Here's the set-up. A world where, long ago, the powers-that-be started training everyone to be a cleric. Those who passed the final exams (Wisdom 10+) were then accepted by their respective deities as Clerics. Which means everybody with the minimum Wisdom to use Clerical spells is at the very least a 1st level Cleric. What impact do you see this having on a world?
Planet of the Priests
- Thread starter mythusmage
- Start date
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
mythusmage said:
Extinction. I see a series of wars that use relgion to condone genocide, followed by more genocide in retaliation, also justified by religious belief, followed by more wars... and so on. Ultimately, if every sentient being on the planet wasn't stone dead after one-hundred years or so of this, I think that the remaining survivors would be knee-deep in corpses and warped pockets of existence created by divine energy that had been channeled with evil intent.
Herobizkit
Adventurer
Hmmm....
First of all, religion will have a massive impact on the world at large. Your deities will have a huge interest in what happens to their followers. To enforce this interest, I would consider creating your deities to be follower-dependant; the more followers they amass, the more power they have over the cosmology of your multiverse. They will have an active role in the campaign world, and the quest to amass new followers and exterminate the followers of others will be the focus of your deity/Cleric interactions.
Now, if everyone with at least a Wis of 10 can cast 1st level clerical magic, their medieval lives will be much easier.
* With access to orisons like create water, light, mending, and purify food and drink pretty much ensures that food won't go to waste, and there will be no fear of droughts or disease brought on by blighted crops.
* Being able to comprehend languages will cause less misunderstandings between different nations and make your people more aware of what humanoids will be up to around their cities.
* Being able to make holy water via bless water, using detect undead to ferret them out and then using hide from undead will give them a heads-up against pesky zombies and skeletons, who normally eat commoners for breakfast. Low-level necromancers will be annoyed.
* One endure elements and anyone can live comfortably in any climate.
* Being able to force a command on anyone would have near infinite uses, as would a sanctuary spell during deal negotiations, court visits etc.
... and this is before I even get into the regular cure minor and light spells and protective magics.
First of all, religion will have a massive impact on the world at large. Your deities will have a huge interest in what happens to their followers. To enforce this interest, I would consider creating your deities to be follower-dependant; the more followers they amass, the more power they have over the cosmology of your multiverse. They will have an active role in the campaign world, and the quest to amass new followers and exterminate the followers of others will be the focus of your deity/Cleric interactions.
Now, if everyone with at least a Wis of 10 can cast 1st level clerical magic, their medieval lives will be much easier.
* With access to orisons like create water, light, mending, and purify food and drink pretty much ensures that food won't go to waste, and there will be no fear of droughts or disease brought on by blighted crops.
* Being able to comprehend languages will cause less misunderstandings between different nations and make your people more aware of what humanoids will be up to around their cities.
* Being able to make holy water via bless water, using detect undead to ferret them out and then using hide from undead will give them a heads-up against pesky zombies and skeletons, who normally eat commoners for breakfast. Low-level necromancers will be annoyed.
* One endure elements and anyone can live comfortably in any climate.
* Being able to force a command on anyone would have near infinite uses, as would a sanctuary spell during deal negotiations, court visits etc.
... and this is before I even get into the regular cure minor and light spells and protective magics.
Dirigible
Explorer
That's a very real possibility, but it's also conceivable that a balance of terror could be achieved.
If everyone's beliefs are equally and demonstrably valid, and backed up with equal theological power, fear and/or cool heads might prevail, and become a tense mutual toleration. "I disagree with everyhting you represent and do, but if we fight there won't be any land left to stand on. Plus, those people we both think are heathens from the next valley might win!" This might evolve into a highly balkanised series of hamlet-states (as opposed to city-states), each holding a fiercly individualist, isolationist faith.
No doubt, there would also be a lot of lone, psychotic zealots who pick up their faith and turn it into a maul to bludgeon others with, but they could be as rare as mass murderers are today.
Incidentally, is this some kind of gestalt (so all characters get cleric spellcasting tacked on), or are the fields tilled and horses shoed by 1st-level clerics?
Hmm. WIth so much godliness sloshing around, the world could end up being very animist in feel: there's divinity in everything, so everything might be couched in those terms. The god of his sword overcame the god of your armour, so he wounded you.
Dirigible
Explorer
Awesome. Heh...
