You have spent your life in the service of a temple to a specific god or pantheon of gods. You act as an intermediary between the realm of the holy and the mortal world, performing sacred rites and offering sacrifices in order to conduct worshipers into the presence of the divine. You are not necessarily a cleric—performing sacred rites is not the same thing as channeling divine power.

Choose a god, a pantheon of gods, or some other quasi-divine being, and work with your DM to detail the nature of your religious service. Were you a lesser functionary in a temple, raised from childhood to assist the priests in the sacred rites? Or were you a high priest who suddenly experienced a call to serve your god in a different way? Perhaps you were the leader of a small cult outside of any established temple structure, or even an occult group that served a fiendish master that you now deny.

Ability Scores: Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma

Feat: Choose one feat from the Origin Feat list that you feel is appropriate for your character. Magic Initiate (Cleric) is recommended.

Skill Proficiencies: Insight and Religion

Tool Proficiencies: Choose one set of tools appropriate for the work you did in your temple (i.e. Calligrapher's Supplies for writing manuscripts, Brewer's Supplies for making ale, etc.)

Languages: Choose one language that is appropriate for the deity you serve (i.e. Celestial for a good-aligned god, Infernal for an evil-aligned god, Draconic for a dragon god, etc.)

Equipment: Choose A or B: (A) Tool Set of your chosen proficiency, Book (prayers), Holy Symbol (a gift to you when you entered the priesthood), Parchment (10 sheets), Robe, 8 GP; or (B) 50 GP

Suggested Characteristics

Acolytes are shaped by their experience in temples or other religious communities. Their study of the history and tenets of their faith and their relationships to temples, shrines, or hierarchies affect their mannerisms and ideals. Their flaws might be some hidden hypocrisy or heretical idea, or an ideal or bond taken to an extreme.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I idolize a particular hero of my faith, and constantly refer to that person’s deeds and example.
2	I can find common ground between the fiercest enemies, empathizing with them and always working toward peace.
3	I see omens in every event and action. The gods try to speak to us, we just need to listen.
4	Nothing can shake my optimistic attitude.
5	I quote (or misquote) sacred texts and proverbs in almost every situation.
6	I am tolerant (or intolerant) of other faiths and respect (or condemn) the worship of other gods.
7	I’ve enjoyed fine food, drink, and high society among my temple’s elite. Rough living grates on me.
8	I’ve spent so long in the temple that I have little practical experience dealing with people in the outside world.

d6	Ideal
1	The ancient traditions of worship and sacrifice must be preserved and upheld.
2	I always try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost.
3	We must help bring about the changes the gods are constantly working in the world.
4	I hope to one day rise to the top of my faith’s religious hierarchy.
5	I trust that my deity will guide my actions. I have faith that if I work hard, things will go well.
6	I seek to prove myself worthy of my god’s favor by matching my actions against their teachings.

d6	Bond
1	I would die to recover an ancient relic of my faith that was lost long ago.
2	I will someday get revenge on the corrupt temple hierarchy who branded me a heretic.
3	I owe my life to the priest who took me in when my parents died.
4	Everything I do is for the common people.
5	I will do anything to protect the temple where I served.
6	I seek to preserve a sacred text that my enemies consider heretical and seek to destroy.

d6	Flaw
1	I judge others harshly, and myself even more severely.
2	I put too much trust in those who wield power within my temple’s hierarchy.
3	My piety sometimes leads me to blindly trust those that profess faith in my god.
4	I am inflexible in my thinking.
5	I am suspicious of strangers and expect the worst of them.
6	Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life.

Contacts

Temples and religious orders are communities unto themselves, attracting followers from all areas of society. As an acolyte, you have likely come into contact with fellow adherents possessing a variety of beliefs, skills and knowledge. Some will be true believers who hope to honor their god in all that they do, while others may have conflicting loyalties or view religion as a means of gaining power and influence for themselves. Perhaps they would defend their god's temple with their life, or perhaps they came to the temple because they had nowhere else to go. They might be altruistic and tolerant of other religions, or they might view their deity as the only true authority and seek to purge the world of rival faiths by any means necessary. Antagonistic or even villainous characters may appear in your order no matter what god you serve; a good-aligned deity may still attract worshipers with evil intent, and vice versa.

d8	Contact
1	A venerated elder priest of your temple who served as your mentor when you first joined your religious order
2	A scribe who has become obsessed with translating an ancient holy text
3	A boisterous, good-natured priest who knows all the temple gossip and is a little too fond of drinking the ale he brews
4	An ascetic who never leaves their cell and has taken a vow of silence, communicating only through elaborate drawings and paintings
5	The spare scion of a noble family, who entered the priesthood because they could not inherit their family's aristocratic title
6	A ruthless inquisitor who sees wickedness and disobedience wherever they look, except within themselves
7	An unstable fanatic, scarred from self-flagellation, who whispers dreadful prophecies about the downfall of your order, its deity and the world
8	An ethereal voice which only speaks to you in dreams and may or may not be connected to your deity