Prophet

Base Requirements

  • Races: Any
  • Classes: Any Priest
  • Ability Requirements: Intuition 15
  • Alignments: Any
  • Starting Cash: By class

Proficiencies

  • Weapon Slots: By class
  • Allowed Weapons: By class
  • Allowed Armor: none
  • Bonus Weapon Proficiencies: none
  • Required Weapon Proficiencies: none
  • Non-weapon Slots: By class
  • Available Groups: By class, plus Detection
  • Bonus Proficiencies: Danger Sense, Soothsaying, Weather Sense
  • Required Proficiencies: none
  • Recommended Proficiencies: Ancient History, Blind-Fighting, Chanting, Dark Sense, Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Fortune Telling, Heraldry, Information Gathering, Leadership, Literacy, Omen Reading, Planar Sense, Religion, Spellcraft, Survival, Time Sense, Ventriloquism

Priest Spheres:

  • Major: By class, plus Divination
  • Minor: By class

Overview: A foreteller of the future and reader of omens, the prophet considers himself a conduit of the gods, superior to lesser mortals. The prophet undergoes rigorous training from an early age. He is left in the wilderness for days at a time to enhance his sensitivity to the natural world. Duels with wild animals sharpen his combat skills. Sips of herbal brews induce violent nightmares that harden his resistance to fear. His training complete, he begins an apprenticeship in the wider world, sharing his gifts with the unenlightened.

The prophet can be drawn into a quest by a prophecy that he or she interprets as the will of the gods; alternately, he or she may accompany his or her companions on their own adventures out of a sincere belief that, without his or her help, they are doomed.

Description: Prophets usually dress as typical members of their Religion.

Role-Playing: In the campaign, the Prophet Priest is partly a tool for the DM; the DM can use the character to supply clues and even red herrings to the characters. His is often a thankless job, and he is often a bit alienated from the normal folk.

Proud and arrogant, the prophet interprets signs and offers prophecies to help his party achieve their goals. He often expects to be pampered, and can become indignant if his companions show insufficient sympathy when he breaks his favorite weapon or falls ill. He tends to socialize with the higher-status members of his party and ignore the others.

The prophet attacks without hesitation on the battlefield, certain that his deities will protect him from serious harm. Wounds make him angry, increasing his determination to destroy any opponent who had the audacity to damage an agent of the gods.

Special Abilities:

  • Prophets may cast any spell which belongs to the Divination sphere, regardless of any other spheres it may belong to (though this is still subject to limitations based on Race of Religion). When the Prophet performs any spell of the sphere of Divination, he or she will receive unusually reliable and accurate information. The specifics of this benefit vary by spell, of course (subject to DM adjudication).
  • Prophecy: With this power, the priest can sometimes see visions of the future. A priest with the Prophecy power can use it two different ways. First, once per day, the priest may sink into a meditative trance and try to receive visions of the future. This trance lasts ten turns; if the priest is interrupted before the ten turns are done (struck with a weapon, shouted at by someone within six feet of him, or knocked over), the trance is prematurely broken and the priest gets no vision. Second, visions may just come to the priest, at the DM’s discretion. When the priest is hit with such a vision, for a single combat round he no longer perceives the real world; he sees, hears and experiences nothing but his vision.
    The priest receives no vision of the future if the DM doesn’t have one for him to see. Therefore, the priest who deliberately sinks into a receptive trance gets absolutely no vision if the DM doesn’t want him to see one. Therefore, this power is only partly an ability which gives the priest an advantage of future sight; it’s primarily a tool for the DM to give the priest clues about the future, clues which guide the adventure without giving the priest an overwhelming advantage in the campaign.
    The visions which the priest receives should be short and easy to misinterpret. They may be highly symbolic; if he sees a rat fighting a serpent to the death, the animals may represent mighty armies which bear those creatures on their flags, or may represent two characters with traits similar to those animals.
    Also, prophetic visions are changeable. The priest will sometimes see events which can be prevented. This tells him which way the winds of fate are currently blowing, but he knows that enough effort can change the future he sees.
  • Identification: Once per day, a prophet can attempt to identify the remains of any creature or character. The remains may be an entire corpse or just a body part (bone, hair, skin, or blood); the age of the remains is irrelevant. Alternately, he may attempt to determine ownership of any weapon or object; the prophet will identify the last creature or character who possessed the item for at least a day.
    To use this ability, the prophet touches the remains or item, concentrates for one round, then makes an Intuition check. If the check fails, so does the identification attempt; the prophet learns nothing. If the check succeeds, the prophet sees an image of the character or creature in his mind. The image lingers for one round. If the prophet is unfamiliar with the character or creature, his companions may be able to provide details from the prophet’s description.
  • Know Motivation: To use this ability, the Prophet points at the subject and makes an Intuition check. If the check succeeds, the Prophet instantly knows the fundamental motivation of the subject; typical motivations include hunger, fear, greed, affection, and anger. The ability reveals the motivation in general terms only; the Prophet may learn that a dragon is hungry, but not what it wants to eat. He may learn that a stranger is afraid, but not what he fears. This ability won’t work on those whose minds are protected from detection by means of spells, magical items, or psionic powers. Nor will it work on mindless creatures (unthinking undead, slimes, most plants). A Prophet can use this ability once per day.
  • Fear Immunity: The Prophet is immune to all forms of fear

Special Disadvantages:

  • Most people fear the future, and fear those able to see the future even more. Therefore, normal people are a little edgy around prophets, and react to them at a -2 reaction adjustment.
  • Victory Ritual: Whenever a Prophet completes a successful combat encounter—that is, an encounter in which his enemies have been killed, captured, or chased away—he must execute a victory ritual to express his appreciation to the gods. Normally, hunting and fishing encounters don’t require victory rituals, nor do recreational matches or battles with mixed results. The Prophet selects a specific ritual at the beginning of his career. Once the ritual is chosen, it never changes. The Prophet must perform his victory ritual within an hour after the combat encounter ends. If he fails to do so, he may not use his special benefits or cast spells for the next 24 hours. Sample rituals include:
    • The prophet takes a lock of hair, a tooth, a scrap of cloth, or other souvenir from at least one of the opponents who didn’t escape or retreat. He displays these souvenirs on a shield, belt, or necklace for a least a day. (If all of the opponents were chased away or utterly destroyed, the prophet is excused from performing this ritual.)
    • He marks the area where the battle occurred with a special symbol, carved in a tree, chiseled in a boulder, or cut in the ground.
    • He “purifies” the area where the battle occurred by sprinkling it with holy water or flower petals.
    • He silently gives thanks to his gods for guiding his hand and giving him courage, a process taking at least 10 rounds.

Return to Religions.

Prophet

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