Druids

I do not agree with your interpretation, but remember this: Primal casters are people who have effectively ‘sold their souls’ (or made some other arcane deal or worship) to powerful creatures such as nature spirits and elder elementals. This means–by my interpretation–that the Primal caster really cannot both honour their patron being and Saluwe’ properly to be considered a divine casters/priest. Because the Primal caster honours their patron first, they would effectively be guilty of worshiping non-deity powers, which would mark them as heretics. While the druids themselves may be officially accepted as a worship of Saluwe’, if those druids used recognizably primal spells, their protection would probably evaporate as they provably are honouring a power which is not Saluwe’.

This is, of course, a distinction up to Henry.

Hello,

Alright – I think my error was trying to answer Toodeeps question in both a storyline and mechanics manner and obviously convoluted the two.

As I understand it, Toodeep wanted to play a Male Priest of Saluwe’.

Frankly, if it were my personal table, I would not allow such a character. The rules are not in place for it. I had to create the whole “Druid” story to placate the D&D-isms of D20 and would rather not have them perpetuated into ARG.

So the notes below should not be taken as rules for the OP campaign (Legends of Arcanis) and more for a private home game.

1. There are no male priests of Saluwe’ only priestesses.

2. There is a sect of male adherents to Saluwe’ which are called Druids. They are not priests but fill the role equivalent to the female nuns of Illiir.

3. There was (is?) a cult called the Black Druids of Janyal that fought an internecine war with the Saluwean priestesses during the Shadowed Age, which eventually ended with a compromise where the male “druids” would serve a different role than the priestesses of Saluwe’, more as guardians of the forests, etc.

4. These druids “commune” with the trees and animals sacred to Saluwe’ but are NOT taught Cants as normal priests do.

5. I equated them to a Primal Tradition as a stop gap until and if a rule set for Druids is created.

6. Does the Mother Church recognize/accept the druids? Only as a subservient branch of the Saluwean Church and more akin to caretakers of sacred sites.

7. Does the MC approve of the Primal Tradition of casting? No. The casting of spells, etc is a carryover from the Druids of Janyal period and is not condoned.

8. Druidic practioners of the Primal Tradition caught performing such magics would be turned over to the Inquisition for purification.

9. There is an underground group that still practices the rites of the Black Druids (those that follow the teachings of the original Black Druids of Janyal) but they ARE NOT available as a player group/Path.

10. If anyone wishes to play a male Druid of Saluwe’, he’ll have to hide his practice of the Primal Tradition much like a Sorcerer does from the less sophisticated members of society.

Does that make it clearer?

Does that make it clearer?

Sorry to continue to ask, but only one remaining question. (honest!) Is the use of priest here indicative of any divine caster, or just anointed priest? i.e. can there be male Templars of Saluwe with access to her spells? I think from what is being said here the answer is yes, but just wanted to confirm, because mechanistically there doesn’t seem to be much difference between a priest and a Templar.

And I assume that the answer would probably apply to the mirror image of female Templars (or other divine caster versions other than priests) of Illiir being allowed.

Hello,

can there be male Templars of Saluwe with access to her spells?

I just re-read the passage on Templars and after giving it some thought, I’d have to say no. Given that male Templars of Saluwe’ would not be taught their specific Cants, they can’t really be Templars. Same goes for female Illiirites.

I’ll make a point to add this to the errata.

(You’ll note that it now states that only Males can be Templars to the Fire Dragon.)

Henry,

If the intent is to prevent female Illirites and male Saluweans from getting spells from the Divine Source, it’s probably better to put the errata there or with the Divine Spell Casting and Rudimentary Prayers talents. Otherwise you’ll need to cover situations such as Divine archetype but not background, Sword Saint, Initiate of the Gods, Templar, etc.

That should help avoid confusion in the future.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

I just re-read the passage on Templars and after giving it some thought, I’d have to say no. Given that male Templars of Saluwe’ would not be taught their specific Cants, they can’t really be Templars. Same goes for female Illiirites.
Going by the ARPG rules (not counting story), it is possible for a character to be a templar and yet not learn any Cants. Having the Templar Background, Templar Itenerant Path, Sword Saint Path, or even Holy Champion Path does not grant the Divine Spell Casting Talent but merely grants access to the DSC Talent. Thus, by the rules, there is a difference between not being allowed to be a templar (or holy champion) and not being allowed to learn Cants. If you don’t mind, please be explicit in the Errata about which is forbidden and which is allowed.

As a matter of pondering, I wonder if the same lack of male priests of Saluwe and female priests of Illiir is true everywhere or just in the Known Lands of eastern Onara.