Darkness, Night

This god is a god of some forces that humans fear. However, this doesn't mean the god is evil. Generally, he's not. He's just the embodiment of darkness, including all its benefits and all its dangers. The god of Darkness and Night would be the god of sleep, of dreams, of nightmares, and of nocturnal predators; some of these traits are considered good, some ill.

The priests of this god are interested in making sure that man regards Darkness and Night with a reverential awe # making sure that the sentient humanoid races appreciate the virtues of night while still respecting or fearing its more frightening aspects. These priests tend to be more aloof from the common man than priests of many other gods.

Lesser gods of this attribute would be gods of only one of these factors. One might be the god of Sleep, and another the god of Nightmares. In these cases, the DM can choose to vary the god's alignment; the god of Sleep, much beloved of men, could be lawful good, while the god of Nightmares, hated by men, could be chaotic evil.

Gods of darkness or night are most likely to be female.

The priests of this god are on good terms with the priests of Dawn, Death, Elemental Forces, Hunting, Light, Magic, Moon, Oracles/Prophecy, and Sun. Some DMs may be surprised that the gods of Darkness and Night are not listed here as being opposed to those of light and sun. It's because they don't have to be; in Greek mythology, for instance, the sun-god, moon-goddess, and dawn-goddess were all siblings who never opposed one another. Naturally, the individual DM can decide for his campaign that the deities of darkness and light, moon and sun are enemies.

Alignment: The deity is true neutral. The priests may be neutral evil, true neutral, or neutral good; evil priests have their own sect and the other priests don't have to tolerate them. The flock may be of any alignment.

Minimum Ability Scores: Wisdom 11, Intelligence 11. Wisdom or Intelligence 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Intelligence 16 means +10% experience.

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

Nonweapon and Weapon Proficiencies: Nonweapon Proficiencies Required: Astrology. Nonweapon Proficiencies Recommended: Reading/Writing, Religion, Spellcraft. Weapon Proficiencies Required: None. Nonweapon Proficiency Group Crossovers: Priest, General.

Duties of the Priest: Guidance, Marriage.

Weapon and Armor Restrictions: Weapons Permitted: Bows (all), crossbow, dagger/dirk, dart, knife, stiletto, sword/rapier, sword/short. Armor Permitted: All non-metal armor; no shields. Oriental Campaigns: Also shuriken. All together, we consider this priesthood to have Medium combat abilities.

Other Limitations: None.

Spheres of Influence: Major Access to All, Charm, Divination, Necromantic, Summoning, Sun. Minor Access to Animal, Elemental, Guardian, Protection. This priesthood has one extra major access.

Powers: Infravision (same as the Elf ability; an elven or half-elven priest of this faith has Infravision of doubled range, to 120'). True neutral and neutral good priests can turn undead; neutral evil priests can control undead (same as the Cleric ability).

Followers and Strongholds: The followers are received at 8th level, and consist of three third-level priests and twelve first-level priests of the same order, and one third-level fighter and six first-level fighters to act as guards. The priest may take the following on adventures: Three priests, only one of whom may be third-level; plus three fighters of his choice. The priesthood will pay for half of the cost of stronghold construction at 8th level.

Possible Symbols: Black banner, owl, wolf.

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