Should clerics use raise dead scrolls from another faith?

[Phlebas]

I've always thought its more interesting to make clerics think about the consequences of their faith and their actions. so when I gave out a raise dead scroll as loot, I shouldn't have been surprised that the priests asked what faith made the scroll.

so that made me think - is a raise dead scroll effectively the spell cast by the faith of the cleric who created the scroll, or is it just the ritual codified and the faith of the reader actually performs the miracle. In practice does that mean that an evil cleric can use the scroll created by a good goddess to bring back a blackguard ie the goddess of healing ressurects an evil b'stard, or is the nasty NPC just using the money and her god of treachery is bringing the evil NPC back. Raise dead is an obvious example, but the principle applies to any cleric spell.

OK, mechanics wise it doens't make a blind bit of difference, but what do people think the better answer is - should clerics care about the faith that created the scroll, or is it just a tool now put to their faiths use. The second option makes things a lot simpler, but the first seems to open up so many RP'ing options..........

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I think there was a thread about this a while back, but I don't have the search function to find it....

In my opinion, a scroll has no faith. It is powered by the XP given up by the creator, not by the creator's diety, and has no alignment, faith etc unless it is a specific spell that has those qualities.

 

[EvilPheemy]

As written, a scroll is a scroll is a scroll, without any sort of alignment or influence from the cleric who scribed it in the first place. Like any non-aligned magic item, it is merely a tool. In this case a repository of divine magical energy for use by any caster who can utilize divine magic.

However, making a house rule of connecting a given divine spellcasting item to the deity of the cleric who scribed or created it makes for a deeper and more intricate setting. You really need to poll your players on this issue if you wish to enact it. If your players are the type who would appreciate this sort of detail, then by all means add it (and remember, you'll be doing a LOT of work assigning divine scrolls to specific faiths). However, most players will be lukewarm on the issue, and there is a population of players who would find the houserule unfairly limiting.

Remember, scrolls expand your spellcaster's abilities. In the game as written there is a certain assumption that spellcasters would have access to scrolls as they adventure. To deny those spellcasters a measure of those scrolls because of the whim of fate, "Whoops, it looks like that Remove Curse scroll was infused with power from Llolth! Too bad the elven Cleric can't use it." would be a little unfair to the divine spellcasters.

 

[Victim]

Probably both. Once the scroll is made, all the power for it is already built in so anyone with the right spell list or UMD could use it. However, the diety powering it would probably be set too. That could produce weird results with Spiritual Weapon or Raise Dead.

 

[the black knight]

Raise Dead? What's that?

 

[Destil]

Depends on your stance on raise dead in general.

Can the players in your campaign just waltz into a generally similar faith, cough up some diamond dust and a few hundred GP and get someone raised? If so then sure, a scroll is a scroll.

Is getting someone raised from the dead a major ordeal, requiring more than just gold? Moreso than any other 5th level spell for hire (i.e. it's significantly harder to get raise dead cast for you than, say, teleport)? In that case such things may very well be at issue.

Really of all the sidebars and variants in both DMGs, raise dead and similar are most likely the biggest thing that the rules should have explored more options for. It's generally a very DM dependent spell (rightly so)....

 

[Set]

Definitely, especially if it belongs to a faith whose principals or ethos opposed to your own.

The last thing you'd want would be for them to get their hands on it and use it to raise some champion of their faith!

 

[Nifft]

IMC, Scrolls are atheist.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Quartz]

This is an easy plot hook. Remember that deities are usually members of a pantheon of related deities, so using a scroll from a fellow member of the same pantheon should be ok. That said, the priest should generally beware the proclivities and politics of the various members of the pantheor. For instance, Artemis would likely object to a male using a scroll with her power. And Hera might object to a priest of Zeus using one of her scrolls if she's on the outs with Zeus. No priest of Thor woud use a scroll scribed by a priest of Surtur.

 

[Edgewood]

In my campaign, a cleric can only raise a person who is a member of their chruch and faith. This would include scrolls. In fact, the churchs have such strict control on raising the dead that they have made it is illegal to have ascroll in your possession with any magic that raises one from the dead unless it has been registered by them. Thus, being raised is a costly and exceptional thing. Having said that, it has happened in the game for 2 of the PCs under these strict rules and still worked out well.