Alignment of worshippers? (not clerics)

[Ascending Crane]

I have a player who is converting to worshipping Shar (Forgotten Realms, obviously). Shar is Neutral Evil, and it states her clerics must be any evil. The character is not a cleric however - what alignment would she have to be?

Currently, she's Lawful Good - I'm having her become Neutral right now, and potentially later change it to an evil. But is Neutral good enough for Shar...?

 

[Sagan Darkside]

But is Neutral good enough for Shar...?

I am sure an evil diety would welcome the worship of any good being, but I don't think any good being who worshipped an evil diety would remain good long.

I am not familiar with FR, but I assume there is a reason that Shar is considered evil- and the tenets of Shar probably reflect that.

SD

 

[Celebrim]

I agree with both that a deity would welcome the worship of any being, and that you could not sincerely worship a deity and remain of a contrary alignment for long.

As for your character, Nuetral Good is diametrically opposed to Nuetral Evil. Therefore, I would argue that Lawful Good is actually closer to Shar's tenants than NG, if only because LG doesn't make much since in terms of a NE philosophy, were as NG is more clearly its opposite. Despite the fact that Shar would love to attract LG followers, I don't think that many people who were LG would be attracted to the worship of Shar. What about the philosophy of Shar attracts the character? Why is the character tempted to 'fall'? I certainly think that if a LG person were to worship Shar sincerely, that there alignment would immediately convert - probably either to LE or N if not NE directly.

As to the alignments of the followers of a diety, for the most part any dieties worshipers are probably Nuetral, and there are probably factions of followers up to two alignments removed from a given diety. However, most worshipers will probably be somewhat casual in thier worship, and their devotion is of the sort motivated by what they percieve that they can get in return for the worship as opposed to love or high regard for the principles of the diety. The pious, sincere, core believers are probably the same alignment as the clerics. So Shar probably attracts largely N, NE, LE and CE followers, with a smattering of LN and CN's.

 

[Ascending Crane]

My mistake!!!!

But is Neutral good enough for Shar...?

The character is NEUTRAL. I meant... is that ok enough for Shar?

Gah.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

The character is NEUTRAL. I meant... is that ok enough for Shar?

haha- what a misread that was.

Celebrim already answered that, but yeah, anything within one tier of a diety's alignment should be goo .. err acceptable in most cases.

SD

 

[Celebrim]

Ha. Yeah, I misread that too. I read (as you probably surmise). Is /nuetral good/ enough for Shar?

Yeah, nuetral is fine, both from the deities prespective and the character's, provided that the character's worship of Shar is predominately self interested, thoughtless, or in intellectual rebellion to the characters perception that 'good' religions are endangering society in some fashion.

 

[Moe Ronalds]

Why exactly did the character decide to convert the shar? It sounds to me like a spell caster that's deciding to try and meet the requirements for the Shadow magic feat. If that's the case I'd have a talk to the player about this then, deities, like alignments, are not hats that the character can put on and take off as they choose so that they can have a nifty magic item/feat/spell/whatever.

 

[Ascending Crane]

Why exactly did the character decide to convert the shar? It sounds to me like a spell caster that's deciding to try and meet the requirements for the Shadow magic feat. If that's the case I'd have a talk to the player about this then, deities, like alignments, are not hats that the character can put on and take off as they choose so that they can have a nifty magic item/feat/spell/whatever.

Nope. The character is a psion. That doesn't preclude her from taking the subpsionic classes (that come from the ShadowWeave). However, she doesn't really want to - she embraced Shar for roleplaying reasons. It was only *after* she did this that I revealed to her she gained some experience for it - a sort of dark boost of power.

We also have had good communication between us about what this all means - her alignment, her worship of Shar, etc. I'm not at all worried about her deciding to worship Shar for munchkin reasons.

 

[Arnwyn]

The 2e FR book "Faiths & Avatars" (which beats the living crap out of the 3e Faiths & Pantheons) gives appropriate alignments for non-clerics (ie. lay worshippers) of each faith.

Unfortunately, I'm at the office so IDHTBIFOM, but anyone who runs an FR campaign should have this book anyways... Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[Tonguez]

IMC the NG Gnomes make regular offerings to the NE Fiendish Giant Dire Eel (who is also a Druid/Scorcerer) who lives in the Sacred Pool from which they get water. In return the Eel agrees to leave them alone (ie not eat them), defends his territory (in which the gnomes live) from outside forces (especially outside outsiders and is able to use its spelllike powers to bring good weather for the gnomes as required. The Eel-god actually likes the attention it gets from the gnomes and has gained a fondnes for them (and the occasional goblin sacrifice they offer)

Thats the thing about a world in which the gods dwell and have regular contact with their followers the relationship between them starts to move beyond mere alignment (of God-Worshipper) to becoming more of a relationship of Divine 'Patronage' and mutual-support (mixed with a healthy dose of Dread of course).