Religon (CBarbH)

__TOC__
Few barbarians doubt the existence of supernatural forces. How else to explain erupting volcanoes and bone-rattling earthquakes? How else to account for the bizarre behavior of animals, the onset of illnesses, long-dead friends making themselves seen and heard in dreams? Some forces are clearly benevolent, such as those that guide a hunter's arrow or make trees bear fruit. Others are malicious, including those that burn a forest to ash or make a warrior's stomach ache after a big meal. And many are impersonal, neither good nor bad, making no distinction between the affairs of men and the affairs of insects. 
Barbarian societies depend on clerics to serve as intermediaries between the physical world and the world of the supernatural. Clerics coax favors from benevolent spirits, keep malevolent forces at bay, and attempt to explain the unexplainable. Small tribes content themselves with a single cleric, descended from a previous cleric or selected by the leader from among the tribe's most perceptive offspring. Larger tribes maintain small circles of clerics, typically numbering 4-12 members, with the eldest cleric supervising the neophytes. 
In most cases, a shaman doesn't have the luxury of specializing in a particular faith. Instead, he must address all of his tribe's religious needs. He deals with good and evil deities alike. He negotiates with ancestral, animal, and nature spirits. He analyzes dreams, interprets omens, and administers medicine. He staves off undead, counsels his leaders, and when necessary, defends the tribe against aggressors. 
Despite the breadth of his responsibilities, a cleric commands only a modicum of respect from his fellow tribesmen. Most recognize the importance of his role. But many find him distasteful, tainted by his association with the supernatural in general and the dead in particular. Others remain skeptical of his powers, unconvinced that he can predict the weather or divine the meaning of dreams better than anyone else. Still others hold him responsible for all that goes wrong; if hunters return empty-handed, rain falls for ten days straight, or a woman dies in childbirth, the cleric takes the blame. 
To discourage criticism, a cleric often cultivates a fearsome reputation. He implies that he can cause diseases as well as cure them, and lets it be known that monsters keep their distance only because they fear his power. His garish costumes, replete with bone necklaces and grotesque masks, not only intimidate evil spirits, but keep the populace in awe.  
==Elements of Faith==
Barbarian religions have little in common with traditional faiths. Barbarians may venerate the spirits of dead ancestors, or choose nature itself as the focus of their devotion. They may honor deities unknown to outworld priests or worship such elemental forces as fire, wind, or death. A dragon skull may serve as a shrine. A black fox may be considered an offspring of the gods. The world as dreams may be as real as the world of men, the spirit of a dead parent as much a part of the family as a living sibling.  
Following are four elements of faith common in barbarian societies. Most religions encompass some or all of these elements; a jungle tribe might worship ancestors and nature, an arctic tribe might venerate a pantheon of gods and the spirits of the supernatural. In game terms, barbarian and outworld religions function identically; the intensity of a cleric's beliefs attract the magical energy necessary to cast spells.  
===Powers===
Shamans typically embrace polytheism (many gods), which strikes them as a logical explanation of the way the universe operates. Some gods embody abstract concepts such as love, war, and fertility. Others represent natural forces like rain, fire, and disease. There are gods that care for animals, benefit warriors, and look after trees. The number of gods varies from culture to culture, but a pantheon numbering in the hundreds isn't unusual. 
Gods exhibit varying degrees of interest in humanity. Nu'ooto, a giant god worshipped by island dwellers in the Southern Courrain Ocean (in the DRAGONLANCE" setting) does nothing but sleep beneath the ground; he causes earthquakes when he rolls over, volcanic eruptions when he snores. The cloud god Khass continually frustrates the barbarians of Eastern Shaar (in the FORGOTTEN REALMS* setting); for months, he ignores their petitions for rain, then drenches them with downpours for weeks at a time. On the other hand, the clerics of Earthfast Mountains (also in the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting) end each day by asking the dependable Isakkhu to bring the sun back in the morning; he has yet to fail them. 
Gods also take a variety of forms. Most are invisible, but some appear as animals (Nu'ooto is presumed to look like a lizard), plants (palm trees are fingers of the multi-appendaged Khass) or even terrain (Isakkhu is a mountain). Occasionally, a cleric claims that he himself is the embodiment of a god, and demands his tribe treat him accordingly. Such a masquerade, however, carries risks; if he demonstrates less than godly behavior—say, he gets sick on spoiled meat or runs from a skunk—the tribe may demand his head on a stick. 
