D&D 5E Accessing Divine Magic on non-native Material Planes

[Sadras]

The party might find itself forced onto a non-native setting. They are originally from the Mystara setting who have Immortals instead of deities. I would like to play true to the new setting, whichever it may be, so I was wondering on your thoughts regarding divine spellcasters (cleric, paladins...etc): How do they access their divine powers/spells if they are on a different material plane?

Clearly their divine abilities are granted by the Immortals who are not the 'deities' in this other setting (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun...etc) they will find themselves in.

So how does a cleric now cast spells and use his/her divine powers? Does anyone know of a creative idea as well as a mechanical system whereby through an additional cost to the cleric he/she is able to access their powers/spells?

The group strives for a sense of realism/grittiness so true balance however is not an issue with us, but I would also prefer not to seriously gimp the cleric for an unknown period of time.

EDIT: Apologies, I was not clear above given my wording, this is not about following canon, but a flavourful way to, subtly through the mechanics, reflect the implied 'distance' between cleric and the immortal/deity he worships and the hardship in refreshing his divine abilities when he travels to different settings on the material plane.
TheCosmicKid came up with some great suggestions I intend to use.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Well, Dark Sun doesn't have gods, so might have a bigger problem there. They get their power from elementals in that setting, but not sure how that would change things mechanically.

As for the other settings, you could send them on a quest to discover the equivalent deity in the new setting. Maybe they have to prove their loyalty.

If you would rather handwave it more, perhaps the deity is already aware of their arrival and responds to their prayers anyway, maybe eventually guiding them to the truth. Weird visions could be fun to play with.

 

[BoldItalic]

The simplest solution is to rule that, whatever mechanism allows the immortals to confer powers on the clerics, still works across planes. The cleric's spells continue to work but perhaps NPCs on the new plane don't recognize the source of their power and may be mistrustful.

If you want to be unkind, you could rule that if the cleric levels up while still on the non-native plane, he won't get spells of a higher level than he already knows. That will give them an incentive to get home, but without being a drastic punishment if they can't make it back soon enough.

 

[gyor]

I believe Gods are know to make deals to cover each, such as Sharess and a God of Vice from Kalimar have some kind of deal to grant spells to each others worshippers back when Kalimar was an official setting I believe.

It also depends on the setting.

divine casters that worship Immortals translate better to Forgotten Realms and ironically Darksun because they already have Immortals of a sort, in Darksun's case Sorceror Kings, and in FR's case they have incarnates deities in various places like Mulhorand.

FR in general is the most friendly to worshippers of forgiegn Gods as FR has a long history of Interloper Gods of all sorts.

 

[Duan'duliir]

I believe that when Acquisitions Incorporated switched to D&D Next, and in turn to a new setting (FR), the cleric had to find a new deity to serve. You could do this, and if the players ever return to their original setting, just have them resume the worship of their original deity.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

The simplest solution is to rule that, whatever mechanism allows the immortals to confer powers on the clerics, still works across planes. The cleric's spells continue to work but perhaps NPCs on the new plane don't recognize the source of their power and may be mistrustful.

Yeah, it's sort of related to the question of how easily clerics can be stripped of their powers. Is the god taking a bit of his power and imbuing the cleric with it permanently? If so, then it's pretty easy to see how the cleric can carry that bit of power wherever she goes, even if the god isn't there -- or perhaps it could be said that, wherever the cleric goes, there too goes her god.

If, on the other hand, clerics work on the model that the god grants them spells on an individual and day-by-day basis, then things get a bit trickier. Even then, though, consider this: the cleric's prayers for power already work across planar boundaries, just by virtue of the fact that the god lives on one of the outer planes and the cleric doesn't. There's really no reason why one material plane has to be any less accessible to divine power than any other. (Unless that plane is Athas.)

If you're interested in ways to make the cleric feel the distance from her god without being too crippled, my first thought is to say she must pray an extra hour or two to get spells. Lets her get to normal full power eventually, but could become a complication in a tight situation. Or you could reduce the number of spells she can prepare -- leave her at full spell slots, so she can keep up in terms of total resources, but she feels the loss of flexibility.

 

[Mirtek]

In a pinch check the 2e sources, they had pretty detailed rules what restrictions clerics faced for moving to far from theit deities spheres of influence

 

[Sadras]

The simplest solution is to rule that, whatever mechanism allows the immortals to confer powers on the clerics, still works across planes. The cleric's spells continue to work but perhaps NPCs on the new plane don't recognize the source of their power and may be mistrustful.

This is an interesting angle I can explore - the mistrust.

Yeah, it's sort of related to the question of how easily clerics can be stripped of their powers. Is the god taking a bit of his power and imbuing the cleric with it permanently? If so, then it's pretty easy to see how the cleric can carry that bit of power wherever she goes, even if the god isn't there -- or perhaps it could be said that, wherever the cleric goes, there too goes her god.

If you're interested in ways to make the cleric feel the distance from her god without being too crippled, my first thought is to say she must pray an extra hour or two to get spells. Lets her get to normal full power eventually, but could become a complication in a tight situation. Or you could reduce the number of spells she can prepare -- leave her at full spell slots, so she can keep up in terms of total resources, but she feels the loss of flexibility.

Great ideas, I can work with these. Thank you. I was struggling to think of something, the only "cost" I could think of was that divine spells had a HD cost to cast due to the strain to access the Immortal's power and I wasnt particularly happy with that idea. Your ideas work elegantly.

In a pinch check the 2e sources, they had pretty detailed rules what restrictions clerics faced for moving to far from theit deities spheres of influence

Will look into it. Thanks.

 

[GX.Sigma]

1. The gods' power already reaches across planes, right? Like, the gods are mostly on the Outer Planes, and you're usually on the Material Plane. So why would it be any different?

2. In the 5e cosmology, all the different worlds exist within "the" Material Plane. There are no alternate Material Planes mentioned in the books.

3. The 5e Dungeon Master's Guide has a very long section on the multiverse, and it describes no alteration to Cleric features when traveling to different planes. To quote the book, it recommends the planes to have "one simple trait that players notice, that doesn't create too much complication at the gaming table, and that's easy to remember." (p. 43)

I guess it all depends on how you want to portray the specific world(s), but there is nothing in the 5e rulebooks that implies you should mess with a Cleric's powers when they go to a different plane.

 

[Azurewraith]

As others have said deities all ready grant there power across planes so it is doable. If for whatever reason you decided that the immortals cannot project there power across planar boundaries it will be important to decide why. Is it because the lack of followers on that plane make it so the immortal is unaware it exists or their power is attached to being worshiped. Drop the cleric some hints about this so he can start converting the heathens and regain his power. Is it just impossible to break the boundaries well then not a lot you can do there.

I think [MENTION=6683613]TheCosmicKid[/MENTION] read my mind on how to make the cleric feel disconnected my personal favorite would be lowering his spells prepared. I would leave the slots alone as to me spells slots are the casters own capability to cast the spells there "power level" if you will.