Religion is a feature of the setting of Darklands. Properly-named Religious Trng or Relg in abbreviated displays, religion is also a skill for characters.
The skills are:
| Weapons | Academics | Survival |
|---|---|---|
| WEdg | Alch | Heal |
| WImp | Relg | Artf |
| WFll | Virt | Stlh |
| WPol | SpkC | StrW |
| WThr | SpkL | Ride |
| WBow | R&W | WdWs |
| WMsD |
Overview[]
The Relg skill increases the amount of Divine Favor gained in these instances:
- Passive recovery (daily at 0 Matins)
- Praying overnight
- Confessional
- Attending mass at a Kirche, Cathedral, or Village church
- Offering a tithe at a kirche (but not a cathedral or village church)
- Donating to a Kloster or overland Monastery
- Helping out the needy in specific, overland random encounters
Religious Training is defined as a character's understanding of philosophy and his familiarity with the rites and doctrine of the Church in this era. Some main quest interactions employ Relg. One counter-intuitive aspect of Relg is that it is uninvolved in imploring saints for aid, affecting neither the requirements nor the odds of success, both of which being solely-dependent on Virtue.
With low religious training, divine favor can take a long time to recover. However, the skill's effect does not scale dramatically and, to boot, some of the situations listed above involve other things entirely, such as virtue, Local rep, SpkL, and/or simply being rich.
Relg is put to the test in some challenges during the main quest.
Praying to Saints[]
Each saint requires a specific minimum Virt and available DF that must be spent in a prayer. If the supplicant meets those two thresholds, there is also a specific base chance of success for each saint.
Two things can help improve the odds of success, to the maximum of 99 percent. The first is having virtue in excess of the requirement; the odds go up 1% for every 2 Virt above the requirement. The second is spending more Divine Favor in the prayer; the odds go up 1% for every 1 DF spent.
On the other hand, several things do not appear to function as advertised. Possessing the Relic associated with a saint, or one of the "greater relics" such as Thorn of the Crown, does not affect prayers. Neither, apparently, does praying on the saint's feast day.
Lists of Saints[]
- Main article: Saints (assorted tables)
- Main article: Saints (published list)
- Main article: Saints (in-game descriptions)
- Main article: Saints (feast days)
Recommendations[]
- Edward the Confessor: Every party member with Virt<20 has his Virtue trained instantly to 20. Edward is a major score for the party if he is found early on.
- Ita: As a reward for achieving such high virtue as she requires, Ita bestows the most efficient healing spell.
- Gregory Thaumaturgus: The most broadly-helpful saint for handling quests. He grants provident luck in a lot of high-risk interactions.
- Felix of Nola: Stealth is a difficult skill to train to an effective level. Felix can aid climbing into important locations and handling the Wild Hunt.
- Raymond: Everybody loves the Raymonds. Raymond Lull boosts Int and Alch. Raymond Penafort is the best aid to potion-brewing once Alch is 99.
- Denis: While many saints can increase Charisma, Denis grants the largest possible boost and is therefore ideal for the leader in the barter screen. Large two-way transactions are especially frequent in the process of alchemy. The party's alchemist can also benefit directly from a Chr+SpkC buff when addressing a professional Alchemist.
- Vitus & Gertrude N: When invoked on the overland screen, Gertrude o'Nivelles and Vitus teleport the party to the nearest city. The target city is the one referred to in the "Location" box in the party information screen (F6). This ability is superb for moving across the empire quickly.
- Cecilia: Local Rep up by as much as 60 at any city. Playing Cecilia's music, the party can step into never-before-visited cities like bards from a storybook.
- Aidan & Hildegard give the party the exact time and place of the next High Sabbat when invoked during a visit to one of the potential sites.
- To mostly preserve the party against permanent debilitating damage in the Citadel, learn either Apollinarius, Genevieve, or Godfrey beforehand. Otherwise, the adventure is basically finished (though this was by design).
Saints who boost Relg[]
See the 'assorted tables' link above for similar tables corresponding to the other skills and attributes.
| Name | Improvement | Min DF | Max | Virtue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Climacus | 1-4 + Virt/5 | 40 DF — 30% | 70 DF | 20v |
| Nicholas | 8-15 | 25 DF — 55% | 44 DF | 49v |
| Jude | 6-11 | 20 DF — 5% | 72 DF | 15v |
| Margaret ♀ | 5-10 | 25 DF — 45% | 53 DF | 46v |
Church Details[]
Churches[]
Darklands takes place in the Holy Roman Empire. Churches are everywhere, and their moral authority is unquestioned.
- Every Hamlet has a church where DF can return relatively fast through tithes, confession, or Mass.
- Every City has a church ("Kirche") with similar options.
- With the exceptions of St. Joachim and Kuttenberg, every city has a local monastery ("Kloster") where the party can obtain Saint knowledge and religious training.
- Forty-nine cities, mainly the larger ones, have Cathedrals where the party can possibly obtain DF, Virt, and/or Local Rep for major donations.
- Thirteen cities have Universities, which in this era are purposed mainly towards training clergy in the region.
- There are sixteen overland Monasteries. These are noteworthy for having libraries of Saints that might not be found in the 90 inner-city Klosters.
Libraries[]
Saint libraries are in urban and rural monasteries. Each library has 4 random saints. A university's library is identical to the one in that city's Kloster. Saintly knowledge is seeded into the map at the beginning of the adventure and does not change.
