Cleric (FiD)

Starfox's Blades in the Dark fan page

You channel divine power through the disciplined study of sacred traditions and the invocation of divine mysteries. Your mastery of theurgy — an art rooted in ritual and ancient knowledge — allows you to evoke miracles through precise words, gestures, and symbols, replicating the circumstances of past divine interventions.

Unlike Saints, who are chosen by divine will, clerics gain their power through structured learning and practice. Most clerics serve a specific deity or faith, but their abilities are tied to their training rather than direct attention from the divine. This makes clerics versatile, able to adapt to different traditions and patrons across their careers.

Clerics often hold positions of authority within organized religions, where their knowledge and power maintain the faith’s structure. However, this professional approach can bring them into conflict with fervent Saints or reformers, who might view their methods as rigid or lacking divine inspiration. Other clerics belong to cults large and small, worshipping as they want and often pretending to be more respectable than they are. A few study divine magic without the backing of organized religion. Sometimes known as astral mages, they usually live dangerous lives.

Touchstones: Thulsa Doom (Conan the Barbarian 1982), Brother Cadfael (Cadfael 1994), Imhotep (The Mummy 1999), Melisandre (Game of Thrones 2012–2019).

Trauma Condition — Enactment

You invoke divine power through learned ceremonies and sacred traditions. You recite scriptures in a liturgical language and use devotions, symbols, and actions carefully selected to display your and your church's power. At a minimum, you require a holy symbol and a rosary to use Powers. For a target to be directly affected by your miracles, they must hear you. You are trained to preach very loudly.

Theurgy does not demand devotion, but divine magic creates expectations in yourself and others. Failing these expectations may result in persecution or a temporary loss of powers in a crisis of faith. This is a code to wrestle with, not a reason for the GM to take your powers away.

• As a cleric of a powerful church, you are called upon to heal the gravely ill child of a prominent noble. You beg to avoid this, lacking the proper powers and abilities, leading the noble to question your faith and devotion to the church.
• Performing a miracle to gain the favor of a powerful noble when others needed your help desperately causes you to doubt your own devotion. This inner conflict clouds your focus, temporarily disrupting your access to divine powers until you atone or reaffirm your dedication.

Special Abilities

Benediction

When an ally you can see Pushes, you can take one Stress give them an immediate blessing. This reduces their cost of pushing to 1 Stress. You cannot Assist that roll.

Community

Gain +1d on all Insight and Resolve action rolls when dealing with people that share your faith and increased effect when using any Power in the presence of a congregation of a size matching the scale of your tier (p. 221) of people who share your system of belief.

Enchanter

When you invent or Craft Alchemicals, Armaments, and Magic Items, take +1d to your roll. You can invent new Designs and Formulas. You begin with one Design or Formula already known.

Judgement

You bless or curse creatures, filling them with positive or negative inclinations. For the next 48 hours, you may Assist (p. 134) and Protect (p. 135) them, even if you are not physically present. Twice per score, you can Assist your crew or Protect an ally without expending stress.

Ritualist

You gain +1d on actions to perform, research, and resist consequences of using Rituals. You can research Procedures for new rituals. You know by heart the arcane Procedure to perform one Ritual up to Complexity 6.

Studied Domains

You can learn any Power Form and use them with divine magic. This lessens the restrictions of Trauma Condition — Enactment, allowing you to learn the forms of Abyss, Air, Animal, Earth, Electricity, Fire, Ice, Metal, Plant, Space, and Water, formerly prohibited.

Ward

You make an area anathema to creatures associated with a specific Form of Power decided when you create the ward. Spend a minute and select a Form to create a ward in an an area based on your tier (p. 221). A ward is obvious and reduces the effective Tier of creatures tied to that Form by 1 for an hour after entering it or when acting against anyone within it. You can create connected wards to cover more ground and overlapping wards to protect against multiple different Forms in the same area.

Additional Playbook

Select another playbook. You gain immediate access to its Inventory and XP conditions. From now on, you can choose its Special Abilities. You can take this special ability multiple times, each time selecting a new playbook. Prerequisite: To select a playbook, you need an action rating of one in each of its starting actions.

Powers

You can learn these powers, expending a Special Ability for each. You cannot select powers marked in red.

Abyss, Air, Animal, Barrier, Darkness, Death, Earth, Electricity, Fire, Ice, Flux, Illusion, Kinesis, Life, Light, Metal, Mind, Order, Plant, Space, Time, Water.

Divine Associates and Adversaries

˄ ˅ Halim, a monastic.

˄ ˅ Kavi, a politician.

˄ ˅ Lenar, a cleric.

˄ ˅ Majan, a saint.

˄ ˅ Solen, a sage.

Inventory

☐☐ Liturgical Robe.

☐ Potent hand weapon.

☐ Scroll.

☐ Shield.

• Liturgical Robe ☐☐: Extravagant robe embroidered with mystic symbols, along with a ceremonial hat and other religious symbols such as prayer beads and a censer. Reduces the stress cost of powers to 1. Playbook.
• Potent Hand Weapon ☐: A masterwork hand weapon, often a mace or your patron's favored weapon. This weapon has been blessed making it potent. The potency allows you to damage supernatural targets.
• Scroll ☐: Allows a single use of a power available to your playbook but not known to you. Playbook.
• Shield ☐: A defensive weapon carried in one hand. Functions as armor and stacks with other armor. Cannot be used with a heavy or off-hand weapon.

XP

• Every time you roll a desperate action, mark xp in that action's attribute.

At the end of each session, for each item below, mark 1 xp (in your playbook or an attribute) or 2 xp if that item occurred multiple times.

• You addressed a challenge using powers or diplomacy.
• You expressed your beliefs, drives, heritage, or background.
• You struggled with issues from your vice or traumas during the session.

Starting Actions

Skirmish 1

Study 2

4 points by choice, no higher than 2 in any one.