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Thursday, August 30, 2018

Who goes there? Adventure Hooks/Character Motivations for the Meager Country



The basic assumption of 5e is that the player characters are somebodies rather than nobodies. This works for me, it's hard to find replacement Besharans out here in the Meager Country after all. However, I'd rather have a party of confused foreigners forced upon the shores of a strange land with a vague sense of direction than the usual band of eager scoundrels we are familiar with. 

A very rough map of the Meager Country


Nobody should want to come to the Meager Country. You least of all. You are a Besharan, the most civilized, most advanced sort of person ever to to walk this earth by God's grace. The people the Meager Country houses are many and barbarous. They live either along the banks of the great river Sargal or upon the empty steppe. They are valuable only so long as they respect the empire and as suppliers of fine furs, strong slaves, and ivory. Besides that, you know very little about this cold and poor land, roll a d20 twice to discover what 2 things you have heard about the Meager Country. If you get the same result twice, you are absolutely sure of what you now, it is confirmed by several reputable sources.

1. All the peoples of the Meager Country are cannibals
2. The peoples of the Meager Country worship the sky in a crude imitation of Besharan relgion
3. The Bronze folk originally hail from the Meager Country
4. Ivory is the only currency of the Meager Country.
5. There is a small monastery of Besharan monks in the Meager Country who speak with God's Voice
6. There is a tribe of people with eyes like a goat's who dress in strange furs
7. The Meager Country is overrun with huge serpents who eat men whole
8. Everybody in the Meager Country lives in a tent
9. When the moon is full, all the rivers of the Meager Country turn to blood
10. A miraculous icon of Faridun was discovered in a well in the Meager Country
11. All the peoples of the Meager Country swear fealty to a race of giants from the east
12. The Meager Country is ruled by horsemen with white hair who can decapitate a man with a single arrow
13. When the moon is full, all the rivers of the Meager Country turn blue
14. The Meager Country is a hotbed of activity for Fire Cultists. Every Besharan you find there is working for them.
15. Nobody in the Meager Country knows how to bathe or make clothing more simple than furs
16. The Meager Country is overrun with pagan ghosts who can't find the afterlife
17. The Sultan and the Merchant caravan both send diplomatic missions to the Meager Country regularly
18. Rule of the Meager Country is split between two great alliances, one bears a blue banner, the other a green one
19. There are tribes of people in the Meager Country who swim like fish and have fur like a cat's
20. People who drink the waters of the Meager Country's rivers are turned into horrible serpent monsters

What has made you undertake this journey to the mouth of the Sargal? What do you expect to find up the river? Roll a d10, either for yourself or for the whole party, and see.

1. The Sultan has called you, seemingly at random, to retrieve a debt owed to her by one of barbarous peoples of the Meager Country. In return, she offers you a single favor.

2. A cell of Fire Cultists has contacted you. They want you to help them carry a special package (roll 1d4. 1. Heart of a Fire God 2. Head of a Fire God 3. Hand of a Fire God 4. Decoy Fire God Organ) through the Meager Country. They have got some bad dirt on you.

3. An Angel of God appeared to you in a dream and instructed you to spread his/her/their word in the Meager Country. You will become a great Saint if you do so.

4. You have been ‘chosen’ to do a geographic survey of the Meager Country by your department at the University of Kard-An. You are most certainly not in the geography department.

5. The caravan wants to extend its reach into the Meager Country to get a better hold of the ivory trade. A relative of yours  has already volunteered you for the job, and it will pay handsomely.

6. You have been exiled from every prefecture of the Besharan Empire, you have only one more place to turn to: The Meager Country.

7. You are hunting a fugitive (roll 1d4 1. Wronged You 2. A Former Colleague 3. Your Rival 4. A Relative) who has been exiled from every prefecture of the Behsaran Empire. They have fled to this lawless land with you in hot pursuit.

8. You have undertaken a pilgrimage to the scant holy places of the Meager Country to atone for a great sin (roll 1d4 1. Murder 2. Blasphemy 3. Betrayed a Sacred Vow 4. Profaned a Relic).

9. During your time in the Slave Army, a foreign soldier with eyes like a goat’s gave you a map to a great treasure in the Meager Country. You’ve spent the last of your money on equipment and a ride across the sea of Pearls.

