Hacking LOTFP Classes Part 6: Redesigning the Cleric Class

This is the sixth part in an article series examining the LOTFP classes in order to design new ones. Part 5 is here.

Before I go about designing new classes and putting everything together that I have discussed so far, I'd first like to examine the cleric.

This is because while I may tweak aspects of the Magic-User, Specialist, and Fighter, in my next article, overall I think those classes are pretty solid in Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The only class which I think needs a bit of redesign is the cleric as I find it a bit of a problematic class. It's partially why I think James Raggi dropped clerics entirely in his playtest document in favour of letting the magic-user being able to cast traditional cleric spells. 

While I am critical of the cleric class. I think to remove it entirely, or roll it into the Magic-User class, would be a mistake.

This is because out of every group that I have played in or been part of, there is always someone who genuinely enjoys playing the cleric. Most often I think because for them it's simply fun to be the ‘good’ guy. Some people may not care about reoplaying their character in a 'moral' manner or give much thought to the morality of gameplay actions, but for the type of player who likes to play the cleric, I find it's often an important and enjoyable part of the game to them. 

Additionally, as the GM, I find the inclusion of a cleric in a party, makes the game more interesting as it adds a moral dimension to the parties actions that may not exist otherwise. Instead of being purely cutthroat, the players have to at least consider what would be the moral thing to do, even if they decide against it. This often adds depth to the game.

From a game design perspective I think the cleric is a hugely problematic class but one whose problems stem more from game design things than not being fun. I’d much rather fix the problematic parts of it and have it a more robust class, then remove what I think is a fundamentally interesting and popular class to play.

Overall I think there are four main problems with the cleric class as it pertains to LOTFP. I’m going to outline these problems and solutions for them here at length and present more concrete mechanics in the next section when I tweak all the classes and design two new ones. 


Problem 1: The source of their magic

In LOTFP all of the other classes are fairly normal in the sense that they are individuals who are assumed to be average commoners of the 17th century world. Basically regular people who are just a little more insane or thrill seeking than your average peasant. As outlined in the ideals, none of the classes have any special inborn super powers. 

The one that you could make a case for being special is the magic-user, but this is generally explained in the sense that the magic of LOTFP is not something inborn. It resembles real world 17th century magic where if you've read an actual historical grimoire or read up on occult systems of magic like Enochian magic or Kabbalah; it’s confusing and requires a lot of study to comprehend. The Magic-User is kind of portrayed as a scholar of the occult who, more often than not, is dealing with forces beyond their comprehension. They tap into occult forces of the universe, forces that the magic-user is never quite sure exactly how they work, as they are never quite certain that the system of magic they have studied actually is correct in its revelations about the workings of the universe or not, they just know it works by it's effects. There’s always an element of danger in not really knowing the why, only the how, which is why most people don’t dabble in magic. 

However the cleric is a bit more problematic as their source of magic is divinely orientated. It’s not musty tomes which contain strange rituals that communicate with occult forces to bring about strange results. They literally have a channel to communicate with their god, or at least this is how the cleric is portrayed in most RPGs. In this manner I think there is an underlying contradiction in the cleric class in LOTFP. Are they your common village priest? Or are they more special, something more akin to a saint who can actually commune with their god? 

Solution:

While this is a tricky problem I think there is an elegant solution. I would rule that all clerics are village priests. They don’t have a special connection with the divine, any more than your average priest would. But while this average village priest may not have a special connection with the divine, there have been and are rare people who can, saints. In my version of the 17th century setting for LOTFP saints are able to cast genuine miracles (clerical spells). When they die their remains are turned into relics (as they are in real life), these relics are able to do wondrous things like cure disease and wounds.   

There are estimated to be over 10,000 saints in the real world catholic church. That’s a lot of relics. So many that people probably wouldn't go few missing, a few which end up in the hands of a local adventuring priest.

For full disclosure sake, I did not come up with this idea. I originally found it in Burgs & Bailiffs: Trinity - The Poor Pilgrim's Almanack. Which has information on relics and pilgrimages and using them in an RPGs. 



