Priest
Priests and priestesses are devout heroes who have taken vows to serve a powerful deity. Nearly everyone in the Song of Evermorrow prays to one god or another for aid, but the faith of a priest is so strong that they can reliably expect an answer.
Hit Points
With each priest level, a hero’s maximum hit points increases by 4 + their Constitution modifier and they add a d6 to their pool of hit dice.
Multiclassing
A hero must have a Wisdom score of at least 13 to multiclass as a priest.
Starting Equipment
If a hero starts their adventures as a priest, they begin the game with a holy symbol, a prayer book, a traveler’s pack, and two weapons that they are proficient with.
Armaments
At 1st level, a priest gains proficiency with light melee weapons, thrown weapons, and staves.
Order
Priest come from all walks of life and serve different functions within their religion. At 1st level, a priest joins one of the Orders to the right, gaining benefits at 1st, 5th, and 8th levels.
Priestly Vows
When a priest first says their vows, they declare their adherence to a specific deity for a specific purpose, which grants them benefits at 1st, 2nd, and 6th levels. These Vows are described in the links to the right.
- Balance
- Beauty
- Conveyance
- Freedom
- Healing
- Honor
- Knowledge
- Law
- Prophecy
- Protection
- Stewardship
- Travel
- Zealotry
Sanctified
Starting at 1st level, a priest receives subtle insight and guidance from their deity to protect them from harm. A priest adds their Wisdom modifier to AC and saving throws made to maintain concentration on spells.
Spellcasting
Starting at 1st level, a priest learns the rites and words to cast spells from the schools of Divination, Enchantment, Invocation, and Metaphysics. Their spellcasting ability is Wisdom.
Power – A priest’s Power starts at 1 when they gain this feature, and increases by one when they reach 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th levels in this class. A priest can’t prepare or cast a spell whose rank exceeds their Power.
Casting Spells – Casting a priest spell requires the normal casting time and components, as well as a number of spell points equal to its rank. When a priest finishes a long rest, they lose any unspent spell points and gain a number equal to their proficiency bonus multiplied by their priest level.
Prayer Book – Priests record the spells they learn in a prayer book, which may be a long scroll, a bound tome, an engraved staff, or even a collection of ornate tattoos and scars. Whatever form it takes, it is referred to as a prayer book in these rules.
When a priest first gains this feature, they create an initial prayer book that contains six 1st-rank spells and two cantrips of the priest’s choice. Each time a priest gains a level in this class, they can add two cantrips and/or ranked spells to their prayer book.
If a priest finds a copy of a priest spell written in a language that they understand, they can add it to their prayer book during a long rest.
A priest can transcribe spells that are too powerful for them to cast, possibly allowing them to cast those spells at Sites of Power or just to have them around for when they become more experienced.
Ritual Casting – While a priest is holding their prayer book and able to read from it, they can cast any spell therein as a divine ritual if it has the ritual tag.
Litany – A priest must have a spell prepared to cast it spontaneously. During a short rest, a priest can spend an hour reviewing their prayer book. When they finish the short rest, they prepare a number of cantrips equal to their proficiency bonus and a number of ranked spells equal to their Wisdom modifier + their priest level.
A spell can only be prepared if it is recorded in the priest’s prayer book and remains prepared until they use this feature again.
Vow Spells – All priests gain access to additional spells based on which Priestly Vow they choose. These spells are in addition to those learned with the Spellcasting feature, and in addition to those prepared in their Litany. They are always prepared by the priest and can’t be replaced.
At 1st level, the priest has access to the cantrips and 1st-rank spells of their Vow. Whenever their Power increases, they gain access to the spells of that rank.
If a vow spell is not from the school of Divination, Enchantment, Invocation, or Metaphysics, it is nonetheless a priest spell for that priest, and is cast using Wisdom like any other priest spell.
Channel Divinity
At 2nd level, a priest gains the ability to channel divine energy directly from their deity. When a priest uses this feature, they choose one effect to create, either Harness Power, Turn Spirits, or an effect granted by their Priestly Vows.
If a Channel Divinity effect causes a creature to make a saving throw, it is at the priest’s spell save DC.
Once a priest uses this feature, they must finish a short rest before using it again. Starting at 6th level, a priest may use this feature twice before requiring a short rest to recover it.
Harness Power – As a bonus action, the priest touches their holy symbol and utters a prayer. Until the end of the turn, they can use an action to cast one of their vow spells which has a casting time of an action or bonus action. They do not expend spell points for this spell and it is cast at any rank up to their Power.
Turn Spirits – As an action, the priest presents their holy symbol and speaks a prayer censuring spirits anathema to their deity. Each such spirit within 10 yards that can see or hear the priest is turned for 1 minute unless they pass a Charisma saving throw.
While turned, a spirit has disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls, can’t take reactions, and must use its movement, action, and bonus action each turn to move as far from the priest as possible. If there is nowhere for the spirit to escape to, it Guards.
Using this feature, a priest can’t turn spirits that aren’t anathema to their deity, but they can charm them. If a non-anathema spirit is in the area, they make a saving throw against this effect as normal. If they fail, they are charmed by the priest for 1 minute.
Either effect ends early on a creature if they take damage or make a saving throw for any reason.
Ability Improvement
At 4th level, and again at 8th and 12th levels, a priest can either increase one ability score by 2, increase two ability scores by 1, or gain a talent.
Divine Intervention
Starting at 10th level, a priest can use an action to call upon their deity to intervene on their behalf.
The deity responds, allowing the priest to cast any spell from the school of Divination, Enchantment, Invocation, or Metaphysics whose rank is less than or equal to their Power.
The priest does not need to complete the normal casting time, does not need to provide any material or somatic components, and does not need to expend any spell points.
If a priest uses this feature again before the next holy day (usually, a specific day of the week), there is a cumulative 25% chance that it fails and possibly provokes the ire of their deity.