Scales of Balance

ROLEPLAYING APPLICATIONS

Favored Feats: Members of the Ruby Temple who can turn or rebuke undead often choose feats that enhance that ability, such as Extra Turning, Empower Turning™, or Quicken TurningCD . Many members also choose Spell Focus (necromancy) and Greater Spell Focus (necromancy).

Favored Combat Tac-

tics: An affiliate of the Ruby Temple uses magic in preference to all other attack forms, if possible. Nonmembers believe that the church favors necromantic magic, but this supposition is simply a myth that the church allows to persist. Its enemies Holy symbol of Wee Jas are thus caught off guard when confronted by evokers, transmuters, or conjurers affiliated with the church, or even clerics with tremendous mastery of destructive divine spells. Many church members hide behind dark robes and death fetishes to encourage the belief that they practice only necromancy.

Favored Adventure Types: A follower of Wee Jas enjoys adventures that involve recovering rare or unique magic items. Because the preservation and recovery of magical knowledge is also very important to the church, its leaders often send members to seek out the bones of long-dead spellcasters and return them to the church's crypts.

Favored Oaths: Followers of Wee Jas often exclaim "By the sands of life!" or "By the blessed lady!" in combat. "May your sands run more quickly, " is a favorite curse for an enemy.

SCALES OF BALANCE

Justice must be brought to those who transgress against the Law. To you and the other members of St. Cuthbert's church, the word of the Law is your patron's word. This strict and complex code of conduct was written by the hand of the Judge himself, and it transcends all mortal law. Those who wantonly break the Law are unworthy and must be utterly destroyed.

St. Cuthbert's church, known as the Scales of Balance, is devoted to the Law set down by its patron deity. Mortal laws are to be respected, but if they must be broken to preserve the Law of the church, so be it. An enemy of the church is branded a Lawbreaker—the most heinous condemnation the clergy can hand out—and dealt with mercilessly.

The Church of St. Cuthbert does not believe in redemption, only in retribution. Its members do not hesitate to make examples of enemies. An eye for an eye is not enough for the Scales of Balance. When it comes to a Lawbreaker, only a head for an eye can balance the scales. If a group of twenty bandits has been terrorizing a trade route, the Scales of Balance does not hesitate to send a hundred of its affiliates to deal with the threat. Nor does this church deal in half measures. Known enemies are rarely given quarter, and the church frequently brings far more troops to the field than most observers would deem necessary to win.

As a result of its unbending views, this church frequently forms the foundation of a region's system of laws in areas where it holds power. Where St. Cuthbert's church does not dictate local laws, it still enforces its own, making its clergy unpopular with the ruling caste. For the most part, high-ranking members of the church are willing to work with local governments to form alliances, but the Law is always supreme.

Scale: 14 (continental).

Affiliation Score Criteria: A member of the Scales of Balance must be of lawful alignment.

Criterion Affiliation Score Modifier

One-Time Character level +1/2 levels Base attack bonus+5 or higher +1 Knowledge (religion) 5 or more ranks +1 Can cast disintegrate or destruction +2 Can cast 3rd-level or higher spells +1 Strength score of 20 or higher +1 Strength score below 12 -2

Multiple Use Razes the stronghold of an enemy of the church +8 Razes the stronghold of an enemy of the church while the inhabitants are unprepared or through superior preparation +10 Brings a lawbreaker to justice +1 Aids a government by improving or creating its system of laws +6 Converts a new member +1 Destroys a creature of the chaotic subtype +1/4 creature's CR Brings order to a frontier or lawless region +4 Upholds the church's Law +2 Successfully defends a church or other structure important to the church +2 Destroys a creature at full hit points with one blow +1/4 creature's CR Deals 30 or more points of damage with a single blow +1/4 creature's CR Loses in battle against an enemy of the church -4 Caught breaking the law (or any rules, such as in an athletic competition) -10 Associates with known chaotic-aligned creatures -4 Breaks a law -2

Titles, Benefits, and Duties

To gain a new rank and its associated benefit, a member of the church must fast for 24 hours in a temple of the Judge, meditating on the Law.