Largely considered by some to be miracles, Theurgy is very much a spiritual spell casting like Goetia. The spells granted to you by the practice of Theurgy are granted to you by a higher power, although it is your will that wields them. Effectively, a higher power gives you the tool, but you must master your control over and use it. Central to Theurgy is faith. Although not strictly religious, it’s most common practitioners are very much so.
Theurgies have a smaller pool of spells, and a smaller range of effects than Thaumaturgies and Goetia, but have the advantage of not needing to prepare out of spell books. Instead, when you prepare spells, you simply prepare your spells from the list of Theurgies your Class grants you.
The most common caster of Theurgies is the Cleric, and it is sometimes called “Divine Magic”.
Theurgic spell preparation does not call for the preparing of a specific spell into a spell slot. Instead, you refresh a spell slot, allowing you to later call upon it’s magics. Essentially, instead of preparing spells into spell slots, you prepare your spell slots to later cast a spell.
The following considerations must be made when casting a Theurgy spell.
Since you don’t prepare spells into spell slots, you are instead able to cast a spell by expending the power of the spell slot. This allows you to select the spell at time of casting, as opposed to at time of preparation.
Because you must select the spell at time of casting, rather than spell preparation, Theurgic Spells require that you provide the Material Component of the spell when you cast the spell, rather than at spell preparation.
Although the actual power is unknown, it is clear that Theurgies are fueled by faith and belief. The strength of will that a character has determines the power of these miracles. When a Theurgy spell calls for your Spell Casting Ability Score Modifier, you use your Wisdom modifier.
The DC for your Theurgy spells is 12 + your Wisdom Modifier + your Spell Bonus.
Casting Theurgy spells requires a Holy Symbol. Holy symbols are slightly more abstract than other spell focuses. Holy symbols depend on your class, faith, and belief. Your class will describe what holy symbol you use, but there are some universal rules.
Your holy symbol must be easily visible, approximately 1 EP in size. Cast a Theurgy requires you to “Present” your symbol, which is to hold it aloft for all to see. Although this holding aloft may simply be up to your lips, or up like you might see in old black-and-white vampire movies, casting a Theurgy cannot be done if attempting to hide a holy symbol.
Unless otherwise prohibited, classes who cast Theurgies are allowed to emblazon your holy symbol onto a shield. When this is done, the holy symbol must fill as much space on the shield as possible, and must be on the front of the shield for all to see. Effectively, holding a holy symbol aloft requires a free hand to do so, and emblazoning your holy symbol onto a shield allows it to pull double duty.
Unless the class specifies otherwise, there are no limits in what armor you can wear, or shield you can wield, and still cast Theurgies.