Fantasy Pilgrimages

[fuindordm]

What about a world where only those who made a pilgrimage to the holy site of a god could benefit from spells cast by that deity's clerics?

Hong made a good point about the need for a pilgrimage to be fun for the players in
and of itself. One way to do that is to impose extra conditions on the PCs actions during the pilgrimage. This will make the journey and its associated encounters more challenging than usual, because their options are limited.

Guarding important NPCs while they go on a pilgrimage could also be a good motivating factor.

Ground rules of pilgrimages:
1) To benefit from a pilgrimage, you must declare it formally at the beginning of the journey. (To yourself, to a God, to your Mayor--to whom is a RP issue. To the DM it's
a useful marker.) I would want to avoid having the players happen to end up at a
holy site while pursuing other goals and then saying "while we're here, let's see if we can get a bonus!"

2) Pilgrimages with an in-game benefit should encompass a suitable challenge either at the site of the pilgrimage or during the journey. PCs who adopt additional restrictions or voluntarily make the journey more challenging for themselves will be more likely to receive an in-game benefit.

For example:

The most holy site of the faith of Mystra is a mountain lake that forms a natural source of magical energy. Any charged item dipped in the lake (only once per item)
will receive an additional charge. Any non-charged item that duplicates a spell will have its next use of the spell empowered (if it causes damage) or extended (if it has
a duration). In addition, baptism in this lake is considered a requirement for any
persons wishing to enter the priesthood or patronage of Mystra. Particulary holy
individuals have been known to receive other blessings on their first baptism, usually in the form of increased potency to one of their favored spells (+1 DC to
one spell in their repertoire) or temporary spell resistance for seekers that are not spellcasters.

A pilgrim seeking to enter the priesthood of Mystra must make the journey in a state of mind open to the mysteries of the Weave and the universal presence of magic in the world. They should refrain from the use of violence or brute force
to overcome any challenge they might meet on the way, and seek out omens to
guide their path as they travel. If they can cast spells already, the use of magic is
permitted but violence should still be avoided if possible.

It's up to the GM to make up encounters on the road that would test the PCs resolve to follow the above conditions, and adjudicate their success.

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The Grand Baptism

On a similar note, here's a more difficult pilgrimage for a campaign with strong elemental themes.

Many cultures baptise their children with water to purify their spirit. Some warrior
cultures also practise a baptism of fire to test the strength of their young adults.
The dwarves alone baptise with earth, voluntarily burying themselves deep in the
bedrock to better understand and identify with the most resistant of elements. Baptism by air is a ritual unknown to all but the most esoteric researchers, a relic
of the Golden Age civilization now lost to us.

The PCs learn of this pilgrimage while exploring some ancient ruins, deciphering old scripts and obscure bas-relief dioramas carved into the walls of an inner chamber. It seems there are four elemental sites of particular potency in the world, and one who completes a journey to each in order, and performs the proper ritual there, will be granted great power. Each has a fierce guardian that must be defeated, and there are restrictions that must be respected at each one. After baptizing themselves at all four sites, will they find their destinies forever altered?

--Ben

 

[Gez]

So, which is the fun bit?

[evil snip, bwahahahah]

These are the sorts of things that should go into fleshing out any adventure seed. Without them, a pilgrimage is just an idea, not an adventure.

This was mostly an example of a format. I'm looking for ideas. I selfishly wants to harness the collective brainpower of ENWorld.

But in the case of that example, I see it as a way to annoy those PCs who want a griffon mount or whatever. First, capture the beast, then bring it safely to the site, then wait three days, preventing it from eating pilgrims in the meantime, and generally, trying to prevent all the inconvenients of carrying along a ferocious, untamed wildbeast.

 

[durin]

Great thread!

If you're looking for game mechanic reasons, consider restricting character advacement until they perform the appropriate pilgrimage. The most direct example might be a character who wants to gain his or her first level of cleric must make a pilgrimage to that diety's high temple. Other examples might be connecting certain feats to certain deities; in order to gain those feats you must go to the temple and perform a deed releated to that temple. Lots of fantasy books talk about having to have just the right item to complete the big quest. Perhaps that item needs to be blessed before it can be used to complete the quest.

If you're looking for new and different pilgrimages, you might try making them more exotic. For example, since the extraordinary is more common (even in low magic fantasy settings) in a fantasy setting, the pilgrimage would need to be extraordinary too. Make them go to another plane of existence. Make them do it without magic. Make them do it without bloodshed. Make them give up al their worldly possessions for the duration of the pilgrimage. In otherwords, force them into a style of game play that is different from how they normally go about things.

Again, great thread.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I have to agree that their must be a said reward for the Pilgrimage.

Pilgrimages -

Walking the pattern: This is a life or death pilgrimage, the character knows this, once you set foot on it there is no turning back. Character gains spell like abilities or becomes prestige class.

Holy Sword -
Paladin - has to travel from x to y, along the way he is given items from different holy men at temples. When he gets to y he is ask to provide the items. The items then go into making of a holy sword for him. The items do not really matter, they represent task performed and enhance the player interaction and buy-in to the pilgrimage.

