(Not necessarily a deity). The comparable section for fighters says to ask where you got your training. Fantasy-Historical Pantheons. Join. Some of the veteran players here have used Microscope as a prelude game to get an idea of what the world will look like before they embark on an adventure game "in another world" or in another time and place. Something of leadership is likely, but not necessary. Is the writer who created the villain? I find that these methods allow for me to better roleplay as my character as, rather than being forced into believing the religion of the world, I can choose not to and use my own interpretations to explain things. This was common in my D&D 3e campaigns where someone would pick two useful domains (like War and Fire) and declare the character to be a cleric of the abstract concept of these things, rather than of a certain polytheistic deity. Of course I don't know the player so I don't know what the base issue is. She went Cleric full missionary mode and start proselytizing everywhere at every opportunity and I let her have some degree of success on that campaign. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. The class is a full spellcaster with a powerful and versatile spell list, capable of wearing medium armor and using a shield. Here are 20 Cleric Quest Ideas to consider as you are planning future sessions with your players. Pantheism can be worship of the universe as an entity, but in a fantasy Cosmology, the universe may well be a God. It touches on both the main Lloth cult from various angles as well as of those of Vhaeraun and Eilistraee and Lloth herself, her attitudes and how the society of the Drow was shaped by her religion are central to the plot in a very direct way throughout the six books. A cleric, for example, could act as an "extension" of the church, which (See below for why I suspect that this is a symptom of a bigger problem). Divination magic cannot directly contact the gods, and even Celestials have never met them. Absolutely! (With your player's stance, do you see this working? How did you handle lack of other gods/deities? If it's a negative experience for someone, regardless of reason, that person is unlikely to want to try again. The debates between Shu-Dereth and Shu-Korath in Elantris are fascinating. Its not an idea I subscribe to and I dont feel like I should have to alter my beliefs just to be able to immerse myself into a world and fully enjoy a piece of fiction. WebAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition The cleric was one of the standard character classes available in the original Player's Handbook. Another similar approach was to describe the gods as servants of the One God something like saints in the Roman Catholic church. As another example, I GMed games for another player with this objection in 3.5 D&D and FATE 2.0. Show them the might of the One True God and convert them. For we are the temple of the living God; as Do Clerics HAVE to be Religious/Believe in a God? : This has the added benefit of showing more respect to these religions if that's something you care about because it's not putting them "in a box" so-to-speak and it should also feel like you have more freedom to make stuff up on the fly. Who knows. ", Combining every 3 lines together starting on the second line, and removing first column from second and third line being combined. :3. Maybe you gain your power by tapping into the collective of all humanity, like a vault of souls, or you are a white mage with a line to the posative plane, or maybe like some wise men, you just have an understanding of divine things most people lack, and this gives you the power to tap in. Other times there was not much willingness to compromise, and thats when you have to make the unfortunate call of whether its worth it to try to push through, or just cut the individual loose. Adding that would I think help with the "GS/BS" guidance mxyzplk alluded to in his comment under the question. Does a cleric have to worship a god? - Dungeons Based on this experience, I recommend finding a niche for your group and your player. I can handle settings with multiple gods because they are fiction. When it comes to religious motivations, the reasoning is often personal and private, therefore not my place to share details. by the one true deity, by lesser spirits who aren't deities One player should not be allowed to force his personal views on the other players. This is, in fact, almost the exact same mythology model used by JRR Tolkien (whom my friend loved) for Middle Earth. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. WebOkay, Paladins get power from their Oath, but the Cleric requires a religion. And then he went on how Narnia had Jesus under different name. How should I respond to a player who roleplays too selfishly? It was very different from normal SR4 play, to the point that most of the world and history no longer made sense and the game fell apart more and more each time it became important (like when the CAS and the NAN started a war, and the NAN were doing great but then we looked at it and the GM realized they couldn't have mages or spirits etc. And so I want to make them as flexible as I can here. The Drow were mentioned as only a myth in the AD&D monster manual in 1977, and the adventure module Queen of the Demonweb Pits introduces Lolth as their