Cultist

Willingly, or through the manipulation or coercion of someone else, you became a cultist. You are a member of an organization that is secret or open in its deeds. You and your brethren believe in a common cause, such as spreading the influence of your deity. Because you are a member of a dark cult rather than a group of common clergies, either your deity is evil and you live in a generally neutral-aligned or good-aligned civilization, or you have a good-aligned or neutral-aligned deity who is not accepted among society. In any case, you and other members of your cult maintain methods wrapped in secrecy and intrigue. You may know all the members, become aware of each other’s identity through unique signs and symbols, or you may be in a particular cell of the cult where the members do not know one another; only those they serve.  

Cult Agenda

Every cult has an agenda its community shares and follows, and some also have a secret agenda that most of its members are unaware of. Choose an agenda or secret agenda for the cult you’re in, or roll on the table below.  

d6	Cult Agenda
1	Spread the faith of a deity or master
2	Summon an ancient master, or a manifestation of a deity
3	Recruit more members to create devoted worshippers
4	Gain political power and influence
5	Harm or destroy the community of a deity or master that is an enemy of ours
6	Conduct a powerful ritual

Features

Community’s Favor

You may have members of the cult who are secretly placed among the many ranks of society. Taking care of your community through these members as a means of survival and privilege has always been taught to you. According to the identity of a fellow cult member in your community, you can ask them for a favor to gain one of the following benefits:

• Jailor. You and maybe your friends can be freed from prison without a trial.
• Merchant. You can permanently have a large discount in a store.
• Noble. You and your friends can be invited to an event reserved for nobility that you would normally not be allowed to attend.
• Detective. Traces of the deeds you committed can be removed, investigations about you may be dropped as long as the detective lives.
• Mystic. You can access or obtain a spell, magic item, or a rare spell component.
• Librarian. You can gain access to forbidden tomes and books.

The benefits granted by this feature are not limited to the ones mentioned above. You can work with your GM to determine other benefits appropriate to other positions within the community. You can also ask for several of these benefits if there are many members of your cult in town that are spread into different positions in society. Still, you should ask for favors sparingly as your cult can decide that you are a liability if you abuse the help you get from your community

Suggested Characteristics

Cultists are people who share strong bonds with their fellow cultists, sometimes at the expense of their relationships with the outside. Their perceptions of reality are also different from others because of how they live or what they do among their cult. Unlike clergies, they may blindly be committed to a cause as they are manipulated into submission by their superiors. They may seem undogmatic, or even enlightened, as a result of experiences that are far from ordinary and their various journeys into the mysterious.

Traits

d8	Personality Trait
1	I went past the boundaries and norms of society to experience an awakening.
2	I always try to manipulate others into believing in my faith or to at least use them to fit my cause.
3	I am intolerant of other faiths and of clergies.
4	When I devote a deed to my deity or master, nothing can keep me from achieving my goal.
5	I do not know how to be anyone other than a member of my cult.
6	I take harsh actions and have harsh, decisive notions and opinions that oppose society.
7	I do not question much and obey my superiors completely; I act as the hand of my deity or master.
8	Others say I’m an eccentric, I say I’m enlightened because of the things I witnessed in my cult.

Ideal

d6	Ideal
1	Redemption. I will save the people from the grasp of the oppressor faith (Good)
2	Retribution. I will exact revenge on the false religion and save the people (Neutral)
3	Domination. My cult and deity will come out victorious and bring everyone into submission (Evil)
4	Esoterism. I maintain a scholarly attitude in the cult to gain the knowledge that my faith offers (Any)
5	Necessity. I fulfill my cult’s deeds and make no exceptions; not about the cost nor the morality (Evil)
6	Fanaticism. My faith knows no boundaries (Chaotic)

Bond

d6	Bond
1	Everything I do is for my cult or deity.
2	I haven’t known any other life than being a member of my cult.
3	I owe my life to my fellow members, faith, or master.
4	I seek to fulfill my cult’s agenda no matter what.
5	I will have my revenge on the opposing clergy for the wrongful deeds they have committed.
6	I have been uncovered and branded a heretic by the opposing faith.

Flaw

d6	Flaw
1	Even if I commit a small sin against the teachings of my deity, I must hurt myself to have atonement.
2	I have little patience for anyone else’s beliefs in another deity.
3	I can act in an excessively reckless manner for my cause and conviction.
4	I do not trust anyone but my fellow members.
5	I follow my fellow members blindly.
6	Being the member of a cult made me obsessed or deranged.