Notes on Sacrifices to the Spirits (SB)

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While not all spirits demand or even appreciate such gifts, some (ancestors and hero spirits, for example) may require sacrifices for any of the following reasons:
* Worship or Respect: Societies that revere spirits make frequent and regular sacrifice to them. These are designed to ensure the good fortune and prosperity of the community by soliciting the spirit's aid.
* Thanks: If a spirit gives aid to a person (other than a shaman), that person should give thanksofferings to the spirit.
* Atonement: If a person angers the spirits, sacrifices may appease them. The spirits' anger might be roused in a number of ways, including breaking laws, killing animals that are sacred to them, desecrating a sacred site, showing disrespect to a shaman, or publicly mocking the spirits.
* Rites of Passage: Sacrifices are also used to mark important events in a person's life, such as birth, adulthood, marriage, or death. Here the spirits are called upon to give their blessings to the person, to recognize his new status. These events are essentially social occasions, and the sacrifices are often part of a feast that is enjoyed by the community.
* Favors: People may make sacrifices in order to secure the assistance of the spirits in some endeavor. The favor should fall within the purview of the spirit (totems deal with hunting and animals, heroes with warfare and heroism, and so on). A typical favor might grant a bonus to one type of roll for the duration of an adventure, such as requesting +1 to saving throws vs. spell, or +1 to attack rolls, or -1 AC. Whether or not a spirit grants a favor is a matter for each DM to decide: A Charisma check may be required (modified for particularly generous sacrifices), the character should previously have performed deeds that impressed the spirit, and the favor should add to the drama of the adventure and not detract from it. If possible, the player should not be told whether a request has failed or succeeded, and the bonuses should be applied to die rolls secretly by the DM without telling the player.
Further, shamans may have to make sacrifices to gain spells, establish shrines, make certain kinds of divination, and for other ritual purposes.
==How to Sacrifice?==
A sacrifice must be made at the proper time and place, and by the proper ritual (known to those who have the Shamanic Ritual proficiency). Further, a qualified shaman must oversee or perform the ritual (who must make a successful Shamanic Ritual proficiency check for the sacrifice to be effectual).
Appropriate locations for sacrifices are:
* Sites which are sacred to the spirit, preferably shrines set up by shamans, or anywhere else that the spirit is present.
* Any place where sacrifice has traditionally been made, or where the spirit has ordained that they should be made. (Some communities, for example, sacrifice to their spirits in the center of their village, even though this is neither a place where the spirits are often found nor a sacred site.)
If the sacrifice is made in an inappropriate place, or by an unqualified person, or is incorrectly performed, then the sacrifice fails. The spirit does not receive the gift intended for it, and so does not respond to the sacrifice.
Various methods of sacrifice exist, including:
* Blood Sacrifice: Livestock might be given as "food" to the spirits, particularly to those who, like ancestors, are considered to have once been alive. Larger beasts are generally preferred to smaller animals. The flesh of animals killed in this way may be burned or buried, consumed in a feast shared by the community, or eaten by the shamans or other privileged social group.
* Liquids: Libations of beer or milk may be poured upon the ground or an altar for minor sacrifices. These are most likely for frequent, minor sacrifices (such as an offering to the house's hearth spirit made each morning).
* Vegetable or Food Sacrifice: More rarely, vegetables, bread and other foods may be offered. This usually has to be prepared in a special way, and may be burned, buried, or eaten after it has been offered to the spirits.
* Solid Objects: Weapons (particularly those captured in war), jewelry, precious objects, etc. may be given as sacrifices. These may be stored or displayed at a holy site, burned, buried, or cast into a sacred pool. Ancestors and other spirits supposedly deriving from the dead may also be given objects of use to normal folk, such as eating implements or clothing.
DMs should remember that things presented to the spirits as sacrifices are their property. If tradition (and the spirit) allow sacrificial beasts to be eaten, then that is fine, but the unapproved looting of sacrificial sites is theft, and harshly punished by the spirits. Solid objects buried or abandoned for the spirits may seem like easy loot for adventurers (especially if there is a magical item or two amongst them), but the spirits have ways of making people regret such disrespect, as detailed on the MC sheets at the back of this book.
==Scaling Sacrifices==
The importance of a sacrifice should be reflected by the value of the objects offered. In this way, great wrongs are more costly to atone for, and great ceremonies have more splendid sacrifices than minor ones. The list below provides sample values of sacrifices. People remain free to provide greater sacrifices if they wish, and the sacrifice must be made in some appropriate form. Money cannot be given; instead goods equal to the value listed must be sacrificed (200 gp = 20 cows, or a heavy gold torque necklace, or a suit of banded mail armor, or one elephant).
Any character with a Shamanic Ritual or Spirit Lore proficiency is able to correctly estimate what must be sacrificed for any common reason, though to preserve the atmosphere of the game you should explain it to the player in terms of so many cows, or so many weapons, rather than giving the bald financial value.
===Table 8: Demanded Values of Sacrifice===
* Annual Feast to Honor Spirit: 20 gp/Hit Die.
* Annual Feast to Honor Numerous Spirits: 50 gp/greatest spirit's Hit Dice.
* Atonement for Minor Wrongdoing: 10 gp.
* Atonement for Major Wrongdoing: 200 gp.
* Consecrate a Shrine: 200 gp.
* Daily Ritual (to Hearth Spirit): 1 cp.
* Daily Ritual (to Hero Spirit): 1 gp.
* Mark a Funeral: 10 gp.
* Mark a Chief's Funeral: 250 gp.
* Thanks for Aid (in hunting or battle): 10% of the spoils.