Love

This god is the patron of love in all its aspects: Romantic love, desire, affection, lust, infatuation, the love between husband and wife, the love shared between close friends, and so on.

Priests of the god of love are charged with promoting love whenever possible -- especially by removing obstacles to it. When star-crossed youths wish to marry, priests of this sect interfere to convince their families of the rightness of it. When a marriage collapses under the weight of distrust or disinterest, the priests try to counsel the spouses into a reconciliation. When one of the faithful falls in love with someone who doesn't reciprocate that love, the priests use every means at their disposal (from trickery to charm spells) to make the disinterested party fall in love with the more devout character.

Lesser gods of this attribute will be gods of only one of the above aspects. One god might be the god of Desire, another the god of Romance, a third the god of Infatuations.

A god of all the aspects of love is likely to be female. A god of just one of the aspects is as likely to be male as female.

The priests of this god are on good terms with the priests of Birth/Children, Divinity of Mankind, Elemental Forces, Healing, Marriage, and Peace. The priests of this god dislike the priests of Evil.

Alignment: The deity is good; at the DM's discretion, he may be chaotic good, neutral good, or lawful good, but tends to be chaotic good. Regardless of his alignment, his priests may be of any good alignment. The flock may be of any neutral or good alignment.

Minimum Ability Scores: Wisdom 10, Charisma 13. Wisdom or Charisma 16 means +5% experience; Wisdom and Charisma 16 means +10% experience.

Races Allowed: Dwarves, elves, gnomes, half-elves, halflings, humans.

Nonweapon and Weapon Proficiencies: Non weapon Pro fi ciencies Required: Herbalism. Non weapon Proficiencies Recommended: Reading/Writing, Religion, Dancing. Weapon Proficiencies Required: None. Nonweapon Proficiency Group Crossovers: Priest, General.

Duties of the Priest: Guidance, Marriage. Vigilance: Priests of this sect believe in marriages of love, not of convenience or politics, and so conspire to keep young lovers together when those lovers might be parted by their families' wishes or by the prejudices and responsibilities of their social classes.

Weapon and Armor Restrictions: Weapons Permitted: Bow (short), club, lasso, mancatcher, net. Armor Permitted: None; no shields. Oriental Campaigns: Also daikyu. All together, these constitute Poor combat abilities.

Other Limitations: Priests of this sect receive four-sided dice for hit points, not eight-sided. Also, unless (at DM's discretion) this god is a deity of pure and platonic relationships, a priest of this sect may be unmarried when he enters the priesthood (1st level) but must have been wed by the time he reaches 8th experience level # to do otherwise is to deny the god his due, and constitutes a betrayal of goals from the "Priests and Punishment" section of the "Role-Playing" chapter.

Spheres of Influence: Major Access to All, Animal, Charm, Healing, Necromantic, Protection, Summoning. Minor Access to Creation, Divination, Guardian, Plant, Sun, and Weather.

Powers: Charm/Fascination (as per the Designing Faiths chapter). Incite Berserker Rage (as per the Designing Faiths chapter). Inspire Fear (as per the Designing Faiths chapter). Soothing Word (as per the Designing Faiths chapter). Turn Undead (same as the Cleric ability).

Followers and Strongholds: The followers are received at 7th level, and consist of three third-level priests and six first-level priests of the same order, plus one third-level mage and two first-level mages who act as consultants, one third-level fighter and two first-level fighters who act as guards, and ten Normal Men and Women, each with a Nonweapon Proficiency which is of use to the temple's functions (Etiquette, Local History, and Reading/Writing especially). The priest may take the following on adventures: Three priests (only one of whom may be third-level), one mage, one fighter, and four Normal Men and Women of his choice. The priesthood will pay for half of the cost of stronghold construction at 7th level. The stronghold must act as a sanctuary for young lovers who come here fleeing the retribution of angry families. For this reason, these strongholds are often built with secret chambers and quarters for those who take sanctuary.

Possible Symbols: Girdle (the woman's belt of the ancient world, not the modern accoutrement).

Notes: The weapons chosen for this order were chosen based on the appearance of these weapons in stories about mythological love-gods, or because of their usefulness in capturing mates.

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