Bastion of Faith
| Bastion of Faith | |
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| The cover of Bastion of Faith, art by Tony Szczudlo. | |
| Type: | Adventure |
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| Code/Abbreviation: | BoF, TSR 11442 |
| Edition: | Second edition |
| Author(s): | Bruce R. Cordell |
| Editor(s): | Kij Johnson |
| Cover Artist(s): | Tony Szczudlo |
| Interior Artist(s): | David Martin |
| Publisher: | TSR |
| First Published: | 1999 |
| Pages: | 96 |
| ISBN: | 0-7869-1442-4 |
| Class: | Officially published content |
Bastion of Faith is an accessory for second edition, published in 2000.
Cover blurb
"Secrets of priests and temples—reveled at last!
Who are the priests your player characters turn to for cures and healing? What is the temple like where they line up for holy water? What is the patron church for the zealous party paladin? Where did your party's clerics and priests train, and where do they go when the time comes to learn higher mysteries? Bastion of Faith has answers to these questions and many more!
Bastion of Faith presents a complete temple of priests and affiliates (holy warriors, devout rogues, and pious wizards) that can be placed into any campaign or adventure. Bastion of Faith follows the format of the popular Den of Thieves and College of Wizardry sourcebooks. This 96-page contains:
- A complete roster of the priests and affiliates of the temple called the Bastion of Faith, including detailed descriptions for the temple's upper hierarchy.
- Rules for incorporating nonpriest characters into the temple as affiliates
- Maps of the temple, its public spaces? and the tainted catacombs beneath it.
- New priest spells and new blessed magical items.
- Four mini-adventures for priest or nonpriest characters.
- The full story behind the Bastion's "Secret Doctrine" and the consequences for the temple should the truth ever get out!"[1]
Contents
Bastion of Faith is set primarily in the World of Greyhawk, and is dedicated to describing a temple of Heironeous. The suffested location for the Bastion of Faith is in the Free City of Greyhawk, being used for fleshing out the Sanctum of Haeironeous. Although, it does also suggest other possibilities, such as "the northern reaches of the Kingdom of Furyondy, the Shield Lands, and the Kingdom of Nyrond."[2]. Also, adaptions are made for other settings, including various suggested deities in the Forgotten Realms, Kiri-Jolith of Dragonlance, or Haelyn of Birthright.
Bastion of Faith is the third in a series of books that detail one of the four core character classes, after College of Wizardry for mages and Den of Thieves for rogues.[3] This book gives the priest a home, patrons, friends and allies to aid his cause. The Bastion is the name for the Church of Heironeous.[3]
Bastion of Faith details the upper levels of power in the priesthood and gives a summary of the different members of the church, noting where some of these levels have places that player characters might fit in. Specialty priests of Heironeous are called "gloryaxes", rogues (thieves) in service to the Bastion are called inquisitors, paladins and fighters are templars, and mages are catechists. The faithful gain spell-like abilities as they rise in level. In addition to the roster, there are fourteen full write ups that include history, personality, statistics, possessions, and illustrations.[3] The book also introduces favors, which are a form of non-monetary currency.[3]
The work details the temple, its history, a complete roster of its members, its system of hierarchy, and its secret doctrine. It defines rules for specialty priests of Heironeous, called Gloryaxes, after that deity's favored weapon. Although, in later editions Heironeous' favored weapon could be either axe or sword.
Notable individuals
In Bastion of Faith, the leader of the temple, Abba Gaius (human male Ftr10/Clr17), who replaces the "prior abbot" Jaikor Demien.[2], and renamed it from "Sanctum of Heironeous" to "Bastion of Faith".
Also notable are:
- Leadershi8p
- Hierodeacon Caernarvon (half-elf male Pal13 of Heironeous)
- Hieradeacon Dolaucoth {human male Clr12)
- Hierodeacon Landra (human female Pal11 of Heironeous)
- Secondary leadership
- Mother Loughora (human female Pal10 of Heironeous)
- Father Netherby (human male Clr10)
- Mother Annan (human female Clr10)
- Father Abbregio (human male Pal7 of Heironeous)
- Affiliate leadershpi
- Mother Fela (human female Pal7 of Heironeous)
- Inquisitor Ravenglass (human male Thf9)
- Catechist Cassante (human male Mage12)
- Templar Lugo {human male Pal11)
- Other personalities
Some general NPCs are also given names, but only with brief statistics— 21 priests, 4 Novitiates, 20 templars, 3 inquisitors, 3 catechists, 4 affiliate novitiates, 3 postulants.
