Importance of Religion in the Campain

[Dog Moon]

In my group, religion doesn't play much of a part of anything. Yes, the name of their deity is, most of the time, written on the player's character sheet, but the deity or the deity's religion rarely ever comes into play, only when deciding which God the Cleric prays to for his/her spells. Occasionally, we'll come across a group of enemies and one of them might have a holy symbol [though only because the person's a cleric], but all that does is alert us to the presence of a Cleric. Someone will make a Knowledge (Religion) check and we'll find out that Cleric worships Bane. We kill the Cleric and that's pretty much the end of that. Having the Cleric's religion known changes nothing for us.

I was wondering two things:

1. How important is Religion in your campaign [does it play a more important role than what i described above]?

2. Can you recommend anything to make Religion more important?

I've though of several ideas to make Religion more important:
Healing and Resurrection is limited when trying to heal those of opposing faiths, only partially limited to those of neutral faiths, normal effect to those of allied faiths and a slight bonus to those of their own faith.

Rituals: Every religion has a ritual, some important holiday and if a worshippers goes to the ritual and performs it, then they get a small bonus related to that deity. For example, worshippers of Tempus may have a day every year where they have a tournament for this of their faith. Any who participate gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls until the next tournament.

Occasional adventures focusing around a Religion.

Healing/Equipment purchases from the temple of your faith is a little cheaper.

 

[diaglo]

the gods are real in D&D.

so religion plays a real role.

churches. rituals. theocracies. holy wars. divine magic.

all of it hinges on religion. and how faithful you are...

tithes.

 

[Hjorimir]

The church is very, very powerful in my campaign...and it should be. Take a look at how powerful the church was in England or France (as just one of many examples). Imagine how much MORE influence it would have had if they could remove disease or raise dead.

I don't know how most DMs run clerics and religions, but resurrection is the quintessential miracle that others are measured by. The church would never even consider raising somebody who was not in good standing and at least a part of the laity.

“Um, senior priest guy, our rogue got ground up in a crushing room trap while we were trying to rob..err I mean explore this ancient tomb…yeah the one you told us to stay away from. Anyway, here are some antiquated gold bars we just happened to find. Can you bring him back to life? Please?”

“I shall pray for his soul…and yours. Other than that, we can be of no use to you in this matter. By the way, we did not see you at mass this past Sunday, Cormac.”

Trust me, with that attitude the player characters start to find faith awfully fast. Keep in mind there should be no question on the validity of gods in D&D as clerical spells are a certainty. Anybody who denies they exist is clearly insane.

 

[Wombat]

In our campaign religion is very important. We have three major faiths, multiple breakdowns within these, and it is an important campaign issue just where individual characters fall into this mishmosh.

Religion is not merely something that happens once a week (or less), as in most campaigns, but is significant in day-to-day activities, from which holidays are celebrated to where one worships to what one does with one's money. Equally there are sumptuary restrictions in each religion (how to dress, what colours are acceptable, regulations on beards and makeup, accpetance or non-acceptance of jewelry and suchlike).

In other words, I try to bring a more Old World feel to religion -- it is not a once-in-a-while thing but an all-the-time thing.

 

[WayneLigon]

In the Greenwood campaign, religion is very important. The main campaign theme is about two cultures that are extremely different from each other, mainly because of their religion, forced into contact with each other.

Daily rituals by people who follow that religion, not for just the clerics. Some oath to swear by, icons, some saying or action that brands that person of a particular faith.

 

[punkorange]

Have you read the Cleric Quintet by Salvatore, and if so did you like it?

The gods clearly exist, as their divine power is literal. The main character of this series still at sometimes has doubts. If you saw divine power literally it would be different, because bob the mage down the street doesn't exist. If bill the barbarian however saw divine power literally, then he might think it is just another magic trick.

 

[John Morrow]

1. How important is Religion in your campaign [does it play a more important role than what i described above]?

Very. The PCs consist of a Cleric, a Paladin-turned-Liberator of the same faith, a Druid (a different faith), and a sort of agnostic Ranger. The Paladin went through a whole cycle of falling from grace (involving a romance and conflicts of interest) and finding his calling as a Liberator that included visions from the Saint (it's a monotheistic religion) he followed and an investigation of his fall from Paladinhood by his Church hierarchy where he got to see how the various internal factions (each following a different Saint as a guide) see the world a little differenty.

