Switching Deity (cleric)

[MarkB]

The way I'd tend to handle it:

First, the character gives up faith in his current deity, and renounces all magical and spellcasting abilities granted by that deity.

Second, the character seeks out a priest of his new chosen religion and declares his faith. If the priest accepts his word, he is offered a choice of tasks in order to prove his new faith. Typically, the requirement would be to spend a year and a day acting as a lay priest, tending to the needs of his new religion's faithful.

Shorter-term options would include carrying out some major quest or challenge on behalf of the character's new deity. For evil deities, willingly carrying out the sacrifice of a former friend or ally would also be an option. Conversely, for a good deity the redemption of a formerly villainous enemy might be acceptable.

The character may gain Cleric levels in his new religion during this time, but his caster level, spell progression and class features all progress as though these were his first levels in Cleric.

Third, after completing his test of faith, the character presents his new church with offerings and incense worth 2,500 gp, which are then used by a priest of appropriate level as material components to cast Atonement upon the character. Once this is done, the character's new faith is cemented and the full power and spellcasting progression of his Cleric levels is restored to him, under the aegis of his new deity.

 

[Starfox]

Depends a lot on the edition of the game you are running. Check in the Player's Handbook under cleric. For Pathfinder, it is pretty liberal. IIR it was more restrictive in 3.0 and 3.5.

Ex-Clerics

A cleric who grossly violates the code of conduct required by her god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons. She cannot thereafter gain levels as a cleric of that god until she atones for her deeds (see the atonement spell description).

Capitalization mine.

My reading is that you cannot get back into your old patron's good graces without Atonement, but that you can turn to a new patron. Whether this one will accept you is ultimately up to the DM, of course.

 

[Luce]

The way I read it StarFox, by RAW that you posted would mean you start the track anew. As in Ex-cleric of X L5/Cleric of Y L1
Hit points/attack/saves as L6 cleric, cast as L1 cleric.

 

[Starfox]

The way I read it StarFox, by RAW that you posted would mean you start the track anew. As in Ex-cleric of X L5/Cleric of Y L1
Hit points/attack/saves as L6 cleric, cast as L1 cleric.

Is the glass half full or half empty?

The answer in d20 is that it is completely empty; all rounding is down.

 

[SethDrebitko]

Personally a character who had so little faith that they felt like they could swap to a new diety because they just weren't feeling it anymore probably wouldn't be worthy of the power. Now this isn't to say that a diety or its agents took note of a straying cleric and tempted him with power in exchange for loyalty.

The relationship would be different though and the diety would probably make certain the player new that they have no place to go from here.

 

[Starfox]

How exclusive faiths were depends entirely on the setting. In many ancient religions, your patron was a matter of where you were stationed. You may be a cleric of Huitzilopotchli, but if you are stationed at a temple of Quetzalcoatl, you could probably perform most of the duties, including the magical ones. In Aztec myth, this is compounded because the gods often appeared in disguise as each other.

The same with patron saints in the Catholic church. Change church, and your official patron changes. Of course, you can still have a personal saint.

In Rome, clerical posts were thoroughly politicized. The emperor was also always Pontifex Maximum (supreme high priest - the same title is used by the pope today). This made you the high priest of the chief god (Jupiter), but you could have your own patron regardless. And in this case it had very little to do with being a cleric.