RPG-a-Day #7: Mercy

Mercy

Minor Goddess

Domains: Mercy

As her name implies, Mercy is the personification of mercy, and she roams battlefields and areas of strife and disaster, either bestowing merciful deaths upon mortals who are beyond help but suffering from wounds or illness, or rewarding those heroes who show mercy to their foes by allowing them to surrender or otherwise quit the field of battle. She also bestows her blessing on heroes who help the helpless and defenseless during times of crisis.

   Mercy is worshipped in border territories and in areas prone to natural disasters. Shrines devoted to her are few and far between, as she numbers her followers in the tens of thousands. A secondary shrine devoted to her can be found in temples devoted to gods of Healing or Peace. She is also honored in connection with few gods of Death.

 

Gaining the Attention of Mercy

When the character shows mercy to a foe, the DM should roll 1d100. If the character is a worshipper of Mercy, on a roll of 1-20 the goddess rewards him or her with a +1 bonus to d20 rolls until the next sunrise. If the character is a non-worshipper, the bonus is gained on a roll of 1-5.

   If the being to whom mercy was granted chooses to attack instead of retreating, all attacks are against the merciful character suffer a -4 penalty to hit and damage, while the character who extended the mercy gains a +2 bonus to hit and damage against the attacker.

   If the merciful character attacks, unprovoked, the being upon whom mercy was bestowed, the character is immediately subjected to the goddess' curse, which inflicts a -4 penalty to all d20 rolls until he or she finds a way to appease the angered goddess.

Mercy's Clergy

Mercy's followers number around 30,000 worldwide, so her clergy is very small. They are either highly mobile--and often found as part of adventuring groups--or they tend the isolated shrines devoted in her honor.

   Her priests are expected to assist those in need, espcially those who have been injured in battle or displaced by natural disasters. Sometimes that assistance requires the merciful end to someone whose injuries or illness put them beyond the priest's ability to ease their pain and save their lives. This is why shrines to her are often found in temples devoted to Death gods, tucked away in side chamber.

   Her priests are granted all the standard class benefits outlined in the core rules, but as a minor goddess she is only able to grant one domain when it comes to the selection of bonus spells, the Mercy domain which is specific to her clergy. Another difference is that her clerics may choose between an orison or a spell of the appropriate level. The selected orison always fills the bonus 1st-level spell slot. The open bonus spot can then be filled with any domain spell of a lower level.

  

Mercy Clerical Spell Domain

Bonus Spells

1st Purify Food and Drink, Deathwatch 

2nd Virtue, Death Knell

3rd Detect Poison, Cure Serious Wounds

4th Cure Minor Wounds, Neutralize Poison

5th Create Water, Mark of Justice

6th Mending, Heal

7th Detect Magic, Destruction

8th Light, Mass Cure Critical Wounds

9th Resistance, Mass Heal