The Known World Setting - Clerics, Druids & Shamans in the Five Faceted Faith

The Classic D&D game never delved much into the details of a cleric's faith. The basic rules even state the following.

"In D&D games, as in real life, people have ethical and theological beliefs. This game does not deal with those beliefs. All characters are assumed to have them, and they do not affect the game. They can be assumed, just as eating, resting and other activities are assumed, and should not become part of the tame.


A Cleric's spell powers come from the strength of the Cleric's beliefs..."

 --- Basic Rules, Player's Manual, pg. 24

The DM's book isn't quite as strict.

"Deities

You may choose to add flavor to your games by adding mythological deities. The characters would be followers of such beings, and a cleric could serve a specific deity. However, all such activities are assumed, and should not influence play or change the rules in any way. No deity would react to the actions of any individual character, nor offer any special help.


The deities of the game characters may be similar to the mythological gods and goddesses of days long past. The ancient Greeks, for example, worshipped many gods; Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, and so forth. According to legend, these gods would grant favors to their worshippers, and that is one way to explain the magic spells a cleric character can cast in the game.




The DM should be careful not to needlessly offend players, and current beliefs should be avoided."

 -- Basic Rules, Dungeon Master's Rulebook, pg. 15

Still not too encouraging, but I keep in mind that this was written in the 1980s, when there was a strong backlash against RPGs and D&D in particular by religious fundamentalists. It was probably prudent to keep any appearance of encouraging "pagan" religions out of the game at that time.

Having said that, it is perfectly acceptable to play the game that way, with no real thought given to whom or what a Cleric gets spells from. Especially in a true old school style game where role-play, let's be honest, takes a back seat to hack & slash and traps and dungeon crawling, it doesn't really matter that much.

Some of us prefer a different approach, where some details of the Cleric's faith are presented, to encourage story telling and role playing. Later editions of the game, and the various other settings deal with this in varying degrees of depth, but what about the Known World?

Although the Known World dates back to the B/X Expert set, and some of the adventure modules that came before BECMI, Frank Mentzer really began to integrate the setting into the rules, and it's usually considered the default setting for the game. The problem with this is, the setting seems chained to Frank's statement that the gods of the setting should not be detailed, and alas, they are not, at any point.

The Master and Immortal rules introduced options for characters to become Immortals, somewhat god-like beings with abilities far beyond those of mortals. While not quite gods, these beings are the closest thing TSR published for the setting, and various products later on treated various NPC Immortals as the figures of religious worship in the Known World.

That's fine, but while some of the nations and realms, especially those of the Hollow World subsetting, got a pretty treatment in the Immortals department, others got almost none. So we either use the published Immortals and fill in the gaps, or ignore them and use something else, maybe borrowing a pantheon from mythology or from another campaign setting. There's nothing wrong with this at all, and if you favor a certain mythos your game will definitely benefit from using it, but I wanted something a little more unique to the Known World, so I started looking at what I have to work with.

In the D&D game, the first real defining factor in a character's moral and ethical outlook is of course alignment. You could, I suppose, just use the three alignments as the overarching religions of the campaign, but this doesn't give much room for creativity, and leads to the old questions about whether or not all Lawful people act and think the same way. Probably not, if you ask me.

Then it struck me, the five spheres of power! Frank introduced these five basic components of the multiverse to present the various paths a PC can take toward gaining immortality. The Immortals mentioned in other Known World sources all assign one of the spheres of power to each of them. This gives us five basic religions, one tied to each sphere of power.

The Spheres of Power are not gods though. They are concepts, universal truths that allow an understanding of the multiverse and how things in it work. Through understanding and study beyond the grasp of most of his peers, the Cleric learns how to channel his devotion and knowledge of his sphere of choice into the subtle manipulations of reality that other mortals call divine magic.

But that's only 5 options, not a whole lot better than 3, right? Yes, and no. No, because once we have the basic five religions, we can diversify them and flesh them out as much as we want, with Immortals! While not gods, technically, the Immortals serve as saint like figures, epitomizing some aspect of the Sphere's ideals. The PC Cleric's religion is his sphere, but he can belong to a faction or sect that reveres a specific Immortal, if the player wants some more depth and backstory.

This also gives us the chance to meddle with the Immortals the publish material provides. Just because Alphaks is a published Immortal, the Clerics of his sphere (which happens to be Energy) don't need to worship him, and the NPCs the party runs into don't either if you don't want to introduce him. But if some pesky player points out that he's in this or that sourcebook, you can just say "he's not that popular in these parts", and plan some future encounter to satisfy that player's desire to involve him in the campaign. You can also introduce any new Immortals you like, either from your own imagination, or by borrowing deities and demigods from other settings or game systems.

Here's a thumbnail view of each sphere's ideals, and how they relate to each other.

