Character Religion:How to go about it. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Character Religion:How to go about it. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ramkia
12-21-05, 03:16 PM My question is this. How do you incorporate religion into a character and how
would it work? I want to have a religion and I can't figure out how it influences the game itself. Someone please help me out here. :confused:
Jon of the North
12-21-05, 08:59 PM Well first we need to know a bit about your PC :P No good recommending a LE necro worship Pelor. As for how to incorperate it into your game, pray at night before sleeping. When you get to town see if there's a temple to your god and donate some coin. Say things like, "By Verca's Eye!" That's all I got now.
Harrow Blade
12-21-05, 10:24 PM Religion in a game can be very similar to religion in real life. What you need to do is examine your character and try and place where s/he stands on major issues. Alignment is a good place to start. Once you have a list of gods that are close to your alaignment start to look at thier portfolios and how they see things and see if they line up with yours. Eventually you should come up with one or two gods that will suit.

Once you have decidied on your deity it is time to start thinking about how much of your time and effort they are worth. Do you devote a majority of your time to them, do you tell your party how great it is to be a devotee of your god? Do you offer a prayer to them every day, before battle, when something good happens etc. If so then you should probly be a cleric of that god.
On the other hand if it is more a case of 'I'll go to that temple to get healed rather than the other simply because I like thier god better, or it's "thank (insert god's name) I'm alive" or "what in the name of (insert god's name) is that?" you are more of a casual follower.

I said that it can be similar to real life and It is true. In real life the clerics are those people who devote thier lives to their faith and put thier god before themselves, so it should be in the game.
In real life there are those who attend every religious event such as sunday church, temple, prayer and the many other types of religious events. these people are not clerics but they give alot of time and resourses to thier faith/religion. The same should happen in the game, for example you play a fighter but every temple of your god you visit you will offer coin or your services out of a passion for your faith.
Also in real life there are those who will occasionally show up to a religious event because thier mom told them to, they offer up token praise but on the whole it is not very important to them. Under pressure to renounce thier faith these people will break.

i hope this has shed some light on the subject of religion in your game and how it affects your character.

Harrow Blade
Pandaemoni
12-21-05, 11:00 PM There are some basic questions that you need to answer:

--What does your character hope to get from his devotion? A happy afterlife? Happiness in this life? Temporal power or wealth? Simply to avert divinely inspired disasters? Perhaps he worships them is genuine thankfulness for their having created him and his world and expects nothing.

--Does your character revere a particular deity or worship an array of them?

--If he worships several, does he have a favorite?

--What led to the selection of that one god/favorite deity? Simply alignment? Some sort of professional attachment (like a wizard worshiping a god(dess) of magic or a rogue a god(dess) of thieves)? Some family connection to the church? Some aid the church gave the character in the past?

--How is the character prepared to demonstrate his devotion? Lip service only? Donations of cash/items? Attending regular religious services? Proselytizing? Performing quests or missions for the religion's leaders? Offering other aid to clerics and/or worshippers as and when the opportunity arises (like helping a wounded parishioner make his way to the nearest town or using up a charge or two of the wand of cure light wounds on him)?

--Are there any deities that the character actively despises (i.e. those whose followers he'd react negatively to or refuse to aid if they were in need).

--If there are why? Alignment differences? Feuds between your god and that god? Feuds between the churches. (Churches compete for worshipers and donations even when their gods themselves get along well...and I'm sure certain churches politically lobby to get dramatically different faiths expelled from cities or their religion banned entirely. A good-aligned church may petition the lawful good king to get the church of the God of Murder banned and that might cause hard feelings, even if the god himself isn't paying attention.)

Religion in game is much like religion in real life, except that it is very much more tangible. Only a fool doesn’t believe in the gods in this game, even if he thinks they are just very powerful ascended former mortals, and the gods interact with people through their clerics (and clerical magic) and sometimes more directly.
Good Agnostic
12-23-05, 02:11 PM What is the Campaign Setting?
Ramkia
01-06-06, 09:47 AM All of the replies have given me much to think on and explained a great deal.
Thanks to all of you.

If anyone wanted to know the god that I was thinking of basing a character
around was Falazur (I think thats the spelling), trying to make like a dark cleric or sorcerer. Ideas, opinions welcome.
Morka
01-06-06, 11:59 AM All of the replies have given me much to think on and explained a great deal.
Thanks to all of you.

If anyone wanted to know the god that I was thinking of basing a character
around was Falazur (I think thats the spelling), trying to make like a dark cleric or sorcerer. Ideas, opinions welcome.

