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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6225752" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think it is a mistake to compare the sort of thing Bluenose is talking about to classic D&D paladin mechanics; or even to disadvantage mechanics in a points-buy game like GURPS.In D&D "truth" or "bravery" is not a mechanical resource for a player to draw upon in playing his/her PC, whereas in HeroWars/Quest (and Pendragon?) it is: a player can use "truth", or "bravery" or similar abilities to augment checks, or even in the right circumstances for checks in themselves.Another way to make "piety cost behaviour" is in the framing of contests - which is hard to do in a standard process simulation framework, but becomes easier in a more abstract, meta-gamey framework like a skill challenge. Because the difficulties and number of successes required for a skill challenge is set at the metagame level, the players do not get a mechanical disadvantage for choosing one pathway over another. But you can frame a situation in which the player can choose to honour or dishonour religious values, thereby obtaining different outcomes. Which can then feed into subsequent framing. For instance, a paladin who breaks his/her word to make an Intimidate check might still succeed in the skill challenge, but is no longer in a position to frame Diplomacy checks against those NPCs for future challenges (or, at least, the DC might move from the typical Medium to Hard).</blockquote>