Though they are reluctant to call it magic, the miracles and blessings the Church offers are nigh indistinguishable from witchcraft to the laity. However, unlike the capricious witchcraft, the Church’s magic is based on ritual and ceremony and as such, all Church Magic requires the use of specially prepared incense and the precise recitations of various Mantras. The burning of this incense is variously said to carry the prayers of the faithful to the heavens, to choke the evil spirits and negative energies in the area, and to purify the desecrated air. Unlike sorcery, however, Church Magic can only be invoked by a truly faithful member of the Church using specially made brass instruments and, though one may not need to be an official member of the clergy to do so, the laity doing this is strongly frowned upon. Those who invoke the Divine this way are known as priests.
Censers and Holy Smokes
While incense can be burned in altars, an itinerant or adventuring priest typically carries a censer to disburse the Church’s blessings on a place or travelers. When they are carrying this censer, priests may recite one of various Mantras they know to invoke miracles from Mithras.
Divine Favor
A priest’s divine favor is equal to 1 + the number of liturgical vestments, such as purity seals or mitres, worn or wielded by the character on top of any modifiers gained from specialization or adventuring so long as they are brandishing a censer in their hands.
The Virtuous Mantras
The Virtuous Mantras are small portions of longer prayers taken from the Songs of the Prophet. Known by all the faithful, these mantras gain divine potency when recited by a priest:
- Mantra of Resilience: Allies gain +1 to REF and FOR saves and when defending a contested roll. Requires continuous chanting.
- Mantra of Dawn: The censer sheds light in place of smoke for up to 1+DF turns after reciting this mantra. You must finish a long rest before using this mantra again.
- Mantra of Strength: Allies gain +1 to armor and when making a contested roll. Requires continuous chanting.
- Mantra of Abhorrence: The priest knows if any faeries have been in the area in the past day. Any hidden faeries (e.g. if they are invisible) must make a WIL save or are revealed.
- Mantra of Judgement: Enemies within range are forced to make a WIL save or make a morale check. On a failure, they surrender instead of fleeing.
- Mantra of Resolve: Allies within range who are fleeing or who must make a morale check may reroll a failed test once per round.
- Mantra of Purity: Poisoned, rotten, spoiled, or contaminated food and water are made usable.
- Mantra of Warding: Allies gain +1 to WIL saves and enemy witches must roll a WIL save or be unable to cast a spell into the protected area. Requires continuous chanting.
More esoteric, mystical, or even heretical mantras may be found in apocyrpha or taught by factions and dissidents.
Reciting Mantras
Characters must hold a censer in at least one hand in order to disburse the smoke to the area around them. This smoke fills an area extending 5 feet in any direction for each Divine Favor (DF) above 2 (e.g. a DF of 2 gives a radius of 5 feet, a DF of 3 gives 10 feet, etc.). Characters may only chant one mantra at a time.
A mantra’s effects begin at the start of the next round as each mantra requires specific movements of the censer to begin channeling the Church’s power. On subsequent rounds you may take other actions (such as attacking with a weapon) so long as you are still able to wield your censer.
You may only recite a mantra for 1+DF rounds and must wait 1 round before reciting the same mantra again after it ends.
If you are damaged while reciting a mantra, make a FOR save to maintain its benefits.
When the recitation of the mantra ends, whether forced or by choice, test the durability of the censer to see if the incense is used up.
Divine Wrath
Though the Church’s patron is an almighty god they are also a parsimonious and jealous one. Attempting to recite any single type of mantra more than once per watch causes the priest to grapple with the true nature of the divine and must roll a number of d6 equal to 2 + the number of extra mantra recitations this watch. Results for each roll are below:
- Doubles: gain stress
- Triples: can no longer invoke miracles until the next watch
- Quadruples: take 1 damage to wounds
- Quintuples: death