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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cheiromancer" data-source="post: 2849046" data-attributes="member: 141">I think you'd have to work out a premise for why an experts-only Church would condemn clerics.  Maybe because those clerics draw power from the demon lord Baphomet (to follow the Templar example).  Then you have to arrange things so that this is a plausible position; add a minor shape change ability to demons in your campaign (or at least ones in service to Baphomet) so they can appear as angels of light.  And/or have areas where "good" spellcasters hang out routinely become the centers of violent revolutions and horrific atrocities.  "Detect evil" will be unreliable with respect to these casters, of course (since the spell is granted by evil powers, it will only show up some kinds of evil, not other kinds.  And some good things might come out evil.).Now tidy things up so that players can't tell if clerics do draw their power from subtle evil powers or not.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  It doesn't help a character that draws his power from Good if no one can tell that he isn't drawing his powers from evil. Another possibility would be to say that all magic is subject to a Sepulchrave-style Injunction.  The Injunction basically states a spellcaster is forbidden to be involved in wars and politics and such.  If clerics were also bound by the injunction (and maybe by civil laws requiring them to be hermits or monks bound to their monasteries) then you could have a campaign where clerical magic is secretive and subversive, where there is not a cleric in every village.The injunction would be enforced by other spellcasters, by specialized witch hunters, and/or by powerful extraplanar beings.  (see Sepulchrave's Story Hour for more details).You could mix and match possibilities.  Some areas might regard all magic as due to the Evil One.  Other areas (more enlightened) might have an Injunction.  A Lich King might rule a remote area and be a cautionary tale of what happens when you allow magic users free rein.  And so on.</blockquote>

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