If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Priestly and Wizardly magic are entirely different in principle but not in practice, in second edition, although priestly spells have their own unique qualities, and hence priests have bunch of advantages with few disadvantages;

• Priests pray to gods or their intermediaries for spells which then act like wizard spells
• Spells don’t take up inventory space because they aren’t in spell books.
• Priests don’t need a library because they don’t have spell books
• Priests have limited access to certain spheres
• Priest spells don’t go up to as high a level
• Deities might be fickle

Honestly this reeks of being shoehorned into the wizardly spell system, and that theory is supported by the fact that the DMG doesn’t even mention priestly magic aside from in magic items and as an option for new classes, while wizardly magic gets a whole chapter. First edition at least states “spells […] are obtained through the aid of supernatural servants of the cleric’s deity” and “Of utmost importance, then, is the relationship between cleric and deity.” The Complete Priests Handbook doesn’t give us much either: “The god doesn’t have to give the priest the spells the priest wants.” There is significant evidence the deity-priest relationship is intended to be central, but that the mechanics they already had didn’t support that.

So, the system as intended should lean into relationship and fickleness as primary drivers of risk and reward, instead of encumbrance and memory. I’m thinking a system where your deity gains faith in you over time, and that bonus is applied to a roll which determines how alike to your prayers the spell you ask for arrives as.

Priests need not memorise a spell to cast it, but they must spend a watch dedicated to their priestly devotions. During priestly devotions, as you pray to your god, recite your deeds of the day. If your deeds impress your god, gain 1 piety. If they are contrary to their ways, lose 1 piety. If you do nothing to move your god, your piety remains the same.

You may expend one piety to cast the exact spell you want.

If you do not want to spend piety, state the spells name, roll a d10, and pray. Look at the “Priest Spells by Sphere” index. Count both up and down on the list by the result of your roll. You can choose one of these two spells. Increment your dice down one (from d10 to d8) for each piety you have. If you roll so high as to leave the sphere, go to the next sphere you have access to on the list.

You may choose not to cast either of the spells, but one of these spells must be the next spells you cast, until your next priestly devotions. There is no limit on the amount of spells you can cast in a day.

The biggest sphere list is 31 and the smallest is 2, both which will bring interesting consequences, and the lower level cap of priestly spells is a benefit to this randomness. The priest gets a choice, but not always their choice. Gods are ineffable, and sometimes provide powerful spells and bizarre guidance. A GM may decide to provide a unique spell list for each god or maybe I put it into the rule book!

This is not an elegant rule I’m really struggling with a fickle but not useless alternative though. I’ll let it sit for a while.

Dice increments are completely new to this system and not foreshadowed in second edition anywhere. On the other hand, so is spell memorisation, and so was psionics, so why does priestly spells not get its own system?

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on priestly magic, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

2nd May 2022