When talking about religion, there's a great diffence between a cleric and a sorcerer. A sorcerer is like any character, he can have any degree of faith in his patron deity. A cleric is a divine servants; they are usually servants of their patron deity, actively spreading their faith and obeying their patron deity's will. It might be possible to have a cleric who's not devoted to no particular deity, but I think they are still servants of a group of deitys, instead of simply using them for a spell here and there.
Each spell a cleric cast could be some kind of prayer. You can design a few short prayers to your deity for the spells you use the most often.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ramkia 12-21-05, 03:16 PM	My question is this. How do you incorporate religion into a character and how would it work? I want to have a religion and I can't figure out how it influences the game itself. Someone please help me out here. :confused:
Jon of the North 12-21-05, 08:59 PM	Well first we need to know a bit about your PC :P No good recommending a LE necro worship Pelor. As for how to incorperate it into your game, pray at night before sleeping. When you get to town see if there's a temple to your god and donate some coin. Say things like, "By Verca's Eye!" That's all I got now.
Harrow Blade 12-21-05, 10:24 PM	Religion in a game can be very similar to religion in real life. What you need to do is examine your character and try and place where s/he stands on major issues. Alignment is a good place to start. Once you have a list of gods that are close to your alaignment start to look at thier portfolios and how they see things and see if they line up with yours. Eventually you should come up with one or two gods that will suit. Once you have decidied on your deity it is time to start thinking about how much of your time and effort they are worth. Do you devote a majority of your time to them, do you tell your party how great it is to be a devotee of your god? Do you offer a prayer to them every day, before battle, when something good happens etc. If so then you should probly be a cleric of that god. On the other hand if it is more a case of 'I'll go to that temple to get healed rather than the other simply because I like thier god better, or it's "thank (insert god's name) I'm alive" or "what in the name of (insert god's name) is that?" you are more of a casual follower. I said that it can be similar to real life and It is true. In real life the clerics are those people who devote thier lives to their faith and put thier god before themselves, so it should be in the game. In real life there are those who attend every religious event such as sunday church, temple, prayer and the many other types of religious events. these people are not clerics but they give alot of time and resourses to thier faith/religion. The same should happen in the game, for example you play a fighter but every temple of your god you visit you will offer coin or your services out of a passion for your faith. Also in real life there are those who will occasionally show up to a religious event because thier mom told them to, they offer up token praise but on the whole it is not very important to them. Under pressure to renounce thier faith these people will break. i hope this has shed some light on the subject of religion in your game and how it affects your character. Harrow Blade
Pandaemoni 12-21-05, 11:00 PM	There are some basic questions that you need to answer: --What does your character hope to get from his devotion? A happy afterlife? Happiness in this life? Temporal power or wealth? Simply to avert divinely inspired disasters? Perhaps he worships them is genuine thankfulness for their having created him and his world and expects nothing. --Does your character revere a particular deity or worship an array of them? --If he worships several, does he have a favorite? --What led to the selection of that one god/favorite deity? Simply alignment? Some sort of professional attachment (like a wizard worshiping a god(dess) of magic or a rogue a god(dess) of thieves)? Some family connection to the church? Some aid the church gave the character in the past? --How is the character prepared to demonstrate his devotion? Lip service only? Donations of cash/items? Attending regular religious services? Proselytizing? Performing quests or missions for the religion's leaders? Offering other aid to clerics and/or worshippers as and when the opportunity arises (like helping a wounded parishioner make his way to the nearest town or using up a charge or two of the wand of cure light wounds on him)? --Are there any deities that the character actively despises (i.e. those whose followers he'd react negatively to or refuse to aid if they were in need). --If there are why? Alignment differences? Feuds between your god and that god? Feuds between the churches. (Churches compete for worshipers and donations even when their gods themselves get along well...and I'm sure certain churches politically lobby to get dramatically different faiths expelled from cities or their religion banned entirely. A good-aligned church may petition the lawful good king to get the church of the God of Murder banned and that might cause hard feelings, even if the god himself isn't paying attention.) Religion in game is much like religion in real life, except that it is very much more tangible. Only a fool doesn’t believe in the gods in this game, even if he thinks they are just very powerful ascended former mortals, and the gods interact with people through their clerics (and clerical magic) and sometimes more directly.
Good Agnostic 12-23-05, 02:11 PM	What is the Campaign Setting?
Ramkia 01-06-06, 09:47 AM	All of the replies have given me much to think on and explained a great deal. Thanks to all of you. If anyone wanted to know the god that I was thinking of basing a character around was Falazur (I think thats the spelling), trying to make like a dark cleric or sorcerer. Ideas, opinions welcome.
Morka 01-06-06, 11:59 AM	All of the replies have given me much to think on and explained a great deal. Thanks to all of you. If anyone wanted to know the god that I was thinking of basing a character around was Falazur (I think thats the spelling), trying to make like a dark cleric or sorcerer. Ideas, opinions welcome. When talking about religion, there's a great diffence between a cleric and a sorcerer. A sorcerer is like any character, he can have any degree of faith in his patron deity. A cleric is a divine servants; they are usually servants of their patron deity, actively spreading their faith and obeying their patron deity's will. It might be possible to have a cleric who's not devoted to no particular deity, but I think they are still servants of a group of deitys, instead of simply using them for a spell here and there. Each spell a cleric cast could be some kind of prayer. You can design a few short prayers to your deity for the spells you use the most often.