Badly-behaved clerics keep Power Investiture and spells?

[Michael Thayne]

Something surprising I'd never noticed before. While the section under the cleric template under "Holy Abilities" says, "your gifts depend on obeying those principles. If you lapse, your Holy abilities stop working. To recover them, you must donate $1,000 or more of treasure, accept a perilous quest, or offer other significant penance." However, as best I can tell nothing similar is ever said about Power Investiture or spells. Does this mean a cleric without holy abilities could disregard, perhaps even buy off, his or her "required" disadvantage and suffer no negative consequences? And if this happened, what on earth would people in the setting make of it?

[Blind Mapmaker]

I'd say you're right in DFRPG RAW. Of course in GURPS Power Investiture has a built-in pact. But since this is the DFRPG forum, feel free to try some shenanigans. Just don't be surprised when your GM will smack the cleric with some extra penance for trying to lawyer up in the eyes of their deity.

Buying off your required disadvantage pretty much goes against the core of the genre and means you're not really playing Dungeon Fantasy anymore (akin to changing out of your deity's alignment in That-Other-Game-TM).

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

I'd say you're right in DFRPG RAW. Of course in GURPS Power Investiture has a built-in pact. But since this is the DFRPG forum, feel free to try some shenanigans. Just don't be surprised when your GM will smack the cleric with some extra penance for trying to lawyer up in the eyes of their deity.

Buying off your required disadvantage pretty much goes against the core of the genre and means you're not really playing Dungeon Fantasy anymore (akin to changing out of your deity's alignment in That-Other-Game-TM).

Technically, what B77 says is "To gain, keep, or improve Power Investiture, you nearly always have to take and adhere to one or more of the traits listed under Self-Imposed Mental Disadvantages (p. 121)" (emphasis mine). And it's not clear what behavior restrictions Druids are supposed to have to deal with in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy.

[Michael Thayne]

Also B242 says, of casters with Power Investiture, "his god may alter the outcome of his magic – or suspend his magical powers – for reasons he is unlikely to comprehend".

[sir_pudding]

Unless they Excommunicate you...

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Unless they Excommunicate you...

Huh this is an interesting point, albeit one that potentially opens a whole can of worms. The only concrete example we have of picking up Excommunicated in play is via selling your soul to The Devil, mentioned in "I Smell A Rat". It's unclear what, short of that, is likely to cause Excommunicated to happen. It's also somewhat unclear to what extent the described consequences of selling your soul would apply to anyone who's Excommunicated, and to what extent they apply only to someone who's sold their soul.