Acolyte
Description
An acolyte, cleric, priest, whatever you want to refer to them as is a holy man from any various religion who has learned to sync themself with their deity, whomever that may be, and channel that power into performing minor miracles. Acolytes are not capable of many of the things depicted in say the Christian bible, that would be over their head by an order of sheer magnitude, however with concentration, time, and meditation they can do many things we would expect a super natural priest to do, like heal wounds, cure disease, bless objects to a very limited effect, remove blindness, deafness, or crippledness, so on an so forth. In short they are magical healers.
Acolytes are also effected on the premesis of 'holiness'. That is to say, an Acolyte is effected by the amount of goodness they drip with. Dark characters can't even be Acolytes, Neutral Acolytes have some what hampered powers, Heros are the typical in Acolyte power, and Heros whom have taken a vow to never kill (note that undead are already dead) a living thing hold more power than others. Naturally a Hero that is a complete pacifist that won't even fight past basic defensive manuevers wields great power. For future reference these four classifications will be listed as "Neutral, Hero, Benefactor, and Pacifist" respectively. Naturally as dark characters are not allowed, dark religions are also not allowed. You could probably have a Wiccan Acolyte, but not a Satanic one.
Acolytes are a magical class, and as such can not be combined with a fighting class, but if this is ever lifted for any reason they can still NEVER be slayers! SO THERE.
Abilities:
Heal-
Healing is the most basic of the Acolyte's powers, and likely the most desirable. Though you might be thinking of the typical "D&D" instant healing, that is not what you are getting here. To heal another character the acolyte needs time and concentration, as all they are really doing is speeding up the target's NATURAL healing ability through sheer force of will (which means it will also leave scars, sorry!). They can do this to themselves. Logically, the worse the wound the longer this process takes and any tissue that could not be regenerated normally won't be by this ability (though if you have the missing tissue you could hold it to the stump during the healing process to reattach it). During the healing process the Acolyte can not perform any other action except aiming their open palmed hands at the target (who also must be feasabley still, but can be doing other things) and praying, chanting, or whatever may pertain to their religion (though this not be nessicarily out loud). The healer must also be with in at least three feet of the wound to heal it, and remain in three feet through out the process. Needless to say, that if this is interupted, say by being tackled, the wound(s) will have only healed slightly. The acolyte must also do everything in their power not to be distracted from their task. While they most certainly can, it is hard to ignore being shot at, the hordes of undead closing on you, or the twenty foot tall demon beast giving you that loving little grin only a few feet away.
The following are some exampled of how long it would take a neutral acolyte to heal a wound. Heros can heal in half the time of Neutrals, Benefactors in half the time of Heros, and Pacifists in half the time of Benefactors (rounding is unnessicary, half a second is a legitimate measurement of time). Note, a larger more Stalwart person would take longer as there is more flesh to heal and a smaller person not as long as their is less flesh to heal. Typically it takes half time to just 'stop the bleeding'. Also, for every completed quest the amount of time the healing takes is reduced by twenty five percent. Any healing that takes less than half a second can be done with a forceful glance.
A paper cut or small bruise would take a neutral about eight seconds to heal. A hero four, a benefactor two, and a pacifist one.
A large cut or bruise would take a neutral about thirty seconds.
Your typical knife or arrow stab wound would take a neutral about one minute and twenty seconds.
A nasty wound, in this case a gash from the elbow to the wrist that went as deep as the bone or a gun shot wound would take a Neutral about three minutes to heal. A hero half that, one minute thirty seconds. A benefactor half of that, fourty five seconds, and a Pacifist half of that twenty two and a half seconds.
Reattaching a severed limb or healing a damaged organ (including a slit throat) would take a neutral five minutes.
Healing a wound that has made the afflicted body part reminiscent of hamburger meat would take about seven minutes for a neutral
Healing an impaling or deep, open wound, or a large hole in some one's stomach would take ten minutes. Assuming they can live the five minutes for you to stop the bleeding.
Things like being cut in half, decapitation, or being thrown into a giant blender would normally be far beyond the ability of an acolyte. Things like that would take twenty plus minutes to complete, and the individual to be healed would have died within that time.
This may vary from QM to QM based on their own judgements of how bad a wound is, though please keep it uniform.
Regrowth -
A Pacifist must have completed at least one quest, a Benefactor two, a Hero three, or a neutral four to unlock this power. The name is as it suggests. Double the time of normal healing to be able to replace missing tissue that would not normally regenerate on it's own. Remember, the person must still be alive to do this.
Cure disease/poison -
Naturally, this depends on the disease. A cold is easier to remove than Ebola. A brown recluse bite is easier to nullify than a black mamba's. It works the same way as healing. Time, patience, and concentration are needed, only if this is interupted all the time and effort that went into it are naught and the poison or sickness can stand to retake it's hold (though the efforts of the Acolyte, depending on the sickness, may have given them a fighting chance). Typically, a cold or minor poison would take a neutral an hour to cure, a moderate illness or venom like a cobra's could take upwards of six hours, where as a major illness or venom, like HIV could take days. Some illness will be well past the abilities of an Acolyte with few completed quests (like say Ebola, or a the venom of an other worldly demon). Vampirism could be considered a disease, but a Pacifist must have completed at least one quest, a Benefactor two, a Hero three, or a neutral four to cure an infected, and even then the individual must either be willing or restrained as it should be treated as a major illness, something that could take days. And frankly, sometimes the infected doesn't HAVE days. As with healing, the type of Acolyte and the number of quests they have completed reflect the time it takes to cure something. Some diseases that are in advanced stages however can not be cured.
