Avatars- Swissyries

Description

An avatar of Excitarus is a beautiful blonde maiden with measurements of 36D-24-36. She wears a small blue bikini that hides very little. Atop her head is a helmet with two horns protruding from it. Around her neck is a necklace with the symbol of Excitarus, a pewter pendant engraved with a barley decorated tankard. She carries a +5 wooden staff that she wields in battle.

The Swissyries travel in groups of six and function as a well- organized team. When they travel, Swissyries give of a beautiful aura of pearly, flickering light. They travel ethereally, and are only visible to those intoxicated.

When not on a mission for Excitarus, Swissyries act as serving maids in Excitarus's great drinking hall.

Also in this section of the source

1st Order: Tasters of the Brew of Excitarus

(also Keepers of the Brew of Excitarus)

Alignment: A priest of the 1st order can be Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, or Chaotic Evil.

Minimum Ability Scores: Wisdom 9, Constitution 14. Wisdom or Constitution of 16 means +05% experience. Wisdom and Constitution of 16 means +10% experience.

Races Allowed: Any (commonly humans, dwarves, and gnomes).

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Drinking (Boozing), Disguise Drunkenness/Hangover. Recommended: Bartending, Brewing, Drinking Skills/Tricks, Gaming, Reading/Writing, Religion.

Weapon Proficiencies: Required: Tankard.

Weapons and Armor Restrictions: Permitted weapons are a tankard (or other drinking container), club, staff, net (for big bar fights). No shields (that wouldn't leave a free hand for drinking). No armor heavier than chain-mail. All armor and weapons must be properly blessed by a 5th level or higher priest of Excitarus.

Duties of the Priest: Devotions, Guidance (listening to others at the bar), Tasting and Protecting the Brews of Excitarus, Keeping the Taverns of Excitarus, Marriage (can be annulled the next morning when both parties are sober again, if desired), Judging at annual brewing competition festival. Presiding over the annual drinking festival.

Spheres of Influence: Major Access to All, Guardian, Protection. Minor Access to Creation, Plant, Healing.

Powers & Benefits:

• The priest is immune to alcohol poisoning (but not drunkenness). No priest shall experience tainted brew.
• The priest never experiences a hangover if intoxicated from beer, ale, or mead. Liquors and wines cause normal hangovers.
• At 3rd level, the priest can cause a hangover on somebody by making a successful attack roll to touch a person. If successful, the victim gets a hangover. Roll on Table 1, Hangover Effects Table, to get the effects of the hangover.
• At 5th level, the priest can identify and analyze any alcoholic grain beverage with just one sip.
• At 7th level, the priest has the power of Soothing Word.
• At 9th level, the priest can comprehend and communicate with any person that is intoxicated. The priest is able to ask questions and receive intelligent answers that are accompanied with friendless, cooperations, and understanding. The true usefulness of this power is when the intoxicated person is comatose.

Limitations & Hindrances:

• The priest receives a -1 per every three levels penalty on all Constitution checks when drinking wine or liquor.
• Before going to rest (i.e. sleep), the priest must be intoxicated. Going to sleep sober is considered blasphemy. It would be impossible for Excitarus to communicate to the priest via the dreamworld without the priest being intoxicated. Although few priests have ever experienced such dreams.
• Liquor has a tendency to destroy the priest's sense of taste. A priest should never drink liquor or risk offending Excitarus. Excitarus may even destroy the priest's sense of taste and/or excommunicate him. Wine can be consumed by the priest, but not to often and never when beer, ale, or mead can be found.

Followers and Strongholds: At 7th level (earlier than most orders, but this group tends to die of liver failure at an early age), the priest gets the following followers: 3 third level priests, 5 first level priests, and 11-20 normal followers (barflies so to speak). The priest may then construct a Tavern of Excitarus, for which he/she must pay half the construction costs. The stronghold acts as a bar for thirsty patrons and as a repository for the various brews made by the Brewmeisters of Excitarus.

