Credits. Design: David Chart

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2 Editing: Bruce Harlick Credits Design: David Chart Development: Chris Pramas Art Direction and Graphic Design: Hal Mangold Cover Art: David Leri Interior Art: Richard Becker, Lisa Wood, Kevin Crossley, Mike Vilardi, and Caleb Cleveland Graphic Design: Hal Mangold Green Ronin Staff: Nicole Lindroos, Hal Mangold, Chris Pramas, and Evan Sass Playtesters: Bob Cooper, Dorothy Cooper, Chris Buckley, Rich Cates, Eric Peterson, David Vicente Vega, Matthew Chronister, Tony Paskell, Claudio Gomes Medieval Player s Manual is 2004 Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Reference to other copyrighted material in no way constitutes a challenge to the respective copyright holders of that material. Medieval Player s Manual, Green Ronin, Mythic Vistas, the Mythic Vistas logo, and the Green Ronin logo are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and Wizards of the Coast are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., and are used with permission. d20 System and the d20 System logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 5.0. A copy of this License can be found at The following text is Open Gaming Content: the System Notes section of Chapter 1;Chapters 2, 3, and 4; the stat blocks in Chapter 5; the Game Rules section and the stat blocks in Chapter 6. Printed in the U.S.A. Green Ronin Publishing P.O. Box 1723 Renton, WA custserv@greenronin.com Web Site:

3 Table of Contents Table of Contents Chapter One: Welcome to the Middle Ages... 4 How to Use This Book... 4 Issues... 5 Religion... 5 Women... 6 Race... 6 Historical Accuracy... 6 Magic... 7 System Notes... 7 Further Reading... 7 Chapter Two: Medieval Magic...8 Alchemy... 8 Alchemical Procedures... 8 Alchemical Feats... 8 Astrology Basic Astrology Natal Astrology Political Astrology Elections Astral Magic Folk Charms Theurgy Theurgic Rituals New Magical Classes The Cunning Man Core Class The Natural Magician Core Class 25 The Theurge Core Class The NecromancerPrestige Class The Theophanist Prestige Class Standard D20 Magic Sorcerers, Wizards, and Bards Inappropriate Spells Magical Monsters Being of Unknown Form Things of Magic Omens Items Places Chapter Three: The Power of God Theology God Creation The Fall The Incarnation Sin and Forgiveness The Sacraments Festivals Saints The Last Judgment New Divine Classes The Priest Core Class The Crusader Prestige Class The Templar Prestige Class Divine Magic Modified and Unavailable Spells Charisms New Holy Classes The Saint Core Class The Hermit Prestige Class The Mystic Prestige Class Relics False Relics The Nature of Miracles Sample Relics Angels and Demons Chapter Four: Prelates, Painters, and Philosophers Church Politics Parishes Bishops and the Diocese Regulars and Seculars The Tithe Ecclesiastical Wealth Canon Law Heresy New Church Classes The Canonist Core Class The Prelate Prestige Class Philosophy Philosophy Rules Books Theories Writing a Book New Learned Classes The Scholar Core Class The Arts The Visual Arts The Literary Arts Artistic Rules New Aesthetic Classes The Artist Core Class Campaign Guidance The Abbey Campaign The Court Campaign Chapter Five: Kings, Dukes, and Princes History The Conquest William Rufus Henry Stephen and the Anarchy, Characters Geoffrey de Mandeville Henry Henry Plantagenet Matilda Robert of Normandy Stephen William Rufus Map of England Chapter Six: Medieval Culture Peasants Agricultural Life Property Legal Status Towns Money Governance Trades and Crafts Fairs The Nobility Fiefs Manors and Castles Property Entertainment Chivalry Law Courts Decisions Penalties Characters Adelard of Bath Anselm of Canterbury Geoffrey of Monmouth Heloise Peter Abaelard Ranulf Flambard William of Conches Appendix: Reference Charts Index

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5 Chapter One: Welcome to the Middle Ages Chapter One : Welcome to the Middle Ages The Middle Ages were the time of knights and castles, of quests and troubadours, of dragons and giants. In many ways, they are the period most familiar to fantasy roleplayers. In other ways, they are less familiar. Everyone in Western Europe was a Christian, Jew, or Muslim, and religion played a central role in every day life. Bishops ruled extensive lands, church courts dealt with sexual offenses and debt, and the greatest wars were launched in the name of religion. On the other hand, there was no Inquisition, and heretics were required to burn only their books. Strongminded scholars and bishops could challenge the Pope and get away with it, and most of the time it was the church that called for aid to the poor and justice for the weak. There are other differences as well, some of which are quite surprising. For many offenses, swearing to your innocence was enough to secure an acquittal, particularly if your family and friends were prepared to agree with you. Saints not only healed the sick, they cursed people who refused to give them money. The crown did not pass from father to son, but to anyone related to the previous king who could make and maintain a claim. People would queue for hours to kiss a centuries old corpse. The Middle Ages lasted a thousand years, roughly from the fall of Rome in 476 to the fall of New Rome (Constantinople) in 1453, and things changed a great deal in that time. This book concentrates on the period from 1087 to 1154, what we call the Kin