Priest
A servant of a god, schooled in rite and scripture: strong of will and voice, soft of hand.
| Role | Difficulty | Key stats | Hit points | Mana | Spells given |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caster, healer | Normal | Willpower, Presence | 4 | 9 | 7, from level 1 |
Plays like: A mace and a shield, and a prayer that mends their wounds and more, for no mana.
Starts with: a mace (wielded); a buckler (in off hand); a wool cloak (being worn); a habit (being worn); a pair of sandals (being worn); an amber amulet (being worn); a scroll of light; 3 wax candles; a loaf of bread; 10 gold coins; 1d2 random spell scrolls (each the scroll of one of the 45 spells of spell level 9 or below, as likely as any other) (see Starting kit).
See also: Prayer, the priest’s prayer in full.
How to play
You fight with mace and buckler and heal yourself. Your prayer,
Orison in the abilities menu
(a), costs no mana and answers the worst thing that ails you: at first only your
wounds, later hunger, disease, poison, and more. Pray too often and
it fizzles (the strain). Save your mana for Mend and, from
level 3, Cure wounds and Blessing.
Levels
A bonus talent at levels 10, 20, 30, 45, 55, from Vigour or Grit.
| Level | Ability | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mend | the spell Mend (level 1, a cast, 3 mana): 1d3 hit points back |
| 1 | Orison | the prayer’s tier 1: it is called Orison (answered by the holy powers) or Whisper (by the dark); a prayer may answer bleeding, and hit points to full; active (the time of a spell, no mana): it answers the first problem the priest has, in the order disease, poison, wounds, release, mana, hunger, restoration. The holy powers answer Neutral and better, the dark ones Callous and worse, by the band at the moment. Every attempt adds 100 strain, answered or not, and a point passes every 1m; a prayer fizzles with a chance of 10 % per 100 strain (at most 100 %), and a fizzle locks the prayer: every prayer fizzles until the strain has passed to 0. With nothing to answer it is refused, with no time or strain |
| 3 | Blessing | the spell Blessing (level 3, a cast, 4 mana): you are Blessed (1) |
| 3 | Cure wounds | the spell Cure wounds (level 3, 2 casts, 3 mana): 2d6 hit points back |
| 6 | Daily bread | a prayer may answer hunger (Hungry or worse), fed to Satiated; rotten food never sickens you and never exposes you to a disease (it may still make you vomit) |
| 9 | Consecrate | active (1m of prayer, for 15 mana; interrupted as a rest is, it lifts nothing): standing in a cursed or draining room, it becomes a plain room for good; on a level a curse or a drain covers whole, the whole level’s is lifted instead. A good deed (see Alignment). Anywhere else it is refused, with no time spent |
| 9 | Communion with the dark | while the dark answers your prayers (Callous or worse), standing in an unholy place (a cursed, draining, or haunted room, or a level such a curse covers): your prayers add no strain, and the place’s status (Ebbing) never touches you |
| 9 | Renewal | the spell Renewal (level 10, a cast, 10 mana): you are Renewing (1) |
| 12 | Silence | the spell Silence (level 11, a cast, 20 mana): everyone it reaches but you, friend or foe, suffers Silenced (1) |
| 12 | Prayer | the prayer’s tier 2: it is called Prayer (answered by the holy powers) or Invocation (by the dark); a prayer may answer every disease, showing or still brewing (a brewing one alone is nothing to pray for); poison |
| 18 | Rebuke | the spell Rebuke (level 14, a cast, 34 mana): 4d6 fire damage; everyone it harms suffers Frightened (3); it melts the ice it reaches, and whoever stands on it falls in; it reaches only the undead, friend or foe |
| 18 | Prayer of release | a prayer may answer hexes and holds (Hexed, Weakened, Sluggish, Drowsy, Webbed, Held, Engulfed, Swallowed, Latched, Frightened, Transfixed, Ashen) |
| 24 | Benison | the spell Benison (level 12, 2 casts, 22 mana): 2d6 hit points back, one roll, to you and each ally of yours in it |
| 25 | Litany | the prayer’s tier 3: it is called Litany (answered by the holy powers) or Rite (by the dark); a prayer may answer all stat damage, and every point drained |
| 32 | Litany of the mind | a prayer may answer mana to full |
| 40 | Benediction | the prayer’s tier 4: it is called Benediction (answered by the holy powers) or Pact (by the dark); a prayer answers 2 problems at once |
| 50 | Sanctuary | active (1m of kneeling, for 30 mana; interrupted as a rest is, it lays nothing): the ground within 2 cells of where the player knelt is hallowed for 1h. No creature hostile to them steps onto it from outside (one already on it may move about and leave; nothing spawns there; missiles and spells cross it), and whoever stands on it heals and regains mana at 300 % of the pace, or a special room’s, the larger. A blow, shot, throw, or harmful spell of the player’s from on it breaks it; being struck does not. The same for either face of the prayer (dreaded ground for the dark: the words alone). Refused, with no time spent, on the overworld, in water, in a shop, or on hallowed ground |
| 60 | Miracle | the prayer’s tier 5: it is called Miracle (answered by the holy powers) or Miracle (by the dark); a prayer answers every problem at once, every use included, and fills every resource pool held (stamina too) |
Abilities
The priest’s prayer (Orison, from level 1) costs no mana and takes the time of a spell. It answers the worst thing that ails you, as far as your prayers reach. At first that is only wounds. As the levels come, it reaches hunger, disease and poison, hexes and holds, stat damage, and mana. At 40 a prayer brings two answers, and at 60 everything. All of it is on Prayer.
A hidden strain makes prayers too close together fizzle. A priest fallen to Callous or worse (alignment) is answered by the dark powers instead, with a twist: the sicknesses and poisons they cure pass to the nearest creature you see. See Prayer for every use, the names, the strain, and the dark powers’ answers.
Consecrate is the priest’s at level 9 and the paladin’s at 12. It works only while you are Neutral or better. A minute’s prayer, for 15 mana, lifts a cursed, draining, or haunted room’s curse for good (see Special rooms).
Its dark twin is Communion with the dark (the priest’s at level 9). It works only while you are Callous or worse. While you stand in a cursed, draining, or haunted room, or on a level such a curse lies over, your prayers add no strain, and the place’s drain (Ebbing) never touches you.
The priest’s Sanctuary (level 50) costs 30 mana and a minute’s kneeling. It hallows the ground about the priest for an hour. Hostile creatures keep off it, and whoever stands on it heals and gets mana back three times as fast. It ends when the priest strikes from it (see Special rooms).