TEXT: EN World EN5IDER | Blessings of the Beyond
  EN World EN5IDER | Blessings of the Beyond
   
  writing GM Lent
   color art Sade
   
  editing James J. Haeck
   
  layout Eric Life-Putnam
  Blessings 
  of
   
  the Beyond
  T
  his arTicle examines The roles 
  blessings and charms can play 
  in a campaign, and adds a 
  new type of supernatural gift: benisons. 
  Benisons fill an area in between blessings 
  and charms; they are powerful magical 
  effects, but they can only be used once 
  and only in the pursuit of a specific goal.
  
  Blessings of the Beyond | EN World EN5IDER
  Blessings of the Beyond | EN World EN5IDER
  Magic is the lifeblood of a fantasy game, and the 
  hallmark of what makes a story fantasy. Magic 
  comes in many different forms, from impossible 
  creatures to physics-defying landscapes and 
  architecture to characters who can warp the very 
  fabric of reality with a few words and gestures. 
  In some cases, as a reward for facing (or in 
  preparation to face) a difficult task, characters 
  may be granted a supernatural gift.
   In the core rules, supernatural gifts come in two 
  forms: blessings and charms. Though different 
  in style and application, both provide Game 
  Masters with an excellent tool to give characters 
  a little extra oomph to handle an upcoming task 
  or fight, or provide an alternate solution to a 
  puzzling situation. Supernatural gifts are also a 
  way of providing temporary magical assistance 
  to a party—useful for GMs wanting to give 
  their players a leg up but leery of flooding their 
  campaign with magical items. Both blessings and 
  charms can provide substantial benefits, but the 
  two operate differently and offer different ways 
  of enhancing a campaign. Generally, blessings are 
  provided by a deity or other powerful extraplanar 
  entity, whereas charms are provided by powerful 
  creatures in the world.
  Value to the Characters
  The first and most obvious benefit a party gains 
  from a supernatural gift is simple power. A 
  blessing or charm can add a substantial boost to a 
  character’s capabilities, especially since blessings 
  are permanent. A +2 bonus to an ability score is 
  no minor treat, and a temporary ability such as 
  seeing in darkness or summoning animals will 
  prove useful to creative players.
   A supernatural gift can also help a party that 
  lacks certain magical resources, such as a specific 
  type of spellcaster. A party without a cleric 
  may be in desperate need of magical healing, a 
  one without a wizard could benefit from a few 
  enchantments here or there. In cases where magic 
  is needed or useful in overcoming a challenge, the 
  use of supernatural gifts in the campaign allows 
  a party lacking the typical magical resources to 
  remain viable and be successful. Supernatural 
  gifts can also provide access to spells restricted to 
  certain characters or character types, so a party 
  that lacks a bard or druid, for example, can gain 
  a means of casting spells only available to those 
  classes.
   A cleverly applied gift can serve not only as 
  a reward for the player but as foreshadowing of 
  things to come. A Game Master whose campaign 
  includes snakes and serpent people as a common 
  enemy might have a character’s deity or patron 
  reward them with defenses against poison, 
  along with fragments of a mysterious legend 
  describing granite statues of dozens of forgotten 
  heroes. Then, when this bit of foreshadowing 
  has faded into memory, the characters suddenly 
  find themselves pitted against a medusa and her 
  gorgon servants. Used in this way, the gifts can 
  provide a means of linking otherwise disparate 
  adventures together and integrating them into an 
  overarching narrative.
  Open Game Content
  The game rule information in this article is designated Open Game Content. All of the other material in this article, 
  including maps and illustrations (including illustrations in the public domain), narrative and descriptive 
  text, character and place names, trade dress, “EN Publishing,” “EN World,” “EN5ider,” EN Publishing 
