“Awe for Shadowdark” is an independent product published under the Shadowdark RPG Third-Party License and is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC. Shadowdark RPG © 2023 The Arcane Library, LLC.
Introduction
Those who plunge into the Shadowdark may or may not be religious. All mortals must bend the knee, however, when they confront the truly divine.
Awe Check
When the GM calls for an Awe Check, they will specify the Difficulty Class (DC).
The players involved make a Wisdom Check against the given DC. If they failed their prior Awe Check, they roll with Disadvantage.
If the roll meets or exceeds the DC, the AWE Check succeeds. Otherwise, compare the result to this chart:
| Missed by | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1-5 | Stunned for a combat round. |
| 6-10 | Stunned for the entire combat. |
| 11-15 | Awestruck for 1d3 hours. |
| 16-20 | Awestruck for 1d6 days. |
| 21+ | Awestruck permanently. |
- Stunned:
- You cannot move, speak, or act of your own volition. You cannot cast spells. You may defend yourself physically if attacked. You may attempt to rouse yourself from this state once at the end of each combat round. Make an Intelligence check against the creature’s AWE DC, with Advantage if the creature is attacking your allies.
- Awestruck:
- You regard the creature as a holy being who must not be harmed, and must act accordingly. This effect ends in the source of AWE unilaterally harms one of your allies.
Difficulty Class
These are examples; the creature entry should specify its Awe Check DC.
| Situation | DC |
|---|---|
| Divine miracle | 9 |
| Visited by messenger of a god | 12 |
| Visited by lesser servitor of a god | 15 |
| Visited by greater servitor of a god | 18 |
| In presence of an incarnation of a god | 21 |
| In presence of a partial manifestation of a god | 24 |
| In presence of a full manifestation of a god | 27 |
| In presence of a god’s true form | 30 |
An incarnation is a god cloaked in mortal (humanoid, animal, or monstrous) flesh.
A partial manifestation includes an insubstantial form, a disembodied hand, or a talking head.
A full manifestation involves the full, substantial presence of a god.
A god’s true form is usually too glorious for mortal eyes; many have been burned to a crisp just for being near. If the god is a horrific one, see Horror instead.