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5 Religion Skill Challenges for 5E D&D

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Salutations, nerds! Buckle up and cross your fingers I don’t burst into flames about three quarters of the way through typing this one because today we’re going to be talking about Religion skill challenges for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Per the usual these are meant to be momentary stumbling blocks for 5E D&D characters and chances for them to show off their skills rather than the hooks to some other grand adventure, though as we all know the plan never survives first contact with the players. That said, get ready and try not to get smote.

5E D&D religion skill challenge

Illustrator Robson Michel describes this as a redesign of the Eric character from the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. He is older, more experienced and not less arrogant. He has a magic shield that protects him from any harm with a force field. [Art by Robson Michel]

5E D&D Religion skill challenges

Lucky Shrine

There’s a shrine on the side of the road long since fallen into disrepair. A successful Religion check has a character recognize this shrine is to the God of Luck who has fallen out of common worship but might still have some shred of power. Flipping a coin into the shrine gives you a point of inspiration! (Merely leaving an offering won’t do — the act of the coin flipping in the air and coming up heads or tails is a part of the act of worship.)

Use When. The characters are traveling and you need a low energy event to break up the pace.

Result of Failure. A missed opportunity and nothing more.

Eye to Eye

While shopping in the market one of the vendors wearing a colorful pin in their lapel refuses to make eye contact with the party. A successful Religion check reveals that because this person’s god has a burning gaze meant to blind all who stare into it, eye contact is seen as an act of aggression in their culture.

Use When. Shopping is happening and you want to keep it interesting.

Result of Failure. That shopkeeper is going to be disgruntled at best and at worst refuse the party service.

Cardinal Rule

A priest discusses a job with the party. A successful Religion check reveals this priest’s robes are not the proper color within his order to be able to offer the party the job they are trying to get them to take and so likely the pay will not be as good as the priest claims.

Use When. You need a colorful quest giver for something you already had planned and a reason for the characteres to get off on the wrong foot with them.

Result of Failure. I’ll just say I feel worse for the priest than I do for the party — most adventurers don’t take being stiffed well.

Libations

At a dinner party there is a bottle of wine sitting in the middle of the table. The bottle is ornate and far fancier than anything else on the table and nobody has reached for it. A successful Religion check indicated the character knows the wine set out on the table is for the spirits not for people and trying to drink it would probably be poisonous anyway.

Use When. You need a conflict point for an otherwise boring meeting.

Result of Failure. This depends on what the characters do but at worst one of them tries to drink the wine, offends some of the NPCs and gets laughed at by others.

Buried Gold

The party finds a holy symbol at a camp that had to have been abandoned within the past day. All of the things are still left behind there. A successful Religion check reveals that according to the dogma of this god carrying gold above ground is considered dirty and keeping it above ground while camping is unthinkable so there’s likely money buried here.

Use When. When the party is traveling and you need something to foreshadow danger as well as break up the monotony.

Result of Failure. Missing treasure is pretty bad for most parties but the stakes are honestly pretty low here.

Hey, I didn’t explode! I mean…there we have the Religion skill challenges for 5E D&D and hopefully you found something useful for your group and game in all that! Sleight of Hand is next week. Have so much fun and as always, stay nerdy!

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Robin Miller

Speculative fiction writer and part-time Dungeon Master Robin Miller lives in southern Ohio where they keep mostly nocturnal hours and enjoys life’s quiet moments. They have a deep love for occult things, antiques, herbalism, big floppy hats and the wonders of the small world (such as insects and arachnids), and they are happy to be owned by the beloved ghost of a black cat. Their fiction, such as The Chronicles of Drasule and the Nimbus Mysteries, can be found on Amazon.

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