Saturday, September 25, 2010

Specialty Clerics: Fharlanghn


Fharlanghn, the Dweller on the Horizon, is the Oeridian god of Horizons, Distance, Travel, and Roads. He is a well-known deity on the world of Oerth. He wanders that world in person, his petitioners present in spirit form at crossroads and in mysterious oases. His symbol is a disk with a curved line representing the horizon, and an upturned crescent above that.
- Per Wikipedia

New Prime Requisite: CON
Alignment: TN
XP Penalty: 5%
Level 2: Bonus Language, Enchanted Quarterstaff
Level 6: Mount
Level 12: Bonus Language
Special: Traveller's Luck
Special: Overland Speed Bonus

Description of Benefits:
  • Bonus Languages: At the designated levels, clerics of Fharlanghn may learn an additional language due to their propensity to wander and meet individuals from all over the realm. This ability is hard to evaluate in cost according to our rubric; one could argue that mastery of languages is a magic-user class feature, but if it is, it is a weak one. -1.25%.
  • Enchanted Quarterstaff: The cleric may use the magic-user's spell Enchanted Weapon, but only on quarterstaves. Note that the quarterstaff is generally an inferior weapon except for magic staves which can be excellent; this allows a cleric of Fharlanghn to use his deity's favored weapon without it being a totally sub-par choice. Normally a spell costs -2.5%. However, this is a very limited application of the spell, so 1/2 seems appropriate.
  • Mount: Clerics of Fharlanghn may cast the mount spell as a bonus spell. This enhances their mobility and ability to wander. This is a useful travel and utility spell, and worth the full -2.5%.
  • Traveller's Luck: The cleric enjoys a percentage chane equal to their level that a baneful overland travel or random encounter is avoided. The DM should secretly roll, and if the dice show a result lower than the cleric's level, the encounter does not occur or is replaced with a neutral or friendly encounter. This is another hard to evaluate ability that nicely scales with level and is useful at all times in the cleric's career. We could argue that classes like the Ranger also have an ability to avoid baneful encounters, and this is a more limited application of that. 2.5%.
  • Overland Speed Bonus: The cleric gains a bonus to overland speed in inches equal to their level divided by four when marching on foot. Thus a 5th level cleric of Fharlanghn with a normal move of 9" enjoys an overland travel speed of 10". This allows a cleric of Fharlanghn to wear heavier armor yet keep up with lightly-clad and fast moving groups. This is another quite limited benefit, difficult to evaluate. Perhaps worth 1.25%.
This gives us a total of 10% in costs, -2.5% for the blanket offset for a total of 7.5%. However, because few of the abilities are really directly combat related, I will reduce it to a 5% XP penalty.

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