A DM who designs customized pantheons for his campaign should consider adding a few deities specifically for barbarians. Gods representing hunting, lightning, the moon, and the seasons make good choices (see The Complete Priest's Handbook for more ideas). Objects or animals may also be worshipped as gods, providing they're associated with the barbarian's homeland terrain. Gods worshipped by outworlders may also be included, but remember that a barbarian's conception of such gods may differ from those of outworld priests. Barbarians will probably know them by different names and have no use for traditional doctrines, prayers, or organizations.  
===Ancestral Spirits===
The social ties and familial responsibilities that bond a barbarian to his tribe persist after death. Therefore, a tribe consists not only of living members, but the spirits of its dead members as well. Although these spirits lack bodies, they retain the same personalities they had in life. They experience pleasure, remorse, joy, and grief. They can be playful or vengeful, comforting or cruel, supportive or indifferent. To a large measure, their attitudes depend on how the living treat them. 
To show proper respect for ancestral spirits, barbarians attempt to maintain the same relationship they had with them when they were alive. A son asks permission from his father’s spirit to embark on a dangerous hunt; a fallen leaf or a rumble of thunder may be interpreted as approval. Each night before retiring, a man may arrange a bed of leaves for the spirit of his wife. A tribal leader may speak aloud to the spirits of the leaders who came before him, hoping for their guidance.
Some tribes use ancestors as messengers, asking them to deliver prayers or requests to the god. The barbarian summons a favorite ancestor by closing his eyes and concentrating, singing the ancestor’s favorite song, or shouting his name. He looks for a sign that his ancestor has heard the summons—a cloud passing over the sun, a crackle in a camp fire—then whispers the message he wishes the ancestor to deliver.
A barbarian who dutifully honors his ancestors expects to benefit from their intervention. Should a man narrowly miss being struck by a falling boulder, he has his ancestors to thank for nudging him out of the way. An ancestor may place a fish on a hook, guide a spear to its target, or protect a lost child from the ravages of the wilderness. Conversely, a barbarian sleights his ancestors at his own peril. A barbarian who forgets to sing to his mother on the anniversary of her death shouldn’t be surprised if his favorite axe shatters or his horse gets sick. And woe to the barbarian who insults the dead; can he truly be surprised if a lion mauls him or he falls from a tree and breaks his leg?
Barbarians express devotion to their spiritual ancestors in much the same way they to do their living relatives. They are courteous (asking if they’re enjoying the sunny day), thoughtful (keeping their graves free of weeds), and reverent (holding a special ceremony on the day of their birth). Though spirits generally prefer to stay in their homelands, a considerate barbarian wouldn't dream of making a long journey without asking his ancestors to come along, or at least give him their blessings. Because spirits are invisible and intangible, a barbarian has no way to be sure if they're listening or even if they're in the area. But the prudent barbarian assumes they're always nearby, evaluating his behavior and passing judgment. 
===Nature Spirits===
Some barbarians believe that all natural objects—animals, trees, stones, rivers, and mountain—share spirits. Either in the physical form of their hosts or as invisible entities that can be neither seen nor touched, nature spirits interact with the world of men, exerting both positive and negative influences. Evil spirits must be avoided, scolded, and punished. Good spirits must be nurtured and treated with kindness. 
Some tribes hold a particular creature responsible for the creation of the world. They revere it as the progenitor of all other species, man included. To a swamp tribe, the sacred creature might be an alligator or a giant snake. To a jungle tribe, it might be a lion, elephant, or carnivorous ape. The tribe honors the sacred animal by protecting it from harm, presenting it with offerings of meat or fruit, and decorating their weapons and homes with its image. They look to the sacred animal for guidance, mimicking its behavior in hunting (like the sacred ape, a jungle tribe stalks its prey for hours before striking), defense of its territory (the tribesmen beat their chests to frighten intruders), even child care (mothers soothe their infants by stroking their heads). Clerics spin tales of the sacred animal to illustrate moral principles, and leaders evoke the animal’s name to inspire warriors in combat. The passing of a sacred animal may cause more sorrow than the death of a tribal elder.
Other tribes may a honor a group of spirits associated with the animals and terrain of their homeland. A mountain tribe, for instance, may hold goats, streams, and mountains sacred. An arctic tribe may revere polar bears, whales, and glaciers. Each spirit has its own name and special properties. A granite mountain may be known as H'suq, a snowy mountain might be called H'supikk. H'suq may represent perseverance, H'supikk might stand for fertility.  
