d20 Adamant Entertainment Miracles & Wonders.pdf

5 The L ORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry out for help? Tell

the people to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff and hold it out

over the sea, and the water will divide. The Israelites shall walk

through the sea on dry ground. 17 I shall harden the hearts of the

Egyptians so that they shall pursue the Israelites, and I will gain

honor by my victory over the king, his army, his chariots, and his

drivers. 18 And when I defeat them, they shall know that I am the

L ORD .”

Likewise, playing a cleric, druid or paladin with the standard

divine magic system tends to focus player attention on tactical

spell selection, “leveling up,” and number of hit points healed,

rather than on roleplaying the duties, strictures, and vocation of

divine service—the things that make a cleric or druid more than

just a different kind of magic-user, and a paladin more than just a

ﬁghter who can heal wounds, turn undead and get into arguments

about whether it’s evil to kill orc babies or not.

19 The angel of God, who had gone before the army of Israel,

came now to the rear of the army. The pillar of cloud moved also

until it was 20 between the Egyptians and the Israelites. The cloud

brought darkness unto the sight of the Egyptians, but gave light to

the people of Israel, and so the armies could not come near each

other all night.

The system presented here takes a completely different view

of divine magic. There are no speciﬁc spells, no preset effects,

no formalized domains, and no bonus spells for high Wisdom

or Charisma (although these abilities do contribute to effective

miracleworking). Instead, players of divine miracleworkers call

upon their characters’ deity or deities of choice directly, asking

for the miracle they need or want at the moment they need it –

and the Game Master, roleplaying the Power in question, dictates

the exact result based upon the character’s accumulated reserve

of divine Grace, their success at Invocation (and subsequent

Humility), the Hubris they have incurred, and the scope of the

miracle sought.

21 Moses held out his hand over the sea, and the L ORD drove the

sea back with a strong east wind. It blew all night and turned

the sea into dry land. The water was divided, 22 and the Israelites

went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on both

sides. 23 The Egyptians pursued them into the sea with all their

horses, chariots, and drivers. 24 And in the last hour before dawn,

the L ORD looked down from the pillar of ﬁre and cloud at the

Egyptian army, and threw them into panic. 25 He bound up the

wheels of the chariots, that they moved with great difﬁculty. The

Egyptians cried, “Truly the L ORD ﬁghts for the Israelites against

us; let us ﬂee!”

These rules are deliberately far more ﬂexible than the standard

system, and are designed to reward and encourage roleplaying,

imagination and drama rather than tactical min-maxing. GMs

who like highly organized, structured adventures should be aware

that even a low-level character may be able to pull off plot-

derailing miracles with sufﬁcient preparation and roleplaying.

Players used to knowing exactly what their characters can and

cannot do may likewise ﬁnd the unpredictability of this system,

and the GM’s strong role in resolving their characters’ prayers,

to be frustrating or antagonistic. Groups using these rules are

encouraged to err on the side of drama, rather than tactics or

“fairness”.

26 The L ORD said to Moses, “Hold out your hand over the sea,

and the water will return upon the Egyptians and their chariots

and drivers.” 27 Moses held out his hand over the sea, and at

dawn the waters returned to their home. The Egyptians sought to

escape, but the L ORD cast them into the sea. 28 The water covered

the chariots, the drivers, and all the Egyptian army that had

pursued the Israelites into the sea; not one of them was left. 29 But

the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of

water on both sides.

30 On that day the L ORD saved the people of Israel from the

Egyptians, and the Israelites saw them lying dead in their

multitudes upon the shore. 31 When the Israelites saw the great

power with which the L ORD had defeated the Egyptians, they

stood in awe of the L ORD ; and they had faith in the L ORD and in

his servant Moses.

--The Book of Exodus, Chapter 14

INTRODUCTION

Despite many of the innovations introduced in some recent

supplements, divine magic in most D20 fantasy games is still

based on the fundamental system of spells per level per day, with

each spell having a predeﬁned mechanical effect whose power is

directly related to caster level. The value of this system is that it

ensures consistency and game balance for both players and GMs;

the price, however, is a certain loss in wonder —the quality of

awesome might, singular spectacle, and world-shaking import

that accompanies all the miracles of mythology.

ONE: DOCTRINES OF SERVICE

Not just anybody may bear the power, authority, and

responsibility of the gods. Becoming, and being, a divine

servant (this term replaces “divine spellcaster” in these rules,

and includes all characters, classes and prestige classes who

cast divine magic) requires a PC to prove his or her worthiness

to their chosen Power through dedication, self-sacriﬁce, and

discipline. Divine servants are men and women who have chosen

to put their faith and their god ﬁrst , above all else. They must

consider all decisions and all actions in their lives in the light of

that faith, and many of those actions have direct consequences on

their power and their standing with their god.

This may be explicitly codiﬁed in a cleric’s formal vows of

ordination or a paladin’s oath of service, or implicit in the

rigorous principles embraced by a solitary druid or ranger. For

game purposes, all such vows, oaths, or binding ideals are deﬁned

by the PC’s Doctrine , the speciﬁcs of what the divine servant

must do to earn the favour of the Power he or she serves – and

what he or she must not do to avoid provoking that Power’s

wrath!