deity. darkness? Yeah, it's an awful experience. If you're looking for a faster reference than reading a fantasy series that's been running since the 80's, I would recommend starting with the Church of Lolth, Lolth, and Drow pages on the Forgotten Realms wiki. This game does not deal with those beliefs. Here and here are videos which explain how you could do this better than I can. much less concrete but religions did exist in the world, with the She played with us weekly for about 4 months until the campaign ended. Your Cleric could be the one-and-only Cleric of a deity that has just ascended to Godhood, or you can be a Cleric of a deity thatyou're not even awareactually exists. Why is this relevant? Cleric Backgrounds This section does not address every published the living God with idols? I have tried playing for, with, and GMing for that player in FATE 2.0 as well as a variety of homebrew systems and that often went fine. Webby WrenxArt Advice for Playing a Religious Character as a Nonreligious Person So for this campaign I'm in, my dm let me have free reign with making my cleric's god/religion. What most of us did was explain the polytheistic aspects away by saying that the various "gods" in the game are just different aspects of the One God. A number of the Ainur descended to interact with Arda directly, known as the Valar and Maiar. I was discussing available classes with one of the players, more specifically classes with access to magic and the differences between them. At the time, I was a player at that table, and our DM decided to provide a niche for the Catholic. Both of those authors had strong religious beliefs yet were able to translate them to fantasy settings that in turn played a part in inspiring D&D. Check out my homebrew subclasses spells magic items featsmonsters races. Pope Francis expresses concern and dismay over alleged abuse will be their God, and they shall be my people. Spend the time and effort to build a group consensus. What are your ultimate goals? Edit: I see now it is a more popular opinion than I thought. Lathander's most important ceremonies are held at dawn, and involve drinking well water touched by the rising run. Then have a talk with all the players together and set expectations. For example, if you are going to borrow a book from or interview a friend about their participation in a religion, let them know that it is for the purposes of playing a character in a game. There have been some decent sourcebooks focusing on D&D religions in the past, such as Faiths and Avatars and Deities and Demigods, but to explore D&D religions, it might be more appropriate to read D&D novels. In earlier editions, this is near-universal among Drow, but later publications have tended towards less monolithic societies for the different races. The Austrism religion from Warbreaker colors every aspect of the characters' lives who follow it, whether they are rejecting the religion or embracing it. (For clarification, note that I as a person am fully aware that fictional gods in a fictional world are fictional. Why I think this will work for your group. An Australian ex-priest convicted of child sex abuse has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 72nd victim. I would say the players I played with (as player or DM) were 30% Catholics, 30% protestant Christians, 20% atheists and 20% other religions. 1) Drinking straight from the water source is like if a cleric tried to gain magical prowresss by drawing from the raw energy the gods rely on by themself. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Regardless, let's switch back to the topic of 'what if' a player wants to play a more philosphical or mystical cleric in DnD: for that, I would like to use a metaphor to explain how a DM or player can interpert it. That is, because the mechanics of the subclasses are domain specific. Religion (Skill) and Clerics/Paladins. A mutually - Dungeons Lathandrites are suckers for the latest thing. That power doesn't necessarily have to be a god. This went okay but was very If your setting requires polytheism, don't call them "gods", call them "powerful entities". Therefore, go out from It sounds like you tried to have a conversation about this being fiction but were shut down hard, possibly before you even got far. If things are left ambiguous or open to interpretation, for example he might have been a god, or he was simply a powerful wizard or sorcerer, I find I can roleplay as my non-religious character better, as opposed to being told that no, he is an actual god, not a spellcaster. I've done this in campaigns before; the only difference is whether the "good" campaign deity is explicitly the Christian God, which can be left to the players to imagine. My campaign world has no gods at all, but it still has clerics. We have learned how to get along and work with each other to have fun). Is there a lack of precision in the general form of writing an ellipse? PHRASES FOR CLERICS, PALADINS, AND There are also temples to bring hope to troubled places: for instance one was a rare refuge amidst the ruins of Myth Drannor. Cleric | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Fandom @IronWilliam There is some debate over whether or not Bahamut is actually a god: From Fizban's: "Bahamut and Tiamat, the primordial dragons and the purported creators of the First World, are the closest things to gods