INDEPENDENT

An independent church is a temple or association of temples that, due to lack of size, wealth, or political infl uence, is a less powerful entity than the dominant church of the region. Perhaps the deity is not widely worshiped in the city, and has only one temple—or at most a handful of them—to his name. The religion might be new to the city, and thus has not had time to expand, or it might face resistance from the entrenched churches. All too frequently, an independent church has failed to expand because it is oppressed, either by the local government or the dominant church. And sometimes, a church simply fails to catch on in a given population, or exists in a region where the dominant church holds so much of the population that the smaller faiths cannot compete.

Independent churches contain religious guilds and various sects, but not to the same extent as dominant ones. Both obscure gods and well-known but less popular ones make up the bulk of the independent faiths.

Examples: Church of St. Cuthbert, Church of Wee Jas.

Associated Skills: Diplomacy, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft.

Duties: Congregants of an independent church are required to tithe 5% of their income, or volunteer 1 hour of their time per week. Formal members of the church must spend at least 20 hours a week devoted to religious and administrative duties. A successful DC 20 Diplomacy check allows a PC to count time spent adventuring with his companions toward this requirement, if the adventure specifi cally advances the cause of the church or if the PC is willing to tithe 10% of all treasure he fi nds to the church.

Favored Benefits: Members of independent churches make a concerted effort to aid one another. The discount for hiring a fellow member to cast a spell or perform a service is 10%, rather than the standard 5%. (Characters who abuse this privilege—taking advantage of it when not absolutely necessary—could find it stripped away from them at the DM’s discretion.)

Sample Contact: Father Leopold (cleric 10). Leopold will cast atonement on a PC or one of his companions. Once only, but could be persuaded to do it a second time if the situation warrants.