of the Conqueror period, although much of the material here could be applied to both earlier and later periods. Europe is a fairly big place, with very diverse cultures; this book concentrates on England, but, by necessity, also includes a significant amount of discussion of northwestern France. In 1066 William, Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England. This Norman Conquest was one of the most important events in English history, transforming the nation s relations with the continent and entirely replacing the ruling class. William died 21 years later, after completing the survey known as Domesday Book, and that is where this book takes up the story. The next seventy years were occupied by the fights over William s realm, first between his sons, Robert, William Rufus, and Henry, and then between his grandchildren, Stephen and Matilda. In the end Matilda s son, Henry, became king of England and lord of western France, and with his accession this book ends. How to Use This Book Chapter One: Welcome to the Middle Ages, this chapter, contains general information about the medieval period and notes on the rest of the book. Chapter Two: Medieval Magic is concerned with medieval magic, and most of it is taken up with providing rules for three new types of magician. Cunning folk know ancient charms handed down by tradition, and while they cannot cast spells they can make these charms for themselves and others. Natural magicians are learned individuals who know how to summon and control the power of the stars. They make astral charms, which can be invoked to produce a spell effect. Theurges study rituals from ancient books, and summon spirits to do their bidding. Once the spirits have been summoned in a lengthy ritual, the theurge can invoke them quickly to carry out his orders, with much the same effect as spells. The chapter also provides rules for astrology and alchemy, and ways in which characters who do not emphasize magic can learn some bits of medieval arcana. It also considers monsters and magical treasures, and discusses the role of the standard arcane spell casting classes. Chapter Three: The Power of God deals with divine power in Europe; the Church as miracle worker, rather than the Church as political institution. There are rules for the priest, a non-fighting version of the cleric, the saint, who devotes himself entirely to the will of God, and various prestige classes, including the Knights Templar. A large section of this chapter is devoted to Charisms, new feats representing gifts of miraculous power granted by God. The relics of saints are very important, so this chapter also provides rules for using them as a new kind of magic item. This chapter also deals with the place of clerics and paladins in medieval Europe. 4

6 Chapter One: Welcome to the Middle Ages Chapter Four: Prelates, Painters, and Philosophers looks at the cultural life of medieval Europe. It falls into three sections. The first deals with the Church as a political institution, covering its structure and activities, and also provides rules for the canonist, a member of the clergy who casts no spells but is expert in politics, and the prelate, a holder of high office within the church with uncanny power over his flock. The second deals with intellectual life, including rules for holding academic disputations and creating theories. This section introduces the scholar class, and a new class of feats. Books were rare in the Middle Ages, so mastery of a book is represented by a feat, which gives substantial bonuses in scholarly dispute. The third section deals with the arts, providing a quick overview of the styles of art prevalent in the period, and then rules for Pseudo-historical roleplaying inevitably raises more issues than pure fantasy roleplaying, as it touches on topics about which people still have strong opinions. It is better to discuss the more obvious of these issues with your group before the campaign starts, so that you can handle them in a way that makes everyone comfortable. Historical settings also present problems of historical accuracy, which, while they are unlikely to offend anyone, can make people the need to do a lot of research on the subject. Issues characters who want to create genuine works of art, rather than simple hackwork. This section also includes the artist class. Finally, all the sections are drawn together in a discussion of how to run a campaign focusing on scholarship, art, and politics, rather than on combat and treasure. Chapter Five: Kings, Dukes, and Princes falls into two sections. The first is a narrative overview of the political history of the period, while the second gives more information, and sometimes game statistics, on the central characters of the narrative: the kings, dukes, and princes themselves. Chapter Six: Culture again falls into two parts. The first looks at the culture of the period, covering peasant life, life in towns, the nobility, and the law. The second section contains descriptions of a number of important non-royal characters from the period, including example full character write-ups of many of the new classes presented earlier in the book. Religion The most controversial topic is religion. This book covers the period when the Crusades were launched, and when the Christian forces had the most success. There is no way to write about medieval Europe without making religion central; remove the Church, and you have a fantasy world with familiar names. Accordingly, this book deals extensively with Christianity, overwhelmingly the largest religion in its area of focus. The 5