The Druid, on the other hand, had his own falling from grace problem (he decided to mouth off to a demon lord which resulted in his woods getting burned to a crisp by some hell hounds in retribution and the Spirit of the World was not amused by his lack of consideration of the consequences of what he was doing). He's also had visions of Spirit of the World as part of his atonement that consisted of the Spirit of the World in her four forms (old woman = winter, mother = fall, lover = summer, and child = spring). The old woman showed him the fate of the world if an impending interplanar invasion succeeds. The mother lectured him like a child for being foolish. The lover reminded him of what she has to offer. The little girl told him that she needed his protection.

2. Can you recommend anything to make Religion more important?

Give the religions and sects objectives. The Druid in my game has been told by mother nature not to confuse his priorities with the priorities of the other religion in the party. He's been told, for example, that he shouldn't be party to the gratuitous destruction of evil humanoids because, from the Neutral perspective of his faith, they provide a natural barrier to unlimited human expansion into the wilderness and the destruction that it causes.

The Cleric follows the saint of knowledge and, as such, he's more concerned with finding and recording what's going on than the little evils around him. In fact, during the Paladin's inquest, he was stunned when a cleric of the same order scheduled time to talk to him and rather than asking questions about his fall for grace, what she really wanted were the gritty details of their adventures. During the same inquest, a cleric of the saint of love, on the other hand, really just wanted to know if he really loved the woman that had caused his problems. Basically, each sect looks at the world through a different filter.

But visions and minor interventions can really help, even if there isn't a mechanic or spell involved in doing it. If the characters are serving the interest of their religion, then as payment I give them hints from beyond. In the case of the Paladin, the saints mainly just helped illustrate his central dilemma for him so he could make a decision. In the case of the Druid, he's sometimes been told what to do. Think of it like reporting to superiors that sometimes give you hints. They don't have to be common but every now and then will help make their connection to their divine power more real.

But I'd say that the real key to making religion important in your game lies with role-playing and not rule tweaks. Yes, special rules to encourage a religious focus will make religion a bigger part of your game but it won't necessarily make it more important to the characters in an actual religious sense. Religion should influence behavior all the time, not just when there are plusses involved.

Of course it's also possible that your players won't want to deal with it. I think some people with (or without) strong religious beliefs in the real world find fantasy clerics palatable only so long as they don't have to think about the fantasy religion too much. In that case, a mechanical solution (or simply letting things go on the way they are) might be a better option.

 

[Samothdm]

Religion is very important in my campaign, similar to most of the other posters to this thread. I have three dominant monotheistic religions in the campaign, and each think that they have the proper outlook on religion. Worshippers of one religion think that priests of the other two religions are getting their powers via devils/demons/what-have-you, and vice-versa. "Old world" style superstition, folk magic, and shamanism all play into this as well. It gets especially complicated when you take one of the main world religions and then add in regional/cultural/racial biases. That basically creates a whole new splinter group which is not recognized by the main faith. There are tons of those in the campaign.

Each religion has very specific rules about dealing with non-divine magic, and punishments for doing so (ranging from execution on one end of the extreme through to excommunication and then down to a simple slap on the wrist). That makes multi-class divine/arcane casters a rarity, but makes for excellent role-playing material as the character begins to wonder just exactly how he is able to use both types of magic when everything he's been taught by his church would indicate that it's impossible to do so.

That's been a major theme in my campaign since one of my players is playing a character just like this. He actually had a crisis of faith recently and lost his clerical powers for awhile because he was concentrating on his arcane sorcerer powers (taking more sorcerer levels) and it didn't occur to the player (despite constant prompting and hints from me) that doing so would have serious repercussions in his church and on his cleric powers. Now he has to hide his arcane powers from the church leadership, while at the same time he has recently been promoted within a secret society in his church (an Inquisition-type thing) with the express purpose of hunting down and killing all arcane casters. The catch is that his superiors don't know that the player can cast arcane spells, and of course the player doesn't necessarily want to kill all arcane casters he encounters. On the other hand, his superiors expect results.

So, yeah, it's very important in my campaign.

 

[kigmatzomat]

It is both key to my game and but not yet ingrained in the setting. Of course, 4 centuries where magic barely worked and the gods stated they were bound to cease interfering in mortal life does a lot to erode many religions. It's key to the game b/c the players are finding new gods, free of the that divine binding.

Nothing like having religious riots in the capital city to make things interesting.

 

[Psion]

Religion is very important in some of my games, just another character preference (about on the same order as "your favorite rock band" to modern folks) in other games.

My most recent games have touched upon or used aspects of Malhavoc's Requiem for a God. Major events such as these, if handled properly, tend to highlight the role of religion.

Religions can also play a major role if you make them major influential organizations in your games. Even if the PCs are not members of the religions, becoming familiar and/or respectful with certian influential religions may sooner or later be in the PCs' best interest.