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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 9859410" data-attributes="member: 6677017">Before I tell you how I do it, I'm going to tell you why.I hate imbalance between character options. Some characters having role-playing restrictions when others have none because of a completely equal mechanical choice (like class) is really, really annoying to me. That said, I also am not a fan of clerics and paladins having no consequences for violating their in-setting requirements.Here's what I do. Acquiring a class can potentially happen in multiple different ways. Some examples were give in this postof warlocks who learned their powers from study, or make pacts with or steal power from multiple beings rather than having a specific patron for example. I typically say that the divine power clerics wield isn't proximately granted by their deity, but is something that comes from their deity that was granted to mortals a long time ago and can be passed down from mortals to mortals, typically through their religious heirarchy. Individual clerics become clerics through some sort of ritual investiture. I haven't defined it for paladins yet, though I do attach each subclass to a specific divine order and have never been entirely happy with the 5e idea of just swearing an oath.After a character gets a class, they have it. The class, and any of its features cannot be taken away from them. The cleric has received their investiture, the warlock has completed the pact, the wizard has figured out spell books, the barbarian has learned how to rage, and the fighter has got good at fighting. They in no way need the continued support of whatever teachers or entities allowed them to gain that power in order to keep gaining levels. If your deity or patron dies, you can still advance to level 20. (I say that deities actually wield the same power as clerics just in a more powerful way, so when they granted their followers this power it wasn't a direct connection to the gods, it was literally the power the gods themselves use.) Your class features are equally secure regardless of your class choice.So what happens if you violate the obligations or expectations that your class came with? It depends on the specifics, but the principle is that your character doesn't exist in a vacuum. Other people, organizations, gods, and supernatural beings exist that likely care about how you represent them.I'm okay with a switch to a mechanically equal option, and sometimes a switch of subclasses can result from betraying your obligations. The Oathbreaker subclass for the paladin is a baked in example. For clerics it's a little trickier, but I like to say that if you become completely out of harmony with your domain it might shift on you, so you go from Life Domain to Death or such. In this case it isn't the deity doing it directly--its the natural metaphysical consequences of your actions.While a deity or warlock patron can't just deny your spells or class features, they very much can directly or indirectly intervene in your life. They can communicate with you in dreams, visions, and omens. They can exercise power over their portfolio (a displeased god of weather might make sure the weather around you is always against you). They can send other servants--whether that be other clerics or warlocks, or angels, fiends, or other supernatural agents. Any of these servants may attempt to persuade you, or they may attempt to kill you depending on the circumstances and their orders. In the case of many clerics who belong to a clerical order, the order itself will police its members without explicit divine direction needed. And in the final extreme, the entity could directly manifest its power to whatever extent the rules on mythic beings allow it to in a setting. The iconic thunderbolt out of the sky to deal a massive amount of damage. The earth opening to swallow you up. The entity themselves (or their avatar) appearing before you to duke it out. These beings have power, and the potential consequences of defying them are commensurate with that power, just like with any other NPC in the world. (A fighter or monk poorly representing the ideals of the esteemed school they trained at might have to deal with some very unhappy high ranked members of that school!)But you do get to use all your class features while you're fighting for your life/soul against that patron you ticked off.</blockquote>

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