church-going commoners; magical tombstones

[alsih2o]

maybe the church provides free alchemical substances to be dropped in the mouth of the corpse and sewed up? this substance could repel flesh eaters, or perhaps some other kind of undead. in this way the church could ensure that your body would never serve an evil purpose.

or look at it like "god bless you" after a sneeze...maybe demons really can enter the body after a violent sneeze unless someone bless them in the name of a good god. a low save means most folks fight it off normally, but a blown save on a harvest moon can mean disaster!

make it tied to numbers. perhaps a belief (true) that if 12 people (one for each month) pray over the grave the first night no harm shall come to the body (true) or soul (belief) and the widow would know good fortune.

this holds lots of ideas

 

[Storminator]

IMC undead spontaneously rise. If a priest says a prayer for the deceased, the body can't rise while the priest lives. If the body is buried in the church graveyard, the body can't rise while ANY priest presides over the church. So just being in the graveyard is a tremendous boon.

In fact, new churches have been started at battlefields so the huge numbers of dead won't rise.

And a fallen church is a hell of an adventure...

PS

 

[Dr. Harry]

IMC undead spontaneously rise. If a priest says a prayer for the deceased, the body can't rise while the priest lives. If the body is buried in the church graveyard, the body can't rise while ANY priest presides over the church. So just being in the graveyard is a tremendous boon.

In fact, new churches have been started at battlefields so the huge numbers of dead won't rise.

And a fallen church is a hell of an adventure...

PS

I try not to post something just to say "thanks" or "cool", but that really is one heck of a good idea.

Harry

 

[tonym]

Anyone have good ideas for minor "in-place" effects for tombstones?

When a visitor touches the tombstone and speaks the dead person's name, they can hear his or her voice telepathically. The voice always says something kind and reassuring.

Flowers left at the grave wilt slowly, often taking one full month to completely wilt.

When a blood-relative of the dead person approaches within 10' of the tombstone, the tombstone emits dim green light.

If the grave is violated in any way, the tombstone crusts over with dead worms (lasts ten days).

If the person within the grave was murdered, the tombstone will 'bleed' if the murderer approaches within 60 feet (4d6 hours until bleeding begins).

Hey, this was fun!


Tony M

 

[Bob5th]

Minor miracles: "My Ox was dying and I had to get in this harvest before the rains came and ruined the cotton so I knelt down, appealed to Bob, patron of agriculture and animal husbandry and after an hour of prayer, Bessie was up on two feet again."

Well the Ox must have been really healthy if it got up on TWO feet

 

[Centaur]

Allow truly devout followers of a particular religion to pray for 0 level spells.

In order to qualify, maybe the commoner must make some sort of sacrifice to thge church, perhapse in voluteer time spent or such. Perhapse a new feat could be introduced so that only the truly devout worshiper would be able to access it.

In any case, if the commoner prays fro a minute or so, and takes 1D6 subdual damage (goes away after a nights rest) then they are granted the prayer. Maybe limited to their Charisma or Wisdom bonus per day.

This way it has some personal investment to them and they won't be throwing them around like a cleric could.

 

[Wormwood]

"When the Athenians pray, they say 'Rain, O Zeus, on the fields of Athens.' Prayer should be made this sincerely, or not at all."
- Marcus Aurelius

Aside from the above, perhaps some minor orison-level effects that add +1 to Craft and Profession checks?

 

[MythosaAkira]

What are some minor magical effects that your typical commoner might expect to receive as a result of being a faithful worshipper? I was thinking about maybe the ability to cast something like Guidance or Resistance once a week (maybe extend the casting time to one minute, as the commoner whispers a prayer). Anyone else have good ideas in this area?

In the PDF I wrote up for my world's pantheon, each god has a listing for "Divine Gifts for the Laity". Basically, the faithful get to do something special once per month, and something extra special on the religion's highest holiday (I felt the monthly/holiday frequency was good without being overly powerful).

A couple examples:

For Dynera (goddess of nature, fertility, and renewal): Once per month, characters with this goddess as their patron may do one of the following: Cast know direction, add a +2 competence bonus to an Animal Empathy roll, or add a +2 competence bonus to a Wilderness Lore roll (they must choose one of the three, not all; but they need not make the same choice every month). On their holy day, the faithful may cast goodberry.

For Aegar (god of war, storms, and smithing): Once per month, laity of this god may do one of the following: Add
a +2 competence bonus to a Craft roll, or, add a +4 sacred bonus to a single attack roll (they must choose one or the other, not both; but they need not make the same choice every month). The attack bonus is not magical, nor will it overcome damage reduction. On their holy day, lay worshippers of the god may cast magic weapon.

You can download the PDF if you're interested in seeing the powers the other gods give their worshippers
(http://www.mythosa.net/World.html). The PDF is somewhat out-of-date due to my revising the gods, but the same concepts still apply.

 

[Blockader7]

There's a couple of problems with this that can personally see:

Why have clerics then if the powers, even on a limited basis?

Other people could get jealous and strive to undo the things that have been done. Why? It would bring into play a question of faith and worthiness.

"Why are they worthy for this but I am not?"

 

[FireLance]

The way I see it, the challenge is to give the common folk some minor advantages without having the PCs abuse it. I find the thought of PCs "roleplaying" as devout followers of a religion just to get an extra Guidance per week somewhat distasteful. So, in my view, any benefit gained should either have a real cost, have no game effect, or would not benefit a PC.

1. A single-use command-word activated item that duplicates a 0-level spell and takes up no item slots should cost about 90gp. Any worshipper who donates this much to the church (over the course of several months or years, for a commoner) can gain this benefit. The effect would be subtle - Guidance, Resistance, or Virtue, for example.

2. Some beneficial effects that do not have game effects could include the following: the forge fires of a blacksmith that worships a god of the forge might never go out. A devout worshipper of the goddess of agriculture will always manage to grow enough food to feed his family.

3. The worshipper may be able to "swop out" a level in the commoner class for a level in another NPC class. A devout worshipper of a god of war might be able to swap out one commoner level for a level in warrior. One that worships a god of knowledge, or craft, or even thieves might be able to swap out a level of commoner for a level of expert.