7 Chapter One: Welcome to the Middle Ages assumption is that medieval Christians were roughly right about what God wanted, and that the Church is basically a good institution. There are a few important points of deviation. First, the church s exclusion of women from the priesthood is treated as a matter of human politics, not divine will. This is reflected in the ability of women to enter, and gain spells in, the priest class. Second, this book assumes that Jews and Muslims are also right, that they are basically good, and that they receive miraculous powers from God, not from demons. There are paladins on both sides of the crusades. At times, the text draws attention to areas of medieval Christian practice that seem strange to modern tastes. This is not intended to mock them. Rather, it is intended to help the GM make the players feel that they are in a different world, with different cultural attitudes, rather than at a Renaissance Faire. The book has very little to say about Islam or Judaism. This is a matter of space, focus, and expertise. More information about medieval Judaism can be found in Kabbalah: Mythic Judaism, a supplement for Ars Magica, and more information about medieval Islam can be found in Blood and Sand, a supplement for the same game. These take a base date of 1220, but neither religion changed enormously over the time in question. Historically, there were no pagans in Western Europe at this time. As a result, the book does not deal with paganism. Historically, there were no spell-slinging priests, either, so this is not an entirely consistent position. If you want to introduce hidden pagans into your games, there is no problem with that. You should, however, avoid portraying the Church as evil, merely as misguided. Christianity deserves the same respect as any other religion. Women Women did not have a prominent or equal social role in medieval Europe. Again, there is no way of changing this without writing about a fantasy world rather than a historical one. However, this is less restrictive than it might initially appear. While women, on the whole, had a lower social status and fewer opportunities than men, there were a number of exceptional women who did reach high rank and made a significant difference to the course of world events. Player characters are supposed to be exceptional, and thus can certainly be among their number. As a result, there are no restrictions on female player characters, but they will be even more unusual than their male counterparts. Women adventurers or politicians will encounter some prejudice. However, medieval people seem, on the whole, to have dealt with powerful women as their power merited, rather than on the basis of sexual prejudice. Sexist men should therefore be used as an occasional complication rather than as a constant barrage. Race Racism per se is not really a problem in medieval England, because everyone is white. There are ethnic tensions, between Norman and Anglo-Saxon in England, for example, and religious prejudice is rife. There is no racism, because nonwhite people are too rare to be anything but a curiosity. The exception to this is anti-semitism, which is almost universal among Christians. This book chooses to play that aspect of medieval culture down, as it was not central, unless you were a Jew. It is treated properly in Kabbalah: Mythic Judaism (mentioned above), and any player considering a Jewish character is strongly advised to pick that book up, particularly if they are not Jewish themselves. Historical Accuracy Historical accuracy is a tricky subject in a game. On the one hand, it is a game, not a history lesson. On the other hand, if you don t worry about accuracy at all you might as well play in a generic fantasy world. It is all about striking the right balance, and this balance varies from group to group. There are two rules to bear in mind. First, no one should have to do any research they don t want to do. Second, you should avoid inaccuracies that break the sense that you are in medieval Europe. The rules don t change, but their meaning does. If every member of your group has a doctorate in early twelfth century history, the chances are that they will enjoy doing a lot of extra research, and that making up names for the nobility will cause problems. On the other hand, if everyone s entire knowledge of medieval history comes from this book and Hollywood films, you are probably all right as long as you don t include gunpowder and aircraft. On the positive side, the GM and players should try to work elements of the historical background into plots and characters. If your character is a devotee of St. Cuthbert and plans to make a pilgrimage to Durham, that both adds a medieval element and provides a plot hook. Similarly, the GM could write an adventure revolving around a medieval court case, where gathering evidence is only important as a means to prevent anyone swearing that the guilty party didn t do it. Even starting adventures by saying As you are all leaving church... can help to set the mood of a world where it can be taken for granted that all the characters went to church. Obviously, the more you know about the Middle Ages, the more of this you can do, and you shouldn t be afraid to do a bit of research to find a new plot idea or character background element. This doesn t have to be a lot of work, because an isolated fact is perfectly adequate, but if you keep it up over the length of a campaign it can add a lot of depth. The new rules and classes in this book are designed so that you can impart a genuinely medieval flavor by using them. One thing is very important. You should not be afraid to allow the player characters to change history. If they assassinate Henry in 1098, he obviously is not going to become king when (or if ) William is killed in Let the player characters have an impact on the world; do not feel that you have to follow the historical script. 6

