It seems to me you don't 100% need NPC spellcasting rules -- I think you actually need NPC ritual and crafting rules.
I draw the distinction because, even in your initial query, you want a guideline which lets you stick a Gem of Hallow into the game without having to deal with remove curse or greater restoration or whatever, and so you don't necessarily want open-ended services here.
Here's one way to spring it: NPC clerical spellcasters stronger than those in the MM are super rare, and effectively driven by your plot needs; never encountered in villages simply because the village deserves a competent priest, but instead as a potent plot point.
They exist as prophets and divinely inspired crusaders, but the vast majority of village priests are commoners, acolytes, or clerics at the outside.
The majority of NPC access to divine spells comes from Shrines, Altars and Relics.
Shrines are a little bit like a giant, immovable wand which anyone can use, powered by sacrifices. They're tended by a body of priests (as above), but the magic of the shrine comes to those who make the pilgrimage there and perform the proper rituals: pray, make the proper sacrifices, receive the effects of a spell. And a priest's gotta eat: the priests who tend the shrine might place a requirement upon their petitioners in order to gain access. But the priests aren't powering the shrine, they're just tending to it; the first person each day who prays at the shrine and makes the proper sacrifice will receive its effects.
Some shrines might not produce the effect directly, but instead as a gift in the form of a token one can take away: a phial of the bathwater, a scroll of blessed scripture, a piece of bone or stone. Or just give the supplicant a single use of the spell like a Charm. But the point is, they're machines: put in coins, get out prize, and the prize is fixed to the shrine.
I recommend a price of 25*spell level squared (25 for a first level spell, 100 for a second level one, 225 for a third level, 400 for fourth level, and so forth).
If the thing can be prayed for and then carried away, the shrine is basically a potion or scroll store; consider pricing at that rate (5*10^spell level/2, more or less).
Altars are a way for large numbers of low level casters to pool their abilities and access higher level spells as rituals. The altar is a fixed place, and permits different effects at different times or as a result of different rituals. The altar effectively has a maximum spell level, permits a large number of casters to participate in a great ritual to prepare a spell into it, and then a sacrifice of gp to trigger that spell thereafter once: sort of like a single use item, though of course the altar itself is not single user.
To prepare the altar, it will take one day of skilled labor from 13 spellcasting participants per square of the spell level (each of which is paid at 2gp per day unless otherwise noted -- though perhaps one could bargain them down to 25gp instead of 26gp...). This labor might be split up over time, though the minimum number of spellcasters each day is the square of the spell level.
The altar must be of a high enough level to contain the spell, which must be a ritual (or have the DM's permission!). The altar must be capable of preparing the spell: each altar has a purpose, and will only prepare spells on-line with this purpose. You can "shortcut" this by just assigning each altar a school of magic or a domain, and restricting their spells to those on the list.
To discharge the spell from a prepared altar, it will take a caster capable of performing rituals an hour, plus any material components. The spell happens there and then except in very exceptional cases, and the altar must be ritually pre-prepared before it can be used again.
An altar is a machine for turning empty hands and time into spells, limited by the size of the community and the purpose of the altar. Because the labor costs 25*spell level^2 gp to enact this labor, the price is the same as a shrine would be, and where the money is going is much more obvious: the priests collect it.
The priests also probably lease reusable material components at 10% book value.
Finally, Relics: Relics really are just Wands (staves, rods, rings, wondrous items, ...). They might be shaped like a thighbone or a shroud, but they're a magic item, and you're buying a use of it off of its owner. Who might not even be a spellcaster, but just a sage. I have no idea how much to sell a charge of a magic item for, but this one is the lowest effort and most open to persuasion: set this price to a plot appropriate one.
These three rules together should meet most of your NPC spellcasting needs. If you want hallow and nothing else, it's a shrine. If you want spellcasting services in exchange for cash, it's an altar. If you want quick spells that can follow your characters into the field, but of a set you choose, consider a relic.
