Faction Spotlight: The Temple
Another beloved faction of Tamriel is the Temple. This general term can refer to many of the temples found throughout the continent, including the Temple of the Nine Divines, the Tribunal Temple, or many of the other deities and pantheons worshiped by the Tamrielic inhabitants. Instead of going over the basics of Radiant Quests, Ranks, and Rewards, we're going to skip right into the good stuff. If you want to refresh yourself in any of these areas, check back to some of the other recent Faction Spotlight posts.
THE TEMPLE
Temples of the Eight Divines (and sometimes Nine Divines) are found in every major settlement throughout Tamriel, especially in provinces that have been influenced by the Imperial Empire. Also known as the Imperial Cult, the temples are the missionary arm of the great faiths which combines the worship of the Aedra Akatosh, Dibella, Arkay, Zenithar, Mara, Stendarr, Kynareth, Julianos, and sometimes, the hero-god Tiber Septim, who is known as Talos. The cult provides worship and services for all of these gods at the temples and shrines found throughout Tamriel.
There are other temples found in Tamriel, such as the Tribunal Temple which is popular in Morrowind, or the Temple of Jone and Jode found throughout Elsweyr.
FAVORED ATTRIBUTES
The Temple favors Personality and Willpower. The temple typically offers positions to those who share the same values. Those who want spread the word of the divines, heal the sick, help the poor, or purge evil from the land often volunteer themselves to the temple.
Ranks
1 Layman
2 Novice
3 Initiate
4 Acolyte
5 Adept
6 Curate
7 Disciple
8 Diviner
9 Oracle
10 Primate
PERKS
NON-MEMBERS
People can go to any temple and receive a blessing by donating to the temple. They can also pay for services such as healing, or curing poison and diseases.
LEVEL 1
ETERNAL DEVOTION
Upon joining the temple, you can pray to the temples deity to receive their blessing. This blessing stays with you until you pray to a new deity.
LEVEL 3
HUMILITY'S REWARD
When you reach 3rd rank level, you can receive free aid from the disciples. Each day, they will freely apply a cure disease or cure poison spell to you.
LEVEL 5
BENEVOLANT HANDS
At 5th rank level, whenever you gain advantage whenever you make a Medicine check.
LEVEL 7
SACRED HEALING
Beginning at 7th rank level, whenever you restore hit points with your hit die during a short rest, you regain 1 additional die worth of hit points.
LEVEL 10
ETERNAL SOUL
When you reach 10th rank level, you have been blessed by the god's to cheat death for the chance to continue to spread your virtue. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, instead of falling unconscious, you drop to 1 hit point instead. Once you use this perk, you can't use it again until you complete a long rest.
RADIANT QUESTS
The Temple has 4 different types of radiant quests, collection, delivery, exorcism, and raid, each described in detail at the end of this section.
RADIANT QUESTS TYPES
Radiant quests are short stories that are resolved quickly through a series of dice rolls. The Radiant Quests table provides ideas for types of missions that can be handed out, or you can create quests that suit the current setting in your game. Below are a few different examples of quests and some ideas on how to resolve them.
Collection. As part of the temple, one your most common tasks are to go out and collect donations or items for the temple. These menial tasks are an important part of any organization, as it allows the temple to continue to provide their much sought after services. These quests are resolved by a series of 2 or 3 quick rolls, depending on the description of the radiant quest.
Ranks 1-10
Roll 1. Determines how quickly you find the item you are looking for. If you are simply collecting donations from people around town you automatically succeed this roll. If your are foraging for herbs or hunting animals for reagents, you must succeed A DC 12 check to find the items quickly. On a failed check, the character may or may not find the item, or exhausts themselves while searching. The character can add their Investigation, Nature, Survival skill to the roll, as appropriate.
Roll 2. Determines how successful you are at retrieving the item. Collecting donations may require persuasion or intimidation, where as collecting leather may require you to hunt deer or wolves. Determine the DC based on the difficulty of the task, 10 being easy, 15 being medium, and 20 being hard. Allow the character to add any skill modifiers that would be appropriate.
Roll 3. Determines how successful the character is at returning the item. A DC 10 allows the character to return the item without compromise on a successful check. A failed check may result in returning damaged goods, partial donations, or simply losing the item. If the character had difficulties retrieving the item, they have disadvantage on this roll.
Reward. If the character successful returns the goods, they receive an amount of gold equal to the amount listed in the reward column of the Radiant Quest table. If they are exceptional at their services, they may be rewarded with additional materials thematic to their quest, like healing potions or additional funds.
Reputation. If the item is successfully retrieved, the character gains +1 standing with the temple. If the item is not returned or is damaged, the character does not receive a reputation reward. If the character managed to offend a patron or fail to retrieve the item, the lose -1 standing with the temple.
Delivery. Relatively simple requests, deliveries require you to bring an item or a service to a patron of the temple. These quests are not the most lucrative, but they are quick and relatively easy. They are solved with 2 dice rolls.
Ranks 1-10
Roll 1. Determines how quickly you deliver the item or service. You can add your Athletics skill modifier to this roll. Remember this roll, as it will be added to the next roll to determine the end result.