A Doctrine consists of two parts: Duties , the activities favoured

and required by the divine servant’s faith, and Prohibitions ,

the activities forbidden by the faith. When creating a divine

servant PC, the GM and player should write up both Duties and

Prohibitions in as much detail as possible, to provide guidelines

for the character’s faith and powers. Duties and Prohibitions

between them are what deﬁne a religion’s or servant’s morals,

ethics, and principles, and which may in turn embody the

intentions and goals of the church leadership and, ultimately, the

god in question.

protecting the wilderness from the undue exploitation

of mankind or other races. (What constitutes "undue

exploitation" can, of course, be a remarkably subjective thing

– and of such disagreements and dilemmas is interesting

roleplaying made.)

Typical Prohibitions include:

• Explicitly, openly denying one's service or relationship to

the deity and religion. All divine servants are expected

to stand up for their faith, no matter the consequences

– although some religions do allow a distinction between

openly denying one’s faith and simply not calling attention

to it or to one’s status. Some evil religions require the

divine servant to conceal his or her status from all but

fellow faithful, in which case the Prohibition is typically

against revealing oneself without urgent need.

Typical Duties include:

• Conducting religious services regularly, for their

congregation and for themselves. Clerics and druids, if

living within a community of the faithful, must typically

hold such services at least weekly, while paladins usually

lead such services only among their own kind if at all; but all

divine servants usually spend at least ﬁfteen minutes to an

hour each day on their own daily meditations.

• Disobeying the orders of superiors in the religion. As all the

divine servants in a church are nominally sworn totally to

the service of their deity, that chain of command typically

ﬂows in an unbroken line from head of the faith to the

newest novitiate. (This presumes such orders are in keeping

with the religion's purpose and nature – sometimes defying

an unjust order from a corrupt superior is what is needed to

gain true Grace.)

• Advancing the cause of the deity and the religion. This

includes everything from preaching your faith in an effort

to gain converts, to defending churches (or other sacred

spaces, like druidic groves or deep virgin forest) threatened

by invasion, misrule or corruption, to convincing local rulers

or communities to build new churches. While not all faiths

consider other paths false or evil, they do all contend their

own way is best – a devout divine servant has a duty not

just to his god and his fellow believers, but to every sentient

being, to bring them enlightenment (as he and his faith see

it).

• Actions against the alignment of the deity or the religion.

Most religions don't require their servants to be of precisely

the same alignment as their primary deity or canon, but

they do require that their servants not commit actions in

egregious violation of that alignment – a cleric of a lawful

evil god might himself be lawful neutral, but he is still

not permitted to perform truly good acts (e.g. helping an

innocent free of charge) – his faith prohibits it, even if it

wouldn’t trouble his own conscience. Likewise, a chaotic

• Carrying out the commandments of the religion, or of the

deity itself. This can range from protecting the innocent

from danger to sacriﬁcing them by torture, depending on

the faith. For druids and rangers, this typically includes

good priest of a lawful good religion might rapidly ﬁnd

himself in trouble for breaking the rules of his church, even

if done for benevolent motives.

Example

Brian is creating a priest PC of the Church of Ascension,

a faith patterned after the mediaeval Roman Catholic

Church. As a servant of the Church’s primary deity, the

Lady of Destiny, Brian’s PC’s Duties and Prohibitions

have already been worked out in some detail by the GM.

His Duties include:

• Behaviour that damages the divine servant's own spiritual

purity or worthiness. Almost all faiths require their

believers to abstain from certain behaviours, typically vices

of one kind or another (lying, lust, drunkenness, gluttony,

greed, etc.). Some vices may be permitted in moderation

or in speciﬁc circumstances, while others may be outright

forbidden; the GM should work out exactly what each

speciﬁc faith frowns on and why. Pelor, for example, is a

god of healing and health; his clerics therefore abstain from

vices such as drugs, alcohol in excess, or gluttony, because

these things damage the body's health for the sake of

transitory pleasure. Likewise, many gods of Good prohibit

or discourage lustful behaviour that does not include

compassion for others or concern for their welfare (an

essentially selﬁsh, and therefore Evil, attitude).

• Conducting religious services at least weekly (an

hour’s ceremony), if in a community of the faithful;

• Conducting personal religious devotions daily (at least

ﬁfteen minutes’ ceremony);

• Preaching the Word of the Lady of Destiny to any who

may hear it;

• Donating all income but the minimum needed to live

on to the Church;

• Protecting the innocent and those in danger;

• Assisting those in need of either heart’s counsel or

alms.

Interestingly, evil gods do not always prohibit nominally

virtuous behaviour the same way. Many evil religions rely

on deception, hypocrisy and betrayal to accomplish their

aims; evil divine servants must therefore be able to affect

"good" behaviour, so as to ﬁt in with the society they are

working to corrupt. An evil cleric may be permitted to

offer good and wise counsel, if by doing so he can win a

position in court where he can corrupt kings and nobles or

set them at odds. What evil Powers tend to frown on are

genuine expressions of compassion or trust, or any good

behaviour done solely for the sake of the behaviour itself

rather than an ulterior Evil motive; this, to most evil gods, is

an unforgiveable weakness.

His Prohibitions include:

• Denying his faith or denouncing the Word, in speech

or action;

• Disobeying a just and lawful order from his superiors;

• Drinking to intoxication, or seducing someone for lust

with no love or loyalty;

• Accepting divine help (e.g., curative miracles) from

the priests of any other pantheon;

• Any acts in keeping with an Evil alignment – priests

of the Church of Ascension need not be Good-aligned

as long as they fulﬁll their Duties, but they must not

actively partake of Evil acts, or allow evil to occur

through their own inaction.

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