Fudge Miracles

Here is a sample miracle system (not generic), based on the following premises mentioned in Section 2.6, Miracles:

Can miracles occur by petition: Yes.

Who can petition: Anyone. Holy persons have an advantage. (A holy person is one with the supernormal power: Divine Favor, and whose behavior is in synch with the deity’s goals GM decision on how the player is role-playing.) Religious Investiture a social title that may or may not coincide with Divine Favor is not required, and, in fact, does no good if behavior is inappropriate.

Certainty of petitioned miracles: Mediocre.

Broad or specific requests: Specific requests are more likely to be granted.

7.21 Divine Favor

Divine Favor is a supernormal power that can be taken more than once. Each time Divine Favor is taken, it is dedicated to a single deity. It is possible to have Divine Favor from more than one deity in a polytheistic world, or you can have multiple steps of Divine Favor from a single deity. Each step of Divine Favor counts as two supernormal powers (recommended).

Divine Favor can be temporarily lost if the character does not act in accordance with the deity’s desires. Usually a period of atonement is required to regain Divine Favor. This may be instantaneous for a merciful deity, or it may take up to a month for stricter deities. All steps are lost and regained as a unit when this happens.

7.22 Petitioning a Miracle

A character may petition a miracle at any time. However, some deities do not like to be disturbed for trivial matters, and may ignore requests when it is obvious the character hasn’t even tried to help himself.

In Fudge Miracles, the petition should be fairly precisely worded. Rather than a simple, “Please help me,” the character should focus the plea: “We are starving, please feed us,” or, “My friend is dying, please heal him.” A holy character can petition for any miraculous result desired, however there is no established list of miracles.

Characters without Divine Favor have a Petitioning skill of Poor (or Mediocre in a more deity-active game).

Those with one or more steps of Divine Favor have a Petitioning skill of Fair. Petitioning skill cannot be raised. (In a high-level deity-active campaign, Petitioning skill can be raised to Good at the cost of one supernormal power.) Petitioning skill can be modified, however see the next section.

To resolve a petition, make an Unopposed action roll against Petitioning skill. Each step of Divine Favor grants the holy character one extra chance to roll the dice in a petition to his deity.

On a Fair or worse result, the roll is a failure. If the character has any steps of Divine Favor from the same deity, he may roll again for each step (this does not count as a separate petition). He can stop at any point only the last result rolled counts. This means a character with two steps of Divine Favor can try one, two, or three rolls. If he gets Good, Fair, and Mediocre results, in that order, the result of the petition is Mediocre.

On a Fair or Mediocre result, the petition isn’t answered by the deity, but the deity isn’t annoyed by the petitioner.

On Poor or worse result, however, the deity is angry with the character, and there will be a -1 on the next petition attempt. If the deity is evil, a miracle may actually occur, but not one the petitioner is likely to enjoy. . . .

On a Good or better result, the petition is granted. The better the rolled result, the better the answer to the prayer. For example, a Good result heals one wound or wound level, while a Superb result totally heals the character. A Good result could call a wolf to defend the petitioner, while three lions might answer a Superb result. And so on.

7.23 Modifiers to the Petitioning Skill Level

The GM decides if any modifiers are applicable. Suggested modifiers:

• The petitioner’s behavior has been strictly in accordance with the deity’s desires: +1
• The petitioner’s behavior has not been in accordance with the deity’s desires: -1 or more
• The petition will further the deity’s desires: +1
• The petition goes against the deity’s desires: -1 or more
• The petition involves the deity’s sphere of influence: +1 (Calling for a fireball from a fire god, for example. This is not appropriate for a Supreme God, whose sphere encompasses all things.)
• The petition involves an element antagonistic to the deity: -1 or more (asking the Fire deity to use water, for example.)
• The petition is phrased too generally: -1 or more
• The petitioner has not tried to help himself first: -1 or more.
• The petition is too trivial to bother the deity with: -1 or more
• The petition is a simple, but important, request: +1, provided the petitioner has exhausted his own abilities to accomplish this task. (Example: requesting a piece of chalk, which is trifling, but simply cannot be found anywhere near the character. In this case, chalk would have to be essential to the character’s state of body, mind or soul.)
• The last petition was a Poor or worse result: -1
• The deity feels the petitioner is calling for help too frequently: -1 or more (Optional may be invoked by a GM annoyed at constant requests for miracle. . . )