Hope it helps!
I draw the distinction because, even in your initial query, you want a guideline which lets you stick a Gem of Hallow into the game without having to deal with remove curse or greater restoration or whatever, and so you don't necessarily want open-ended services here.
Here's one way to spring it: NPC clerical spellcasters stronger than those in the MM are super rare, and effectively driven by your plot needs; never encountered in villages simply because the village deserves a competent priest, but instead as a potent plot point.
They exist as prophets and divinely inspired crusaders, but the vast majority of village priests are commoners, acolytes, or clerics at the outside.
The majority of NPC access to divine spells comes from Shrines, Altars and Relics.
Shrines are a little bit like a giant, immovable wand which anyone can use, powered by sacrifices. They're tended by a body of priests (as above), but the magic of the shrine comes to those who make the pilgrimage there and perform the proper rituals: pray, make the proper sacrifices, receive the effects of a spell. And a priest's gotta eat: the priests who tend the shrine might place a requirement upon their petitioners in order to gain access. But the priests aren't powering the shrine, they're just tending to it; the first person each day who prays at the shrine and makes the proper sacrifice will receive its effects.
Some shrines might not produce the effect directly, but instead as a gift in the form of a token one can take away: a phial of the bathwater, a scroll of blessed scripture, a piece of bone or stone. Or just give the supplicant a single use of the spell like a Charm. But the point is, they're machines: put in coins, get out prize, and the prize is fixed to the shrine.
I recommend a price of 25*spell level squared (25 for a first level spell, 100 for a second level one, 225 for a third level, 400 for fourth level, and so forth).
If the thing can be prayed for and then carried away, the shrine is basically a potion or scroll store; consider pricing at that rate (5*10^spell level/2, more or less).
Altars are a way for large numbers of low level casters to pool their abilities and access higher level spells as rituals. The altar is a fixed place, and permits different effects at different times or as a result of different rituals. The altar effectively has a maximum spell level, permits a large number of casters to participate in a great ritual to prepare a spell into it, and then a sacrifice of gp to trigger that spell thereafter once: sort of like a single use item, though of course the altar itself is not single user.
To prepare the altar, it will take one day of skilled labor from 13 spellcasting participants per square of the spell level (each of which is paid at 2gp per day unless otherwise noted -- though perhaps one could bargain them down to 25gp instead of 26gp...). This labor might be split up over time, though the minimum number of spellcasters each day is the square of the spell level.
The altar must be of a high enough level to contain the spell, which must be a ritual (or have the DM's permission!). The altar must be capable of preparing the spell: each altar has a purpose, and will only prepare spells on-line with this purpose. You can "shortcut" this by just assigning each altar a school of magic or a domain, and restricting their spells to those on the list.
To discharge the spell from a prepared altar, it will take a caster capable of performing rituals an hour, plus any material components. The spell happens there and then except in very exceptional cases, and the altar must be ritually pre-prepared before it can be used again.
An altar is a machine for turning empty hands and time into spells, limited by the size of the community and the purpose of the altar. Because the labor costs 25*spell level^2 gp to enact this labor, the price is the same as a shrine would be, and where the money is going is much more obvious: the priests collect it.
The priests also probably lease reusable material components at 10% book value.
Finally, Relics: Relics really are just Wands (staves, rods, rings, wondrous items, ...). They might be shaped like a thighbone or a shroud, but they're a magic item, and you're buying a use of it off of its owner. Who might not even be a spellcaster, but just a sage. I have no idea how much to sell a charge of a magic item for, but this one is the lowest effort and most open to persuasion: set this price to a plot appropriate one.
These three rules together should meet most of your NPC spellcasting needs. If you want hallow and nothing else, it's a shrine. If you want spellcasting services in exchange for cash, it's an altar. If you want quick spells that can follow your characters into the field, but of a set you choose, consider a relic.
Hope it helps!
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