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<blockquote data-quote="Ogrork the Mighty" data-source="post: 2092959" data-attributes="member: 19042">This question just popped into my mind and I find it kind of interesting. In D&amp;D, why is it that clerical/divine magic is referred to as spells and not prayers? When I think of religion (albeit in a modern context) the only time I can think of hearing about spells is in reference to evil spells, witchcraft, demon possession, etc. Why is it that D&amp;D refers to what I would consider prayers as spells?On a practical gaming level, I think the term prayers has a whole different connotation than does spells. The former smells of deities and godly gifts of powers whereas the latter seems much more independent. When I think of spells I don't think of them as being granted by a divine power. When I think of prayers, I do.The end result of all this, in my mind at least, is that I often see players treating divine magic as simply resources to be used vs. gifts bestowed by the gods. You've got a papercut? Cure minor. Sniffles? Cure disease. Beheaded? Raise dead. And so on and so forth.I'm not saying that using the term prayers would fix all that with one fell sweep, but I do find that a lot of the &quot;balance&quot; to the cleric class gets lost when divine magic is simply viewed as &quot;spells&quot;.Thoughts?(edit: and I do realize that there are really two issues here; the use of the term spells vs. prayers, and the divine powers bestowed upon clerics and how they are utilized)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ogrork the Mighty, post: 2092959, member: 19042"] This question just popped into my mind and I find it kind of interesting. In D&D, why is it that clerical/divine magic is referred to as spells and not prayers? When I think of religion (albeit in a modern context) the only time I can think of hearing about spells is in reference to evil spells, witchcraft, demon possession, etc. Why is it that D&D refers to what I would consider prayers as spells? On a practical gaming level, I think the term prayers has a whole different connotation than does spells. The former smells of deities and godly gifts of powers whereas the latter seems much more independent. When I think of spells I don't think of them as being granted by a divine power. When I think of prayers, I do. The end result of all this, in my mind at least, is that I often see players treating divine magic as simply resources to be used vs. gifts bestowed by the gods. You've got a papercut? Cure minor. Sniffles? Cure disease. Beheaded? Raise dead. And so on and so forth. I'm not saying that using the term prayers would fix all that with one fell sweep, but I do find that a lot of the "balance" to the cleric class gets lost when divine magic is simply viewed as "spells". Thoughts? (edit: and I do realize that there are really two issues here; the use of the term spells vs. prayers, and the divine powers bestowed upon clerics and how they are utilized) [/QUOTE]

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