The Heroes of Ravenloft Part Two: Classes (cont.)
Cleric
Clerics bear the sacred responsibility of carrying the divine message of their faith to its mortal followers. They may be shepherds adventuring to remove the faithful from danger, itinerant priests spreading the word, or depraved cultists secretly carrying out the obscene mandates of their foul god. See below for details of faiths worshipped in the Land of the Mists.
Forgemaster archetype – Using the bloodthirst and deathstrike runes are cause for a Powers check.
Channel Evil (Fiendish Vessel archetype) – Using this ability is cause for a Powers check.
Druid
Pagan practitioners of a truly ancient religion, druids are said to have entered Ravenloft with the domain Forlorn, but have spread to many other domains since. They are the guardians of the weave and weft of the natural world, but are frequently confused with witchcraft and the power of hags. For that reason, many druids are secretive in their religious practices.
Wild Empathy – The DC to influence animals under the influence of a darklord increases by the darklord’s Charisma modifier.
Tied to the land – Druids are able to detect disturbances in the natural fabric of the land. Upon entering a hag’s aura of corruption, or when within 100 ft per rank of a sinkhole of evil, you can make a Perception check (DC 30 – CR for hags; DC 30 – rank for a sinkhole of evil). Within the bounds of a sinkhole of evil, you can make another check (if you failed the first), and the base DC drops to 20. On a successful check, the druid can identify which emotions, if any, taint the sinkhole. This is a swift action.
Familiar – If you gain a familiar, it is a dread companion. Animal companions are not.
Fighter
Fighters are everyman heroes: those lacking supernatural gifts who still take up arms and combat obstacles head on. They can be found in nearly every domain and can fill every niche requiring martial skill and physical prowess, from knights to constables to bodyguards to bandits to peasants.
Lore Warden (archetype) – This is a good archetype for fighters in Ravenloft who may want to gain more of a skill focus. Details at:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-cl ... ore-warden
Gunslinger
Compared to many realms, the Land of the Mists is highly technologically advanced, perhaps because of the relative rarity of magic and the supernatural. With the invention of gunpowder, a new type of warrior emerged: the gunslinger. Masters of the pistol, blunderbuss and musket, gunslingers are powerful and daring fighters. They are only found in Chivalric and Renaissance level domains.
Due to the awesome destructive power of gunpowder weapons, the manufacture of guns is a tightly controlled state secret in the Core, protected zealously to stop the secret falling into hands of nations such as Falkovnia (although Drakov himself has shown little interest in the weapons to this point). Gunslingers are typically current or ex-members of the military in these domains.
Buccaneer (archetype) – Your familiar is a dread companion. Using the captain’s curse ability is cause for a Powers Check.
Faiths of the Mists
The following faiths are worshipped widely across the Core, and even in distant Clusters and Islands.
Ezra
According to most traditions of this notoriously sect-ridden church, Ezra, Our Guardian in the Mists, was a virtuous mortal woman who, despairing of the evils of the world, forever surrendered her mortality to the Mists to become the eternal guardian of mankind.
The original, LN sect sect, also called the Home Faith, is based in Levkarest in Borca. It appoints Ezra’s faithful clerics, called anchorites, to the task of protecting and healing the faithful, keeping them safe from the Legions of the Night. The LG sect of Mordentshire is a puritan sect that also teaches that anchorites must convert as many souls to Ezra’s flock as possible for their own good. The mystical TN sect of Dementlieu claims that Ezra was a goddess who abandoned her callous fellows to offer mortals succour, and spends its time studying the true nature of their goddess. Lastly, the LE sect of Nevuchar Springs in Darkon (another puritan sect) prophecies an imminent Time of Unparalleled Darkness, when those not of the faithful will be consumed by darkness. To protect themselves, the Nevuchar Springs anchorites ruthlessly seek out and destroy any corrupting influences from the Legions of the Night. All anchorites agree that Ezra cannot protect those who do not accept her into their hearts.
Ezra’s symbol is a silver longsword imposed on an alabaster kite shield and adorned with a sprig of belladonna.
Hala
According to their holy text, nine gods created the world from the mists of Chaos then withdrew, intending to allow mortals to fill their world with acts both good and evil. But the mortals lacked wisdom, and soon the world was full of pain and anguish. Just one of the Nine Gods, Hala, returned to ease the suffering of the world. She gathered 13 women and 13 men and taught them the secrets of natural magic—witchcraft. Although witchcraft is not inherently evil, it provokes widespread, superstitious fear, largely due to the actions of hags (its most famous practitioners, whom the worshippers of Hala regard as utter anathema to their goddess). Most worshippers of Hala downplay any claim to witchcraft for fear of being lynched.
The Church of Hala is a secretive and highly mystical faith. Her clergy—composed of clerics, witches and druids—operate a number of hospices scattered throughout the Land where they offer rest and succour to all who come to their door. The Church does not actively seek new followers, and although widespread, it is never the dominant religion.