10. Your master has retreated to the Meager Country to indulge in the humble wisdom of this land's savage peoples. He/She/They expect you to follow in order to complete your training in ____  (roll 1d4 1. The Craft of Magic 2. A Monastic Order 3. A Semi-blasphemous Cult 4. An Ancient Musical Instrument)

Image result for ibn fadlan
Trade in the East Slavic Camp by Sergei Ivanov, 1913

I have had great success with the Sultan's debt hook thus far and I'll share more of the things I've written for it soon. But generally, it provides a good framework for play in a similar way to an gold = XP system but it allows for side quests and diversions as well. I've also set up the scenario so that the party has 3 Besharan months to return to the Bronze city with their mission complete in order to collect their favor, which turns time into a resource and makes the decision about when to rest in order to recover from wounds more interesting.


This post is dedicated to Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, the original put upon foreigner

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Meager Country Character Sheet

Here is the sheet I use to record all the things I've added to 5e, it is basic but effective

There are little boxes to check in! 


Download it here


For those not in the know, this post is part of my series about character generation for adventures in the Meager Country. Here are my wound and encumbrance rules, an introduction to the Besharan empirethe peoples of the Bronze citymy rules for practicing Besharan religion new backgrounds, and rule adjustments for wizards and sorcerers



This post is dedicated to nobody, because I can't be bothered 

Monday, August 20, 2018

Rules for Wizards and a Sorcerer Mutation Table

This post is part of my series about character generation for adventures in the Meager Country. Here are my wound and encumbrance rules, an introduction to the Besharan empirethe peoples of the Bronze citymy rules for practicing Besharan religion , new backgrounds, and finally some small rule adjustments for wizards and sorcerers. This should be my final word about the Bronze City. I'm excited to move on to greener, colder pastures.

So after screwing with how all the other classes cast spells, I thought it would be rude to let wizards and sorcerers off free. But I didn't want to go with the traditional way of portraying magic users for Beshara. Instead of modeling Besharan wizards off of academics, complete with different schools and academies, I've decided to see being a wizard or a sorcerer as a kind of trade. The different Wizard schools are just different specialties. Sure there are plenty of bakeries but if you want those almond pastries you go to Hassan in the Great Market and if you need to know if you'll be killed in battle, you go to Iza in the Foreseer's tent next time you're near the Arcade of the Scribes.

Nubian Prayer Book


The Craft of Magic:
Magic is considered more an art than a science. The skill of casting spells, and more importantly making scrolls, is passed down through families of wizards, just as the craft of blacksmithing is passed down through the generations. Powerful spells are copied down for centuries without ever being cast. Wizards are also responsible for creating magical items though most wizards try to avoid making them. All the most skilled wizard-artificers are in the employ of the Sultan, as slaves or as freemen. Magic is a taxing trade. Master wizards can be identified by their gnarled, arthritic hands and their poor eyesight. They suffer from frequent headaches and chronic back pain from hunching over the desks of the scriptorium. Sorcerers work freelance, they cannot make scrolls and their magic items are famously unstable. They too pass down their skills from generation to generation, trying to keep their bloodlines pure and magically potent. Understandably, they are often inbred. Wizards: -Spellbook takes up 1 inventory slot. It contains all the spells a wizard can know, including ones they cannot cast, painstakingly written in the hand of a parent or guardian. (Arcane Tricksters and Eldritch Knights must carry spell books as well). When you level up and gain spells, you achieve mastery over spells which you once couldn't cast. -Wizards cannot cast the same spell multiple times a day -By using a sheet of fine vellum (4 GP) and a selection of special inks (10 GP/ per 3 scrolls), a wizard can copy a spell they can cast from their book to a scroll. Doing so takes 4 hours of work. As long as this scroll is usable, the wizard cannot cast the copied spell and loses a spell slot of equal level. -Anybody holding a spellbook or scroll who is hit with an attack which deals fire or acid damage must make a concentration save, if they fail a random scroll or spell is destroyed. If soaked with water, they must also save to avoid losing a spell/scroll. Rewriting a spell in the spellbook takes 4 hours.
Image result for coptic manuscript
This is probably what knock looks like 

