Post/Author/DateTime	Post
McDubie 12-30-07, 06:56 PM	This is a simple question but i haven't found an answer in the books. Can a Neutral Good Cleric of Pelor cast Bane or Cause Fear? Also what do the Components: V, S, DF, D, M, F mean with respect to spell casting?
MindWorX 12-30-07, 07:09 PM	Bane Enchantment (Compulsion) [Fear, Mind-Affecting] Cause Fear Necromancy [Fear, Mind-Affecting] No allignment on either, so go right ahead, and cast all you want. Verbal - You must be able to speak. Silence disables this, deafness gives a 20% failure iirc. Somatic - You must be able to move. Armor limits this. Divine Focus Item - Holy focus object, like a cross or something like that. This is not consumed when casting. Dismissable - Spell can be voulentarily dismissed. Material Component - Requires some material component, usually not too pricey, this is consumed when casting. Focus Item - Some sort of focus item, not consumed during casting.
Malek2991 12-30-07, 09:38 PM	Note about above post. Armor can only affect Arcane spells that require somatic components, so the Cleric mentioned can cast spells in armor with no chance of loosing their spells. A wizard or sorcerrer who wears armor has a chance of loosing their spells if they cast spells that have somatic (S) components, the exact precentage is in the particular armor listing under arcane spell faliure.
JimProfit 12-31-07, 12:52 PM	This is a simple question but i haven't found an answer in the books. Can a Neutral Good Cleric of Pelor cast Bane or Cause Fear? Also what do the Components: V, S, DF, D, M, F mean with respect to spell casting? Technichaly they can cast any spell that doesn't have the [evil] descriptor. But the GM should use RP flavor to keep the cleric's power incheck. Why would a cleric of pelor who represents the force of good, hope, and life, be using spells that bestow negative forces and fear into it's subjects? Doesn't sound like a kindof spell you'd be drawing from a neutral-good sun god. And though consciously your character might not be aware, i as a GM would have your character having haunting dreams about the incident, an evil diety is trying to corrupt your soul. Today it's just a fear spell, tommorow it's just a death spell on an evil mortal, then the next day, you just don't care.
Count Arioch the 28th 12-31-07, 01:56 PM	But the GM should use RP flavor to keep the cleric's power incheck. Why would a cleric of pelor who represents the force of good, hope, and life, be using spells that bestow negative forces and fear into it's subjects? Because the cleric is using it on an enemy of the faith that has done those things to other people. It's called poetic justice, and good deities approve of that heartily. Seriously, if it doesn't have the [evil] tag, then it's not evil, and doing it a billion times won't make you any more evil than you were before. I suggest you keep that in mind, because if you disagree, you are DM'ing wrong. (Note that I said DM, not GM. In D&D, there's no such thing as a GM.) In short, I wouldn't want to be one of your players if you play "let's pretend" instead of D&D. Which is what you are doing if you start deciding that things are evil "just because".
Howie23 12-31-07, 03:57 PM	Technichaly they can cast any spell that doesn't have the [evil] descriptor. But the GM should use RP flavor to keep the cleric's power incheck. Why would a cleric of pelor who represents the force of good, hope, and life, be using spells that bestow negative forces and fear into it's subjects? Doesn't sound like a kindof spell you'd be drawing from a neutral-good sun god. And though consciously your character might not be aware, i as a GM would have your character having haunting dreams about the incident, an evil diety is trying to corrupt your soul. Today it's just a fear spell, tommorow it's just a death spell on an evil mortal, then the next day, you just don't care. I like JimProfit's approach to this issue. He has talked about providing in-game guidance about in-game consequences to in-game actions by a character within his game world. I might take exception to it being an issue of "keeping the cleric's power in check," but providing direction to encourage choices of actions and resource use based upon a character's motivation shows a desire to help the players play PCs that fit into a game world. The lack of an [evil] tag does not eliminate alignment issues in the use of those spells, nor does it give consequence-free reign for a cleric to use necromancy when devoted to a deity who is highly opposed to undeath. Such consequences could be social ("I don't know about that priest..."), ecclesiastical ("Brother Winfro, you actions are outside the scope of acceptable behavior. You are being assigned to a year's service polishing the lens of the Steeple of Light as a way of reminding you of Pelor's greatness and opposition to the forces of evil and undeath."), or divine and/or psychological, as Jim suggested. Others may find that they get more out of a mechanically oriented game, or are reacting to negative experiences with DM-Gone-Awry-With-Power, but I prefer a game where the DM helps the players integrate into the gameworld. David
MindWorX 01-01-08, 03:48 PM	I'd like to point out that Necromany isn't nessecary working with undeath, not much undeath about Mark of Justice (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/markofJustice.htm). I agree with Count Arioch the 28th on this one, unless the spell says it's evil, there's no reason to assume it has anything to do with evil, if that's the case, then you'd need to severely limit the paladins spell list. I agree tho, that if your religion strongly oppose something you don't do it, but that's not up to the dm to rule that, it's the NPC's that governs the relegion, so unless there's an ingame reason to punish him, don't interferre, except if you want to act as a god. ;)