The System
Prayer
Prayer is divine magic drawn from unwavering faith. Where spellcasters manipulate raw elemental Essence, those who practice Prayer channel the power of their faith directly - healing wounds, bestowing blessings, repelling the unholy, and lifting curses.
Faith
Prayer is fuelled by Faith, a resource that reflects the character's spirituality. Faith regenerates fully after a long rest, and can also be partially restored through acts of devotion - praying at a shrine, performing rites, or fulfilling the tenets of their faith.
Unlike Essence, Faith does not need to be purchased or crafted - it is intrinsic to the character. A devout practitioner always has access to their power, provided they maintain their spiritual practice.
Blessings and Healing
The most common use of Prayer is healing: restoring hit points to wounded allies. At low ranks this is modest; at high ranks a devout practitioner can pull allies back from the brink of death, and eventually attempt to revive those who have just fallen.
Prayer also grants blessings - temporary bonuses to allies' rolls, protection from harm, or resistance to specific conditions. A blessing can turn the tide of a fight without a single attack roll, making Prayer practitioners powerful force multipliers in any group.
Repelling the Unholy
Practitioners of Prayer can repel undead and demonic entities. Lower-rank abilities cause unholy creatures to recoil or flee; higher ranks can outright destroy lesser undead or severely weaken powerful demons. This makes Prayer especially valuable in settings where the party regularly confronts supernatural threats.
Lifting Curses
Curses inflicted by Spellwork or monsters are persistent afflictions that resist ordinary treatment. Prayer provides one of the few reliable means to remove them. A sufficiently devout character can cleanse curses from allies - and at the highest ranks becomes immune to curses.
Faith vs. Essence
Prayer stands apart from the Essence-driven magical disciplines because it requires no external resource. A spellcaster without Essence is powerless; a devotee of Prayer who has rested and prayed is always ready. The trade-off is that Prayer is narrower in scope - it excels at support, protection, and fighting the supernatural, but lacks the offensive versatility of Spellwork or the utility of Runecraft.