Domains of the Divine and Devotion

   Just as the wizards spell casting ability is divided into schools of magic, cleric spells are organized into Domains. Domains  represents a group of related spell powers granted by a particular deity, so a power of war usually grants access to the domains of Combat and Protection, a power of nature usually grants access to the Domain of Nature, clerical Domains are organized in this scheme. While wizards generally have the ability to cast spells from any school unless  specifically stated otherwise, clerics are strictly limited to the domains their deity grants them access to. In other words, the organization of cleric spells governs which spells a cleric can cast. This makes it difficult to create new domains of cleric spells, since a great deal of work must be done to retrofit any new domains to existing priesthoods that should have had influence in the new domain.

Clerical Power

The core of prieslty magic is devotional power. This power comes from the dedication of ardent followers and clerics. It is not something that can be manipulated directly, although it is the source of power for spells. Unlike magical energy, devotional energy is not tied to a particular character class. Ordinary people are as much a source of this power. Only clerics are significantly different, their lifelong dedication to their god being the wellspring for even greater power. Not everyone is a source of devotional energy. Almost every character generates a small amount of power, but only those persons dedicated in their beliefs provide the amounts needed for clerical magic. Even at this level, the total energy provided by each person is very small. Sincere belief is the most important factor. Before its power can be harnessed, the devotional energy of a cleric must be gathered and concentrated toward a single effect.  Once focused, the devotional energy provides power needed to maintain a spell effect, increase its area of effect, or create a number of other different results. The power of Devotion more or less dictates the % to cast any miracle deriving from the powers of a God. Devotion is affected by the characters personal traits as directed by the Dogma of each Deity. A baseline for each trait is given in each Dogmas descritpion. If a priest is devout and as close to his god as possible his devotion will be rewarded, if on the other hand he fails his duties and does not abide the actuall Dogma of belief from his Deity he may not be allowed to draw upon holy faith or they may even catch the attention of some other Deity.

 Our faith spell system and Domains of Influence

There are many Domains that are used to reflect the portofolio of each Godly dogma, clerics are able to draw powers of faith deriving from that dogma and that portofolio. Thus clerical magic while itself is considered devotional and result of the faith of the vessel, it is all in all another type of magic.

   Devotion fuels the power to call upon the will of the Gods. While a devout and faithful character posesses the special skill of Devotion and accordingly follows the doctrines and dogma of a religion he has at the same time access to the powers of the Domains directed by his Deity. Thus if Devotion is the fuel, the Domains are the way with which each Deity manifests its Dogma. Thus the Cleric is a man of true faith. Faith on the other is hand is closely tied to the Doctrines of the Dogma of each Deity, which is taught throughtout the churches of Cerilia. If a Cleric follows closely the Dogma and devotes his life and work to his God he will probably receive the ulitmate reward, miraculous powers. Devotion works as much as all other skills, the main exception to this is that Devotion is not a skill that produces some sort of effect first hand, although it reflects tottaly the pure faith and dedication a man has to the doctrines of a faith, the higher that mans faith is, the higher will the devotion rise. Devotion is closely related to  three Character traits of the the Trait system according to the Dogma. A baseline of the Minumum trait score required is given to each Deities description. The higher the player grows in a trait the more powerful his devotion will grow, the lower it gets the furthest the character moves away from his faith. Each rank of Devotion grants a 10% in all the Domains of influence the player has, if the Devotion power ever reaches 0, the player has permanently lost communication with his Deity and this must be a good goal for a campaign of attonement.