Pantheon Mondays: Bel

Bel

(The Double Sided)            

Lesser God of War                    

 Lawful Evil/Lawful Good

Portfolio: War, combat, arms and armor, siege machines, etc.

Major Spheres: Astral, Combat, Creation, Guardian, Healing,  Law, Protection 

Minor Spheres: Divination, Elemental, Necromantic, War, Wards

Requirements for Specialty Priests: Strength 12, Constitution 9, Wisdom 13, Charisma 17, Lawful Good or Lawful Evil Alignment

Specialty Priest Weapons: As Paladin, with a focus on swords

Armor Allowed: As Paladin, with a tendency towards plate mail and higher

Races Allowed: Humans, Dwarves

Proficiencies: As Paladin

Granted Powers: As Paladin, plus ability to take spells from the Major and Minor spheres above, instead of the default Paladin ones.

Signature Spells: Sparkling Sword, Shadow Sword and Blazing Sword (2X duration), Doublecoin (Additional +2 to save)

Specialty Priests of Bel  are Paladins, and the rarer Order of the Blackened Blade, which are Lawful Evil Clerics with all the abilities and THAC0s of Fighters, (and the same minimum attributes as Paladins) plus immunity to poisons and the ability to create poison (0/25) once a week/per two levels, as well as wield unholy weapons.  There is dispute as to whether Bel is one God, Bel the Double sided, or Two, Bel the Dark and Bel the Light. Followers of both wear highly polished plate armor, it is a very structured religion, with military-like rank. Both humans and Dwarves can be Paladins of Bel or Order of the blackened Blade. Priests of Bel turn undead as one level higher paladins. Both believe the other are an important order that needs to exist.  The holy symbols of Bel are an Anvil with a sword driven through it or a disc with symbols representing night and day.

Relationships with Other Priesthoods: Because Bel’s followers are sometimes LE, his followers get in trouble amongst each other, and with other Paladin-having gods.