Ecclesiastic
Character Type Description
An Ecclesiastic is a member of the clergy or of a religious order.
Subtypes and Crosstypes
The subtypes of the Ecclesiastic are as follows:
| Subtype | Distinctive Features |
|---|---|
| Priest | Usually has a responsibility in one location. |
| Monastic | Belongs to a religious community. |
| Hermit | Lives in a remote region and assists travellers, and the local community if any. |
The crosstypes of the Ecclesiastic are as follows:
| Crosstype | Distinctive Features |
|---|---|
| Enchanter Ecclesiastic | Knows some magic. |
Names
Refer to the Chart of Ecclesiastical Names. When initially encountered, the ecclesiastic may be described by his or her order (if a monastic) or home (if a hermit).
Abilities and Secrets
Closed Abilities
These abilities are restricted to the Ecclesiastic character type. Nobody who is not an Ecclesiastic can take these abilities.
ANY?
Pray is the characteristic ability of the Ecclesiastic, and all characters whose primary character type is Ecclesiastic get it for free. All characters whose secondary character type is Ecclesiastic must spend an advance on getting it if they do not have it already.
Abilities on the chart will include:
- Cooking (C)
- Freeload (C)
- First Aid (A)
- Woodscraft (A)
- Animal Ken (A)
- Discern Truth (C)
- Sway (C)
- Counsel (C)
- Orate (C)
- Clerk (A)
- Story-tell (C)
- Etiquette (C)
- Location Sense (A)
- Create (C)
- Engineering (A)
- Stealth (C)
Closed Secrets
These secrets are restricted to the Ecclesiastic character type. Nobody who is not an Ecclesiastic can take these secrets.
Secret of Blessing With a successful Pray ability check, your character may bless the actions of a group. You must state a specific goal for them to accomplish. Your success level with this ability check is a pool of bonus dice any member of this group can use in accomplishing this task. Cost: 1 Artes.
Secret of Divine Healing With a successful Pray ability check, your character may heal another (as for the First Aid ability).
Secret of Exorcism With a successful Pray ability check, your character can nullify a malignant spell or force a hostile supernatural entity to flee.
Secret of Raising the Dead Your character is able to return the dead to life under specific circumstances: They must have been dead less than three days, you must be in a “state of grace” (i.e. no sinful keys and several virtuous ones), and their return to life must be important to the greater good. Cost: 5 Artes.
Secrets on the chart will include:
- Animal Speech
- Blessing
- Contacts
- Diplomacy
- Divine Healing
- Exorcism
- Guidance
- Herbal Health
- Raising the Dead
- Imbuement
- Disturbing
- Lore
Initial Attitude
An encountered Ecclesiastic will always be initially friendly and well-disposed to you.
Retainers and Companions
Ecclesiastics usually have other ecclesiastics accompanying them unless they are hermits. A bishop or important priest may have a retinue including men-at-arms, clerks and the like.
Complete Worked Examples TO ADAPT FROM KNIGHT VERSIONS WHEN SYSTEM MORE SETTLED
Example 1: Black Knight (JH, 5S, 2C)
Choose a name for your Black Knight from the Noble Names Table if you like. We will refer to him simply as the Black Knight for this example.
The Black Knight’s pools are:
- Valour: Encounter card (Hearts) = 4 points (with Knight’s Valour bonus).
- Courtesie: Tens card (Spades) = 0 points.
- Artes: Ones card (Clubs) = 1 point.
His abilities are:
- Hearts and Spades, Jousting (Master).
- Spades and Clubs, Sword (Journeyman).
- Hearts and Clubs, Battle (Journeyman).
- Spades and Hearts, Sense Danger (Apprentice).
- Clubs and Spades, Aim (Apprentice).
- Clubs and Hearts, Sway (Apprentice).
He has the Secret of Knightly Discipline and no other Secrets.
His encounter card is a Jack, so his Key is the Key of Bloodlust.
He is hostile to you, because he is a Black Knight.
Example 2: Church Knight (QC, 10C, 5D)
Let’s call our Church Knight Sir Jaufre of the Sorrowful Countenance.
Sir Jaufre’s pools are:
- Valour: Encounter card (Clubs) = 2 points, with the Knight bonus.
- Courtesie: Tens card (Clubs) = 1 point.
- Artes: Ones card (Diamonds) = 2 points.
His abilities are:
- Clubs and Clubs, Battleaxe(Master).
- Clubs and Diamonds, First Aid (Journeyman).
- Clubs and Diamonds, First Aid (boosts ability to Master).
- Clubs and Clubs, Battleaxe (boosts ability to Grand Master).
- Diamonds and Clubs, Mace (Apprentice).
- Diamonds and Clubs, Mace (boosts ability to Journeyman).
His Secrets are:
- Secret of Knightly Discipline.
- Secret of Knockback (club, club, diamond).
His encounter card is a Queen, so his Key is the Key of Charity.
As a (non-evil) Knight he is friendly towards all comers.
Errantry copyright 2006 by Mike Reeves-McMillan. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License(approve sites).
These are notes for a work in progress. Don’t expect everything to be consistent or make sense.