Have you ever played in a game that didn't require divine casters to follow a god?

[goto124]

And if the combination chosen isn't inherently OP or disruptive (more than a default cleric), this "custom cleric of a custom god" shouldn't inherently be any more munchkiny than a vanilla one.

"I worship Thragnog, the orcish god of fire and travel. I must pray before a bonfire to get my spells, before setting out on a journey, and again when I arrive at my destination" seems more flavourful, and definitely less OP than "I worship Tyr. I use CoDzilla cheese to make me a better fighter than the fighter, and cast loads of spells as well".

There's the assumption that if you don't stick to your RP, you're being a munchkin. I understand some people have experiences that pretty much tell them this is true, but I feel roleplay and optimization should be seperated.

I also feel that no one should be punished for bad roleplay, as long as that player is not being disruptive. Look at this thread. Look at its name. If he doesn't RP, that's him. Since he doesn't reduce other people's fun, he should be allowed to play the way he likes. If he is being a jerk or otherwise making the game less fun for others, that is a seperate OOC issue, nothing to do with RP.

A player makes an optimized priest and fluff-wise gets his power from the cosmic plane. He doesn't overshadow everyone else or blast through encounters with extreme power, he's cooperative, he works well with the party, he isn't a jerk, the group has great fun. Is that impossible, or something so rare that you should stop him during character generation as soon as he says 'I get power from the cosmic plane'?

I see an argument for 'does not fit the setting'. Then it's a matter of discussing it with the player, and coming up with a solution. I'm curious as to what sort of solutions people usually figure out in these cases.

[Coidzor]

I see an argument for 'does not fit the setting'. Then it's a matter of discussing it with the player, and coming up with a solution. I'm curious as to what sort of solutions people usually figure out in these cases.

Seems like aside form the odd GM who hadn't considered it at all and doesn't already have a massive load of bias one way or the other, it'd already be settled, either they'll never allow anything like that, ever, ever, ever, or they're already fine with that sort of thing so little or no tweaking would be necessary.

And presumably, clerics of causes have a kickstarter or a gofundme to foot the bill.

Or their middlemen with the Divine don't have personalities.

[BootStrapTommy]

So? This thread is about worshiping the gods for power, which the ur-priest definitely doesn't do. There's a big difference between asking someone for handouts, and looting their pockets. Clerics of a god do the former, ur-priests do the latter.

And presumably, clerics of causes have a kickstarter or a gofundme to foot the bill.

Regardless of how the spells were obtained, however, their origin is still a deity. Or group of them.

[goto124]

I'm looking back at this thread, and one possible reason for the player/DM conflict is that in the DM's setting, Druids much act a certain way (much like how in some settings, clerics much worship a god and actually follow a code), but then somehow the player isn't following. We don't know what really happened until OP replies, such as what exactly the player did, or whether or not the player is aware of the campaign's Druid RP restrictions.

But it did make me wonder- how do you deal with such a situation? OP's complain sounds familar- the player in his view wants the skills of a Druid but not its RP. The same was said for some cleric players.

[Jacob.Tyr]

I would let a player refluff a codzilla as something Saiyan like if they really cared to. Classes are great, as they give you archetypes and discrete abilities that fit them, but I'm not about to force someone into an archetype of any sort if they really want x set of abilities with y fluff. I saw someone once write up a Barbarian who claimed to be a wizard with a very limited spell list. In my games, that is entirely kosher.

I will admit that the game I'm running now is the first actually set in one of the major settings that I've ever participated in, though. I've been gaming for maybe 15 years, and it just never really seemed worth it to buy a giant book that we'd all have to read and understand for our characters to make sense. Dawn of Worlds is where it's at.

[cobaltstarfire]

The character I'm currently playing does not follow a god, but gets divine power from one.

Originally she was press-ganged into "serving" a god, but the DM decided to tweak it in such a way that basically she's now being empowered by a the true incarnation of that god to smash charlatans like the ones who press-ganged her. (most "divine" magic in the world is fake, or arcane magic being used in a clever way to take advantage of good people). She comes from a godless land and her first couple of experiences with religion have made her really dislike/distrust it. It's quite funny since she's unwittingly acting as a gods hammer.

I don't think my DM really subscribes to the idea of characters (NPC's or PC's) getting divine power without somehow getting it from a god, whether the recipient is aware or not. But he seems quite happy to work it out so that the character doesn't have to directly follow or worship any particular god to have cleric powers.

[LibraryOgre]

The character I'm currently playing does not follow a god, but gets divine power from one.

I once played an elven Priest of Light in Palladium Fantasy who believed she was a human Mercenary Fighter... all of her magic came from the fact that her father was Palladium Fantasy's Odin expy, but she didn't know that.

[cobaltstarfire]

I once played an elven Priest of Light in Palladium Fantasy who believed she was a human Mercenary Fighter... all of her magic came from the fact that her father was Palladium Fantasy's Odin expy, but she didn't know that.

That must have been an interesting discovery if/when she made it.

[LibraryOgre]

That must have been an interesting discovery if/when she made it.

I can't recall if she did; I think she wound up dying as we held off an army from a shrine (of some completely unrelated deity).