Spoiler: Affiliation adjustments, round 2
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These are the benefits:
Table 2: Benefits of the Church
Affiliation Score
Rank and Benefits of Membership
6 or less
Defrocked: No benefits. If the character had already reached the rank of Priest, he is excommunicated as well (see below), and looses access to the ability to perform all the Sacraments except for Baptism
7 - 20
Deacon: Permanently gains the ability to perform the Sacrament of Baptism. This ability stays with the character even if his affiliation score decreases below this level.
21 - 40
Priest: Permanently gains the ability to perform the Sacraments of the Eucharist, Holy Matrimony, Confession, and Extreme Unction. Only Confession and the Eucharist have a game affect. This ability stays with the character even if his affiliation score decreases below this level. You gain a stipend of 100 gp per week, collected from tithes.
41 - 60
Pastor: Gains the ability to use Bless as the spell at will as a spell-like ability (as if cast by a cleric of your character level), and can convert a flask of normal water into holy water once per round, provided he has a pinch of salt for each flask. You may request up to 1000 gp once per year from the church, though the money must either be given to the poor or used in a way that furthers the interests of the church (building a Cathedral, defending the land, rooting out heresy, ect). You must justify the request ahead of time, and failing to follow through may result in a reduced piety score. At this level of affiliation, the Pastor is assigned to a single Parish, and must perform the Eucharist there at least once per month. If the Church notices the Pastor ignoring this duty, he may be demoted or, if the neglect is particularly egregious, may be immediately defrocked (DM’s discretion). Being a papal legate does not free the Pastor from this duty, but it does mean that the Pope may engage in pastoral gerrymandering to move the Pastor’s parish to a location near where the Pastor will be adventuring. Pastoral Gerrymandering takes anywhere from 3 days to a week, delaying how fast a pastor can mobilize.
61 - 80
Bishop: Permanently gains the ability to perform the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders, though only Holy Orders has a game affect (and only barely). He also automatically gains the Community Pact Magic feat, but only for the Eucharist. May bless the holy oils required for Confirmation, Holy Orders, Extreme Unction, and the anointing of a Holy Roman Emperor (no game affect). From this point on you have a measure of control over your diocese. You may give an order to any member of the clergy of a lower rank than you, and unless they were given specific orders by the papacy not to obey you, they must do as you say. You are no longer bound to a single parish either, and can complete your monthly mass requirement at any parish in your diocese. However, you may never leave your diocese (country) except during the election of the Pope (if you have achieved the rank of Cardinal) or during a Church Council. Again, if you are a Papal Legate the Pope may engage in ecclesiastical gerrymandering to move you to a more useful diocese, so this restriction really means that you cannot leave the borders of Western Christendom. Also, the Pope may have difficulty moving you to a country that is currently unfriendly to the Papacy (such as Spain durring the Spanish Inquisition, France during the execution of the Knight’s Templar, or Germany during the Protestant Reformation), preventing you from entering those areas as well. Diocese Gerrymandering takes about 2 weeks at best to accomplish, so mobility is significantly restricted. Players are permitted to decline from taking on this rank, but this prohibits them from advancing beyond it.
81 - 100
Archbishop: Gains the ability to excommunicate or recommunicate anyone with a lower rank in the Church (see below). Your diocese may count as up to 3 seperate countries. However, the Pope can no longer Gerrymander you wherever he pleases, so if you reach this rank your basically stuck only being able to move between those three countries.
101 - 120
Cardinal: You may request up to 10,000 gp once year from the church, though the money must either be given to the poor or used in a way that furthers the interests of the church (building a Cathedral, defending the land, rooting out heresy, ect). You must justify the request ahead of time, and failing to follow through may result in a reduced piety score. You may be called upon to elect the Pope in the case of his demise.
121 - 140
Patriarch: You may request up to 15,000 gp once year from the church, though the money must either be given to the poor or used in a way that furthers the interests of the church (building a Cathedral, defending the land, rooting out heresy, ect). You must justify the request ahead of time, and failing to follow through may result in a reduced piety score.
141 and up
Pope: You gain the ability to appoint Papal Legates, members of the clergy who answer only to you, and you gain direct control over all military and mendicant orders in existence, commanding them with impunity (except when those Mendicants have become corrupted, in which case they do not answer to anyone). Finally, the Pope gains a number of supernatural abilities due to his rank. Once per year, the Pope may use Commune as a supernatural ability, with an effective caster level of 30. However, using this ability immediately puts the Pope under a 30th level Geas spell, forcing him to tell whatever information he learns to the Church as a whole, even if he would rather not. He may declare a crusade or impose an interdict. By this point, his diocese is the entirety of western Christendom for the purpose of his ability to command others within the clergy. Player characters should never achieve this rank, even if they have a sufficient Affiliation score to do so, as the Pope is the one of the most powerful figure in Europe.
The Seven Sacraments:
Baptism: Christians cannot enter a state of Grace unless they receive this sacrament. Otherwise no game affect.
Eucharist: This Sacrament is arguably the greatest asset the Church has at her disposal. The Sacrament takes approximately 1 hour to perform, though the time may be reduced to 30 minutes if rushed or if the readings are ignored, though doing so inflicts a -6 piety penalty to the priest. The priest takes bread and wine, and consecrate it to God, Who in turn changes it into His Body and Blood respectively, though both feel, taste, and look identical to their original appearance (though a Diabolist, Theurge, or Saint may identify a consecrated Host by sight). Any who consume a piece of the Body or a sip of the Blood are affected as if by a 30th level Consecrate spell so long as they are in a State of Grace, and if they have a piety score of 15 or higher may be affected as if by a Heroes Feast spell; if they are in a state of sin, they are instead afflicted with a -6 penalty to their piety score and have a 10% chance of being afflicted with a random curse as if by a Bestow Curse spell cast by a 30th level cleric. The Priest who performs the Sacrament gains an additional benefit: he may “bind” the level 3 pact spirit of The Christ, as per the pact magic rules in Secrets of Pact Magic (see below). However, in order to do so he must be at least 5th level. He may “bind” the 7th level version of The Christ at 13th level, and the 9th level version at 17th level. The Priest substitutes a Binding check with a Piety check for the purpose of this ability. He cannot bind any other spirit this way, and attempting to do so inflicts a -6 penalty to his piety score. Priests may take binding feats for the purpose of binding this Spirit. Priests often choose to use the Pact Battle Magic variant rules, allowing the congregation to benefit from the Power of God. If the character is of Bishop rank or higher, he is treated as if he possessed the Community Pact Magic feat from Secrets of Pact Magic for the purpose of “binding” this Spirit. Attempting to “bind” The Christ while in a state of sin is a grave offense against God, so the such a priest receives a penalty of -6*lvl of the Spirit if he attempts to do so.
Holy Matrimony: Basically marriage. No game affect.
Confession: This Sacrament allows the priest to absolve any one individual of their sins at will as a full-round action. This supernatural ability functions as an Atonement spell cast by a 30th level cleric. Any one who takes this Sacrament must confess all their sins since their last confession to the priest. The atonement also puts the subject in a State of Grace, and reduces a negative piety score to zero. There is also a 25% chance that any curse or negative ongoing spell that the subject is currently under will be immediately broken by receiving this Sacrament. If the subject does not confess all the sins they have commited that they can think of, not only are the benefits not received, but the subject also looses 6 pints of piety. As a side affect of the Sacrament, both parties are placed under a 30th level Geas. The priest comes under a permanent Geas which prevents him from ever purposely revealing or even hinting at whatever sins the other party confessed to him. The subject of the Atonement affect comes under a Geas to complete a task of the Priest’s choosing, usually something inconsequential, but not always. Such a Geas can never force the subject to perform an act which would reduce his piety score or put him in a state of sin, as that would defeat the purpose of this Sacrament. A priest may not absolve himself of sin, though one priest may absolve another.
Extreme Unction: This ritual eases the dying into the afterlife. No game affect.
Confirmation: Gives the character extra graces to resist temptation. No game affect.
Holy Orders: This sacrament simply allows the subject to gain an affiliation score with the Church. Once granted, this Sacrament is permanent until the first time the character is defrocked. It requires the Bishop to anoint the subject with holy oils as a full-round action.
Sacramentals:
Bless: see the Pastor section above.
Create Holy Water: see the Pastor section above
Excommunication: The Bishop may exclude a persistent sinner from the congregation of the faithful. The target must have sinned, and refused to repent and confess. In general, the sin must be serious, but the ability affects those who are persistent in minor sins. A Bishop must try to convince the sinner to repent before resorting to excommunication, however. There is no saving throw, and spell resistance does not apply. In order to excommunicate someone, the Bishop must announce the excommunication publicly, typically from the pulpit or the church door. The Bishop must make a serious effort to ensure that everyone gets to know of the excommunication. An excommunicated sinner cannot enter churches or other consecrated places. Any attempt to do so is resisted by a force that is slightly stronger than the force the excommunicate is using to enter. In addition, all Christians know that he has been excommunicated, and he suffers a -5 penalty to all Charisma based skill checks when dealing with Christians. Most will simply refuse to have anything to do with him, as dealing with an excommunicate is itself a sin worthy of excommunication.
Recommunication: A Bishop may reverse any excommunication he has imposed. If he has authority over another Bishop (as is the case with Archbishops and Patriarchs), he may also recommunicate anyone a Bishop under his command has excommunicated.
Papal Infallibility: See the Pope section above.
Interdict: The Pope may declare a certain area to be under an interdict at will. During that time, all of God’s graces stop flowing to that area through the Church: no Sacrament or Sacramental may be performed by anyone except for the Pope himself within the specified area. The Pope may lift this restriction as well. Placing an Interdict without good reason is an evil act (because it has the potential to damn many souls), and inflicts a -6 penalty to the Pope’s piety score. The Pope can lift this restriction at will.
Originally Posted by aimlessPolymath
Re: Affiliation Scores: Proper Distribution
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