church of the sun: Ecclesiasty

i wasn't originally going to bother detailing this arm of the
priesthood, but i've changed my mind.
 
anyway, this gives me the opportunity to stick in a few things i forgot
when writing the first post, a couple of spells i want to include, and a
few odds and sods.

this post will be followed up in a week or two by my USJSS entry for the
church of the sun, and after that i'll finally get around to putting up
a website for them, by which time i expect everyone to be heartily sick
of them!


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Ecclesiasty

	while the Rays of the Sun are the martial arm of the Church, it is the
Ecclesiasty that are the backbone. making up three quaters of the
priesthood, they are the ones who run the temples, preach to the
faithful, and convert unbelievers. they are also the ones who mastermind
the assimilation of other solar fiaths.
	less combat oriented than the Rays, they make up for it with a greater
breadth of magical ability, although they can still smite if the need
arises ;-)
	the priesthood is composed of 70% humans, 23% demihumans, 5% lizardmen,
2% miscellaneous other races.


AL: ???
WAL: any non-evil.
Spheres: (all major) Sun, Healing, All, Necromancy ("nice"
versions only), Protection, Elemental Fire, Combat, Astral, Creation,
divination.
Turn Undead: yes
Holy symbol: gold or yellow sunburst on a white background. Some
followers have a sun on a black starred background, but this is
relatively uncommon. Symbols of absorbed religions also occur.
Dress: They typically wear white (or sometimes) black robes, with a
sunburst and gold edging. the often wear a gold (or gilt) sunburst on a
chain.
Granted powers: 
	May not wear armour heavier than studded leather.
        +1 to saves versus energy draining effects, if the effect
normally allows no save then a save may be made at -4.
        At 3rd level, may create a globe of sunlight 30' radius, centred
on themselves, of one turn duration, a number of times equal to their
level minus two. This has no blinding or damaging effects except that it
is real sunlight and effects creatures as noted in their descriptions.

	members of the Ecclesiasty gain followers as described in the PHB, Rays
do not.

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spells.

	all priests of the church of the sun, both Rays and Ecclesiasty, may
cast Sunray as if it were a sixth level spell.

	when a member of the church casts flame blade, it appears as a golden
broadsword. this has not game effects, except that it allows Rays to use
their broadsword specialisation. generally speaking, when a priest of
the sun uses a fire based effect the fire will have a somewhat golden
hue. this has no game effects, but looks pretty.

new spells.

eyes of the desert, 
1st level priest spell.

sphere: sun
range: caster
duration: 1 hour/level
area: caster
components: V,S
casting time: 4
save: none

for the duration of this spell, the caster is immune to being blinded by
bright lights, and suffers no penalty for looking at bright objects.
note that the caster can still be blinded by power words, nymphs and
other effects that are not light based.


conjure sunflare (reversible)
6th level priest spell.

sphere: sun
range: 80 yards
duration: 1 turn/level
area: special
components: V,S
casting time: 6 rds
save: none

while priests of the sun can conjure fire elementals, they tend to use
this spell instead. the elemental so summoned will have 12 HD (65%), 16
HD (30%), or 20+d4 HD (5%). the spell is in all other respects identical
to conjure fire elemental. sunflares are described below.

--------------------

sunflare


this is a curious form of elemental, possibly from the plane of
radiance, possibly from the plane of fire. it appears as an arcing and
twisting prominance of golden fire. 


(primarily because i can't be bothered to do a full write-up) it is
treated as a fire elemental in all respects except the following.

damage per attack is reduced to 2-20. 
flammable objects make their save normally, as opposed to -2 for fire
elementals.
movement is  20 Fl (B)

the sunflare gives off sunlight in a 100' radius. it is so bright that
all attacks directed towrds it suffer a -4 hit penalty. creatures for
whom sunlight is harmful or unnatural must make a save versus
petrification or be blinded permanently if they look directly at it,
with a -1 save for every 30' of infravision that they have. in any
event, creatures with infravision have it nullified for 2d4 turns.


-- 
rad.

curious..