Requirements for Followers:

Alignment choices: Any non-lawful

Races Allowed: Any (commonly human, dwarf, and gnome)

Restrictions: None (but must love beer)

Notes: Eventually, the Tasters of the Brew of Excitarus will split into 2 separate orders, one just for drinking and one just for tavern keeping. When this happens, the life-span of the Tasters will decline even further.

2nd Order: Brewmeisters of Excitarus

Alignment: A priest of the 2nd order can be Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, Neutral, Lawful Neutral, or Chaotic Neutral.

Minimum Ability Scores: Wisdom 12, Constitution 12, Intelligence of 11. Wisdom or Constitution or Intelligence of 16 means +05% experience. A score of 16 in any two abilities means +10% experience. Wisdom and Constitution and Intelligence of 16 means +15% experience.

Races Allowed: Any (commonly humans, dwarves, and gnomes).

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Alchemy, Brewing, Herbalism. Recommended: Disguise Drunkenness/Hangover, Drinking (Boozing), Drinking Skills/Tricks, Gaming, Reading/Writing, Religion.

Weapon Proficiencies: Required: Wooden staff.

Weapons and Armor Restrictions: Permitted weapons are the club, tankard, staff, and sling. Non-metal armor and shields only. All armor and weapons must be properly blessed by a 5th level or higher priest of Excitarus.

Duties of the Priest: Devotions, Education (teaching of the brewing arts to those deemed worthy, promotion of brewing), Investigation (seeking forgotten brewing techniques and developing new ones), Must participate in annual brewing competition festival.

Spheres of Influence: Major Access to Creation, Plant. Minor Access to Healing, Guardian, Protection.

Powers & Benefits:

• The priest is immune to alcohol poisoning (but not drunkenness). No priest shall experience tainted brew.
• The priest never experiences a hangover if intoxicated from beer, ale, or mead. Liquors and wines cause normal hangovers.
• At 3rd level, the priest can identify and analyze any alcoholic grain beverage even when partially brewed with just one sip.
• At 3rd level, the priest can mend as per the spell Mending on damaged brewing apparatus only once per day by laying on hands.
• At 5th level, the priest can create a quart of average quality beer, ale, or mead twice per day.
• At 7th level the priest may speed the fermentation process of any naturally fermentable vegetable matter (i.e. potatoes, wheat, etc.) once per day. Within one hour all the contents in the container will be completely fermented as if the full year or whatever the necessary time period was had passed. The priest must be careful to make sure that all other preparations have been made to hold the newly fermented liquid. There must be vats, bottles and anything else that is necessary for the preservation of the Alcohol.

The priest must already know the time necessary to ferment the grapes or whatever and the alcohol making processes before casting this spell (i.e. the character must have a proper non-weapon proficiency).

Limitations & Hindrances:

• The priest receives a -1 per every three levels penalty on all Constitution checks when drinking wine or liquor.
• The priest may never make wine or liquors or the wrath of Excitarus shall strike.
• The priest must always give the first drink of a new brew to another person, preferably a friend.

Followers and Strongholds: At 8th level, the priest receives the following followers: 3 fourth level priests, 4 second level priests, 6 first level priests, and 11-20 normal followers. At this time, the priest can construct a Brewery of Excitarus. The priest pays half the cost of construction. This brewery provides facilities for the mass production of brewed beverages along with workshops and laboratories for the development of new brews.

Requirements for Followers:

Alignment choices: Any

Races Allowed: Any (commonly humans, dwarves, and gnomes)

Restrictions: None (but must love beer)

3rd Order: Harvesters of the Grains of Excitarus

Alignment: Neutral.

Minimum Ability Scores: Wisdom 12, Constitution 12. Wisdom or Constitution of 16 means +05% experience. Wisdom and Constitution of 16 means +10% experience.

Races Allowed: Any (commonly humans and halflings).

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Agriculture, Herbalism, Weather Sense. Recommended: Brewing, Disguise Drunkenness/Hangover, Drinking (Boozing), Drinking Skills/Tricks, Reading/Writing, Religion.

