Oceans, Rivers

This god is a god of large bodies of water. He doesn't concern himself much with mortal doings; sailors pray to him for mercy, and he shows them mercy when he feels like it, and shows them death when he prefers. He is also a storm-god, the deity of storms upon the sea, and sailors fear him.

His priests pray to him for good winds and good harvests of the sea, and make sacrifices to him to keep him happy and calm. They also use their powers to save the creatures of the sea, especially creatures such as mermen and dolphins, from needless death at the hands of overzealous fishermen. They are also great explorers of the sea, and when a priest of the ocean-god decides to hide from other men, only another priest of the same order or an experienced mage can find him in his underwater haven.

Lesser gods will be gods of individual rivers, lakes, and seas. In some lands, each of the continent's thousands of rivers will be the domain of a lesser god or goddess.

Sea-gods are just as likely to be male as female.

The priests of this god are on good terms with the priests of Animals (aquatic animals only) and Sky/Weather.

Alignment: The deity is true neutral. The priests may be true neutral or neutral good; most are true neutral. The flock may be of any alignment.

Minimum Ability Scores: Wisdom 9. Wisdom 16 means +10% experience.

Races Allowed: Elves, gnomes, half-elves, halflings, humans.

Nonweapon and Weapon Proficiencies: Nonweapon Proficiencies Required: Swimming. Nonweapon Proficiencies Recommended: Fishing, Rope Use, Seamanship, Weather Sense, Navigation, Reading/Writing, Religion. Weapon Proficiencies Required: None. Nonweapon Proficiency Group Crossovers: Priest, General.

Duties of the Priest: Guidance, Marriage.

Weapon and Armor Restrictions: Weapons Permitted: Belaying pin, bill, harpoon, javelin, net, scourge, spear, sword/cutlass, trident. Armor Permitted: None; all shields permitted. All together, these constitute Medium combat abilities.

Other Limitations: None.

Spheres of Influence: Major Access to All, Animal, Divination, Elemental, Weather. Minor Access to Charm, Combat, Plant, Protection. Special Notes: Within his Animal sphere, the priest can only cast spells dealing with sea animals; he can only make friends with, become invisible to, charm, speak with, hold, or summon sea-life, and cannot use the insect-related spells at all. Within his Elemental sphere, the priest can only use spells with the word "water" in the name; he can also use the earthquake and transmute rock to mud spells; additionally, he can take a spell identical to the 6th-level conjure fire elemental spell which conjures water elementals instead.

Powers: The priest can cast the water breathing spell on himself only, once per day, in addition to all other spells; at eighth level, the duration of the spell when cast on himself becomes 24 hours, and he is then able to cast an extra water breathing on others (as per the normal rules for the spell) in addition to all other spells; the water breathing spell he casts on himself may not be dispelled , and at 8th level automatically renews itself at the end of the 24-hour period if the priest is still underwater and asleep, unconscious, etc. Determine approximate depth underwater on 1-4 on 1d6 (similar to the Dwarf ability concerning depth underground). Infravision (same as the elf ability, but only works underwater; an elven or half-elven priest of this faith has Infravision of doubled range, to 120', only underwater). At 5th level: Language/Communication (as per the Designing Faiths chapter); from 5th to 8th levels, the priest receives one extra language or communication (or nonweapon pro ficiency slot usable only for languages) which can only be taken for aquatic beings (aquatic elves, porpoises, mermen, etc.). At 8th level: Shapechanging (as per the Designing Faiths chapter); the DM may choose for this to be one animal or three, and which animals it is (or can give those choices to the player), but they must be marine animals.

Followers and Strongholds: The followers are received at 8th level, and consist of one fifth-level priest, three third-level priests, and six first-level priests from the same order, plus five mermen and mermaids (total). (The DM may substitute any other intelligent aquatic race, as appropriate, anywhere from 5 to 10 total HD of them: aquatic elves, water-nymphs, etc.) The priest may take the following on adventures: Two priests of his choice. On waterborne adventures, he can take three of the mermen and mermaids (or up to 6 HD of the substituted aquatic races). The priesthood will pay for half of the cost of stronghold construction at 8th level.

Possible Symbols: Dolphin, Fish, Octopus, Trident, Ship, Wave.

Notes: The weapons usable by this priesthood are the weapons of sailors and sea-gods.

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