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    Troll in the Playground
     
    (Un)Inspired's Avatar

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    Default Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    How would you feel if a player wanted to play a cleric who worshiped a pantheon instead of a single deity?

    How about a cleric of a metaphysical concept?

    How about a character who had been through a theological university but wasn't a confirmed member of the clergy?

    In each of these scenarios the hypothetical "clerics" in question wouldn't be allowed access to any material that a more traditional cleric could access. Basically, these would be entirely fluff based concepts that didn't impact mechanics at all.

    Would you let someone play one of these?
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Sure. That is, unless this would cause conflict with the party. No faithless I-spit-on-your-religion clerics in a party full of devout Divine classes.
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Quote Originally Posted by Dire_Stirge View Post
    Sure. That is, unless this would cause conflict with the party. No faithless I-spit-on-your-religion clerics in a party full of devout Divine classes.
    Well I wasn't thinking of any actually divinely-antagonistic clerics but that's a good point. An ur priest style cleric could be disruptive. I wouldn't want to play something like that without explicit party consent.
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Quote Originally Posted by (Un)Inspired View Post
    In each of these scenarios the hypothetical "clerics" in question wouldn't be allowed access to any material that a more traditional cleric could access.
    Could you please clarify this?

    But yes, such things are explicitly allowed in 4e, so disallowing them would be a houserule, and wouldn't accomplish much other than antagonizing a player.

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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sol View Post
    Could you please clarify this?
    Not letting these sorts of cleric take a broader variety of domain feats than a typical cleric could, not letting one take different feats that require the worship of different gods.

    Nothing super huge, I just wanted to make the point that these were flavor choices as uploaded to ways to gain additional mechanical benefits.
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Quote Originally Posted by (Un)Inspired View Post
    How would you feel if a player wanted to play a cleric who worshiped a pantheon instead of a single deity?
    This is pretty much the standard in Eberron if you are a cleric of the Sovereign Host or perhaps the Undying Court.

    How about a cleric of a metaphysical concept?
    Path of Light/Inspiration in Eberron or cleric of a concept in Greyhawk. Standard issue.

    How about a character who had been through a theological university but wasn't a confirmed member of the clergy?
    I am guessing here you either mean an apostate of some kind or a setting in which clerics graduate out of a university that is sponsored by a religion? The proposed "dropout" who still gets divine magic anyway would probably be in trouble with the religion that did not quite Ok him. Food for a good story.

    In each of these scenarios the hypothetical "clerics" in question wouldn't be allowed access to any material that a more traditional cleric could access. Basically, these would be entirely fluff based concepts that didn't impact mechanics at all.

    Would you let someone play one of these?
    These are honestly on the tamer end of religion shenanigans a character could take part in.
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Quote Originally Posted by (Un)Inspired View Post
    Not letting these sorts of cleric take a broader variety of domain feats than a typical cleric could, not letting one take different feats that require the worship of different gods.

    Nothing super huge, I just wanted to make the point that these were flavor choices as uploaded to ways to gain additional mechanical benefits.
    You can only pick one God in the builder, but characters are explicitly allowed to worship multiple deities and therefore qualify for multiple domain and channel divinity feats.

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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Quote Originally Posted by (Un)Inspired View Post
    Not letting these sorts of cleric take a broader variety of domain feats than a typical cleric could, not letting one take different feats that require the worship of different gods.

    Nothing super huge, I just wanted to make the point that these were flavor choices as uploaded to ways to gain additional mechanical benefits.
    Ah. The issue at hand was your use of the word "could" when you meant, "couldn't", then.

    As bloodshed points out, it's entirely moot, as restricting players to worshipping one deity for feat purposes would be a houserule. It's not an uncommon houserule, but it's often implemented out of misunderstanding rather than actual consideration.

    In a setting where the entire pantheon of gods provably exist, and have conveniently restricted their influence to specific domains, polytheism is naturally going to be the dominant form of religious worship. Even a simple farmer relies on, at minimum, Pelor and Kord, with easy arguments to be made for frequent prayers to both Erathis and Melora, as their livelihood depends on balancing nature and civilization. Someone unjustly arrested would be remiss not to ask Avandra for assistance, no matter how devout they are in the church of Ioun.

    This can be complicated to roleplay - monotheistic zealotry is far easier to mimic because it's familiar to us, but in their society, claiming there is only one true god would be heretical. The clergy for each deity are going to be inclined towards spinning current events to be relevant to their god's spheres of influence, and are likely to give players quests related to the same, but there are close familial ties between several of the gods. Priests and temples devoted evenly to all three Hestavar dwellers are likely as common as single-affiliation temples in smaller settlements, and even in cities, people treat the different churches in a similar fashion to disparate christian denominations. There's minor differences in the belief structures, but they all believe in the same thing, and a religious person who frequents church every wednesday evening before supper doesn't have much of a reason to care what the local denomination is if he's away from home.

    All of the above is of course only applicable to the Neutral and Good deities, and Sehanine clergy may be widely considered less trustworthy than Peloran or Bahamite, but they're not shunned, merely taken with a grain of salt. Open worship of the evil deities is more or less restricted to cults, though the dirty secret of the military is that they've all prayed to Bane a time or two.

    Of course, religion is an INT skill, so clerics are all terrible at it regardless.
    Last edited by Sol; 2015-01-01 at 02:34 AM.

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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Ya know, I think the thing I miss the most about 4e is the mutability of the fluff.

    Thank you guys for pointing out that the base rules assume you can gain benefits from worshipping multiple gods.

    I actually really wish I could join a 4th edition game. It's been so long since I've played it and I have such a fun idea for a character.
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Quote Originally Posted by (Un)Inspired View Post
    How would you feel if a player wanted to play a cleric who worshiped a pantheon instead of a single deity?

    How about a cleric of a metaphysical concept?

    How about a character who had been through a theological university but wasn't a confirmed member of the clergy?

    In each of these scenarios the hypothetical "clerics" in question wouldn't be allowed access to any material that a more traditional cleric could access. Basically, these would be entirely fluff based concepts that didn't impact mechanics at all.

    Would you let someone play one of these?
    I'm permissive and I like people to come up with ideas that feel right. Not only would I allow nonstandard clerics, I'd actively encourage them. Reframing existing classes adds variety and flavor to the game.
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    Of course.

    One of my favourite character concepts in the past was a Paladin of a scam-religion that he wasn't in the inner circle and so didn't know was a scam. He believed wholeheartedly, dedicated himself to its official tenets, and became a Paladin. The game didn't alas go on long enough for NPCs in the know to do much more than scratch their heads.
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    If a player wanted to play a Cleric mechanically, and fluff him as a Cyborg, and it fit with my setting, I'd let them. In the end, the mechanisms are only that, and how a class is described in game is only a guide.
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    Default Re: Would you allow a player to play a non-traditional cleric?

    The Dungeon Master's Book (from the Essentials line) describes the temple in the village of Winterhaven as being led by a woman who offers sacrifices to the entire pantheon when called on to do so, but that she is a devotee of Avandra.

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