[RoP:D] Miraculous Effects

Okay, so the effect total for Miraculous Effects is: Characteristic + Method + Power + Aura + Simple Die

... did I miss a few modifiers? How the infernal underworld are you supposed to beat some of those Ease Factors with a Simple Die?!

For example: "Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them" is an effect of 85.

Let's assume the lucky roll of 10 in the most holy of all auras (10) and a Presence of +5 (you could hit +6 with Faerie Blood, but that seems inappropriate here - also the numbers are nicer this way) - that takes care of 25. Which only leaves... 60. Assuming optimal XP distribution that's a Method and Power of 30, which would each require 2,325 XP for a grand total of 4,650 XP. That's 155 years worth of XP in years after Hermetic apprenticeship according to the character creation guidelines. Granted, some biblical figures are said to have lived that long, but still...

... using a stress die would require you to roll something like three 1s in a row to have a shot at this, but at least it might be possible.

Presumably via ceremonies with multiple participants.
But I agree - the only miracle worker we've had around used a stress die.

For those larger effects, you're looking at Ceremonies, Invoking God's Aid, Possession of a Relic (spending the Faith Points as Confidence), and then risking a Tragedy of Hubris. Oh, and do it in Jerusalem.

You could house-rule that it uses a Stress Die, but I don't see that it improves your chances by that much. If you're looking to raise the dead, don't do it on a whim.

That communal aspect of these Methods and Powers is sometimes overlooked and players of characters that use these would do well to start building those links into their stories.

Invocation does use a stress die, but ultimately that's really neither here nor there.

I always sort of assumed that the high-level holy powers were designed for the benefit of those magi with access to Holy Magic and the appropriate Method/Power combination since they can achieve high casting totals quite readily.

Ceremony. A small "covenant" of practitioners can drum up high totals really fast. I once wrote-down Mythic Templars this way, and they reached very high totals. Which didn't do them that much good, because they were still very limited by the number of effects they could plausibly cast - but still.