Oaths and other divine favours

Something I want to try regarding swearing oaths and asking for divine favours.

The blog carnival this month is On my word: Making and breaking promises, vows and oaths hosted by me, so consider this my own contribution to the carnival.

There is also a conclave bandwagon thingy going on, but seeing how the pope got elected yesterday, I don't think this still qualifies.

Anyway, if Gods are real, swearing upon one seems like a big ask. You're basically saying 'I promise I'll do this thing, and if I don't this other unrelated guy will beat me up.' If someone gave me that responsibility I'd be quite annoyed. 

It is, however, also iconic and I would love for all PCs to have the option to interact with the divine in this way. So what to do?

Reaction rolls seem like an obvious answer to me: They are an easy way to elide all the variables that might make a God feel inclined to aid you, tell you to sod off or just ignore you alltogether. So here is a way to implement the reaction roll as a way to determine divine favour. 

Procedure

1. Roll dice

Whenever a character swears upon a God or invokes them roll 2d6.

2. Modify the roll 

Apply the lower modifier of the one for Level of Sacrifice and the one for Relevance of Sacrifice.

Level of Sacrifice 

-3 Nothing (you greedy bastard)

+0 Symbolic offering (doesn't cost you anything or is easily replaced)

+1 Significant offering (this isn't easily replaced either because it is rare or valuable to you)

+3 Lasting offering (this is irreplacable and important to you)

Relevance of Sacrifice

-3 Sacriligious offering (like if Achilles would have sullied the river Scamander and then been like 'here's an offering for you'.)

-1 Unrelated offering (like if you'd sacrifice a sword to a harvest diety.)

+1 Relevant offering (like giving the harvest diety boring ass grain.) 

+3 Favoured offering (like sacrificing a virgin and a bunch of animals in a giant wicker man to a harvest diety that is really into that shit.)

3. Consult chart

Compare the result of the 2d6 roll after applying the lower of the modifiers for Level of Sacrifice and Relevance of Sacrifice.

2 or less: God has it out for you, think Poseidon's hatred for Odysseus, or the river Scamander trying to kill Achilles. This is why you don't swear oaths lightly.

3-5: God punishes you, imagine if instead of being denied passage home for 10 years, Odysseus only had to deal with one of his many trials, or maybe Scamander doesn't outright try to drown Achilles, but does cause him to trip, giving one of his enemies an opportunity to hurt him. Nothing different here for oaths.

6-8: God ignores you. What it says on the tin. 

9-11: God aids you, like Athena causing terror in the hearts of the suitors Odysseus attacks for squandering his wealth and courting his wife, or Aphrodite breaking Menelaos' sword on Paris' helmet. For oaths you'll get a positive omen and God will actually fuck you up if you break the oath.

12 or more: God's got your back, like Athena continuously aiding Odysseus on his trip, or Aphrodite breaking the helmet strap when Menelaos grapples Paris and then spiriting Paris away when even after all that help Menelaos proves too much for Paris to defeat. In the case of swearing an oath, you'll get a physical mark to show God will ensure you keep your word. Like stigmata if you're into that. 

Application

I envision using this procedure with the sort of animistic world I described in my Animism and Dungeons post. So the domains of various Gods are more physical like locations (e.g. the riverbed of the river Scamander), so a dungeon would be the domain of the dungeon god (like one of the six wonderful ones in this Nothic's Eye post).

The implied worldbuilding, that swearing on like a tree spirit is a lot less impressive then swearing upon the Light of Day, is in my opinion a bonus. Being effectively exiled from, e.g. the valley a village is in, because you broke an oath sworn upon the diety

After initial contact gives me the first reaction, I would probably use that for the entire duration of the interaction, which in this animism case would mean while you are within their domain. 

Sam Dobler suggested in a comment on that Animism and Dungeons post to use reaction rolls for dungeons when players initially enter them, to determine how hostile the dungeon is. Certain actions within the dungeon could then cause hostility to increase or decrease. I would probably do the same with interactions with Gods in their domains in general. 

Legwork

While working on the Star's Prison I am using the free 'Designing Dungeons' course by Josh McCrowell and Warren D. to help me structure this massive project. In chapter 3 of that course they talk about potentially adding a dungeon lord to you dungeon, a concept nicely similar to a dungeon god. So I made one for the first three levels of the Star's Prison: The Sovereign Tree, a giant tree growing on the arena floor of Level 2, whose branches cover part of the arena stands of Level 1 and whose roots have bored into level 3 below. 

The Sovereign Tree, Bloodvine, Old Strangler, Redding Root

Domain: Levels 1, 2 and 3 of the Star's Prison

Favoured Offering: Fresh blood, your sworn devotion 

Taboo: Harming plantlife, disobediance

Sacrament: Eating raw meat, respecting hierarchy

Stigmata: Cords originating from the name of your neck wrapping around your body beneath your skin, as if roots grow underneath.

Who should rule? The greatest, and I'll prove that to any who dare challenge me on that.

A gigantic strangler fig, having usurped a whatever grew beneath it. Their shrine is bowl of roots within the hollow left by after its predecessor decayed into fertile ground. A benevolent ruler, to all who respect their authority, though completely uncompromising and controlling. 

Laws depending on disposition:

2 or less: Your presence is unacceptable. If you touch a plant the Sovereign Tree will know of your location and try to strangle you with its roots. They might take a while to get to you, are slower than you can run, but approach you from everywhere that is reasonable (so from above or the sides on Level 3, from below or above (aerial roots) on Level 2 and from below or the sides on Level 1).

3-5: Don't run near vegetation. Everything that grows here gets constantly in your way: roots trip feet, equipment snags behind branches. If you run you are guaranteed to fall and get momentarily stuck. 

6-8: Mind the Taboos. Other than that you're good. 

9-11: Any opponent of yours has to abide the law 'Don't run near vegetation'. 

12 or more: You are an honoured guest and are under the protection of the Sovereign Tree. 

Disposition is 2d6 upon entering the dungeon with relevant modifiers (so -3 is they do so without sacrificing anything). Goes up 1 with each unique instance of a sacrament (so you can't get points each and every time you respect the Emperor Chick, just the one time) goes down 1 for each unique instance of a taboo.