MIRACLES IN A CAMPAIGN

by
Thomas Weigel
<nsbos0340@nsula.edu>

This is a supplementary idea on how to handle spells in any given campaign to make
them perhaps a bit more interesting. I'm not sure that it would work for all
games, but it has been fun in a game I recently began to run, so I decided to pass
it on to the great Net in the Sky.

The basic idea is:

1) to enforce the 'reality' of priest spells
2) to give players more of the feeling of a priest in terms of 'spells' that the
priest uses.
3) to give the Game Master a bit more control over the world.

There are a few parts to this idea, and most of them are not central to the main
gist (that is, throw it out if you like the basics, but not the frills ;).

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The main idea is that of the spells themselves. In the game I am running,
I use the extenisve AD&D spell lists as a base to work from, not the actuality.
For example, here is the spell list I gave a 1st level Druid:

The Touch of Silvanus - when casting begins, animal must be within 10' of the
druid, who is praying to Silvanus. Once this has begun, the animal will either
Save vs. Spells or will stand still while the druid approaches and touches the
animal. Thereafter, the animal can essentially be considered a 'pet' and comrade
to the druid. It takes nearly an hour for this bond to be established, however.

The Sight of Math - this ritual allows the druid to percieve the inherent magic in
the world around her. After chanting to Math, and rubbing a small amount of
animal fat over her eyes, the druid will be able to see magic items as glowing for
12 minutes thereafter, up to 30' away.

Silvanus' Warning - when the druid touches a sprig of personally harvested

mistletoe (age of the sprig does not matter), and chants the proper ritual prayer
to Silvanus, all natural traps up to 30 feet away in a straight line will be known
to the druid (natural = deadfalls, snares, or anything which affects the natural
world, such as a metal spear bound into a tree). This may be repeated, at a new
location, up to 4 times per level of the druid (so the druid can essentially clear
a path up to 120' per level).

Silvanus' Trap - when the druid gestures at the area desired with a oak wand
covered in the juices of crushed holly twigs, a 4" diameter area (up to 8" away
from the druid) will suddenly come alive, the plants entangling anything which is
within the confines of the circle. Those creatures which make a save vs. Spells
may move at half speed for the duration. The plants will continue to move in this
violent manner for 10 minutes, holding all victims fast. At the end of this
period, the plants will slowly unbind and return to their normal positions.

Etc.

All of these spells are from the Druid's list of spells, and are currently typed
out for the druid in a party (I typed these because making a hand-written sheet of
ALL of the clerical spells is annoying at best - clerics and druids have access to
ALL the spells of each level they can cast, remember? Ewww).
When the druid wishes to do one of these, he 'casts' the spell, doing
whatever necessary, and the spell occurs. Of course, the limits on number of
spells castable a day are not helpful in this, but then, they don't help mages
either. I simply declared, by fiat, that a druid may ask only so much of the
dieties in a single day. Ask for more than that allotment, and you get the
spell.. and a price. A HEAVY price. Such as recieving no spells on the following
day. Or being forced to give all of your material possessions away and making
penance naked in the forest. And so on.

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The second major part of the idea is that of not giving priests everything. With
every cleric of Mishkal having the same spells, there is very little
individuality, and very little feeling of an Order - more a feeling of a group of
clones. In the catholic church (which the Gygax priest comes from), there were,
indeed, certain 'miracles' which were common to all priests (such as the
transformation of the bread into the flesh of Jesus Christ, or the manufacture of
holy water). But there were also individuals who were 'blessed' with miracles
beyond that. Almost all saints were rumored to heal with a touch, so Cure Light
Wounds should be left as is, but perhaps there is a young friar just making his
way through the church, very devout and holy, who can speak with animals (Speak
with Animals) or perhaps a priest of the Templars who can summon a hammer of god
to smite his foes with (Spiritual Hammer). Perhaps a Nun of the St. Mary's school
is able to call the light of god to her, to light the paths for the faithful
(Light). In all, these should be miracles individual to the particular priests,
not available to all. With the druids, for example, I might give a gift from each
god to a particular druid character.
The end result of this: the player has the feeling of truly being a priest,
not a collection of spells that could be replaced by anyone of her order, and the
Game Master does not have to make a list of every single little spell in the
manner that I wrote them above.

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Anyway, I have little else that I know of to say.. send me comments :)

Thom(as)
nsbos0230@nsula.edu

This text may be distributed at will as long as no commercial benefit is derived

from it. Personal use is encouraged.

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This document has been edited for legibility purposes by

OLIK / Ole A. Ringdal

olear@online.no / http://home.sol.no/olear
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