Weapon Proficiencies: Required: Scythe.

Weapons and Armor Restrictions: Permitted weapons are the scythe, club, tankard, sickle, and flail. No shields and no metal armor allowed. All armor and weapons must be properly blessed by a 5th level or higher priest of Excitarus.

Duties of the Priest: Devotions, Guidance, Conducting of annual barley harvest celebrations, Vigilance against anything that may harm barley or other grains used in brewing, Destruction of rats and other vermin that prey on agricultural lands.

Spheres of Influence: Major Access to All, Plant, Protection. Minor Access to Creation, Guardian, Healing, Weather.

Powers & Benefits:

• The priest is immune to alcohol poisoning (but not drunkenness). No priest shall experience tainted brew.
• The priest never experiences a hangover if intoxicated from beer, ale, or mead. Liquors and wines cause normal hangovers.
• The priest can identify any grain used in brewing.
• At 3rd level, the priest can identify and analyze any alcoholic grain beverage with just one sip.
• At 5th level, the priest can identify and analyze any disease in grains used in brewing.
• At 7th level, the priest can detect the presence and location of any rat nest within 50 feet. Of course, he must seek out and destroy it.
• At 9th level, the priest can shape-change three times per day into a cat.

Limitations & Hindrances:

• The priest receives a -1 per every three levels penalty on all Constitution checks when drinking wine or liquor.
• The priest must kill any vermin that prey on agricultural land and are unclean thus defiling grain.
• Chastity is required by Excitarus for the crop land cannot be fertile if the harvesters are fertile.

Followers and Strongholds: At 9th level, the following followers are gained: 3 fifth level priests, 4 third level priests, 6 first level priests, 21-30 normal followers. At this time, the priest can build a Grainery of Excitarus. The priest must pay for half of the construction costs of this stronghold. The stronghold will act as a safe storehouse for grains used in brewing and will also be a source of information about methods used to enhance the production of these grains.

Requirements for Followers:

Alignment choices: Any

Races Allowed: Any (commonly humans and halflings)

Restrictions: None (but must like beer)

The Centaur Cult of Excitarus

The Centaur Cult of Excitarus is sect with only centaurs as members. They are master brewers. They are great drinkers. They are centaurs with a lust for beer, ale, and mead.

They tend to live and worship deep in the woodland near fresh, pure springs where they can get the best water for brewing. Although centaurs are reclusive to most races they will be friendly with any priest of Excitarus hoping to share recipes and techniques with their brethren.

Alignment: A priest of The Centaur Cult of Excitarus can be Neutral Chaotic Good, Neutral Good.

Minimum Ability Scores: Wisdom 12, Constitution 14, Intelligence of 12. Wisdom or Constitution or Intelligence of 16 means +05% experience. A score of 16 in any two abilities means +10% experience. Wisdom and Constitution and Intelligence of 16 means +15% experience.

Races Allowed: Centaur.

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Alchemy, Brewing, Drinking (Boozing), Herbalism. Recommended: Disguise Drunkenness/Hangover, Drinking Skills/Tricks.

Weapon Proficiencies: Required: Wooden staff.

Weapons and Armor Restrictions: Permitted weapons are the club, tankard, staff, and sling. No armor.

Duties of the Priest: Devotions, Education (teaching of the brewing arts to those deemed worthy), Investigation (seeking forgotten brewing techniques and developing new ones), May participate in annual brewing competition festival if welcome by non-prejudice people.

Spheres of Influence: Major Access to Creation, Plant. Minor Access to Healing, Guardian, Protection.