8 Chapter One: Welcome to the Middle Ages Magic There was no magic in the Middle Ages. There is a lot of magic in d20 games. How, then, can these facts be reconciled? This book takes the simplest approach: it simply ignores the problem. This is a game, so d20 magic is simply dropped onto the setting, without worrying about how things could possibly have worked out that way. Of course, you will occasionally need to explain to your players, and their characters, why magic or miracles failed to change the outcome of major events. The first thing to note is that in most contests God is on both sides to the same extent. This is most notably true of the Crusades, but also applies to local wars and personal vendettas. Miracles thus tend to cancel out. Access to magical resources is likely to be similar to access to mundane resources, so two equally matched groups remain equally matched. Thus, the broad course of history can be the same. You still have to decide on the prominence of magic. You might want to introduce accounts of Harold Godwinson s battle wizards at Hastings, and the charge of the Norman griffon riders that finished them off, or you might want to keep magic subtle, hidden in the background of great events. The text steers a middle course: magic can be quite spectacular when it happens, but it exists as part of the historical social structures rather than adding its own structures. So, many priests can cast spells, but there are no orders of wizards holding castles across Europe. For particular events, it is often possible to provide an explanation for why magic changed nothing. For example, consider the story of Abaelard and Heloise (pages 118 and 119). Clerical magic could have healed Abaelard s castration, and surely then things would have gone differently? Well, not necessarily. The attack made Abaelard repent of his past actions and genuinely want to enter a monastery. That could be the case even if he was healed of the damage. System Notes Most of the appropriate system changes are discussed in the next three chapters. There are a few miscellaneous points that do not really fit there, however. Knowledge (religion) should be replaced by three skills: Knowledge (Christianity), Knowledge (Islam) and Knowledge ( Judaism). Barbarians are not really appropriate to the setting, at least not while you are anywhere near England. Rangers are completely inappropriate, as are druids; that sort of nature magic does not exist. Monks, equally, are drawn from a different culture. There are a lot of monks in medieval England, but they are scholars, artists, priests, and canonists, not butt-kicking kung-fu masters. Fighters and rogues fit perfectly, and the arcane and other divine spell casting classes are discussed in the Magic and Power of God chapters respectively. Green Ronin s Noble s Handbook provides a new noble core class, and such prestige classes as the commander, the master diplomat, and the lord knight. It also includes rules for creating noble houses. As such, it is a highly suitable supplement to the Medieval Player s Manual. Further Reading Heirs to Merlin, by David Chart (Atlas Games) This Ars Magica book details England and Wales in It has a lot more historical, geographical, and cultural detail than this book, and no game rules. With the two books, you could run a 1220 d20 campaign very easily. The Black Monks of Glastonbury by David Chart (Atlas Games) This is a dual-stat Ars Magica and d20 sourcebook, detailing Glastonbury Abbey in the west of England. Again, it takes 1220 as its nominal date, but it could easily be adapted. England under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett (Oxford University Press) Part of the New Oxford History of England, this book is an excellent general resource on the cultural background of the period. Domesday Book to Magna Carta by A. L. Poole (Oxford University Press) The corresponding volume in the original Oxford History of England, this book has a better narrative of events than Bartlett s, but its discussion of cultural matters is not so wide ranging. Magic in the Middle Ages by Richard Kieckhefer (Cambridge University Press) A good, recent account of magic and how it was practiced in the Middle Ages. Domesday Book (Penguin) A complete, modern translation of Domesday Book: a nearly complete survey of England taken just a year before the nominal start date for this book. This is the ultimate source for deciding where your character was born and who her parents were. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin) This is a translation of Abelard s autobiography and of some letters he exchanged with Heloise after she read it. Fun to read, and an excellent insight into two of the characters who appear in this book. 7