Revision as of 13:57, 26 September 2010

Priest

An Ajoran priest

"Through faith, all things are possible."

The divine is not a Force to be trifled with. While Magic may claim to rewrite the laws of the world, and Psionics may claim to find loopholes in the rules, the Divine does not meddle with such pedestrian affairs - no, he merely commands the world, and it bends to his will. There is no modification, no manipulation: the priest speaks, and the world obeys.

The priest taps into the Divine itself for the inspiration and power to bend the world to his will. However, such power is not readily attained by mortals - only beings that are actively worshipped may grant this power to their followers, and so the priest is greatly tied to his patron Saint or Lucavi, for to fall out of favor means to lose the power to alter reality at will.

Game Rule Information

Priests have the following game statistics.

Force Alignment: Divine.

Force Resistances: NI 5 + level, VI 5 + level.

Abilities: Wisdom, above all, is paramount to the priest. Without personal insight and understanding, he cannot begin to fathom how his words can alter reality.

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills: The priest's class skills (and the key ability for each) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Knowledge (The Forces) (Int), Search (Per), Speak Language, and Prayercraft (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Age: Moderate.

Starting Gold: 5d4 x 10gp.

Favored By: None.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the priest core class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The priest is proficient with simple weapons and light armor, but not shields. The priest will also gain an additional weapon or armor proficiency, based upon his patron Saint or Lucavi.

Prayers (Di): The priest uses the power of words, the manifestation of the Divine. When he speaks words in the tongue of creation, he may reshape the world to his liking. There are three types of such manifestations - utterances, incantations, and recitations - which are collectively referred to simply as prayers. All prayers share the following qualities.

• You may vocalize a prayer as a move action.
• Vocalizing a prayer provokes attacks of opportunity.
• Prayers are subject to Divine Inhibition (DI).
• Prayers do not allow saving throws.
• Prayers can be prevented by namelessness, a condition that some Forces can cause.
• Utterances and incantations can be reversed, producing a thematically opposite effect.
• Prayers are a level-based system, from 1st to 6th.
• You must make a Truespeak check to vocalize a prayer; you can intensify a prayer by voluntarily increasing the Truespeak DC.
• You must be able to speak to use prayers.
• With any prayer, you can target a creature within line of sight, regardless of distance.
• Prayers do not stack with themselves or other prayers.

Truespeech (Di): As a petitioner, priests are trained in the language of the Divine itself, which it used to give names to everything that existed, exists, and will exist. Though mortal tongues are not made to form such speech, the divine languages - Saigue and Lucavic - are similar enough facsimiles that priests can use them to alter reality.

Using these languages in this manner is difficult, however: in order to successfully use prayers, a priest must make a Truespeak check. A priest's bonus on a truespeak check is 3 + his Wisdom modifier.

Utterances (Pr): Utterances are the most powerful form of prayer a priest can vocalize. These are words and phrases that cause some kind of hindering or harmful effect to foes, or a helpful effect to allies. All utterances are subject to a priest's absolute limit: an utterance vocalized by a priest cannot affect an unwilling creature whose current hit points is greater than the priest's absolute limit. A willing creature can be affected by an utterance regardless of its current hit points.

As a priest, your absolute limit begins at 3 + your Charisma modifier, and increases by 3 + your Charisma modifier each priest level. Improving your petitioner level (through feats such as Versed in the Force) improves your absolute limit as though they were priest levels. If your Wisdom or Charisma modifiers improve, they improve your absolute limit retroactively.

Design Notes

When in doubt, refer to The Way Words Work, a modification of the Truename system found in WotC's Tome of Magic.