You can feel the presence of an enemy God’s ilk on your trail. You narrowly got away and with the sun bright and weather warm and dry, there’s no way for your group to hide their tracks. Half of your party is wounded from the last attack of those that hound your footsteps. Are these initiates of Myceras? Has someone finally found out about your past?

“Tarryn, did you happen to see the emblem on the leader’s tabard?” you ask as Tarryn tends to one of your companions. She looks up with a deep breath from stitching Dacy’s shoulder wound closed.

“It may have been a bull, Elder Kartrin. I was more preoccupied with Dacy and Lan than I was staring at who magically cooked Lan with sunlight.”

“It was Myceras, elder.” Lan pipes up with a grunt. “Why?” You smirk. Once upon a time you followed Myceras. Before joining this little band, you had been a priest of the Bull God. That was before you were excommunicated after breaking your vows. His teachings, though, never left you.

“Can you walk, Dacy?” you ask, strapping your shield to your back. Dacy nods with a grimace. “Get to the woods and seek shelter there. I will follow,” you order, helping Lan back to his feet.

“Elder?” Lan asks after gingerly putting pressure on his wounded leg. “They’re no more than a kilometre out.”

“You have your secrets. You’ll soon learn mine,” you reply before leaning Lan into Tarryn’s grip. “Take your time. I have some convincing to do.” Your companions look at you confused, but follow your orders and begin moving towards the woods. They look to you and your age as a guide. None know that you are a priest of Zarlaz, one of many storm gods. That’s who found you after your exile from Myceras’s good graces.

‘You are a warrior with a storm as your soul,’ so the high priest of Zarlaz told you. ‘You were meant to be one of Zarlaz’s priests.’

You begin to prepare a small altar, taking your time to gather certain herbs, grass, and wood into a pile, topped with a gem of brilliant blue with a white streak down its middle. Kneeling, you focus your mind and spirit on your god. Praying for Zarlaz to hear you and give you the miracle of the storm to protect your companions from the bull’s wrath.

“You! Defector! Where are the others?” is shouted at you as you prick the tip of your finger and allow several drops of blood to fall into the pile of herbs and onto the your gem. Myceras’s emblem glares at you on your knees from several metres away and you grin.

“Where you won’t find them,” you call, feeling your god’s presence overtake yours. The god takes your form, lifting the bloody gem from the pile as the herbs sizzle and smoke. Your eyes lift skyward as clouds and heavy rain suddenly come into being. As you bring them down, you wait, comforted by the presence of Zarlaz as the one baring Myceras crest curses and begins muttering his own prayer. He recoils in shock and frustration as you walk away, fading into the surrounding fog.

Miracles or curses often start in the form of a prayer. Theism is a potent and powerful way to explore them within Mythras. While you may take this magical discipline and think that all you’re doing is praying and poof, the miracle comes true. That’s not always what happens. Theism is about embodying your god.

Heyo, I’m Kat! I’ve been a game master (GM) for a little over a decade and I’m here to help you learn the ins and outs of Theism from Mythras Core Rules. This magical discipline closely lines up with the Cleric class of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) in the core thoughts and similar spells or Miracles as they’re known within Mythras. However, Theism outstrips the Cleric in their commitment. Both styles are extremely flexible in how they can be played.

Let’s go over what I mean by that.

What is Theism?

You know when you beg the universe for something and magically you have the ability to do/have it? That’s the essence of what theism is. You pray, sacrifice, convince through negotiations (depending on your god) and your god allows you the ability to do that thing. But what skills go into this as a player?

Devotion and Exhort. You must commit yourself and learn the correct prayer or ritual to make the god believe you are worthy of the miracle you’re asking for. Let’s explain Devotion first, since this is the power portion of your skills as a Theist. Devotion is the combination of your Power and Charisma scores and represents the depth of rapport you have with your god.

Here’s a quick example: Kartrin has a Devotion skill of 87%. So, he has a decent rapport with his god, Zarlaz. Additionally, it means that Kartrin casts Miracles with a Magnitude and Intensity of 9, which is 1/10th of his Devotion skill %.

A quick reminder of what Magnitude and Intensity are: Magnitude tells us how difficult a Miracle can be to overcome or resist. Intensity is the level of effectiveness that miracle has.

This also tells us how high in the Brotherhood of Zarlaz Kartin has reached, that being the level of Priest. The last interesting thing you can do with your Devotion skill is, when the stars align correctly, you can resist various psychological attacks by using your devotion to your god instead of whichever skill was initially required.

Let’s move on to the Exhort skill and exhortation of your god. The Exhort skill is your Intelligence plus your Charisma scores. This is the ability to convince your god to aid you to whichever degree you have the capabilities of. Kartin has an Exhort skill of 84% so he has a higher chance of being able to convince Zarlaz into helping him.

