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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5958090" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 283: May 2001part 3/7Champions of virtue: A whole wodge of prestige classes devoted to specific deities is our next feature. This of course means if you want to get into them, you'll need to plan right from level one, or at least your first level in cleric. So these will mainly be of use to characters created after checking your options, rather than preexisting ones. 3e can be a pain sometimes. Shining Blades of Heronious sacrifice half their spellcasting progression for enhanced smiting ability and other weapon enhancements, and gaining the celestial template at 10th level. For Paladins, this seems no great loss. For clerics, it doesn't sound like such a great idea. Radiant Champions of Pelor are like Loremasters, a no-brainer choice if you're playing the right kind of character, because they get full spellcasting and turning progressions, plus some extra abilities, making them strictly better than regular clerics with no drawbacks at all, and don't have particularly challenging prerequisites either. If you want to play clerics as stereotypical healbot and undead smiter, it'd be hard to do better. Fleet Runners of Ehlonna seem like they'd be best combined with Ranger, with boosts to their mobility and ranged attacks, and one of those odd progressions that grants extra spells, but not extra spell levels. Mighty Contenders of Kord are all about the strength boosts, but still only get 3/4 BAB, which means they won't be that great as fighters, and even the huge strength bonus at 10th level won't make up for the loss of 8th and 9th level spells. As neither fish nor fowl, they don't seem that appealing. So with two prestige classes you'd have to be dumb to take, and one you'd have to be dumb not to, this definitely isn't one of their better balanced articles. Playing the priestly part: When you want advice about how to properly roleplay your clerics, who ya gonna call? If you guessed the ex pastor, have a cookie. Course, the interesting thing about priests that a lot of people forget is just how social a job it is. Servicing a congregation means you regularly talk to tons of people, and are perfectly positioned to know all the gossip, give a little sensible advice to troubled souls, and generally keep them happy. (or at least functional in line with your god's portfolio) Similarly, even when your god is demonstrably real, that doesn't mean your faith is always perfect and unwavering. You can wonder if you're doing the right thing by following them, if the things they're commanding are actually sensible, how much your life is controlled by their dogma or direct commands, and indeed, if you're interpreting what they're saying right anyway. It can be a life filled with introspection and philosophical thought, and a good deal of self-doubt. Or you could just be a swaggering demagogue convinced of their own righteousness while also enjoying all the luxuries of their position. (cause jesus he knows me, and he knows I'm right. ) So this is the kind of roleplaying advice that's good because it's solidly grounded in real life experience. Sure the spells part may be fantastical, but the rest isn't, and reminds us that a job can work very differently to people's perceptions of it. If you can't walk a mile in someone else's shoes, at least ask them what it feels like. Realistic religion: While Mr Kenson is concerned with creating a coherent pantheon that'll makes for a good game, this article is more about making one that feels like a good story. A realistic mythology doesn't build up the pantheon and then create the stories around them, but the other way round, coming up with the stories, and then inventing new gods as needed. Course, in a fantasy universe, this runs into the problem that if the deities are both real and active in the world, you can't get away with the same kind of mythological inconsistency you can in reality. Plus there's the issue of small sample size. The reason many real world myths have similarities is because we all live on the same planet, and come from common stock less than a million years ago. Many things are far less universal than people think, and would not be the case on another world. I think as usual, they're putting the less good articles at the end of the themed section, as I don't agree with this approach. Kingdoms of Kalamar! An officially licensed D&D setting by kenzerco. At last, we're starting to see RPG adverts in here again.</blockquote>

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