Sorcerer Mutation Table: Magic runs in the blood. Unfortunately, gills, tails, and scales run too. In sorcerer families, both tend not to just run but sprint. Whenever you reach a sorcerer level which is odd (1,3,5,ect), roll a d20 to determine which mutation you gain. 1. Vestigial tail 2. Webbed hands 3. Glowing blood 4. No pupils 5. Body is covered in downy feathers 6. Fingernails tougen into claws if not trimmed 7. Use long blue snake tongue to smell 8. Pot belly which contains a second stomach 9. Fangs 10. Glowing eyes 11. Your flesh is cold to the touch 12. One vestigial wing 13. Afflicted by splitting headaches 5 hours before it rains 14. Vestigial gills 15. Vestigial 3rd eye 16. Voice always echos 17. Gain an itching rash which grows and shrinks with the cycles of the moon 18. You smell like oranges at all times 19. You can hear trees and plants breathing 20. Touching precious metal makes your skin break out in hives


This post is dedicated to Agathon, whose works are no longer recorded

Friday, August 17, 2018

Backgrounds from the Bronze City



This post is part of my series about character generation for adventures in the Meager Country. Here are my wound and encumbrance rules, an introduction to the Besharan empirethe peoples of the Bronze city, and my rules for practicing Besharan religion 

Here are some new backgrounds for Besharans of all stripes.

I honestly can't find where this image is from, I'm so sorry

Imperial Bureaucrat: These people make the empire run. They keep the accounts, schedule the meetings, enforce the law, stamp the acquisitions requests, and make the tea. The imperial bureaucracy is a large and complicated organ in which people rise based a mercurial combination of nepotism and merit.
Proficiencies: Deception, Insight. Forgery Kit
Language: Besharan
Equipment: Ink and quill, notebook, Book of Laws, 15 GP, Courtly Robes
Master of Regulations: You are always able to ‘remember’ an obscure law or regulation relevant to a decision to gain advantage on a deception or persuasion check

Sacred Ascetic: The humble life of the ascetic has been a part of the Besharan faith since its earliest days. Every sect, except Mehrebism, has some kind of ascetic tradition.
Proficiencies: Religion, Survival, Herbalism Kit (you are forbidden from owning a herbalist’s kit)
Language: Besharan
Equipment: Begging Bowl, itchy linen robes, The Empty and Invisible Crown of Holiness, A bag of -30 GP
Valued Wisdom: You are respected for your wretchedness, people will be happy to give you money and food in exchange for your musings about the secrets of the universe. Even the highest of the high would be happy to meet you to entertain you in their home.
Vow of Poverty: You cannot own anything more than your starting equipment, a single simple weapon, and your rations. You must borrow everything else as you need it. If you can perform miracles, you may ignore one of the two practices you maintain.

Missionary: Though miracles are impressive, there are other ways of spreading the faith. Compassion, generosity, and a whole lot of sermons often work. Missionaries usually refer to themselves as “Lovers of the Word.” The Sultan funds the efforts missionary of numerous organizations, as a way of spreading Besharan culture.
Proficiencies: Religion, Performance, A Musical Instrument
Language: Besharan
Equipment: Book of Holy Scripture, 20 GP, Holy Symbol, well worn travelers clothes
Righteous Sermon: You can give an inspiring speech which can hold a friendly audience’s attention for about 10 minutes. It will probably leave listeners invigorated but confused. “How is Master Faridun a liar and an honest man at the same time? It makes no sense!”

Fire Cultist: Though banned everywhere, the followers of the Fire Gods persist. They can barely muster miracles of their own but hope to one day reignite their extinguished patrons. Fire Cults are often involved with criminal activity, besides fire worship.
Proficiencies: Religion, Deception, Disguise Kit
Language: Kerzerkian
Equipment: A dead coal, 15 GP, holy symbol, leather robes
Confounding Defense: If accused of fire worship, you know how to deliver a confusing defense of yourself which is full of logical fallacies and shameless attacks on the Besharan faith barely concealed by rhetoric. This won't trick the same person twice.
Know the Signs: You can recognize other fire cults and cultists by their secret codes and symbols.

Slave Officer: The officers of the slave army are taken from families all over the empire as children and trained in tactics, writing, courtly manner, and leadership. It is a great honour to be chosen to become an officer, some even buy their children into the order. Slave officers are expected to be completely loyal to the Sultan and never marry.
Proficiency: Athletics, History, 1 martial weapon of your choice, a gaming set
Language: Besharan
Equipment: Ceremonial dagger, 30 GP, Feathered Ceremonial Helmet, a chess set

Chains of Command: You have a superior officer who you report to and who can provide information and support if need be. Those serving under you have more respect for you.

File:Fighting between Byzantines and Arabs Chronikon of Ioannis Skylitzes, end of 13th century..jpg
Source

I think these are pretty ok backgrounds, most of them could use a second draft.

