Use a Sending spell to contact your deity?

[Iron_Chef]

My character has had personal contact with her deity on two separate occasions (once while awake in a vision, and once while dreaming--not actual physical contact). Suppose something important comes up and she needs deity-level help, fast... could she use a sending spell to contact her deity (or agents thereof, such as the god's personal secretary) directly? Granted, there is a 5% failure chance because they are on different planes (she's on Toril and her god Bane is on Acheron), but I don't see why this wouldn't work from reading the spell description in the PHB. Commune, another 5th level spell, allows for contacting the deity or agents thereof directly to ask bunches of yes/no questions, and sending is limited to a 25 word communication at most, with response in kind. Now if the sending is trivial, then the PC should probably be punished in some way for the interruption, but otherwise, this might be a fantastic way to gain some divine intervention when things are looking grim, or at least a more detailed response than commune's yes/no without paying 100 XP... Advice? Maybe sending to deities should be okay, but an XP cost assessed, say 200 XP (twice that of commune), or 100 XP if the sending fails (5% chance).

 

[Shin Okada]

Well, IMHO sending a message is perfectly OK.
But whether the deity answers or not is up to DM. I think commune and other spells which specifies the way the deity helps, is providing some support for deity to commit that help, by the form of XP or maybe just enough amount of divine energy or something. Commune may not provide such things and thus the deity may need more effort to answer the character's request. So maybe the answer is more limited, obscure, or simply delay. IMHO, unless this spell becomes more convenient and powerful than higher leveled spells, such kind of use is interesting.

 

[Malachi of Kossuth]

Keep in mind that gods would most likely get pissed at a mere mortal doing sendings to them...especially evil gods with better things to do than answer sendings of mortals.

 

[Iron_Chef]

Haha, okay, but my character is a 14th level wizard and a Favored of Bane (not the one and only "Chosen" like Fzoul). Favored means Bane saw enough potential in the character as to personally contact her, command her immediate and eternal obedience (plus reward her with a free infernal feat and access to more such infernal feats). Bane has entrusted her with an important mission that he wants accomplished, so contacting Bane--while somewhat brazen--does not seem that out of line, given the gravity of the situation and considering that Bane wants this mission accomplished and would prefer not starting over at this late date with a new group of Favored if my character dies... Bane "seems" quite fond of her (as far as Bane can be "fond" of anyone--meaning he finds her an amusing and efficient tool of his will in the mortal realm).

 

[Centaur]

Like anything else, it all depends on how important the information in the sending is to the diety. if you are working on something that has no value to your diety, then you best not bother him with questions about it.

However, in this case, as you say, you are working on something that Bane wants done, therefore, assuming the sending would be able to contact a diety, there is no reason to assume that Bane would be upset over this form of contact. Bane being bane however, he may be annoyed that you are having enough trouble to have to contact him.

One sec while I re-read the Sending description...

Given the description of the spell, I would rule that it could work. In the end, the dieties are just mega powerful beings and as such subject to the rules concerning such. As a result, by your description, I would say you are familure enough to initiate the sending. How Bane responds is another story entirely.

Make sure you word your sending very carefully. Write it out, then try and think of the worst way that Bane could interpret what you have writen, then re-word appropriately...

That said, this could be an excellent way for a character to send periodic reports to his god about tasks being done in his name. No obligation for him to respond, but he gets an update as to current happening. Most gods probably can't watch everything that is important to them all the time, and if they know that one of their servants is capable of sending updates, that free's him up to watch other things.

 

[Pielorinho]

I'm an evil Overlord, and I give an Important Henchman an Important Task. I also give her a Valuable Tool to use in the Important Task.

Then she starts calling me on my cell phone while I'm off engaging in other Important Tasks, interrupting me to ask me to help her complete the Important Task I assigned to her. Help? What does she think I gave her the Valuable Tool for?

Sure, I might come in and complete the Important Task for her. But then, given her incompetence, I'll kill her and take the Valuable Tool back, giving it to someone who can actually do the jobs I assign to them.

Just food for thought.

Daniel

 

[sithramir]

I agree with what Pielorinho said. There are other clerical spells that do this. Use them as guidelines, however since it is Bane i'd put some big penalty on the wizard using sending like extra xp lost for doing so since he's angering the God. Or perhaps losing his infernal feats for a short while until he regains Bane's true favor for bothering him.

I'd say unless it was vital importance like discerning exactly what the god "meant" when there are 2 variations one taht could end up drastically different from the other. However, this is what bane would know and expect to happen to a mortal and probably would ignore to see what he did and then still punish him if he chose wrongly.

 

[StealthyMark]

Using Sending instead of Commune seems like a cheesy way to a) avoid the 100 XP cost and b) get a better effect.

Since you are a 14th level wizard, you could easily use Limited Wish to emulate a Commune or Divination spell. Another option (and comparable spell for the desired effect) is Contact other Plane.

 

[Skaros]

You know, is there really much difference between using a 'sending' to contact your deity, and simply praying to them?

I mean, presumably they hear your prayers....sending lets you send them a limited number of words. Just pray!

As a DM I'd treat the two the same, with just as much chance of a direct contact from the deity (not much).

Skaros

 

[Henry]

I would personally look at it this way: The sending, being a lower class of spell, does not include the supplications and devotions necessary to show your deity you are willing to make proper sacrifices for his or her imparting of knowledge upon the supplicant.

Example: Your best friend is in trouble, and needs to call you; however, they can only do it from a telemarketer's residence. You are at home having dinner. Your phone rings, and the number on the caller ID is that of the telemarketer. Do you answer?

If the friend really needed you, he would have either called COD, or called on his cell phone. The sending spell is teh eqivalent of a cold sales call - if anyone could send them, the deity wouldn't get ANYTHNG done. It's the same idea behind Microsoft charging outrageous sums for tech support; it ensures that the ones who you answer, are only the most important of questions.