The party should make a point of visiting the universities to assess the PHStone and saints available, who can potentially be studied in quick succession. Eventually, and especially in the course of dealing with the Wild Hunt, the party may want to aim for as many Saints as possible by visiting all cities and monasteries. It may be wise to keep notes on libraries holding yet-undiscovered saints; libraries can only be visited once per season or so.
The total number of libraries on the map is estimated to be 106. These are statistically likely to generate about 130 of the 136 saints in the canon.
Encounters[]
Be careful about defying corrupt church officials. Little good comes of this in the fifteenth century.
- Pilgrims bound for nearest city; an opportunity to gain DF and/or virtue
- Plague victims; another opportunity to gain DF and/or virtue
- Corrupt Bishop collecting money at swordpoint
- Corrupt Friar selling Indulgences
- Hermit (forest/hill tiles only); an opportunity to pray for DF or learn a random Saint
- Gargoyles; routing these satanic foes can earn virtue
Religious Occupations in CharGen[]
High-born characters can reach the top slots in the Church early, but low-born characters may also rise high in the organization. Besides the outliers of Hermit and Friar, the Church is not a good path for martial development. A decision is warranted between having a pro cleric in the party versus 2-4 party members with entry-level training.
The prerequisite for Hermit is hard to fulfill without a prior 5-year stint in religious work. Nevertheless, the job is excellent for cultivating strength and virtue at the same time. The only career comparable to this is knighthood.
The Saint(s) acquired through Church careers are one of the very few randomized features of CharGen. Depending on Virtue, they could be a huge boon right away... or not. The QuickStart party's cleric, Ebhard, is an example of an aging and weakened party member with a superb Saint repertoire. It is also possible to gain a saint in CharGen that exists in no library on the map, but there is of course no way for the party to realize this instantly.
| Hermit | Novice | Monk | Friar | Priest | Abbot | Bishop | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End | +1 | +1 | -1 | ||||
| Str | +1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | |||
| Agl | |||||||
| Per | +1 | -1 | -1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | |
| Int | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | ||
| Chr | -1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | ||
| EP | 20 | 23 | 23 | 12 | 23 | 23 | 18 |
| WEdg | 1 : 4 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 4 | 0 : 5 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 |
| WImp | 1 : 6 | 1 : 3 | 1 : 4 | 2 : 5 | 1 : 3 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 |
| WFll | 0 : 4 | 2 : 3 | 2 : 6 | 0 : 5 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 |
| WPol | 1 : 6 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 6 | 0 : 5 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 |
| WThr | 0 : 6 | 1 : 3 | 1 : 4 | 0 : 5 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 |
| WBow | 1 : 4 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 4 | 1 : 5 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 |
| WMsD | 0 : 2 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 4 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 3 |
| Alch | 1 : 4 | 0 : 2 | 1 : 4 | 1 : 2 | 1 : 4 | 1 : 4 | 2 : 5 |
| Relg | 2 : 6 | 4 : 6 | 4 : 5 | 2 : 6 | 4 : 8 | 4 : 8 | 4 : 9 |
| Virt | 6 : 9 | 5 : 6 | 5 : 5 | 4 : 6 | 3 : 9 | 3 : 9 | 4 : 8 |
| SpkC | 0 : 0 | 1 : 3 | 1 : 4 | 4 : 9 | 1 : 9 | 1 : 9 | 3 : 9 |
| SpkL | 0 : 2 | 3 : 6 | 3 : 9 | 0 : 8 | 2 : 9 | 2 : 9 | 3 : 9 |
| R&W | 0 : 4 | 3 : 9 | 3 : 9 | 4 : 8 | 1 : 9 | 1 : 9 | 3 : 9 |
| Heal | 2 : 7 | 0 : 7 | 2 : 8 | 2 : 7 | 2 : 8 | 2 : 8 | 0 : 8 |
| Artf | 2 : 4 | 0 : 4 | 1 : 4 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 2 | 0 : 4 | 0 : 3 |
| Stlh | 0 : 6 | 0 : 2 | 0 : 2 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 2 | 0 : 2 | 0 : 2 |
| StrW | 0 : 0 | 0 : 2 | 0 : 0 | 3 : 8 | 0 : 4 | 0 : 4 | 2 : 6 |
| Ride | 0 : 2 | 0 : 2 | 0 : 1 | 0 : 4 | 0 : 2 | 0 : 3 | 0 : 4 |
| WdWs | 4 : 9 | 0 : 4 | 1 : 4 | 2 : 6 | 0 : 4 | 0 : 4 | 0 : 2 |
| Special | 1 Saint | 1 Saint | 1 Saint | 1 Saint | 2 Saints | 2 Saints | |
| Preq | Virt 15 | Once | Per 15, Int 15, Chr 15; formerly any Church position, Clerk, Physician, Professor, Alchemist, Courtier, Noble Heir, Lord | Male; any former religious occupation | Male; Per 20, Int 20, Chr 20; 5y Monk, Clerk, Professor, Courtier, Noble Heir, Schulz, or 10y Novice, Student, Oblate, Friar, or formerly Priest, Abbot, Bishop, Lord | Per 20, Int 20, Chr 20, Relg 15; 5y Courtier, Noble Heir, Priest, Abbot, Bishop, Lord, or 10y Monk, Professor | Male; Per 25, Int 25, Chr 25; 5y Abbot, Bishop, or 10y Priest, Courtier, Lord |