If you were wondering why Theism is something to be excited about, here it is. As a devoted theist, unless chosen otherwise, your miracles, when exhorted (successfully cast) happen at the maximum Magnitude and Intensity. This makes Theism a really efficient form of magic: maximum power for minimum cost!

Devotional Pools and Magic Points

While most casters within Mythras have to focus on their own Magic Points (MP) and pray for higher starting Power scores, the Theist has an extra step to keep track of. Theism isn’t just praying and rolling. To be able to have your god listen to you, there’s a level of dedication that’s more than nightly words. Sacrifices and venerations must be continuous, otherwise your god will begin to ignore you.

Theists invest Magic Points in a Devotional Pool. This is a separate resource of magical energy dedicated to the deity in question, and forms the reserve that Miracles draw from when called upon. Theists don’t reduce their personal Magic Points when calling for Miracles - but use their Devotional Pool instead. There is a limit to the number of points you can have in this pool and how you can get them. The limit is dependent upon how far up in the order, cult, or brotherhood you are as it’s a fraction of your character’s Power trait.

Here’s a quick example: Kartrin’s Power is 16. As a Priest, he has the availability to hold up to ¾ of his Power into this pool for a maximum of 12. Kartrin also can cast all levels of Miracles. Each level has a different cost associated to it. Simply, 1, 2, or 3 MP for the levels of initiate, acolyte and Priest. So, after casting the miracle Call Cloud which is an acolyte level Miracle at the maximum magnitude and intensity of 9, he has 9 points remaining. You can find more information on PG 180 in Mythras Core Rules.

Devotion pools are something specific to the Theist and are filled by various means, namely sacrificing your own MP into the pool for your god. Sacrificing your own MP isn’t the only way to add points into this pool, though. You can sacrifice animals of significance, offer gifts that your god will be pleased by. You could lead a large group of your gods’ followers in a formal worship to add to this pool. It all depends on the god you and/or your GM comes up with for you. The only constant that needs to be mentioned is that all of these things must occur at a Sacrosanct location. In short, it must be dedicated to your god or one very similar to accomplish the exchange.

There are a few options to get around this as a GM and as a player. As I have many times, I will stress the importance of communicating with your GM and your players about some of the things I mention. One of the things you could do is build a temporary shrine that works as a single time use. Another is to have a relic that represents your god, much like Kartrin’s lightning gem that acts as a shrine. These are some ways to restore both your personal pool of MP and your Devotion pool.

How to Request a Miracle

As you saw in the story above, it’s best if you prepare to exhort your god. In any magic discipline it’s wiser to prepare, however, there’s no stopping you from casting a Miracle on the fly. There are things you do need to know before you perform the Miracle in question, though. In the story, you saw Kartrin take several minutes to be able to perform his miracle by exhorting his god. This was more than just thematic. There is a simple aspect of preparation that can increase the success of a spell, or in this case, Miracle.

Miracles take three things to succeed in casting. The first is the knowledge of how to ask for the intended miracle. The next is a successful check of the Exhort skill from the theist, and the last is the appropriate number of MP appropriate to the level of cult member you are, as was noted above. If you are missing any of these three things, your god will ignore you in the form of the miracle failing or worst case, you being punished for even trying.

Like the rest of the magical disciplines, there is a success table for miracles that mirrors the others. On critical successes, no MP are depleted, and the miracle occurs, standard success, the MPs are completely depleted and the miracle occurs. Failed rolls mean no magic points are depleted, and the miracle fails, and critical failures mean the miracle fails and 1 MP is removed from the devotional pool. This is the main distinction between the disciplines. The MPs aren’t removed from your MP count, just the Devotion Pool to whichever god it came from.

The other aspect is time. Each of the miracles are listed at the levels of Initiate, Acolyte, or Priest. Each level of spell is 1 Turn more to be able to cast and unless you have the rank the Miracle calls for, you can’t cast it. So, Initiates can’t call for Acolyte Miracles, or Acolyte for Priestly ones.

Here’s an example: Kartrin cast Cloud Call at the Priest level. It took a full 3 turns for him to be able to exhort his god for the miracle. The final turn is when his devotion pools, MP was depleted and the miracle occurred.

The Acolyte of Myceras only took 2 turn to cast his Clear Skies miracle, which failed due to the higher intensity of Kartrin’s Cloud Call.

In short, a weaker spell or miracle cannot overtake or dispel a more intense spell, miracle or otherwise. Thinking of Limitations, there aren’t many beyond that one rule that holds back the Theist. That’s one of the things that makes the Theist probably the most powerful magical discipline. It falls within the same category as Sorcery on the power scale. Where Sorcerers manipulate their spells on the fly, Theists can continually call on Miracles that come at a power level reflecting their Devotion (Magnitude and Intensity, as explained earlier) for a relatively low - or even no - MP cost to their Devotional Pool.

