Destroying a holy symbol - sacrifice or sacralige ?

[Lord Random]

Hi all,
My topic question is as follows. After a brutal fight (2 pcs vs a nasty Duergar construct), one of the pcs was killed outright. The other pc (a barbarian Warrior priest of Tempus) was less than happy at the death of his friend. At this point, he took off his holy symbol (which was magical and had a power or two) and smashed it to pieces with his rather massive war axe.
He then came out with a brief speach to Tempus. Now, I'm not word perfect when it comes to recalling what was said, but in my opinion, it was ambigious. It could have been interpreted as forsaking Tempus, or as an offering to appease him.
As it was the holy symbol of tempus that was shattered, I believe Tempus would take that as a "negative" regardless of the intent.
Any opinions would be appreciated as I dont like to be a DM who just makes arbitary judgements.
Thanx...

 

[Elephant]

Ask the player what his intent was. If it seems reasonable, run with it!

 

[Sejs]

Tempus is all about standing up for yourself and kicking arse in a straight-up fight. Excellence and honor gained thru honest combat. He's a very straight forward god who doesn't care for pussyfooting around, and back-handed double dealing. He's got no time for people who want to win a conflict but arn't willing to risk themselves, or those who would rather threaten non-combatants rather than take on an enemy force themselves.


That being said, I don't think Tempus would take the destruction of the holy symbol poorly at all. I think his reaction would be to smirk under his divine helmet, chuckle a bit and say "Good! Get mad all you like. Use that. Let the fact that you wern't strong enough to save him fuel you and drive you to become stronger. Your friend died. He knew what he was getting into. Don't mourn him, celebrate him! Let his death serve to teach you to carve yourself into something people will celebrate when you've died!"

I don't think Tempus would give the holy symbol itself a second thought. As far as the he's concerned, the decision to smash the holy symbol was good in that it gave weight to how the priest was feeling at the time. Or course the priest now has to deal with the fact that he no longer has the symbol to use as a tool, but hey - he made his bed, now he has to sleep in it. Dealing with the consequences of your actions is good! Teaches you personal responsibility. If Tempus got all divine wrathy on the priest, it wouldn't teach him to be responsible, it would just teach him to keep his head down and toe the line... which isnt' what Tempus wants in the first place, anyway.

 

[Richards]

It conflicts with my original, instinctual gut reaction, but I really like Sejs' take on the matter.

Johnathan

 

[drunkmoogle]

Sejs: You're a parent, aren't you?

 

[jmucchiello]

It depends entirely on whether or not the deity cares about his religous following or not. In the end, the deity's holy symbol is a device to channel his divinity through, nothing more. Only deities with appropriate agendas would care about the symbol beyond its normal function.

Obviously a deity of propriety, diplomacy and etiquette would not take the destruction of any holy symbol well. But deities of destruction and mayhem might become unnerved if you haven't smashed their holy symbol in mindless rage in the last few weeks.

 

[Umbran]

That being said, I don't think Tempus would take the destruction of the holy symbol poorly at all. I think his reaction would be to smirk under his divine helmet, chuckle a bit and say "Good! Get mad all you like. Use that. Let the fact that you wern't strong enough to save him fuel you and drive you to become stronger. Your friend died. He knew what he was getting into. Don't mourn him, celebrate him! Let his death serve to teach you to carve yourself into something people will celebrate when you've died!"

And if you want to use this to continue the plot:

"Now, if you wanna show me that you really want him back, go take on something even nastier and win - the folks who made the construct would be good - and maybe I'll be impressed enough to give him back to you."

 

[VirgilCaine]

And if you want to use this to continue the plot:

"Now, if you wanna show me that you really want him back, go take on something even nastier and win - the folks who made the construct would be good - and maybe I'll be impressed enough to give him back to you."

Hmm, I'll have to remember that one--"giving back" as resurrection...