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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vespucci" data-source="post: 5577121" data-attributes="member: 6675688">A priest isn't defined by his spells.  His spells - or other class features - are defined by his faith. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I'm not telling you that Paladins have to be driven by alignment in your game. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  All I'm saying is that this is their design history, the origin of their particular power set.If this is a genre debate: those who find dark energies as sweet as mother's milk should be able to use them for sustenance. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  Don't get hung up on grand unified theories.  Class design needs a strong concept and an eye for balance.I should also stress that it isn't necessary for an evil faith to wield negative energy.  It might be the sort of thing that only evil faiths do - but is it appropriate to all of them?  A Lawful Evil faith might regard undeath as a violation of the natural order, and be no less resolute in combating it than a god of paladins.  At the same time, the clerics of this faith exhibit the same healing touch as good clerics, allowing them to win the hearts of the common people.  I can also see a very eccentric Good deity charging his Clerics to tend to the undead and work to redeem them.  Wielding negative, rather than positive, energy would be more appropriate for such a faith.It's too general in that deity choice doesn't matter much.  It's too specific in that alignment choice matters a lot.  I strongly recommend a basic template that doesn't rely on alignment to color its class features.Designing faiths is a lot of work.  I recommend getting your players to do the heavy lifting.  Just draw up a short list of god names.  Tell them what magic and divine magic is like.  If someone wants to play a god-bothering character, ask them what kind of deity their character would worship.  Then say something like, "That sounds a lot like what I had in mind for Yavdlom!"  You can usually get away with a very thin initial concept, only designing what one temple (if that) is like, and give the player license to explain the tenets of the faith.  It this starts getting too goofy or weird, you can always have higher authorities brand the character a heretic.  This general approach has twin merits: firstly, it saves you time, and secondly, players tend to love refs for giving them "creative license".I have yet to con a player into taking "creative license" with my housework.  But I'm working on it... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />It's from <a href="http://www.badaxegames.com/" target="_blank">Bad Axe games</a>.I think it indicates something about actual play.  3e couldn't wipe out the traditions of D&D and replace them with a new vision, so hobbyists don't always accept the word of WotC as gospel.  Indeed, those who were prepared to just trudge behind the latest official rules of the game have gone to 4e or Pathfinder.  (I know, a lot of other people went for other reasons, that's not a flame of each and every 4e/Pathfinder player! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!    :eek:"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":eek:" />)</blockquote>

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