Here’s what I mean: So long as Kartrin constantly accrues MP in his devotion pool for Zarlaz he can continue casting and maintaining miracles for any amount of time. This is because Kartrin’s god, is the one casting the spells for him. None of Kartrin’s energy is devoted to more than worshipping Zarlaz.

Let’s talk about some things to remember when it comes to Theism.

Things to Pay Attention to…

When it comes to the variety and flexibility of Mythras, there are three key things you, as both player and GM, need to pay attention to. Miracles, keeping to the ways of your god, and your Cult or Brotherhood. The reason that I mention these things as a focus is because they’re the main things that make your theist what they are.

Cults and Brotherhoods vary widely! Each has their own gods, or beings that they follow and worship, and each grants their own miracles. Within Mythras Core Rules you’ll find the Theist Cult, Myceras. You’ll find the mythos and history of the cult, the nature of their god, skills, magic, and the like. All on page 210 within the core rules.

Keeping to the way of your god is mentioned is because of how I built Kartrin. As a GM, I would treat any player the same as I did this character. If you turn your back on your vows as a dedicated worshiper, your god and cult will turn their back on you. Within that, each cult has their own restrictions too, which is what I based Kartrin’s downfall on. Breaking these restrictions can easily lose your favor with your god and cult like it did him.

Miracles as a whole are a broad topic because each Cult and Brotherhood varies in what it teaches its members. Each Miracle has different durations, ranges, ranks, affect areas, and resistances. Making them unique in how they’re cast and why. For instance, Clear Skies is one of the Miracles taught to those Acolytes in the Cult of Myceras. Where those taught by Zarlaz, are taught Cloud Call at the same rank.

It’s similar to how in D&D 5e (2014) that Clerics learn certain abilities by the time they’re 3rd level.

Comparing Theism to Clerics

There are several spells that are interchangeable to some degree between cleric and theists. Clerics in D&D, like Theists, are widely varied in their capabilities. You can have four clerics in a group and each of them will all wind up with different miracles or spells (and subclasses) and they can create a versatile and potent group. We’ll take the Myceras Cult’s miracles for the comparison.

As an acolyte of the Myceras cult, the following Miracles are available, depending on your rank in the cult:

• Beast Form – Transforms a target into an animal sacred to the cult.
• Berserk – Think just like a Viking berserker. Increase damage and grants immunities/resistances. However, at the end of the miracle, you suffer twice the amount of fatigue.
• Clear Skies – The ability to literally clear the skies of clouds or bad weather depending on the cult rank.
• Consecrate – The ability to create sanctified ground which grants its own benefits to the Theist.
• Fortify – Strengthen large scale constructions, making them more durable against different damages.
• Sacred Band – Split the damage taken between those within the Sacred Band.
• Shield – Grants 1 armor point per intensity on all hit locations.
• Sunspear – Summon damaging light in a spear to blast a single target.

The closest cleric subclass that I can think of is the Tempest Domain. There are several Domain (cleric special spells) that run similar lines. For Tempest Clerics, Wrath of the Storm: you can use your reaction to attack using elemental damage. Or Destructive Wrath: which means you choose to deal max damage using Wrath of the Storm’s elemental damage. These are the closest you can get to something like Berserk, but they are damage focused, not resistance based.

While the list of Cleric spells in 2014 5e is extensive and things like:

• Daylight – This compares to Clear Skies. Daylight doesn’t so much clear the skies as creates daylight within a 60 foot radius for 1 hour.
• Warding Bond – This compares to Sacred Band. Warding Bond crafts a connection between you and 1 other willing creature and while they are bonded, they gain resistances to all damage, and any damage taken is shared between you two.
• Shield of Faith – This covers Shield. Shield of Faith adds to the overall Armor Class of your character (kinda like boosting the armor points per hit location, just not as effectively).
• Guiding Bolt – This is much like Sunspear. Guiding Bolt does ‘more damage’ but you have to succeed in your attack roll.

Many of the classes from D&D are never an accurate translation between both systems. Mythras is too flexible and realistic with its options than D&D’s railroaded classes and abilities. All the descriptions can be found throughout the numerous D&D books, from The Player’s Handbook to Xanthar’s Guide to Everything.

Conclusion

To be able to use Theism effectively, you have a few things to keep track of, but it can be highly rewarding if you do it right. This is what I would classify as a heavy role play discipline, likely the heaviest between Theism and Sorcery. There’s a lot of thought that goes into filling your Devotion Pool and how you do it. Having a well thought out deity and scaling for your Cult or Brotherhood is also something that requires quite a bit of both GM and player. When it’s done right, though, the gameplay and powerful miracles are fun and challenging for both sides of the table.

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