Tribes sometimes proclaim their devotion by displaying totems, symbolic representations of various spirits. Totems may be carved in trees, painted on shields, or etched into stones. A barbarian often considers the totem as sacred as the animal or object it represents. He prays to it, talks with it, even offers it food. In some tribes, defacing a totem is as heinous as killing a sacred animal, an offense punishable by death. 
Barbarians believe that nature spirits possesses great power. They attempt to tap into these powers with flattery, threats, and petitions. To convince the sky spirit to give up its rain, a tribe may stage an elaborate dance with drums and rattles. A warrior may ask the spirits of deceased lions to join him in a hunt. A cleric may warn a lake spirit that he will hurl stones at its surface if it declines to put fish on his hook.  
===Supernatural Spirits===
Unlike nature spirits, which are associated with objects and animals, supernatural spirits are unique entities, independent and autonomous. Though they lack the power of deities, supernatural spirits wield enormous influence over the day to day activities of men. In fact, many barbarians believe that a good life depends on currying favor with the right spirits. 
But interacting with supernatural spirits can be frustrating. They are notoriously fickle and unpredictable. A spirit who has blessed a tribe with abundant game may abruptly withdraw its support and burden them with famine. A warrior may dutifully pray for success in battle, only to find the spirits guiding the first enemy arrow straight to his heart.
For these reasons, many tribes rely on their clerics to deal with these entities. Clerics are assumed to have entered pacts with spirits, utilizing spells and rites known only to them. Tribes count on their clerics to perform rituals to pacify arrogant spirits, and to act as mouthpieces for spirits who wish to communicate with men. A cleric may go without food until he hears the voices of spirits telling him how to cure a fever plague. He may retire to a secluded area and study cloud formations, hoping that the spirits will reveal a strategy for driving off a dragon. During a thunderstorm, he may distribute vine amulets to ward off lightning bolts hurled by malevolent spirits. He may also stage celebrations to honor spirits who have blessed the tribe with healthy children or favorable weather.
Jealous or hateful spirits sometimes take possession of mortals. Symptoms of spirit possession include irrational behavior, refusal to cooperate with tribal authorities, inability to speak, and unprovoked hostility. Spirit possession may also occur after a person has been weakened by disease or severely wounded in battle. To disperse such a spirit, a cleric might chant over the victim's body, or perform a series of complicated dances which may last several days. He may also shout at the victim and dangle serpents in front of his face, attempting to frighten the spirit away. If these techniques fail, he may hang the victim upside down from a tree branch, hoping the spirit will fall from his mouth. If the symptoms recede, the spirit is presumed to have fled. But if the symptoms persist, the cleric may recommend that the victim be incinerated or dropped in a chasm for the safety of the tribe.
In the context of the game, it's not necessary to award proficiency bonuses or penalize attack rolls to simulate a barbarian's relationship with the spirit world. Instead, a barbarian uses the influence of spirits to explain coincidences, unexpected good fortune, and runs of bad luck. If vou'd like spirits to play a more significant role, design spirit-related taboos using the advice given later in this chapter.  
==Expressions of Faith==
Regardless of whether a barbarian's religion involves deities, ancestors, or nature spirits, he engages in various practices to express his faith. 
Some of these practices are established by custom; a cleric leads his tribe in a prayer to the sun god at dawn, hunters toss chunks of meat into the fire to honor the spirits of the killed animals. Other practices may be self-imposed; a warrior calls out the name of his dead father before engaging an enemy in battle, a woman avoids staring into the eyes of birds to ensure a trouble-free pregnancy. Still others may be improvised; a traveler seeing his first castle may fall to his knees and beg for mercy from the strange "mountain." 
The player and the DM should determine what, if any, practices a barbarian character must follow in order to remain true to his religion. For instance, he may be required to give offerings of kindling to burning trees, pray to the moon, or make an annual pilgrimage to his homeland to pledge his faith. He may also engage in any or all of the following:  
===Idolatry===
Some deities imbue statues or carvings with their magical essence. Such idols serve as surrogates for the deities, physical connections between the world of men and the world of spirits. Barbarians who give prayers and make offerings to an idol aren’t worshipping the idol itself; they’re using the idol to relay their petitions to the deity it represents. 
Idols take many forms, but usually are constructed from materials that can withstand the ravages of time. Stone idols are among the most common, chiselled from boulders or etched into the sides of mountains. Trees and large bones may also be fashioned into idols. An idol often appears as a humanoid figure, or as the head of a person or animal. It may tower six feet high or more; head-shaped idols may be as large as a hut. Barbarians traveling in the outworld may carry small versions of their homeland idols, hung from necklaces or attached to their spears.  