Problem 2: The System of their magic

I find how clerical magic is ‘gamified’ in most RPGs to be pretty lackluster. Most times their magic functions pretty much the same as the magic-users. Yes there may be slight differences but largely the cleric spell systems are just the magic-users copy-pasted with differently spell lists.

Solution:

I think tying cleric spells to holy relics is a much more interesting system of magic for the cleric and one that distinguished them from the magic-user. The magic-user is able to cast a certain amount of spells per day from their spellbook. If you’re using Raggi’s new level less system, it’s 1 spell per level. 

In contrast I would keep cleric spells leveled and not use a leveless system. But instead of a cleric automatically being able to cast all spells of a certain cleric spell level once they get to a certain level the cleric can cast any spell of the level or lower associated with their relic. The actual catholic church already kind of has a system for the power and magnitude of relics with three different tiers. It’s pretty easy to expand these 3 tiers into 7 and associate one with each level of cleric spells:

Relic/Spell Level	Description
1	Any object that is touched a relic of greater importance. Most of these relics are small pieces of cloth, though in the first millennium oil was popular and some reliquaries have holes for oil to be poured in and out again. Many people call the cloth touched to the bones of saints "ex brandea".
2	Items that the saint owned or frequently used by a saint, for example, a crucifix, rosary, book, etc. Sometimes part of an item that the saint wore (a shirt, a glove, etc.)
3	The physical remains of a minor saint who lived an exemplary Christian life.
4	The physical remains of a saint who lived an exemplary Christian life and died for their faith as an important martyr.
5	The physical remains of an important saint, generally an: influential theologian, a royal who was a defender of Christianity or who converted his kingdom to Christianity, or the first missionary to successfully spread Christianity to a new region. These reclis tend to take the form of the saints status in life. For instance, King St. Stephen of Hungary's right forearm is especially important because of his status as a ruler. A famous theologian's head may be his most important relic.
6	The physical remains of one of the twelve apostles or an important biblical figure, generally alive during the time of Jesus.
7	Items directly associated with the events of Christ's own life (hay manger, bits of cross, shroud, sandals, foreskin).

A level one cleric would start the game off with a level one relic that would grant them access to their first level spells. As they grow in level if they want access to their higher level spells they are going to have to find a new relic, either through theft, reward, or seeking out the lost or stolen remains of a saint etc. I think this will make the gameplay more interesting for the cleric and a little more like the magic-user who has to quest for new spells. It also creates some interesting moral decisions, if a cleric steals a major relic from a cathedral to defeat some great evil would it be considered a moral action? Would the church approve? 

It is also important to remember, in this regard, that during this time relics were often an important source of income for a church. Their theft would be considered sacrilegious and the relic would be considered a ‘hot’ item. The church would likely pay people to track it down and retrieve it.


Problem 3: Enforcing morality

There often is a sense of morality about the cleric class. They are often seen as the class who started adventuring for reasons other than money, and the class that often has to follow some kind of morality to maintain ‘character’. However most RPGs don't really handle this very well. The closest they seem to come is an alignment system that often has no bearing on the game.

Solution: 

Instead of having a system of three alignments, Law, Neutral, Chaos, the cleric has a religion they belong to and a piety score. Piety can be gained and lost for by committing moral/immoral actions. What determines a moral action is the character's religion. The DM may have to research what would be considered immoral/moral in the time/setting the game takes place to get an idea of how to adjudicate players actions. Overall the cleric would receive piety for pious acts and get a default of one point for taking time to pray each day. Casting a spell using a relic costs one piety point. 


Problem 4: Types of religions and different clerics 

Some RPGs let your cleric follow different gods that give different abilities and spells based upon the philosophy and religious doctrine of that god. I find this often leads to such open ended bloat that the cleric class begins to lose all meaning. This is especially seen in 5th edition where I still don’t really understand what the difference is between a cleric who worships a god of war and has powers related to it, and a paladin. Yes, I understand that these two classes would have mechanical differences in little numbers here and there, but thematically they’re kind of the same class. 

I find allowing multiple gods and a lot of customization creates versions of the cleric where each is almost it’s own class. Most other classes don’t really work this way. You don’t get unique powers if you’re a necromancer or a pyromancer, you’re still a magic-user. You can portray yourself and roleplay one. But mechanically you are the same as other magic-users. 

