11-27-2018, 06:52 AM | #21 | |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
Strongly agree. Anyone who thinks an afterlife exists in Cidri should be asked to provide a source.
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The flip side of this is what the god doesn't do, or his weaknesses, if any. Jesus may be powerful but you can't expect him to stab someone for you, he just doesn't do that. Those same restrictions might apply to his priests, or at least some of them, or at least to their magic. The most superficial version of the D&D cleric has been done to death but a more general version of the idea may still have value. It could probably be implemented by having a god pick several powers from a menu. |
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11-27-2018, 10:08 AM | #22 | |
Join Date: May 2015
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
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Also, there are/were Christian miracle healers, though they tend to be a few specific saints or shrines or faith healers or charlatans, rather than relatively common priests or mace-wielding fighters. But I also quite like game settings like TFT where although many have faith and so religion may have great social, economic, and power-political effects, whether there are any actual god-related magic powers that aren't like spells/potions/enchantments or faith effects is a GM secret that PCs need to discover or have or get the right background to discover. And I also like it when a GM homebrews a setting and invents original interesting magic cosmologies, especially when they do something that isn't just a remix of the D&D-based model where they're just another list of class-based powers balanced against other PC classes' powers. |
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11-27-2018, 04:14 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: behind you
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
Yep. I've given up and gone back to the role-playing / religion-design approach. Learning and using magic is by the book (ITL). If your religion has an affiliation with magic, then you've got another source for learning spells and buying magic items aside from the ones listed in ITL.
A beginning character cannot start with either Priest or Theologian talents. They will have to earn those talents through role-play within their religion. The top-ranking NPCs in the religion must offer the status to you or approve your application for those statuses. Priest will have the stated role-playing effects plus you _may_ be able to use it as a "job" to earn a wage as appropriate and available within the local group of your religion. A bonus will be applied toward favorable reactions when dealing with your religious brothers and sisters. Likewise, a penalty to reactions might be applied if you haven't been obeying the tenets and customs of your faith. Theologian will have the same but slightly more pronounced effects of Priest. Better chance of earning a wage for performing duties. Slightly higher wage. Slightly higher bonuses and penalties to reactions. Some religions might require learning their "religious tongue" before you can be ordained. Some of those might require Literacy as well. Some religions might require you to learn certain spells before being ordained. Some might ban certain spells, magic or normal items, etc. New spells will be created as/if needed/desired (RPG business as usual). What I would like to see (get help with) is designing or fleshing out the workings of the religions listed in ITL. Fleshed out in manner similar to how the Wizard's Guild is fleshed out. Do they teach spells? Which spells and what is the price of this service? Do they ban spells? Which ones? Tithing? Do they sell magic items? Which ones and how much do they cost? Are there weapon and armor restrictions? Perhaps these questions are mostly irrelevant in a broad sense for the major religions but are there small, local sects/order/denominations within the major religions where these questions have more relevance. At present, that would seem like a good approach for fleshing out the religious aspects of a new campaign -- to outline some of these smaller sub-groups within one of the major religions for that old-fashioned cult-y feel.
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Miranda Warning: Anything you say can and will be used against you in a forum of rules-lawyers. Last edited by platimus; 11-27-2018 at 04:17 PM. |
11-27-2018, 07:16 PM | #25 | |
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: North Texas
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
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I still have the same challenge, however, in that the talents really need some kind of in-game benefit (beyond job qualification and societal prestige) to justify choosing the priestly path. I guess it comes back to the original question "why do priests exist?"... not in the context of their broader role in the campaign setting, but in the more specific context of the adventuring player character. What is their function in the party?
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“No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.” -Vladimir Taltos |
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11-27-2018, 08:39 PM | #26 | ||
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: behind you
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
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Miranda Warning: Anything you say can and will be used against you in a forum of rules-lawyers. |
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11-27-2018, 08:40 PM | #27 |
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: behind you
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
What about them? Where's the problem?
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Miranda Warning: Anything you say can and will be used against you in a forum of rules-lawyers. |
11-27-2018, 08:56 PM | #28 | |
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: North Texas
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
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“No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.” -Vladimir Taltos |
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11-27-2018, 09:05 PM | #29 |
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
Loving several of these threads. Providing me with new ideas.
Priests on an adventure or reasoning their existence at all?, could be guided by their Deity, the goal being to assist in the completion of the adventure, or to gain experience to be used sometime in the Priest's future. This making the assumption of Destiny. And that can be explained by the GM being the one to create it, which in a sense, he does. the Spells, Skills and Talents are useful in the PCs choice of activities. which ones and how they can be applied is between the players and GM. My thought is Priests on Cidri are a counter by the Gods against Demons and their relation to magic. Neither Good nor Evil can risk an all out war that may lead to the destruction of the world (Ragnarok). So use others to gain an advantage that will guarantee their side wins. Demons are unable to enter Cidri's plane of existence on their own and can only stay for short periods of time when summoned. they'll grant power, but at what cost?, and is the PC willing to pay it? The Gods will assist their "Favored". If they don't, they risk losing followers. This assistance is limited so as not to "mark" the PC, and lead to his eventual defeat. Of course not all Gods are on the side of good. |
11-27-2018, 09:23 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
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Re: Why do Priests exist?
My answer is that the undead problem is obvious and the priests are doing something to keep the problem managed, but are unable to prove that any gods exist.
If pressed wizards will grudgingly admit that priests are using magic that is specialized for dealing with ghosts.
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