Custom rules for using divine Magic


Checking our knowledge against the standard information we found in books by Wizards of the Coast, there seem to be strange things going on when Clerics and other Holy magic users say their prayers. We have seen Rangers of fourth level say as many as five prayers on one day and all of them where answered. Even though this ranger was a wise man, we don't think more then four should have been answered.
Besides the information about extra spellslots at the top of this page, you will find additional information about researching new spells by divine spellcasters at the bottom of this page.

Divine magic is a important factor to for instance Clerics, Druids, Paladins and Rangers. So for these people, the attention they get from their gods is really important. To better understand what the gods do, we have tried to catch their behavior in rules.
First you will find the good news, the extra spell slots you are granted, for using divine magic. We know most people will read no further, however, we think it wise to have a look at the sections "Bad news" and "more bad news". In the first section we tell you what kind of behavior typically influences gods and in the second section we tell you how alignment influences a gods behavior.
At the end of this page, there is a suggestion on how to reduce the number of rolls made. This will give your DM a way to incorporate a D20 roll into the D100 roll.

The good news

Lets start with the good news, divine spell casters do have extra spell slots, but the extra slots come with a price, the chance of spell failure or better prayer failure is probably around 25%.
In the table here, you can find the number of supplementary spell slots you get on top of your normal spell slots. (First find your total number of spell slots the normal way, these extra ones are "free" so no domain restrictions apply).

Standard slots
Extra (Teolin) slots
Standard slots
Extra (Teolin) slots
0 - 1
0
10 - 13
4
2 - 5
1
14 - 17
5
6 - 9
3
18+
original/4 rounded down (min 5)


The bad news

Gods tend to keep into account a lot of the behavior of their followers when granting a request or not. A short list would include:
Considerations for granting a spell
  • Does the request support the purpose of the god?
  • Was the behavior of the requester in line with the ideas of the god?
  • Is the alignment of the requester the same as the alignment of the god? (Clerics & Paladins)
  • Is the alignment of the requester the same or next to the alignment of the god? (Other divine magic users)
  • Did the requester attend or lead services recently?
  • Did the requester donate enough of his/her profits to the church? (only for Clerics & Paladins)
  • Did the last couple of requests benefit the purpose of the god?

    The above should be seen with consideration. Lets assume a cleric is supposed to lead a service for his god at least once every three weeks, but he has been held hostage in a monastery of a opposing god. In this situation, most gods will not hold this against their priest.

    More bad news

    Not all gods are always as eager to react to your prayers, others simply are to distracted to tend to your needs the way you would like. There seems to be a tight fight between alignment and their behavior.
    In the next part of this page you will find descriptions of how different types of gods behave. To find out how a Lawful-Neutral god behaves, check out how a Lawful god behaves and combine this with a Neutral god. Addition is the key here.
    All given numbers are chances, so you should roll percentile dice (D100) to find the result. Sometimes the DM will deem it appropriate to do this for you.

    Lawful gods
    Lawful gods feel the obligation to fulfill the prayers send to them, so they will usually answer them fairly quickly and pretty correctly. The chance a Lawful god does not answer your prayer is equal to 1 percent.

    Neutral-??? gods
    These gods that are Neutral-Good, true Neutral or Neutral-Evil, tend to have their mind somewhere else, but still they feel their subjects are entitled to their spells, so they are somewhat predictable, but not flawless.
    Chances are something goes wrong, for which the below table gives you the failure chance:

    1 - 2
    		 Prayer is ignored
    3 - 6
    		 Prayer is executed one round later as intended


    Chaotic gods
    Chaotic gods tend to be absent minded, sometimes this is a blessing, but sometimes it is a horror. Many times the followers of these gods have found that their prayers gave a result they never intended or wished for.
    In the below table, you can find a indication as to the reliability of the god:

    1 - 3
    		 Prayer is ignored
    11 - 12
    		 Prayer results in a (similar) effect of one level higher
    4 - 6
    		 Prayer results in a (similar) effect of one level less.
    13 - 20
    		 Prayers is executed one round later as intended
    7 - 10
    		 Prayer is executed two rounds later as intended
    21
    		 Prayer results in a totally different effect of same level.


    Good gods
    Good gods always are looking for the best way to serve their subjects, so the chances that these gods do not answer your prayers are very slim. Usually this chance is 1 percent only.

    ???-Neutral gods
    These gods that are Lawful-Neutral, true Neutral or Chaotic Neutral tend to not have a opinion about the matter of right or wrong. This is also reflected in the way they server their subjects. If the subject tends towards good, this god will behave as if he was good. If the subject tends to evil, the god will mimic evil behavior.
    How does the god tell between these two ways, is quite simple. If the subject has chose to use to use heal spells to heal people, he is considered good, if the subject has chosen to inflict damage with heal spells, the subject is seen as being evil by his god.
    If the follower does not really have the ability to choose this way, the follower may choose himself if he tends to evil or good.
    Evil gods
    Evil gods do not care about their subjects and they think that those prayers are simply a lot of trouble. They tend to want to turn the spell against the subject asking for the spell.
    The following table describes the chances of success and failure:

    1 - 5
    		 Prayer is ignored
    16 - 18
    		 Prayer results in a (similar) effect of one level lower
    6 - 10
    		 Prayer backfires. (Targets the caster)
    19 - 21
    		 Prayers is executed one round later as intended
    11 - 15
    		 Prayer results in a totally different effect of same level.
    22 - 25
    		 Prayer results in a totally different effect of lower level.


    Alternate rule

    It is possible to combine the roll of a D20 (to determine if the god answers the prayer at all) and the D100 (to figure out the effect of the prayer) in one single D100 roll. We found that if you calculate the failure chance of behavior, multiply by 4 and add to the option "Prayer is ignored", you get pretty decent results.

    Example A Cleric is trying to heal a Paladin of a different god and he also has not attended service for to long. This results in a penalty of 4 on his behavior roll. He is a Cleric of Irtolie (LN), so his failure chance on the "gods behavior" level has a failure chance of 2 on a D100. (His god treats him as if the god is LG, since the Cleric can heal).
    Instead of rolling one D20 and one D100, you can combine these rolls into one D100 with a mischance of 4 * 4 + 2 = 18 %.

    Researching divine magic

    Learning a new divine spell from the list presented in the players handbook, comes as experience of divine spellcasters grows. However learning new spells from other sources, like the class books by Wizards of the Coast or Mongoose Publishing requires some research. To research such a spell, a understanding of the god and his faith is needed. Thus to learn such a spell, a knowledge religion check will be needed.
    The knowledge religion check has a DC equal to 15 + spell level, but instead of using the intelligence modifier, a divine spellcaster may opt to use his wisdom modifier instead.
    Researching a spell in this way takes one week plus a day per level of the spell. The associated costs are 100 goldpieces plus an additional 25 gp per level of the spell. This money goes into paying fees, charity, perhaps some components and other general testing costs.

    The Teolin Setting
    Copyright 2001-2005 Ylorea's Adventuring
    Last update 15-03-2004