Solution

I would rule that all religions a cleric can belong to are organized religions. That more unorganized religions would basically need an entirely different class to represent well. I would define organized religion as any religion that has an organized hierarchical structure and to some extent, has political clout.

This is something that I find is often overlooked. Religion in the 17th century wasn't just a personal matter. Religion was highly political in nature and most religious institutions had governmental responsibilities along with religious ones. There was often very little separation between church and state. If you were part of a clergy, as a cleric would be, then you would have higher ups you’d be responsible to and a fair amount of authority that the image of your office would provide. 

Most RPGs don’t model this at all. I feel the best way to think about a clerics authority is to not think of them as a priest but as an learned authority figure. They would have probably received a better education than your common peasant and their office comes with a sense of public recognition. People would turn to them for both civil and academic matters.


I think this is a missed opportunity and one that can really be taken advantage of in LOTFP with its’ real world setting. I view the Cleric, who is a scholar of the church and has read the chronicles of missionaries to strange foreign places, who is privy to the libraries of the church, and who is part of an organization concerned in things not of this earth, to be an expert in the supernatural. Unlike the men of reason of the enlightenment, the cleric has faith in the unseen and knows that evil can take many strange forms. In this manner the cleric is a bit of an agent of the church, a little more like an investigative monk and a little less mace wielding holy warrior.





Next is, Part 7: Putting Everything Together 

Ildavir, Goddess of Nature

Ildavir, Goddess of Nature

Goddess of the primeval woods, of the Silver Stag, of the holly branch and moonlit grove. Her forests as dark and limitless as oceans, there are no roads in her green realm, only unseen paths. In every raindrop, in every moss covered rock, in every wayward leaf, she is found. It was she who gave the fox the colour of its fur, it was she who gave the raven the lustre of its feathers. All that roams the woods keep her well and whisper her name when they come across one of watching eyes carved by her priesthood.

Her followers know well how to read her moods; they see her fury in the storm, hear her laughter in sunlight, and feel her majesty in the greenery that cloaks the land. She watches her followers struggle and survive, watches them live and nurtures their soul with the strength to find their freedom.

Title:

1. Hermit

2. Walker

3. Guardian

4. Druid

5. Archdruid

Creed:

To live is to be wild, and to be wild is to be free.

Alignment:

Neutral.

Holy Symbol:

Their holy symbol is an oak leaf.

Restricted Weapons:

Clerics of Ildavir can use any weapon as long as it’s made from wood or resembles a common tool. Otherwise they roll at one dice lower. In general they tend to wield bows, slings, staffs, wooden clubs, and scythes or falxs.

Favoured Spells:

First Level: Food of the gods, paralysis.

Second Level: curse, neutralize poison or disease, wood wyrding.

Third Level: remove curse.

Fourth Level: affliction of the gods.

Fifth Level: weather control.

Unholy Creatures:

Un-dead, abhorrent or alien extra-planer creatures, demons, devils, lycanthropes, perversions of nature, oozes, slimes, moulds.

Communing with Ildavir

Clerics of Ildavir commune with her by meditating in nature. They gain insight into what she wants or her pleasure and displeasure through the actions of animals that serve as omens. Such as the flights or calls of birds, the appearance of a stag or bear on a nearby hill, the path of a mouse that crawls beneath a tree, a squirrel carrying an acorn across a tree branch, etc.

Clergy and Worship

Clerics of Ildavir tend to live as recluses or hermits living within, protecting, and caring for vast swaths of forest and those that live nearby. They view all life as equal and are equally inclined to save or help a wounded fox as they are to for a human child. They generally live in small huts in the forest near human settlements and build no other buildings and prefer to sleep under the stars if weather permits.

They protect the wilderness and are at times at odds with human civilization. They abhor deforestation caused by farming and the spread and squalor of civilization. Most clerics of Ildavir care not for the petty politics of the world and don't get involved to much in the affairs of the civilized world. Each cleric of Ildavir loosely belongs to a group of other clerics who live in nearby forests. Together they form a Circle and this tends to be the extent of the clergy’s hierarchy.