Hala’s symbol is a ring formed by 13 serpents, each devouring the tail of the one before it.
The Lawgiver
This god is referred to by many titles, including the Black Lord and the Iron Tyrant. His name is utterly taboo; his priests maintain that those who misuse his name would be struck dead. His religion demands blind obedience and asserts the divine right of kings: those who are born into wealth and power deserve to rule; those born into poverty deserve only what they get through dutiful service. The Lawgiver assigns souls to their place before birth, and judges them on how dutifully they fulfil their roles; it would be blasphemy to seek elevation.
The Lawgiver’s clerics try to enforce the rigid stratifications of Vaasi culture wherever they go. Clerics drawn from different social circles do not mix; the church forbids marriage between different ethnicities or races. All rites must be performed in Vaasi, and all sacred texts must use its script.
The Lawgiver fell silent during the Great Upheaval. Although he continues to grant his worshippers spells, he no longer speaks to his clergy. This troubling event has opened a minor schism in the clergy between those who believe his silence is meaningless, or a test, and the minority who believe the Lawgiver was somehow incapacitated. Although the Church ruthlessly purges them, some heretics even whisper that the god died in the Great Upheaval, and all his clerics now worship is a litany of empty titles.
Hearth Gods
Many do not worship sophisticated religions, or do not exclusively do so. Many, especially in rural areas or Medieval or Dark Ages realms, worship hearth gods: a motley collection of local fey spirits, ancestors, totem animals and small gods (typically worshipped at a small shrine beside the hearth, hence the name). The more organised religions look down on this as brute superstition, but these beliefs are far more widespread than any of the major faiths. This simple faith is rarely strong enough to empower a cleric.
Minor Faiths
These faiths are only worshipped in one or two domains, but still have thousands of faithful. Thousands of even tinier faiths exist, ranging from a handful of followers to congregations of a few hundred.
The Ancestral Choir (Kartakass): The ancestors of the people of Kartakass, joined together in one vast choir that brings wisdom, foresight, truth, and beauty to the world. Although all Kartakans believe in the Ancestral Choir, only in Harmonia is its worship actually formalised. In some ways, oddly similar to the ancestor worship of the dwarves.
Belenus (Tepest, Forlorn, the Shadowlands): One of the gods of a pantheon now in decline due to the staunchly active role the Church of Belenus has taken against the fey (in Tepest) and heresy in the Shadowlands. A god of the Sun, fire, truth and purity, his clerics in both realms have a disturbing tendency towards intolerance. In Tepest, his clerics work as rustic folk religion, mingled with superstitions about the fey, witches, and the other gods of their pantheon. In the Shadowlands, he is worshipped as the one true god by a powerful, matriarchal state religion. The whole pantheon is still worshipped in Forlorn.
The Eternal Order (Darkon): Darkonese tradition holds that the land used to belong to the dead, before the living stole it and banished them to the Grey Realm. One day, at the Hour of Ascension, the dead will return to reclaim their land. The Eternal Order is dedicated to ritually appeasing the dead and postponing the Hour of Ascension. Following the Requiem, many believed the Hour had come, and abandoned the Order in droves, leaving the religion a crumbling ruin desperately clinging to what power it can, through whatever means it can.
Erlin (Barovia, Invidia): A trickster death god worshipped by the ancient Gundarakites. Long since fallen out of favour, his worship is having a resurgence as a symbol of independent Gundarakite identity. His church is still very small, and dedicated mostly to either appeasing the god or trying to draw his attention onto the enemies of the Gundarakites.
The Morninglord (Barovia, Invidia): The Morninglord is a man formed of soft golden light, his face smeared with blood. The cult teaches that this strange detail is a sign that even the greatest good may hold some evil, and even the most depraved evil may yet contain a spark of good. The Morninglord is god of the sun (especially the dawn), hope, perseverance, compassion, protection. It is a humble faith, asking nothing more than its worshipper treat each other with kindness and retain hope in their hearts. It is spreading rapidly among the opporessed Gundarakites: no matter how bleak circumstances may seem, the dawn will come.
The Overseer (Darkon): A religion worshipped in Martira Bay in Darkon. It teaches that the Overseer see all, righting all wrongs in the next life. In this life, mortals should aid one another and accept aid in return—the faithful are encouraged to discuss private concerns with the priests, who then offer spiritual guidance under the strictest confidence. The Overseer expects his worshippers to solve problems by working together in this way—so there is no record of him ever providing miracles. (The Eternal Order mockingly calls the church the Blind Eye for this reason). The faith also strictly forbids idolatory.
The Spider Queen (Keening, Darkon): Primarily a dead religion of old Arak, occasionally still taught to mortals by strange fey creatures that lurk in Keening and the Mountains of Misery. The Spider Queen is a god of decadence, evil, pain, greed, and deceit.