among dragonkind. I should note that it was easier back then since clerics and paladins were all the same no matter what deity they chose. Cleric Quest Ideas You could have a deity that desires a world in which their tenets are spread of the peoples' own volition, and the deity chooses to grant power to exceptional individuals that live &teach those tenets. Not all players will want to branch off and pray to something other than a deity, and not all DMs will allow this. XProtect support currently under Catalina, How to get around passing a variable into an ISR. They can drink it straight from the source, they can use an instrument like a straw to drink from the source, or they can use an storange containerto hold the water like a cup. DnD If this use would offend them, respectfully take your search for information elsewhere. Your argument here is that every single fighter must have been trained; there's no room in your world for self-taught fighters, and you deny any player who wants to be a prodigy to whom these things come naturally. Saving the lost lambs showing them the might of God. I've always looked to the Greeks, especially. In my experience, regardless of what RPG system you use (at least almost, I'm sure there are exceptions), you're going to run into situations where the game's reality is fundamentally different from ours in some way. Simply leave polytheistic deities out of your campaign, or push it into the background. The original Cleric's of the 1970s-80s were never tied to religious belief, as per: "A cleric is a I can't prove it's the most comprehensively covered religion in D&D without having read every book in every edition, but I can say with confidence a lot has been written about the Church of Lolth over the years. Spellcasting: As a conduit for divine power, you can cast cleric spells. As such, I can understand where they might be coming from. different gods, to which the player responded, "No.". There is only one God. How can I deal with a player trying to insert real-world mythology into my homebrew setting? You should definitely be willing to be flexible, but there's only so much flexibility you can afford before you start making the kinds of large changes you've mentioned you want to avoid. Find what they do or don't like about fantasy, and see where you can meet in the middle. We can apply these methods in a D&D game to help smooth over conflicts between the player's real-world religion, and the fictional world which presents elements they find incongruous with deeply-held tenets of that religion. The characters think they live in generic medieval fantasy land but actually they live on the inside of a giant cylindrical space station as slaves / test subjects for the scientists who live inside the station and secretly observe things with advanced technology and are studying 'bio energy upgrades' and also presumably nanites and pharmaceuticals. We tried to convince him that it might be interesting to roleplay someone he's not, in a world different from reality. Francis sent a letter to Bolivia's president, Luis Arce, as allegations of wrongdoing continue to rock the Catholic Church in the Andean country. One of my first 5e characters was a monk who did not believe that magic was real. By having clerics and paladins gain the power from slightly different sources, you could keep them in your world but disassociate them from gods. There may be one church that most people follow, and the party cleric is of this church. Of course always be respectful. I just don't see that as a valuable choice to take away from your player. One of my first players was, in his personal life, a Wiccan and practicing Neopagan. At the same time, it's historically accurate to still have some pagan elements in the campaign. One Roman writer who met Germanic tribes agreed that their god Odin/Wotan was Mercury and Thor was Mars; our days Wednesday and Thursday are named from the Germanic deities, while the French call those days Mercredi and Mardi after the equivalent Roman deities. By Tolkien's mythology, the "almighty" is named Eru Ilvatar, and is the singular creator of the universe in which Middle Earth (Arda) exists. He insisted to be a cleric of One God and make his character's main goal to punish daemon worshipers - that is, everybody who does not believe in One God. their character being pretty psychopathic. In fact, ascending to godhood is the ultimate goal of some philosophies. Early binding, mutual recursion, closures. Unfortunately, if your player is vehemently opposed to the very concept of pantheism, you probably won't be able to convince him otherwise. This question is a very strong candidate for, I think we need more information to understand. In my first 5e campaign, I didn't find a deity that I liked in Faerun. I'm going to make thisway harderthan itneeds to be. Make them review their ways." A place to discuss Dungeons & Dragons. This approach has the benefit of removing gods and deities from the game as a point of contention. I discussed this approach with my players before we started play in order to get a feel for how they like to engage with the fictional world. The matter of God, gods, and the real world and scriptural treatment of such (I am Christian and familiar with your friend's basis for objection) is set aside. and left our group. I've been reading a lot of Brandon Sanderson lately, and