===Sacred Words===
In addition to prayers and the verbal components of spells, other words may have special connotations. Some tribes forbid the utterance of a particular deity's name as an act of courtesy. A barbarian sometimes keeps his birth name a secret, believing it to contain the essence of his spirit; he feels that great harm will befall him if he hears his birth name spoken. Parents avoid naming their children after living relatives, fearing the relative may sicken or die. 
Certain phrases, which may be nothing more than a string of nonsense syllables, may be spoken to ensure success in battle or the recovery of an ailing friend. A young man may recite a series of grunts and howls to make the object of his affection more receptive to his advances. A mother may imitate the cry of a mockingbird to break her infant's fever.  
Some barbarians believe that hearing someone discuss an evil act will cause the act to occur. If a friend mentions that it might rain, rain will surely fall. If a traveler says that he has never been attacked by a bear, then a bear attack is only a matter of time. To prevent the misfortune from actually occurring, the barbarian may insist that the speaker retract his words or apologize to the spirits. To protect himself, the barbarian may tap on a stone, fall to his knees and pray, or put as much distance between himself and the speaker as possible.  
===Dreams===
Many barbarians believe that dreams are the primary medium in which spirits commune with mortals. When a person sleeps, his spirit occasionally leaves his body and enters another world where it receives advice, gossip, and warnings. Because there is no guarantee that a sleeping person will experience a dream, let alone interact with the spirit world in a meaningful way, barbarians often attempt to induce dreams with herbs, potions, and chants. To make his spirit more presentable, a cleric may dress in his finest clothes before retiring. A leader may ask his ancestors to expedite his entry into the spirit world and introduce him to the most helpful spirits. 
At best, moving between the real world and the spirit world is difficult, evidenced by the tossing and turning of the sleeper, the rolling of his eyes, and his incoherent utterings. Awakening a sleeper in the middle of a dream can be dangerous, as it may prevent the return of his spirit; thereafter, his dreams will be unreliable until a cleric finds a way to reunite the spirit with its mortal body. A man who dies in his sleep may lose his spirit altogether, denying him a place in the afterlife. 
Barbarians take their dreams seriously, analyzing them for clues to cure diseases, bring prosperity, and discourage bad luck. Mothers routinely ask their children about their dreams, hoping for signs that they will grow up healthy and strong. A warrior may seek out a cleric for a purification ritual if his dreams were filled with blasphemous images. Elders may spend the entire day discussing the implications of an ambiguous dream. (Does Targ's dream of a giant eagle foreshadow a hard winter, or does it indicate his wife will bear him a son?) Dreams also affect a leader's decisions; a dream of a slain enemy may spur him to attack a neighboring village, and a dream of his own death may encourage him to seek out a successor.  
===Rituals===
Rituals are ceremonial activities performed in a fixed manner, usually supervised by a cleric or other authority figures. Outworld priests often conduct rituals to venerate their gods or gain access to magic. Barbarians, on the other hand, use rituals to coax favors from benevolent entities and placate angry ones. They hold feasts to honor their ancestors, stage dances to attract the attention of war gods, and burn animal carcasses to pacify famine spirits. 
Many rituals center around hunting. Before à hunt, warriors may cleanse themselves by sitting close to a fire until they're drenched in sweat. Animal bones may be cast into the flames, along with a few of last year's weapons. The first major kill of the hunting season—a bear, a stag, or a lion—may be honored instead of eaten, its carcass the centerpiece of a dance festival, with tribal elders taking turns brushing its fur. The first fish caught in the spring might be blessed by a cleric, then returned to the water to ensure a bountiful supply the following year.
Perhaps the most complicated rituals, and those taken most seriously, are associated with the life cycle. Some tribes send pregnant women into the woods to give birth in the presence of nature deities. Other tribes keep pregnant women in pits; warriors stand guard to protect them from disease spirits. Naming a newborn may involve the entire tribe, with suggestions offered by all adult members during a week-long series of feasts and dances; the final decision belongs to the parents or, in some cases, the leader ora cleric. A child’s first word, first step, and first tooth may also be cause for celebratory rites.
