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<blockquote data-quote="Magus_Jerel" data-source="post: 195304" data-attributes="member: 3940">Possibility 1 -Why not have clerics simply advocate one of the &quot;nine alignments&quot;?&nbsp; A &quot;code of ethics&quot;?Their power comes from being in harmony with this code (as druids are with nature); and deity oriented spells become much more a matter of spiritualism instead of codified religion.&nbsp; This means that you are most likely going to wind up restricting all clerics to either the elemental domains or alignment domains - and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.Sick and twisted possibility 2 -Why not make the deities &quot;mortals who don't die of old age.&quot; - reducing them to little more than You may also consider rendering it absolute FACT that the &quot;deities&quot; who sponsor &quot;religions&quot; are really nothing more than just supremely powerful immortal spellcasters (probably arcane) who have discovered a means of bestowing spells.&nbsp; Essentially - they have some sort of ultra powerful &quot;mass imbue with spell ability&quot; going on; under rules that they set up to further their own cause.There are only two &quot;universal&quot; traits to &quot;deific&quot; entities.1. Such entities do not die of old age - ever.2. Such entities are extremely powerful.Sadistic possibility 3 -If you &quot;combine&quot; options 1 and 2; a cleric's &quot;domain&quot; powers are the only thing REALLY bestowed by the deity; and even then a cleric need only &quot;obey&quot; a religous cause if he wants a domain OTHER than one of the alignment domains or elemental domains.&nbsp; A cleric's ACTUAL power comes from within; with the sole exeption of the non-alignment/non-element domains they posess.&nbsp; Of course, the following become EXTREMELY interesting possibilities.1. Does the character know that his deity isn't really &quot;all that&quot;?2. Does society believe that clerics actual power comes from the deity - or does society as a whole know the actual truth?3. Do those clerics who &quot;know the truth about spiritual magic&quot; get persecuted by those who actually believe that all divine magic is bestowed by the gods directly?*** Evil thoughts coming to mind... the Inquisition.... Heretics... burning at the stake... witch hunts... ***4. What about a cleric who was taught that all power was bestowed... but learns or discovers the truth?&nbsp; What would happen?5. What if a cleric who has such a domain chooses to leave the &quot;church&quot; - and thus has His special granted domain(s) revoked (the worst the deity could do)?&nbsp; What happens if they CHOOSE to take the alignment or elemental domains instead of the bestowed ones?&nbsp; Can they so choose?Hmmm... I see possibilities for that atonement spell all of a sudden... as well as all of those other &quot;deity&quot; spells...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Magus_Jerel, post: 195304, member: 3940"] Possibility 1 - Why not have clerics simply advocate one of the "nine alignments"? A "code of ethics"? Their power comes from being in harmony with this code (as druids are with nature); and deity oriented spells become much more a matter of spiritualism instead of codified religion. This means that you are most likely going to wind up restricting all clerics to either the elemental domains or alignment domains - and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sick and twisted possibility 2 - Why not make the deities "mortals who don't die of old age." - reducing them to little more than You may also consider rendering it absolute FACT that the "deities" who sponsor "religions" are really nothing more than just supremely powerful immortal spellcasters (probably arcane) who have discovered a means of bestowing spells. Essentially - they have some sort of ultra powerful "mass imbue with spell ability" going on; under rules that they set up to further their own cause. There are only two "universal" traits to "deific" entities. 1. Such entities do not die of old age - ever. 2. Such entities are extremely powerful. Sadistic possibility 3 - If you "combine" options 1 and 2; a cleric's "domain" powers are the only thing REALLY bestowed by the deity; and even then a cleric need only "obey" a religous cause if he wants a domain OTHER than one of the alignment domains or elemental domains. A cleric's ACTUAL power comes from within; with the sole exeption of the non-alignment/non-element domains they posess. Of course, the following become EXTREMELY interesting possibilities. 1. Does the character know that his deity isn't really "all that"? 2. Does society believe that clerics actual power comes from the deity - or does society as a whole know the actual truth? 3. Do those clerics who "know the truth about spiritual magic" get persecuted by those who actually believe that all divine magic is bestowed by the gods directly? *** Evil thoughts coming to mind... the Inquisition.... Heretics... burning at the stake... witch hunts... *** 4. What about a cleric who was taught that all power was bestowed... but learns or discovers the truth? What would happen? 5. What if a cleric who has such a domain chooses to leave the "church" - and thus has His special granted domain(s) revoked (the worst the deity could do)? What happens if they CHOOSE to take the alignment or elemental domains instead of the bestowed ones? Can they so choose? Hmmm... I see possibilities for that atonement spell all of a sudden... as well as all of those other "deity" spells... [/QUOTE]

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