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Message: <blockquote data-quote="painandgreed" data-source="post: 2724523" data-attributes="member: 24969">IMC, clerics collect tithes from members of the church, usually 10% of income. In a city, membership might be voluntary but in smaller towns, it is usually decreed by the lord that all people must be a member of the church (or at least tithe). In return the cleric aids the lord in running his lands and helps the church members. If you are a member in good standing, you get healing and other spells for free, even if your tithes don't add up to what would be the normal cost of healing. Thus, commoners and other members of the community get free healing. People who are not members of the church have to pay because they are taking resources away from those who are. These smaller churches normally have to tithe to the mother church (if there is one) and thus such money usually flows up not down.To be a member in good standing of a church, they usually must attend services of the church they are a member of and preform the ritual once a year. This is usually simply saying that you are a member of the church in good standing while a Zone of Truth spell is up and running. Sometimes clerics have been known not to actually cast the spell if prior arrangements have been made for reasons the cleric decides as right or not. Such membership is usually to that one church and cleric and not transferable to another. Sometimes a mother church may grant such membership to rightful members (such as a paladin) for all churches which can be shown by letter, special holy symbol, or speaking under a Zone of Truth. Moving membership between one chruch to another usually requires conversation between the clerics involved. PCs are granted the oportunity of belonging to a church, but then they must tithe or otherwise preform duties for that church. I've also thought of making a feat that is "Church Member in Good Standing" that would count as such dispensation by the mother church to all child churches, but tithing and services are again required.The price for the cleric to cast spells for non-members is traditional but can be modified as the cleric sees fit. If part of a larger church organization (ie lawful), he might have to justify or get clearence from above to do so because giving reduced rates cuts on their income also. These modifications could be either higher or lower than the traditional prices based on how in need they are by the cleric or how helpful the non-members are to the church. An adventurer party who is in a village to help take care of orcs or other threats to the area could probably expect free or greatly reduced healing because if the adventurers didn't take care of the threat, they cleric along with the local lord would. If the adventurers are a pain, the price may be more. This is all more political and social than anything else.Again, IMC, most smaller villages and towns where membership of the church may be mandatory have their traditional gods. Also, it is a homebrew pantheon in which the clerics of the king/father of the gods god can also preform lesser rituals of the other gods of the pantheon in good standing. In general, most villages have clerics that belong to the king of the gods but some have other tradtional gods that have the clerics in charge. It also helps that tradtionally, the cleric of the king of the gods is married to a cleric of the queen of the gods and between the two of them, they cover many of the domains that your standard village or town would need. Also, the clerics of the various faithes usually get along pretty well and deal with each other. Cleric of an area who doesn't have plant domain need Plant Growth to help the harvests, deals are made with clerics of gods that do have plant domain (or druids) to come through and cast such rituals.In larger towns and cities, where the population starts to be uneasy to control, membership to churches are usually voluntary. How to be a member in good standing may differ from church to church. Some churches may decide on the 10% tithe, while others may have a set price. Nobles or the rich may work deals with various churches to be members in good standing without having to pay to all of them 10%. That way the nobles cover their bases and the churches get income (and patrons) that they would otherwise lose. Again, most of the gods in the pantheon get along pretty well and they work together and some clerics even manage to act as clerics for gods other than their main god in minor cases.</blockquote>

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