Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 3523682" data-attributes="member: 5948">Head Cultist of Graz'zt: *death rattle, collapses to floor*Paladin: So perish all servants of the dark powers!Rogue: Hey, he's carrying all these scrolls.&nbsp; Are they magic?&nbsp; What do they do?Wizard: *detect magic*&nbsp; Aye.&nbsp; This one is an vile invocation to the Six-Fingered Lord to send forth his servants to assist the caster.&nbsp; This one calls forth a searing blast of hellfire from the hideous depths of the Abyss.&nbsp; And this one allows the user to connect with the unspeakably loathsome mind of the Dark Prince himself.Cleric: Goody!&nbsp; Summon Monster IV, Flame Strike, and Commune!&nbsp; Gimme!Paladin: Um...Yeah, you get the idea.&nbsp; There are very, very good OOC reasons for having divine spells universal, but how do you explain it in terms of a character's point of view?&nbsp; If (and it's admittedly a big 'if') you see spells as analogous to guaranteed-to-be-answered prayers, then a divine scroll is basically a prayer on paper.&nbsp; Wouldn't Brother Shinypants, Beloved of Pelor be a bit leery about casting something off a scroll scribed by a worshipper of some evil god or archdevil?&nbsp; For that matter, why would the evil god grant Brother Shinypants the spell anyway?I suppose the classic explanation would be to say that once the spell has been scribed, it's effectively already been granted and cast (into the scroll) by the scriber, and the caster is just releasing it.&nbsp; But I find that rather unsatisfying.&nbsp; It removes the element of faith from divine magic if scrolls and the like are so mechanical and non-deity-related, IMHO.&nbsp; And in this case, if a divine scroll is just a generic, unaligned piece of magic bound to paper and waiting to be released, why can't a wizard use it?Not particularly asking for complicated house rules and the like, but has anyone addressed this issue in-character?&nbsp; Or is this just one of D&amp;D's elephants in the room, that don't really bear overly close scrutiny?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="humble minion, post: 3523682, member: 5948"] Head Cultist of Graz'zt: *death rattle, collapses to floor* Paladin: So perish all servants of the dark powers! Rogue: Hey, he's carrying all these scrolls. Are they magic? What do they do? Wizard: *detect magic* Aye. This one is an vile invocation to the Six-Fingered Lord to send forth his servants to assist the caster. This one calls forth a searing blast of hellfire from the hideous depths of the Abyss. And this one allows the user to connect with the unspeakably loathsome mind of the Dark Prince himself. Cleric: Goody! Summon Monster IV, Flame Strike, and Commune! Gimme! Paladin: Um... Yeah, you get the idea. There are very, very good OOC reasons for having divine spells universal, but how do you explain it in terms of a character's point of view? If (and it's admittedly a big 'if') you see spells as analogous to guaranteed-to-be-answered prayers, then a divine scroll is basically a prayer on paper. Wouldn't Brother Shinypants, Beloved of Pelor be a bit leery about casting something off a scroll scribed by a worshipper of some evil god or archdevil? For that matter, why would the evil god grant Brother Shinypants the spell anyway? I suppose the classic explanation would be to say that once the spell has been scribed, it's effectively already been granted and cast (into the scroll) by the scriber, and the caster is just releasing it. But I find that rather unsatisfying. It removes the element of faith from divine magic if scrolls and the like are so mechanical and non-deity-related, IMHO. And in this case, if a divine scroll is just a generic, unaligned piece of magic bound to paper and waiting to be released, why can't a wizard use it? Not particularly asking for complicated house rules and the like, but has anyone addressed this issue in-character? Or is this just one of D&D's elephants in the room, that don't really bear overly close scrutiny? [/QUOTE]

Verification