Powers & Benefits:

• The priest is immune to alcohol poisoning (but not drunkenness). No priest shall experience tainted brew.
• The priest never experiences a hangover if intoxicated from beer, ale, or mead. Liquors and wines cause normal hangovers.
• The priest gains a +5 per class level bonus to the Brewing non-weapon proficiency.
• The priest gains a +3 to Constitution ability checks as they pertain to alcohol.
• At 3rd level, the priest can identify and analyze any alcoholic grain beverage even when partially brewed with just one sip.
• At 3rd level, the priest can mend as per the spell Mending on damaged brewing apparatus only once per day by laying on hands.
• At 5th level, the priest can create a four quarts of excellent quality beer, ale, or mead twice per day. However, the priest tends to not use this power because only through non-magical means does a brewer truly enlighten himself and his art.
• At 7th level the priest may speed the fermentation process of any naturally fermentable vegetable matter (i.e. potatoes, wheat, etc.) once per day. Within one hour all the contents in the container will be completely fermented as if the full year or whatever the necessary time period was had passed. The priest must be careful to make sure that all other preparations have been made to hold the newly fermented liquid. There must be vats, bottles and anything else that is necessary for the preservation of the Alcohol.

The priest must already know the time necessary to ferment the grapes or whatever and the alcohol making processes before casting this spell (i.e. the character must have a proper non-weapon proficiency).

• At 9th level, the priest has the power of Prophecy. The priest must become greatly intoxicated before entering the meditation state to receive the visions.

Limitations & Hindrances:

• The priest receives a -1 per every three levels penalty on all Constitution checks when drinking wine or liquor.
• The priest may never make wine or liquors or the wrath of Excitarus shall strike.
• The priest must always give the first drink of a new brew to another person, preferably a friend.

Followers and Strongholds: At 8th level, the priest receives the following centaur followers: 3 fourth level priests, 4 second level priests, 6 first level priests, and 11-20 normal followers. At this time, the priest can construct a Brewery of Excitarus. The priest pays half the cost of construction. This brewery isn't for mass production as the other brewing priesthood constructs, rather this brewery is for educational and homing of brewing skills.

Requirements for Followers:

Alignment choices: Any

Races Allowed: Centaur

Restrictions: None

Holy/Unholy Alcohol

Because of the great benefits from possessing holy/unholy alcohol, the GM should be careful in maintaining game balance by limiting the availability of the alcohol. For those clerics able to create their own alcohol, the GM has many opportunities to screw up his work.

Usage

When drinking holy alcohol, Constitution intoxication checks penalties are doubled and if greatly intoxicated the penalties to saves vs. poison are doubled as well.

Spiritual magic in the holy alcohol causes special effects to the imbiber. For example, holy alcohol created by clerics of the god of merriment would cause great celebration and a non-violent intent amongst its imbibers. Holy alcohol belonging to the god of knowledge calms and relaxes the imbibers and gives them a higher intelligence while intoxicated. The holy alcohol of the god of light, the sun, and the truth gives the imbibers the powers to detect lies and deceptions. The special magical effects are left to the GM and player keeping in mind game-balance.

Becoming greatly intoxicated from holy alcohol of their deity allows a cleric or priest of 9th level or higher to receive visions from their deity. Evil clerics using unholy alcohol to receive visions are indeed brave or foolish given the damage the receive from drinking it. The visions received are solely up to the GM.

Other more concrete powers are the following:

Holy Alcohol

• Ingesting holy alcohol will heal 2d4 points of damage, cure disease (3rd level), and causes a state of great intoxication.
• Ingesting with holy alcohol will have the beneficial effect of slowing the onset of lycanthropy or becoming undead. For each serving so used, the process is slowed by 1d4 days.
• Affects most forms of undead creatures from the lower planes like holy water, but does twice as much damage.

Unholy Alcohol

• Ingesting unholy alcohol will cause 2d4 points of damage, cause disease (3rd level, reverse of cure disease), and causes a state of great intoxication.
• Ingesting with unholy alcohol will have the effect of speeding-up the onset of lycanthropy or becoming undead. For each serving so used, the process is speeded-up by 1d4 days.
• Affects affects paladins, creatures whose purpose is to defend good (lamaasu, shedu, etc.), and creatures from the outer planes like holy water, but does twice as much damage.

Creation

Only clerics are able to prepare holy alcohol - or unholy alcohol in the case of evil clerics. As a third level spell is involved, it requires a cleric of not less than 5th level of experience to manage to create such a fluid.

