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Note: All rolls are made with percentile dice to achieve a result between 1 and 100. Skill bases are obtained by averaging the totals of three given characteristics (usually between 1 and 20). The skill base is multiplied by a given number (usually between 1 and 4, depending on the expertise given by a profession) to get a Mastery Level. Percentile rolls must be equal to or less than the Mastery level (plus or minus bonuses) to be successful.
The island of Harn was originally populated by one people, the Jarinese, and most of its cultures descend from this common background. The Ivinians (a Viking people) have recently begun populating northern Harn. It makes some sense that a common pantheon is shared by all the peoples of Harn except for the Ivinians. GM’s may want to make up a separate pantheon of gods and goddesses for them. In my campaign I have made up a separate pantheon for the Thardic Republic, also, which has a rather Romanesque flavor to it. The Elves and the Dwarves worship a particular diety of the Harnic pantheon. According to old, old source material on the planes, Sindarin elves came from Tolkein’s setting for the Lord of the Rings. This description was eventually changed in the Harndex to say “The elves of Harn are somewhat degenerate compared to those of Tolkein.” And then it was revised in a more recent version to say that “The elves of Harn are somewhat degenerate compared to those of Midgaad.” I have always taken this to mean that it was the designer’s original intention that the elves of Harn came from Tolkein’s world through a portal…but, interesting as this concept is, copyright laws keep them from saying this openly, now. I prefer the original concept and I used the Lords of Middle Earth supplement to come up with a pantheon of Gods for the elves. I also expanded on this concept and made the Dwarves come from Midgaad also, so I could use their unique god from Midgaad.
Agrik is a fiery god of war. Halea is the goddess of wealth and pleasure. Ilvir is the creator of the Ivashu. Ivashu are an interesting way to look at mythological creatures that are described in other games as monsters. Ivashu are “the accursed beasts of the barren cycle”, and Ilvir enjoys creating these strange life forms, but has a limited number of souls at his disposal to employ over and over again. Ilvir is an interesting god that can be used to make your campaign very dark and gothic. Larani is the Lady of Paladins and the goddess of chivalry. Although it doesn’t have to be played like this, GM’s wishing a catholic style of church can use the church of Larani with Larani playing the role of the divine mother. Morgath is the master of chaos, evil, and the undead, who despises things fair and noble (the antithesis of Larani). Naveh is the god of darkness, bringer of nightmares, and is worshipped by thieves and assassins. Peoni is the the earth mother and the gentle goddess of agriculture and healing. Sarajin is the god of battlelust, who demands honor and bravery from his followers (similar to Crom in the Conan series). Save-K’nor is the god of knowledge and enlightenment. Siem is the benign god of mystery, magic and dreams and is the special diety of the elves and dwarves.
A character has a ritual mastery level (RML) in any church that he belongs to. His RML determines his potential rank within the church, how well he can perform a ritual, and the potency of rituals he can perform. RML is divided into circles, 1+ being Laity, 21+ being Acolyte, 51+ being priest, etc. Higher circles are evidence of greater knowledge, but don’t guarantee a church office.
A character can also gain Piety Points (PPs) which is a unit of favor with a diety. Characters gain PPs by performing actions beneficial to their deity. For instance 1 uninterrupted hour of prayer or meditation MAY gain 1 PP. A roll is made by the GM with any modifiers he feels are appropriate. A suggested percentage is given for success. For prayer this suggested percentage is 20%. If the GM rolls equal to or lower than the percentage, he gains a PP. Detailed suggestions are given for Prayer, Fasting, Confession, Daily Mass, Monthly Low Mass, Monthly High Mass, Feast Mass, Temple Service, Donation/Sacrifice, Quest, and Pilgrimage. Characters with PPs that equal or exceed their RML are said to have Divine Grace. Characters with Divine Grace are “worthy” of divine aid. This means that they have a greater chance of success for divine intervention than “non-worthies” do. Invocations that heal, cure disease, remove curses, etc. have a bonus of +10 if a subject has Divine Grace. Characters without Divine Grace have difficulty convincing a diety to claim his spirit when he dies, forcing it to wander the world as a shade, or negotiate with another diety for acceptance. For the player, this may mean an extra burden of roleplaying after the character is dead, or face the consequences of the GM tormenting player characters through hauntings until the problem is resolved. This can provide interesting opportunities for roleplaying and adventure scenarios.