They tend to be indifferent to humanity or the other races but will stay on good terms with nearby settlements often tending to and caring for the sick or injured livestock of the common folk and finding them when they get lost in the woods. They are often sought out for their medical advice and contain a great knowledge about the healing properties of certain plants.

However the bulk of their time is spent simply existing in nature as they wish all would exist. They tend to their lands and the natural creatures within it, and blaze trails to erect thin totem poles with a myriad of strange shaped eyes carved into them. These totems called eyes of Ildavir by the common folk and rumour holds it that the Druids erect them so Ildavir herself can look through them and watch all that walk within the forest. The Druids say they simply serve to mark boundaries or function trail markers. Like many things about the practices and rituals of Ildavir their true purpose is unknown.

They have no temples or churches and only gather on certain nights in sacred places found in nature; groves full of ancient trees, at the edges of moonlight lakes, within circles of ancient standing stones, anywhere that the beauty and majesty of the wild strikes deep within the soul.

These meeting involve many sacred songs and rituals and are part council where the Druids of Ildavir discuss much about what has been going on in their forests and how they want to further their goals of building more Eyes of Ildavir and maintaining the forests.

Healing Description:

When healed by druids of Ildavir the individual watches as their flesh begins to move and grow as if it has a life of its own; bone sprouts like a tree at a prodigious rate and muscle worms its way around it like a snake followed by skin which flowing forth like water. Wounds snapping shut with scars appearing to seal them and spilled blood moves with a pulse of its own.

Deity Disapproval:

Roll
1	Walk barefoot for one day.
2	Take a vow of silence for one day.
3	Harm no animal, no matter how hostile, for one day.
4	Cut your palm and let the blood flow freely mixing with the earth. Take 1d4 damage.
5	Heal at 1 reduced die for a day as your connection with nature and life is lessened.
6	Seek out a hurt animal within 24 hours and nurse it back to health or suffer a -1 penalty to spell rolls for one day.
7	Carve a new totem, an eye of Illdavia’s eyes, deep within the forest within 1d3 days or loose 1d3 randomly determined spells for 1d3 days.
8	Lose the ability to cast one random spell until you plant a tree in Ildavirs name.
9	Suffer -2 to spell checks until you spend one night naked and alone meditating in nature.
10	You must subsist on nothing but the forgings of the forest, mainly roots and berries, for 1d12 days. Due to the fasting that results from this you only gain 1 hp when resting at night and recover no lost ability points.
11	Test of the Wild: you must venture into the woods and face a silver wolf summoned by Illdavia and fashion it’s pelt into a cloak.
12	Help 1d20 hitdice worth of sick or injured livestock of nearby farmers with your lay on hands ability. If you incur disapproval while doing so you take 1 str, sta, or agility point damage as you empathetically take their injuries into your body.
13	Kill no living natural things, no matter how hostile, for one day.
14	Seek out and destroy a greater corruption of nature. Be unable to turn unholy creatures until done.
15	Restore 1d20 hectares of farmland to forest. This generally involves hiring people at your own cost to help plant trees. Take a -3 penalty to spell checks until complete.
16	The cleric must give away all his gold to the poor, nature alone shall provide for him.
17	Clear a ruin or lair deep in the wilderness and take nothing from within. Ildavir will destroy it afterwards with an earthquake so that nature can reclaim it.
18	Blight the crops of a village to stop them from encroaching on the forest. This will cause the cleric to be branded an outlaw with a sizeable bounty placed upon their head in civilized lands.
19	Suffer from the sickness of civilization as the pain of the earth itself is felt. Suffer from Affliction of the Gods at a spellcheck of 1d20+17. This lasts a number of days equal to 1d4s rolled on this chart.
20	You suffer the curse of Illdavia and are cursed with lycanthropy and are one of her forsaken. You must go on a quest to find redemption and to have the curse be lifted.