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  EN World EN5IDER | Blessings of the Beyond
  EN World EN5IDER | Blessings of the Beyond
  Value to the Game Master
  Anything that brings value to any part of a fantasy 
  RPG benefits the GM as well. By providing 
  opportunities and tools to the players, the Game 
  Master provides opportunities to draw off of the 
  ideas they generate and develop the campaign 
  world from there. But supernatural gifts provide 
  a manner of operating outside the normal 
  parameters of a campaign, and can help establish 
  a distinctiveness in a setting and provide greater 
  depth to the world.
   For example, if it is widely known that hag 
  covens can provide charms that can cure diseases 
  and blindness, they would like become famous 
  amongst the populace for that fact. Bargaining 
  with such creatures for the benefit of oneself 
  or a loved one would become the stuff of fable 
  and legend. If spirit nagas are known to provide 
  charms that increase the lifespans of those who 
  receive them, it could be worth seeking out 
  and dealing with such dangerously capricious 
  creatures.
   For Game Masters lamenting the lack of a 
  magic item economy in the game, supernatural 
  gifts also prevent a possible solution. Since the 
  gifts described within the core rules mostly 
  duplicate the effects of magic items and potions, 
  bargaining for charms and/or blessings could be 
  an effective surrogate. Characters can seek out fey 
  Value to the Campaign
  A supernatural gift can provide plot hooks and 
  previews as described above, but can also serve 
  as a springboard to generate player ideas and 
  thereby increase player involvement. For example, 
  a party that is granted a charm which allows them 
  to add a magical property to a weapon may begin 
  to speculate about where and how such a property 
  might be useful. Listening to the discussion can 
  provide invaluable plot ideas to the Game Master, 
  who can work some of them into upcoming 
  adventures. This way, the players have a direct 
  effect on the development of the campaign and 
  feel more integrated.
   Supernatural gifts can also help define and 
  expand the campaign world. For example, the 
  GM could have a prominent NPC instruct a 
  group to seek out a charm from a hag coven in 
  the mountains. The purpose of the charm might 
  be to assist the party in whatever quest they are 
  currently pursuing, but soliciting the charm 
  could lead to additional adventure opportunities. 
  The coven might be preparing magic to fend off 
  hostile giants in the nearby crags, and require 
  rare ingredients as payment for providing the 
  charm. The situation could even lead to greater 
  roleplaying situations; what if the PCs discover 
  that the coven is in fact trying to intrude into the 
  giants ancestral homelands? Such situations can 
  help shape the political and cultural landscape of 
  the campaign.
   A campaign where supernatural gifts are 
  available might also take a different view of 
  wizards, clerics, and other spellcasters. Some 
  might track down spellcasters to beg for gifts and 
  favors, but others might feel that the availability 
  of magical favors devalues casters and makes 
  them less special. After all, if one can procure 
  magic potions from the faerie court in the Old 
  Woods, why bother seeking out the suspicious hag 
  in the creepy tower in the first place?
  Who Can Grant Supernatural Gifts?
  While the rules seem clear on what sorts of crea-
  tures or entities can grant charms and blessings, 
  there is no reason to abide strictly by those guide-
  lines. For example, blessings are described as being 
  granted by deities as a reward to their loyal wor-
  shippers, but fantasy literature is full of examples 
  of “ordinary” creatures providing powerful boons 
  to adventurers. In Tolkien’s The Two Towers, the ent 
  Treebeard provides a special “ent-draught” to Merry 
  and Pippin, and after drinking it, they find them-
  selves stronger and taller than they were before. 
  There is no reason a treant can’t provide a similar 
  “blessing” to the PCs in your campaign.
  