Roll 2. Determines how successful the delivery goes. Perhaps your kind words encourages the patron to donate to the temple, but maybe you dropped the item, or offended the receiver. If you are interacting with other people, you can add your personality modifier to this roll.
Reward. If the combined total of your rolls are greater than 20, you successfully complete the quest and earn an amount of gold equal to the amount listed in the reward column of the Radiant Quest table. If the result is less than 20, something went wrong with they delivery, and you are rewarded with 5 less gold for every 5 points less than 20, to a minimum of 0 gold.
Reputation. You can gain +1 standing for a successful mission, or 0 reputation for an unsuccessful one. If the mission is utterly failed, you may lose -1 standing, as decided by the DM.
Exorcism. Purging evil from the innocent is an important goal for any member of the temple. Exorcisms are serious rituals that are performed by both individuals and groups, depending on the severity of the possession. Sometimes these types of quests will require you to kill an evil wraith, while other times you may need to remove a spirit that has enthralled another being or item. These quests are solved by a quickly rolling dice under a time limit.
Ranks 1-10
Roll 1. A DC 14 Religion check determines how familiar you are with the being you are attempting to purge
Game. You have 20 seconds to banish the entity back to the plane of Oblivion. If you were successful on the previous roll, you add an additional 10 seconds to your time. When the player is ready, the DM starts the timer and the player must repeatedly roll a d6 as quickly as possible. Each time they roll a 6, they dispel a portion of the being. After 6 cumulative rolls of 6, the entity is successfully removed.
Reward. If you successfully banish the spirit, you earn an amount of gold equal to the amount listed in the reward column of the Radiant Quest table.
Reputation. If you successfully banish the spirit you gain +1 standing with the temple.
Raid. Banding together to take out threatening creatures is the most dangerous task a member of the temple will participate in. These raids are made up of temple crusaders and healers, mercenaries from the Fighter's Guild and Mages Guild, and town guards or local knights.
Ranks 1-10
Raids are resolved in a short game that involves the entire table.
Roll 1. Determines how familiar or capable your group is at fighting this particular enemy. Roll a d20. If the result is 11 or higher, you gain an advantage in the game.
Game. In this game, the raiders (the player) will roll a couple of dice and add the result together. Then the villains (the other people at the table) will attempt to beat that score. The raiders win if the villains are unable to beat your score three times.
The player starts the game by rolling 2d6. If the player succeeded on the first roll before the game started, they can re-roll one of the die results, taking whichever result they prefer. After the rolls are complete, add the total together for get the goal number. This goal is what the villains need to roll against. Next, the player chooses 'Higher' or 'Lower', which indicates if the villains have to roll an amount that is higher or lower than the goal.
Starting with the person to the players left, they will also roll 2d6 and compare their score to the goal. This continues around the table, including the DM, until there are either three cumulative losses or successes.
If the player chooses Higher and a villain rolls equal to or less than the goal, the player wins. If they roll higher, the villain wins.
If player chooses Lower and a villain rolls equal to or greater than the goal, the player wins. If they roll lower, the villain wins.
For example, Sophie rolls a 12 on the first roll, granting her an advantage on the next roll. She then rolls her 2d6 and gets a 1 and a 3. Next, she rerolls the 3 and gets a 4. She decides to go with the lower amount of 4 (1 + 3), and chooses Lower, indicating that the villains have to roll an amount lower than 4 to win. Carlos rolls next, getting a 2 and a 2, for a total of 4. Since the number is equal to 4, Sophie wins this round. Andrew is next and rolls a 4 and a 3 for a total of 7. Since the number is greater than 4, Sophie wins again. Stephanie rolls a 1 and a 2, for a total of 3. The number is less than 4, and the villains win this round. Finally, Luanne rolls a 3 and a 5, which means Sophie has collected 3 total wins, winning the game.
Reward. If the player wins the game, the player earn an amount of gold equal to the amount listed in the reward column of the Radiant Quest table. If the player loses the game, no reward is received.
Reputation. The player gains +1 standing for a successful mission, or 0 reputation for an unsuccessful one.
TEMPLE BLESSINGS
Every temple offers blessings to anyone that is willing to make a donation to the temple. The donation must be an amount equal to or greater than 100 gold. This blessing stays with the character for 1 day for every 100 gold donated, up to 1 week. For example, a donation of 300 gold will give a blessing for 3 days.
The blessing that is given is dependent on the main deity that is worshiped at the temple. Although every temple allows worship of any of the divines, a Temple of Dibella only offers the Dibella's Kiss blessing.
NINE DIVINE BLESSINGS
Jaws of Akatosh. Your speed increase by 10 feet.
Breath of Arkay. You receive an amount of Temporary Hit points equal to twice your character level.
Dibella's Kiss. You have advantage on any saving throws or skill checks that use Personality.
Scales of Julianos. You have advantage on any saving throws or skill checks that use Intelligence.
Kynareth's Way. You have advantage on any saving throws or skill checks that use Agility.
Wisdom of Mara. You have advantage on any saving throws or skill checks that use Willpower.
Heart of Stendarr. You have advantage on any saving throws or skill checks that use Endurance.
Fist of Talos. You have advantage on any saving throws or skill checks that use Strength.
Zenithar's Ear. You gain 2 luck points.
