Godlings and Magic

I’m rethinking how magic and religion might work in a fantasy RPG. The long and short of it is this:

A godling is a formless being with magical power. It can be a divinity, a ghost, an ancestor spirit, the manifestation of some natural force, or any other supernatural construction.
Each godling has an altar, a specific location which serves as its earthly home. Although godlings are formless and unseen, they do reside in the physical world. Some godlings may have multiple altars.
Godlings are not omnipotent or omnipresent. A godling has access to power beyond the mundane, but its extent is limited and varies greatly from one godling to the next.
Mortals may bargain with a godling to form a pact, performing its rituals and carrying out its aims in exchange for magical power. This is distinct from ordinary veneration and appeasement, which are expected from all mortals.
Some godlings might have a cult of organized worship around them. Membership in one godling’s cult does not preclude the veneration of other godlings within their respective domains.
Gods are just bigger, better godlings. Their power is vast and global, making them unapproachable to ordinary mortals. While private veneration is customary, bargaining with the gods is the responsibility of an entire community.

On reflection, this seems startlingly similar to the conception of kami in Japanese Shintō. This is unintentional, but I’m not totally surprised. A major influence in my thinking is Dr. Bret Devereaux’s blog series on polytheistic religion. While his focus is on ancient Greek and Roman practice, the underlying logic seems to be decently common worldwide.

Why go to the trouble? I have three reasons.

For one, I’ve always been unsatisfied with the wizard archetype — an “arcane professor” who casts spells out of a book and is defined by their education. In D&D parlance, I’m more interested in the cleric and warlock — magic users who derive their power from supernatural beings.

The second reason is that I like conceptualizing gods and godlings as non-player characters. This makes them much more comprehensible at the gaming table. NPCs have wants, needs, likes, and dislikes. They have personalities, agendas, ideas, and schemes. The only difference is that you’re giving this particular NPC access to some magic they can offer as a reward for service.

Finally, the search for a godling’s altar can be a quest hook all on its own. Scatter a bunch of altars across a megadungeon or hexcrawl, put them in your rumor tables, and players will be motivated to go find them. This fits a low-magic setting where even having one spell is a big deal, which is generally my preference.

To demonstrate how this might work, I’ve written a handful of godlings.

The Wode Knight

The Wode Knight is watchkeeper of the old forest south of your home village. Not only the trees — all within the forest is her domain.

Altar
Deep in the thickest part of the wood, a ring of standing stones sits in a clearing. Her voice sounds like the song of dozens of birds. She is prideful and protetive, secretive and fearful of outsiders.

The Wode Knight appreciates libations of milk, honey, or wine. She especially appreciates animal sacrifice, and will grant you a single use of one of her spells.

Pact
You renounce the wearing of any metal when you make a pact with the Wode Knight. The Wode Knight is willing to lend you one spell, at first. She may grant you more with further acts of devotion.

Once per day, if you daub your forehead with dirt, you may cast a spell.

Spells
Plant Growth: The vegetation around you becomes thick and overgrown, an impossible tangle preventing movement.
Speak with Animals: For one hour, you are able to converse with animals.
Bird Song: Choose a nearby bird. Give it a message, specify a recipient, and it will immediately fly to deliver that message.

Wrath
Wrath lasts for 1d6 days — rolled with Disadvantage for minor slights, or Advantage for more grievous insults. Abandoning a pact results in punishment lasting 2d6 days.

For the duration of your punishment, you may not enter the old forest. If you do, nature itself will rise against you. You will be swarmed by insects, strangled by vines, drowned in water, and attacked by wild animals.

In addition, roll 1d6.
1-2: Each day, 1d6 wooden items are cracked, warped, and rendered unusable.
3-4: Vines, roots, and other low-lying plants attempt to strangle you in your sleep each night for the duration of your punishment.
5-6: An insect swarm is sent to devour you and your companions.

The Vulture

The Vulture is ravenous — he craves the flavor of rotting flesh, and cherishes its putrid stench. He will make do with any carrion, but the human cadaver is sweetest. His hunger will never be satiated.

Altar
A human corpse is impaled on a stake. It is always rotting, but somehow never fully decomposes. The Vulture speaks through the mouth of this corpse. He does not want you to know how desperate he is.

The Vulture appreciates offerings of carrion left at the altar’s base. If you leave him an offering of human flesh, he will grant you a single use of one of his spells.

Pact
To make a pact with the Vulture is to lend him your mouth and stomach. From now on, you hunger only for rotting flesh. The Vulture is willing to lend you one spell, at first. He may grant you more with further acts of devotion.

Once per day, if you devour a meal of carrion, you may cast a spell.

Spells
Cure Wounds: Restore 1d6 HP.
Resist Poison: You are rendered immune from any poisons or venoms for one hour.
Speak with Dead: You may ask 1d6 questions of a corpse or funerary urn. The answers you receive do not have to be truthful.

Wrath
Wrath lasts for 1d6 days — rolled with Disadvantage for minor slights, or Advantage for more grievous insults. Abandoning a pact results in punishment lasting 2d6 days.

If you had made a pact, you immediately lose your hunger for carrion. In addition, roll 1d6.
1-2: You become violently sick and must spend the duration of your punishment resting and recuperating.
3-4: Each day, 1d6 rations spoil and become inedible.
5-6: You are unable to heal your wounds for the duration of your punishment.

The Firekeeper

Ordinarily, death releases soul from body, allowing it to transition into the afterlife. But sometimes, the corpse becomes a prison. The Firekeeper is but one of many psychopomp godlings tasked with assisting the unhappy dead.

Altar
The Firekeeper’s mountaintop columbarium is maintained by a small group of village priests. Her sacred pyre has been lit for generations.

The Firekeeper appreciates the destruction of the undead. She especially appreciates the bringing of undead corpses to her altar so they might be given proper funerary rites. If you leave her such an offering, she will grant you a single use of one of her spells.

Pact
When you make a pact with the Firekeeper, you renounce all necromancy or defilement of the dead. The Firekeeper is willing to lend you one spell, at first. She may grant you more with further acts of devotion.

Once per day, if you carry a lit torch dedicated to the Firekeeper, you may cast a spell.

Spells
Banish: 1d6 undead become ordinary corpses for one hour.
Protection: Attack rolls have Disadvantage against 1d6 creatures of your choice for one hour.
Pyrokinesis: A fire forms in your hands, lasting for one hour or until dispelled. It deals 1d6 damage when flung at an enemy.

Wrath
Wrath lasts for 1d6 days — rolled with Disadvantage for minor slights, or Advantage for more grevious insults. Abandoning a pact results in punishment lasting 2d6 days.

For the duration of your punishment, you are forbidden from columbariums, tombs, graves, and other places where the dead have come to rest. If you violate this prohibition, the Firekeeper will set you alight.

In addition, roll 1d6.
1-2: Even the smallest, safest fires — like candles — will sear you for 1d6 damage for the duration of your punishment.
3-4: Your attributes are reduced by 1d6 for the duration of your punishment.
5-6: You are forcibly put to sleep for the duration of your punishment.

Thank you to my friend Vidcom for the idea of the Firekeeper!

Godlings and Magic

The Wode Knight

The Vulture

The Firekeeper

Further Reading

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