There had always been mortals that had been chosen by the gods to be representatives or to be rewarded by that god with divine power. Some were called prophets, others clerics, others the sword or hammer of a god, others the shield of a god, others called paladins or holy warriors. There may be no clear distinctions depending on the god – the mortal they have chosen to grant powers to is simply of that god’s representatives in the mortal world and tasked with whatever duties that god saw fit.
After the War of the Gods, the remaining deities, not wanting to risk another war in the Divine Plane or see more mass bloodshed and destruction in the Mortal Plane decided to be even more judicious and sparing in how they chose their mortal representatives and how they graced them. Before the War those that roughly fell into the category of “cleric” were fairly numerous and recognizable, common fixtures in mortal societies, that tended to be seen by some as just magical medics. However many of these magical medics in the holy wars were mighty combatants (at least early on in the holy wars). After the War this version of the cleric was replaced by the idea that this type of representative of a god should not be so common and seen as nothing more than just a magical medic. Whereas a priest or other clergy member is the peoples’ representative to a god, a cleric should be seen first and foremost as a god’s chosen representative to the people and this representative’s presence should be taken seriously. A cleric should be seen as the voice of a god and their god’s will be done thru them. To that end the fairly common clerics of old gave way to the new, much more rare, prophets. Some came to heal, some to spread the word of their god thru profound and miraculous works and thus bring people to their god, many came to reinforce the ideals and rules of their god, and some came as harsh judges. The abilities they had could be vastly different than anything before and were specific to their role as set forth by their god and what that god thought the prophet needed and deserved to fulfill their tasks and represent their god’s nature.
Prophets can do anything the Gifted can do and more. Some abilities are specific to only a particular prophet and these abilities can be quite powerful and frightening. From a game point of view, it may be difficult to come up with powers for these prophets that magic users/Gifted don’t have (From a D&D point-of-view, prophets have access to all spells from all classes per their level and can be granted them at any time from their god, the prophets need not choose them ahead of time). So, think in terms of the god the prophet represents and what is that nature of that god, what makes them unique, and how might that be imparted upon their prophet. Some gods may not want their prophets to wear armor or carry weapons as their prophets should are defended by the power of their god, as a sign or display of the power of their god, so an Armor of Faith that would be as though the prophet is wearing the best plate mail (or better), all the time, even when they sleep. Some prophets may not be allowed to wield weapons or certain weapons. By not wearing armor or wielding weapons made by mortal hands the prophet is showing that it is not by the work of mortals that they are protected but by the power of their god. In some cases prophets are to be like the rest of the flock and so won’t be wearing armor, or anything that would denote their ability and rank. There is no such thing as a typical prophet or typical paladin/Tasked.
Prophets should be tough – more resilient to poisons, diseases.
Less likely to be charmed if at all.
Arcane magic less likely to harm them, does less damage.
They are granted an increased ability to persuade and draw others to them.
Anything they pick up can become holy/infused with divine energy.
Using divine power prophets can do at least the following:
Disfigurement of targets (as in mortal beings)
Curses of various kinds
End Pestilence/Bring pestilence
Purify or Foul Water/River/Lake/Sea
End Plague/Cause Plague
Mana from Heaven/Blight
Night to Day and Day to Night
Make any ground hallow (ground) or profane (holy if you worship a god of Malice)
Destroy/Turn/Control Undead and/or Ghosts
Exorcisms and/or “Soul Release” – helping the spirits/undead move on to the Divine Plane
The ability to “Bind” the powers of the Gifted should they need to.
For these reasons and more, the prophet in my realm may not be an appropriate class for players.
Prophets are unique and extremely powerful. Prophets are different than magical medics. A prophet is the voice of a god and that god’s will be done wherever that prophet treads.
As for those that had fallen into the category of “paladin” in the First Age, those that had been even more devastating on the battlefields than clerics, for them it was agreed upon that such powers as once had been given should never again be bestowed to mortals, and what martial and divine powers were given would be done so with severe restrictions. The idea of the paladin faded away, became the stuff of myth and legend. No longer were seen individuals clad in shining armor with their god’s mark upon their breastplates and shields. The mortal that has been granted specific martial and divine abilities still exists but much more sporadically and typically quietly. Whereas someone chosen to be a prophet typically has that position for life the “Tasked” are only bestowed their powers for specific purposes for very specific periods of time and then the powers are taken back. It was agreed upon by the gods that a mortal only may be “tasked” once, and for no more than 10 years.
“Tasked” because the individual has been given some specific duty. As with prophets the tasked are granted increased abilities/unique power or powers they need to complete their assignments. The tasked in my realm may be a playable class in keeping with D & D 5e with some modifications at the discretion of the DM/GM .
