Stefano Buonocore
Today we have the pleasure of offering you our review of Heretic’s Guide to Devotion & Divinity, a supplement compatible with the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. First of all we would like to thank Eventyr Games for sending us both a physical and digital copy of the manual, which was created by such a large group of authors that it would be impossible to thank them all.
Devotion & Divinity is the fruit of a successful Kickstarter campaign. Now you can buy it directly from Eventyr Games e-shop at a cost of 43.94 euros for the physical (hardcover) version, including the PDF. For the digital file only the price drops to 21.95 euros. Both of them include tokens, maps and cards to use on VTT (or you can print them, if you prefer).
Devotion & Divinity: Manual Review
The volume is in the format of the official D&D5e manuals, and perhaps even more robust than some of them. However, it is made clear from the outset that this is a licensed and unofficial product, even if the quality is definitely high. Devotion & Divinity is a professionally crafted manual, and it proves it. The interior layout is compatible with D&D5e, but it also has its own personality. It’s extremely readable and, given the nature of the content, easy to browse. The choice to clarify, right from the introduction, how bold and italics are used, and the function of the text boxes, is interesting. Depending on the layout, they present insights and explanations, text to be read to players during sessions, or lore commentaries.
The artistic quality doesn’t match that of some official products, simply because it surpasses it. Artwork created without the aid of artificial intelligence by a remarkably large team of illustrators, with Bad Moon Art Studio, Eugenio Frosali, Mariana Livrase, and Quico Vincens as the main authors. The images are beautiful and evocative, but despite the “standard” graphic style of the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons is a bit more aseptic than other manuals, they don’t simply embellish the product. They manage to give it personality and draw the reader into the theme of the manual: the relationship between the game and the divine.
What Are we Talking about?
Devotion & Divinity is an expansion manual intended for the fifth edition, as mentioned above. It is important to point out that the product is from 2023, so it is not updated to the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 2024. No big deal, in any case. Character options are generally easy to adapt, and the same goes for the monsters in the bestiary. In any case, one of the manual’s strong points is that it primarily offers narrative and world-building ideas. These are not affected by the change in edition, as the spirit of the game is the same. The manual therefore remains almost entirely up-to-date in terms of content.
The module is divided into seven chapters. Each of these addresses a specific topic regarding the relationship between the game world, characters, religion and the divine. A four-ring circus that constantly intersects. The volume primarily offers ideas and mechanics for worldbuilding and adventure creation for the Dungeon Master. However, there are also many options for players. These should be understood both mechanically and as ideas for character creation and their backstory.
Review of Devotion & Divinity: Divinities and Religions
The first chapter gets straight to the point: the deities. It explains their nature and, above all, the various ways in which they can be inserted into the game setting. How certain is their existence, whether it is a single god or an entire pantheon, or even multiple pantheons? The manual helps determine the true nature of the deities, their origin, whether it is possible to become one of them, whether it is possible to kill them. And from here, a series of further questions allows us to delineate the deities and their purposes and powers.
The manual then moves on to more “practical” advice, with generic pantheons ready for every occasion. We find all the rules necessary to create a deity and to give them all the related abilities. In this way we can move directly to the second chapter, which addresses the relationship with the divine. The role of religion and cults, how it intertwines with power and generates conflicts. Festivities, ceremonies, and rites related to specific events, such as battles or resurrection practices. Devotion & Divinity provides a series of insights, all accompanied by tables to translate them into something quick and ready to use.
Character Options Review of Devotion & Divinity
The third chapter moves on to the player character options, one of the most anticipated sections of each module.
Specifically, it concerns new subclasses: the College of Chanting for Bards allows them to sing sacred hymns, while the Chaos Domain opens up new options for Clerics. The Exalted Knight allows the Fighter to have a sort of guardian angel, while the Way of Peace opens up a series of non-lethal conflict management options for the Monk. The Oath of the Templar and the Spirit Guide allow respectively the Paladin to protect others from magic, and the Ranger to partially penetrate the spiritual realm. Finally, the Anointed Blade imbues the Rogue’s weapons with holy energy, and the Soulbound allows the Warlock to channel spiritual power and harvest souls through a bound stone. While I’d have appreciated a few more subclasses, these are interesting options to play both thematically and mechanically.
The content is further enriched by the divine talents, which allow a character to devote themselves to a deity and gain benefits from it. It’s a smart choice to maintain this restriction for thematic areas rather than individual deities. A character can become a chosen one of Nature, or Chaos, or War, for example, regardless of who their deity is.
The Other Protagonists of Divine Events
The fourth chapter instead offers a roundup of divine agents. These are NPCs complete with all the relevant statistics, along with all the abilities and items they possess, and all the services they can offer. Enriched by interpretative notes and background information, they are complete characters for the Dungeon Master. They range from the Seer to the Reverend, exploring various themes. An interesting side note: the Heretic is the same NPC who embodies the “narrator” of the rulebook, and whose handwriting is responsible for the lore boxes.
The section is completed by a list of possible religious organizations to call into play.
Review of Devotion & Divinity: Magic and Creatures
The fifth chapter presents a series of mechanical options for the campaign. It begins with some blessings that the deities can grant to the PCs. To balance them we find some sacred vows: these, on the contrary, provide restrictions that the characters apply voluntarily in exchange for benefits. One of the most interesting sections is obviously that of the magic items, which immediately follow. These are weapons and items of various types, with interesting designs and well-developed features. Such as Bedlam, a sword forged to destroy divine agents that undergoes various stages and transformations as it absorbs their energy. There are items for every taste and character type, including totems that grant specific benefits after attuning to them.
The seventh and final chapter is instead a very rich bestiary (over 40 pages) with ready-to-use creatures. There’s a section entirely dedicated to cultists, and the rest are far from trivial and indeed quite unique. Various classes of celestial and divinely chosen creatures, such as the Aziphriel, an angel of death. Or, conversely, the Senilith, a fiend who influences mortals and drains their life energy, manipulating them like puppets. There are also many classics like draconic creatures or completely new ones, such as the deities, minor divine entities in the service of a true deity.
Conclusions of the Review of Devotion & Divinity
Heretic’s Guide to Devotion & Divinity is a module compatible with Dungeons and Dragonsas you rarely see. It has a precise identity, it was made with great care both from an editorial and content point of view and, above all, it is full of useful options for both the master and the players. A way of working that should be appreciated and encouraged, especially among independent developers who are often forced to cut back to cover costs.
Sure, it deals with a very specific topic, but there’s no denying that deities almost always occupy a central role in the world’s most popular roleplaying game. Whether it’s character options, the search for greater depth in your campaign, or a helpful guide for outlining your homebrew setting, Devotion & Divinity is a highly recommended manual for anyone who wants to delve deeper into these topic in their sessions.