- Well-known detached NPCs
-
- Clergy
- Cargil (human male Pal16 of Heironeous)
- Gifela (human female Clr18 of Heironeous)
- Expidos (human male Pal20 of Heironeous)
- Affiliates
- Munann (human male Ftr18)
- Cossata (human female Thf20)
New spells
- detect breath
- lesser brand of Heironeous
- lesser glyph of warding
- shield of Heironeous
- vigilance
- bless missile
- hand of Heironeous
- vengeful fist of Heironeous
- abstention
- greater glyph of warding
- greater brand of Heironeous
- simple justice
- bolt of glory
- call templars
- bastion
- personal savior
- miracle (7th level spell)
Secret spells
- peace of dissolution
- lure of the beast
- inexorable restitution
- refresh
Hextorian spells
- mantle of Hextor
- battlearms
- arouse discord
- exorcise
It also details a set of glyphs, which have magical effects, and rules for specialty priests of Hextor, called Battlescourges.
New magic items
- dicerion of light and darkness
- dicerion of good and evil
- dicerion of health and sickness
- dicerion of fire and ice
- unblemished alb
- skin-of-stone cassock
- chasuble of sheen
- sovereign chasuble of sheen
- cope of far seeing
- dalmatic of hiding
- fleet mitre
- surplice of protection
- surplice of sanctuary
- holy water
- consecrated water
- incense of prayer
- holy incense
- censor of perpetuation
- thurible of the gate
- everfull aspergillum
- snuffing bell
- prayer beads of spell storing
- and the holy weapons Liberator and Torrent.
Locations
It also includes a detailed description of the various rooms which can serve as the basis for short adventure modules:
- Observership & Hard Choices, for one to six characters of levels 1 to 3
- To Serve and Obey, for three to six characters of levels 3 to 6
- I'm on a Mission, for three to six characters of levels 4 to 7
- Call of the Templar, for three to six characters of levels 9 to 12
- The Bastion of Evil, a suggestion for any number of characters of any level
Publication history
Bastion of Faith was written by Bruce R. Cordell. and released by Wizards of the Coast in December 1999[3] for $16.95 US or $24.95 Canadian.
On May 2, 2017, it was re-released in digital format on DriveThruRPG and Dungeon Masters Guild for $4.99.
Reception and influence
By 2023, Bastion of Faith reached the rank of Silver best-seller on DriveThruRPG, and Electrum best-seller by 2024.
Influence on other works
Bastion of the Faith was cited as a resource for the D&D third edition sourcebook Defenders of the Faith. That work featured the spell bolt of glory.
Reviews
Bastion of Faith was reviewed by the online version of Pyramid on June 16, 2000.[3] The reviewer says that regarding the actual Bastion described, this book "gives the DM enough details to choke a horse".[3] The reviewer also comments on the summary of church members: "One of the nice things about the roster is that there are several 1st level characters with names that a GM can just scoop up and use as player characters. Not a priest? That's fine."[3]
External links
Disclaimer:Any lore presented through the following links does not necessarily adhere to established officially published content, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this wiki.
- Bastion of Faith on DriveThruRPG
- Bastion of Faith on Dungeon Masters Guild
References
Notes
Citations
- ↑ Bastion of Faith (2000), Back cover.
- ↑ a b Bastion of Faith (2000), p.4.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Pyramid Pick
Bibliography
- Cordell, Bruce R.. Bastion of Faith. Renton, WA: TSR, 1999. Item code TSR11442.
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Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index
The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.
| Topic | Type | Description | Product | Page/Card/Image
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bastion of Faith (Heironeous) | Building | Religious building, | Bastion of Faith | All |