  Blessings of the Beyond | EN World EN5IDER
  Blessings of the Beyond | EN World EN5IDER
  or other creatures to barter for charms and visit 
  old forgotten shrines or more powerful creatures 
  to petition for blessings—all of which helps keep 
  the magic level of a campaign under control and 
  intrinsically tied to the world’s history and lore.
  New Supernatural Gift 
  Type: Benisons
  A benison is a moderately powerful supernatural 
  gift which falls in between charms and blessings 
  in terms of its power level and effect on the 
  game. Benisons are focused and can only be used 
  in the pursuit of a discrete goal. For example, a 
  benison might be granted to characters tasked 
  with toppling an evil overlord, bringing peace 
  to warring clans or factions, or permanently 
  defeating a dragon or other powerful creature. 
  For this reason, a benison simply won’t function 
  if a character tries to use it for any purpose other 
  than its intended goal (the benison is not lost in 
  such cases; calling upon the benison merely fails 
  to have any effect). This allows characters to make 
  mistakes in the pursuit of the goal without being 
  penalized for misusing the gift.
   The source of a benison can be any appropriate 
  entity: a deity or a powerful extra planar being, 
  or a more mundane (though still highly magical) 
  creature such as a dragon, fey lord, or lich.
   A benison can only be used once. Most benisons 
  duplicate the effects of spells, and a character can 
  use a benison without spending a spell slot or 
  providing any components (verbal, somatic, or 
  material). In addition, a benison can’t be removed 
  from a creature by anything short of divine 
  intervention or the wish spell.
   For benisons which duplicate spells that have 
  expensive material components, the benefactor 
  granting the benison may require a donation 
  or service equaling the normal cost of the 
  component, or the patron may choose to pay the 
  cost of the spell themselves when granting the gift. 
  Take into account the source of a benison when 
  deciding this: deities can easily pay this cost, but 
  more worldly entities such as dragons, fey lords, 
  or liches might choose not to.
   The ritual that imbues a character with the 
  benison may be as simple as the benefactor laying 
  its hands upon the recipient’s head and chanting 
  softly or as complex as a ceremony involving 
  multiple participants, candles, and chanting.
   Example benisons are provided on the next 
  page. The text of a benison addresses its user. 
  A typical benison is similar to the effects of a 
  6th- or 7th-level spell, so it is easy to create more 
  benisons of your own, if you like. Benisons that 
  replicate spells that require concentration do not 
  require you to maintain concentration.
  
  EN World EN5IDER | Blessings of the Beyond
  EN World EN5IDER | Blessings of the Beyond
  Benison of Servile Conjuration
  This benison allows you to cast the planar ally 
  spell as an action, with the following changes: 
  the creature you summon is friendly to you, is 
  sympathetic to your cause, and requires no 
  payment for the services rendered, but will 
  undertake only nonhazardous tasks that align 
  with its ethos.
  Benison of the Distant Gate
  This benison allows you to create a teleportation 
  circle on the ground within 10 feet of you. A 
  second linked circle appears at a point of your 
  choosing within 500 miles; you do not have to be 
  able to see the destination as long as you have 
  seen it at least once before. These circles are filled 
  with opaque mist and hover above the point you 
  chose; creatures who pass through one circle  
  maintain their momentum as if they were directly 
  adjacent to both points.
  Benison of Divining Location
  This benison allows you to cast the spell find the 
  path as an action, but the spell lasts until you 
  arrive at your destination. In cases where the 
  destination might move (such as a flying tower 
  or the tent of an army general), the spell will lead 
  you to the location where the destination will be 
  in one week.
  Benison of the Evil Eye
  This benison allows you to cast the eyebite spell as 
  an action.
  Benison of Arcane Sight
  This benison allows you to provide truesight out 
  to a range of 120 feet for yourself and all creatures 
  within 60 feet that are friendly to you. Using the 
  benison takes an action and the effect lasts for 24 
  hours.
  Benison of Transport
  This benison allows you to cast the teleport spell 
  as an action with the following changes: when 
  casting the spell there is no chance of a mishap or 
  arriving in a similar area. Using this benison can 
  transport you to destinations on other planes of 
  existence, though it will not provide protection 
  from environmental dangers once you arrive or a 
  means of return.
  Benison of the Crystal Sphere
  This benison allows you to cast the scrying spell as 
  an action. e
  
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