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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ptolemy18" data-source="post: 2364508" data-attributes="member: 24970">Ahhh... a wonderful, borderline-religious discussion!!! I love it! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />In my campaign, of course, the answer is that clerics *don't* gain their powers unless they worship someone (and in fact, in the 3.5 PLAYER'S HANDBOOK, that's pretty much the way it is too... it's only in supplements like COMPLETE DIVINE and BOOK OF EXALTED DEEDS that you really start seeing the "Priests who worship Abstract Principles" and so on). Speaking of third-party supplements... I am really fond of Scott Bennie's idol-worshipping system in TESTAMENT, wherein everyone (not just clerics) gets benefits for sacrificing small amounts of treasure/goods to idols at a rate of 1 gp per day. Depending on the god you sacrifice to, you get +2 or +3 skill bonuses, +1 or +2 saving throw or attribute roll bonuses, etc. It's a very nice, sneaky way to convince players to have their characters act 'religious', even if they're not playing divine spellcasters.(In my AFRICAN ADVENTURES/EGYPTIAN ADVENTURES/TESTAMENT campaign, one of the players is an Egyptian monk who's taken to 'worshipping' the African god Nimbala, since his idol grants a benefit to Sense Motive checks... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> )What would be *really* interesting would be rules on worshipping demigods and other demi-divine beings that are slightly more accessible than the gods. (Like the optional rules in BOOK OF VILE DARKNESS on clerics who serve the demon & devil lords.) In my campaign, for instance, you can 'worship' any creature of the Outsider type, but unless they have really high hit dice, you can only be granted very low-level spells. So this way, if a Pit Fiend wanders into town and demands to be worshipped as a god, within a few years, you could actually have evil clerics getting granted (let's say) 1st and 2nd level spells for serving the Pit Fiend who's walking around right next to them. I think it's a good system...! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Jason</blockquote>

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