In a D&D world, it's expected that your characters believe in their gods devoutly- that's how you get healed, see magic, and obtain blessings. It's not an act of faith so much as a pretty sensible worship of an incredibly-powerful being. So the fairly natural standard is to pick the one closest to your alignment and ethos, and just say "that one is my patron", or favourite.
This doesn't have to be the case, though. As with real-world religions, there are plenty of people who grew up in a faith, and follow its tenets (mostly) but aren't devout, or who do the yearly ceremonies because it's expected without attending to daily prayer or weekly masses. In a D&D world, some might even be unwilling servants, sworn to an oath that they had to make out of need, obligation, social pressure or divine mandate, without necessarily agreeing with that god's ethos. So, a (personally) evil servant of a Good deity might try to abuse the system to benefit them and their allies, while being encouraged to be generous and kind, while a personally good servant of an Evil deity might be trying to slip in compassion and kindness between the acts that their patron expects of them, perhaps with some kind of divine 'shock' administered if they don't attain their quota or spread enough misery. I've touched on this before, but my expectation is that alignment isn't just how you act, it's how you feel about those acts afterwards. Like a worker in a strict bureaucracy who has to follow the rules, even if those rules are mean-spirited, this can affect how much information your characters gives, how much assistance they'll offer, and the way they offer those. Perhaps a secretly-good cleric can give away healing cantrips, but their more powerful spells attract a cost or oath somehow. How you can use devotion in your game: - Having a range of alignments within a clergy (and lay worshippers as well) expands your game from moralistic groups arguing with each other to a more realistic worldview. If your players know to avoid Pater Aemon at the Church of the Morninglord because he's that jerk who insists on the full chartered cost for every single healing, and go to Sister Nataliy because she actually cares about people, even if she's a bit busier from healing in the slums every day, then you're doing a great job! - This can be a challenging option for a Player Character, so make sure you discuss it with your GM first. It can be really fun to play a character who's counter to expectations and a little quirky- a strict orthodox servant of Sune the goddess of beauty, who prefers spartan living and aesthetic and is just following the family business; a good-hearted cleric of Bane who desperately wants to help but is shackled by his master; a reformed and redeeming cleric who now serves Ilmater, Father of Suffering who used to be a kneebreaker for the local Thieves' Guild. - Another interesting aspect to consider is how the god feels about their servant. When they're able to make contact and ask questions with spells like augury, commune, and divine intervention, will they be gently chivvying their wayward servant, or looking at their deeds with pity and eyes full of wrath? Also posted on Game Masters Stash on 14 December 2019. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
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