Call of the Wild Ritual

To perform this ritual the Druid needs part of an animal or plant to act as a magical focus of the same type that they wish to call or interact with. Generally this is a bit of hair, tooth, root, flower petal, or leaf. The ritual involves the druid cutting their palm with a special ceremonial knife and letting their blood fall from their palm and mix with earth in a specially crafted oaken bowl worth no less than 50gp. The earth must be from a forest and be fresh, no older than 1 day. They must hold the focus in one hand while they mix the earth and blood with the other and smear traces of it on their forehead and face in Druidic letterings. 

Call of the Wild
Level 1	Range: Self     Duration: Varies    Casting Time: 1 hour  Save: N/A
1-11	Failure.
12-13	They can speak to and understand any natural animal or plant of the same type as the focus for CL hours and of equal to or lower Hit Dice of the caster. The animal or plant will act in a non-hostile, or (depending on species)  friendly manner towards the Druid but does not have to obey it's commands.
14-17	As above but if an animal of the focus type is present within CL miles of the caster they are called forth to the caster. If it is a stationary plant they are not called forth but the caster knows where it lies.
18-19	As above but the animal or plant will obey the caster’s commands within normal bounds; suicidal commands or those contrary to its nature have a 50% chance of releasing a monster from service. Due to the nature of the summoning, the caster cannot directly harm a creature he summons.
20-23	As above and they can see through a single sense of the called forth animal or plant and can communicate with it telepathically at a range of CL x 100 feet.
24-27	As above but instead of calling forth the animal can choose to take its form of the animal or plant. He assumes the creature’s form and manner of locomotion, as well as the ability to survive in the creature’s normal habitat but gains no other powers.
30-31	As above but the caster can change himself completely into a new animal or plant of Hit Dice equal to twice his caster level.
32+	As above but the caster can change himself completely into a new animal or plant, gaining all of that creature’s powers and abilities. The creature cannot have more Hit Dice than twice the caster’s level. The transformation lasts until the caster chooses to return to his normal form or 24 hours have passed

Divine Aid

There are a couple considerations about invoking Ildavir. The first is that being the goddess of nature herself it is near impossible for her to manifest aid in place where there is a lack of animals or vegetation, such as deserts, wastelands, barren mountain ranges, etc. However to make up for this, in areas with abundant life and vegetative matter the cleric rolls with a d24 instead of a d20 when seeking divine aid.

Furthermore Ildavir is somewhat of an amorphous goddess. She has no concrete form and instead is part of life and nature itself. When she manifests it tends to be in a profusion of growth and life itself. Examples are provided as follows:

DC 10 - Simple effects limited to affecting only the caster and manifest in almost natural ways.

• Plants and trees sprout from the land around the cleric rising from the earth, restoring it and hiding him.
• Life flows into the cleric from earth and they are healed of all damage.
• Storm clouds begin to billow and rain begins to pour obscuring sight.

DC 15 - Miraculous effects that aid the cleric and his party and are distinctly supernatural in nature.

• Vines grow from the ground wrapping around the enemies of the cleric ensnaring them.
• A wall of thorns sprouts up and blocks off creatures pursuing the cleric.
• The cleric and his party step into a tree and appears from a tree several miles distant.

DC 20 - Extraordinary effects that directly harm the enemies of the cleric and are blatantly supernatural.

• A dozen dire wolves are called to aid the cleric against his enemies.
•  The sky clouds over supernaturally fast and lighting beings to strike down the clerics enemies one by one.
•  The skin of the cleric and his party turn to bark greatly shielding them from damage.

DC 30 - Direct manifestations of the God; any creature (including the cleric's party) who cares for their wellbeing should immediately run.

• Wild growth bursts forth from the earth ensnaring and tearing apart any who aren't quick enough to get away.
• Hail the size of apples begins to fall as lighting strikes any moving target.
• The trees themselves come alive as Treants and walk forth led by the Greene man. 

Divine Aid Considerations

Divine Aid Considerations

I generally regard divine aid a bit differently from the core rulebook. While the core book does well to stress that calling upon divine aid should not be done lightly the examples in the core rulebook listed on Table 7-8: Divine Aid Check DCs tend to list mostly small physical manifestations or spell like effects.

