TEXT: EN World EN5IDER | Priests of Misfortune
  EN World EN5IDER | Priests of Misfortune
  Priests of
  Misfortune
   
  writing Dan Head
   color art Sade
   
  editing James J. Haeck
   
  layout Eric Life-Putnam
  G
  ods of fate and fortune exist in 
   every civilization. Many cultures 
   recognize these gods as dual-aspect or 
  triune beings, gods who bring luck—both good and 
  bad—or who hold the fates and futures of mankind 
  in their divine hands. Since people of all kinds seek 
  prosperity and fortuitous circumstance, prayers 
  to the gods of fortune are common. However, not 
  every character has a backstory that lends itself to 
  an affinity for the god or goddess of luck.
  The Mythology of 
  Misfortune
  Fate, fortune, and childbirth were often united in 
  the minds of the ancients because the prospects for 
  fortune and disaster were equally present during 
  labor in ancient times. Less common was the 
  concept that fortune could be either good or bad, 
  that one had to be careful when invoking the gods 
  of luck because such gods could be fickle with their 
  favors, and they were as apt to deliver calamity as 
  to bring prosperity. 
  
  Priests of Misfortune | EN World EN5IDER
  Priests of Misfortune | EN World EN5IDER
  The following is a selection of gods and goddesses 
  from ancient, real-world cultures that may inform 
  a Game Master’s concept of the god or goddess of 
  misfortune.
  Xolotl
  The Aztec god of fire and of bad luck and twin 
  to Quetzalcoatl, the evening star. Xototl guarded 
  the sun when it went to the underworld at night 
  and helped his brother to bring fire to mankind 
  before the dawn of history. The Aztecs depicted 
  Xolotl with physical deformities and reckoned 
  him the god of twins, whom they considered an 
  abomination.
  Ahti
  The Egyptian goddess of misfortune, Ahti was 
  believed to possess the head of a wasp and the 
  body of a hippopotamus.
  Adrestia
  The Greek goddess of revolt, just revenge, and the 
  karmic balance between good and evil. Adrestia 
  was called “the inescapable” and was thought to 
  accompany Ares into battle.
  Dienw’r Anffodion
  In Welsh lore, the “Nameless One of Misfortune” 
  wandered aimlessly for thirteen years until a 
  sister goddess revived him with her mystic drink, 
  whereupon he remembered that he was actually 
  Manawyddan, the Welsh god of sea and storms.
  Nemesis
  The Greek spirit of retribution against hubris. 
  New God: Jinx
  Fate, Fortuna, and Jinx are the triune goddesses of 
  fortune and the future. While Fate holds dominion 
  over destiny and the future, her daughters 
  Fortuna and Jinx are the patrons of good and 
  ill-fortune, respectively. Scholars believe that all 
  three play important roles in human life, but only 
  Fate and Fortuna have followers in the civilized 
  world.
   Jinx is less commonly revered. Most depictions 
  show a beautiful woman whose features are 
  marred by a hideous scar running all across one 
  side of her face. Her shrines are marked in black 
  and are usually located outside of town, placed to 
  draw her gaze away from the lands of civilization. 
  Jinx is a spiteful and capricious goddess, jealous 
  of the praises heaped upon her sister and mother. 
  Despite her fearful power—or perhaps because 
  of it—few worship Jinx, and none become her 
  favored by choice.
  The Tenets of Misfortune
  A life of hard luck and suffering can occasionally 
  leave a person with a unique and uncommon 
  spirituality, creating a relationship with Jinx that 
  more fortunate folk cannot easily understand. 
  If the sufferer’s prayers move the Mistress of 
  Misfortune, and they have truly suffered grave 
  misfortune, Jinx may even look upon them with 
  favor.
   Jinx’s favor manifests in unpredictable ways, 
  usually as a series of unlikely calamities that befall 
  those who have wronged her faithful. In effect, 
  priests and priestesses of Jinx are those who have 
