When a cleric is casting..

[marune]

1) Does he always needs to have his deity's symbol in hand or visibly worn?

2) Does he says his deity's name cleary so that anybody hearding him casting know that he worship this deity ?

3) What do you think would be the reaction of a NPC class character if 2) is true and a cleric of a evil (and well known) deity casts a spell in the middle of a street of a big city ?

Thanks.

 

[MonsterMash]

IIRC these aren't actually covered in the core rules, so it would be a case of house ruling for the individual campaign.

Often when I play clerics I do an in character bit for casting the spell, but many of the spells will specify if you should be empty handed or holding anything as a divine focus.

1. The holy symbol should be brandished on turning attempts. For spells with a divine focus this could be used as the focus, but GM can rule on what consitutes the necessary focus.

2. Again spell verbal component is only needing to say something, no mention of diety is specified in SRD.

3. Depends on how powerful the worshippers of that diety are in the campaign, otherwise if you had a strongly LG city with an effective police/guard then it could mean them attempting to arrest the character.

 

[Scharlata]

Hi!

1) Does he always needs to have his deity's symbol in hand or visibly worn?

Only if the spell components require a DF (Divine Focus) [as mentioned above].

2) Does he says his deity's name cleary so that anybody hearding him casting know that he worship this deity ?

That's up to the DM. The V (Verbal) components just require to be uttered "in a strong voice" [PHB, p. 174]

3) What do you think would be the reaction of a NPC class character if 2) is true and a cleric of a evil (and well known) deity casts a spell in the middle of a street of a big city ?

Speaking aloud the name of an evil deity presenting an unholy symbol may be the cause for a minor incident in any given good-aligned town. It just depends on the DM and her campaign and the townsfolk to be around.
Try to imagine a real-world occultist standing on Broadway yelling "All Gods are dumb-?*§/=*!". What would happen? Maybe the cops are alerted to inquire upon the incident. Maybe the innocent bystanders assume it is a drama act or something. Try to imagine the same person yelling the same words and brandishing a blasphemous item in front of some sheik in, say, Saudi Arabia. What would most probably happen there? Exactly!

Kind regards

 

[Whimsical]

I think that a cleric of the god of trickery could get away with using another deitie's name and possibly holy symbol in their spellcastings.

 

[SteelDraco]

I would probably call for Knowledge (Religion) or (maybe) Spellcraft checks on the part of the viewer. The DC would probably be in the 10-15 range to identify the patron diety of a divine caster who was casting a spell. Certainly seeing a holy symbol would make it fairly easy for most other clerics to identify the caster, and how they would react would obviously be based on their patron god. But your basic peasant? Probably wouldn't have a clue.

As to what an NPC's reaction would be... well, it would depend on the diety being worshipped, and what spell was being cast. You start chanting about calling up the fires of Baator to smite the unworthies all around you, and people are going to react. You heal your buddy standing next to you, and they're less likely to. Also, consider the town they're in - some are more religiously-minded than others, and the worship of certain gods might very well be illegal. Openly casting spells from an illegal god would bring the town guard down on you, just like doing anything else illegal would - though they might respond with more force to a known spellcaster.

 

[cmanos]

1) Does he always needs to have his deity's symbol in hand or visibly worn?

Only when the material component is Divine Focus.

2) Does he says his deity's name cleary so that anybody hearding him casting know that he worship this deity ?

Not necessarily.

3) What do you think would be the reaction of a NPC class character if 2) is true and a cleric of a evil (and well known) deity casts a spell in the middle of a street of a big city ?

All depends if just worshipping an evil deity is a criminal activity. If the evil cleric is casting heal on a companion, even if it is in Nerull's name, I don't think the reaction would be infavorable. Then again, if a good cleric casts...oh...spiritual weapon and assaults a gaurd with it, he's probably going to get thrown in the clink.

 

[frankthedm]

I think that a cleric of the god of trickery could get away with using another deitie's name and possibly holy symbol in their spellcastings.

Ah, the old Double sided holy symbol trick.

 

[werk]

1) Does he always needs to have his deity's symbol in hand or visibly worn?

Only applies to spells that require a DF.
I think this depends on the diety/alignment.

2) Does he says his deity's name cleary so that anybody hearding him casting know that he worship this deity ?

Up to the DM. Verbal components must be stated aloud, so they are easily heard. I always pictured divine spells as being more like a prayer than the arcane incantations use by other casters... As a DM, I'd say yes, all divine verbal components include the name of the diety, but again, dependant on the diety/alignment. A cleric of Tyr may run a roll call of some of Tyr's names during the casting where a cleric of Mask may just say something vague like, shadow father or sneaky one.

3) What do you think would be the reaction of a NPC class character if 2) is true and a cleric of a evil (and well known) deity casts a spell in the middle of a street of a big city ?

Depends on the NPC and how the DM ruled on the questions above. I'd say the NPC needs to make a spellcraft check (say 10+spell level) or knowledge:arcana (10+spell level) to hear specific words from the verbal component. Both of those checks are easier than what is required to identify the spell, so I feel they are appropriate and keeps lay-people from understanding magical works. If they make the check, then they'd need a knowledge:religion check to identify the diety. If the NPC just sees the cleric's holy symbol, it would just be a knowledge:religion check to identify.

Largely DM's call though, I just gave my opinion.

 

[marune]

You can guess that this was a general question about a specific case.. I'll give the specific details about the event that happened on last session (The campaign is set in FR in 1372) :

The cleric is a Bane worshiper recently arrived in Waterdeep from Mintar (Lake of Steam)

The party was in an alley near the Blushing Nymph Festhall in Waterdeep (that's near Castle Waterdeep and Yawning Portal Inn)

They were trying to ambush an elven arcane trickster... He cast a Silent Greater Invisibility and ran to Lackpurse Lane (secondary street).. then the cleric coming from the alley cast Invisibility purge.

There was some comoners/experts near, but not too many, it was around midnight..

So I warn him that speaking aloud Bane's name in this part of the city wasn't a clever thing to do.. and I made someone who was looking at the scene for a couple rounds run to find the nearest Watch patrol when he heard ".. Bane give me the power to make the unseen visible again bla bla..!"

 

[Scharlata]

[...] As a DM, I'd say yes, all divine verbal components include the name of the diety, but again, dependant on the diety/alignment. [...]

Hmmm.... even if I like your idea, the more I think about it the more it makes me wonder.

What about divine scrolls? What if a cleric of a particular deity/alignment finds a scroll of an opposed faith? Does she have to speak aloud the name of the opposed deity to use the scroll properly? What about - viewing it from the perspective of a DM - giving away too much information to a cleric PC finding a scroll in an adventure?

Spotting a Divine Focus is enough information a bystander may witness, AFAIAC.

Just wondering if the Divine Focus - if required - used to scribe a scroll leaves any traces on it?

Kind regards