This post is dedicated to Peter von Bagh, because I was thinking about him today

Everyone's a Priest: How to Practice the Besharan Faith by rolling on tables


This post is part of my series about character generation for adventures in the Meager Country. Here are my wound and encumbrance rules, an introduction to the Besharan empire, and the peoples of the Bronze city

So I'm constantly disappointed by how religion is portrayed in RPGs. It's been noted before, clerics don't preach or gather a flock, few religious holidays or festivals make it into games. I find this disappointing, religion is a fascinating category of human activity and experience which has inspired conflicts that are fertile ground for RPGs to explore. I think the way gods are imagined has something to do with this problem, they are concrete and distinct, mythology and history are interchangeable. I want mystery, I want faith, I heresy, I want theological debates carried out by enraged angels in the town square. Here is my attempt to integrate religion better with the classes of 5e.

Icons are good too
Let me tell you about the Besharan faith. Monks, Clerics, Warlocks, Paladins, Bards, Rangers, and Druids all gain their ability to cast spells from God. God is singular and infinite. Warlock patrons are just higher beings in the divine hierarchy: saints, angels, bodhisattvas, prophets. Bards are divinely inspired poets. 

There was once a single Besharan faith, our calendar begins on the day our beloved prophetess, Yukfa, was recalled to God's side and ascended into the sky. But now, in the year 681, the faith has diverged into a million warring sects. 

Nobody can agree on what God wants or even what she looks like. There is constant debate, a million theologies running in every direction. Thousands of saints, dozens of prophets, countless enlightenments, a million types of incense burning, and so many schisms that it would be reasonable to assume each person had a complete religion unto themselves. 


 Some sects only disagree partially. They believe a ritual is conducted incorrectly, that a certain figure is a saint and not a demigod. Most sects hold a number of Besharan texts, the 5 Holies, to be sacred. Of course, there are always arguments over which passages are interpolations, which books have been left out of the set. The book Tanfa of  has always been controversial.

Each of the major sects have distinct ritual traditions, a code to unlocking the powers of the divine. There is no consensus on why these rituals work. They please God. They draw the attention of the saints. They carry within them mathematical perfections which make a person sinless only for a moment, thus allowing the power of the divine to flow through them from the 7th Heavenly Garden. This is sure though: you usually need to believe in the ritual for it to work

Not all practitioners will be granted power though. Most Ascetics can levitate by mediating, but only 1 of every 8 can cast cure light wounds. Some sects’ priests show no evidence of divine power until their cults have grown in size. Some people are granted power through one sect and not another. Some sects’ practitioners can do things which other sects’ followers cannot. This causes a great deal of consternation.

The sects abandoned public debate long ago, now they compete to perform more spectacular miracles for awed crowds. Today the Faridunists turn a hundred sheets of vellum into 99 doves, each with sacred poetry on its wings. The next day, the Magists shed the blood of lambs on a grove of olive trees, which all begin to bear delicious fruit. Then, the Uudunites cure a man of his blindness, beat him to death, raise him from the dead, and then smash his skull in just to prove a point.

Sect and Practices: Making a Divine Spellcaster
There are 5 major sects and each has several sub-sects. Roll a d6 to determine your sect and choose a class/sub-class from their list of sect practitioners. Roll a d4 to detirmine your sub-sect, or a d8 if you're part of the Unorthodox group.

To cast spells and use divinely given abilities, you need to follow both a regular and irregular practice. To determine which ritual practices you must maintain, roll a d6 or a d4 depending on your sect for your regular practice and repeat the process for the irregular practice.

If you fail to follow any one of your practices, you lose the ability to cast spells. If you fail to maintain both, you lose access to all your supernatural abilities (i.e a Paladin's divine sense or a Monk's chi points). Feel free to multiclass, though that's definitely heretical.

Feel free to just choose your sect and practices too. If you want, you can mix and match practices from different sects to create your own new religion which is superior to the rest. Invent your own doctrines! Excommunicate your own heretics! 

An example for the confused:
1. I roll a d6 and get 4,  I'm a Magist and I choose to be a Bard
2. I roll a d4, I'm an Intercessor now
3. I look at the practices, rolling a d4 for my regular practice and a d6 for my irregular one
4. I get a 3 and a 2, I need too lash myself with a whip daily and wear a heavy chain
5. Putting that together, I am an Intercessor Bard who gets their powers from self flagellation and weighing myself down
6. I love God, she is a cruel but wonderful mistress. My groans of pain uplift my fellows


1-2. Orthodox sects

Shared beliefs: God is a huge serpent, eating his own tail. God’s teachings were revealed to the prophetess, Yukfa. The 5 Holies record his teachings. God wishes us to grow mentally and spiritually through the reading of his holy word and to devote ourselves to understanding him.