  experienced so much ill luck that they can actually 
  influence the misfortunes of others. Though few 
  would choose such a path voluntarily, the Blessed 
  of Jinx can become truly powerful clerics whom 
  only the foolish would willingly cross. 
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  EN World EN5IDER | Priests of Misfortune
  EN World EN5IDER | Priests of Misfortune
  catastrophes upon those who use her favors for 
  cruel or nefarious ends. 
  Clerics of Misfortune
  When you choose the misfortune domain, you 
  gain the following powers and abilities. 
  Misfortune Domain Spells
  Cleric Level
  Spells
  1st
  bane, dissonant whispers
  3rd
  blindness/deafness, shatter
  5th
  bestow curse, remove curse
  7th
  blight, confusion
  9th
  contagion, insect plague
  Seer of Calamity
  At 1st level, you gain proficiency with the 
  Intimidation skill and learn the prestidigitation 
  cantrip. You can use prestidigitation in noncombat 
  situations as part of a Charisma (Intimidate) 
  check to cause fragile nonmagical objects to break 
  or shatter if they are unattended and within 30 
  feet of you. Doing so gives you advantage on 
  Intimidate checks provided you reveal yourself as 
  a priest or priestess of misfortune.
  Channel Divinity: Nicked an Artery
  Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel 
  Divinity feature to influence the severity of 
  wounds your enemies receive in combat. 
  When you or an ally deal a slashing or piercing 
  wound to an enemy within 30  feet, you can 
  use your reaction to cause the wound to begin 
  bleeding uncontrollably. The target takes 1d10 
  damage at the start of its next turn and on each 
  subsequent turn. The bleeding creature may 
  make a Constitution saving throw against your 
  spell save DC, ending the effect on a success. If 
  the target is reduced to 0 hp by this effect, it falls 
  unconscious from blood loss.
   This power has no effect on constructs, oozes, 
  undead, or other creatures that do not rely upon 
  blood to sustain life.
   Jinx instructs her followers to accept fate, 
  avenge slights, and punish arrogance. She teaches 
  that life is not fair, but that her faithful have a holy 
  duty to balance the scales of karmic justice and to 
  teach humility to those in need of the lesson. 
   Her symbol is a black cat upon a white field, its 
  hackles raised.
  Jinx’s Faithful
  Followers of Jinx are called Jinxians, and their 
  priests are called Calamity Speakers. Having 
  suffered so much misfortune, most Jinxians are 
  fatalistic, even nihilistic, but they can also be 
  open, accepting, and even friendly despite their 
  pessimism. 
   Jinx’s faithful take to the road in search of a 
  life away from the one that was destroyed by 
  misfortune. A Calamity Speaker in search of 
  adventure may learn the minstrel’s trade or take 
  up with a merchant company or mercenary guild. 
  Priests of Jinx are highly sought-after by thieves’ 
  guilds, though there is little evidence to suggest 
  that Jinx herself sanctions theft, save as a means of 
  retribution against the unjust or cruel.
  Persecution and Influence
  Jinxians face persecution in most civilized areas. 
  Superstitious, rural townsfolk tend to blame even 
  the slightest misfortune on Jinx and her servants, 
  especially when those servants make no secret 
  of their beliefs. To city-dwellers, a local calamity 
  such as a noblewoman’s miscarriage will often 
  trigger the arrest and prosecution of known 
  Jinxians, who will have little choice but to fight, 
  leave town, or go into hiding.
   Conversely, many rulers seek to make use of a 
  Calamity Speaker if they find one in their midst. 
  Rare indeed are the monarchs who refuse to avail 
  themselves of an ally who can make an enemy 
  sick, weaken their rivals’ walls, or spread fear and 
  chaos amongst their adversaries. Jinx herself may 
  answer such prayers, but she is known to balance 
  the scales of karma in time, visiting even greater 
  
