PC Priests and the Hierarchy

Now, just how do player-character priests relate to this whole organization? Many campaigns are set "on the road;" the player-characters spend much of their time travelling from place to place in search of adventure, and it's hard to keep a church-bound priest active in such a campaign. So, here's how to keep the priest in the campaign.

In a campaign, it's often not appropriate for first and second level priests to be assigned as scribes to some small-time village priest. If the DM wants to avoid this, he can assign the character to a third-level priest (especially a physically harmless one, who won't contribute much combat ability to a PC party) who travels. This third-level priest may be a friend and travelling companion of one of the PCs, or may be an unusual priest who prefers to train his subordinates by life on the road.

When the PC reaches third level and is supposed to be assigned his own village, he may instead be given a special mission which will keep him on the road and with the other PCs. For instance, if the PC party typically encounters new monsters or magic, the faith may want the PC priest to stay with them to benefit himself (and the faith as a whole) with these new experiences and knowledges. The PC priest could keep this assignment all the way from third to seventh levels.

At eighth or ninth level, when the PC is supposed to be "settling down" and building a stronghold, he should do so. The DM should work up a whole series of adventures centered around the stronghold, its construction and defense. After the stronghold is built and settled with followers, if the PC priest wants to remain on the road with his allies, he should be able to do so. He must leave most of his followers at the church to operate it, and should take no more than two followers with him. Naturally, the stronghold was built and organized with this in mind, and the priest will still have to return to the stronghold a few times per year in order to sign important papers and set new policies . . . but for the rest of the year he's doing the temple's business on the road.

This can remain the situation for the rest of the priest's career in the campaign. Alternately, as the priest reaches higher levels, the DM may wish to orient the campaign around him and the concerns of his faith; we discuss this in the "Role-Playing" chapter.

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