One of the things I’m interested in is to remove GURPS Magic from DFRPG and replace it with advantage-based powers. For the Cleric, the powerset that makes most sense is Divine Favor. Indeed, there already is the Dungeon Saint 250pt lens that uses it. But I want to use Delvers to Grow because I’m very much convinced by its superior character creation process.

The Powerset

Divine Favor was introduced in the appropriately-named Powers: Divine Favor supplement. The book models divine interventions in your favor as an omnipotent patron that you communicate with. The leveled Divine Favor advantage determines how likely it is that you are heard, while the Power Investiture (Divine Favor) advantage helps you with the subsequent reaction roll that determines whether your deity actually helps you.

In addition to that, you can buy learned prayers as alternate abilities to the main Divine Favor advantage (at the usual 1/5th of the price). These represent things that just always work.

There’s also an adaption of the Divine Favor powerset into normal DF campaigns in Pyramid 3/36’s Dungeon Saints article.

Accordingly, Clerics can generally spend their points on either learned prayers (for specialists) or on upgrading Divine Favor (for generalists).

The prayers below come from different sources: Powers: Divine Favor (P:DF) and Dungeon Fantasy RPG: Exploits (Exploits), and the Cleric spells from DFRPG:Spells converted to sorcery by enraged eggplant though you can obviously use those from Hand of Asgard as well. I’m taking prayers with their point costs directly from Exploits and do not apply any discounts.

I’m also changing the default rules slightly: Learned prayers do cost 1 FP to use at my table. That doesn’t give you a discount, though, because I don’t want to recalculate.

I refer to the cost for every learned prayer as [original cost/alternate cost], for example Turning (Exploits:21) [24/5].

The Professional Modules

All of the Smart Delver modules in DtGr have IQ 12. That makes sense—IQ directly boosts their spell levels, so they’re profiting from it. Delvers with powers do not, and 20 points in IQ isn’t quite wasted but certainly less efficient. So instead, take IQ 11 rather than IQ 12 and invest the 20 points into what I call the Basic Power Set; basically the first seed points for the actual power. For the Dungeon Saint, that’ll be Divine Favor, obviously.

Dungeon Saint I

  • Basic Power Set: Divine Favor 5 [20]. As with all Empowered Delvers, this replaces IQ 12 [40] from the Novice/Journeyman/Master template with IQ 11 [20].
  • Advantages: Clerical Investment [5], Upgrade Divine Favor from 5 [20] to 6 [25]. Invest 5 points in learned prayers.
  • Disadvantages: Replace -10 points in disadvantages from one of your disadvantage modules with one of the following: Honesty (12) [-10], Sense of Duty (Coreligionists) [-10], or Vow (No edged weapons) [-10]
  • Skills: Spend two points each on Esoteric Medicine (Holy) (Per/H) and Exorcism (Per/H). Spend one point each on First Aid (IQ/E), Hidden Lore (Demons, Spirits, or Undead) (IQ/A), Meditation (Will/A), Public Speaking (IQ/A), Religious Ritual (IQ/H), and Theology (IQ/H).

This gives you Divine Favor 6, plus 13 total points in learned prayers. The former gives you only a ten percent chance of being heard, so you’ll rely on five-minutes- or two-hour-long prayers (+1 and +2, respectively), praying loudly (+1 when succeeding at a Religious Ritual rolls), and potentially even praying in holy areas. This makes learned prayers important. Still, that’s at 62 points. You’re not expected to be great.

Dungeon Saint II

  • Attributes : +1 HT [10].
  • Advantages: Upgrade Divine Favor 6 [25] to 8 [45]. Buy Power Investiture 2 [20].

Now, you’ll have far better chances of calling upon your god: 25% with a base prayer, which you can boost to 50% with a five-minute prayer and praying openly. In addition, your Power Investiture will make it more likely you’ll get a positive result.

Most importantly, though, the 45pts this costs allow you to buy Faith Healing as a learned prayer, making healing your companions far more easy.

Learned Prayer Suggestions

Dungeon Saints have five additional points to invest in learned prayers from the Cleric base module in addition to the Smart Delver’s points. Therefore, Novices get 13 total, Journeymen 15, and Masters 20.

I suggest the following, but you can mix and match

Novice

  • Turning (Exploits:21) [24/5] is the classic.
  • Detect Evil (Exploits:20) [18/4]
  • Final Rest (P:DF:8) [5/1]
  • Powerful Conviction (P:DF:8) [14/3]. This makes you better at your core competencies.

This makes you a support character, but what else do you expect at 62 points?

Journeyman

The Journeyman really profits from the higher level of Divine Favour. That buys you

  • Faith Healing (Exploits:21) [33/7]
  • Turning (Exploits:21) [24/5]
  • Powerful Conviction (P:DF:8) [14/3]

Note that these are instead of the Novice prayers, not in addition.

Master

At the Master level, take all the Journeyman prayers, and add

  • Detect Evil (Exploits:20) [18/4]
  • Final Rest (P:DF:8) [5/1]

Doug himself recommended an alternative:

You need smite

Smite is the Best Thing Ever vs Truly Evil

So, for less versatility but much more Oomph against True Evil, don’t take these two and remove Powerful Conviction. With one perk point, this buys you

  • Smite (P:DF:12) [45/9].

Upgrade Modules

Take any module available to the cleric except for Empowered Cleric and Talented Caster. Startouched also works differently for you. But you also get three new modules:

Heard by the Gods

You’ve got a direct line to Asgard. Your petitions are far more likely to be heard and - as a Novice - you can even sneak in one more prayer no matter how many times you asked for help. Journeymen and Masters just make any miracle at all more likely.

Advantages: For Novices, upgrade Divine Favor from 6 [25] to 8 [45]. Add Repeat Petitioner [5]. For Journeymen and Masters, instead upgrade Divine Favor from 8 [45] to 10 [70].

Favoured By the Gods

Being heard by the gods is nice, but doesn’t help when they decide to ignore people. You’ve heard - the gods have always favoured you and - if heard - are quick to grant you boons.

Advantages: Add another two levels of Power Investiture, upgrading you to either 2 or 4 levels for [20]. Add Repeat Petitioner [5].

Startouched

Advantages: Luck [15]. Add another level of Power Investiture [10].

More Empowered Dungeon Saint

Buy [25] worth of Learned Prayers. You may also spend these to upgrade Divine Favor.