religious vestments.

52     Never use any shield.

53–54     Never use any axe.

55–56     Never use any bow.

57–58     Never use a flail or whip of any kind.

59–61     Never use any spear.

62–63     Never use a sword of any kind.

64–66     Never use any weapon but Cultural and Cult Weapons

67–69     Make pilgrimage to a Holy Place each Sacred Time.

70–72     Make pilgrimage to a Holy Place once each season.

73–76 Drink no alcoholic beverages

77–79 Double magic point sacrifice each holy day

80–82 Challenge all <pick enemy god> cultists on sight.

83–85 Never speak to or help followers of <pick unaligned God>

86–88 Never speak to or aid <pick race> in anyway

89–91 Never love any but <aligned cults>

92–93 Never take a slave

94     Make a blood sacrifice to god every holy day (animals will suffice)

95     Never eat the meat of horses.

96     Surrender any children you bare/sire to the Cult.

97–99 Roll twice more.

00     Roll thrice more.