Piety System

Piety Scores

Being a god’s champion carries no benefits in and of itself. Each god’s description paints a picture of the god’s typical champion, including ideas for how a player character might end up in that position and provides ideals that represent the god’s interests.

The gods do reward the devotion of their champions, though. The strength of your devotion to your god is measured by your piety score. As you increase that score, you gain blessings from your god. Piety has nothing to do with faith or belief, except insofar as a person’s thoughts and ideals drive them to action in a god’s service. Your piety score reflects the actions you have taken in your god’s service—actions that the god richly rewards.

When you choose a god to worship as a beginning character, your piety score related to that god is 1. Your piety score increases by 1 when you do something to advance the god’s interests or behave in accordance with the god’s ideals. The gods expect great deeds from their champions, so your piety score typically increases only when you accomplish a significant goal (such as the completion of an adventure), make a significant sacrifice of your own self-interest, or otherwise when the DM sees fit.

Each god’s description includes a discussion of the god’s goals and ideals, which your DM uses to judge whether you earn an increase in your piety score.

Piety Rewards

The gods bestow favors on those who prove their devotion. When your piety score crosses certain thresholds—3, 10, 25, and 50—you gain a benefit detailed in the sections describing the gods’ champions. If your piety score exceeds and then falls below one of those thresholds, you lose the benefit you gained at the higher tier.