The Planting

Take a fallow field and perform a ceremony of consecration (Ceremony, 1st level, Unearthed Arcana) to a specific deity upon it. Typical deities are the deity of nature, the deity of agriculture, the deity of the sun, Ebrietas the deity of good intoxication, Malus Temulentia the deity of liquor and the evil it brings, Vinumus the deity of wine, and Excitarus the deity of brew.

Some deities will call for blood sacrifice, while some may simply prefer that you simply sprinkle the fertilizer with holy water (bonus for using fertilizer from holy cows or fish, if that is kosher for the GM).

Use appropriately blessed/cursed (1st level) implants such as ploughs for preparing the sacred field. All creatures of the earth that are used to assist in preparing the field are sacrificed as an offering to the deity of the field.

The seeds whether grape, grain, or other appropriate type are blessed/cursed (1st level) and sprinkled with holy water before they are sown. During the sowing, prayers and chants are made to the appropriate deity asking for a good crop. The character must make a successful wisdom check to maintain his/her concentration during this stage.

The Harvest

During the harvest, prayers and chants are made thanking the appropriate deity for the crop. The character must make a successful wisdom check to maintain his/her concentration during this stage. Only the best of the crop can produce holy alcohol. At most only 25% of the crop can be considered high enough in quality to be used. The use of the augury spell (2nd level) must be cast to find out how much of the harvest can be used for processing, how much can be disposed of for any purpose, and how much should be sacrificed to the god in gratitude for the crop.

In the case of a good god, the remainder of the crop that can't be used is distributed to the poor whether directly, baked into bread or made into alcohol without the appropriate holy ceremony. In the case of a evil god, the remainder of the crop that can't be used is destroyed typically in a sacrificial fire.

The harvest must be performed by people who have at least been initiated into the mysteries of that deity though they need not be a full cleric, just someone dedicated to that god.

The Creation

Before creation, the cleric must spend a week in prayers and meditations. Each day, a successful wisdom check must be made with a -3 penalty.

Grain threshing, grape stomping, etc. can be performed by people who have at least been initiated into the mysteries of that deity though they need not be a full cleric, just someone dedicated to that god.

The harvest is processed into alcohol in the normal process whether brewing, distilling, or wining. All items used in the process must be of fine workmanship and made specifically for this purpose. The items must be engraved with the holy/unholy symbols of the cleric's deity. Also, they must also be properly consecrated (Ceremony, 1st level, Unearthed Arcana).

Water used in the creation process must be from the spell Create Water (2nd level) and a vail of holy/unholy water must be added as well. The cleric casts the following spells in succession while robed in formal vestments: Create Alcohol (2nd level), Purify Food & Drink or its reverse (1st level), Bless or its reverse (1st level), Chant (2nd level) for one turn, and Prayer (3rd level).

Note that the Create Alcohol spell does not actually create alcohol in this instance, which would ruin the brewing process. It simply "charges" the mash or pulp.

The amount of alcohol produced is dependant on the GMs desires for reasons of game balance and role-playing.

The Aging

Bottles, kegs, barrels, or any other type of storage vessel used to store the sacred alcohol must be consecrated. The vessels used are 10 to 100 times more expensive.

The concoction must age properly as that of its normal counterpart after which it will be holy/unholy alcohol.

The Product

If the priest hasn't been properly faithful to his/her deity, the product may be ruined like foxed beer (thick, ropy, horrible stuff) or vinegar instead of wine. Alternatively, if there is a time of crisis and the faithful are flocking in to pray for help, the god may age the stuff faster than usual to aid the people. Subtle miracles tend to be easier.

Depending on the deities portfolio, the holy alcohol may carry unusual appearance properties. For example, holy wine made under the auspices of the sun god may glow with a warm yellow light if a white wine, or a sunset-red if a red wine. Holy liquor of the god of death would actually absorb light to some extent.

Alcohol Organizations of All Sorts

"Friends don't let friends fight dragons when drunk."

"Don't drink and dungeon."