the thing I love most about his worlds, aside from the magic systems, is the treatment of religion. Keith Baker even commented on the possibility of an Atheist Cleric in Eberron. As such you might find that I miss the mark entirely. Clerics serve a powerful entity. No, that's how paladins work - paladins are powered by their own belief and confidence in said belief. the monotheistic religion. On the other hand though, many followers from monotheistic religions accept the gods of others as being their own God. Like Beowolf. It may be that, when it comes to a test of wills, they are less willing to compromise than you are. Doing so would give you access to a wealth of information and perspectives from completely outside the gaming community. FR wiki has: Lathander, whose title was The Morninglord, was a deity of creativity, dawn, renewal, birth, athletics, spring, self-perfection, vitality, and youth. Games, and certainly Table Top RPGs, are a social activity. 3) Drinking from a cup is the same as cleric who pray to a deity who is the full emobiment of a certain princpal or element. In your research on how to play a cleric of Tyr, you would have access to accounts of the complex and nuanced worldviews of both historical and contemporary people who actually are adherents of Tyr. Paladins might serve a philosophy of justice and chivalry rather than a specific deity. Lemmy: https://ttrpg.network/. I tried to explain that it's a fictional universe in which there are different gods, to which the player responded, "No.". Australian ex-priest convicted of child sex abuse pleads guilty to I am currently running a D&D 5e game as the DM with that basis for all divine magic. Short story in which a scout on a colony ship learns there are no habitable worlds. r/DnD on Reddit: Advice for Playing a Religious How can I talk to an experienced player about metagaming? It works the same way on our plane of existence. "I believe they do not exist but will worship them anyway as if they do' comes across as 'I believe they do exist but do not want to sound like an idiot for insisting they do. A 5e DnD cleric specifically optimized for healing can fit this stereotype, but it still provides a bit more in terms of round-to-round choices than other highly specialized character concepts with narrower focuses. Then you'll still have swathes of information on the internet you could look up for your religions, it's the best of both worlds in my opinion. At minimum you have to choose a Domain. In D&D 5e, a paladin's powers comes from their Oath. The other option is to suggest that the player has a character that I've had to explain my stance to other Christians and have even helped one or two deal with this same kind of problem. WebIt could very widely, based on the character. Also from the same section on page 13 of the DMG: it's unusual for a philosophy to deny the existence of deities, although a common philosophical belief states that the deities are more like mortals than they would have mortals believe. It's unlikely but a possibility. I don't think you do the same things in real life. Check with your DM to learn which deities are in your campaign. Once upon a time, D&D got a lot of press as a Tool of Satan that turns innocent children into murderous devil worshipers. Clerics are often servants and (sometimes) vessels for their chosen deities, and that can be hard to represent on a more grounded level, especially at lower levels without some behind-the-scenes work with the Dungeon Master to really bring the character and their faith to I tried approaching it from three different angles (and one of them actually worked). Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. fiends, or elementals), or simply by their faith. @IronWilliam I would recommend just including some info about Bahamut in the answer, we try to avoid answers in comments, though there is some wiggle room when we get under an answer looking for further info. Thank you for including that you've done this in campaigns, but it would be further improved if you included how it went. A rule learned by hard experience over the years: bad gaming is not better than no gaming. He favored those who dispelled the undead and blessed those who planted new life. For example, I state that the beings are godlike beings with magic rather than actual gods (which I find to be more realistic in the context of a magic world), or that the religious interpretation is just one possibility and that things can still be explained scientifically or logically (for example, explaining fictional creatures using the Anatomically Correct series on Worldbuilding). However, there's also not a great way to sculpt D&D to strictly conform to their ideals without potentially making some big changes to the setting or perhaps even certain game mechanics. Keeping DNA sequence after changing FASTA header on command line. Whilst yes, clerics and paladins are often associated with gods, the actual mechanics of the game focus around dominions, such as life and death, peace and war. There was a time in my country (the USA) that it was considered bad manners to discuss sex, politics, or religion in a social setting. Look for common ground in your conversation with this player. The player was offended by this and made a comment about how there is only one god and no one should be allowed to play as a paladin.