Do you make your good gods worth worshipping?

[Ukyo the undead]

Evil clerics have their lack of moral restraints working in their favors, and these same moral restraints are against the good clerics.

Do the Good deities in your campaign actively fight evil? Do you allow divine interventions when the situation is bleak? Or the only force that keeps the good churches standing( beside spells) is the high moral standard? In your world the Good fight Evil directly or the only real advantage in worshipping the Good is a happy afterlife?

My apologies for gramatical errors.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Yes, I have built a 'after-life' myth into my game, players know they have to cross the grey waste for happiness. The gods also will be kind to good worshippers than bad, this can come into play during healing and combat vs evil.

 

[Storm Raven]

Evil clerics have their lack of moral restraints working in their favors, and these same moral restraints are against the good clerics.

Do the Good deities in your campaign actively fight evil? Do you allow divine interventions when the situation is bleak? Or the only force that keeps the good churches standing( beside spells) is the high moral standard? In your world the Good fight Evil directly or the only real advantage in worshipping the Good is a happy afterlife?

Social acceptability and political power. Clerics of evil religions are only high-profile in evil lands, where their lack of moral restraint is a major detriment for PC parties. Good clerics are members of respected churches that have social acceptability (and are generally liked by the general populace), and often have political influence in civilized lands.

 

[TheGemini]

Yes, I have built a 'after-life' myth into my game, players know they have to cross the grey waste for happiness. The gods also will be kind to good worshippers than bad, this can come into play during healing and combat vs evil.

I haven't put enough time in the afterlife aspects of the belief systems. This thread inspires me to be less slackeriffic.

 

[JimAde]

The gods in my campaign, wheter good or evil, work exclusively through intermediaries (i.e. clerics and a homebrew class called "Chosen" similar to the favored soul). So the advantages to both sides are similar. Spells and supernatural abilities, plus the gods grant power through rituals that can be led by non-spellcasters with the right skills (for things like blessing the crops and so on).

The deities are pretty "hands-off" though. No divine intervention.

 

[Mercule]

The majority of clerics, IMC, worship "Neutral" deities. Even when the deity is generally benevolent, they aren't usually "Good". The truly Good deities have such esoteric and philosophic goals that they are not usually fully comprehended by most people, let alone forming a large following.

Most Good deities, along with most Evil ones, go through the motions of doing something else, in the hopes of gathering followers to themselves and drawing those followers deeper into the real goals of the church. For example, one of the Good gods IMC is also the god of Death. More properly, he's the guardian of the dead and ensures that people receive peace in the afterlife. People come to his priests for comfort and often stay with his church.

Evil deities tend to have underground cults that act more according to the god's true will. Good deities often have monasteries that do similar things.

 

[Galethorn]

I generally go with realism to make good at least as good an option as evil...

If you're involved in a truly, inherently [Evil] organization, you are going to get backstabbed, figuratively or literally if you ever get any real power. You don't just have your enemies to worry about; your 'friends' are going to kill/discredit/imprison/exile you if they start to fear you (and what you could do to them). This is just as common in lawful evil sorts of organizations as in chaotic evil ones...it's just that the Lawful Evil guy is going to have you branded as a heretic/traitor/whatever, and have the High Council vote for your execution, whereas the Chaotic Evil guy is just going to stab you in your sleep.


Inherently [Good] organizations tend to be less...backstabby. People usually will support you (especially if you're obviously helping the cause), and will take risks to protect you. As you gain power, you don't have to worry about your fellow Neutral Good guy deciding to backstab you...unless you deserve it, of course, or he's not Neutral Good.


This, overall, is what I think a lot of people fail to play up in the whole good-vs-evil dynamic...the fact that good people usually help each other for the greater goal, whereas evil people will usually kill, maim, cheat, and rob their 'allies' if they can get away with it, especially if they're afraid of said 'ally' doing the same.

 

[Hand of Evil]

An idea, that I have never fleshed out has been Worship Points

To promote belief system; players will be reward Worship Points (WP) for recognizing their gods. These points represent the standing of the player in their gods eyes and can generate benefits for the player.

Cleric – 10 WP
Worshipper – 1 WP
Praying – 1 WP
Praying at Shrine – 5 WP
Praying at Church – 6 WP
Praying at Temple – 6 WP
Offering – 1 WP for GP value
Task for god – 150 WP

Effect of WP
1000-3000: +1d for every 1000 WP extra healing
3000-6000: +2 Protection from foes of god (alignment)
6000-10000: +5 Protection from foes of god (alignment)

 

[Desdichado]

There are no good gods in my campaign. I don't use alignment, but if I did, the "public face" of the gods would be neutral at best.

Of course, in actuality, all of the "gods" in my campaign are demon lords, and are thoroughly evil, but that's something else entirely...

 

[S'mon]

IMC the good guys win (most of the time) because they stick together, co-operate and trust each other, whereas evil forces routinely backstab each other for short-term advantage. The good guys are usually pragmatic enough to work with one evil force against another for the greater good, at least until the greater evil is defeated. Plus in 3e good clerics get spontaneous healing, a big advantage.

Good deities will intervene against Evil (I know Thrin is always pestering me on ways he can intervene) but no more than evil ones; sending devas & planetars etc instead of demons & devils.