 

[tarchon]

Never found a publisher, or never found further interest to finish the supplement?

If you think of real life, most of the time the pilgrimages are made for the chance to be blessed. So likely if you want to make the equivalent in a fantasy game, there should only be a chance for a stat benefit. Not an automatic granting upon success.

Oh, I was doing it for a friend. Not entirely sure why it stalled. I just signed on to help out with some of it.

My main objection to giving a reward at the end lies in the idea of what a pilgrimage is. (And I'm also dubious of magical stat increases - they easily tend to get out of hand.) We actually went over this when we were designing the supplement, and the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about pilgrimages in an RPG is "go on a journey, overcome obstacles/monsters, get reward from deity." Sounds like a perfect fit, right? OK, so how's that any different from every other adventure you've ever played? It's not - it's just a divine mission/quest with the name "pilgrimage" stuck on it. It in no way resembles actual pilgrimages (except for the journey part).

If a pilgrimage requires a hero to perform it, it's not a pilgrimage. Similarly, if a pilgrimage is a unique undertaking - Pholtus chooses this party to go slay the Beastivus and take the McGuffin - it's not a pilgrimage. Chosen Ones, Prophets, and Demigod/Heroes don't go on pilgrimages, but rather they create future pilgrimages.

Pilgrimages share two qualities. They involve journeys and ordinary people can undertake them, if they're willing to make the sacrifice. At its core, pilgrimage is not about "I wash God's hand, God washes mine." It's an act of devotion. In Islam, it's not about getting blessed - it's about obedience to the will of Allah. Allah says "do the hadj," and if you have submitted yourself to the will of Allah, you do the hadj. Medieval Christian pilgrims didn't go to Rome to get a Bless spell cast on them at the end so they could defeat the half-dragon owlbear lurking in St. Peter's - they did it primarily as an act of devotion and especially contrition. Pious rulers, who basically of social necessity had to be murderous bastards, felt especially motivated to make extreme acts of devotion like that to make up for their dirty deeds. In parallel with that however, there's another aspect of pilgrimage which is more familiar to contemporary Westerners, simple tourism. The Canterbury Tales really bring out this peculiar dual nature of the institution, the pious devotee alongside the curious sightseer.

So, you say, how do you make an adventure out of that? Well, that's what the supplement was about.

 

[Gez]

That's why I'm thinking about several benefits. A simple, small benefit for the "easy" pilgrimage (like hong said about my example above, there's nothing really adventurous); and a greater benefit if you do something harder, more adventurous.

The small benefit should merely be a +2 luck bonus to a few skills or things (or on AC vs. a specific, low-level threat, like wolves and their ilk; but definitely not against all animals, or -- worse -- against humanoids or outsiders).

 

[Turanil]

If a pilgrimage requires a hero to perform it, it's not a pilgrimage. Similarly, if a pilgrimage is a unique undertaking - Pholtus chooses this party to go slay the Beastivus and take the McGuffin - it's not a pilgrimage. Chosen Ones, Prophets, and Demigod/Heroes don't go on pilgrimages, but rather they create future pilgrimages.

I second this opinion, but this gives me an idea of adventure centered about pilgrimage:

The PCs must (this works better with paladins and clerics of course) accompany pilgrims to the holy site of a pilgrimage. There is several places along the road where to stop and make devotions (i.e.: the place where the fabled paladin got his weapons; the place where he banished his first devil; etc.). Of course there is monsters to defeat, etc., the habitual adventure stuff. However, the trick is that the PCs must care for the pilgrims who are just 1st to 3rd level commoners and the like, who suffer, who are afraid, who make mistakes, etc.; in short: who are a pain in the arse. Thus, the PCs' goal is to bring them alive to the final location of the pilgrimage. In doing it that way, it would look more like a real pilgrimage than a simple adventure with a different name. But the PCs would not be the pilgrims, rather they would act as the "templars" who protect and lead the pilgrims. That means different challenges when instead of having to defend yourself, you must also defend inexperienced fragile weaklings.

 

[LazerPointer]

It's great threads like this that keep me reading these boards.

I'm gonna use this, not as the focus of a session, but as a backdrop for a region, and perhaps some interesting NPC's. As for some bonuses, I think mine will be subtler.

I think the true purpose of a pilgrimage is to gain a deeper understanding of one's faith. If they complete the pilgrimage they'll know more about their patron god. No plusses to nuthin.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Don't forget pilgrimages of death - we saw this one with the death of Regan, the body was taken on a pilgrimage but you also had people that made a pilgrimage to view the casket. In game terms this could be a king or another important NPC (big bad).

You also have the health spas, hot water springs known for their healing.

 

[tensen]

Don't forget pilgrimages that come about through some heroic act the adventurers did. It is amusing to see what the various religion of the area might have made of the deeds the party did... when they pass back through a village a year or more later, they find some weird pilgrimage in place that is very vaguely based on something they did.


Or for a better option, for DMs that have multiple campaigns in the same setting. Use something a prior campaign did as a basis for the pilgrimage. Show the players that they really did make an impact on your setting.