In the Known World, the five sphere's of power are:
Matter
Energy
Time
Thought
Entropy

A Cleric PC chooses which one to devote himself to, but this does not mean he totally forsakes or disbelieves in the others. The wise understand that all five are key ingredients in the multiverse, and without any one of them, life as it is known in the  Known World would not be. The 5 sphere's are represented with a pentacle, like this:


Each of the five points represents one of the spheres, and depicts the traditional rune used as a symbol for that sphere/faith. The kind of cruciform rune in the center symbolizes man (or demi-man) or existence and also designates which direction the pentacle is oriented in. All the spheres are considered equal and no one direction is considered up or down, or superior to the others, the only reason for this calibration feature is the fact that the runes for the spheres can become confusing if turned or inverted. This matters because a Cleric makes the pentacle his holy symbol by orienting it with his sphere of devotion pointing up. This is how Clerics of the different spheres recognize each other.

Here's a quick overview of the five spheres.

Matter: This sphere is related to the element of earch, and represents resilience, stability and longevity. Tradition and ancestry are important to followers of this sphere, as well as birth and growth, where the old matter lost to entropy is seen as being reclaimed and shaped into something new. Matter is tied to the Lawful alignment primarily, and favors fighters and dwarves among the PC classes and race. Matter is opposed to time, energy and entropy.

Energy: Energy is embodied in fire and represents activity, change and imagination. Free thinkers and revolutionaries are often followers of this sphere, as well as those with quick tempers or bad attitudes. Energy is tied to the Chaotic alignment, and favors magic users and elves. Most practitioners of arcane magic pay at least lip service to this sphere and its Immortals. Energy is opposed to matter, thought and time.

Time: This sphere manifests in water, as the running of rivers and tides of the seas are seen as the clocks of the multiverse, eternally ticking off life's fleeting moments. Time encourages change, but change with planning and set goals, as opposed to the chaotic whims of Energy or the destructive forces of entropy. Time is tied to the Neutral Alignment, and favors Halflings. The sphere is opposed to matter, energy and entropy.

Thought: Thought is represented by air, without which there is no life (for most thinking creatures, anyway). The sphere symbolizes learning, philosophy, understanding and truth. Followers of this sphere are curious and yearn for knowledge. Though tied to no alignment, Thought favors the thief class, and is opposed to energy and entropy.

Entropy: Entropy is darkness, chaos and death, and not tied to any physical element, but considered a spirit element that pervades all things, causing disorder, sickness, weakness and death. Disciples of entropy understand, however, that these things are a necessary part of the natural order of things, and are not always evil minded. Entropy favors no PC class above others, but is tied to the Chaotic alignment. Entropy opposes all other spheres.

A note about druids and shamans.



Unlike Clerics, druids revere all five spheres equally, finding truth in the natural world that results from the mingling of all the spheres. To denote this, they usually adopt a featureless pentacle, meant to symbolize the blind equality of each aspect of existence.

Shamans, on the other hand, coming from societies with more primitive (though not necessarily inferior) understandings of the world, do not follow the spheres directly. Instead they gain their spells through worship and reverence of totemic spirits, usually representing animals, plants, landmarks or ancestors important to their people. These totem spirits are treated as Immortals, usually of the matter, time or thought spheres, for all intents and purposes here.

Most commonfolk don't pay much mind to the lofty ideas of spheres and multiversal truths, and will tend to follow a group of Immortals and/or spirits relevant to their location and life.

Just as Clerics of one sphere do not necessarily disbelieve or hate the teachings of the other spheres, most, if not all, churches represent all five spheres. One (or more) may be more dominant in the local dogma than others, but in most cases no follower of any sphere is turned away. Churches also tend to build doctrine heavily around the Immortals of their favored sphere(s).

That sums up the basics, let me know what you think. Like I said, I'll go into each sphere and its followers and Immortals in separate posts in the near future.

I hope it isn't an issue for anyone here, but let me state flat out, the use of the pentacle/pentagram here is for entirely fictitious depiction of concepts in a fantasy campaign. I do not intend to insult or offend the beliefs of any pagan ideologies that invoke the pentacle symbolism.

House Rules - Druids as 1st Level PCs

I've often seen this discussed around the community, the idea that the Druid class should be open to 1st level Clerics, since it isn't really the role of a powerful Cleric, but an alternative approach to divine magical power. I like the idea of Druids being around at all levels, so this is how I handle it.

A Druid is the same in all ways as a Cleric of equal level (hit dice, attack progression, saving throws, spells per day chart, etc) except for the following:

• A Druid uses the Druid spell lists, not the Cleric lists, see the Companion and Master rule sets for these lists.
• A Druid may never wear armor made from metal. Hide, leather, bone, etc are acceptable, and buckles and other incidental hardware don't count, but chain and plate mail, and similar non-standard armors are forbidden.
• Likewise, although a druid is not bound by the Cleric's limitation on weapon use (Druids can use piercing and slashing weapons), they may not use metallic weapons, this includes weapons like arrows and maces that may be mainly composed of wood but have a metallic head. Wood, stone, bone, horn, etc are all acceptable.

