Clerics and Lesser Deities

[pbd]

I am making a dwarven cleric for an upcoming 3.5 campaign and am planning on using Hanseath as deity (RoS).

Hanseath is a lesser deity and a fellow player mentioned that I might be limited in spell level. I looked in PHB, but couldn't find reference to this (admittedly I didn't do an exhaustive search).

Is this so? Are PC Clerics limited in max spell level by lesser deities? Possibly is this a carryover from earlier rules?

Thanks.

 

[Corsair]

I vaguely recall something like that in 2E, but only vaguely. Mainly because those are the sorts of things out group ignored, along with demi-human level limits.

 

[lottrbacchus]

just checked the divine rules and it doesn't place a limit on the level of spells a diety can grant, which is the only thing i can think of that would limit cleric level.

 

[pbd]

Thanks, as the guy who told me has been playing and DMing his whole life, I would guess it is a "fuzzy memory" from 2nd ed or somesuch.

 

[DreamChaser]

Generally in 3.x, the more powerful the deity, the more domain options they have. The clerics end up the same power level, overall, but there is more variety within there clergy.

Mechanically, however, there is no difference.

DC

 

[amethal]

There was a rule in 2nd edition that went something like only greater gods could grant all spell levels, lesser gods were up to level 8, demigods up to level 7.

(Assuming cleric spells went up to 9 - can't remember if they did or not after all these years.)

This was judged "not fun" by the 3rd edition designers, and the rule did not make it into 3rd edition.

 

[Dragon Snack]

That was a rule in first edition as well, although it may have been optional (we used it)...

But eveyone is correct, it went away in 3.x.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

And with good reason, too. 3.x is designed to be a rules system for any given world. A DM can use the Greyhawk deities, but use them in a homebrew world (as I do). By implementing lesser diety rules, they would be forcing the Greyhawk gods to be of the same importance in all homebrew worlds that use them.

But allowing all deities to grant all levels of spells, the only possible carryover from Greyhawk to homebrew is the number of domains granted. But it allows a deity like Rao to take a much more prominant role in my homebrew than it does in the 3.5 Core rules. Yes, i realize Rao is given his light in Complete Divine, though...

 

[Voadam]

There was a rule in 2nd edition that went something like only greater gods could grant all spell levels, lesser gods were up to level 8, demigods up to level 7.

(Assuming cleric spells went up to 9 - can't remember if they did or not after all these years.)

Prior edition cleric spells only went up to 7.

It went 7 6 5 for greater, lesser, demigods in 1e and 2e. In the 1e DMG 1st and 2nd level cleric spells were from knowledge/magical training and so didn't rely upon a god at all.

 

[Atavar]

I thought there was some mention in 3.0's Deities and Demigods of a deity's Divine Rank playing a role in the maximum cleric spell level it could grant to its clerics. Perhaps it's an "all or nothing," but I cannot remember.

I found no mention of the matter in the 3.5 update document for Deities and Demigods.

Does anyone have a copy of Deities and Demigods handy to confirm or deny?

Thanks,

Atavar