Clerics, races, and domains

[Pickaxe]

I'm running a human rogue/cleric of Ehlonna with the Plant and Good domains. My DM and I both thought this was fine, but then he ran across a rule that said that clerics of a deity who's typical worshippers include a specific race must be of that race. We'd assumed that Ehlonna was a woodland goddess with some affinities for certain races, but, by this rule, it could be interpreted that Ehlonna's clerics must be elves, halflings, or gnomes, and therefore not humans. In the end, we decided to let things stand as they were, but it made us wonder whether we were interpreting this rule correctly. There could be two interpretations:

1) Because certain races are listed as typical worshippers, clerics of Ehlonna must be of one of these races.
2) Because more than one race is listed (and therefore strictly speaking not "a race"), this rule does not apply to Ehlonna.

Furthermore, other rules suggest that this restriction is essentially meaningless. A cleric can elect not to choose a deity and select two domains to reflect his/her interests. So, even if we assume the first interpretation, my character could select Plant and Good as domains, and be a worshipper of Ehlonna (though technically not a cleric of Ehlonna). I suppose this might be more of an issue if favored weapons have significance.

So, I have two questions:

1) Do deities like Ehlonna place restrictions on what races can serve as clerics?
2) Is there any reason for a cleric to select a deity rather than simply choose any two desireable domains?

--Axe

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

There's a rule that deities who are members of a particular racial pantheon - like, say, the Elven pantheon - may only have elven clerics. It may be FR only, however.

For what it's worth, the rule you mention is not in the SRD.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I think that rule was worderd poorly, making it technically apply to Ehlonna, when I don't think it really should. I think the purpose of the rule was to make sure a dwarf didn't worship the god of the elves. Ehlonna isn't the god of elves, gnomes, half-elves, and halflings. She is the god of woodlands, so somebody decided to put the typical woodland races under her list of followers.

The fact that her descriptive blurb says that she is sometimes depicted as sometimes as a human makes it okay for humans to worship her.

As far as selecting a deity over two domains, it's purely a flavor thing. If being "in character" means a lot to you, it could be more interesting to chose a deity. If you just want loot some dungeons, what you fill in above the deity line on the character sheet is probably not a big deal.

 

[dcollins]

Well, here's a blurb from the 3rd Edition Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (p. 169), which has more extensive writeups for the Greyhawk gods & their followers:

Most of Ehlonna's clergy are female, whether human, elven, or fey...

 

[thol]

1) Do deities like Ehlonna place restrictions on what races can serve as clerics?
2) Is there any reason for a cleric to select a deity rather than simply choose any two desireable domains?

1. I'm sure some deities would, but I know of no rule which says this. Where did you see this rule?

2. When I run a game, a cleric with no deity is a cleric with no spells.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

2. When I run a game, a cleric with no deity is a cleric with no spells.

Just to be clear, that is a house rule - except in the Forgotten Realms.

 

[dcollins]

2) Is there any reason for a cleric to select a deity rather than simply choose any two desireable domains?

Personally, I follow the line in the PHB that says:

Choose a deity for your cleric.

The bit about choosing domains for a cleric without a deity comes later. I've always assumed this is a variant, requiring a DM House Rule to actually become an option, because it contradicts the previous line above.

Assuming the DM actually allows arbitrary godless clerics, then I'd say "no", in that case there is in fact no reason.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

No reason to choose a deity other than flavor reasons.

Friend of mine wanted to play a Kordite PC with Strength and Destruction domains ... so he chose those two domains and said he was from "The Reformed Church of Kord".

Huzzah.

--fje

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Choose a deity for your cleric.

If you keep reading that same paragraph you'll find that it also says:

You may also choose for your cleric to have no deity.

 

[dcollins]

I'm afraid I'm looking at the 3.0 PHB, where that line does not exist.