D&D 5E How would you handle raising dead on a PC that didn't believe in the gods?

[TwoSix]

Yeah, I guess that's why I posted this. On one hand, I'm not sure I like idea that the gods just "rubber stamp" all their followers requests. On the other, I'm not sure they'd care about the faith of one miscellaneous mortal either. Plus, its a bit micromanagey for me.

I'd say it fits in pretty well with the way the Faerunian pantheon works to say that the gods can't micromanage all of their cleric's spellcasting request. (Not that you can't rule the other way, of course, just that either way is plausible within the setting.) Outside of Ao, Shar, and Selune, most of the other gods are just entities borrowing the setting's version of Infinity Gems from Ao.

 

[Gwarok]

In the last session of our Faerun campaign, one of the tanks died fighting a death knight. They don't have a cleric in the party but they reasoned they were close to a capital city so they'd go find a temple and get him raised in the next session. In the interim I noticed he didn't have a faith on his character sheet and I asked him if that was a mistake. He said "No my character doesn't believe in the gods". I explained that without a faith of any kind a divine Raise Dead wouldn't work on him. He replied "That's fine."

My reasoning is rejecting the gods in a world where they absolutely exist is the ultimate slap in the face. Its worse than believing in the other team, because even if you believed in some evil god like Bhaal or Malar, at least you believe in a god.

Someone pointed out that bards can cast it too and I said he could do that, but he was already working on a new character.

How would you handle it?

Well, seeing as how the player is ok with the situation I'm not sure what the problem is. Do YOU want him raised for some reason? And whether or not the raise dead works really seems to be a matter for the Gods. Perhaps the god wishes to bring the character back and make him face the absurdity of his philosophy in the face of a miracle. Maybe the PC has a religious epiphany as a result. Many a religious myth has been based on less. The PC could come back as a zealot for the faith. But if your player is already working on a new guy, sounds like the issue will work itself out nicely.

 

[transtemporal]

Well, seeing as how the player is ok with the situation I'm not sure what the problem is. Do YOU want him raised for some reason? And whether or not the raise dead works really seems to be a matter for the Gods. Perhaps the god wishes to bring the character back and make him face the absurdity of his philosophy in the face of a miracle. Maybe the PC has a religious epiphany as a result. Many a religious myth has been based on less. The PC could come back as a zealot for the faith. But if your player is already working on a new guy, sounds like the issue will work itself out nicely.

I did kind of regret my ruling after I made it because he's a good tank and he thinks tactically. Whereas some of the others in the group don't even know what their classes do, let alone think tactically. Its all good though. His new guy is a Moon Druid.