Acolyte

The Acolyte
From the cathedrals and houses of worship around the world comes the faithful Acolyte. A devote disciple of the Gods, fierce wielder of divine power and strength that flows from the cosmos to protect the faithful and cleanse the infidels. Acolytes are the basic servants of the Gods and faith. A common preacher as well as a servant smiting the infidels with the wraith of the Gods are all Acolytes.

Adventures
Acolytes adventure in the name of their deity as well as an opportunity to spread their beliefs and help those who share that belief. They may set out for spiritual growth or a task from their superiors or even their God directly. They may be assigned a mission from their organizations to seek out information as a rite of passage or lessons that cannot be learned from scripture. Others may travel for any personal reasons and are not restricted to adventuring purely to serve their faith. They do, however, return to their faith in nearly all aspects of their life. Many ultimately believe that the gods will test them and put them in situations so they may spread their beliefs around the world. Whatever the reason, the Acolyte takes adventuring seriously and will look for signs from the cosmos, purposely or not, to guide them in the journey through life.

Service
Acolytes in militaries typically serve as spiritual leaders and protectors of the faithful. They use their divine powers to aid the forces and destroy its enemies. An Acolyte in the military believes the missions and objectives are righteous in their deity’s eyes. Some prefer to believe that the ends justify the means of their god’s will. While others simply believe that the battles themselves are the will of the cosmos. An Acolyte serving a military may not actually be a member, but simply providing aid for their religious believes. When they are found amongst the ranks they are usually specialists in groups to give aid or strike their enemies with the power of the gods and steel. Meanwhile others find military life unsettling and do not do well with the structured life-style, preferring to the life of a free spirit to travel where they are needed most.

Characteristics
The Acolyte honors her deity and is in the service of that god. In return they receive the gift of divine magic that is drawn from their connect to their god and faith. The Acolyte may serve their deity in different ways. Each deity directs it’s faithful to serve them differently and provide them unique powers to do so.

Background
Acolytes may come from many different origins. Some are orphans raised in religious schools or simply someone who prayed to the gods for aid and was answered with divine power. Others believe they received their powers by divine right and were born with them. They may be found in nearly all corners of the world. The only common theme is they tend to only settle in areas within short distance to civilizations, if not within the cities themselves. After all, they cannot spread their faith fit they do not have anyone to preach to.

Role(s)
The path of Faith has many roles it may serve. In fact, an Acolyte may find themselves fulfilling any of the rolls. A lot of this can depend upon the deity they serve. The most common roles an Acolyte will find themselves in are that of a primary healer, ranged magic attacker, and support. However, depending on the prestige class an Acolyte may also be a good melee attacker or even a defender.

Basics
Prestige Classes: Channeler, Cleric, Crusader, Inquisitor

Races: Centaur, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, High Elf, Human, Kobold, Nai, Sun Elf, Troll

Attributes: +1 Charisma, +1 Perception, +1 Spirit

Resources: 1 Ether, 2 Health, 2 Mana, 2 Stamina

Training Points: 6 Discipline, 1 Skill

Starting Gold: 75g

Disciplines
Action: 1 Acuity, 2 Endurance, 3 Essence, 2 Toughness

Defense: Magic: 1 Arcane, 3 Divine
 * Avoidance: 3 Block, 1 Dodge, 1 Parry
 * Protection: 3 Light Armor, 1 Medium Armor, 1 Heavy Armor, 3 Shield

Resistance: 3 Fortitude, 3 Mental, 1 Reflexes

Tactics: 2 Archery, 2 Dual Weapon, 2 Mounted, 1 Throwing, 3 Two-Handed, 3 Weapon & Shield

Weapon: 1 Axe, 1 Bow, 1 Dagger, 1 Crossbow, 3 Hammer, 1 Pole Arm, 1 Spear, 3 Staff, 1 Sword, 1 Unarmed, 1 Wand

Skills
The Acolyte's base class skills (and the key attribute for each skill) are: Concentration (Vit), Craft (Int), Heal (Cun), Knowledge, History (Int), Knowledge, Religion (Int), Knowledge, Cosmos (Int), Profession (Cun), and Spellcraft (Cun). See the Skills section for descriptions.

Deity Favored Weapon
Each of the deities has a favored weapon. Thus, each follower of that deity is trained in the use of the weapon and additionally gains a +1 Attack Rating bonus whenever using that weapon type. See the Religion section under Personality & Background to find more information on the different deities.

Divine Magic
Acolytes cast divine spells, which are drawn from divine power from their worshiped deity. The divine schools of magic are: Benediction, Damnation, Execration, Nature, and Restoration. Divine spells are not prepared in the way of arcane spells, but still require some preparation. Divine spells are learned through prayer and meditation which is rewarded by their deity in the form of spells. Once a divine spell caster is gifted with a spell they can cast it willingly, given they have enough mana. However, like arcane magic, divine spell casters may only by gifted with a certain number of spells. Their mortal bodies can only handle so much divine power at a time or else they risk their souls being torn apart. A Divine spell caster may only prepare a number of spells for each school of magic based upon the discipline rank. Each spell is worth its spell level +1 in discipline rank. The Divine caster may prepare any number of spells from that school of magic so long as they do not spend more points on spells than their discipline rank without any unnatural improvements. For example, a caster with a discipline rank of 10 could choose to spend all 10 points for that day on 5 level 1 spells from that school of magic, or they could choose to select 10 level 0 spells.

Deity Domains
The alignment of a member of Faith is influenced by their deity, as well as some of the more unique spells they can cast. Each Acolyte is granted two Deity Domains from the deity they serve. Each domain gives them access to a domain spell at each spell level, as well as a granted ability or power. A divine caster must choose to acquire these spells just like describe above, however, they may use any discipline rank to spend to acquire. The character is still required to meet all prerequisites for the spells to be able to cast them however. More information on the specific domains can be found in the Magic and Spells sections. Likewise, the domains for each deity can also be found in the Religion section under Personality & Background.