Planetar, I choose you!

[Joker]

As some of you may or may not know, Defenders of the Faith has a section on praying for divine intervention. Now how does this work. I understand that not every 1st level cleric can dial in on his deity's celestial/infernal/abyssal (pick one) emergency hotline and have his deity beam down/up (pick one again) a Solar/Pit Fiend/Balor (decisions, decisions) whenever he sees a spider.

But I could certainly see it happening if the occassion called for it. But that's from a in-game perspective, how does it mess with balance? How much time does it take?

What if the cleric (high level. 13+) was gaurding an artifact important to the deity, would the divine smuck give the cleric in question some help if need be.

Would you or have you allowed such a thing in your campaign?

How would you go about handling something like this?

Thanks in advance.

Tata.

 

[Joker]

Duuuuuh, nobody wants to play with me.

 

[JohnRTroy]

Basically speaking, if the cleric doesn't have the Planar Ally spell, then it's pretty much up to the DM.

I would use "assistance" as a plot point of a Deus Ex Machina if necessary. Basically, if the party is having a problem and it is a very important interest to the deity, have such a being intervene.

To balance it, peharps the being then requires a Quest on behalf of the deity.

 

[Lazybones]

First, I have to say I've only thumbed through DoF (though I remember the pic where Jozan's praying while a celestial hacks into a demon for him).

But I think that the subject of divine aid for clerics is already covered in the rules: it's called Lesser Planar Ally and Planar Ally.

LB

 

[Rowenstin]

Probably people think this is another rant about Gate.

 

[Andor of the Blade]

We had a comparable situation about three months ago. The group, including the High Priest of Thor was on a divnine quest. They did great all the way through, and at the end are battling a Shaman of Surtur and his helpers.

The dice turned really ugly against the PCs. Near the end, only the cleric was standing, while the Shaman and three of his minions were still almost unharmed.

The priest prayed to Thor as he continued the battle. Thor responded by sending a Valkyrie who killed the three minions. Though the cleric was badly hurt, he was left to battle the shaman. The dice turned favourable towards him and he ended up prevailing.

This led to some great role-playing and a couple of the characters converting to worshipping thor.

 

[Dakhran the Dark]

Well, I use a home-rule for divine intervention in my game, and have since 2nd edition. Basically, any player wishing to "pray to gawd" can do so by rolling a d1000. At this point, I also pick up three 10-siders and toss them, and any player who matches my result will get an answer from their deity.

There are some modifications which increase the eligible range of match, from 0 (you must match my roll exactly) up to as much as "within 10", depending on the circumstances -- for instance, clerics have a better chance than secular followers; anyone can boost the odds by praying in a location sacred to the deity, or while attempting a quest or mission in line with the deity's tenets and beliefs. It never hurts to offer up a sacrifice or make a pledge or vow, as well.

And of course, there's always the chance that gaining the attention of your god would not be beneficial, especially if you are asking for something trivial. I usually adjudicate the level of response, good or bad, depending on the circumstances at hand. Usually it's nothing more than "coincidental assistance", but it could be anything up to and including a "miracle" (as per the 9th level spell).

Hope that helps...

 

[Kamard]

I used to rule that a natural 1 on a d100 roll was good enough to call your deity to aid you. Of course, constantly asking your deity to help you was cause for making him ignore you

Also, ignoring or insulting your god was never a good thing either. I once had a cleric's holy symbol levitate off into the sunset when the cleric told his god that the holy symbol was useless.

 

[Number47]

I hate to say this, and I have never done it in my game, but I think that evil gods would be for more inclined to lend a direct hand than good ones (or lawful ones especially). I see good deities as giving as much free will and self-reliance to followers as possible, including the free will to get yourself into a mess you can't fix. Evil gods are a little more likely to intervene so a grand scheme isn't screwed with, but also just as likely to be merciless to the worshipper who mucked it up. Remember, when you're evil, somebody somewhere is to blame for everything.