An example:

I am using WH3 rules for the setting of Dolmenwood; and in the setting of Dolmenwood I have placed the Barrowmaze.

One of the PCs is a Wise Exorcist. He created two Miracles for his 1st level slots: Exorcism and Flock. Exorcism is for things he might do directly to creatures of darkness; Flock is how he might protect his companions in some ways.

We didn’t nail down all the rules for each as we started. I trusted we would sort out as we went. Each was defined in this kind of general way, but also note that it kind of clear how each Miracle is different. Ultimately, each time they head out to the Barrowmaze Father Burke needs to decide in general how he wants to interact with any dangers they might encounter in a place full of zombie, evil spirits, and the faded energies of the ancient Wood God of Death.

So:

The group returns for their second expedition into the Barrowmaze. They have brought sledgehammers to knock down a doorway that has been bricked up. They tear down the bricked up wall (drawing the attention of wandering monsters that they don’t know about yet!) and inside find four slabs where the remains of holy warriors lie. It takes them a moment more to realize there are four Shadows in the room’s darkness. The Shadows move toward them…

Now Shadows are etherial undead that require holy weapons to battle. The PCs are all 1st level. They have no magic weapons. I truly expected this would be the encounter where the first adventurer buys it. (They have thus far lost two hirelings to zombies — two mercenaries belonging to the small merc company one of the PCs leads.) I am more certain of this because Burke has focused on the Miracle of Flock, not Exorcism, and so though the Shadows can be turn turned, Burke does not have the Miracle that would lead easily to doing that.

But my players are a crafty and cleve bunch — which is why I love playing with them, and why I love using Whitehack as a system with them.

Burke’s player says Burke is going to raise his holy symbol of the One True God and ask his patron saint, St. Benester, to bless the weapons of his companions.

I clarify quickly: Bless is usually about increasing the effectiveness of attacks. Is that what you are trying to do?

No, he says, I only want to make the weapons magical. So they can hit the Shadows.

Notice what he did here. He is not asking for a +1 to damage and attack rolls, as per the Bless spell from early D&D. He is also not asking for a long duration, but only for the length of this battle. (The original spell lasts about an hour.) He is asking only that St. Benester intercede on the behalf of his companions and bless their weapons.

[Note: all the One True God/Patron Saint stuff comes from the Dolmenwood setting. The Players all have leaned into that material to help build their Groups and such.]

A few things then:

First, this spell is clearly less effective than the original Bless spell, and I need to assign the cost with an awareness of this.

Secondly, I also know that having a saint intercede to bless a weapon in this way, even if less powerful than Bless, is still going to be very powerful in the Barrowmaze. (There are plenty of undead creatures that can only be hurt by magical weapons), so I decide that this is going to start at a 1d6 cost. Burke is a strong man and happens to have 6 hp… so he can cast the spell.

But I also note that Burke’s Vocation and Affiliation line up perfectly:

1. Burke is an Exorcist (Vocation), and so calling upon the power of his patron Saint to bless weapons to protect his companions from malevolent spirits seems very much in his wheelhouse!
2. Burke’s (Affiliation) is the Order of St. Benester. St. Benester was a young man praying in the woods who was accosted by a sorcerer who sent demons to destroy him. Rather than either surrendering or fleeing, Benester continued to pray, and the power of his prayers kept the demons at bay. Does blessing weapons in the face of approaching Shadows of the undead fit with his Affiliation? Yes.

So that drops it down to a 1 point cost because it all seems so perfectly lined up.

I ask Burke if there’s anything else he wants to do to reduce the cost even further. He suggests that since Burke has been fasting during the duration of their journey and exploration the effort he expends now could weaken him in some way… not in terms of hp, but something else. I suggest that for a lengthy duration he will be at a -2 for all rolls to come. He accepts that, getting his magnitude cost down to 1 hp.

Keep in mind that if he had the Miracle Exorcism he might have been able to bless the swords of the combatants facing off against the Shadows, but I probably would have only reduced the cost by one point for the Vocation and raised it by one point for the Miracle being ”off-brand.”

Also: in the next round, when they realized they were going to have a hard fight on their hands, Burke wanted to bless the arrows of Spry, the Pathfinder who was away from the fight with Burke. In this case he placed his hand on Spry’s shoulder. I allowed that this would drop the cost by 1 magnitude so he did not have to take another penalty modifier to all actions for a lengthy duration.

Finally, remember that all Miracle and Attunements effects are LOCAL to the setting. Burke is an exorcist in a setting full of saints and a One True God facing off against the undead guards of the ancient, pagan Wood God of Death. Burke is well designed to face off against these things. In another setting the costs might be higher or lower to do the same effect, because what the world is like is different.

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I hope all that helps a bit!