Designing Divine power rules for a new system; ideas?

[System Ufera]

So basically you have an NPC who does things for the PC. The PC's job is to please the NPC. The player's job is to balance their own goals with the goals of the NPC - the player's choices are about doing what the NPC wants vs. what the PC wants, finding a nice balance between the two.

I think that's an interesting model. It seems like the obvious course of play for the player is to pick an NPC with goals similar to their own. That is, the player figures out what they want to do while playing the game, select an NPC who wants similar things, and make a PC who also wants those things. Which would mean you're playing an extension of the NPC.

Yeah, pretty much.

To make things interesting, I think you'd want a random table (or tables) - a weighted table that will provide expected results most of the time, but odd and interesting ones every now and then - that throws a wrench into the NPC - PC relationship. Something like - at the end of the day, after you've spent your "Divine Favour" points, you tally them up and make a roll on the table to see where your relationship is at now. The table would be weighted, like a bell curve, so you'd roll 3d6 or something like that; but maybe you have a special die that skews the results now and then, or if you get doubles/triples something happens - to make sure there's always a chance for a rare but interesting result.

You could also roll on the table after each favour is called for - though I think another table would be neat.

I was thinking that dice rolling and consulting tables would be a good idea - basically, the PC would pray for help, spending favor points as needed, and the favor granted would be based on the results of the roll. Having weighted tables or "skewing dice" wasn't something I had considered before. Thanks!

Which makes me think that you want insane, "metal", gonzo patrons who do things that make little sense to us mortals. "Why do I have to turn east if given a choice?" "Because I am the Lord of the East Wind and you will obey me." Then you can create consequences that ramp up adventure and make sense in a game-play way instead of anything realistic.

Eh, not so much. Certainly the patrons would have their own agendas and thematic rules, but I don't think they'd have many followers if they gave that much of an arbitrary burden to their followers.

Is the service pledged to a deity exclusive, or is it possible to get favors from many gods at the same time? IMO it would be fun if it was possible - as long as the character can satisfy the requirements, they can benefit from many gods' powers. After all, shouldn't a sea-travelling merchant seek favors from both Sea Goddess and God of Money?

While I hadn't considered it before (thanks for pointing this out to me!), I would think that anyone in relatively good standing with a patron could expect to get favors once in a while (regardless of whether or not they're followers), though the favors would have to be channeled through someone who actually is a follower of a given patron (given that the favors are given to the follower through a special connection between follower and patron, as I said in the first post). So, going with your example, a merchant sailor would probably enlist the services of priests of the two patrons you mentioned, rather than praying directly.

As for the mechanical implementation, I'd aim for something simple. Stay away from long lists of divine "spells". Maybe just specify, for each god:
- Minor offering: a simple service that grants 1 faith point, at most once a day
- Major offering: a service that requires significant investment, effort and/or risk, giving 3 faith points
- Great offering: a service that involves deadly risk, extreme effort or a big personal sacrifice, giving 10 faith points
- Taboo: if violated, half of faith points are lost
- Great taboo: if violated, all faith points are lost and ritual expiation to be able to gain them again
- Minor gift: costs 1fp, or is free when you have 10 or more fp
- Major gift: available for 3fp when you have at least 10fp, or for free if you have 50+
- Great gift: available for 10fp when you have 50+ fp

...

While this is a good idea on its own, I would rather go with the dice-and-table method to represent that the whims and such of the patrons might manifest in ways the player didn't expect. Nevertheless, categorizing these things by magnitude is also a good idea.

 

[Stormonu]

Logic tells me that these favors should be something above and beyond what a normal devotee to the deity is expected to do. Otherwise, it seems reasonable that anyone worshiping a god could count on having favor points for their devotion.

 

[System Ufera]

Logic tells me that these favors should be something above and beyond what a normal devotee to the deity is expected to do. Otherwise, it seems reasonable that anyone worshiping a god could count on having favor points for their devotion.

While I agree with what you're saying and plan to take this into consideration, keep in mind that actually being able to "cash in" the favor points for divine intervention is restricted to those who have been ritually connected to the patron in question.

I suppose I should have also mentioned in the beginning post that the deities that are actually worshiped by people in this game's setting are far from the ultra-powerful deities in real-world religions. Power-wise, the known deities are like slightly less powerful versions of the gods of the Ancient Greek pantheon; for example, they're not even close to being omniscient, and they still have to play by the rules of the universe. Basically, they're more or less extremely powerful beings who then became the subjects of worship.

In fact, the lack of omniscience is the biggest reason for why the patrons have to be ritually connected to their followers; they need the connection, first of all, to be immediately aware of their followers' prayers, and second of all, to be able to keep an eye on the followers and anything the follower observes, useful for both detecting disloyalty among followers and using the followers as real-time informants. Of course, the connection also makes it much easier to send their power to the follower; it's technically not necessary for that purpose, in the same way that motor vehicles are technically not necessary for traveling long distances (traveling by foot is possible, but it is also extremely undesirable).