Remove Curse -
This is a bit more tricky than curing an ailment. A Pacifist must have completed at least two quests, a Benefactor two, a Hero three, or a neutral three to unlock this power. As always, it works in much the same manner as the previously mentioned healing abilities and it varies based on the severity of the curse. Some curses are so extravegant they can not be removed by this ability period. Such as when a convert vampire has drank the blood of another person. Removing a curse causes the over all power of the Acolyte to be drained for one day after the curse is finally removed. All other Acolyte powers take twice as long to use and perform and may not use the remove curse power or bless power again for three days.
Bless -
This works sort of like remove curse, only in reverse. A Pacifist must have completed at least two quests, a Benefactor two, a Hero three, or a neutral three to unlock this power. They may create holy weapons such as holy water or blessed daggers. This will take around a day (RP time) to complete, and as with all acolyte powers, the acolyte must concentrate on the object to be turned holy. This of course causes the over all power of the Acolyte to be drained for one day after the curse is finally removed. All other Acolyte powers take twice as long to use and perform and may not use the remove curse power or bless power again for three days. Blessing a larger weapon however requires a pacifist or benefactor to have completed seven quests, or a hero or neutral to have completed ten. Further, the Acolyte may only bless one such item for every three quests past seven or ten they have completed (to prevent spamming of blessed weapons). So a pacifist with 7 completed quests can have only blessed one weapon. But a Pacifist with 10 can have blessed two.
Smite -
Smite is the one attack spell in all of holy magic. It summons up a ball of holy energy and
releases it into a bolt that explodes in a righteous fury when it strikes an evil target.
It yields double the power of a tier 1 magical attack. It can also be applied to a weapon
instead and will cause that weapon to deal a wound twice as severe as it normally would.
However a pacifist can not cast this spell.
Exorcism/purification -
Once an area is cleared of actual monsters it can be purged of evil spirits, auras, and wards by using an excorcism envoking a higher power. An exorcism will last until a physical evil can move into the area. It can also be used to disposess people of spirit or demonic
forces.
Holy items - Some of the arsenal of holy weapons can be used by Acolytes but only the
defensive ones due to the more defensive nature of the acolyte class.
Holy Water: This versetile vial carries a pint of holy water. It can be splashed
on monsters, or spread on the ground defensively, or even used in exorcisms against
stubborn demons. When it touches any vampire or black aligned monster it bursts into
holy flames. More importantly for an Acolyte it can be used to disinfect wounds
of evil magic, or aid in exorcisms. Pacifists are forbidden from using holy water
in an offensive manner.
Garlic Laurel: Actually it's hardly a weapon but rather one more defensive measure.
This wreath of garlic bulbs strung together emits a strong odor that burns the nostrils
of vampires and lycanthropes.
The Good Book: Usually a bible, though a prayer book or other holy text will suffice.
When read aloud its verses are intollerable to vampires, demons, and other such monsters
alligned with the darkness. It is ideal for driving off evil spirits.
Magical Ward -
Drawing a circle of magical energy creates a ward. As long as the ward is of dominant power and alignment enemies can not enter. This also changes the alignment of the ambient magical energy inside the ward. The word is always the same alignment of the acolyte. The acolyte, reguardless of type, has to have completed a single quest to use this.
Path to Destruction -
Sounds like a keen power, right? Remember that all power comes at a cost. Sometimes things must be sacrificed to reach that cost. In this case, the acolyte's powers. Any of the following powers may be performed INSTANTLY by an acolyte using the Path. Heal, Regrowth, Cure disease/poison, remove blindness/deadness/ect., remove curse, bless. With the path, the recently dead (assuming they are willing to come back to life) can be revived assuming the character has completed at least seven quests. Sounds great and all. But here's the problem. For five days after a Path has been done, NONE of the following Acolyte powers may be used AT all. Heal, Regrowth, Cure disease/poison, remove blindness/deadness/ect., remove curse, bless, smite, Exorcism/purification, and magical ward. Which leaves the Acolyte, for that time period... some what... pathetic. Use this with caution.
Qualities
White Alignment:
Pacifist, Benefactor, and Hero acolytes have a natural magical alignment of white. This ties them to that which is holy and allows them to walk through white aligned wards. This also means other white aligned attacks are next to useless against them. A Neutral Acolyte however may choose to be Green, Red, or Blue aligned (impending on their deity, for example the Druidic Wiccans would be Green).
Taboo Restrictions:
As a holy man/woman, there are certain things you can not do. Period. Ever. EVER ever. Things Slayers could get away with you will pay for. This naturally varies by religion, however if you break these taboos, you loose all of your holy powers until you seek the correct redemption as though you performed a path to destruction. If the crime is bad enough, you even lose your special alignment. Redemption is usually difficult to acheive, though it can be worked out by both player and QMs. Other minor ones include a Pacifist becoming a Benefactor by standing and fighting, though this doesn't drain you of your holy coffers it does mean that all your powers are now based off the Benefactor rather than the Pacifist. If this was an intentional change, do nothing. If it wasn't, you have some repenting to do.
Supernatural senses:
The vision of an Acolyte is not at all restricted to the physical plane. The planes of spirits and the flow of magical energy are all visible to him/her.
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