Image result for the blue quran
We do not worship God, but his mystery

Practitioners: Arcana or Knowledge Clerics, Oath of Ancients Paladins, Monks

1. The Way of Blue: To know truth is to touch the mind of God

2. The Way of the Shell: To abstain from worldly pleasures is to become closer to God

3 Triarchism: God has 3 aspects: the male serpent, the female heifer, and the hermaphrodite octopus

4. The Yukfa-ites: Yukfa is either part of God or married to God

Regular Practices:

1. Mediate 3 hours a day

2. Sing the psalms of praise at sunrise and sunset

3. Pray 4 times a day
4.  Spend 3 hours a day copying and illuminating passages from the 5 Holies
5. Give a sermon to a crowd every 3 days or more
6. Paint your skin with holy scripture every morning, wash it off at night
Irregular Practices:
1. Fast one week of every month
2. Cut out your eyes after memorizing the 5 Holies perfectly
3. Wear bells or jingling metal at all times.
4. Never eat meat
5. Instruct a pupil in the proper reading and reciting of the 5 Holies
6. Wear long, trailing robes covered in holy scripture and never let God’s word be sullied

3. Faridunist sects
Shared beliefs: God appeared to Faridun and taught him 9 Sacred Doctrines. Faridun saw God as a burning wheel, covered with eyes. By performing certain rituals, one can reach paradise. God calls upon us to live in accordance with their doctrines.
Related image
The way is open and you must follow
Practitioners: Light or War Clerics, Oath of Devotion Paladins, Fiend Pact Warlocks

1. Orthodox Faridunism: Paradise awaits those who find it within themselves
2. Maanism: The Demiurge created the evil universe which God will save us from
3. The 9 Spoked Wheel: God rewards those who spread its doctrines
4. The Church of the Raised Hand: To exercise power is to reach towards paradise

Regular Practices:
1. Anoint yourself with oil every day before dawn
2. Confess your inferiority to a holy stone everyday and dispose of it
3. Wash yourself in a purifying bath everyday with special soaps and oils
4. Erect a shrine to God or its saints and consecrate it every 3 days
Irregular Practices:
1. Share a sacred meal with at least one other Fardunist every week
2. Present an offering of food or incense at a shrine of God or God’s saints once a week,
3. Drink and eat in excess before purging yourself weekly
4. Never lie
5. Only use weapons which deal piercing damage
6. Wear a colourful prayer windmill to channel the energy of the universe

4. Magist sects
Shared beliefs: God created the universe as an accident and takes pity on it. God is a winged woman wearing a crown of flowers and iron. She revealed herself to the Magi of Tamania by sending them a series of angels whose many questions they could not answer. God united the Magi to spread her message of humility, mercy, and love.
Image result for islamic raphael angel
All shall be fed by her hand alone
Practitioners: Life or Tempest Clerics, Bards, Oath of Devotion Paladins

1. Orthodox Magism: God commands us to do as little harm as possible to creation
2. The Angelists: Free will is an illusion, each person has a personal angel who makes them act
3. The Intercessors: God wishes us to provide for others and sacrifice ourselves
4. The Cult of Lilies: God’s mission is to create a utopia without suffering on earth

Regular Practices:
1. Let blood daily over an effigy of God
2. Perform sacred exercises on a carpet depicting God or her angels at sunrise everyday
3. Give yourself 8 lashes from a whip everyday
4. Spend 2 hours creating a beautiful mandala in the ground every morning, then destroy it
Irregular Practices:
1. Perform an act of self sacrifice or mercy which disadvantages you every week
2. Wear a heavy chain at all times
3. Never shout
4. Always show hospitality and grant mercy
5. Always wear a crown of fresh flowers
6. Only use bludgeoning weapons


5. Aesthete Sects
Shared beliefs: God is the ultimate craftsman who created the 3 and 3/5 forms upon which the universe is based. God’s appearance is dependant on they who observers it. To cultivate, create, and understand beauty is to become closer to God. Nobody is sure how the Aesthete sects were founded. They just appeared overnight. They attribute this to God’s providence.