Just as there is no such thing as a level one prophet/cleric in my realm there is no such thing as a level one tasked/paladin in my realm either. These two classes represent the gods and make sure the gods’ wills be done – there can be no half measures, no training wheels. The prophet and the tasked individuals have been chosen by their gods because said gods think those individuals amongst the multitudes of mortals can make the best use of divine powers to serve their gods’ ends. Rarely is divine power given to the unwise.
There may be no training to be a prophet or tasked. Some gods may have some steps a mortal must go thru, others simply choose and bestow. In general, becoming the chosen of a god is not like passing some degree program or licensing requirements. It does not matter how much a mortal wants to be chosen, the choice is not theirs.
Touched by the gods/Graced by the gods/God-Touched.
Having less prophets and tasked than the once more numerous clerics and paladins meant that the presence of the gods would not be felt in the mortal world the same as it was before the War. To remedy this, still being careful not to give too much power to too many mortals and thus lay down new kindling for the next round of holy wars, the gods voted that it would be acceptable to grant a limited, specific number of followers specific powers, just one power per mortal, to those individuals each god found favor with (number of followers per god that could be gifted this way to be determined by similar formulas as those used to determine the number of prophets and tasked per god). Some of these individuals touched by a god may go on to become a representative/chosen of the god if the god sees them as worthy or it is useful for the god’s agenda. Most simply have this one divinely granted ability and continue to live their lives in accordance with their god’s will. They may act as representatives of their god’s will, and are also living examples of their god’s power and grace. Or you could say as living advertisements for their gods.
In play: It would be more appropriate for a player to be “god-touched” as that individual will have been granted a singular gift and thus not overpower the group the way that a prophet or tasked would. These abilities, if can be used in some harmful fashion, are not to be knowingly used by the mortal to do harm to the followers of others gods simply because those people are the followers of other gods. The ability can be used defensively if so applicable.
Rules agreed on by a majority of gods in regards to the chosen of the gods/mortal representatives of the gods (the following includes god-touched mortals as well), Said mortals: Are not to incite violence against the followers of other gods for the reason those others are the followers of other gods. Are not to engage in violence against the followers of other gods for the reason those others are followers of other gods. May use acts of harm to punish the worshipers of their own gods. May use acts of harm to punish the worshipers of their own god’s Compact partner(s) so long as the Compact partner(s) allow this.
Some gods proposed that the prophets, the tasked, and the god-touched not be allowed to commit any acts of violence in general. This was of course voted down. The gods of Ill Desire and Pure Malice would not agree to have their mortal representatives not being able to do harm to others – that is kind of their thing. Neither would the remaining Lords of War agree to this, nor would some benevolent gods and others that wanted to allow their mortal representatives to punish their own followers with acts of violence.
In keeping with the above rules for mortal agents, the gods agreed not to use their powers to harm the followers of other gods unless a god is in a Compact that allows them to harm the followers of their Compact partners. Divine assistants and divine agents are also to follow the rules that the chosen of the gods/mortal representatives of the gods follow. Something of an exception to these rules is the treatment of a mortal’s soul – which is mostly subject to where the soul finds itself in the Afterlife.
Prophets, Tasked, God-Touched in Society
As touched upon in the section Religion & Society, the chosen of the gods may not be seen as getting their powers from a divine source.
Just as there are charlatans that act as though they are Gifted, when really they may be nothing more than stage magicians and/or possess some magical item or items, there are also fraudsters that claim to be the chosen of the gods.
How the chosen interact with other mortals is largely dependent upon the will of their god(s). Some gods wish for their chosen to have more prominent roles, while others, such as the gods of Malice, have their chosen be mostly out of the public’s eye.
For some number of neutral and benevolent gods, their is something of a observed hierarchy of roles, although nothing formal. Typically the prophets are upper management in the religion and those that are god-touched play the role of lower or middle management, or the roles that clerics in the First Age use to play as regional managers if you will. The tasked typically do not deal with the actual running of the religious organizations.
Both prophets and tasked may be sent to “bind” out of control Gifted individuals. What does “out of control” for a Gifted individual mean? Some of this is talked about it Magic: IV. Uses of magic limited and/or banned by the gods. How does this actually play out? The Gifted follower of some god may first be notified via Divine Agent that they have stepped over some line and need to rein themselves in, or they may be bound. If the Gifted follower continues to act in a way not in accordance with their god’s rules then a tasked or prophet is likely to be sent to bind the Gifted. If the Gifted is not a follower of any god, or stopped being a follower of some god, the agents of some god of justice or magic may be sent to notify and potentially deal with them – that is if some god or gods finds out about the out-of-control, non-believing Gifted somehow. The gods in my realm are not all-knowing. Sometimes, another Gifted mortal may bind the offender. If the follower is devout, and wise, they will do penance for their error. If not and a chosen of some god is sent to deal with them, things can get very interesting. Some of the greatest magical battles have been out of control Gifted individual(s) versus some prophet(s) and/or tasked individuals. As powerful as prophets are, they are not invincible and some fair number of them have fallen trying to bind reckless or malicious Gifted.