The Wolf God (Verbrek): A god of the forests of Verbrek; although no humans claim to worship him, the forest is full of stone circles and makeshift altars to this nameless beast-god. It is a god of wolves, savagery, hunting, and wilderness, where humans are nothing more than prey and wolves sate themselves on fresh flesh and blood. Wolves are believed to be perfect; all other predators, including humans, are abhorrent.
Yutow the Peacebringer (Valachan): Somewhat resembling the Lawgiver, but melded with a god of nature worshipped before the Vaasi colonists arrived in Valachan. Yutow is a god of obedience, fate, nature, the moon, and protection.
Dwarf Ancestor Worship: Dwarves can only truly be said to worship hard work and the acquisition of wealth. However, they do believe that their ancestors watch over them, granting power to their clerics and witches and bringing luck.
Elves: Darkonese Elves are too flighty to worship any deities for long. They dally with any and all religions based primarily on how interesting or diverting they are. Sithicus has its share of ruined temples, but elves no longer worship there, believing they have been abandoned by the gods. Neither Darkonese nor Sithican elves seem to have the same need for spirituality that humans have, perhaps because of their lack of understanding of death and time.
Gnome Hero Worship: Gnomes perform a modification of dwarven ancestor worship, by celebrating great folk heroes of the past. Some are held in common; others are specific to a certain family or area. Gnomes celebrate these demigods through song, fable and allegory, and believe that they live among “normal” gnomes, pursuing their obsessions like mortals while providing help and inspiration to those around them.
Halflings: Halflings tend to worship their own versions of local gods in temples in their own communities. Typically, they privately maintain that their methods of worship are those of the god, and that they are the favoured creations. Humans are seen as stupid brutes worshiping halfling gods in boorish ways, but halfling are rarely foolish enough to say so to a human’s face.
Deity AL Weapon Cleric Domains
Ancestral Choir TN Battleaxe Charm, Liberation, Knowledge, Luck
Belenus NG Sickle Fire, Good, Nobility, Sun
Eternal Order NE Scythe Death, Magic, Knowledge, Repose
Erlin CE Battleaxe Chaos, Death, Evil, Trickery
Ezra LN Longsword Mists, Destruction, Healing, Law, Protection
Hala TN Kukri Animal, Community, Healing, Magic, Plant
The Lawgiver LE Flail Death, Evil, Law, Strength, War
The Morninglord CG Spear Fire, Glory, Good, Luck, Sun
The Overseer LG Longsword Does not grant spells
The Spider Queen CE Net Animal, Chaos, Darkness, Evil, Trickery
The Wolf God NE Natural weapons Animal, Strength, Travel, Trickery
Yutow LN Sickle Animal, Law, Plant, Protection, Weather
The Mist Domain
Deity: Ezra
Granted Powers:
Binding Ties (Su): As a standard action, you can touch an ally and remove one condition affecting the ally by transferring it to yourself. This transfer lasts a number of rounds equal to your cleric level, but you can end it as a free action on your turn. At the end of this effect, the condition reverts to the original creature, unless it has ended or is removed by another effect. While this power is in use, the target is immune to the transferred condition. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Shield of Ezra (Su): At 8th level, you can summon the shield of Ezra for a number of rounds equal to half your level. You can use this ability once per day at level 8, and an additional time for every 4 levels beyond that. The effects of the shield are determined by your sect.
Home Faith: DR 5/magic
Mordent: DR 10/non-metal and non-natural or magic
Dementlieu: +5 to Fortitude and Reflex saves against spells that cause damage
Nevuchar Springs: +5 to Will saves against mind-affecting spells and effects.
Mist Navigation (Su): At 12th level, you can improve your chances of successfully navigating the Mists to a particular destination. The chance of a Mistway drifting is reduced by 10% to a minimum of 5%, and you gain a 10% chance of controlling your destination in the Mists even without using a Mistway.
Domain Spells: 1st—obscuring mist, 2nd — fog cloud, 3rd— gaseous form, 4th— solid fog, 5th— mind fog, 6th—wind walk, 7th— greater teleport, 8th— screen, 9th— imprisonment.
The Seer Subdomain (Knowledge)
Deity: Vistani only
Granted Powers:
Prescience (Sp): You can touch a willing creature as a standard action, seeing into its future. You must communicate your vision immediately to have any benefit. For the next round, any time the target rolls a d20, he may roll twice and take the more favourable result. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Forewarning (Su): At 6th level, you gain uncanny dodge. You cannot be caught flat-footed, even if the attacker is invisible. You still lose your Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. In a surprise round, you act as if you’d rolled a 20 for initiative. In subsequent rounds, you act on your normal initiative.
Domain spells: 1st—true strike, 2nd—augury, 3rd—seek thoughts, 4th—divination, 5th—true seeing, 6th—find the path, 7th—legend lore, 8th—moment of prescience, 9th—foresight.
