The Master of the First Vault holds sway over cities, the law, merchants, and wealth. Abadar seeks to bring civilization to the wild places of the world, encourages adherence to law, and promotes commerce and trade within civilization. He also encourages cooperation among the various ancestries.
Edicts bring civilization to the frontiers, earn wealth through hard work and trade, follow the rule of law
Anathema engage in banditry or piracy, steal, undermine a law-abiding court
Follower Alignments LG, LN, LE
Devotee Benefits
Divine Font
orDivine Skill Society
Favored Weapon
Domains cities, earth, travel, wealth
Cleric Spells 1st:
, 4th: , 7th:Gods & Magic
Abadar is worshipped as the god of cities, law, merchants, and wealth. Abadar’s cathedral-banks are found in many cities and places where order thrives or is gaining a foothold. Aristocrats, city guards, merchants, and those working in legal practice or who have the well-being of their community on their mind are common worshippers of the god of cities, along with dwarves in general. Abadaran priests living in cities often serve as judges, lawyers, and clerks, while those who live on the frontier work as roving magistrates, acting as judge, jury, and executioners in the name of order.
Abadar is the keeper of the First Vault, a divine trove that holds the perfect version of every type of creature and object. The Vault is home to the perfect longsword, the perfect shield, the perfect songbird, the perfect hammer, and even a perfect law. His followers do their best to emulate these perfect forms in their own way, whether through crafting a work of art, raising strong and healthy livestock, or passing laws that best serve the people in a community.
The holy book of Abadar’s worshippers, The Order of Numbers, commands his followers to build cities and settlements where there are none, to work hard and trade in pursuit of wealth, and to follow the law while doing so. If a profession is a lawful part of society, it is ordained by Abadar. As such, those who work at the behest of government often pay homage to Abadar, as do others who directly benefit from the rule of law and trade. Naturally, those who oppose the law or actively work against it—such as thieves, criminals, bandits, and pirates—are enemies of the church and society as Abadar sees it. Despite this, some heretical factions of Abadar’s worshippers twist the words of The Order of Numbers for their own purposes to pursue wealth over all. They justify their criminal behavior with the holy words of order and wealth while subverting the rule of law on technicalities, undermining law-abiding institutions.
As the god of cities and laws, Abadar is a stern but just master. He rewards those who work hard and looks down on those who would cheat the system for their own gains. Abadar understands that not everyone gets a fair deal in the world of mortals, but he encourages his clergy to support laws that are as equitable as possible, enabling those of lower status to rise. The church frowns on slavery, believing that trade should always be fair and that no price offered can ever compensate the entirety of a creature’s life and labor.
Clerics of Abadar labor to help their communities grow and flourish. They seek to aid in the passage of effective laws and encourage bringing order to places where it is absent. When ministering to their congregants, clerics wear robes of white silk with accents of gold that show the wealth of their church. Temples dedicated to Abadar are fortified, as they often serve double duty as banks, moneylenders, and currency exchanges. Despite this practical purpose, these temples tend to be highly decorated, commonly featuring elegant architecture adorned with gold and stained-glass windows.
The church of Abadar in Avistan feels it must charge for its divine services in tribute to the god of merchants, but his servants seek to handle matters of public health and safety quickly, and without requiring payment. Priests are also encouraged to strike out on business ventures as a holy duty to enrich the church. These holy ventures often put members of an individual church and those of neighboring churches in competition. Such competition is seen as healthy and often encouraged; however, church law forbids clergy from harming one another, including during warfare on behalf of opposed nations or kingdoms. As a result, Abadarans often act as a neutral negotiators between warring nations—for a fee, of course.
Through The Order of Numbers, Abadar teaches his clergy that following the law leads to wealth and comfort, and thus happiness. He teaches that discipline leads to keen judgment, which in turn leads to favorable deals, whether they relate to commerce, law, or other types of negotiations. While Abadar encourages the expansion of ordered society, he rejects hasty action and advises caution in all things. Abadaran clergy pass these tenets on to their congregations, teaching the layfolk about trade and commerce as a system for happiness. These teachings also impart the ideals of fairness and following the spirit of the law, while still respecting the letter thereof. One of the church’s most important lessons is the value of cooperation between citizens, as community is paramount to the health of a town and kingdom. However, they also recognize that self-interest is most individuals’ strongest motivation to increase their own standing and wealth.
Divine Intercession
Abadar’s gifts take the form of riches, while his ire tends to cause offenders to lose wealth.
Minor Boon: Abadar warns his favored against those who might unfairly take advantage. Once, when someone rolls a success on a Deception check to Lie maliciously to you and you alone, they get a critical failure instead. Abadar typically chooses to grant this boon in response to an extremely consequential lie.
Moderate Boon: Abadar blesses all your enterprises, leading to financial success as all your ventures always seems to work out. If you roll a critical failure at a check to Earn Income, you get a failure instead. If you roll a success on a check to Earn Income, you earn twice the usual amount of income.
Major Boon: Your silver tongue is infallible, allowing you to reach a compromise if one is even remotely possible. Once per day, you know just what to offer to make a deal or broker a negotiation, and if you offer your divinely inspired deal, you can automatically receive a result of 20 + your Diplomacy modifier on your Diplomacy check instead of rolling. This does not increase your degree of success like rolling a 20 would. If there is legitimately nothing you could offer to reach an agreement, you learn that, and you don’t expend your daily use of the boon.
Minor Curse: Any time you steal, illegally harm or kill another creature, or undermine a law-abiding officer or court, a symbol or word describing your crime appears on a visible spot on your skin. This symbol cannot be removed or hidden with makeup (though it can be covered with clothing) and it doesn’t vanish until you make legal restitution for the crime, such as by serving your sentence.
Moderate Curse: Abadar curses all your enterprises, leading to financial disaster as all your ventures always seem to fail. The result of your check to Earn Income is always one degree of success worse than the one you rolled.
Major Curse: You become honest to a fault. You constantly suffer the critical failure effect of
. Additionally, you are always offered the worst possible option in a bargain.