Religious Organizations

Religious organizations are more varied than any other. Members are unified by their particular faith, with divine spellcasters occupying top positions of authority and infl uence. Most such organizations are devoted to the worship, ideals, or hegemony of their religion, but some are in truth political organizations with a religious backing and agenda. A religious organization can be life-affi rming to devout new members, a place where they finally can put their ideals to work. Other members (especially older ones) might be consumed with their roles, putting them at odds not only with other faiths, but with those of the same faith who stand outside their organization. Religious organizations favor those of obvious theological conviction, notably clerics and paladins, but accept anyone who wishes to serve.

Examples: Druid sects, fi end cults, palatine orders, subsects within specific churches.

Associated Classes: Archivist (Heroes of Horror), aristocrat, cleric, druid, favored soul (Complete Divine), monk, paladin, shugenja (Complete Divine), spirit shaman (Complete Divine).

Associated Skills: Bluff, Concentration, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Knowledge (religion), Perform.

Duties: The organization’s deity or faith must come before everything else in the member’s life, and if the organization calls upon its members to act, they must answer. Failure to do so can result in anything from fi nes to expulsion from the organization (or worse, especially in cults of evil deities).

Favored Benefits: The organization reduces the cost of spells cast by its members on behalf of other members by 10%.

Sample Contact: Prelate Dunsadine (human cleric 7). Dunsadine will cast one spell he knows for a PC or on of his companions if he is compensated for any material components. Once every 2 months.