The most humble of priestly spells is the orison, a brief prayer or invocation of a minor nature. Typically, priests learn a number of orisons as acolytes or students in order to hone their spellcasting skills and emphasize concepts, ideals, or phrases of particular importance to the faith. Because an orisons is not even on par with other 1st-level magic, a priest memorizes a number of individual orisons equal to three +1 per level (up to a maximum of nine) when he devotes a 1st-level spell slot to orison. In other words, a 1st-level priest can memorize four orisons for one 1st-level spell slot, a 2nd-level priest can memorize five, and so on.
Unlike cantrip, an orison must have a specific effect, although the priest need not decide which incantation he will use until he actually casts the spell. Regardless of the prayer chosen, the orison’s duration is never more than one round per level. Known orisons include the following:
- Alleviate: A single creature suffering from nausea or pain is relieved of its discomfort. Magically induced nausea or pain is only alleviated if the victim passes a saving throw vs. spell with a –2 penalty.
- Calm: A single creature that has been startled or frightened is soothed. Victims suffering from magical fear may attempt a save vs. spell with a –2 penalty to calm themselves.
- Clarity: For the duration of the orison, the priest’s speech is clear and free of impediment—useful for readings from sacred texts and other such rites. Magical conditions such as confuse languages cannot be overcome by this orison.
- Courage: The priest gains a +1 bonus to his next attack roll, as long as the attack is made within the spell’s duration.
- Guidance: The priest gains a +1 bonus to a Wisdom or Intelligence check to determine the right course of action in a moral dilemma or puzzle.
- Healing: By his touch, the priest may heal a creature of 1 point of damage.
- Magic sense: If there is a persistent spell effect or magical item within 10 yards, the priest feels a recognizable tingle or sensation of some kind. He has no way to determine what item or spell may have caused the reaction.
- Memory: Any item the priest commits to memory during the spell duration is more completely and permanently learned; he gains a +2 bonus to any checks to recall the exact appearance, wording, or meaning of an item, text, or message.
- Resistance to magic: The caster gains a +1 bonus to his next saving throw against magic of any type, as long as it occurs during the orison’s duration.
- Resistance to poison: The priest gains a +1 bonus to his next saving throw vs. poison, as long as it occurs during the orison’s duration.
Other orisons of similar power or scope may be permitted by the DM. Generally, an orison should not affect more than one creature or die roll at a time, and an orison that can actually cause immediate harm to a creature should inflict no more than 1 or 2 points of damage. An offensive orison would be quite rare and most probably associated with an evil or chaotic priesthood.
Notes: Uncommon spell for clerics and druids (PO:SM)