The Balance of Religion

[Baculus]

I normally shy away from overly religious characters mainly because I'm still unfamiliar with the way they work with their gods... I've been reading here and there, but I would like some outside insight before I attempt to make one of these characters myself.

I know Clerics/Favored Souls/Paladins fit well as absolute zealots, but I'm wondering how far from being a zealot can these characters be reasonably and still fit in their role playing roll.

On the flip side, how devoted does a normal character need to be to avoid the horrible fate of the "Wall"?

And are there any gods in particular that require more attention then others?... Some of them I kinda get already but sometimes they aren't really all that clear to their overall goals and rules.

And even beyond that, are their certain races that as a whole worship more than others? I'm not talking about races like the drow, or things akin to it... more like a races inherit habit to throw their faith more deeply into something.

I'd be happy with any sort of guidance you people could offer.

[Leaving Hope]

I know Clerics/Favored Souls/Paladins fit well as absolute zealots, but I'm wondering how far from being a zealot can these characters be reasonably and still fit in their role playing roll.

I don't believe you need to act like a zealot when playing a religious character. There are all sorts of religious characters.

It all comes down to playing a character you enjoy, and that fits into the world. It could be a lot of fun playing a character who is struggling with their faith. Or, your character may believe that forcing his religion on others isn't right, and simply tries to live up to the tenets himself through example.

No great character, in my opinion, is one-sided. There has to be more to a character than their faith. Make it interesting. Give them quirks. Push them through trials. Experiment.

I know the above is incredibly vague, but my point is to inspire you to think, create, and get into the head of a character you would enjoy playing. If they're zealous, why are they zealous? If they're not, why aren't they?

[Baculus]

That isn't quite what I meant... What I'm not sure of is how lax a character in a religious class would have to be to still fulfill the requirements of the class, or how close to the god's ideals they would have to be.

EDIT: It more comes down to, what line in the sand would the person have to cross to fall out of favor?

[Kangleton]

Well, it might depend on the God. You could try searching a deity name in Wikipedia or something, and see what comes up about the doghma and tenets of the religion - it might be informative as to how a follower should act. One thing you should be advised of, though, is that any divine spell caster, typically, recieves the spells directly from their deity. What this means, however, is that divine casters have to follow the rules of their deity even more rigorously than a typical worshipper, since you're expecting to recieve profound powers in return.

I mean, if you were deity who could give someone the ability to raise the dead, would you give it to the guy who falls asleep at your church services? Most wouldn't. So if you're gonna play a non-divine class, you have a lot of mobility with how you worship your God - but if you expect spells, like a Cleric, you better do as your God says. Its up to you to find out what that is though. Maybe if you told us what God you were thinking of having your character serve, we could tell you just how lax you could be.

[Jaeram]

I don't think there is a set line, I mean if a lawful good priest starts summoning undead in the crossroads and slaying peasants and guards for no reason, yeah he should probably lose his powers. If you are acting within your alignment and your deity's alignment and it fits, that's probably the bare minimum to keep your powers. To go above that you may want to research your deity a bit, add little bits of information about your deity in to your speech, and know enough to maybe educate someone on the deity if they ask about it. You can also find out what the prayer rituals are and try to perform some of them, a lot of them are simple like praying near a fire or a tree or something at a certain time of day. Most of those things you can do as a zealot or a discreet, based on my actions not my open sermon, type of characters. There's a lot of different ways to play a priest though.

Edit: Darn you Kangleton, making that post at the same time I was making a similar post.

[Peridan]

Just as a sidenote, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to summon undead, period in Sundren. At least around other people, seeing as Necromancy is a crime punishable by death...

[Baculus]

Thanks for the feed back. I'll keep reading through the God's... forgot about the expansive knowledge that is wikipedia.

"Just as a sidenote, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to summon undead, period in Sundren. At least around other people, seeing as Necromancy is a crime punishable by death..."

There was this horribly planned character of mine a long time ago...

[Belwas]

There was this horribly planned character of mine a long time ago...

*chuckles, rembering those said occasions*

[Kangleton]

Edit: Darn you Kangleton, making that post at the same time I was making a similar post.

[Baculus]

You know to much Belwas! I apologize in advance but you must be... "removed". It will be moderately painful but I believe we will both feel better after it is all over.

[Gairun]

I told you we shouldn't teach him how to post images. . . see what happens?

Anyways on-topic, I always viewed how close to a forgotten realms god a cleric was, was by their level. Your regular level one cleric of Lathander is just an altar boy, he may not stick with the clergy. He may decide the church of Lathander is not for him as he grows into a man etc. etc. Or he may decide that Lathander is exactly in tune with how he views the world. It could go either way. Or he may decide to keep the faith but not advance in the church, and began to study about magic like he always wanted. Then you may have a level 3 cleric of Lathander/X mage.

However I've always viewed your level 13+ clerics to be incredibly in tune with their dietys personality, rules, views, and general wants/desires. I mean at that level and above the character becomes the very essence of that diety, at even higher levels 16+ your bordering on being an Ambassador for your diety.

Hope my thoughts helped.

[Baculus]

Gairun, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks so much.

[Jaeram]

Ooh! Gairun, at the buzzer, 3 points!

[Dark presence]

Well firstly, this all ultimately depends on the DM decisions and say so. The DMs are the gods, even if they don't seem do much as them, so if they say something is or isn't, thats how it is.

As it is though, FR is a polytheistic world. Everyone knows all the gods exist because all the gods make themselves known to all the people. And because of that most everyone also worships most or all of the gods over the course of their life, even if they focus on a few.

Clerics are no different. They can and should be worshipping most of the gods (Aside from any stated enemy of their god, and no, alignment would not count). Naturally they will focus mostly on their own god. But, if they need to go to market, they are certainly going to say a few words to Waukeen. If they lose a relative they will probably give some worship to Kelemvor and/or Shar. If they are caught in a thunderstorm, they are definitely going to ask for some mercy from Talos. And they will certainly find reasons to worship Bane in appeasement. So the point there is that worshiping another god, as long as it isn't an enemy of theirs, shouldn't be an issue for their god.

However, I don't see any reason a cleric has to be enthusiastic, evangelistic, or even happy with their god. As long as they do what their god requires of them, grudgingly or not, they should get their powers. I would draw the line at the point where they start ignoring their required duties, or start to work against their god too. Of course it is debatable whether they should be able to advance in levels if they have a poor relationship to their god. But their powers should really come down to whether they do what they are supposed to, as long as they aren't outright defiant or insulting to their deity.


Now all that said, its really questionable what it all means on Sundren. The gods here, sadly, are rather mute, compared to how they 'should' be.

[Venture]

http://www.thieves-guild.net/index.php?pid=29

I use this for all my deity needs, great page