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Mortis is the god of Death, Undeath, Time, The Past, History, Archives,
Knowledge, Funerals and Old Age. Many see him as a dour and miserable
god, but he is by far the most respected and feared member of the
pantheon. Common mythology places Mortis as the son of Terranor,
the wife of Vítaeous and father to Calafax, Zephyre and Sharrash.
It is certainly true that despite their turbulent relationship,
Mortis and Vítaeous have always remained firm friends. The
practices of life and death are so intimately entwined with one
another that in outlook and belief it is sometime difficult to separate
the two gods. This is not to say that the churches of Mortis and
Vítaeous always get on, but they somehow manage to bridge
their differences over issues such as resurrection because of a
strange appreciation that they should be allies. Mortis is the closest
of the other gods to Terranor, the grandfather of the pantheon.
Terranor considers Mortis to be one of the few gods who takes his
role seriously. Mortis has little time for the rambunctious behave
of the child-gods. He reserves special ire for the activities of
Calafax, although (as ever) the six gods remain a united family.
In Urova, every town has a practising priest of Mortis. Death is
something that visits everyone after all, and Mortis plays a peculiar
role in the beliefs of the other faiths. When someone dies, regardless
of his religion, it is Mortis that appears to this spirit and guides
it to its final resting place. Mortis alone has the power to enter
the realms of the other gods. Surely this makes Mortis the most
powerful of the gods? His churches would certainly argue so.
Churches of Mortis
Three main churches worship the god Mortis. The Church of the Unbeating
Heart is not designed for player characters, although a mad-dog
DM might consider it in one of his less lucid moments. As a whole
the churches concentrate on smoothing the way for the dead to enter
the afterlife, recording events, amassing knowledge and opposing
the enemies of Mortis. They cannot agree on who those enemies are,
of course.
Watchers on the Cusp of Oblivion
The Watchers are the oldest and most widespread of the Mortis faiths.
They personify Mortis as the god of Death and do all they can to
support him in that endeavour. They oppose the undead and have a
healthy hatred of resurrection magicks. Watchers officiate at funerals
and tend to the terminally ill.
The Scriveners of Doom
To the Scriveners, Mortis is the god of knowledge, history and
truth. They see it as their mission to objectively record all history
as it happens, to amass knowledge and make it available for those
who need it (for a hefty fee). Temples of the Scriveners of Doom
are often little more than vast libraries.
The Church of the Unbeating Heart
Contrary to the beliefs of the other faiths, this church holds
Mortis as the god of the Undead. Many of the powers and spell granted
by Mortis allow domination and creation of these creatures, and
the Lifebane Church (as it is also called) use them to the fullest.
They are openly opposed by the Watchers and are one of the two outlawed
faiths in Urova.
Powers of the Priesthoods
All clerics receive the same granted powers from Mortis regardless
of their church. Each cleric selects a granted power at first level,
and then one every five levels until all five powers are gained
at level 20. There is no restriction on the order in which powers
are gained unless specifically mentioned in the text below. Remember
that the phases of the moon of Mortiswill affect the use of these
powers. Please return to the section on the Moon
Gods for specific details. All granted powers are Supernatural
abilities.
Dominion of Mortis
- Normal: The cleric of Mortis gains command of
negative energy. The cleric can halt, drive-off or destroy creatures
driven by positive energy (such as the deathless), and rebuke
or command creatures driven by negative energy (such as the undead).
Use the turning rules presented by p159 of the PHB. Clerics
of Mortis can make use of divine feats to alter or enhance the
nature of this power.
- Diminished: The cleric takes a -4 penlty on his
turning check, and his roll for turning damage.
- Enhanced: The cleric gains a +4 bonus on his turning
check, and his roll for turning damage.
The Ear that Hears All
- Normal: In keeping with Mortis's role as judge
of the damned, the cleric gains the ability to detect lies. This
power functions in much the same manner as the discern lies
spel (see PHB p22l). The cleric calls upon this ability
at will but must choose a single individual within 25 feet (+
5 feet/2 levels) and spend a full found concentrating before the
power is invoked. The target of this power can resist it with
a successful Will saving throw equal to 10 + cleric's wisdom modifier
+ half the cleric's level. This power can only be used on targets
with a haracter level equal or less than the class level of the
cleric.
- Diminished: The cleric is consider four levels
lower than his true level when determining the level of the targets
that can be affected by this power.
- Enhanced: The cleric is consider four levels higher
than his true level when determining the level of the targets
that can be affected by this power.
The Hand of Death
- Normal: The cleric gains the ability to energy
by touch as a vampire or similar creature. The power is invoked
as a free action, at which point the cleric's body is engulfed
with crackling negative energy that ressembles black lightning.
To use the power the cleric must succeed in a touch attack against
a foe. Such an attack bestows 1 negative level to the target.
Negative levels remain for one day (28 hours on Iourn) at which
point the victim can try to shake them off by making a successful
Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + half the cleric's class level
+ cleric's wisdom modifier). A seperate save is made for each
negative level. If the save is failed then the foe loses one level.