Perhaps the few remaining undead are holed up int he Dismal Swamp, the Necropolis of Borhem and the Boneshatter Mountains, fighting off incursions of holy-powered militia from the lands of the living. A few high level vampire rogues, wight fighters and lich sorcerers are their heroes and leaders, fighting a defensive war against overwhelming forces and occassionally making daring raids against the strongholds of their foes to seize key items and assassinate leaders.
Role reversal: it's what's for dinner.
Zappo
Explorer
A majority of the population is capable of casting cure minor wounds, which is enough to stabilize a dying creature. Most workplace injuries become irrelevant. Casualties in war drop as well.
They can also cast purify food and drink and create water. Starvation and thirst are reduced to almost a non-issue. Disease rates plummet since contaminated food is no longer a problem (even without taking into account the increased availability of neutralize poison and remove disease).
These two factors lead to a huge increase in population.
A large minority of the population can cast 1st level spells. Alignment detection may become commonplace, but it would be a gross violation of privacy. Still, it would certainly be used in trials, and as most governments would be theocratic, having an alignment contrary to the local deity's could be anything from a serious aggravant to a criminal offense in itself.
Having low Wisdom is now a serious handicap. People with a 9 would probably get to 10 as soon as they hit 4th level, out of social pressure. People with less than 9 have a real problem. Over thousands of year, a combination of education and evolutionary pressure could cause the race to have a +2 racial bonus to WIS (maybe at the price of a penalty to another stat).
Widespread literacy, required to become a cleric, would lead to great social advancements - but many theocracies stifle these. OTOH, a nation that follows a god related to progress, with most of the population capable of reading and writing, would develop rather quickly.
Low-CR undead are extinct in all places that don't like undead. Elsewhere, they are easily kept under control; you won't find ghoul-infested cemeteries in this world.
As for religious war; sooner or later, truces will emerge. I expect a period of strife, followed by the spread of religious tolerance for all cults that can reasonably accept it. The others will form their own isolated nations, providing trouble every now and then.
They can also cast purify food and drink and create water. Starvation and thirst are reduced to almost a non-issue. Disease rates plummet since contaminated food is no longer a problem (even without taking into account the increased availability of neutralize poison and remove disease).
These two factors lead to a huge increase in population.
A large minority of the population can cast 1st level spells. Alignment detection may become commonplace, but it would be a gross violation of privacy. Still, it would certainly be used in trials, and as most governments would be theocratic, having an alignment contrary to the local deity's could be anything from a serious aggravant to a criminal offense in itself.
Having low Wisdom is now a serious handicap. People with a 9 would probably get to 10 as soon as they hit 4th level, out of social pressure. People with less than 9 have a real problem. Over thousands of year, a combination of education and evolutionary pressure could cause the race to have a +2 racial bonus to WIS (maybe at the price of a penalty to another stat).
Widespread literacy, required to become a cleric, would lead to great social advancements - but many theocracies stifle these. OTOH, a nation that follows a god related to progress, with most of the population capable of reading and writing, would develop rather quickly.
Low-CR undead are extinct in all places that don't like undead. Elsewhere, they are easily kept under control; you won't find ghoul-infested cemeteries in this world.
As for religious war; sooner or later, truces will emerge. I expect a period of strife, followed by the spread of religious tolerance for all cults that can reasonably accept it. The others will form their own isolated nations, providing trouble every now and then.
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Kuld
Explorer
I see a constant struggle for power by men of “similar” faiths. Anguish and oppression will plague the land and hate will transcend class, race or nationality.
It will be hard to distinguish good from evil by the lay bystander. The only options are to conform or die a heretic.
Good RP value though
It will be hard to distinguish good from evil by the lay bystander. The only options are to conform or die a heretic.
Good RP value though
LostSoul
Adventurer
jdrakeh said:
What if some of those religions worship Good gods who will not condone genocide? Those followers will lose their powers and will be wiped out by the other side.
I think it would be a pretty black-and-white world, because people have figured out what pisses off their god and they don't do it (because doing so means a whole lot of bad things, from losing your powers to being cast out of society).
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
LostSoul said:
The only problem with that line of reasoning is that 'good' gods almost always condone the wholesale slaughter of 'evil' beings (i.e., those individuals who worship an opposing deity). This is one of the major problems with the subjective definitions of 'good' and 'evil' in RPGs.
I think that a world where everybody llives in perfect harmony, despite worshipping vastly different entities and having vastly different beliefs, is a far stretch - even for a fantasy setting. Plus, a fantasy setting without conflict would be really boring.
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