I take a bit of a different approach, where I don't see divine aid as the cleric bugging their deity to do something for them. I see divine aid in many ways to be a costly but literal deus ex machina. Divine aid is not cast by the cleric, it is called upon or begged. Calling upon divine aid should always be done so as a reaction to a situation that the cleric finds himself him. Where he is calling upon his deity because he feels he is in great peril or wishes to manifest the will of the deity in accordance with its creed.

 Most importantly, the manifestation of the divine aid should take a form related to the essence of the deity and if the situation contradicts the essence, creed, or alignment of the deity it may very well fail. Such as calling upon the aid of the god of law and order to protect oneself from lawful execution or calling upon the god of the sea while far from any water and on the rim of a volcano.

While having the God intercede on the characters behalf may seem like a potentially unbalancing thing, after all deus ex machina are generally frowned upon in storytelling and often feels like a cheap trick. A Judge only has to remember the old proverb that God works in mysterious ways. The deity may intercede on behalf the cleric, but with their greater perspective beyond the ken of mortals, how they intercede may seem strange and bewildering to the cleric. They are interceding because the cleric is important to them, but are important because they fits into or have to play a part in a plan that only the deity can perceive.

I also require that the cleric immediately roll 1d10+10 on their deity's disapproval chart for successfully seeking divine aid and 1d10+5 if they fail the DC roll.

Daenthar, the Mountain Lord, greater God of Earth and Industry

Daenthar, the Mountain Lord, greater God of Earth and Industry

Lord of the mountains, god of the forge and flame. The hearth burns bright in Daenthars hall beneath, the oldest mountain of the earth. Loud does his hammer strike as it hits the anvil and sparks fly from it cast off into the cold wind. Resolute does the craggy mountain peak stand amid time and tempest; Daenthar works his face blackened by soot, his beard singed by flame.

Duty, honour, temperance, discipline. The souls of his followers are forged in the crucible of his great furnace and like raw ore he melts from them the precious metals of the earth. Malleable, unformed, he sees the great beauty that lies within them and with an arm as strong as a mountain wind and as delicate as a flowers breath crafts glory from what began as black bedrock.

Alignment:

Lawful

Holly symbol:

A small stylized hammer. 

Title:

1. Sootsweeper

2. Hammersmith

3. Thane

4. Lord of the Hall

5. Ringlord

Creed:

Be the fire that forges their hearts.

Be the anvil that bears their blows.

Be the hammer that shapes their souls.

Restricted Weapons:

Clerics of Daenthar must wield a warhammer. All other weapons they wield at one dice lower.

Favoured Spells:

First Level: resist cold or heat, holy sanctuary.

Second Level: divine symbol.

Third Level: spiritual weapon.

Fourth Level: cause earthquake.

Fifth Level: Righteous fire.

Unholy Creatures:

Giants, chaotic extraplaner creatures (demons, devils, etc.), Un-dead, hostile humanoid creatures who dwell under the earth (goblins, troglodytes, etc.), chaotic dragons.

Communing with Danethor

Clerics of Danethor commune with him through visions seen in the depths of a forge or fire and will often meditate while staring into where the coals smoulder. He can also communicate his pleasure or displeasure through bodily sensations. The cleric may feel like they are metal being worked on in his forge; such as a feeling of heat or warmth, a feeling of being struck or immense pressure, or a feeling of being suddenly cooled.

Clergy and Worship:

He is worshiped largely in the Northland, especially in small in mountainous communities. He values the homestead and as many of the common folk pray to him for good health and protection from things which may stalk the woods at night as do craftsman and smiths who seek his blessing upon their work.

The hammer is his holy symbol and his priests wear sturdy leather work clothes. Finery is not forbidden but his clerics tend to value the well crafted over the ostentatious.

His places of worship are called Halls of Daenthar and are halls constructed from mountain bedrock (no matter how far away the mountains may be). They are open to the public and partially serve as community centers where public feasts of thanksgiving are often held. A ceremonial forge is always kept lit and present in the hall and worshipers can toss gold coins into it to melt while they pray to Daenthar's statue situated above it.

The Clerics of Daenthar occasionally hold public rituals, generally to bless the construction of a new building or conduct marriages. However much of their work involves serving the community and perfecting their craft.

