Medium Powers

Medium Powers are those which are of some usefulness in situations which arise frequently in the campaign, or are of great use in situations which only arise occasionally. Here are some examples of Medium Powers:

Defiance of Restriction or Obstacle

With this power, the priest can simply ignore some aspect of the physical world which normally slows, impedes, or prevents passage.

For example:

The priest of a nature god might be able to ignore heavy underbrush: He can travel through the thickest undergrowth as fast as he could normally walk, while other humans are slowed or even stopped completely.

The priest of the god of winter or the north wind might not find ice slippery; he could move at a normal rate across the slipperiest frozen rivers or glaciers with no chance of falling.

The priest of a god of wind might be able to walk into the fiercest headwind without being slowed.

The priest of the god of mischief might be able to climb walls and hillsides at his normal walking-speed, and without the need to make a roll for success.

There is no limit to the number of times per day a priest can use this ability.

Immunities

You read about Immunities above, under "High Powers." The Medium Powers immunities are not so strong. A single immunity will give a priest an automatically-successful saving throw against:

A narrow category of spells (for example, all Fire spells of the Evocation school);

A narrow category of special powers (all Paralysis, including Hold spells and ghoulish paralysis; or all Energy Drains; or all dragon-breath powers); or

A narrow category of poisons (all snake venoms, for example).

Again, each type of Immunity is appropriate to a different type of priest. Priests of the god of Fire could be immune to Fire spells. Priests of the god of Earth, whose symbol is often the snake, could be immune to all snake venoms.

And, again, Immunity isn't complete protection; it just gives the character an automatically-successful Saving Throw.

Incite Berserker Rage

This power allows a priest to inspire a fighter (anyone belonging to the warrior class) to a state like berserker rage. The warrior must be willing to have this war-blessing bestowed upon him.

It takes one round for a priest to incite a single warrior to berserker rage; the rage last six turns. A priest can use this power on any number of warriors per day, one at a time. A warrior may only be incited to berserker rage once per day; even if a different priest tries it on him, it cannot incite a warrior to a second rage in the same day.

The rage isn't identical to the abilities of the true berserker (see the description for the berserker in The Complete Fighter's Handbook). However, it does give the warrior a +2 to hit and damage for the duration of the rage. While enraged, the warrior cannot flee from a fight; he cannot leave the field of battle until no enemies face him. Once he does leave the field of battle, he can choose whether or not he will emerge from the rage or sustain it; a warrior would sustain it if he felt that another fight was likely to take place soon. When he emerges from the rage, the warrior takes no extra damage or ill effects.

This power is most appropriate to priests of the god of war.

Language and Communication

The priest with this power gains one extra language per experience level he gains. This power is often granted only after a certain experience level is attained; for example, with the druid, this power is granted at 3rd level.

If nonweapon proficiency rules are used, then the priest gains one extra nonweapon proficiency slot each level, and must use that slot to acquire a language.

The types of languages learned with this power should be restricted by the DM. Priests of the gods of nature are limited to learning the languages of woodland creatures, while priests of the gods of the earth are limited to learning the languages of serpents, dragons, and other cthonian reptiles; priests of the gods of the sky are limited to the languages of birds and other aerial creatures, while priests of the gods of the seas are limited to the languages of sea-dwelling creatures.

The number of languages learned with this power may likewise be limited. Six to ten extra languages learned this way is a practical limit.

If the campaign is using the optional weapon and nonweapon proficiency rules, then priests might, instead of being limited to languages, receive proficiency slots limited to certain categories of languages, weapon proficiencies, and nonweapon proficiencies pertinent to their faith.

Example: The priest of a specific war-god might, at third level, start receiving one extra weapon proficiency slot every experience level up to 12th.

Laying On of Hands

This power is identical to the paladin's ability; the priest can, once per day, heal himself or another for 2 hit points per experience level.

This constitutes a little extra healing ability. It's most appropriate to priests of the god of healing. It's also appropriate to priests who don't have access to healing spells, but who should have a little bit of healing ability anyway.

A reversed version of the power, where the priest lays on his hands and inflicts 2 points of damage per experience level, or 1 point of damage per level if the victim makes a saving throw, is appropriate for priests of the god of disease. A priest cannot have a healing Laying On of Hands that is also reversible to a harmful Laying On of Hands; it must be defined as either healing or harmful.

Prophecy

With this power, the priest can sometimes see visions of the future. A priest with the Prophecy power can use it two different ways.

First, the priest may sink into a meditative trance and try to receive visions of the future. This trance lasts ten turns; if the priest is interrupted before the ten turns are done (struck with a weapon, shouted at by someone within six feet of him, or knocked over), the trance is prematurely broken and the priest gets no vision.

Second, visions may just come to the priest, at the DM's discretion. When the priest is hit with such a vision, for a single combat round he no longer perceives the real world; he sees, hears and experiences nothing but his vision.

The priest receives no vision of the future if the DM doesn't have one for him to see. Therefore, the priest who deliberately sinks into a receptive trance gets absolutely no vision if the DM doesn't want him to see one. Therefore, this power is only partly an ability which gives the priest an advantage of future sight; it's primarily a tool for the DM to give the priest clues about the future, clues which guide the adventure without giving the priest an overwhelming advantage in the campaign.

The visions which the priest receives should be short and easy to misinterpret. They may be highly symbolic; if he sees a rat fighting a serpent to the death, the animals may represent mighty armies which bear those creatures on their flags, or may represent two characters with traits similar to those animals.

Also, the DM must decide whether, in his campaign, prophetic visions are changeable or unchangeable. If they're changeable, then the priest will sometimes see events which can be prevented. This tells him which way the winds of fate are currently blowing, but he knows that enough effort can change the future he sees. If they're unchangeable, then nothing he can do will alter this vision; however, it's still possible that the vision is deceptive and not exactly what he thinks it is. (For instance, when he sees his best friend plummeting to his death from a clifftop, he may actually be seeing his friend's twin or doppleganger dying in this manner.)

This is a particularly tricky power to use within the scope of the campaign. Always remember that it's a tool for the DM to give a slight advantage to the character and to guide the story, and not a weapon for the priest character to use against the DM or the story. The priest character can't sink into a trance, receive no vision, and then immediately sink into another one and expect to receive a vision then. The endowing of visions is strictly at the DM's pleasure, just as, in the campaign, visions are granted to characters strictly at the god's pleasure.

This power is most appropriate to priests of the god of prophecy. However, it's appropriate to priests of any god. In Greek mythology, for example, there were famous prophetic temples devoted to the gods Zeus (a god of the sky, lightning, oaks, and wisdom), Apollo (a god of light, the sun, and music), and Gaea (the ancient earth-goddess).

There is no limit on the number of times per day this power may be used. A character can try to entrance himself several times per day, though this is usually fruitless and annoying. However, the DM can supply a priest-character with visions any number of times per day. To keep prophecy from becoming a dominant part of the campaign, it's best to limit the number of visions received, through either of the two methods, to once or twice per month.

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