This has led some neutral and benevolent gods to not make known to mortals who their prophets are as they could be targeted by Gifted individuals that would rather not ever be bound. For those gods that do have their prophets as the face of their religion these gods then would send the tasked to do the binding, and once done the tasked would have the powers granted to them taken back by the god.
Sometimes the tasked are not given much, if any, in the way of divine powers. This is so they can operate without being detected for divine energy and get into places those exuding the power of the divine may not be let in. Those Gifted and others that do not wish to be found by the divine have found ways of shielding themselves from divine sources and this is where the tasked may be used. The tasked individual guided by some god somehow (sometimes Divine Agent), but not granted powers, initially. And there are of course tasked that are also Gifted, and so don’t necessarily need divine powers, just guidance to help complete some goal.
Those individuals that are god-touched/one-gift and fulfill a religious organization’s needs such as a monsieur or bishop might can also be Gifted. Some prophets also have been Gifted individuals before they were prophets and this can sometimes add to the public not being able to differentiate between the chosen of a god and a Gifted individual.
Ideas for Prophets and/or Tasked in gameplay
Perhaps there’s some veteran that’s been broken by the experience of war and some god has chosen them to fulfill a task and thus helps to heal the veteran. Or, maybe a god chooses some young individual, someone not jaded and cynical and down on the world to carry out the task. Either way, or anything else, once the task is complete the god takes the powers back and the person can move on or go back to their life.
If a player wishes to play a prophet in my realm then this, like with the tasked, should be done when the party is at a very powerful stage and the following should be considered (also considered with a tasked individual):
For what reason is the chosen of some god in the party? Does the chosen’s god want the party to carry out some assignment, or has taken some special interest in the party? Should the party members take special care with the chosen or take more interest in what the chosen is doing, go out of their way to help the chosen? Should the party put it’s needs/wants second to that of the chosen?
One unique way to play either prophet or tasked is that the chosen of the god is reluctant and the god has to lead the chosen along kicking and screaming.
Ideas for backstories for Prophets and Tasked
As far as backstory goes, or possible area of conflict for the chosen, you can have someone that wanted to be prophet: a high-ranking priest/clergy that has faithfully served and devoted their life to their benevolent god and order, done the non-magical things a prophet would do, and expects that they will surely be rewarded someday for their service. And then their subordinate gets chosen, or some humble, country priest or a priest or nun in the city that takes care of the poor and homeless. What does the upper-level clergy do? Will they be angry at their god and leave their order and go to work for a god of Malice? Will they seek to undermine the newly-minted prophet somehow and show their god that this person is not worthy? Maybe just be disappointed and begrudgingly help the new prophet? Or accept and willingly help as “my god’s will be done”?
As the gods do not want holy wars to happen religious orders in this Second Age would not have military units. However, this does not mean that some martially trained individual – knight, soldier, etc, would not want to be the champion of their god. Just because the term paladin is gone the mortal desire for such service to one’s deity still exists.
Just as with the high-ranking clergy member that felt like they were passed over for the position of prophet, there may be some instance where say some famous knight that wanted to be their god’s champion watches as some youth is picked to be tasked and the famous knight must assist the youth. What will happen?
What stories could there be with the tasked and prophets of the gods of Malice?
For some mortals it could be the same as some of the backstories for those chosen by benevolent deities.
One faction of the gods of Malice, mostly the gods of Ill Desire and some others, would not have their chosen mortals doing anything overt – everything would be subtle to help effectively wage their gods’ centuries old propaganda campaign. These mortals would in general be in key positions in society and the economy – always on the lookout for new recruits and ways to lessen the reputation of their gods’ divine opponents by undermining those opponents’ religious organizations. For other gods of Malice their chosen mortals may be somewhat more overt in their activities, yet still refraining from setting off holy wars and another war in the Divine Plane.
What would it take to become the prophet or tasked of a god of Malice? That depends on the god of Malice. For the propaganda war to be successful a chosen mortal should be savvy and have some amount of restraint. Those might be somewhat less prized traits by other gods of Malice.
There may be some few mortals that have always been on the path to the gods of Malice; others that happened on the path due to some one idea or circumstance and they turned; and many others that one small step at a time became people they never thought they would be and there is no going back for them.
Up Next: Magic: The “Gift”
