Wanting players to take in-game religion more seriously

[Shasarak]

Now that would be the cause for cleric to lose all power until he atones. Intentionally destroying his own gods church for petty revenge...right.

It would also trigger evil curches to start offering services,return of power etc.

Surely you dont blame me for unexplained Dragon attacks. Churches being destroyed by Acts of God, it is enough to make you wonder what is going on.

But, golly gee, I just wish I could have been there to prevent that from happening.

 

[Lanliss]

Surely you dont blame me for unexplained Dragon attacks. Churches being destroyed by Acts of God, it is enough to make you wonder what is going on.

But, golly gee, I just wish I could have been there to prevent that from happening.

Me too. I was busy resting, because some church refused to heal me.

 

[Neurotic]

Surely you dont blame me for unexplained Dragon attacks. Churches being destroyed by Acts of God, it is enough to make you wonder what is going on.

But, golly gee, I just wish I could have been there to prevent that from happening.

Me too. I was busy resting, because some church refused to heal me.

Yes, excellent. Except the god in question knows that his priest did it willfully. If you're talking about some random fighter who pays lip service and he wants to be petty, sure, no problem. But priest. No. I like your RP like posts, but they do nothing for the original poster. I posted my views, you don't have to agree.

But here it is in your language:
I know your friend needs that raise dead, but our high priest had to rest after raising one of the faithful. Sorry, but we just broke day limit to raise him. Would you like to pay for a resurrection?

Or:
Sorry, raise now costs 25 000 because we had to burn extra XP due to increase in adventurers activity in the vicinity and the rich people who died during dragon attack all want to get raised. And they actually visited the church and mostly paid for it building...so, you know, priorities.

Or:
No, sorry, we're all out of restoration scrolls. No, we don't have any more wands of curing. Yes, we have potions. Minor ones only. For 150, you understand, these are our last ones.

More simply:
*whispering* it is that one that let the church burn down. And people say he knew about the attack.
*at some other time whispering* don't you know who they are ? They'll think you're in league with them.

and on, and on, and on. My first advice was to talk to the players. Another was to increase religious mentions in the game and to try to interest priests player in helping with that. That is all. Now please let it rest.

 

[Lanliss]

Yes, excellent. Except the god in question knows that his priest did it willfully. If you're talking about some random fighter who pays lip service and he wants to be petty, sure, no problem. But priest. No. I like your RP like posts, but they do nothing for the original poster. I posted my views, you don't have to agree.

But here it is in your language:
I know your friend needs that raise dead, but our high priest had to rest after raising one of the faithful. Sorry, but we just broke day limit to raise him. Would you like to pay for a resurrection?

Or:
Sorry, raise now costs 25 000 because we had to burn extra XP due to increase in adventurers activity in the vicinity and the rich people who died during dragon attack all want to get raised. And they actually visited the church and mostly paid for it building...so, you know, priorities.

Or:
No, sorry, we're all out of restoration scrolls. No, we don't have any more wands of curing. Yes, we have potions. Minor ones only. For 150, you understand, these are our last ones.

More simply:
*whispering* it is that one that let the church burn down. And people say he knew about the attack.
*at some other time whispering* don't you know who they are ? They'll think you're in league with them.

and on, and on, and on. My first advice was to talk to the players. Another was to increase religious mentions in the game and to try to interest priests player in helping with that. That is all. Now please let it rest.

I apologize if I made it seem like I leaned in any particular direction on the subject. I am just here to sow chaos, and have a good laugh.

EDIT: actually, I should clarify, I agree with you on the point of talking to the players, and even agree with your helpful RP posts above, they all seem totally reasonable. I just spotted a good chance to pile onto a joke. I honestly apologize if you were unhappy with the joke, I found it chuckle worthy.

 

[Shasarak]

Yes, excellent. Except the god in question knows that his priest did it willfully. If you're talking about some random fighter who pays lip service and he wants to be petty, sure, no problem. But priest. No. I like your RP like posts, but they do nothing for the original poster. I posted my views, you don't have to agree.

Of course I agree with talking to the players, you are going to get much better results when you all get on the same page.

What I particularly wanted to point out is that consequences can go both ways. Yes, a Church can be a powerful faction but likewise an adventuring party can too especially one that often has many grateful allies. After all who will the villagers support? The Church or the Party that just fought off a Warband of Giants? What are the villagers going to think when their village Priest refuses to heal the Party after the fight? What will they think when a vengeful Dragon destroys the Church while the Party is too injured to help? You say that the Church does not want to resurrect a dead Party member but what are the chances the next character is going to have a grudge against the Church that killed his "brother"? I just do not think that tactic is going to work.

Also I do not agree that a Priest needs to necessarily belong to an official church to worship a God or even that an official church is the best way to worship or indeed that a Priest needs to be ultra orthodox to get powers from his God. It is a common trope for a Priest to have doubt and maybe a God values actions over words so even a Priest that questions his God can do Gods work. There is even a series of Pathfinder novels where the main character is an atheist priest that works for a God against his will.

 

[Neurotic]

Oh, no, I don't get offended that easily. I'm too "old school" (or maybe just old)
I just got the feeling that you had the opposite oppinion and expressed it in unclear way. No worries, I even "laughed" at your post since it was funny
Just not relevant to this thread.

Maybe I should tell you about a paladin, intentionally set up by party members to break the law (hunting within royal hunting grounds) after they lead him around the woods for a day.

They proceeded to take him captive helping royal rangers subdue him. And then freeing him in the night so he could escape. So he did. And promptly reported himself to his commander. Thus, he got the reprimand, got issued new equipment and returned to his companions still proud to be a paladin. I didn't have to say anything, just smirked (in person, not in character) Of course, he did end as gray paladin later in his career.

 

[Captain Panda]

Well, if the Gods exist and actively care, then it would make sense for them to cut clerics off at any time. Doesn't make any sense for druids, paladins, or bards in this edition, but clerics get their power directly from their deity... so turn off the faucet if that's what you want to do.

That said, would your players enjoy that? Would you? This is largely why I'd never play a cleric, because doing anything remotely out of line at any point could result in being stripped of spells, and that isn't fun.