Pretty simple. I see no need to create a whole new class with different saves, experience progression and other features. Just tweak the armor and weapon allowance and switch to the Druid spell list.

House Rules - Some Basic Skills Every Spellcaster Should Have, Without Needing to Waste a Spell

The Classic D&D game grants a lot of abilities to magic users through their spells, including a few I think should be learned skills, not requiring the casting of a spell to perform. Among these are the abilities to read magic, detect magic and identify magic items.

Hold up though, I'm not just going to give every 1st level magic user, elf or wicca the power to perform these activities any time they wish with a 100% success rate! Like the class skills of the thief, these skills start out weak and undependable, and increase in reliability as the magic user progresses in levels.

At the DM's option, clerics, druids and shamans may gain similar abilities, restricted to the magical writings, spell effects and items accessible by their class. 

Magic User's Level	Read Magic %	Detect Magic %	Identify Item %
1	35	20	3
2	50	30	7
3	65	40	10
4	80	50	15
5	95	60	20
6	99	70	25
7	99	80	30
8	99	90	35
9	99	99	40
10	99	99	45
11	99	99	50
12	99	99	55
13	99	99	60
14	99	99	65
15	99	99	70
16	99	99	75
17	99	99	80
18	99	99	85
19	99	99	90
20	99	99	95
21	99	99	99

Some notes on the table:

Read Magic: All magic users are taught to write in magical code, so it makes no sense to me that interpreting the magical code of other spellcasters would be so difficult as to require using a spell. There is one important factor to keep in mind, however, since this skill is just a learned ability, not a spell or imbued magical power, it's not without flaw. The magic user must be conversant in the base language used to write the magical code. For example, William is a scottish magic user who drafts his scrolls in Gaelic. For Pierre, a french magic user, to be able to decipher William's scrolls using this skill, he must also have some skill in the Gaelic language. If not, the read magic spell, as presented in the Basic rules, is still available, and without the chance of failure. A result of (1)00 on the skill check is an abject failure and may provide flawed translations, while a roll of 01 is a decisive success and may grant additional information, DM's fiat.

Detect Magic: Another skill that is so innate to being a magic user that it seems illogical to have to 'waste' a spell performing. Almost all fantasy fiction I've read includes some reference, minor or otherwise, to aura-reading by practitioners of magic. Granted though, from the point of view of a spellcaster, all creatures (and perhaps all living things, including plants, depending on the mythos) are inherently magical, so the chance of failure here reflects the magic user's improving ability to accurately interpret the difference between 'ambient' magic and items or creatures that are actually enchanted. A result of (1)00 on the skill check is an abject failure and may provide false readings, while a roll of 01 is a decisive success and may grant additional information, such as a hint at the nature of the enchantment, DM's fiat. Once again, if a magic user needs a 100% accurate reading, the Detect Magic Spell is still available.

Identify Magic: Through his studies to become a magic user, and further training to advance in level, the magic user surely picks up a vast array of trivial knowledge related to the craft. These seemingly useless (at the time one learns them) bits of lore can later come in handy when trying to determine the nature, history and powers of a magical item. However, this should not be treated as a 100% accurate, "read the item's entry in the rule book" style identification of the item. Instead, we take a little inspiration from the AD&D 2nd edition Complete Bard's Handbook. Upon acquiring a new magical item, the magic user may spend 1d2 hours studying it, checking his notes, jogging his memory, etc. Then a skill check is made, and each successful use of this skill should reveal one of the following bits of information:
Whether item is intelligent, Whether items is cursed/evil, Item's name, Famous past owners, Age of item, Where it was made, Who crafted it, Who can use it (Class, Race or Alignment restrictions), General effects (described as 'creates a blazing inferno' or 'shoots deadly bolts of magical force' instead of 'fireball' or 'magic missile', for example), How to activate it (Command Words, etc)

Each bit of information gleaned provides a +5% bonus to subsequent rolls, but once a check is failed, no further attempts to identify that item may be made until the Magic User or Elf has Gained a level of experience.

A roll of (1)00 on the skill check is an abject failure, and may provide false information. Likewise, a roll of 01 on the check is considered a decisive success and may provide additional information, lower the time required to study the item, etc.

As always, if the magic user needs a fast or 100% accurate identification of an item, the use of the Analyze or Lore spells or a Slate of Identification, or hiring of an NPC sage with access to either one, is available as normal.

A note on the use of these abilities by Elf class PCs:
Whenever fiddling with the rules related to magic users, I'm forced to weigh the impact of the changes on the elf class as well. In general, I either deny the tweaks to the elves, or limit them in some way to keep the magic user a viable class in light of the elf's added martial prowess.
In this case, I allow elves access to these skills, but they are treated as being two levels lower in experience when consulting the chart, which also means that they have an actual rating of 0% success on the charts until attaining 3rd level. However, since each skill notes that a roll of 01 is always a success, 1st and 2nd level elves have a base 1% chance of success with all three skills.