Priests and Mages in the same setting

[Donny Brook]

My solely personal aesthetic is that, in contrast to a magicworker, if a deity wants something to happen, it wouldn't take a lot of complex process by a priest to give it effect.

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

My solely personal aesthetic is that, in contrast to a magicworker, if a deity wants something to happen, it wouldn't take a lot of complex process by a priest to give it effect.

In settings with one or more pantheons, the usual reasoning for having priests use complex rituals for an effect (skill rolls & FP cost in GURPS, spell slots in D&D, etc.), is that the effect is something the deity isn't actively considering at that point in time. Thus the rituals are a petition to the deity to make something happen and a failed roll could be a botched petition and/or the deity not being interested in the effect. A successful roll is a well made petition for an effect the deity is willing to grant.

With many deities, there's ample reason to think that the deity a priest worships will have to focus their attention on other deities, whether they're opposed, neutral or allied.

For monotheistic settings, it isn't unreasonable to think that the deity doesn't hand out miracles to everyone asking, but reserves them for those showing proper piety/devotion and the rituals do just that.