A tall, dark cloaked woman listening intently to a voice coming out of an open tomb. The laughing man in red and blue, singing songs that melt the hardest heart. A rag clad beggar who can cause things to weaken or vanish with his touch. They are Priests, men and women who have aligned themselves with the Gods.
A Priest is a person who has dedicated his life to the service of a god. This dedication may be formal or informal, obvious or subtle. What is important is that the goals of the God are more important to the person that his own, personal designs.
A Priest is different than a Servant or a Cleric. A Servant is any person who has the Servant of <God> skill. A Cleric is a member or leader of a social organization called a cult, which may or may not have access to or the approval of one or more gods.
Servants of the various Gods are the Gods allies and friends, but they have their own goals and desires. Their service to the God is secondary to their primary orientation. Therefore, the God trusts the Servant with less of his power. In game terms, this means that they have a Vocation other than Priest.
Clerics are skilled individuals of other Vocations who participate in or lead the various 'cults'. Each of these cults is a unique social organization, in theory dedicated to the goals of one or more Gods, but often working for the members rather than any abstract principle.
Priests are not evenly distributed around the world. Rather, they are 'clustered' wherever the God feels a need for a stronger presence. Priests therefore show up where they are most needed, or where they can do the greatest harm.
The so-called Dark Gods tend to keep their Priests in place for long periods of time, weaving elaborate plans. The other Gods move their Priests and Servants around a great deal, spreading the news, fighting the good fight, or just to see what is going on in various places.
A Priest does not have any choice about where he goes, or what actions he takes when he gets there. Although some Gods leave their Priests to act as free agents, most watch their every move.
A Priest's dedication to his God gives him the following advantages:
The Priest may add his Vocational Level to his Servant Potency. See the section on Prayers and Potency below for more details.
A Priest has a bonus to all Prayer maneuvers under the Servant of skill equal to 4% per Vocational Level. Thus, a Level 5 Priest of Vlad-Tagor has +20% to all of his Prayers.
This bonus does not extend to any skills granted as part of the God's Servant of Skill.
Every Priest must select a number of skills as Vocational skills. The exact skills that the Priest must take are based on which God he serves. Additionally, the Priest must take the Servant of <God> skill as a Vocational Skill.
Priests receive 400 bonus ticks when they go up in Vocational Level. These ticks may be spent on any skill that the Priest already possesses, and on maneuvers in those Vocational skills specified by his God.
Over the course of their career, a Priest may select up to six Vocational skills, in which he has unlimited advancement potential. All other skills are limited to a maximum of 50% or level 5.
A Priest's Potency represents the power that his God entrusts to him. The higher a Priest's Potency, the more of the God's power the Priest can call upon at need. If the priest falls from favor, he loses Potency until he is able to restore himself in his God's eyes.
Prayers request a God's aid in a particular matter. Each God responds differently to prayers, and often the response that a Priest gets is not what he expected. It is also common for a God to summarily ignore prayers that he considers inappropriate or out of line.
Every God has a Servant level based skill in his description. This skill is the skill that he gives to his Priests. As a Priest takes actions that please the God or further his purposes, the Priest goes up in levels in the Servant skill. Each level, the Priest gains new prayers, powers, and Potency.
The Potency of a Priest's abilities is equal to his level in the Servant of skill, plus any maneuver and Vocational bonuses.
The maneuvers that a Priest gains are dependent on his God. Unlike other level based skills, the Servant of skill gives no open or variable selections.
No character may have more than one Servant of skill. Even allied Gods do not grant powers to the same servant.
There are eight 'standard' prayers available to Priests. When a Priest fails to invoke his god in a Prayer, his Potency goes down by one point. He is not able to restore lost Potency until he has a chance to perform actions that bring him back into favor.
In addition to the standard prayers, most Gods gift their priests with unique powers. Where applicable, these powers are cumulative. Among the most common of these are: