Divine Lore: Spirits

Causing spirits to manifest requires a special rite. Rites consist of words, gestures, and a focus. When a rite requires words, they must be pronounced clearly and firmly and at least at a conversational volume. They may not be whispered, for example. When a rite requires gestures, the gestures require freedom of movement of arms, hands, and fingers. A focus is some physical thing that the prophet must have in order to cause the spirit to manifest. Rites which require a focus usually do not result in the destruction of the focus. Unless otherwise noted, a focus may be re-used for further rites. Where a rite calls for a focus but none is listed, the prophet’s holy symbol is the focus.

Most spirit manifestations may be ended at any time by the calling prophet. Some manifestations list a duration of “concentration”. This means that the manifestation lasts as long as the prophet continues the rite (which may include gestures, words, and/or a focus, according to the manifestation description).

Where a spirit’s success depends on the target’s faith (usually by a wisdom roll), the prophet may give their wisdom, as a major contributor, as a bonus to the targets’ rolls.

Finally, these spirit manifestations are examples of what each spirit type can do. As a prophet, you can work with the Adventure Guide to create new manifestations and assign them a level and effects relative to the manifestations described here.

You can create a custom prayer book for your character at godsmonsters.com/prayers/.

There are up to twenty levels of spirits, depending on the campaign world. Spirit manifestations in AD&D or other early Dungeons & Dragons games are called “clerical”, “druid”, or “priest” spells. You can usually double the level of any D&D spell less than seventh level, and possibly subtract or add one for the Gods & Monsters level. Seventh level spells in those older games can be thirteenth to twentieth level. The sphere of “all” in AD&D 2 often corresponds to the prophet spirit: all prophets may call spirits capable of these manifestations. However, in Gods & Monsters these are not spells; they are grants of divine power. Clerical spells that in D&D do nothing but duplicate magic spells are inappropriate for prophets in Gods & Monsters. It’s ultimately up to your Adventure Guide.