Image result for neoplatonism
The cosmology is complicated but the life is simple

Practitioners: Nature or Forge Clerics, Bards, Celestial Pact Warlocks, Oath of Vengeance Paladins

1. The Acolytes of the Gilded Crown: Wealth is beauty and to possess it is to know God
2. The Friends of the Pipe: Beauty must be useless or it is just fancy ugliness
3. The Azarites: Beauty is utility and the fulfillment of want
4. The Way of 3 Pillars: Beauty reveals itself through labour and hardship

Regular Practices:
1. Cook a delicious meal every 3 nights
2. Spend 2 hours everyday making something beautiful
3. Conduct some kind of research into the natural world for two hours a day in order to expose creation’s inner beauty
4. Smoke a pipe 6 hours a day
Irregular Practices:
1. Wear gaudy makeup everyday
2. Write a poem every week
3. Always dress in finery
4. Fight only with spells and cantrips so as not to lower yourself to a baser form of combat

6. Unorthodox sects
Shared beliefs: None. All are regularly accused of fire worship or being a dragon cult. They are grouped here for purely bigoted reasons.

1-3. The Uudunites: God is an unimaginable void, the great roiling chaos which sleeps behind our eyes. Fear God and embrace death. No matter how many times their cult is destroyed, the Uudunites always manage to return under a different name.

The Name is Nothing. The Place is Nowhere.

Practitioners: Monks, Great Old One Pact warlocks, Trickery or Grave Clerics

Regular Practices:
1. Spit on the temple of another sect/religious group every 3 days
2. Swallow a mouthful of ash everyday and savor it
3. Insult a stranger every 3 days or more
4. Roll in filth daily
Irregular Practices:
1. Wear a featureless white mask
2. Cut out your own tongue
3. Debase yourself before an audience weekly
4. Make yourself sick, poisoned, or exhausted at least once a week
5. Formulate a plan to commit suicide in public every week
6. Gain a wound and let it fester (God will protect you from disease, that cruel bastard)

4-7. Simurghism: God is the Simurgh, Queen of the Birds. She is the infinite perspective, the fractal mirror. She flies in all directions at once. She appeared to a nameless prophet who was consumed by holy fire and dictated his revelations from the flames until he was only ash.
The Universe rests on her wings
Practitioners: Bards, Archfey Pact warlocks, Trickery or Tempest Clerics

Regular Practice:
1. Eat a bird feather every day with dinner
2. Buy new jewelry or fine goods every 4 days
3. Never pass up an opportunity to overindulge in drink or drugs
4. Turn towards the Garden of Earthly Delights (i.e every direction) and pray nightly
Irregular Practices:
1. Go on a binge for 4 days every month
2. Shatter a mirror every week and throw the shards in the 4 cardinal directions (i.e up, down, left, and right)
3. Eat a songbird whole every week
4. Wear a crown of feathers as long as the sun is up, gather new feathers every week

8. Mahrebism: God is everything, or maybe just a lot of nature spirits. Do whatever feels natural, or is traditional. Mahreb appeared before the Emperor in the year 87 and secured the continuation of the Bauda's practice of their traditional religion, but the provision has been extended since then.

Practitioners: Druids, Rangers

Practices: You only need to maintain 1 practice, if you fail to do so you only lose the ability to cast spells
1. Sacrifice an small animal every week or a large one every month
2. Carry an effigy of “God” on your back and make sure it is always properly dressed and taken care of
3. Keep a sacred animal with you, treat it like royalty
4. Built a bonfire and burn fine clothes and fine food in it every week
5. Destroy 10GP in jewelry or fine goods as a sacrifice every week
6. Perform an elaborate dance or song for a small effigy of God every day


Luckily, we can all agree that some religions are bad and evil.
-Fire worship, the veneration of the extinguished gods, is strictly forbidden.
-Dragon cults must be stamped out. Every so often, some idiot gets their hands on an old dragon bone and the Slave Army has to have a regiment spend months crushing kobolds underfoot.
-Spirit worship is technically banned but continues on in the form of Mahrebism

Commentary:
So I really like this system. I like that it spits out a unique combination of sects and practices, showing
the strange diversity of Besharan religious traditions. I think this system also brings the assumed
magic level of 5e down a bit, which I also like. I use a calendar to keep track of in-game days
and mark the days when ritual practices have to be followed so all the players know when
they have to do their practices

This post is dedicated to Walter Burkert, who taught me about ritual traditions