D&D General What Happens if a Cleric/Warlock/etc PC Gravely Offends Their Supernatural Patron?

[Cadence]

No takesee-backsees!

That wasn't the question though. It's if you ever get some of the new ones at all the first time. The level 3 power in particular is narrated as being for your loyal service. The ones at 11, 13, 15, and 17 seem similar in idea.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I feel like the poll should have "Nothing" as one of the options. Starting from the perspective that there must be some penalty may be a common approach, but it's not the only one, and assuming it to be so will bias the results.

I added that option to the results if anyone cares to change their vote.

 

[Yaarel]

That wasn't the question though. It's if you ever get some of the new ones at all the first time. The level 3 power in particular is narrated as being for your loyal service. The ones at 11, 13, 15, and 17 seem similar in idea.

I added more to the post to complete the answer.

The short answer is yes. To gain these certain features in the first place requires being in sync with the patron at least at that time.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

My take is that whatever happens should lead to more adventure. If that means a curse they have to atone for at a special place, or a deed that needs to be accomplished, so be it. They'll still have their powers, but the deity/patron's displeasure will still be known, and the party will have a new adventure hook to follow up on.

Unless it's someone being a plain-old jerk player. In that case, I'm as like to talk to them about it out-of-game as just ignore it because I don't want to spend any more cycles than I have to on disruptive behavior at the table.

 

[ninjayeti]

I don't know that there is a one size fits all approach here because I think there could be many different reasons why this happens. Does the player want to RP a crisis of faith/rebelling against the commands of an evil Patron? Was there a miscommunication between the player/DM on the character concept? Are they just bored with character concept and want to do something different? Or are they only interested in being a murderhobo and annoyed with the RP implications of their character class?

Ultimately I would try to work with the player to figure out something that could both achieve their purpose while also working within the expectations of the campaign world.

 

[MGibster]

I've always liked how Deadlands handles Blessed (cleric equivalent) characters. Blessed characters are required to follow the tenants of their religion in order to retain their powers. Deadlands is an alternate wild west setting, so most of the religious beliefs are going to be real life. So a Baptist preacher couldn't drink alcohol, a Muslim Imam has to answer the call to prayer five times a day, etc., etc. But there are different levels of infractions, if an imam decides he just doesn't want to pray in the morning then it's a minor infraction and he'll be penalized on his Faith rolls. More serious infractions such as murder or renouncing God would result in stiffer penalties including loss of access to Miracles (spells). (And for the love of Pete! DM's shouldn't use these religious rules to place player characters in got'cha situations.)

In both Deadlands and D&D, these should be tools to enhance the experience for the players. Playing a cleric, a representative of a god, should carry with it some responsibilities including living according to the values their divine source says they should. Otherwise what's the point? Wizards, clerics, bards, and warlocks are all the same. Boring.

 

[Yaarel]

A fun way to communicate "displeasure", is bad dreams, waking visions, and omens.

 

[MGibster]

In a gritty game with long term care needed to heal up from devastating wounds, this definitely has a place. I just don't think the average 5e game is that place

One of my biggest pet peeves about D&D (not just 5E) is how generic everything is. If the game doesn't make the gods or patrons matter then why will players care about them? Why even put them in the game?

 

[Charlaquin]

Ultimately it’s something the player and the DM should discuss and decide on together. But, my general preference would be to use it as a hook for more adventures. Maybe the character has to do some holy mission to atone or something.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Voted Other.

For a truly grave offense, at the very least (depending on the god/patron) they would forever lose all their class features.
If the patron/god does not kill them or have them killed, they might move on to a different patron/god.

Lesser offenses might involve NPCs seeking them out to help, atonement, etc.