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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ForceUser" data-source="post: 2704324" data-attributes="member: 2785">Thanks for the interest. The main human religion in the region in which the campaign took place is not monotheistic nor polytheistic--there is a pantheon of gods, but they are worshipped together in a single faith. (In fact, I use a modified version of nine of the D&D gods--see attached). There is a term for unified worship of multiple gods, and I wish I could remember it! In any event, my inspiration for the faith comes from medieval Catholicism and Sepulchrave II's Church of Oronthon. The Celestine Church is only one religion upon the continent, though it is clearly the dominant one. Other religions include the pagan Old Faith to which druids and a few spirit shaman adhere; the Church of the Silver Flame, ripped right out of Eberron; the hybrid religion of macymba practiced by the Eloi people, whose houngan priests are based upon the Oriental Adventures shaman; and the racial faiths of player character gnomes (Garl Glittergold) and goblins (Maglubiyet), both of whose priests are clerics and variants thereof. Before I explain further, you should know that I do not use alignments. Instead, I use a system of Miens, wherein the vast majority of mortal creatures, good or bad, nice or nasty, are considered Neutral with regard to the forces of the universe. They act according to how they were socialized within their various cultures, and not according to the artificial dictates of alignment. This means that there are lots of gray areas, just like in real life. Now, beyond this, any creature with a connection to greater powers will have a Mien associated with that power, be it Grace, Taint, Chaos, or Order. Paladins, for instance, are infused with the powers of Grace and Order. Most divine spellcasters must adhere to only one Mien, but no character can cast divine spells without being associated with a Mien. As such, they are held to a higher standard than your normal, Neutral mortal creatures, whose actions are predicated only upon what society has told them is good or bad behavior. Divine spellcasters, however, must adhere to standards approaching those of fiends, slaadi, inevitables, and  celestials. They are proxies of the gods on earth.Within the Celestine and Silver Flame traditions, those priests who have gained Grace are called the Blesséd. They are uniformly aligned with Grace.Priests of Maglubiyet are aligned with Chaos or Taint.Priests of Garl Glittergold are aligned with Order or Grace.Druids and shaman of the old faith are infused with the Grace of the god and the goddess.The Houngans of the Eloi are often infused with Taint, as are priests of the Dark Six as well as various evil cults. And so on. All divine spellcasters, be they exalted or corrupted, are held to a higher standard than Joe Blow fighter and Deena the Rogue. If a player sees this as restrictive, then he's probably not suited to role-playing a divine spellcaster anyway, and thus I'd be much happier if he played a Neutral class such as a wizard or fighter and dealt with their concerns than with the problems of divinity and morality that constantly test those who walk a higher path.   If the party has no healer as a result, then perhaps someone will play an artificer or bard, take the Craft Wand feat, and encourage his buddies to max ranks in Use Magic Device. Or maybe, just maybe, someone will choose to try that exalted path, and just maybe, the role-playing will be enriched because of it. But I'm showing my bias--I love heroes like Sepulchrave's Eadric, Nwm, and Tahl the Incorruptable, so that's what's I encourage.</blockquote>

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