STEAL This D&D Mechanic | Mythic Odysseys of Theros

Want to BLESS your roleplay? I'm here to champion the Piety System from the D&D 5e adventure Mythic Odysseys of Theros! ✨ If you're looking to supercharge roleplay and make your campaign world more immersive, this system is what you're looking for. Not only does it let you embody the epic champions of Greek-inspired gods like Hercules, but it can also be an incredible tool anytime you want to introduce NPCs of great power in ANY setting!

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💕 Links 💕 (may contain affiliate links which help support the time and effort I put into these videos!)
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💕 Timestamps 💕
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00:00 Mythic Odysseys of Theros Piety System
02:59 Stealing the Piety System
04:07 Build-Your-Own-Piety
07:24 Favor & Followers
11:08 Goals & Favor
15:39 Piety Rewards

[StephaniePlaysGames]

What would you use the Piety System for? 🤔

[Blimix]

I love that bit about asking players whether they think they've done anything during the session to merit piety points. We could do the same with Inspiration points! "Do you think you did anything particular with your traits/ideals/bonds/flaws this session, to earn an Inspiration point?" My group is so fixated on the action that they don't pause to think about that at the time.

[dantherpghero]

Conan: Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom... so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!

[ARedMongoose]

I love, love, love the production choices on this video. You have a conversational style and the laptop on the bed makes it feel like a DM slumber party. Brings me back to the days of my youth talking D&D well into the night at sleepovers!

[PlanarWanderer]

I discovered your channel a few weeks ago and have been binging all your videos, sometimes watching them more than once. As a newbie GM it's been a gold mine of ideas and tips. My first ever 5e campaign as GM has been a success so far, in part thanks to you.

Also, I'm very interested in Theros, but I fear it will reignite my hyperfixation with Greek stuff. Thank you for another great video 🎉

[demetrinight]

I have actually run a few games where the characters have interacted with the Greek gods. So the piety rules would come in handy there.

I definitely like your ideas of using the piety rules for warlock patrons or arch fey. There are many powerful beings that can grant favors or minor abilities to the player characters.

One time use magic items are great things powerful beings can give too.

[MilesAwayGames]

THIS BOOK IS SO UNDER RATED OH MY GOD.

[Skimmer]

already using it, it really has helped bringing a closeness to the gods of my setting with the characters than just something brought up by a cleric or paladin. It really helps inform roleplay almost a bit like mini oaths for a paladin because the players want the piety for that sweet sweet reward.

[XGNTheFloater]

I love that you've gone and made this, I'm planning on using the piety system from Theros and a gladiator Style game that I'm running that takes place in the nine hells. So having a party system created for each of the archdevils that run each layer of Hell will be fantastic to have with my players

[rangleme]

Piety systems in TTRPGs first started almost 45-years ago. I much prefer variations of piety systems, including the Warlock patron system, than just saying that you pray daily for new divine spells. If you live in a fantasy world where the gods walk among mortals - it only makes sense to include such attunement with your deity. Faith, Belief, and Service should be opportunities for role-playing and place player characters in occasionally tough situations that require role-playing to work out. Sure that god will grant you a healing spell - but you can't use it on that other party member who has a patron that opposes them.

I highly recommend using a piety system mixed with Warlock systems for any Paladin, Cleric, or Warlock. I also believe that each god/patron should have their own spell lists and other deities that they are aligned or opposed with. I also have no problem with the idea that you can offend and must earn back the trust of your patrons/deities.

[filkearney]

OH super fun!
I"m a big fan of the Piety / Renown systems. Great walk through with MomMoth :)

[dane]

I love this! I always try to make religion a thing in my world and most people show deference to a Priest even if it's not of their faith. And I like to play devout anything but Priests And Paladins to remind the other players that you can. And a lot of new players probably should because it gives easy direction and flavor for any character.

[Stickyickyslapshot]

Such great ideas! Im about to play in a new campaign and i think ill be a paladin just for this!

[TalesFromElsewhereGames]

Something that's so interesting about using a piety system like the one in the Theros book is that the alignment with their god(s)' wishes is known to the player. They know if what in-line with those wishes, if they've been "doing the right thing". They get points when they act accordingly, and can lose them when they work against it.

Knowing the "rules" of faith is often not how the stories of the relationship with the divine have worked. It's often part of the human struggle to fail to meet those expectations, to guess wrong as to what needs to be done, and to suffer accordingly! Not a knock at all about the Theros piety system, but it's an interesting divergence from the reality of religious myth :D

(Were I to run it, I'd probably keep a running tally secretly for the players, and provide them the boons only when they reach those breakpoints, but I wouldn't tell them what it is or how to get it, explicitly! Maybe they start to see ambiguous signs they could interpret!)

[DoktorApe]

One thing I like about the Theros system is the idea of favor, that is, things players could build into their backgrounds that might get the god to notice them before they start "doing piety" as a way to encourage players to fit characters more deeply into the world. The PF2e "stats" for deities has a lot of overlap with the Theros system (except for actually tracking piety points, which is ironic considering PF's love of subsystems) and includes backgrounds, but doesn't have such specific favor suggestions, and I'm inclined to try it if I run a more divinely-inspired campaign...

[Drudenfusz]

I usually don't like how D&D (or most of the TTRPG space) is treating polytheism, since in realty people usually did not picked one patron deity (except for the priests). Thus it feels like cultural appropriation even if the patron is completely fictional (which is not true for all the deities in D&D, like Bahamut and Tiamat are actual deities from Mesopotamia). However, I think the idea of using it for warlocks seems interesting, even though I personally like it more if the warlock is more acting against the patron than actually trying to accommodate to it.

Regarding having special NPCs that can grand favours, I stole the idea of Icons from 13th Age. And I think Mother Moth would fit pretty well the role of an Icon. But overall I would say take a look at that, since that makes it easy to tie such central NPCs already into the character creation. I certainly stole the idea for my own system, even though I renamed it to Linchpins.

[michaelmurphy]

I am always confused when you have to encourage role-play by giving mechanical benefits or penalties. Role-playing should be driven by the character background/wants/desires not a point system. In a current pathfinder game, I am playing a cleric and I am constantly thanking my Goddess for every good thing that happens to me. I am constantly evoking my goddess name as both a curse to my enemies and a blessing to my non-enemies. Ask yourself this question: The last time you played in a group that had a cleric, could you name that cleric's god/goddess? How often did the god/goddesses name come up?