  Priests of Misfortune | EN World EN5IDER
  Priests of Misfortune | EN World EN5IDER
  Channel Divinity: Calamity’s Disciple
  Starting at 6th level, you can use your action to 
  influence luck. For example, you can cause an 
  enemy to lose at cards or dice or to fall down a 
  small flight of stairs, or you can cause a tree to fall 
  on an adversary’s house, crushing one room. You 
  can even cause an enemy’s spouse or child to fall 
  ill, though not fatally.
   If you target another creature with this effect, 
  that creature can make a Charisma saving throw 
  against your spell save DC. On a successful 
  save, calamity is avoided, and your Channel 
  Divinity power is not expended. In such a case, 
  the goddess has refused your call for divine 
  intervention.
   Calamities caused by this power cannot be used 
  to kill or critically injure an adversary directly, 
  and they can always be explained away after the 
  fact as “bad luck”.
  Adjudicating Calamity’s Disciple
  GMs should use judgement when adjudicating Calam-
  ity’s Disciple. For example, a priest of Jinx may cause 
  an enemy to fall down a flight of stairs, taking falling 
  damage and starting an encounter prone. A combat 
  use of Calamity’s Disciple should deal roughly 2d10 
  points of physical damage while imposing an adverse 
  condition such as being knocked prone or becoming 
  dazed.  However, the power’s effects should never be 
  so overwhelming as to obviate the need for combat 
  altogether. 
   Similarly, Calamity’s Disciple should never put an 
  NPC completely at another’s mercy.  Non-combat uses 
  should create favorable but temporary situations. For 
  example, this power may cost a target NPC a signifi-
  cant amount of gold via gambling loss or physical 
  disaster, but the size of the loss is up to the GM, not 
  the player. If Calamity’s Disciple is used to make an 
  NPC’s relative ill or to create a riot, it must be clear 
  that the condition is serious but transient. Permanent 
  disasters are beyond this power’s scope.
  Unlucky Strike
  Starting at 8th level, your weapon attacks leave an 
  echo of bad luck. Once per round when you hit a 
  creature with a weapon attack, the next attack roll 
  made against this target before the end of your 
  next turn has advantage. When you reach 14th 
  level, the target also makes its next attack roll with 
  disadvantage.
  Aura of Calamity
  Starting at 17th level, you can use your action 
  to activate an aura of calamity that lasts for 1 
  minute or until you dismiss it with another action. 
  Enemies within 60 feet are infected with a sense 
  of impending doom, imposing disadvantage on 
  saving throws against your Misfortune domain 
  spells.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Priests of Misfortune
  EN World EN5IDER | Priests of Misfortune
  New Magic Items
  The Mistress of Misfortune has a particular love 
  of magic items, both cursed items and items 
  that serve her faithful in a way that marks them 
  publicly. A sampling of such items is listed below.
  No-Headed Coin
  Wondrous item, uncommon
   This small copper coin has no “heads” side. 
  Instead, both sides are “tails”. When you give 
  the coin to an unsuspecting victim, the victim 
  must make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check 
  or accept the coin as true currency. If the coin 
  is accepted, you can use a reaction to cause the 
  coin’s recipient to fail a single saving throw 
  at some point in the next 24 hours. The coin 
  magically returns to your possession at the end of 
  this 24 hour period.
  Figurine of Wondrous Power: Agate Cat
  Wondrous item, rare
   This small gemstone statuette can become a 
  black cat for up to 8 hours. Once the cat has been 
  used, it cannot be used again until it has rested 
  for 2 days. When active, the cat functions as your 
  familiar as long as you are either a spellcaster 
  or a follower of Jinx. In addition to the normal 
  properties associated with cat familiars, you 
  can use a bonus action to allow it to make the 
  following attack:
  Paw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 5 ft., one 
  target. Hit: The target makes its next attack roll or 
  saving throw with disadvantage.
  Calamity Blade 
  Weapon (any sword), very rare (requires attunement)
   This black-bladed sword has a black cat 
  carved into its hilt and crossbar. Jinxians are 
  automatically proficient with the sword and can 
  use it as a holy symbol.
   You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage 
  rolls made with this blade. While holding this 
  blade, you may use a bonus action to impose 
  disadvantage on saving throws against your 
  Misfortune domain spells on all creatures within 
  10 feet. This effect lasts for 1 minute and cannot be 
  used again until next moonrises.
   Curse. A non-Jinxian can successfully attune to 
  a calamity blade but suffers a –1 penalty on attack 
  and damage rolls made with any weapon while 
  they are attuned to this weapon. When attuned to 
  a non-Jinxian, this weapon’s attunement can only 
  be broken by a remove curse spell. e
  
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