Divine Intervention

In worlds where gods walk the earth, the faithful should be rewarded. Divine Intervention brings the benefits of worship to all classes, not just clerics, druids, paladins and rangers. In times of dire need, any player character can pray to their chosen god for help.

Everyone needs a second chance once in a while. In d20 systems, this falls under the auspices of DM fudging. Did that ray attack actually hit, or just miss by inches? Divine Intervention (DI) relieves the DM of the necessity of the occasional fudge and puts the fates of player characters back into the the hands of the players.

DI is point based. Each player character starts with one (1) DI point, regardless of the initial character level. The PC then gains one DI point every two levels.

The DM can optionally allocate DI points to key NPCs. E.g. for devout followers of a deity, 1d4-2 DI points. For casual followers of a deity, use 1d2-1 DI points. If the number of points exceeds their level/2, use the character level/2 instead. Those not particularly devoted to a single deity should not have DI points.

Divine intervention is intended for long-running campaigns, and not for short or one off adventures.

Benefit

When invoking divine intervention, the player can either have the last d20 roll rolled again or automatically stabilize. Invoking divine intervention is more than a free action. The player can use divine intervention at any point in the combat round, not just on their initiative.

Note: since divine intervention requires the god's notice, no character can be compelled to invoke divine intervention through spells such as suggestion, charm, etc. But they can be tricked into invoking divine intervention through non-magical means such as Bluff (DC of at least 35), etc.

d20 reroll

The last d20 roll made is rerolled, regardless of who made the initial roll. This can be any d20 roll such as an attack roll, saving throw or skill check. Note that since it only applies to d20 rolls, the player can wait to see how much damage a successful attack doles out before invoking divine intervention. Ignore any d20 used as damage dice when determining the last d20 rolled.

Sample uses:

• Rannos receives a killing blow, but has exhausted his own DI points. Lars invokes divine intervention on Rannos' behalf and has the attack roll rerolled
• Rannos is the subject of a slay living and fails his saving throw. He immediately begs his god for a second chance, and rolls again.
• Rannos is moving silently to escape notice of the 100 guards sleeping in the barracks, and trips over his own feet into a pile of armor by rolling a one (1). Since the guards have orders to kill on sight, he implores his god for aid and manages to clear the armor instead by rolling a 15.

Note: Divine intervention must apply to the last d20 rolled. If several d20 are rolled simultaneously, the player can choose which one to have rerolled.

Another character cannot use a DI to counter this effect. The gods won't duke it out over most mortals in this way. However, a single player can expend multiple DI points on the same roll if necessary. In the second example above, Rannos may still fail his second saving throw. If he still has any DI points available, he can evoke DI a second time if necessary.

Stabilize

By expending one DI point, a character can automatically stabilize when at negative hit points. It can be invoked on any round before the character reaches -10. E.g. the character can attempt normal stabilization checks until they reach -9. If they fail the last check, they can invoke DI to stabilize at -9 instead of dropping to -10 and dying. Note, it can be invoked earlier if desired.

Cost

By invoking divine intervention, the character's DI points are reduced by one. When the character reaches zero (0) DI points, that character can longer invoke divine intervention.

The character also loses the experience for the encounter in which they invoked divine intervention, but only for that encounter and not the entire adventure. Compute experience for the encounter normally for all characters present, but do not award experience to any character who called on help from their deity. This cost helps offset the skewing of game balance these rules create.

Optional Rules

Divine Favor

To further encourage religious role playing, the DM can assign each character a divine favor rating. The DF is the percentage chance that the character's god will answer any request for divine intervention. The DF ranges from 0 to 100%. The DM can modify the DF based on how well the character follows and promotes the doctrines of their deities.

If the request fails, the character does not lose the DI point nor does the character lose any experience for that encounter. In fact, they probably just learned something valuable.

Bonus Points

The DM can optionally allocate bonus DI points to PCs for significant acts that their god would favor.

For example, recovering a temple lost to marauding orcs, then purifying it, setting up a new priest and acting as protectors for a month until permanent arrangements can be made might result in a DI point to those characters that worship that deity.

Religious Artifacts

In addition, some rare artifacts may give the bearer access to a DI point, but only if the bearer worships that god. Lost religious relics, etc.