Dark Sun and the Religion skill

[SageMinerve]

Before the book came out, I thought the designers would have found another use for the Religion skill; I myself thought that it could be applied to knowledge of the Sorcerer-kings and the templars.

Now that I've read the book, I notice that (unless I'm mistaken) the only mention of the Religion skill is in the Rituals section (p. 116) where they tell you that religion-based rituals don't exist in DS.

What have you, as a DM, decided to do ? Apply the Religion skill to another field ? Remove it entirely ?

 

[Obryn]

I'm going to tell my players that everyone will point and laugh if they take it.

-O

 

[Camelot]

Huh, I hadn't even thought of that. Religion becomes useless...maybe it could be knowledge of forgotten lore, i.e., not just long dead gods but truths behind legends and such? I don't know; I just use the Dark Sun crunch in my homebrew world.

I'm going to tell my players that everyone will point and laugh if they take it.

-O

This. XD

 

[Dice4Hire]

Undead exist on Athas.





There are also some devils out there.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I'm going to tell my players that everyone will point and laugh if they take it.

-O

While undead are ripping their faces off?

 

[Camelot]

Undead exist on Athas.

There are also some devils out there.

Also a good point! I rarely use undead or immortals, so I forgot Religion was also a monster knowledge skill.

 

[Obryn]

While undead are ripping their faces off?

Especially then!

"You fool! You could have taken a skill which would have helped you escape from their deadly, face-ripping grip!"

-O

 

[Tony Vargas]

So, there's no longer an elemental-worship religion in Athas? I guess that would be 'primal spirits' rather than elemental now... y'know, Druids and such.

 

[jhilahd]

I think that the existence of undead in Athas only amplifies the fact that the Gods are silent to the mortal realm.
The dead have no where to go.

So while religion skill might be used for the Dragon Kings, or Primoridals; I don't see why it can't be tied into old religions. Knowledge of rituals/sects/cults and such that either exist or existed. Templars would be a group I could see having learned this skill while in service to their King. They would have learned how to spot cults, or false gods and the like. Imagine a character who was a former templar armed with this kind of info.
"You know, when I served the Shadow King, we learned of an ancient temple buried less than a day south of the city. This was a temple to a dead god of the ocean. What's an ocean? Not entirely sure in this context, but I believe it has to do with large areas of water.
What? Don't look at me like that. If it's true imagine the rituals we could find! Or artifacts that could allow us to control water... or better yet create water!"

And the like...



But having said that, if you don't want your players to have it in your game, you need to specify it ahead of time. Tell them that isn't a point of interest in the story you are wanting to tell.

But if you "say yes" to your players alot(like I do) don't shy away from this. Work with them on how they see it working in a world that has not major religions except for the exaltation of mortal(immortal) sorcerer kings.

 

[DracoSuave]

Without having the 4e campaign at hand, I can remark that Religion would have been a -very- useful skill in the 2e campaign.

Never mind the sorcerer kings and the religious hierarchies that are necessary to deal with simply for every day life in any city, you also have the elemental clergies, druids of the land, and all manner of elemental phenomena that are religious in nature.

Above that, the undead were different in the Athas of old... you had skeletons, zombies... and then the rest were unique intellegent undead, where each one had their own stories and motivations. A knowledge check pertaining to undead might not just tell you 'That's a banshee!' but would tell you 'That is Krolmad the Thrice-Burned. A dwarven navigator, he made it his focus to lead his nomad tribe to oasis. Niben-nay, however, was displeased with him and his followers... many ex-slaves, and so tasked his minions with the utter destuction of every oasis with fire and ash. His people dying of thirst, his focus broken, he is now cursed to wander the Dry Flats for eternity, slaying all travellers for their waterskins so he can give futile succor to his small retinue of skeletal dwarves.'