The Power of Prayer

[Ahnehnois]

In my game increasing H.P. as you level up also represents, to some degree, divine favor. A PC, whether they know it or not, falls under some divine attention depending on level, alignment and the like. So, there is no separate fiddling.

So you're going with the more deterministic approach. The character's relationship with the gods is described in the mechanics like everything else, so if the mechanics say the character dies, the character dies, regardless of what the player or DM think about it. Likewise, if the mechanics don't say that the fighter has any healing magic, he doesn't get anything no matter what the player does.

A different approach, but also a good one.

 

[Nagol]

Roll for divine intervention a la 1e!

 

[GX.Sigma]

If he just prays, nothing happens.

In game terms: He's not paying any cost to get that effect. If prayer had a mechanical effect, why wouldn't all players say "and I pray really hard that it works" whenever they do anything?
In world terms: Gods don't just obey every mortal's whims. Quite the opposite, usually.

If he sacrifices something, something might happen. I think the inspiration mechanic from 5e works here: if he makes the situation worse for himself (in a way that the player wouldn't normally want to do), he can get advantage on his roll to stabilize her.

Actually, loyalty to the church and significant regular donations might be enough to give him a regular source of inspiration.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Roll for divine intervention a la 1e!

Is this an actual rule in a book somewhere?

If so, please elaborate. I'm not familiar with this.

sacrifices [/I]something, something might happen.

The way I phrased the scenario, I indicated that he had made some in-character sacrifices of time and material resources in general service of this deity (EDIT: you ninja'd me with that post edit there). However, he did not spend any character creation resources on getting any divine magic or healing. So it depends whether you think the character's ostensibly genuine faith is worth anything to the deity, or whether he needs to spend money on a healing item or spend levels, feats, or whatever character creation resource is available to get RAW access to divine magic.

Don't get me wrong, "no" is a perfectly valid answer if your deities do not meddle in this way or if for some reason they only exercise their power through trained clerics.

 

[Argyle King]

I voted "something else."



The PC sounds as though he is genuinely pious. As such, I'd be inclined to say that the deity in question aids the character and then gives the character a vague (I think most visions from deities should be,) but easy to interpret vision to embark on a quest which is important to the deity. Depending on edition, I might say that the mechanical manifestation of the deity's will would be expecting the character to take 1 level in paladin, cleric, or some other class (or prestige class pertaining to the deity.) If we're talking 3.5, I would wave the typical "must be LG" requirement for paladin under the understanding that it would only be one level. Alternatively, I'd be inclined to say the fighter would be able to choose religiously themed feats as though they were 'fighter bonus feats.' An alternative to that alternative would be to allow the fighter to use scrolls and magical devices pertaining to the deity and the deity's domains; treating the fighter's character level as cleric level for determining what level of spells/effects could be used via Use Magical Device.

 

[Nagol]

Is this an actual rule in a book somewhere?

If so, please elaborate. I'm not familiar with this.

The way I phrased the scenario, I indicated that he had made some in-character sacrifices of time and material resources in general service of this deity (EDIT: you ninja'd me with that post edit there). However, he did not spend any character creation resources on getting any divine magic or healing. So it depends whether you think the character's ostensibly genuine faith is worth anything to the deity, or whether he needs to spend money on a healing item or spend levels, feats, or whatever character creation resource is available to get RAW access to divine magic.

Don't get me wrong, "no" is a perfectly valid answer if your deities do not meddle in this way or if for some reason they only exercise their power through trained clerics.

Spur of the moment intervention can be handled as follows: If the character beseeching help has been exemplary in faithfulness, then allow a straight 10% chance that some creature will be sent to his or her aid if this is the first time the character has asked for help.

If 00 is rolled, there is a percentage chance equal to the character’s level of experience that the deity itself will come, and this chance is modified as follows:

Each previous intervention in behalf of the character -5
Alignment behavior only medial -5%
Alignment behavior borderline -10%
Direct confrontation with another deity required by the situation -10%
Character opposing forces of diametrically opposed alignment +1%
Character serving deity proximately (through direct instructions or by means of some intermediary) + 25%

So for your example, the fighter has a 10% chance of aid arriving immediately and very small(level as a percentage of 1%) chance the god will appear.

 

[The Human Target]

Whatever is most interesting for the story at the time.

 

[Ahnehnois]

[MENTION=23935]Nagol[/MENTION]
Interesting. This is definitely something that sounds more old school to me, but I wasn't aware there was an actual rule. Definitely not one that made it to 3e and beyond.

 

[Ahnehnois]

The PC sounds as though he is genuinely pious. As such, I'd be inclined to say that the deity in question aids the character and then gives the character a vague (I think most visions from deities should be,) but easy to interpret vision to embark on a quest which is important to the deity.

So you'd do one of those middle three options, and then use it to start a follow-up quest where the character repays his deity's generosity. That's all well and good; a bit beyond the scope of what I meant to ask but it certainly makes sense.

Whatever is most interesting for the story at the time.

If I understand correctly, doing whatever's interesting would come before following the rules?

 

[Celebrim]

What happens next?

I have the fighter's player roll a divine intervention check as dictated by the rules, giving the player full marks for first request, true need, and full peity. Depending on the deity in question, there might be an additional bonus for fitting request - salvation of a beloved spouse - at the option of the DM

So possibly on 8 or better (and certainly no worse than a 10 or better) on 2d6, the player recieves divine intervention. Many players choose to use a destiny point on divine request if they have one to spend, bringing it to 8 or better on a 3d6.

If successful the player then roles 2d6 again to determine level of intervention relative to this own level, adding his charisma to the roll. Using the absolute intervention level as a guide, the DM then selects a spell within the purview of the deity that in the DM's opinion is most effacious in this case.

I should say that the fighter waited too late IMO. He should have asked for divine intervention as soon as the wife was dropped. This gives the deity a lot more options. For example, the deity could send a servant to both heal and protect the wife from the orcs (and kill them if needed) likely at no more cost and greater chance of long term happy resolution than a raise dead spell. If the request failed, I'd likely have the diety express his displeasure that the fighter considered it more important to kill orcs than protect his wife.

Since you mention the fighter 'taking levels', if the intervention is successful the intervention is likely to be quite spectacular, but an actual raise dead requires a pretty potent success.