They help build homes, mend metal tools, and create items like nails and plowshares that they give away to those in need. In times of peril they forge swords and stand shoulder to shoulder with their brethren ready to defend the homes of all.

 Each Cleric is a skilled smith, in fact it’s one of the requirements to advance among the clergy. In their down time many clerics of Daenthar can be found at the Temples forges perfecting their craft and creating items of beauty. These items of beauty are known as relics of Daenthar. They are often kept inside the temple to serve as inspiration for visiting smiths and as items of Daenthars glory to be marvelled upon by the common folk.

The great temples of Daenthar even hold relics of magical nature whose legend are widely known and pilgrims travel from across the land to gaze upon them. They are such storied things as the Crown of Kings, and the Fellmountain Hammer, or most famous of all, the last ring of the Seven Rings of Power.

Healing Description:

Healing feels like a warmth running through the person's body with intense pressure; blood pooling from the wounds turns to glowing molten metal and flows out of the wound filling the space and cooling to newly formed flesh.

Deity Disapproval

Roll	Disapproval
1	Be unable to create any fire, magical or otherwise, for one day. Daenthar has stilled your forge.
2	Melt 5 gp for every point of disapproval in a fire within 120 min or suffer a -1 penalty to spell checks that last 24 hours.
3	The cleric must spend 1d8 hours shovelling ore at the nearest temple of Daenthar at the next available moment. Because they will be so exhausted they will not regain any hp that night when sleeping.
4	The cleric must give a sermon about the reward of hard work in a public area within 24 hours or the disapproval rating will carry over into the next day upon failure to do so.
5	The cleric must pray while staring into an open forge or on top a lonely mountain. The cleric incurs a -1 penalty to spell rolls until they do.
6	Mend the weapons, armour, or tools of another for free before the next sunrise or incur a -1 penalty to spell rolls. This generally involves making a DC 5-15 skill check depending on the condition of the item. If failed the item is damaged beyond repair and the cleric must pay for a replacement.
7	Donate all non-magical weapons you acquire on your next adventure to the nearest Hall of Daenthar to give to the peasantry. The cleric suffers a -1 penalty to spell checks for each weapon they fail to collect or blatantly leave behind.
8	Guide someone to resolve a personal flaw through greater discipline and develop a greater sense of integrity by the next sunrise. Failure to do so results in a -2 spell penalty for 24 hours.
9	Donate one day's work helping constructing or repairing a public work such as digging a well, repairing the roof of the town hall, forging new hinges for the town gate, etc. Lose access to one randomly determined spell until completed.
10	Protect the next helpless person you come across regardless of race, gender, or any other discrimination, except giants who are Daenthars sworn enemy. If you encounter a giant before a helpless person you must kill it on sight.
11	Test of the Hammer: if next attack roll against an enemy is less than 12 the cleric is found lacking and their hammer shatters due to Daenthars disapproval.
12	Test of the Anvils Strength: upon receiving the next blow from an enemy the cleric must make a DC 12 Stamina check. If failed the cleric takes double damage.
13	Test of the Forging Fire: at the next available moment the cleric must heat up their holy symbol in a fire while meditating. Grabbing it from the fire they must make a DC 12 personality check, if failed they have been found wanting and the hot holy symbol burns them for 1d8 damage and they take 1 point of strength and stamina ability point damage damage.
14	Suffer from immense fatigue as Daenthar, unhappy with the form you are taking, hammers upon your soul. This incurs -1d4 Stamina and lasts one day for every point of disapproval.
15	The cleric is unable to turn holy creatures until they defeat a giant in single combat.
16	The cleric must melt down one tenth of all their gold and create a golden item of beauty for a Hall of Daenthar. The cleric looses their ability to lay on hands until they do.
17	Forge a ring of power of a spell result equal to at least 10 + cleric level and donate it to a Hall. Failure to comply within 1d4 months incurs the wrath of Daenthar as described below.
18	Suffer the wrath of Daenthar: all the gold the cleric touches or come into possession of turns to copper. This cannot be circumvented by wearing gloves and lasts a number of weeks equal to the number of 1d4s rolled for this chart.
19	The cleric must find a lost relic that was forged by a Cleric of Daenthar and has been stolen or been lost. The cleric is unable to cast one randomly determined spell each day until they do so.
20	Construct a new hall for Daenthar, it must be built with stone that is from the bedrock of a mountain no matter how distant mountains may be. The cleric is unable to seek divine aid until he does so.