See DMG p293 for more information on energy drains. A target
with more negative levels than actual levels is slain and will
rise the following day as a wight unless the cleric of Mortis
takes steps to prevent it. Note that while this power is in effect
the cleric may be turned as though he were an undead creature
of equal hit dice.
- Diminished: Targets immediately gain a saving
throw to avoid the negative level when the cleric touches them.
If this fails they may still make another saving throw to shake
it off one day later.
- Enhanced: The cleric's touch attack inflicts 1d4
negative levels.
- SPECIAL: Activating this power inflicts 1 negative level
per round on the cleric unless he also has the Shield of Death
power or has the appropriate magical protection.
Piercing the Veil
- Normal: The cleric is intrinsically and continuously
aware of the presence of negative energy. This functions much
like the detect undead spell (PHB p220) except that
it applies to all negative energy, which includes the spark that
drives undead creatures. Without concentrating the cleric can
sense this death energy to a range of sixty feet. The cleric can
also sense an imbalance between negative and positive energy in
a subject and can therefore sense how near death a wounded creature
is - much like the deathwatch spell on PHB p217.
Because the cleric can sense death energy he is able to defend
himself against undead or similiar foes that attack him while
invisible or under the cover of darkness. The cleric takes no
penalty against such attackers as long as they are undead and
are within the range of this power. Piercing the Veil eliminate
any miss-chance granted to a living being by concealment or displacement;
they can also see through anything short of 100% cover. This power
cannot see through solid, opaque objects. Note the GM may still
call for a Spot check in certain circumstances.
- Diminished: The range of the power is reduced
to 5 feet.
- Enhanced: The range of the power is doubled to
120 feet
The Shield of Death
- Normal: The cleric is completely immune to the
effects of negative energy, energy drain, magical death effects
and death spells as if he had a permentantly active death ward
spell cast upon him (see PHB p217). When such an attack
is made on the priest an inky blackness surrounds him and absorbs
the attack.
- Diminished: The protection offered by this power
is less certain. The cleric immediately receives a saving throw
(even if the effect normally doesn't offer one). Success indictates
the Shield of Death functions normally. For example, a vampire
energy drains a cleric of Mortis during the dark of the moon.
Normally, the victim of such an attack gets no saving throw, but
the Mortis priest does receive a save (DC 10 + half foe's hit
dice + foe's charisma modifier) to completely avoid it.
- Enhanced: The darkness that absorbs the energy
drain lashes out in a violent burst as it consumes the negative
energy. The effect is that whoever attempted to energy drain the
priest is affected by his own negative energy. This means nothing
to undead, but against spellcasters it can have devastating effects.
Mortis Spells
The spell lists are now unique to each church. Once the masterlists
are on the site, new spell lists will be posted on individual pages
for the Watchers on the Cusp of Oblivion, the Scriveners of Doom
and the Church of the Unbeating Heart. Until that happens please
use the list below as a stop-gap measure.
Level 0
- Detect Magic
- Detect Poison
- Guidance
- Inflict Minor Wounds
- Know Age
- Know Direction
- Know Time
- Light
- Read Magic
- Resistance
- Virtue
Level 1
- Bane
- Balance of the Six
Humours
- Bless
- Bless Darkness
- Cause Fear
- Chill Touch
- Comprehend Languages
- Corpse Link
- Deathwatch
- Detect Chaos
- Detect Evil
- Detect Good
- Detect Law
- Detect Secret Doors
- Detect Undead
- Ebony Hand
- Exterminate
- Identify
- Inflict Light Wounds
- Invisibility to Undead
- Locate Remains
- Protection from Chaos
- Protection from Evil
- Protection from Good
- Protection from Law
- Sanctuary
- Shield of Faith
- Summon Monster I (negative energy only)
Level 2
- Augury
- Darkness
- Death Knell
- Death Recall
- Detect Thoughts
- Desecrate
- Find Traps
- Gentle Repose
- Ghoul Touch
- Inflict Moderate Wounds
- Scare
- Silence
- Spectral Hand
- Spiritual Weapon
- Summon Monster II (negative energy only)
- Undetectable Alignment
- Zone of Truth
Level 3
- Animate Dead
- Bestow Curse
- Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
- Contagion
- Blindness/Deafness
- Deeper Darkness
- Dispel Magic
- Halt Undead
- Hovering Skull
- Inflict Moderate Wounds
- Invisibility Purge
- Locate Object
- Meld into Stone
- Obscure Object
- Speak with Dead
- Summon Monster III (negative energy only)
- Vampiric Touch
Level 4
- Arcane Eye
- Death Ward
- Detect Scrying
- Discern Lies
- Divination
- Enervation
- Fear
- Heart Blight
- Inflict Critical Wounds
- Lesser Planar Ally
- Mask of Death
- Repel Vermin
- Summon Monster IV (negative energy only)
- Tongues
Level 5
Level 6
- Antilife Shell
- Blackmantle
- Circle of Death
- Create Undead
- Dead Man's Eyes
- Find the Path
- Harm
- Legend Lore
- Planar Ally
- Summon Monster VI (negative energy only)
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
- Energy Drain
- Foresight
- Rift
- Soul Bind
- Summon Monster IX (negative energy only)
- Undead Plague
- Wail of the Banshee
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