Healing, Health & Death

**In general, healing arts are within the purview of the**
church, this is particularly true in cities and in towns where the church will often
operate a hospital of some sort or there would be a space for medical treatment
within the larger church building. There are some non-magical healers who
exist, but they are far fewer in number. This is echoed in smaller villages and
hamlets where there is usually one priest and a small bit of herbalism or folk
medicine. More rarely, there is access to druids or rangers locally who have
their own healing magics, often ‘covering up’ when in towns using herbs and
tinctures to conceal their arts.

The common practice is for the faithful to donate or tithe extra
to their church if they have received healing or other divine services. These
tithes are often forgiven for the destitute, but for those who are out of favor
with the Church or when clerics are less noble in their motivations, a fee may
be required up-front.

The Priest responsible for a number of hamlets or a small to
medium-sized village is known to be able to stabilize an inured person, cure
wounds and broken bones, know if something is poisonous or spoiled and remedy
that, and help those who are suffering from illness. This sort of priest probably
spends as much time helping farmers, settling disputes, ministering to people
as they do at healing.

A Priest responsible for a medium to large-size village or
small town has been known to do those things but also has accomplished one or
two ‘feats’ or impressive magics that are pretty uncommon, bringing people back
from grievous injuries or illnesses, making food or water from nothing. Someone
who grew up in a town like this has heard that the Priest once brought back
somebody after they’d stopped breathing (“like something out of the bard’s
song.”)

When a Bishop is Ordained, he is given a heavy chain with a
key upon it, symbolizing the door between the world of life and death. As such,
it is known that a Bishop has the ability to call a soul back to its body after
death, and some Bishops and Archbishops are known to be able to do even greater
acts of healing and restorative magic.

Those who have operated with or are familiar with the
military or the Order of the Dawn have likely met clerical representatives who
have powers and capacities both different and greater than the usual local
Priests. Popular stories and songs tell of bardic magic that can create healing
miracles as well.

On the good side, this means that most people can find
medical assistance for mild and moderate injuries as well as common and
sometimes serious illnesses and diseases.
Serious accidents or very severe illnesses may be beyond the skills of
local healers, and it is not uncommon for people to travel to towns to find
more healing magic.

The upshot of this is that for most common folk, death is
relatively final.  A local priest may
know Revivify but there’s no guarantee that a priest will be able to get to the
body in a minute, and the 300gp gem required to cast it is a significant investment
for a poor town. Raising the dead is more common/accessible in larger towns and
cities, but it still requires an investment and access to a cleric.

Revivify is quick and almost always successful (it’s the
magical equivalent of using the shock paddles to restart the heart). Raise Dead
and Resurrection are a bit more personalized: souls that were slain in violence
may be eager to return to life, but some faithful people may prefer the
comforts of the afterlife, or those who died in prolonged pain or depression
may be unwilling to return. As such rituals to raise the dead usually involve
contributions by loved ones or comrades of the fallen individual to help make
the case for return.