Divine intervention is an attempt to enlist the aid of a diety to perform a miracle. Deities are open to suggestion, but do not take kindly to demands. A character calling for divine aid must spend at least 1 PP to do so. Some gods have a higher response chance than others. The base chance for a successful intervention is listed separately for each god on a table. Each one PP expended by a player increases the characters chance of having a successful intervention by 1% up to a maximum of 95%. All piety expended in such a way is lost…even if the call for divine aid is not answered. If the call for intervention succeeds a second roll is made on the Intervention table to see if the deity imposes conditions on the aid. If the roll doesn’t succeed a second roll is made on the Intervention table to see if there is Divine Retribution. In this case the deity not only fails to help, but inflicts some kind of curse or penance on the follower. Of course any of this can be considered optional. If the GM feels that a god would not punish his follower for asking for aid, then he doesn’t have to call for or make a divine retribution roll.
Ritual Skill is used for everything else a cleric or religious follower would do concerning his religion. The Ritual Skill Base is different for each god. In each instance, however, Voice and Intelligence plus one other characteristic unique to the deity are added together and averaged. For Larani, for instance, Ritual Skill Base = (Voice + Intelligence + Will) / 3. Players who begin as clerics multiply the Ritual Skill Base by four (4) to get a Ritual Mastery Level. Clerics receive three (3) development points per month for meditation and study to improve their RML. RML can only be improved by learning new invocations, reading holy works, or performing an invocation in an adverse situation. Each development point is worth 1 development roll. A development is made by rolling percentile dice. If the result is greater than the current RML it can be increased by one (1).
Newly ordained clerics start play knowing all common ritual invocations and a few skills taught to them by their church. Clerics may also learn ritual invocations at a cost of 1 point per circle using points equal to their Ritual Skill Index. (explained below) Cleric opening piety is equal to Will x 5.
To learn a ritual invocation a character must spend 5PP per circle level of the invocation. The base Ritual Target Level (RTL) for learning a Ritual Invocation is Ritual Skill Base + Will. Bonuses are given for mentor/scripture and quiet environment. Two days of study and meditation per Circle are required to learn any invocation, assuming the cleric spends 12 hours per day on the task and study is uninterrupted.
Each invocation is performed with a penalty equal to Circle Level x 5. Piety is not required to perform a ritual but a character may pray (spend PPs) to improve the ritual’s chance of success. Each 1 PP improves Invocation EML by one (1) to a maximum of +20. There are optional modifiers for consecrated ground or being on ground consecrated to an opposing deity.
The ritual skill index (RSI) which is 10% (rounded down) of the Ritual Mastery Level is used sometimes as a bonus. Counseling Effective Mastery Level (mastery level plus or minus bonuses) is Rhetoric + RSI. Sermon Effective Mastery Level (EML) is Oratory + RSI.
A group of common invocations is given for services common to most religious organizations. These include such things as baptism, blessing, liturgy, marriage, passage of the soul, truthsense, divination, revelation, consecration, exorcism, and summoning. A summoned spirit can be asked three questions with a successful divination ritual, or banished with a command ritual. Spirit combat is not, necessarily a part of the rules for summoning, but the Mental Conflict procedure listed on Skills 23 of the HarnMaster rules book could be used to wage spirit combat.
A very brief 2 page section is presented on Tribal Religion which covers shamanism and animism. It is far better to use the HarnMaster Barbarian supplement for shamanism, though.
A section on each god is presented including theological and social mission, origins of the church, church history, organization, hierarchy, clerical orders and religious practices. Each section on a god also presents 10 – 20 ritual invocations that the church teaches that are special to their deity.
I like HarnMaster’s way of distinguishing spells from ritual invocations. Also the way they offer the system, you can use religious characters without ritual invocations if you wish a more historically authentic setting, and just use divine intervention instead. You must earn spiritual power or piety by actually roleplaying service to the church. There are optional rules for giving piety costs to cost to invocations which I use in my campaign. The rules actually encourage good roleplaying from those who work miracles by rewarding prayer, confession, attendance at mass, etc. In many of the games I have played, a cleric is just reduced to a first aid kit who applies spiritual bandaids (healing spells) or is not much different from a mage. Unless the player is a die hard experienced role player, you never see him pray, go to services, object to money being stolen from property that is not player character owned, or give help and donations to the needy. He is not rewarded for preaching his message, standing on a soapbox or fighting for what he believes in. HarnMaster play not only encourages this, but it requires it to a certain extent. It gives a way of handling practically anything that could come up in a roleplaying game concerning religion, including tips on how to deal with ethereals and a discussion of the afterlife. If a player really wants to roleplay a cleric well, all of the information is included for him to do so. He learns the background and history of the church, its peculiar ceremonies and customs, and an outline of the theology of the church. I would have liked to have seen a more celtic pantheon in keeping with Harn’s focus on medieval realism but I found it no trouble to use their material as a guide to produce my own gods and goddesses. GMs without the time to do this may want to look at Harn Religion before they buy it to make sure the deities they want are represented in Harn’s pantheon. Here is a workable, detailed system with some rich background.
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