Holy Symbol made of...

[Bloodsparrow]

Okay, so a Cleric's Holy Symbol can be made of metal, wood, or stone right?

What about paper? Or cloth (like a patch on one's cloak or vest)? Or a tattoo? If you're really desperate, and have some carving skill, could you whittle one out of a potato?

Where and how do you draw the line for what is an acceptable focus for a divine spellcaster?

 

[CyberSpyder]

Okay, so a Cleric's Holy Symbol can be made of metal, wood, or stone right?

What about paper? Or cloth (like a patch on one's cloak or vest)? Or a tattoo? If you're really desperate, and have some carving skill, could you whittle one out of a potato?

Where and how do you draw the line for what is an acceptable focus for a divine spellcaster?

Hm...seems like there'd be something of an advantage to having a holy symbol of "more or less spherical shape"

 

[FireLance]

Cinematically, a guy with two pencils can ward off a vampire.

For roleplaying or flavour reasons, you might want to impose some limits. For example, a potato carving might be OK for a god of agriculture, and a cloth patch for a goddess of weaving, but not for a god of stonecarving or blacksmithing.

From the mechanics perspective, I see no harm in allowing a holy symbol to be made of anything, provided it is "worth" at least 1 gp, like a wooden holy symbol. This would allow a person of average intelligence to make a holy symbol from whatever materials are at hand in a day (DC 10 Craft check x take 10 on unmodified Craft check = 100 cp = 1gp).

 

[pawsplay]

If someone were trapped on a desert isle, and had only that focus to use, would they be willing to use it for general religious purposes, and would their god find it a pious representation?

 

[Telperion]

Personally I allow PC's (and NPC's) to use their Deity's favored weapon as a holy symbol. Of course the thing has to be Consecrated / Desecrated every now and then to keep the item "holy".

For example Corean (LG, paladin deity) has a symbol that has four long swords pointing away from an empty center. So a cleric or paladin of Corean would be able to use their weapon as a holy symbol. Aside from that it takes a moment to "re-charge" this Consecrated weapon between adventures, and a suitable "donation" to their church. Note that should the adventure end in an environment where there are no easily accessible clerics of Corean that "re-charging" part might get a bit more difficult.

 

[Telperion]

O' and just to make that rule a bit more "official" I think there actually is note on this in Player's Guide to Clerics and Druids. Although I don't have it at hand right now.

Anyway, as I recall it was optional.

 

[shilsen]

Okay, so a Cleric's Holy Symbol can be made of metal, wood, or stone right?

What about paper? Or cloth (like a patch on one's cloak or vest)? Or a tattoo? If you're really desperate, and have some carving skill, could you whittle one out of a potato?

Where and how do you draw the line for what is an acceptable focus for a divine spellcaster?

I'd allow most materials. At the same time, I wouldn't allow something which just looks like a holy symbol to work, but would require a ritual of some kind to "sanctify it". Off the top of my head, maybe something like the following: The item must be bathed in holy (or unholy water) and a cleric of the appropriate faith must pray over it for an hour.