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<blockquote data-quote="Kurotowa" data-source="post: 9167233" data-attributes="member: 27957">Faith strong enough to touch the divine isn't easy to cultivate. It's not just saying the words or the power of positive thinking, you have to really believe and let that belief shape your thoughts and actions. If it was easy then every priest would be a Cleric, and that's simply not the case.Doing that without a god to focus your belief around is harder. There's no scripture or precepts, no clear image to be your mnemonic. It's easier to put your faith in a person than an abstract, and gods are those people. It takes a singular obsession to cultivate a divine spark around an abstract ideal.Becoming a Cleric purely on faith in yourself is taking that obsession and raising it to the level of extreme narcissism. Who among us isn't aware of our own faults and haunted by our past mistakes? A person with an iron clad belief in their own divine inner nature, to the point of being able to conjure divine magic from it, is either an especially enlightened sage or the most obnoxiously self-absorbed a-hole you've ever met.I don't know if I could play the sort of character that would plausibly qualify as a Cleric of self-belief. I don't know if I'd want to play with that sort of character, even if another player could pull it off. The option exists for those terminally allergic to pretend worshiping a god, yet who still want to play a Cleric. That doesn't mean it exists as an easy path to power for every character in the setting.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kurotowa, post: 9167233, member: 27957"] Faith strong enough to touch the divine isn't easy to cultivate. It's not just saying the words or the power of positive thinking, you have to really [I]believe[/I] and let that belief shape your thoughts and actions. If it was easy then every priest would be a Cleric, and that's simply not the case. Doing that without a god to focus your belief around is harder. There's no scripture or precepts, no clear image to be your mnemonic. It's easier to put your faith in a person than an abstract, and gods are those people. It takes a singular obsession to cultivate a divine spark around an abstract ideal. Becoming a Cleric purely on faith in yourself is taking that obsession and raising it to the level of extreme narcissism. Who among us isn't aware of our own faults and haunted by our past mistakes? A person with an iron clad belief in their own divine inner nature, to the point of being able to conjure divine magic from it, is either an especially enlightened sage or the most obnoxiously self-absorbed a-hole you've ever met. I don't know if I could play the sort of character that would plausibly qualify as a Cleric of self-belief. I don't know if I'd want to play [I]with[/I] that sort of character, even if another player could pull it off. The option exists for those terminally allergic to pretend worshiping a god, yet who still want to play a Cleric. That doesn't mean it exists as an easy path to power for every character in the setting. [/QUOTE]

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