Omen-Reading

In some campaigns, priests will be charged with the duty of reading omens for the future.

If a campaign's priests have that duty, the DM has to decide how they do it, what it is they're actually doing, and who they're doing it for.

How They Do It

Omen-Reading always requires some sort of ritual, usually a public one.

The priests may sacrifice animals and examine their entrails for clues to the future. They may read tea-leaves. They may inhale dangerous fumes and prophesy while under their influence. They may listen to whispering in the trees, babbling of brooks, or the singing of birds and interpret that noise. They may enter meditative states and wait for inspiration from the gods. Each cult could do it a different way, and the DM can choose the method which he feels will add the most appropriate color to the cult in question.

What They're Doing

Then, the DM has to figure out what it is the priests are actually doing when prophesying. Here are some choices:

They're Receiving the Word of Their God: The priests are actually receiving some inspiration from their deity. Naturally, such omens are usually clouded in imprecise terminology and symbolism, so that it's easy for the recipient of an omen to misinterpret the results.

They're Following Ritual Interpretation: The priests have a set of techniques of interpretation which they follow rigidly. These techniques may or may not have any basis in campaign reality; they might have been granted by the god, or created through ignorance.

They're Analyzing Based On Their Knowledge: The priests aren't actually prophesying at all, but supplying answers based on their understanding of the situation and of the ways of the world. If they are then pretending that their answers come from a higher source, they are obviously being dishonest; only a corrupt branch of a priesthood will do this. However, it's possible for such a method to be very accurate, especially if it concerns itself mostly with questions of warfare and human nature.

They're Telling the Audience What It Wants to Hear: The priests are acting primarily as cheerleaders and telling the people precisely what they want to hear: That they'll win the war, they're always right, they've done no wrong, love conquers all. Again, priests acting in this manner are being dishonest to their flocks, but it will often be difficult to convince the flocks of that.

They're Working for Gain: Some very corrupt sects or branches of sects manipulate their answers to gain in power or money. This usually takes one of two methods.

In the first, the priests supply answers which favor their purposes. If representatives of one city ask, "When we attack our enemies, will we prevail?" the priests then decide whom they want to win that war. If they want the attackers to win, they answer "Yes." Then, the attackers will be encouraged by the reply, and the defenders discouraged, which weighs the war in the attackers' favor. If they want the defenders to win, they answer "No," with precisely the opposite effect; the discouraged attackers might not even launch the attack.

In the second, the priests accept bribes in order to put their god's stamp of approval on the activities of certain men. For instance, a king might secretly pay the priests a lavish amount, then publicly approach the oracle and ask, "Shall I not execute the traitor so-and-so now without benefit of trial?" or "Should I marry so-and-so against her wishes?" or any other such question. The answer he receives, of course, will be the one he paid to get, and because the god has "made his wishes known," the citizens will probably not dispute the choice.

In both these approaches, the god may eventually notice that one branch of his priesthood is corrupt, and set about correcting matters, either through his own intervention or by alerting other branches of the priesthood. On the other hand, a particularly disinterested god might never notice.

But Are They Right?

As part of deciding what they're doing, the DM has to decide how often they're right.

The priests will often be right if they're receiving the word of their god; this word may be misinterpreted, but it's always correct.

They could have any sort of accuracy the DM decides if they're following some pattern of ritual interpretation; perhaps the ritual is effective, perhaps it is not.

If they're analyzing the situation based on their current knowledge, then their accuracy depends mostly in their interpretive abilities; a priesthood might have enough knowledge of the world and human nature to be able to supply consistently-correct answers to supplicants.

If they're telling the audience what it wants to hear, they could be very accurate for a time, especially if they're prophesying for a warlike state which is on the rise and mostly asking about upcoming victories. Eventually, however, the tides of fate will turn and the prophecies will become unreliable, which will disillusion the populace.

If they're working for gain, they could be very successful for quite a while. Eventually, though, the scandal will break, and the population will learn the truth . . . which could be very bad for those greedy prophets.

Who It's For

Finally, the DM has to decide who is able to receive these prophecies. Here are some typical choices:

Anyone: Anyone who asks a question will receive some sort of reply.

Anyone With the Means: Some temples require a sacrifice of animals or wealth in order for the supplicant to receive a prophecy. (This isn't necessarily a sign of corruption; it's often just a means of ensuring the temple's upkeep and the faith's continuing secular, or worldly, power.)

Nobles Only: In this arrangement, only members of noble houses can ask questions of the oracle.

The DM can also make more peculiar choices for specific oracles. An oracle might only be for slaves, for adventurers, for people who have at least once travelled to a specific holy site, for people of specific alignments, for members of one race, etc.

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