Paths of Devotion
The player of a cleric has the option of taking a Path of Devotion in lieu of a henchmen slot. Following a Devotion allows the character to be granted particular powers (aka Donum) by the diety of whose path the cleric chooses. A cleric may follow as many paths as he or she has henchmen slots available; likewise, like henchmen, a path is chosen for the life of a character. If a character willingly leaves a path or trangresses against the deity seriously enough to be barred from the path, the character does not regain the henchman slot.
A cleric can first pledge him or herself to a Path of Devotion at 2nd Level. A devotional path has 11 steps, numbered 2 through 12. Each step in a path costs 5% of a character's total of earned experience points to maintain. A cleric has the opportunity to advance in the path during the otium period after the conclusion of an adventure. Successful advancement requires the player to roll on 2d6 a number equal to or higher than the current step of their character's devotion. Thus, if a cleric is currently on the 6th step of a Path, then the player would need a roll of 6 or higher to move to the 7th step.
Every Path of Devotion bears with it a set of observances and prohibitions that must be followed. Performing acts of observance during an adventure will provide a bonus on path advancement rolls. On the other hand, performing a prohibited act during an adventure will cause the character to immedately drop one step down on the path, losing the power that comes it with. If a character drops below the initial step, he or she is permanently barred from that path. The DM is the arbiter of whether a character has earned bonuses from observances or has dropped a level due to prohibited actions.
As can be seen, there is incentive for a cleric following a Path of Devotion to construct places of worship and attract congregants in that a congregation generates experience points on a monthly basis that can be used to subsidize the experience point investment of following a devotional path.