Barbarians often mark the onset of puberty with rituals to test character. A young woman may be required to spend a week wearing a heavy hood to force her head down, leather cups over her ears to prevent her from hearing, and a bundle of branches strapped to her the hair shorn from her head. Often, she is secluded in a cave or shack miles from the village, left to fend for herself for a month or more. Seclusion is also recommended for an adolescent male, who may be blindfolded, taken to a distant land, and abandoned. He is not only expected to find his way home, but also to introduce himself to the spirits of the natural world; if the spirits find him worthy, they will protect him from harm.
Elaborate funeral rituals guarantee a spirit’s safe passage into the afterlife. The body may be burned in a ceremonial fire, wrapped in animal skins and buried in the ground, or anointed with herbal lotions and lowered into a quicksand pool. The corpse of an animal, such asa wolf or a tiger, may be interred with the body, so that the animal's spirit can protect the spirit of the departed. The departed’s skull may be retained and given to the family, or stacked with others in a place of honor near the village perimeter. The bereaved family may mourn for as long as a year, making nightly trips to the  gravesite to commune with the spirit. To discourage the departed from coming back from the dead, his possessions may be burned and his dwelling destroyed.  
===Charms and Fetishes===
Clerics sometimes distribute charms and fetishes to ward off evil or bring good luck. A charm may be an animal foot, a shiny stone, a claw, or other common item; or a manufactured object, such as an amulet, rattle, or a shell marked with a rune. The material components have no special properties themselves; rather, the cleric imbues them with power by reciting magical formulas and performing supernatural rituals. 
With the DM's permission, a shaman may create good luck charms (amulets, bracelets, or fetishes) to aid his fellow tribesmen. The cleric must be at least 10th level; he can create one charm per month. After he creates the charm, he makes a Wisdom check with a —1 penalty for each level of experience below 18th (a 14th-level cleric suffers a -4 penalty); a Medicine Man or Medicine Woman (see Chapter 3) suffers no penalty, regardless of level. If the check fails, the charm has no special properties. If the check succeeds, the charm grants the wearer one of the following bonuses of the DM's choice: a +1 bonus to either his Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity checks, or a +1 bonus to any one saving throw category (spells; breath weapon; rods, staves, and wands; and so on). 
These charms only benefit barbarians from the cleric's homeland. A barbarian may benefit from no more than one charm at a time. The special properties of a charm last for 1–4 months. 
===Taboos and Superstitions===
Superstitions arise from circumstances thought to foreshadow disaster. Often a superstition has its roots in a real or imagined relationship between two objects or events. A hunter fells a bear with a single arrow during a new moon; he concludes the moon is responsible for his good fortune. A cleric wears a tiger skin robe when performing a healing ritual; the patient fully recovers by morning, and from then on, the cleric never fails to wear the robe. Such coincidental occurrences become part of the culture and are accepted as facts. Other examples: 
* If a rabbit crosses your path, your journey will be ill-fated. 
* Meat becomes poisonous if looked upon by a skunk. 
* A white owl is an omen of death. 
* A dying man's last words foretell a future event. 
* If a person becomes feverish, his weapons will soon break. 
* The corpse of a toad marks the location of a buried gem. 
Some events, objects, and people are believed to be inherently sinister because of their association with death, or because they run afoul of accepted cultural standards. Barbarians avoid sinister events, cast away sinister objects, expel sinister people. These superstitions may concern outworld funeral services, human bones, undead, left-handed people, blonde hair, vermin such as rats, and the like. 
Still other superstitions involve strict prohibitions on behavior, called taboos. A tribe generally has at least one taboo applicable to all of its members, and may assign additional taboos to specific groups, such as elderly warriors, unmarried women, or men with facial hair. Personal taboos, unique to specific individuals, are also possible. By avoiding his taboos, a barbarian minimizes the chance of upsetting evil spirits or attracting their attention. Typical taboos 
* Must not touch a deer carcass. 
* Must not wear a black garment. 
* Must not be embraced by an outworlder. 
* Must not drink from the same river in which he has ridden a raft. 
* Must not cut his hair. 
Barbarians devise elaborate safeguards to stave off the misfortunes associated with superstitions. They use gestures (touching their ears, spinning in a circle), charms (a dragon's scale, a porcupine quill), runes (a tattoo on their wrists, an image on a shield), and vocalizations (evoking an ancestor's name, howling like a wolf). Just as superstitions vary from culture to culture, so do the safeguards. To bring good luck, a desert barbarian might wear a camel hair necklace, and a swamp barbarian might avoid killing snakes.
Category:The Complete Barbarian's Handbook