Knave variant rules: Religion

Art by Hannah Saunders

Interestingly enough, the base Knave rules touch religion only in passing. Ben Milton's draft Knave 2E rules, available to his Patreon's patrons, include new religion mechanics, centered around Saints. However, I came up with my own religion rules for the current (1E) Knave rules.

The main purposes of these rules are to offer game mechanics encouraging the role-playing of fantastic religious devotion in Knave games, and to cater to players who want to play holy men and women. I steered clear of any class mechanics for clerics and paladins, as class rules go against the grain of Knave.

The simplest part of these are clerical spells. These are indistinguishable, mechanically, from any other spells, requiring spellbooks (codices?) to cast. Their religious significance would come from their in-game description, such as being relics of faith, sanctified items, and scrolls of holy scripture.

Additionally, a character may take vows of faith, and dedicate themselves to the service of a God (or gods). A vow must create a challenge in play, but not prevent meaningful adventuring. For example, a vow of Poverty (must donate  90% all wealth to the Church/the needy/sacrifices to the gods, apart from money and magical items used for personal adventuring needs ); vow of Vegetarianism (cannot eat meat; faces issues in overland travel and may require heavier rations in the dungeon); vow of Sacred Wrath (cannot retreat from battles with undead and demons); vow of Clean Hands (cannot steal); vow of Sanctity (cannot disturb quiet dead; can still slay undead and take their treasures, though); Vow of Truth (cannot lie). 

On the other hand, a vow of Pacifism will usually be inappropriate for most games, as it impedes gameplay too much. The other side of the coin is a vow of Celibacy, which will create only minor annoyances unless romantic encounters are a major part of the game, and thus would not work well as a vow.

Adhering to vows for a certain time (as determined by the Referee; a good benchmark is 3 or so adventures), as well as role-playing the character's religion (preaching, praying, and so on), marks the Knave as devout.

Devout characters, as long as they adhere to their vows and faith, enjoy two main mechanical benefits.

The first is prayer. Once a week, a devout Knave may pray to his or her God(s) and receive an Advantage to a single die roll within the next hour.

The second is rebuking undead. Once per encounter with undead, a devout Knave may hold up their holy symbol and proclaim the might of their God(s). All undead in sight of the Knave level or higher must make an Opposed save (Knave's Charisma vs. the undead being's Constitution). Undead who fail this Opposed save cower before the God(s) might and suffer Disadvantage to all rolls against the devout character and his or her allies for 1d6 rounds. At the Referee's discretion, this may apply to demons, or even Fey, as well. Note that certain holy relics may enhance the rebuke, forcing undead to flee. Mighty relics of faith may even turn undead into dust upon a failed Opposed save!

Breaking a vow removes the devout status from the character for at least the 1d6 months and requires penitence (usually an adventure for the God(s)) to regain this status.