Rings of Power Ritual

Golden Rings are an important part of many of the rituals of Daenthar. While many of the rings used are simply exquisitely crafted gold rings, his clerics have the ability to craft rings of power and receive the spell at level 1. These rings, crafted and imbued with the might of Daenthar, can be incredibly powerful magic items. Clerics of Daenthar that craft the powerful ones are often held in high regard among the clergy and even enter into legend. Only seven rings of the most powerful type have ever been crafted. All of them are lost except for the last one which lies in the holy requilary at the Grand Temple of Daenthar.

Crafting a Ring is not a simple affair. It involves days of intense sleepless work as the cleric slaves away at the forge keeping it hot all the while uttering the droning chants of Danethor. This is aside from the material cost. Rings of Danethor are made only from the finest gold and the more powerful rings require costly ritual components and enough coal to keep the forge burning at an intense heat for many days or weeks. Entirely new and specialized forges may even have to be built for the forging of the more powerful rings. The Seven Rings of Power themselves were forged upon an anvil of black ice from the Witchkings kingdom at the north pole and were heated in a vein of flowing lava.

Daenthar Divine Aid

I generally treat divine aid a bit different from the core rulebook. Considerations about it can be read here. To guide the judge a description of DCs the cleric has to roll against and some examples of manifestations are provided:

DC 10 - Simple effects limited to affecting only the caster and manifest in almost natural ways.

• The cleric is filled with the strength of Daenthar and can perform some great feat of strength such as immediately winning an apposed strength check, holding a stone door shut against foes of Daenthar while villagers escape, or toppling a crumbling column to bring down an evil temple upon it's worshipers.
•  The cleric invokes Daenthar when helping a wizard forge a magic sword and the wizard gains a bonus to his roll. However the swords alignment is automatically lawful.
• Lost and starving in vast caverns underneath the earth the cleric calls upon Daenthar in his hour of need and his holy symbol begins to glow providing light and guides the party out of the caverns.
• About to die, an enemies blade descending, the cleric calls upon Daenthar to save his life and the enemies blade is sundered upon his armour, breaking into pieces and leaving the enemy weaponless (but still angry and hostile).  

DC 15 - Miraculous effects that aid the cleric and his party and are distinctly supernatural in nature.

• Fighting a force of creatures unholy to the Daenthar, the weapons of the cleric and the party glow with a molten light granting them all a bonus to attack and when thrown the clerics warhammer returns to his hand.
• The cleric and the party are able to withstand the heat of a flow of magma as they wade through it to escape an exploding volcano.
• The weapons of the enemies turn to molten metal and fall from their hands.

DC 20 - Extraordinary effects that directly harm the enemies of the cleric and are blatantly supernatural.

•  The cleric strikes the ground with his hammer and a chasm opens out of which an elder earth elemental arises to fight on behalf of the cleric.
• The cleric curses the enemy leader of a band of unholy creatures with the wrath of Daenthar and molten gold pools in his lungs and begins to pour from his mouth.
• The cleric and the party are able to withstand the heat of a flow of magma as they wade through it to escape an exploding volcano.
• The last surviving member of the party, all his compatriots fallen, the cleric of Daenthar decides to make a last stand. His skin turns to stone and the weapons of the enemy shatter upon him as he fights. He rolls the bodies of his fellow PCs after the battle is done to see if any yet live.

DC 30 - Direct manifestations of the God; any creature (including the cleric's party) who cares for their wellbeing should immediately run.

• The sky is filled with a thick smoke and the clouds open up revealing the form of Daenthar in the sky looking down upon all. It begins to rain molten metal, ash, and burning embers as Daenthar shovels the slag from his forge down upon all.
•  The cleric holds their hand aloft and a Ring of Power appears on it. They turn to liquid metal and grow in size becoming an unearthly avatar of Daenthar.